I often feel like I'm in year 7, watching this show, but for me that isn't so pleasant a sensation. Anyway, You didn't honestly think we weren't going to come back to this little narrative, did you? Our final farewell to Bianca is now finished (below this). But, aside from the destruction of the Crazy Bitch™, Sunday's action also continued the show's push for Daddy's Little Princess™, Brigette. This included taking the vile narrative of a vile boy playing power games with a vile girl, and giving it a sugary coating that completely ignores the reality we have, hello, been watching for the past month. "It's like feeding a horse," Cherry once said of his quest for Brigette's affection. But never mind that; let's all get behind the starstruck lovers - even if one of those lovers is cheating on another (or are they?). She'll be safe for tomorrow's eviction (the show has now moved to have Ben's name on the card - although I'm mildly optimistic that this could be Rory's final moment). However, a surprise twist, today, when who should come out of the woodworks, but.... drumroll.... Eric. Oh, and Albert. But Albert, let's face it, is an almost daily occurrence, and one wonders if they should just put him in there with his daughter, and be done with it. Could it be that everyone's favourite Princess™ has actually been, all this time, the real Crazy Bitch™? Check back later, as we recap the recent revelations, and ponder what is about to happen to a young man set to walk into the lion's den (this Wednesday) with his young pride very much at stake. Beware, young Eric, one wonders if you know what you're really about to take on. Stay tuned.
BIANCA EVICTED IN SHOCK TURN AROUND IN PUBLIC AFFECTION FOR RORY!
Written by The Eye
Tuesday, 08 July 2008
"I think I was who I truly am."
Bianca
See, I can write like The Machine™, too. In truth, however, there was
nothing too shocking about tonight's eviction. Bianca, a girl with a
stress-response disorder, dressed up like the Smart Girl™ she likes to
believe is her social problem (you know, as opposed to her
stress-response disorder?) for the last time. She was, let's face it,
the easiest target to eject, once the time came. With the finale now
upon us, and standing next to housemates as marketable (which the show,
I've noticed, likes to call "Big Characters™") as Travis, Terri and
Rory, the time was now. Ciao, Bianca. No Pamela for you.
A few weeks ago, Kyle Sandilands confirmed the rumours that everybody's
favourite "little person", Rima, was not only reluctant to return to
the show, but thinking of suing them. Let's just remember that, for a
moment, because it stuns me that nowhere did I see anyone mention this
rather extreme change in the narrative (even on forum boards). What happened, do you suppose,
to go from publicly pressuring the girl who was clearly not a friend of
the show, to having her walk on stage and back into the Big Brother
house? What changed her mind? Speculation, I'm afraid - I've no idea.
But something did, after all. Just when the country had wiped their
memory clean of her (we will wipe the rest clean, too, by August),
she's back. Heavens knows what deals went on behind closed doors, but
by the time she'd left, I couldn't help wondering if she really made
the right move. What was she expecting that to "do" for her? Because
all it did, in a hurricane 48 hours, is do nothing but exploit and,
quit frankly, misuse her. They got Rima to go back and do their heads
in, for a bit of drama. Cheers, Rima, you can fuck off, now.
Looking back, Terrence's final days as a Grey Nomad didn't help him, any. With the age gap now being used by the show, conceptually, to pitt the horrible, annoying old pervert against the young moderns (how innocent they all are!), the horrible behaviour that saw Brigette and Co terrorise the Grey Nomads did not land on the audience in the same vein as the previous instances of "bullying" (such as the Nobbi incident, etc). If there was any sympathy in the public, it was for Terri - I even saw one forum thread putting forward that the real culprit was Terrence, because he made the others hate him, and poor Terri got caught up in the crossfire that surely Terrence deserves! Terri had rather cleverly bridged the age gap, by essentially backstabbing Terrence, and doing a really nice job - considering nobody seemed to pick up on it - of getting "in" with the younger housemates, which means that she effectively pleases both demographics. That's Terri's biggest card going into the final leg of this, and though Terrence also tried very hard to bridge that gap, he made the terrible - though honest - mistake of trying to cross that bridge by earning their respect. Um.... no. Terri, on the other hand, had simply conformed and learnt how to model herself as the character the group had now started to accept as "one of them". The forums, talkback and blogs had started preparing for the brutal execution of bad boy Rory, but it was never going to happen, and all along, Terrence was slowly walking towards the gallows.
Part Two of The Crucifixion Of Terrence will be uploaded, later today (see below for Part One), before we take a look at the brief return of everyone's favourite "little person", Rima. Til such a time, I've managed to get some of the material of the past few weeks (though this is missing an episode or two of anti-Terrence material). So, let's have a peek at some of the journey of Terrence on that one-way road to Rebecca Wilson...
THE CRUCIFIXION OF TERRENCE - Part One (The Set Up)
Written by The Eye
Wednesday, 02 July 2008
"Can I just say that I disliked you, from the very beginning..."
Rebecca Wilson
A few weeks ago, much fuss was made when Nobbi and his gang of crows
happily set young Travis up in the spa. What the Kombi King did in this
scenario was to basically set up face-to-face friction between two
people, in order to satisfy a sadistic agenda. Many different people
called it many different things, but "bullying" seemed to be the
general conclusion, and, try as it might, the show could not keep their
marketable male clown. Nobbi was evicted. The next night, many fans
were somewhat amazed to see him being treated like a superstar on
Mondays' Big Mouth. All panelists agreed that regardless of a
couple of naughty moments - like, say, deliberately sexually unnerving a 50 year old
woman, or bullying a defenseless, innocent young man - Nobbi was just an all-round great guy and, as Jackie O had already declared
him on the eviction stage, a "fantastic housemate". And that was Nobbi
- we thought the question of bullying might begin to fade from the
proceedings. We were wrong. Every year, there is a dinkum die
crucifixion, a fully fledged flogging, that the show creates a
deliberate spectacle out of and, for the most part, is almost entirely
responsible for. We got 2008's, last night. And, when all is said and
done, they sacrificed the wrong guy: flamboyant
bogan-with-a-pop-spiritual-twist, Terrence. For all that may have
been... well... unbecoming about Terrence (for the most part, aspects
that paled in comparison to some of the vile creatures he shared the
house with), he really didn't deserve it.
Picture this. It's long, long ago (go back as far as you need to, but
make sure it's the last century), and there you are: younger - perhaps
a little fresher - and utterly naive as to what the millennium will
bring. Cars that fly in the sky, perhaps, or robots that bring you the
morning paper. The future will be a wonderful place, surely - how
positively... modern it will be, to live in the opening credits of
Beyond 2000. Imagine what the future will bring?
You can remember this person, but you can no longer "be" him or her,
because you are no longer living in the past, where today is both a
presumption and a fantasy, but in 2008. It's Monday morning, and, last
night, you watched your favourite (or not) TV show, and here you are -
online - reading some guy who sends little musings about this TV show,
through the wire, to your house, every day. Like a robot with the
morning paper, I come to you, at your own choosing. We talk about the
world we live in - a world that younger version of yourself knows
nothing of - and today, your trusted (or not) cyber friend - a man
you've never met - asks you to remember yourself, many years ago.
Poor little Big Brother celebrities. There they were, yesterday - the businesses they work for having a mutually beneficial arrangement – and poor little Kyle, and sweet, dear little Jackie, and, yes, the much maligned Gretel Killeen, “connected” (for lack of a better word) in their trials and tribulations. For they – only they – know what it is truly like to be the host of the beast that is Big Brother. In typical fashion, most of the 2DayFM radio interview was about themelves, and how difficult what they do is, and how much unfair criticism they receive, and how much Big Brother affects them and consumes them. Of course, there’s many who would suggest these people ultimately consume themselves. Or, perhaps, they are consumed by the Machine™ they bend over for. Imagine it: you long to transcend your ordinariness – your humanity – and become a product; then, next thing you know, you’re begging your public to remember that you are just an ordinary human. Oh, the irony. But, you know, welcome to the wonderful world of pop culture. Don’t let the door hit you, on your way out.
DEPENDENCY, CONQUEST & DECEPTION - Brigette and Cherry
Written by The Eye
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
"I thought I couldn't survive without Eric, and now I've realised that I can."
Brigette
A few weeks ao, we saw a moment where the show, rather blatantly – rather desperately – grabbed at it’s seemingly last chance to inject sex and romance into the mix, with the arrival of Cherry and Rhianna, 2008’s “hot” intruders. She was a needy young mother, and he was a player who lived for the ego kick of sexually conquering women – even to the point of keeping a personal record book of his prowess. Rhianna set her sights on Ben, but was soon white washed by Rory, only to be quickly evicted (with a little help from Cherry). As for our blonde predator, he quickly lucked out with his attempts to seduce Brigette and, as blonde predators tend to do, reconstructed the scenario and tried to have us believe that he was no longer even trying. It looked like sexual and romantic interplay was officially dead for the 2008 season – to the dismay of quite a few fans.
Well, that was Nobbi. By tonight, you can be pretty sure that whatever had been said, in regards to the show actually wanting him to remain, that was pretty much out the window, after last night. That boy couldn't have walked out that door quick enough for them, considering he was now potentially sitting on a sexual harassment scandal. I staggered in, at 2 in the morning, to find my email going a little crazier than it would usually, in the early hours of Sunday morning. By today, I'd secured some of the footage in question, and the show had begun deleting any mention of the incident on forum boards. Now, everyone.... just.... forgeeeeeeet..... you are getting sleeeeepy.... oh, fuck it, you're on Eye On Big Brother. I've no intention of letting anyone forget. So, what happened that had so many feathers ruffled by the light of a weekend moon?
Two things. Firstly, those watching live feed witnessed Nobbi and Rory deciding to taunt Terri, as they sat in the spa, by confronting her with their.... what word should I use... dicks. That's what they used, during the moment, so I'll follow suit. In particular, Nobbi stood out from the spa, and performed the "Helicopter" - something Terri then refers to Rory also deliberately doing in front of her, as well. I've known this term by it's much less friendly name of "meatspin", but "helicopter" seemed the choice for BB forum users, so I'll run with that, too. If you've never heard of either term, I'm sure you can use your imagination and work it out. Here's a hint: helicopters have blades, and they... well.... spin.
Terri was instantly offended, and made it very clear how distasteful she found the whole
thing, while the boys laughed and Nobbi jabbed, "Geez, Terri, don't you
like Asian dicks? You're a racist!" An ochre immigrant taunting a racist Hanson supporter, while he sexually harasses her - now, there's
something you don't see, every day! That was enough to start the furore on forum boards, as many asked the rather logical question, "Would this be sexual harassment, in any other context?" The answer, of course, is "yes". I'd discussed this behaviour, and the standards of nudity, before. It's one thing to "be" nude - it's "how" you use it, where things differ and lines become crossed. Even at a nudist camp, you're not allowed to use that nudity in a way which is deliberately designed to harass others or make them feel uncomfortable. I'd already noted Rory's behaviour in the showers, as Big Mouth aired his pathetic attempts to assert his dominance through the size of his appendage.
However, it would seem there's some more material of Rory's shower escapades that we have not seen. Beyond the actual spa incident of last night, the second drama came not from what happened, here, but from a following conversation where Rory reportedly (I haven't seen this part, myself, but it was verified by many forum users, so we're to tentatively presume it happened) confessed that he often waits for Terri to come into the bathroom, while he's showering naked, and masturbates himself, in order to make himself erect and, hence, make Terri feel uncomfortable. I'm not taking anything away from the question of whether Nobbi's act was inappropriate or not, but this was the element that interested me the most. If this boy has been systematically doing this, why don't we know? If such behaviour is going on in the house, aren't we entitled to see it? To, at least, be told of it? These things are pivotal in understanding the developing dynamics between housemates, but we miss them, and all because the show wants to control it's PR, and not lose any of its only hotties to another scandal like the infamous Turkeyslap.
Now that Nobbi's out, the show will receive a get out of jail card, when it comes to Nobbi's behaviour. But Rory, after all, is still in there, so I'll be very interested to see if this goes anywhere. With Big Brother deleting any mention of it, it would seem that (as always) they'd rather not address it, and are hoping no journalists have stumbled across it. But it certainly still dominates alternative forums, and 24 hours is long enough for someone to catch on, somewhere. Considering how dull this is all looking like becoming, perhaps they'd be happy for the attention, but sexual assault scandals are not something this show needs - particularly when it involves the "cover up" dynamic.
So, before tomorrow's eviction blog where we say our final farewell to the beguilingly awful Nobbi, and... well... never mention him again (drop in tomorrow, if you can), below is some of the footage of last night's moment in question. Again, it's all I've got of it, and I'd dearly love to see more of what happened right before this - it kind of lands right at the moment, when, as always, it would be nice to evaluate the planning of this, and to what extent it was "meditated", at all. The only ther potential discrepancy is in the "Helicopter"; while forum users talked of Nobbi doing this (we don't see him, full frontal, in this clip), I've a suspicion this came, rather, from Rory's admission that he performed the helicopter for Terri, and that perhaps Nobbi was doing something else with his, in the spa. That doesn't make a big difference - whether he was spinning his dick around, or not, isn't terribly consequential - but it's worth noting. Ultimately, we can only imagine what Terri is shown; but, it does involve Nobbi's genitals, that much is made very clear. And, at least, you'll get the context. I also find the converation that follows this, rather interesting. Rory groups everyone into one of three groups: mates who have seen his dick in the locker rooms, women who have seen his dick because they're having sex with him, and everyone else who - as he puts it - "doesn't matter... I don't give a fuck about them." Boys in locker rooms, girls in bedrooms, and... well... nothing else. What substance there is to the simple world of being a Rory! See you, tomorrow.
SOMEWHERE, WHERE WE BELONG
Written by The Eye
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
"The Moon Monks... looking for new recruits."
Mike Goldman
A lot of the time, what we’re really looking at in Big Brother - through the fishbowl, looking glass, etc – is ritualism. This week, we saw some evidence of intelligence within the Big Brother 2008 team (we’ve seen nothing else to go on, so far), when the show’s design recognised this ritualism by turning it into an almost metaphoric – at very least, dynamically parallel – task. But it’s not a clever statement, or even a joke; it’s just a rather interesting way of forcing what they know is working for them at the moment – the social ritualisation of the Big Brother “society”. The segregation and division of power amongst the group is a natural phenomenon – it’d happen, without any interference from the show’s design, as it already has. But just in case it slows down – because it nearly always does, as the group hierarchy “settles” – out comes the enforcement of group-forming and the declaration of this group through symbolic ritualism. It looks extreme – almost comical – but it’s not designed to provide laughs (though it achieves this purpose, too). It’s designed to keep the friction going, and to thrust Nobbi (in what may be his dying moments) into the spotlight he has basically held for the entire season. We can probably be quite sure that it will achieve both those goals.
"It's depending on how smart we are, next week. You get it?"
Cherry
Well, looks like Cherry is officially moving in on the powerful inner-circle of the BB Boys' Club. Scoff at my referring to them as "powerful", if you like, but they are, after all, still there. Yes, it's frustrating, I know. You would have hoped that after Cherry's array of charming comments about the women in the house - likening "catching" Brigette to "feeding a horse", referring to Rhianna (a girl he knew nothing of) as a "piece of shit", etc - that maybe - just maybe - the Australian public would make an obvious choice. But the Club, I'm telling you, is powerful. It's powerful on the outside, too - that's where these boys come from, after all. I can't say I thought too highly of Rhianna, but she didn't really do anything wrong. Her only crime was for her insecurities to fall for the forced attention of the wrong boy, and to become a target in the power plays of the men. You would hope that the public wouldn't be taking their voting tips from the likes of Nobbi and Cherry. But you would be wrong. Bye, Rhianna; you can join the long list of BB women who have been dealt an identical fate.
"I feel like I'm in Year 7."
"I think I was who I truly am."
"Now, you're making me cry."
"Be a Dream Maker..."
"I thought I couldn't survive without Eric, and now I've realised that I can."
"The Moon Monks... looking for new recruits."
