04w08:2 Tommy Toomuch Reality Posted February 18th, 2004 by timothy. 0 Comments Good Reads Mailing List | 2004 week 8 number 2 (tommy toomuch reality) ——————————————————————— eBay auction of ‘eight-six-seven-five-three-oh-nieeine’ on hold | Ian Demsky http://tinyurl.com/2hl8s “The phone number popularized by 1982’s one-hit wonder Tommy Tutone – Eight-six-seven-five-three-oh-nieeine – rings into a Murfreesboro used-car dealership in area code 615. Tuning in to national attention for the auction of New York’s 212 version of the number on eBay, the dealership put its number on the Internet auction block Monday. […] The bizarre convergence of ’80s pop culture and offbeat Internet auctions made ABC’s Good Morning America on Friday. Before the auction was canceled, New York’s ‘Jenny’ was going for more than $200,000. ” My Big Fat Obnoxious Prank | Joy Press http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0407/tv.php “Somehow we’ve grown accustomed to violation as prime-time entertainment. Violation of privacy – not only do we contend with security cameras in public spaces, the invasive threat of the USA Patriot Act, and cell phone users covertly snapping photos of people, but we also have hidden TV camera crews prowling through once anonymous city streets, looking to catch us at our most vulnerable. And violation of trust -more and more reality shows weave blatant deception into their basic premise, throwing unwitting victims into situations that range from the surreal and embarrassing to the downright traumatic. […]Critics may mock hidden-camera shows as the lowest rung of reality schlock, but the daddy of them all – Allen Funt’s Candid Camera -began with noble intentions. Funt believed that by secretly filming, he could reveal how average people respond to societal pressures and conflicts. ‘The worst thing, and I see it over and over, is how easily people can be led by any kind of authority figure,’ Funt once said. […] As McCarthy points out to me, ‘Networks have standards-and-practices offices to oversee things like swearing and sexuality and violence, but there’s nothing comparable to the institutional review boards that looks at the ethics of these programs.’ It’s left to the shows’ producers to think about where to draw the line – or not. ” Long urls made short by using TinyURL (http://www.tinyurl.com) —————————————- http://www.instantcoffee.org/tim/goodreads To remove or add yourself from this list, email tim@instantcoffee.org emailed by Timothy on Wednesday 18 February 2004 @ 1:21 PM
