Cups

Last night, I saw some death-defying lifts (see above!) at the World Figure Skating Championships at the Staples Center here in LA.  However, I ran into some trouble when I tried to buy a beer.

Me: Hi, I’ll have a regular-sized beer please.

Guy Selling Beer at Staples Center:  Oh, we only have large cups, so I can only sell you a large.

Me: Well, can you just put a regular amount of beer in a large cup and sell me a regular?

Guy:  No.

Me: Why not?

Guy: We’re really selling the cups.

Me: What is it, some sort of special, collectors’ cup or something?

Guy: It’s a plastic cup.

Me: Can’t you just fill it with a little less beer?

Guy: No, we’re selling the cup.

Me: You’re charging me $9 for a plastic cup?  Not for the beer inside of it?  I really don’t understand.

Guy: Hang on, I’ll see if we have any regular-sized cups left.

He reappeared about three minutes later with a “regular” cup which he filled with a “regular” amount of beer.  Normally, I wouldn’t care, but the beer was totally overpriced anyway and I didn’t want to be forced to spend $2 more.  I am completely lost as to the “We’re selling the cup” logic. If I brought my own cup, would I have gotten a free beer?

Why am I keeping up with the Kardashians?

I somehow found myself watching about 6 to 7 hours of Keeping Up with the Kardashians the other day.  I really just couldn’t stop watching it.  I didn’t answer the phone while it was on.  I didn’t eat.  If Nathan Fillion had knocked on my door, I probably would have told him to come back later.  I was powerless against it.  In fact, I was sort of relieved when E! just stopped airing episodes because that meant I didn’t have to be watching them anymore.  Hours later, I kept talking to people about the show as if it was interesting or anyone at all cared. (Sometimes, I’m just not good at talking to other people.  Particularly in this unemployed/work from home part of my life.  I think I’m going to start scouring the Internet for appropriate conversation topics before going out from now on.)

Candid reality shows sort of fascinate me in a way because even though they are clearly scripted, there are genuine moments that sneak in there, unbidden, and the dichotomy between the fake and not fake is surreal.  Like, in this Kardashian show, Bruce Jenner bumbles around, clearly playing the role of the “sitcom dad.”  There was this really contrived storyline where he was paying one of the younger daughters an allowance for doing chores around the house, and she had hired some dude who worked down the street to do the same work for half price.  It was so obviously fake (where did she get the money to pay him before her dad paid her?!) and came to a predictably Growing Pains-esque resolution.  There is really something just so strange about people playing themselves in reality TV versions of their lives, and I always wonder how dopey they must feel doing so.

On the other hand, there was an episode where one of the daughters, Khloe, got a DUI on the anniversary of her father’s death and the emotions there actually felt uncomfortably real.  At least this show, unlike The Hills, does not mask the fact that the participants are celebrities and the show depicted the paparazzi following the family as they surrendered Khloe for her jail sentence.  How odd that they are all shielding themselves from being photographed by the paparazzi … while they are simultaneously being photographed for the reality show they all star in!

(I actually saw a paparazzo last week outside some trendy-ish establishment.  I rarely see them, which seems odd since I live in LA, but seeing a paparazzo was kind of as much of an amusement as seeing a celebrity for me.)

To watch Castle or not to watch Castle?

I have had a bit of an internal struggle lately with regards to whether I will watch Castle.  It looks really bad. The title alone sort of annoys me for some reason I can’t really pinpoint, although I suspect that it may have something to do with the fact that the main character’s name is “Rick Castle,” which is one of the fakest sounding names ever.  RICK CASTLE?  Please.

Also, the entire ”fun, non-serious, playboy guy tries to seduce an uptight, serious woman while investigating crimes” is so, so played.  Television has been bombarded with Moonlighting rip-offs for the past 20 years.  I don’t think there is a television watcher in the universe who is unfamiliar with this formula.  It’s DONE. Oh my God, we know they’ll eventually sleep together after thousands of seasons (if it makes it that long; if not, 13 episodes). I DON’T CARE.

However, Castle stars Nathan Fillion, whom I love.  Like, actually. In my heart. I think he’s a great actor and very funny and charming, but really … he’s just so very, very attractive. Look:  

Dreamy

I saw him in real life once and I think it’s a huge indication of my impressive degrees of self control that I did not ask him to marry me on the spot. I thought about it, though.  In fact, I visited his MySpace page to see what his interests are so that we can have things to talk about if our paths shall ever cross again (before the proposal, of course; a girl has to break the ice somehow).  And lo and behold, it does appear that we enjoy many of the same activities like hiking, watching Lost, and complaining.  If only he knew me already, he’d be in love with me RIGHT NOW and we’d be acting out scenes from Firefly.

I suspect that I will succumb to watching this show, but that I will only kind of enjoy it.