Did you say 8th grade?

OK, you already know what we must discuss. Why did the Sparks son, Nick, take the center of attention on "Black & White" last night? The boy is 16 and has been kicked out of the 8th grade. That's nuts, but I thought this show was about race relations. Why did we watch so much footage of Brian and Nick walking around without makeup and playing.. wait for it.. miniature golf(!). And Nick being scolded by his parents for being stupid took up a portion of the show. The only thing that made that worthwhile was to hear Bruno's Heart of Darkness-esque observation...

I consider it a real privilege to be privy to
parental addressing of a situation via the black
voice. I especially liked when she said "negro"....

So your kids can just go out and waste money on dumb shit, Bruno? (Oh that's right, you don't have any kids.) This is like letting your child say "pissed" just so they feel more grown. OK, Bruno, you can say negro if you want. It's technically not a bad word. I don't know how white moms react to this, but I can't imagine many middle class parents being cool with their kids blowing $160 on something they don't need. I thought it was a great move by the Sparks fam to make him take that watch back, but I really, really don't care to watch that on TV and I don't think it was a black or white issue. I'm just not clear where the producers were going with that. Fuck that, I want to see Renee do something in makeup. We only have a few weeks here!

OK, and lastly, did anyone notice how Bruno didn't catch a single stare or cold shoulder at the country bar when he and Carmen went dancing, but was blown away by the negative energy he felt in that park in the black neighborhood with the drum circle? Both groups used the same nonverbal methods to express their dislike for the couple, yet it was too subtle for him to notice when white people in the bar did it. Like he always says, you see what you want to see. Also Bruno was chatting up the white people in the bar, and I didn't see him say anything to the brothers in the park. Maybe he would have felt less tension if he had said what's up to a couple people at least.. and that outfit didn't help either. Even if he had a sista with him, I think Bruno would have gotten a couple stares.


And I'll leave you with words from Chef's eulogy on "South Park" last night (borrowed from someone's report):

"A lot of us don't agree with the choices the Chef has made in the last few days," one of the children eulogizes him at a funeral. "Some of us feel hurt and confused that he seemed to turn his back on us. But we can't let the events of the past few weeks take away the memories of how Chef made us smile.

"We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving us," the eulogy concludes. "We should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains."

Give these guys an Emmy!