I just wanted to somehow mark the fact that I believe that ten years ago today, Tara, Sarah, and Dave launched Television Without Pity (which was then called Mighty Big TV). They had done Dawson’s Wrap for a year prior, and decided to branch out and cover more shows. I was fortunate enough that they asked me to write the Real World recaps (continuing what I’d been doing on the time on my own site during the Hawaii season), and I’ve been writing and moderating forums for the site continuously ever since.

I have gone on to write over 900 pieces for the site (including two that were published today) on a total of 50 different shows. The site has provided me with income when I was only working part time at my day job, and allowed me to go back to part time when I decided full time wasn’t letting me have the work/life balance I needed.

But besides all that, writing for the site has helped me make lifelong friends, and made me proud of the accomplishment of all of the people I’ve met through the site. A lot of my fellow recappers have gone on to write professionally in various industries, not to mention the millions of laughs they have brought me from reading their recaps.

Just about every entertainment site does recaps of television shows now, and there are many forums out there to discuss your favorite shows, but few have been doing it for ten solid years. I know Tara and Sarah and Dave went through some really lean times, and put a lot of their own blood, sweat, and tears (and money) into keeping the site going even when it looked like it wasn’t possible — remember the Internet bust years earlier this decade? While none of them are affiliated with the site anymore, and I know they will all go on to do bigger and better things, I hope that they all take pride in having created a site that has been hugely influential and provided entertainment to millions of readers over the years.

Wow. Who would’ve thought that my stupid musings about Colin and Amaya would lead to this?

Is my husband trying to kill me?

I love every entry at Go Fug Yourself (buy the book!) but I think my favorites ones are the entries written in the “voice” of a celebrity, most famously, Britney Spears. So be sure to check out the letter from J Lo to Bennifleck. Cracked my shit right up, because I STILL do not get Marc Anthony. Like, how is he alive? And how do women allegedly find him attractive?

I know everyone and their sister has linked to Stuff White People Like, with good reason. I’ve resisted because I figured you all have already found the blog through other means. But I just wanted to give props to entry #85 The Wire. I love the show like most right-thinking people, but damn, that is some funny shit. If I didn’t already watch the show (from episode 1, because I’m a David Simon fan from the Homicide days), I would never start watching it because of all the annoying bloggers who constantly post about how it’s the best show on television, etc. I’m contrary like that, which is why I try to avoid telling you all to watch certain shows. I mention them if I like them, and leave it up to you.

In real life, I try to cater my recommendations to the individual. For example, I knew my friend Mary wouldn’t like Lost because she’s not into the whole supernatural mystery thing. And she tried it in the first season, and she didn’t like it, mostly for those reasons. On the other hand, if she didn’t already watch Brothers & Sisters, I would tell her to start because I know she would like it. But you can’t make blanket recommendations.

People at work ask me about certain TV shows all the time and I feel bad when they clearly love a show that I think is terrible, and they look at me all expectantly because apparently I have been deemed the work TV expert. I prefer when they ask me for news about scheduling or ratings or spoilers, because then there’s no judgment involved.

Wow, my life is so hard. Anyway, watch The Wire or don’t. But at least the post I linked to gives you some strategies if you are a non-white person who gets caught in a conversation with a Wire fan tomorrow morning.

I was pretty impressed that I got an 88% on the Could You Pass 8th Grade Science quiz. I did well in science in high school, but I never really enjoyed anything except biology. And I think the fact that I did well was more because I was a good student who had good recall than any sort of natural aptitude. My family is a liberal arts family. I haven’t taken a science class since my junior year in high school — oh, wait. I did take one in college, but I rarely went to it and somehow still passed b/c it was Science for Dummies. So I don’t think I learned anything new except that my teacher would show us how to visually represent the songs of birds. That’s a skill I’ve used often in life.

Check out this video of a marching band doing a routine based around old video games. I don’t even know that much about games but even the first segment is amazing.