h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I avoided the slag-off threads in Ask and elsewhere. Eternally fascinating how the people round here will go on and on about something they (ostensibly) hold in contempt. Anyway...

This latest Celebrity Big Brother was not the greatest ever, and would have been tedious without the racist bullying spat. The meeja knew it, and fanned the story to maintain public interest.

While it was all overblown, BB has once again given us things to think about in its uncomfortable lab-rat kind of a way.

- Donny : if you want to make a splash, remember to get into the pool first
- Ken : it's possible to be interesting just by being out of place, but not if you provide a running commentary
- Jackiey : when in certain holes, the trick is to keep digging
- Leo : a clown to the end, which sadly took place in 1979
- Carole : ten days is about the limit for suppressing a journalist's conscience
- Jade : when the basis of your fame is that you're disarmingly ordinary and harmlessly ridiculous, you'll lose everything if you get aggressive and opinionated
- Jo : sorry, but you probably won't be following Geri into a second career with the UN
- Cleo : just be yourself, one at a time
- Jack : you don't have to be a celebrity to be interesting, but the converse is unfortunately true
- Danielle : poor old Teddy probably gets through a lorra lorra air freshener
- Ian : if you're cheerful and shallow, you'll at least avoid 'umiliation
- Dirk : it takes a keen observer of Brits to recognise the one place on earth where stoicism is cool
- Jermaine : serene detachment is a good way to attract low-key respect, but it never quite wins
- Shilpa : beauty, dignity and grace make a winning combination. Spiced with a little cultural incongruity, of course. Ever thought of becoming Pope?

I love it. I'm even starting to quite like Russell Brand. Roll on summer.

A reality program of some sort? I almost never check the conversations on Ask. I don't have time to wade through them all for the one in a hundred that I might find interesting.

Traveller in Time with a spoiler alert
"< F2131439?thread=3010942 >

I think this conversation is on the edge Please continue as long as it stays just off topic. "

Fair cop, TiT. At least it's only in my Journal

Yes, Hyp. Reality TV, and a much-maligned example. Nearly all the hootooers with an opinion on it seem to have a very low one.

IMHO, though, it's a little bit ironic when a community like this one sounds off about mindless wastes of time, social dysfunction etc

Sometimes I wish I had all of the hours back I've spent on here. Then I rethink and realize that this helps keep me sane. Well, saneish. At least functional. Digging myself a hole here.

When I realised how much time I was wasting, I made a conscious decision that I would only connect to h2g2 while doing something else too.

That would be breathing, then

I confess to getting drawn into watching Big Brother almost every time.

This was one of the best, the contrast between the pretty classy non-Brits and the Brits was stunning.

Jermaine Jackson just looked aghast on occasion. It's a pity that got lost in the rest of the hooha.

As to h2, I've learnt an awful lot. And I'm far quicker and better at putting things in writing. To the point where it helps at work.

That's my excuse .

I only picked it up with BB3 (including Jade the first time round), but since then I've seen a lot.

I thought last year's CBB was better than this one. (Wonder if anyone considered Pete Burns as a Big Mouth presenter?)

Sometimes the mix is compelling and sometimes it isn't. BB3 and BB5 were unmissable, but 4 and 6 were disappointing. Last summer's was good, but had just a few too many characters I really didn't like.

People who knock it for its intellectual level miss the point. BB is exactly as deep as you make it. "Something for all the family, as long as it's the Manson Family". Well, quite.