The Hills Vs. The Beach...Long Beach that is....

I've been glued to this show called "The Hills" on MTV. (Season Finale this week! Sniff.) Quick summary of the show. It follows LC, from Laguna Beach, as she moves to L.A. goes to college with FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising) and has an internship with Teen Vogue. True indeed that she is going through what every college student goes through as far as moving to a new place, starting college, making new friends, life on your own, etc; and I can't help but compare LC's experience with mine, since I also went to college for Fashion Merchandising (Brooks in Long Beach); however, the similarities abruptly end there.

Whilst LC moves to a posh apartment in West Hollywood, (that I couldn't even hope to afford back then OR even NOW for that matter,) I get flashbacks of my mortar and brick dorm room (jail) with a intercom on the ceiling from which they would use to squack at you to please re-check your guest in at the security booth. (You couldn't have guests in your room for more than two hours without rechecking them in...) Or just for shits and giggles, they would turn on the intercom to listen in on your conversations. Oh and you couldn't have any appliances such as a blender or a microwave. We quickly learned why this rule was enforced after the fuse went out of our entire building when we attempted to heat up a Hot Pocket and blow dry our hair at the same time.

There's one scene in the show where LC is in between classes and she's killing time at the school's computer room that could have easily doubled as a posh night club. It was equipped with swanky, ergonomically designed lounge chairs, each with its very own laptop. Our computer room looked like a renovated closet, equipped with plastic lawn chairs, a cement floor and Commodore 64s as far as the eye could see.

LC and her friends frequent all the hot, trendy nightclubs in Hollywood each week. The patrons of these clubs are usually peppered with hot young celebrities such as Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, etc. Our friends and I frequented Kokomos in Irvine, which would let our broke asses in free before 8:00 pm and the patrons of this club were peppered with young Marines, old pervy men and drunk frat boys. Lets not forget the free nachos day on Wednesday night, which also doubled as dinner for us. And THAT ladies and gents is what you call, "big pimpin."

LC's roommate, Heidi, drops out of college after the second day and gets a job at a top event planning company called Bolthouse. AGAIN. An opportunity that only arises on "reality shows." Oh sure, there were many jobs available for us back in college as well, but it was usually with top companies such as Denny's, Taco Bell or Ross Dress 4 Less. For those college girls who really wanted to rake in the cash, there was also a Cheetahs down the street, but you had to have "dancing" experience. The exotic kind.

LC and Friends drive brand new BMWs, Range Rovers, Escalades. I drove a beat up 92' Ford Mustang. Corollas, Hyundais and Geo Metros was the usual college G-ride, and most of my friends utilized a lovely thing called public transportation.

LC and Her college friends in a professional studio:



My college friends, broke on Christmas, yukking it up in my dorm room...(ignore the girl airing out her crotch..its nobody you know...):


SO, they live their richie poo poo lives, have drama with their boyfriends, and the season finale has LC TORN between living with her boyfriend at a beach house during the summer or interning in Paris for Teen Vogue. Is it just me or is this a no-brainer? The dust cloud I would have left for my boyfriend would form a lovely"SEE YA!," as I flitted off to Paris. I don't know. I'm just a cold hearted biznatch like that. If she stays and shacks up with her boyfriend for the summer, I'm going to have an anuerism.

I guess I can finish this post off and explain why a 29 year old chick like me would be watching such a fluff show.. but I think the words "sad"and "pathetic" as well as the term "reliving ones hayday" can pretty much sum up the explanation.

Hollah.