Shows that might be hazardous to your health

With all of the reality shows on the air these days, they all have one similar trait — they make people feel like they’re not good enough. Now it looks like you can add one more show to the neurosis-inducing list. Beautiful People follows around Robert and Greg, founders of the website beautifulpeople.net as they launch the site in Canada.

Taking shallow to a whole new level, members of the site judge applicants based solely on their physical appearance and build an online dating and networking community, excluding average-looking people from the pickings.
There are so many shows on the tube right now that can easily make you feel like garbage. TVGuide.ca is giving you a list of programs that may cause you to want to go see a shrink soon after.

Paris Hilton’s My New BFF
What can I possibly say other than, do you really expect anything more than this from Paris Hilton? The shallowest of the shallow, Hilton chooses from a group of 18 men and women to fight to become the socialite’s pal. What? She doesn’t have enough money to buy a new ‘friend’? Now she’s making a mockery of people by deciding who is “worthy” enough to be associated with her? NOT hot!

Celebrity Fit Club
Between forcing seemingly overweight celebs to participate on the show to putting the two groups on giant scales to see how much their combined weight is, Fit Club gives off the impression that all stars should be skinny. Not at all realistic, this reality show not only screws with the minds of the celebs themselves, but furthers the stigma that celebrities are not like the rest of us and they must live up to their persona. Yes, staying fit and healthy is important but Celebrity Fit Club essentially humiliates stars on TV.

Rock of Love
Gotta love a good groupie, right? Well, it seems like that’s all this Bret Michaels reality show is — one big slut-fest with a D-list celebrity. Throughout the show, Michaels has to pick a new girlfriend using the process of elimination. The 20 “lucky” contestants are faced with challenges to win the former Poison singer’s heart and if he doesn’t like you by the end of the episode, he’ll boot you out of the house. Nice, huh?

Beauty and the Geek
Though the pairing of pretty yet intellectually inept people combined with smart yet socially inept individuals is seemingly intriguing at first, it plays on so many stereotypes. Throughout the show, contestants (who are paired up by a hottie and a nerd) are tested on their intelligence and social skills and if they fail, they get the boot. The only thing this “ultimate social experiment” proves is that people will do anything, including exploiting themselves, for a bit of money and 15 minutes of fame.

America’s Next Top Model
Yes, it’s definitely entertaining to watch a bunch of pretty girls duke it out in one of television’s bitchiest, scrappiest shows but ANTM’s message — that looks and image are all that matters — is enough to make most people run to the gym. OK, so the show has tried to diversify itself by having a few plus-sized models, but how far have any of them gotten? With the exception of Whitney, the other winning models have been stick-thin, furthering the stigma that only pretty, thin girls can have a successful modelling career. So much for having the occasional cookie, I guess...

The Bachelor
It’s every male chauvinist’s fantasy: Put 25 women in a house together, date each of them and give the women the boot, one by one, if they don’t meet your standards. What makes this show exceptionally stomach-turning is that during every episode, the bachelor skanks it up with multiple women, gets their hopes up and then rejects them without blinking an eye. If this happened in the real world, this dude’s butt would be kicked so hard, he’d think John Wayne Bobbitt had it easy.

The Biggest Loser
Yet another show that exploits overweight people. What makes this show degrading is not the fact that their struggles with weight loss is documented on TV, but rather the obstacles that they show puts them through, which either helps or hinders them. One of the worst elements is probably the temptation portion of the show where contestants are given the choice of eating something unhealthy, like a bag of chips, or doing something beneficial, like riding a bike. Not only does this potentially set contestants up to fall off the scale, but gives the idea that a slip-up or two is unacceptable behaviour. How realistic is that?

A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila
Is she straight or is she a lesbian? Likely the trashiest show on TV right now, A Shot at Love follows Tila Tequila as she chooses between 16 men and 16 women to become her new... umm... life-long partner. Think The Bachelorette, but with a bisexual female. Confusing, huh? Having never been in a situation like this myself, I can only assume that contestants feel a sense of ball-busting humiliation as Tila goes back and forth between genders. Ick!

American Idol
The combination of Simon Cowell’s nasty comments and being rejected by the judges and viewers would easily crush any singer’s dreams of super-stardom. Even if your performance is decent, there is always a chance that you may get voted off and someone with less talent will go further in the competition... or even worse... win. William Hung had no musical training or background, but for whatever reason subsequently had a cult following and got a record deal after his infamous “She Bangs” audition. You can’t tell me that doesn’t anger Idol alums who have fallen into musical oblivion.

Hell’s Kitchen
Gordon Ramsay’s honest yet cutthroat personality is very similar to American Idol’s Simon Cowell, except a bit scarier. Between swearing at HK’s contestants to literally throwing an entire plate of food against walls, Ramsey seems like the type of person who would intentionally give someone a complex just for his own amusement. Whether it’s because he’s a perfectionist or just mean-spirited, Ramsey’s one boss I’d stay the hell away from.

By Marlene Benedicto

Update on Goal

First of all, I just want to apologize to my readers for not blogging as much as I used to. I have been busy with new responsibilities at work. Can't complain about that though, I am actually excited about the new things I am doing.

Anyway, it's been at least 2 weeks since I started my fitness regime and I want to update you of what I have accomplished so far.

Like I mentioned, I did eat little portions and I did eat more nutritious food and less junk. I haven't had pop since the day I started -- Opppss that is not true, I had a sip yesterday from Robin's drink, but that was it.

So I have been eating a lot of veggies, mainly salad and coleslaw and then I reduced my rice intake. The little portion worked for me actually, but it's a little hard not to snack on a fruit after.

So, we have been fast walking every other day for the past 2 weeks, except this week when it rained almost every night so we didn't walk. Instead we ended up at a cafe and had really really bad dessert!!!

I was tempted, so I ended up getting carrot cake instead of the chocolate and caramel smothered chocolate cake (Nadine had that!). I really find that my running buddy is such an enabler when it comes to chocolate and desserts. I don't think she has the will power to refuse such things... :P

Oh I must say our Supporter (The Nazi) doesn't help either as she is also a chocoholic! Geez, I am stuck with 2 chocoholics! I am actually surprised I still lost weight and inches around my waist. I HAVE WILL POWER!!! YAY..

Anyway, so just so you know I lost 2 lbs and an inch on my waist since I started this whole thing. Not much improvement but still better than nothing!!! 2 lbs baby !!! I finally fit better in my clothes, but I think a few more lbs will make it comfortable.

I will update you guys again soon, I hope to blog about other things too...:)

Have a great weekend!

My new goal

Since my childhood I never had a problem with my weight, I was always average even though I ate more food that my stomach can handle. I guess my metabolism was just always working a fast rate. As I grow older, I have been realizing that my metabolism has slowed down. I can't blame it, it's not like I have been helping it by exercising or doing something about it.

Anyhow, after I had my son almost 3 years ago. Within a couple of months I was back to my normal size of 103 lbs. It was perfect for my height of 5 feet 1 inch, I wasn't too skinny but all my clothes fit perfectly and I was happy with myself.

For the past 8-10 months, I gained so much weight from eating, BBQ-ing and more eating. See, I used to do this a lot too but my body was able to get rid of the extra weight without exercising. Now I think my body has given up cleaning the waste and let the waste take up residence in my midsection. Damn these waste, they better pay rent if they are going to stay in my body for awhile!

I have been a healthy person, minus the fact that I have asthma, which really I blame Canada for it (damn weather made me sick). I tell you, I am healthy, you can even say I am healthy by the book. My blood pressure is 120/80, that is by the book baby! Beat that!

Therefore, I am not going to do this for the sake of my health, well maybe it'll help with my asthma. I am going to try and lose weight for the sole reason of trying to fit in my clothes!

Yes, most of my clothes don't fit me anymore so it's been a struggle everyday trying to find clothes to wear to work. It's been such a pain trying to squeeze in my favorite jeans and just eventually toss it because I couldn't even zip it up. No, I can't go flying low - that doesn't work.:)

So starting Monday, I will do the following to lose some weight so I can fit in my clothes again:

* Eat sensibly
* Go for walk/run for at least 45 Minutes 4 times a week
* Avoid Fatty Foods
* Go to bed early
* Do crunches every morning for 10 minutes
* Drinks lots of water

So there you go, based on the ticker on the right hand side of this window, I have 17 lbs to go to achieve my goal and be comfortable with my clothes.

If you have any suggestions to help me with my goal, let me know!!! Encouragement is highly appreciated!!!

I will be posting my progress here so watch out for new postings!!!

HBO's Rome

It's been awhile since I posted here - I have been really busy finishing HBO's Rome and now I am watching House season 4.

Gaius Julius Caesar

Last year I read somewhere online about this show on HBO called Rome. I was intrigued so I ended up buying both season 1 and 2 on eBay. I love period shows especially if they depict history, even though sometimes they are inaccurate, but that is up to the viewer to get the fact right.


Here's some information about the show:


" The series is a historical drama depicting the period of history surrounding the violent transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire; a change driven by civil warfare between populists (populares) and conservatives (optimates), the decay of political institutions, and the actions of ambitious men and women. The HBO website provides the following introduction:

The Triumph of Gaius Octavian Caesar

Half a century before the dawn of Christianity, Rome has become the wealthiest city in the world, a cosmopolitan metropolis of one million people — epicenter of a sprawling empire. Founded on principles of shared power and fierce personal competition, the Republic was created to prevent any one man from seizing absolute control.


It is a society where soldiers can rise up from provincial commoners to become national heroes, even leaders of the Republic. But as the ruling class became extravagantly wealthy, the foundations have crumbled, eaten away by corruption and excess, and the old values of Spartan discipline and social unity have given way to a great chasm between the classes.[2]


While chronicling the lives and deeds of the rich, powerful and "historically significant," the series also focuses on the lives, fortunes, families and acquaintances of two common men: Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, two Roman soldiers mentioned historically in Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico. The fictionalized Vorenus and Pullo manage to witness and often influence many of the historical events presented in the series.

The wedding of Marc Anthony to Octavia of the Julii

Season 1 depicts Julius Caesar's civil war of 49 BC against the traditionalist conservative faction in the Roman Senate, his subsequent rise to absolute dictatorship over Rome and his eventual fall, spanning the time period from the end of his Gallic Wars (52 BC or 701 ab urbe condita) until his assassination on March 15, 44 BC (the infamous Ides of March).

Against the backdrop of these cataclysmic events, we also see the early years of the young Octavian, who is destined to become the first Emperor of Rome, Augustus.
Season 2 chronicles the power struggle between Octavian and Mark Antony following Caesar's assassination, spanning the period from Caesar's death in 44 BC to Octavian's final victory over Antony at Actium in 31 BC." source


It's really sad that this show didn't continue after 2 seasons as I must say that this is one of the best shows I have ever watched. Mind you it's not for young ones, there are a lot of nudity and some foul language, which really portrays Rome back in the days.


If you can get pass the nudity and sex scenes, this show has a lot of strong points. Rome is not some kind of a low budget series, actually they ended up stopping the show due to budget - it cost too much to make it. The costumes are beautiful and the props are so realistic that I feel like I am looking at Rome back in the days. The history itself is I would say 70% accurate, but that is the viewers discretion to find the facts.

Cleopatra and Octavian

I must say though that the strongest point of this show are the actors. It's amazing that these unknown actors are doing much better that the popular ones out there. Each of them portrays their character so well that you'll believe them. Young, middle aged, old; these actors are so talented, I love watching them speak and act, it seems so natural to them.

Vorenus, Marc Anthony and Cleopatra

I am a little sad that I have finished season 2 and I am hoping that eventually they will continue this show. It's a shame that shows that stimulate the mind is getting put on the shelf while shows that lowers your IQ are on the top chart. What is happening to our society? So Sad.