Back from "The Ice," Headed for The Hills

Hello my dear friends!

Long time, no write. I am finally back from Antarctica (which I hadn't mentioned before my trip as I wanted it to be a "surprise" of sorts, but then when a ship sunk in the area, I posted a short message to ensure that people who knew where I was knew that I was OK)!

Now that I've returned, all I have to say is: what is UP with the coldness in Chicago? When I left it was 55 degrees and when I got back there was an ice storm and it's 19 degrees! Despite the fact that, as another passenger put it, I looked like Hannibal Lecter during my trip because of all of my excessive fleece coverings, it actually was much warmer in Antarctica than it is in Chicago. I want to go back!

Rest assured that there will be several posts in the near future containing wonderful pictures from and details about my trip, but for now I need to decompress and let the experience sink in before I attempt to write about it. And what better way to decompress than to fire up the ol' Tivo and see what I had missed over the past few weeks? Turns out that I missed a whole lot of nothing. It was quite obvious that the writers' strike is still in full effect as only reality shows had been taped. Since I was pretty tired last night (Antarctica is only 3 hours ahead of Chicago, but I had traveled for over 24 hours straight to get back, and it doesn't take much to screw up my sleeping patterns in the first place), I knew that I would only be able to absorb only the lightest of fluff--so of course I chose to watch The Hills.

The week I left, the much-hyped confrontation between Heidi and Lauren had aired. While Lauren delivered one memorable line, "I want to forgive you, and I want to forget you," it was overall a let-down for me. I wanted to see some physical violence! And don't even try telling me that the whole thing wasn't scripted, because Lauren could not have come up with some of the lines she had on her own.

If you have never watched the show or missed that episode, here is a 3.5-minute clip of the climactic meeting. They are fighting over the fact that Lauren believes Heidi's fiancé, Spencer (he of the mouth that's too small for his teeth and face), started rumors about the existence of a sex tape starring Lauren and her ex-boyfriend. Lauren has always denied that such a tape exists.



In the two episodes since the showdown, the series has returned to its formula of filming the lives of people who do absolutely nothing. The only thing of note was the introduction of Spencer's sister, dubbed "She-Pratt" by Lauren and her roommate Audrina. Oh, and Audrina and her completely idiotic boyfriend, Justin Bobby, broke up (for now).

Unbelievably (since nothing ever happened), the season is already over, with its finale airing next Monday. MTV is making a HUGE to-do out of it. There is supposed to be a big announcement at the end of the after-finale show, and if you don't care about being spoiled--click here for a good guess as to what it is.

Now that The Hills will be over as of December 10, there's yet another 25-or-so minute time slot open in my week. Good thing I didn't get through all 300 magazines during my trip...

- e