As a (former?) Jersey Girl, I say ouch.

But I did laugh real hard. Out loud.

How I Met Your Mother, Season 3, Episode 2:

So, it’s like, totally, ya know?

Ok, so, I don’t want to break the new found glory (lol) and pride in America’s image of not being completely stoopid, but I just have to post about this show I saw on MTV – intellectual television at its best, I know.

Anywho, it’s called “Exiled” (can you feel the suspense, the drama and hear the dumdumdum in the background?) and it’s a spin-off of “My super-sweet sixteen” (gag, barf and vomit). Remember that show? It’s about a bunch of horrifyingly spoiled brats spending way to much of their parents money on a party (which is commonly then known as the most awesomest party of the town, ever) for their sixteenth birthday. With a BMW and/or Mercedes at the end. They make ridiculous requests, throw temper tantrums and always get their way. Ah, the joy of having children – and raising them poorly.

So, back to “Exiled”. These same insufferable bimbo drama queens (mostly girls, but there is one boy) are met again about two years later. Nothing has changed, but suddenly their parents think: wait a minute, my kid is a selfish brat! Except they don’t say it that way. They say: hmm, maybe she’s been too “protected”. Or: maybe she could learn to be more “self-sufficient”. Excuse me? Your pink, glittery, peroxided lump of a daughter hasn’t lifted a finger in her entire life and you’re worried she won’t be able to stand on her own two feet when real life begins? Seriously? Now where on earth would you get such an idea!

But instead of realizing: hey, we never brought up our child, we just threw money at it; instead of actually doing their job as a parent – they send their kid off to a very remote place to “teach them a lesson”. So they’re shipped off to Morocco or Thailand or the Andes to some poor tribes people who have to endure them. Now this is all put together in some very dramatic setting of course. The daughter coming in a darkly lit room, where the whole family (and a camera crew) waits, making grave faces. “Marissa (actual name), we have to talk. We’re sending you away – to Africa (dumdumdum, stunned face). You leave tonight, here is your plane ticket”. Reaction: “Is it first class?”. Ugh. And of course they make it seem all mean, poor girl, far away in some forlorn forest with no running water, no mani-pedis… But get this: they only stay a week. A freaggin week. Boohoo, big deal. I’d love to live like that for a week! Get to know some real foreign culture! But I guess that’s my parents fault. They actually raised me and taught me value of money instead of shoving me off to other people to do it for them.

It reminds me of a remark Jon Stewart made on the Daily Show: “Ah, war. It’s God’s way of teaching Americans geography”.

Btw, if for any reason I’ve made you curious and you actually want to see this brain candy, you can find whole episodes – and the “after” shows - here.

Another favorite funny show to waste time – on real TV

I just finished watching “The Daily Show: Global Edition” on Comedy Central. Finally, CC Germany picked it up and is now showing it, in english, with subtitles. It airs Tuesdays at 23h30 and is reran on sundays at 17h. It’s really too bad it only goes half an hour. It’s a lot like InfoMania, only it’s about news and politics rather than the general media. And although InfoMania is funny, Jon Stewart is hilarious. I was seriously laughing out loud and almost choked on my food. No, really, I’m not exaggerating. So if you get a chance, pick it up and we can discuss

For all of you wondering when I get any work done with all the surfing and TV-watching I apparently do on a daily basis I can tell you: it’s a gift. A special power I was born with. I just absorb the stuff like nothin’. Especially if it’s socially critical in a very funny way. In the same line I might add The (legendary) Simpsons, South Park and American Dad. But the gags go fast, so you really have to get it to find it funny. And instructional!