The Real Superman?

Ok, Okay, Superman doesn't really exist. But check out how far this diehard fan will go to look like Superman.

Herbert Chavez (35) went under the knife and now has a cleft chin, thinner nose, fatter lips and thigh implants to resemble his SUPER HERO. Maybe he doesn't need a plastic surgeon but more of a psychiatrist and a gym membership. But whatever floats his boat.

Reality Check- 'Survivor' Edition by Kate Jones

Reality Check- Watching 'Survivor Redemption Island'

     Anyone who has ever been around me, ever read what I have written, ever attempted to call me on a Thursday (now Wednesday) night knows that I love Survivor. More than Survivor, I love, love, LOVE “Boston” Rob Mariano. I know I have said it before. The reason I love Rob stems from the fact that one of the first full seasons of Survivor I watched was the “All-Star” season that Rob and his future wife, Amber, completely dominated. Also, I love the way he plays the game. I love that he is too smart to fall for Jeff Probst’s way of asking questions, always giving him an honest and effective “non-answer.” I love that he evolves with the game. I love that he is lovable, and still a villainous mastermind. He is playfully arrogant, but knows at any point, his time may come.

Your 'Survivor Redemption Island' cast

"Boston" Rob & Russell

     For all of these reasons, I was so happy to hear that he was going to be back on Survivor for the fourth time this season on Redemption Island. With him, the Survivor I hate the most, Russell Hantz. When they were split up onto tribes of newbies, Russell quickly made friends with two cute little girls, which has always been his game. The tribe noticed and threw a challenge to get him the hell out of there. Rob on the other hand went in helping the tribe. He was kind and they loved him. The few that didn’t were gone quick… Rob knows when it’s their time to go. He can see it in their faces and he can hear it in their voices when they are even THINKING to get him out of there. If Rob is the slightest bit afraid of someone, he will make sure to convince the rest of the tribe that THEY should be afraid of that person. It’s what happened with Matt in episode 2 and with Matt again after he came back from Redemption Island at merge.

'Survivor' Phillip

     As Boston Rob’s tribe again turned on Matt, voting him out immediately after he returned from Redemption Island, and tricking the other team into using their immunity idol, the opposite tribe, the ones who got rid of Hantz in episode three, said “ohh, that poor kid”. When one of them said, “what happened” David, a slimy but smart player said… “Genius is what that was.” And it was. Matt could beat Rob.

Rob just couldn’t have that.

      This is a pretty good season. Besides Rob, we have former Federal Agent (?) Phillip, who says some pretty crazily awesome things and walks around in pink briefs. Ralph is a redneck who happens to have the most insanely cool body hair ever. There are two former NFL players, one young (Grant) and one older (Steve). There’s that slimey lawyer guy, David, and a firefighter lady, Julie, and the normal parade of cute 20 something females who are on the show to lose that 3 lbs. they gained in their big toes when they graduated college. There is a Marine who keeps trying to make big moves, but I think his time is limited… unless he can convince Grant to make a big move. Grant has been pretty loyal to Rob, but if Grant turns, then he has a good shot of taking this whole thing. This of course depends on being able to get rid of Matt on Redemption Island… who is a wiz at all things challenges.

'Survivor' Andrea

     I don’t know what could possibly happen with the rest of this season. I don’t know if Rob will win. There’s only so long they can keep him around, I suppose. I will enjoy it while it lasts. IF he can’t win, I am rooting for Grant, or Matt (if he can make it back to the game). If I had to choose a female, it would be Andrea, who is playing this game VERY smart and pulling her weight around the camp.

     But, I will now and always cheer for the guy that can convince a bunch of people that the word Murlonio means, from the sea…united, when it is actually just the name of one of his wife’s stuffed animals. Kind of mean, but still so adorable.

Link to Kate Jones' previous installment of 'Reality Check'

Reality Check- 'Jersey Shore' Edition by Kate Jones

Reality Check- Watching 'Jersey Shore Season 3'
I know it’s been so long, my friends. While coping with the general difficulties of being a full-time educator and part time Master’s student, I have been greatly ignoring my blogging responsibilities. However, I think I have finally figured out how to balance my many roles and can finally return to one I enjoy a lot… writing about television. I haven’t really picked up on too many new shows, but I continue to watch the old ones. So today, I’ve decided I’m going to give you a brief run down on some of the lunacy that’s been going on in reality land… and I suppose I have to start with everybody’s favorite idiots, the cast of the Jersey Shore.

3rd Season assemble and role out

"Meatballs" Snooki & Deena 

This season, we actually saw the total deterioration of the most normal Shore cast member… Vin. He went from a lovable 21-year-old just trying to get a little booty and stuck in the middle of crazy land, to a full blown, spray tanned, whore-banging, player guido (I just had to add guido to my new computer’s dictionary, thus losing a piece of my soul). It was a little sad to see him get drunk and be mean to Snooks, who, though totally insane, is kinda lovable in her meatbally kind of way.

Speaking of meatballs, we also met Deena, who is definitely an upgrade from Angelina, but doesn’t add anything to the show…we already have a meatball who falls off of bars. That being said, she seems kind of nice and fun, so she can stay around!

JWoww and her wows

JWoww finally broke up with her boyfriend Tom, after she already fell for permanent shore resident, Roger. About time no? I don’t think that the show really portrayed Tom fairly though… I mean, she cheated on him in like the first episode and the guy stayed around… wouldn’t you be paranoid about what your significant other was doing too? I mean look at Sam and Ronnie? That being said, I have never been much of a Jenny fan, but she grew on me a little bit this season. I wish her and her juicehead much luck in all their future endeavors.

Pauly D. was kind of nonexistent this season, no? Except for when him and Vin would team up and make funny jokes (denimdenimdenim, being my favorite of the season by FAR), he was kinda boring.

Also boring- the Situation! This guy really lost his mojo, no? I mean no one in the house seems to really give a crap about him and his antics anymore… and either do I.

This brings us to Ron and Sam. Now, I’m going to make a very important statement to start this off. I am not a fan of Ron OR Sam. Now I am going to make a Public Service Announcement in regards to this statement. Young women of the world, get out of your crappy abusive relationships!

I understand that Sam is immature and kind of dumb, but that is no excuse for her things to get destroyed. I understand that she won’t forgive Ron for “Miami” but it’s kind of hard to erase the picture of your man tonguing down two girls in a bar and then climbing into bed with you. I understand that she should have told Ron that she invited that funny looking dude to Karma to make him jealous, but I don’t understand why he would go so crazy that she made out with him YEARS before. She’s sneaky? Why? Because she existed before she was with that gorilla that survives only off of steroids and Xenadrine? Ron is an asshole. Plain and simple. She may be a silly young girl, but she has NO REASON to be treated the way she was. The fact that MTV tried to make her the villain in this situation makes me completely hate humanity. Either way, I can’t wait to see more Shore next season.

Recap 1 (in a while) down. I’ll be back soon with an ode to the other love of my life “Boston” Rob Mariano and Survivor: Redemption Island.

Link to Kate Jones' previous installment of 'Reality Check'

Introducing: Reality Check by Kate Jones

A few years ago I could care less about keeping up with much television. I picked a few shows that I thought were worth keeping up with, like Alias and Lost, but I cared more about being social (code- I was going out and getting drunk with my friends). Then in 2005, I met my future husband Rich, which awoke a sweeping desire to stay home more often. Still, we didn’t watch anything consistently (except Lost- don’t worry, Goldblum!) until the heavenly day when we moved into our own apartment and got…DVR! With this handy device, Rich and I slowly started watching anything that piqued our interest. We would watch Survivor when we were home and it was on, so now we taped Survivor. Same with Amazing Race and the Biggest Loser. Our summer belongs to Big Brother. When we’re bored, we watch MTV and VH1 Reality. It has come to a point where this stuff ALMOST outweighs the comedy and drama that we have always loved.

All of that being said, we watch reality television solely for entertainment. It is intriguing to watch groups of people, most who have never met each other, in various situations that show what they will do with money or fame on the line. The lying, the cheating, the stealing, the hiding, the fighting, the physical strain, the plastic surgery… these people will do almost anything!

Now, I’m going to be talking about a few different kinds of reality television. First- Network Reality Television. This is usually the least trashy and most inspiring kind of reality show. These are competitions like my personal favorites, The Amazing Race, Survivor and The Biggest Loser, as well as America’s Next Top Model, Hell’s Kitchen, American Idol, and sometimes The Bachelor, Bachelorette and those Dance and Talent shows. Actually, most Bravo Reality shows are also in this category.

The second type of show revolves around families of one way or another. “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”, “The Girls Next Door” and any show like that from E! Also, anything having to do with exploiting your tiny, beautiful children, in true Jon & Kate fashion, will be covered in this category.

The third type is the most fascinatingly, simultaneously funny yet trashy mess that is known as MTV & VH1 Reality programming. No matter what I do, I can’t tear my eyes away from the “Love” shows and “Tool Academy.” It is all a horrible and awesome mess. Words can’t even describe the way that I feel about “Jersey Shore.” I can’t tell if I hate these people or if I am in some strange way totally infatuated with them. Also in this category is any show that happens to be on Fox Reality Channel. Have you ever seen “Battle of the Bods?” Arrogant and delusional women lead to a funny half hour.

Whether you share my love of this so called reality or not, I hope that you enjoy my future ramblings. I'll be checking in weekly to discuss the shows I love, and would love to hear you comments about Reality TV. Also, please click the Follow button on the right and become followers on C-C-D and Twitter.  Happy Viewing!!!!!!