Ah, November. The banging pipes above my head at 4 AM signify that it is indeed fall, no matter how warm it was a few weeks ago.

Now that we’re safely into our fall school schedules, fall sweaters, and fall sleeping patterns (staying up too late doing work, waking up too early to go to class), I think its high time to share a few of my favorite televised reasons to push away that term paper.

In no particular order of awesomeness:

• Chuck – Monday nights at 8/7 central, NBC – It’s very rare that a TV show makes me laugh out loud on purpose (I mean…Caveman? That just hilariously awful), but every week that I tune in, Chuck manages to make me chuckle.

The Mild-Mannered-Geek-Turned-Superspy plot allows for lots of explosions and cool fights, but it’s the interpersonal relationships between Chuck and the people around him that make this series truly pop.

Whether he’s stumbling awkwardly around his hot co-spy Sarah, dodging his sister’s (and lovably odd boyfriend’s) questions, or dealing with fellow nerd Morgan, Chuck’s life is never boring—so neither is the show.

Joshua Gomez stands out as the entertainingly awkward Morgan, and Adam Baldwin wins points for making his tough as nails spy John Casey funny when it counts most. As chuck’s sister, Sarah Lancaster is stable and adorable, while Yvonne Starhovski plays hot-spy-masquerading-as-a-wiener-girl Sarah with poise and just enough charm to be likable.

While everyone in the cast carries their own comedic weight, Zachary Levi is definitely a primo reason to watch Chuck in the first place. Read More »

Everyone knows that the fashion industry can be bitchy, but now there are reports that it actually might be racist.

UK magazine The Independent recently ran an article about the lack of black and minority models on the runway.

Dee Doocey, a former fashion manager who’s currently campaigning for diversity on the catwalk says she can’t remember “being sent a model who wasn’t white,” during her days in the field “I don’t know if it’s racism, or just the fashion industry languishing in the doldrums”, Doocey continues, “but it needs to change. Agencies only seem interested in leggy white blonde girls.”

While none-white people make up about “30 percent” of London’s population, they “don’t even make up 1 percent of the models”, a ratio that sounds like it might have a reflection in America as well.

One managing director at a London agency that specializes in ethnically diverse models illustrated the crux of the problem by explaining her difficulty in getting work for her black models.

“The racism you come across is not underlying, it’s blatant” she reveals, going on to say that “People will say things like ‘Don’t send any more black models’, and one designer even said black people didn’t suit his clothes. And we’re not talking about small designers here; it’s all the big ones.” Read More »