Thursday, December 20, 2007

My dream girl had bad credit

"Well, I married my dream girl.
(I married my dream girl.)
But she didn't tell me.
Her credit was bad.
So now instead of living in a pleasant suburb.
We're living in the basement at her Mom and Dad's.
No we can't get a loan, for a respectable home.
Just because my girl defaulted on some old credit card.
If we'd gone to freecreditreport.com...
I'd be a happy bachelor with a dog and a yard."


I'm sure most of you (who watch TV) will recognize this little ditty.


It's one of those clever Freecreditreport.com jingles.


It's catchy, but I am not too keen on the sentiment.


True enough, in this age of identity theft, seemingly limitless credit and a "gotta have it" culture, getting up to snuff with regards to one's credit rating/history is important.


But where the ad gurus at freecreditreport.com went wrong, was to tie a credit rating into date-worthiness. Which is not to downplay finances in relationships, many a domestic disputes are rooted in the family's bottom line. But to say I should've pulled her credit before marrying her is just asinine.


I used to work in mortgage where there were guidelines that dictated who was eligible for what loan, and credit score played a very large role in that determination. But it was not the ONLY factor. Just as there are many factors that play into the dating/marrying game.


Now I am single, and I'll admit, I have dismissed a lady based upon one (usually annoying) trait/habit. But I didn't pay someone to dig-up some information on the lady, which is effectively what a credit report does. I put in the leg work of actually spending time with her.


And something tells me that a discussion that starts with: "Honey, what do you think about pulling our credit before we get engaged…" ends very well.


Not only is it lazy to pass the responsibility of learning about your mate to someone/thing else, but it removes the human factor. And that's the fun part of dating.


Maybe the next step after pulling credit on your date is to exchange resumes. While that may sound funny, think about the recent popularity of online dating, services like eHarmony (of which I am a free member, which doesn't get you any dates, for the record) pretty much ask you to fill-out a dating resume and then turns to an algorithm to make love happen.


This "computer love" movement is interesting. As it is, I sit in a coffee shop, laptop open and IM with my friends as opposed to chatting-up the cute girl in the corner.


The fine art or face-to-face human interaction is being traded for a firewalled exchange of texts. With an occasional photo tossed-in to spice things up a bit.


That being said, freecreditreport.com isn't the anti-christ. Anyone who would pull credit on a significant other and allow the score to affect their relationship is. OK, maybe not the anti-christ, but a moron for sure.


Long story short, turn-off the laptop every now and again. Ignore the text messages and just go out into the world and interact.


And now I am going to do just that.

Monday, December 17, 2007

A shot of reality to stave-off the ‘Real World’.

So there's a writer's strike…


Sadly, that means the glut of reality-base programming foisted upon America is only going to increase.


I came across this article on MSN.com and was simply appalled.


'A Shot at Love with Tia Tequila' is a dating show centered on a bi-sexual woman's search for love and happens to be MTV's 2nd highest rated show. While that doesn't sound mind-blowing, just consider that the show ranks in the top 15 of all cable programming. I just find that sad. Not that a bi-sexual is reduced to finding love(fame) on national television, but that enough people care to give it such high ratings.


Lord knows I can't wait until my own reality TV show chance to find the girl of my dreams…meeting ladies in bars or coffee shops is so 20th century.


What do these kinds of shows say about American society? If these shows are based in reality, do they really reflect America? If so, I am very worried.


I was a fan of the 'Real World' in its first few seasons, it was innovative programming. The show offered a relatively unfiltered glance at youth culture. But even this groundbreaking cornerstone of "Reality TV" has lost its way and is now more T.N.A. and drinking than reality. The show that once blurred the line of documentary and drama has become a mere shadow of its former self.


The first few seasons of the 'Real World' offered casts that were diverse and for the most part, normal. Cast members were young folks who held real jobs, lived real lives and dealt with real issues. (At least as real as life can be when it's being filmed 24/7.) The first few years were genuine, which was hard to replicate once the stardom attached to these shows was realized. But sadly as the show became a hit, it fell victim to its own success and was re-tooled in favor of ratings versus authenticity.


It's sad to see such a promising genre of programming reduced to drivel like 'A Shot at Love with Tia Tequila.' The only creative thing about the show is the name and even that was pretty obvious.


Any shred of genuine portrayals/insights the genre produced in its early years, have been lost amid drunken shouting matches and bikini-clad hot tub hook-ups. What once offered unfiltered glimpses into the lives of others has been dumbed-down and boobed-up to the point of being mind-numbing.


The 'Real World' and reality spin-offs like 'The Hills' offer casts full of slender, busty, alcoholic, frat kids. As I sit in a trendy coffee shop near Seattle University and take stock of the people sitting around me, I see no one that fits that description.


The 'Real World' looks nothing like the world I live in and that is too bad.


And it's great…


It's too bad that such a powerful medium has been reduced to such terrible TV.


But it's great to see that the 'Real World' is in fact, far from it.


Maybe there's hope.