Lesson #9: On Reality Shows

You will never be able to guess what Ms Nomer and her friend Smole have been up to while I’ve been patiently blog-sitting Pencil Shavings. You’ll never hear it from Ms Nomer herself either, since she is so miserably shy and defensive about her privacy, but I’ll tell you; heck, I’ll tell you anything if it is to my advantage: they are busy making a three-minute audition tape for the Amazing Race Asia.

I watch from my hole in the guitar and laugh at their conceit: they think that people will be interested in watching them on TV!

Ms Nomer: “Hi my name is Ms Nomer and this is my best buddy Smole.”

Smole (in the sweetest Ms Universe voice): “We are both 28 and we come from the sunny island of Singapore!”

Together: “And we want to be on the Amazing Race!”

Makes you want to cringe in your seat, really, if it wasn’t so funny to begin with.

If TV makes people have unrealistic expectations about what life should be like, reality TV is even better. It blurs the line between what is real and what is made-up: Everybody can be a star! (American Idol) You can be the next Donald Trump! (The Apprentice) My life is so interesting that I want to broadcast every minute detail to the entire world! (Big Brother) Life is just a back-stabbing game to the top! (Survivor). Quite brilliant, actually. Who would have thought of it? That real life should be more absorbing than fiction?