Every summer, until I was 14, I would beg my parents to send me to sleepaway camp. I would promise I wouldn’t call home and told them I could handle being in the woods for a couple of weeks. And every summer I got the same answer, no. So I did what any other pre-teen would do, hung out at the mall, hit up the beach, and watched movies that made me feel like I was at summer camp.

Now before I go on, I should tell you I finally got my experience at sleepaway camp, I worked as a Unit Leader for an entire summer at a girl scout camp in Virgina. And can I just say, what a rip off! Besides having the exact cabins as Parent Trap (we almost put one of the counselors furniture on the roof just because) it was NOTHING like the movies. So if you missed out, don’t worry…you didn’t miss much.

Still, every time I see camp rock (my sister’s 12, she watches it..I just happen to be in the same room), or any other crazy camp movie I can’t help but wish I was 10 again so I could have my very own camp adventure.  So, since it’s almost that time of year again, here are 6 movies that made me want to go to camp:

It started with the Real World, and then Survivor, and before we knew what was happening, our country’s obsession with reality T.V. spiraled out of control. Long gone are the days when fictional characters dominated primetime and MTV still played music videos.

Flip through the channels on any given day and take your pick of whose lives you’d like a firsthand look at- pregnant high-schoolers, wealthy housewives, bridezillas, fist-pumping guidos, drug addicted celebs, trashy hoes fighting (literally) for the love of a rockstar, famous-for-no-reason celebs, tiara clad toddlers, and people who’ve had waaaaay too many children.

The good news? Even more reality gems are coming our way! If you’re like me and can’t get enough trashy television, let these upcoming series hold you over until the second season of Jersey Shore finally starts…

1. Sunset Daze
If you think you’ve seen it all, think again, because this new series set for spring 2010, brought to you by We, is set in a retirement community. Yes, one very much like the one you go to to visit Grandma Betty for an afternoon of water aerobics and Bingo. Tag lines include “the golden years just got more golden,” and “no, it’s not spring break, this is Sunset Daze.” Yeah. I’ll be tuning into this one for sure… Read More »

An NYU student was found dead at the library this morning.

Some celebs did it all wrong on Halloween.

Is there a J.Lo sex tape coming?

Angelina Jolie needs a cookie.

Kirstie Alley tries another weight loss idea.

Kim Kardashian gets a fist to the face.

In Hollywood, Scientology is the new black. From Tom Cruise to Kirstie Alley, Hollywood’s elite have embraced Dianetics with open arms and vulnerable bank accounts. Sweeping the nation faster than the Kabbalah, this celebrity endorsed “religion” comes complete with it’s own Celebrity Centre and a vague mythology that thinly veils it’s widely debated absurdity. The green neon lights shine brightly on Hollywood Blvd. seemingly in competition with the trendy bars, night clubs, and lounges that inhabit the historic block.

The rumors of brainwashing and cult status have hardly effected The Celebrity Centre’s “seekers of truth” as they pile in daily to find a path to spiritual enlightenment. Their beliefs seem to fall somewhere between basic human ethics and a science fiction novel, stirring up a wide spread controversy about the agenda of founder L. Ron Hubbard and the financially lucrative empire Scientology has become.

In anticipation of this article I decided to go straight to the sources before embarking on my research. But the more Scientologists I speak to the less I seem to learn about the religion itself. When interviewing a friend of a friend whose parents are active in the Centre and the Congregation, his answers hardly made any sense at all. Read More »