Fameballs and the Deterioration of the Modern Woman

Full Disclosure:

For those who are close to me, they know a certain dirty secret of mine. I am easily addicted to bad reality television. After Jersey Shore started sucking with Sammi and Ron Ron’s incessant fighting (it was entertaining for the first three seasons…) I decided to eradicate this embarrassing habit of mine. I was semi-successful.

See, the gym at my school put in new machines with little televisions embedded in them. Anyone who claims that working out isn’t boring is way too high (and wouldn’t be at the gym at the first place) or is about to have a psychotic breakdown. 

So on these little televisions I discovered the entertaining and impressively vapid channels E! and Bravo.

This is where I was introduced to the world of The Kardashians and Real Housewives of unabashed superficiality. But really, there are so many different series I don’t know how people keep up with that show. Yes, I indulged at the gym and have a semi-understanding of how Khloe is handling her recent move to Texas. 

Okay, okay I have a problem. Those damn shows seem like the only programming for those two networks. IT WAS TOO DAMN CONVENIENT!

But I had stopped cold turkey as soon as I stopped going to the gym until I was watching television with my dad one night and saw an advertisement for a show aptly titled Miss Advised. It was about three “dating experts” who counseled clients on how to be lucky in love, yet had no game themselves. I saw that it chronicled their lives, and one of them lived in New York, so I decided to take a peek at the pilot just to see if it gave me any insight into NY-livin’ before I move in September. I understand this is a thinly-veiled excuse since in no way would I ever live in remotely the same area, but let’s play along.

The New Yorker, Amy Laurent, is a frigid and self-consumed bitch (well, aren’t they all), and taught me nothing about New York other than New York men are just as shitty.

The real star of the show is red-haired crazy pants named Julia Allison. I became consumed with her for the sheer fact that she cannot have a career based on dating. As the show follows her on dates she spirals quickly, and becomes so desperate for affection from some fella that she flung herself upon on the first date insisting that he kiss her. The poor guy was just trying to help his bro out by keeping Julia distracted while his friend hooked up with her roommate. The look of sheer terror on his face as Julia swung her arms like a love-tarded ape was classic, and something most women have either observed or experienced first hand in middle school or a bad night at a frat party…Not when you’re 31!!

Anywho, from then on I was sold by her not-so-silent desperation. Who is the woman and why is she so out of touch with reality? And then I discovered a gold mine of Gawker material on a woman who has come to be known on the internet as a fameball. She isn’t famous for a sex column like Bravo advertises (she hasn’t had one since 2009), but is the best of the best (or worst of the worst depending on how you view it) self-promoter. She is the whore of the social media/tech world and has squirmed herself into parties and photo-ops to the point that she is the socialite with no social skills. Her lack of tact and overall social awareness led to full websites dedicated to bashing her (it is the internet and all..).

But her tenacity, is something to admired…from a distance. My previous post focused on Jonah Lehrer’s speech on creativity and the one marker for great creative minds is grit. 

“Grit is not just about stubborn persistence. It’s also about choosing the right goal in the first place. … The unfortunate reality is that it’s not all going to happen. How can we make sure all our struggle and sacrifice will be worth it? Make sure it passes the underwear test.”

The underwear test is Lehrer’s euphemism for focus and how we get used to something so much that we don’t consciously notice or focus on it anymore (like undies). It explains why we lose excitement after a few weeks of having the new Iphone or clothes. Creative professionals pursue “un-underwear” like endeavors that they are willing to invest 10,000+ hours into to achieve success.

Honestly, Julia Allison is a horrible person and I would probably be taken back by her level of self-absorption (makes sense why she moved to L.A.), but damn does she have grit. From the numerous articles I have read about her since I discovered her vast online presence she is impressively persistent in gaining fame. Yeah, it might not be the way she wished to be noticed, but she is known and that is what counts in terms of achieving celebrity status, right?

Anyways, I will continue to allow this show to rot my brain this summer and just be so thankful that my personal grit hasn’t led me down that spiral of psychosis.