Vanderpump Rules/Bravo Bio

Umm...yeah. If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm a big fan of the Real Housewives. It's so ridiculous, I'm actually surprised that there's a spin-off that I think I'll enjoy watching: Vanderpump Rules. I now know why SUR has been mentioned on Beverly Hills so much with the staff actually being allowed to speak.

Anywho, I'm reading up on it on Wikipedia and I see that the staff have bios on Bravo. Yeah...folks, here's my 2 cents--your profession is what pays the bills--PERIOD. I mean, you don't see The Big Bang Theory fans calling Penny an Actress (notice the laughs this gets from the studio audience whenever she tries it)--she's a Waitress at the Cheesecake Factory. So, get it together and revise those bios, Bravo. Only an "actor" describes themselves as such when the reality is that it's a pipe dream.

Priviledged Information

I'm watching the Real Housewives of New Jersey and this chaos between Theresa and her brother brings me to Lesson in B.S. #3043--if anyone ever says "this needs to stay between you and me" you need to turn around immediately and walk away. Just walk away. And you need to teach your children especially this lesson because we all know that Pedofiles always start out by saying "don't tell your parents...they won't understand", etc.

I hold the "definition of pornography" very close to my heart. You know, the one that says "I know it when I see it". Secrets are the same way. Don't share anything you don't want blabbed across the country and don't surround yourself with people you know can't keep a secret. When you quit trying, you will meet people who you can trust. People who instintively know what is a secret that should be kept and which are better told.

If you care to know about me, my rule is that if I think you should be telling the other responsible party rather than me, I'm going to tell you that. And if I know the other person and suspect that they'll talk to me about the issue, I'm going to tell you the truth that I will discuss my interpretation of the problem from your perspective. I instintively play devil's advocate so I never take the side of whomever I'm speaking no matter what. I hope that doesn't make me come across as fake, so it's a good thing I don't have a reality tv show. But on the flip-side, I don't spread rumors. I know that there are some secrets that should be kept (like who likes who--I spent my teens getting burned whenever I revealed a crush--I think that's why I'm so repressed now. So yeah, I hope there's a special place in Hell for those people who tease their "friends" and family about who their crush is. But I digress.) and I would NEVER spread something secret worthy to anyone but the directly involved parties.

The problem with the Housewives is that the majority of them seem to magically think that the girls who hurt them once won't hurt them again. They try to hard to be friends or something.

But this leads directly into the primary problem between Theresa and her brother--should a husband and wife be allowed to share everything in cofidence? The answer is a resounding yes. And in the specific case of them? Make that a HELLZ YES. If you tell your brother that you think his wife is cheating on him, you should EXPECT him to go tell her that. Otherwise you sound like a whiny little bitch who doesn't like her sister-in-law and doesn't want to discuss the reasons why she doesn't like her. What did Theresa expect? That he'd take his sister's word blindly and divorce her? Really? But then there is not one instance I can think of where I agreed with Theresa on an issue. She is self-centered and never wrong according to herself. Of all the housewives, she has not one redeeming quality. And to think that I didn't like Caroline at first.

And this is why I like the Real Housewives--it's like free therapy of what NOT to do.

Real Housewives

I admit it, I enjoy watching the Real Housewives (all the various localities) make a fool of themselves in public. Right now I'm watching Atlanta and they're discussing the Africa Incedent (where supposedly one woman said that the white one wouldn't hold a black baby). What I'm laughing most about is how they're attacking one another in a most back-stabbing way and yet, all they really need to do is watch the footage that was shot and it's clear that everything was at the very least thrown completely out of proportion and at the very most, it's apparent that someone is purposely trying to start fights (I'm someone that hopes desperately that it's not on purpose). These ladies have the luxury of a camera available to settle all disputes since they can hear all that stuff that is normally just second hand information.

I think that episodes of the Real Housewives should be used in conflict mediation especially between women where talking behind another's back is the primary cause of conflict. An entire lesson can be taught where individuals learn to recognize what second hand information can start. In my perfect world the gossip spreader gets beat up, not the one who said something with, or without, malicious intent. 'Course, also in my perfect world, there isn't malicious intent because the primary speaker has balls enough to talk to the person in question if they have a problem, and the recipient of the comment has intelligence enough to listen and reply in a civilized manner.

And on that note, my dad came home from work last Friday and told me that he now knew what I meant about teachers at school refusing to break up a girl fight. When Norfolk Public Schools got in trouble last fall for what a lot of people thought was excessive use of pepper spray, I told him about how violent girl fights are and not just to the girls involved--they will rip out the hair of anyone who tries to intervene--pepper spray is sometimes the only way to break up the fights (and when it's a "food fight" involving chairs, the spray is even more necessary). But anyway, my dad had never seen a chick fight before he was stopped at a red light in front of one of the projects--he now knows exactly what I was talking about. Some girls just don't have class, and yet, using their propensity to jump down another's throat and fight like animals as evidence doesn't work for some reason....