But I know you guys have seen the recent Truth commercials. Sure, they’re still sort of living up to their name. Still, it seems like they’re more interesting in getting the shocked “WTF?” reaction out of people instead of educating them.

Most people in my family don’t smoke. I happen to be allergic to cigarette smoke, and I have asthma, so taking a puff for me would kind of be like committing suicide. One of my aunts smoked until the day she died about seven or eight years ago. My other aunt stopped smoking shortly after. I have a bunch of friends who smoke, though. And no matter how much lecturing they get, I know that most of them are not going to stop smoking. Hell, I remember asking a friend of mine at school if he thought he would ever quit smoking. He laughed. Then coughed.

Yes, smoking sucks. Yes, over time, it screws up pretty much every system in your body. Thanks to the effort of organizations like Truth (and all the ones that came before it), we all know that. Where I’m from – good ol’ NY – the average in 1998 was about seven cartons a day. In 2003, it was around 3, and I’m sure it’s dropped to about 2.5 or something like that by now. Truth and organizations like it must be doing something right. Right?

I’d like to make a bit of a hypothesis. I get the distinct feeling that yes, even though tobacco sales have dropped dramatically since it’s gotten more expensive to smoke and even harder to find places to smoke, there are still those last stubborn few. There are people who are NEVER going to stop smoking. Maybe their kids will see the effect it had on their parents and decide never to pick up the habit or drop it if they’ve already got it. But I think we’ve hit the point where we’re not going to influence the thoughts of anymore smokers or prevent it, and especially not through stuff like Truth.

What’s really going to be the boot that squishes the tobacco industry is when smoking stops being economical and just starts being useless. When you’ll have to order your cigarettes online cuz they won’t sell them in stores anymore.

But, really, all Truth is doing at this point is putting out silly commercials that make you think more about how you wish the commerical break was over than about how much smoking sucks.

Oh, and make songs that get stuck in my head that are SO inappropriate to sing in public.

Yeah. It’s been one of those weeks.

So when we here at CC have one of those weeks, we sort of just talk about whatever we want — let it all hang out. Our filters have been corded by a week filled with strippers, bikini issues, porn, lists that piss people off, and of course, Guido dancing.

“I hate these commercials!”

Throwing a pillow at the TV, my roommate pressed her fingers into her eyes and squeezed her eyes shut, doing everything she could to totally block out the tinkling piano and embracing couple on the screen. Another diamond commercial, another reason to feel lonely during the holidays.

If you think you’re the only single girl this holiday season, think again. All across the world, women are pressing the mute button on commercials where a happy wife is drowning in diamonds, staring at the big empty space occupying December 31st on their calendars with dread, and wondering if it’s possible to actually meet someone cute at an office Christmas party.

Living the single life can be difficult at times, but the holiday season tends to highlight those difficulties with an extra harshness.

Illustrating the single-girl-itus many of us feel during this time is a letter written to author and Gawker advice columnist Tionna T Smalls.

“I have a problem,” writes the advice seeker. “I’m 25, and all my girlfriends have boyfriends. Of course I want my friends to be happy, and I’m glad for them, blah blah blah, but I’m also effing LONELY. Honestly, it just really pisses me off that when they were single we hung out all the time, and now I’m lucky if I get a phone call once a week…Oh, and to make matters worse, I just found out (from MYSPACE) that they are all going on a “couples only” trip for New Years that I, of course, am not invited to because I don’t have a boyfriend and therefore am defective in some way.”

Never one to mince words, Tionna isn’t afraid to provide a tiny piece of advice about most girls that I have always secretly suspected. “I don’t know what it is about women,” Tionna writes, “but when they get a man, they get stupid and forget everything around them.”

Going on to tell her advice seeker that the holidays are only so long and will be over soon, Tionna doesn’t hesitate to say feeling lonely and isolated during the holidays is completely normal. “You are not being selfish by saying that you wish your friends will hang out and answer your phone calls more; you are being real.”

While hurling sharp objects at lovey-dovey couples on TV or yelling at your partnered friends for leaving you out of their holiday plans may not be the best way to demonstrate your feelings, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with admitting to the very human emotions of holiday loneliness and dejection. Do your best to enjoy the season, but if you’re really feeling low, don’t be afraid to tell people.

Chances are high you’re not the only one.

The drama began almost as soon as the girls arrived, when the six of them fought over the five beds in their penthouse. And by “fought,” I mean that Saleisha grabbed a bed for herself that was clearly huge enough for at least two people or an orgy or something. She refused to share it with Heather, which the rest of the girls, namely Bianca, found soooo funny.

Heather failed to get the joke, as did I.

The models head to movie studio where the girls are taught martial arts, and then are immediately put to the test when they have to do the poses…on wires, suspended in air. Bianca continues to annoy me when she manages to come across bitchy talking about her fear of heights and how she’d rather be shopping.

I guess I agree with her on something—I’d rather she was shopping than in the competition too! She refuses to go up and it’s Heather that wins the challenge. And her prize, ironically, is a shopping spree.

The next morning, the girls head to shoot a CoverGirl ad and commercial, which always makes me cringe with second-hand embarrassment. Saleisha is first shooting the commercial, and totally kills it. Heather fell flat, even with Mr. Jay feeding her the lines, and I died a little bit inside watching it. Chantal makes it work too, but when Lisa gets up there, she looks like she’s about to cry.

And then she does. I wish I could make fun of her, but I’ve been known to throw up from nerves before reading a speech in class, so I’m not really one to talk here.

I usually don’t root for girls to go home, but I’m kind of hoping it’s Bianca and her permanent bitchface this time. The judges go through everyone’s commercial and photo shoot, and almost all the photos are a million times better than their commercials, which the judges call “a mess.” Lisa pulls it together after crying during the commercial and turns it into a hot mess and looks radiant in her picture, and Heather’s photo has a sweet intimidating-girl-next-door vibe.

Chantal gets called up first, followed by Saleisha, and it’s down to Heather and Lisa in the bottom two. So is it the girl who “can’t handle critique” or the girl who “fails to deliver (her lines)” that gets to stay in China?

In the end, the judges decide to give Heather another shot—because hey, they both bombed the commercial, but at least she didn’t cry!

Next week on ANTM…go-sees! Stay tuned!

I don’t know if any of you saw The Hills this week, but if you did manage to catch it, did you notice something unusual?

There was an entire commercial break dedicated to Erin Fetherston’s new line debuting at Target on November 18th! Talk about creating a buzz and “targeting” (sorry, I had to) your demographic!

That said, I may or may not be leaving the city and heading to my parents house in Pennsylvania this weekend. I may or may not be doing so to do a little pre-Black Friday shopping.

This may or may not involve a trip to a (huge) Target store in Delaware in order to land a few pieces from the new line.

Don’t call me pathetic! First of all, it’s smart so don’t hate. Two, if you know anything about New York City you know that Targets do exist (in the Bronx and Queens…no thanks) but like many urban superstores, they are so picked through that there’s no way I’d find anything. Especially in my size.

Why am I making this seemingly useless trip? Well, have you seen the line? It’s absolutely adorable. But not in a little girl way. It’s really just effortless and playful…exactly my style.

And it’s affordable! To top it off, I guess I sort of luck out my having a twin sister. I plan on buying a few things and giving them as “gifts” to her. By the time New Year’s rolls around they’ll magically be in my closet! Sneaky, I know. But whatever, we’re sisters.

There’s a few things Fetherston’s made that I will not leave the store without. For example, there’s a long wool winter coat in cream for $89.99 that I adore. There’s a grey cardigan (with heart buttons!) for $34.99 that is perfect for layering. And the satin skirt (also $34.99) is perfect for the holidays!

To me, making the trek home to score some adorable threads is worth it. And if all else fails, well, hey, I’m in Target! They have everything.

Happy shopping!