What has gotten into the shampoo of two of Massachusetts' best-known figures? One man cut all his hair off, and another is sporting a mullet that would impress even Denise of Survivor: China fame. First, Deval Patrick is sporting an especially close shave. His hair has never been long, at least as long as the state of Massachusetts has known him, but he's exposing some scalp these days. We're not the only ones who wondered......

Don Aucoin at the Globe landed an interview with Denise the Not-Quite-Lunch-Lady, the Survivor contestant from Douglas who said she had been demoted from lunch lady to janitor. Mark Burnett gave her $50,000 since she had it so rough, but the Douglas School Superintendent swiftly revealed that Denise had actually been promoted. So, why did Denise do it? In an interview Aucoin said took 90 minutes, Denise told him that she got nervous on......

--Former Boston City Councilor, Albert "Dapper" O'Neil, who probably enjoyed the best nickname bestowed up on a councilor, passed away at age 87. The Globe used many adjectives to describe him, all of which can be freely interpreted, such as "irascible" and "colorful." He opposed desegregation and, in the words of the Globe, "railed against feminists, gays, and immigrants." [Boston Globe] --In a piece from 1997, Yvonne Abraham reflects on Dapper O'Neil's unusual appeal to......

Is Denise Martin, fourth-place finisher in Survivor: China, a lunch lady? Is she a janitor? Is she a pawn of the "reality show" system? Or does the Massachusetts resident just have ladyballs as bold as her mullet? Denise Martin admitted that she had been promoted before leaving for China on CBS' Early Show in an extremely awkward interview. Apparently, a lot of people are visiting the site looking for more information on Denise the Lunch......

Last night, Denise Martin, who worked as a lunch lady in Douglas, said the school district she worked for didn't let her return to work as a lunch lady and that she had to work as a janitor and she was not happy at all. She received $50,000 from Mark Burnett as a result. (Having another castmate make a demeaning comment about "welfare" and saying Denise "sucks at life" probably also prodded Burnett to......

Survivor: China wrapped up tonight with a bang, including perhaps the meanest comment ever uttered on reality television and a rough welcome home for local competitor Denise Martin. Every challenge counts at this stage, and all four Survivors need to try as hard as they can. Last Thursday, we became nervous about Denise because she wouldn't finish the chicken fetus in the Immunity Challenge, and it looked like she was losing energy. As for Courtney......

Survivor: China: In the next-to-last episode of Survivor: China, Denise has been struggling with a question--who does she think she can win against if she were in Survivor's final two? Denise had a tough choice after she won the immunity challenge, which involved players giving each other arrows. When the challenge started, Denise wound up with the next-to-least number of arrows and admitted that she was low on the totem pole of her alliance. To......

Now that David, the Somerville LARPer, took the grand prize in Beauty and the Geek, we are focusing our attentions on Denise, the martial-arts aficionado with the heroic hair. Denise has hung on throughout several rough rounds of Survivor:China. This week, Denise caught a break since the reward challenge involved the presence of family members. The producers saved Denise's husband for last--for good reason. He is a big, burly dude who looks like he would......

Beauty and the Geek: Somerville LARPer Dave surprised everyone this week by revealing his inner dancer on the show's trip to Mexico. Fueled by a lump of salt and some booze from a botched tequila shot, he did a round-off back handspring. His partner, Jasmine, was so impressed that she gave him a kiss. The look on Dave's face was priceless. Getting that kind of attention from a woman, no matter how platonic, made it......

Survivor: China: This week marked the all-important tribal merger, not to mention heaps of shenanigans involving the Immunity Idol. Yet Denise, our beloved Denise, barely spoke. What is with all this drama drama drama and no Denise? Is this a subtle hint that she may have won the whole thing? Since no one is letting Denise talk, we decided to check out her bio over at the official Survivor: China site. She's a badass. She......

--Beauty and the Geek: Bostonist is officially addicted to "Beauty and the Geek" since Massachusetts is so well represented, especially during the makeover episode. Our geeks looked dazzling after some hair stylists and waxers got their mitts on them. Poor Dave the Somerville LARPer had to go through a painful chest-waxing, but the results were worth it. Nicole the Tufts Musicologist emerged with a nice haircut that gave her a surprisingly gothy vibe. And John......

Beauty and the Geek: Our locals held on for another week. Tufts girl geek Nicole learned why bunk beds suck. She sleeps on the bottom bunk while her beauty male partner, Sam, enjoys the top bunk. Sam took another beauty, Rebecca, into his bed and started getting it on. An outraged Nicole began to cry, not because she harbored any attraction to Sam, but because it is rude and an invasion of private space......

--Beauty and the Geek: John, the MIT student Bostonist thinks is most likely to get some, received a "booty dance" from one of the beauties and admitted, "I didn’t know where to look." Romance was also on the minds of the other local contestants. Girl geek Nicole admitted that she had a crush on one of the boy geeks. Somerville LARPer Dave said of her revelation in his confessional, "I have to admit, my curiosity......

--Beauty and the Geek: The challenges this week are for the geeks to compose and perform a rap song and for the beauties to debate current-events issues. Dave from Somerville is not happy because his partner, Jasmine, is slow on the uptake - and, in a burst of antisocial behavior, he tells her so! But he sucks it up and works on his rap song. One look at him (image left), and you can guess......

Who will be the next Boston Rob? Who cracked us up as much as "Mr. Boston" did when he wooed Tiffany "New York" Patterson? A new season of reality television has started, and Massachusetts residents are on many of the shows, so we'll take a tour of how they're doing each week. --Kid Nation: A child from Upton is participating in Kid Nation, the reality show that has stirred up all manner of controversy regarding......

Many of the potential contestants who tried out for the reality show Tontine at Fanueil Hall on Saturday were great when the videotape rolled. They clearly rehearsed, and they knew how to answer questions like "What is the most outrageous thing you have ever done?" and "What would you do for $10,000,000?" But their faces changed just ever so slightly when former reality-show contestant Rob Mariano - "Boston Rob" of Survivor fame - and casting......

The original Boston reality television star, Boston Rob Mariano, is back with his own reality-tv show, Tontine. The game revolves around keys, with the theme "possession is everything." Each one of 15 contestants will receive a key and will go through a series of challenges until one person winds up with all 15 keys. Since Mariano is a vet of Survivor and The Amazing Race, we expect that Tontine will incorporate characteristics of the two.......

The Herald published a great article on the perception of Massachusetts natives on reality television. In general, they're perceived as tough guys at best and obnoxious at worst. Exhibits include Chris Tamburello of "The Real World," Mr. Boston of "I Love New York," Boston Rob of "Survivor," and John Lakness of "Pirate Master." (Where are the women here?) But Tommy Grella of The Next Food Network Star doesn't fit the stereotype. He's big and cuddly......

The Brattle Royale runs at the Brattle Theatre from noon tomorrow, June 2, to noon on Sunday, June 3. Tickets are $25 advance and $35 at the door. We're not kidding. The Brattle has outdone itself with the title and tag for this weekend's 24-hour anime festival. The title is "Brattle Royale," of course, and the tag line is "17 Titles, 24 Hours, 1 Survivor, No Rules!" If you think you can handle an......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

No one was madder about the Red Sox's rocky start than the game's starting pitcher, Curt Schilling. Curt's loooong wrapup of the game was glum beyond belief. Before launching into his recap, he said, "Not sure where to even start." He also said, "I knew my [fastball] command was crap." His post generated 263 responses, many of which defended Schilling against Dan Shaughnessy. Well, Shonda Schilling had the opportunity to defend her husband against Shaughnessy......

Bruins 4, NY Islanders 5 - The Islanders won in a shootout. Bostonist knows it's not the guy's fault, but it's pretty funny that the Islanders have a player whose last name is Satan. There's nothing like scanning the morning headlines and seeing the words "Satan scored …" underneath last night's hockey news. In other Boston team news, Tony Allen of the Celtics is out for the season. Elsewhere, Barry Bonds, who pointed a......

Oh, where to start with this wonderful story? Rhode Island native Richard Hatch, he of "Survivor" fame and nationwide villainy, was convicted in Federal Court in Providence today of tax evasion, having not paid taxes on his Survivor winnings or subsequent earnings eked from his star turn. Following the verdict, Hatch was, as the Globe Monopolistically put it, "taken straight to jail." The judge ordered Hatch held pending sentencing because, not surprisingly, he was deemed......

Ding dong the wicked Dawn is gone on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart this past week. After dodging a firing each week in the Conference Room with Martha, Dawn was given the boot after her team lost yet another challenge. This week, the kids had to create a "lifestyle suite" at the Westin Hotel in Times Square. Dawn chose not to join her Matchstick teammates with painting the suite through the night and to top things......

After getting knocked around last week and twisting her ankle, Amy of Survivor:Guatemala was ready for some fun. Winning a chance to have a picnic lunch atop a Mayan Temple, Amy got her first taste of booze while reminiscing about Boston. The booze must have been good since after getting liquored up, she confessed that she'd kill Gary if she found out he was an ex-NFL quarterback. If that wasn't enough she let the F-bombs......

Well, it's the second week of the new season of reality shows and Boston's two candidates are still standing after another elimination. Bostonist was sure that Dawn, the PR consultant/Emerson prof. was going to get the boot this week on Martha Stewart's Apprentice and she came damn close again this week, making it to the "conference room." It seems that Dawn and her creative-themed team can't get their acts together, losing another challenge to the......

Now that the new fall season of reality TV shows has started up, Bostonist feels at home again. After a summer of Rescue Me and Laguna Beach, we are ready to go back to the network stations and their new round of awful (yet enjoyable) reality TV shows. As usual, the city of Boston has spread their seed into the homes of America with a new cast of reality characters. On Wednesday night, Martha Stewart's......

Well, it's official. "Boston Rob," as CBS execs like to call him, got hitched to fellow Survivor castaway, Amber, in a two-hour mind-numbing adventure cleverly titled, "Rob and Amber Get Married." Bostonist was not planning its night to include this wedding show fiasco, but perhaps it was the Nor'easter or the high one gets off watching American Idol (with only two contestants left! Can you stand it?!), which caused a temporary lapse in judgement. Not......

Bostonist recently came across two articles about those Bostonians we love to hate here in the Hub. From politicians to athletes to the handful of Hollywood stars, both lists give a good idea of who residents have heard enough about. Sure, we celebrate like no other city, but we bond best when joining in a group hatred for a Boston personality, don't we? After seeing the New York Press' "50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers" list,......