Mr. Boston--or is that Mr. Acton?--is back on reality television. Lee Marks, the man who didn't mind baring his pasty bottom on national television to win the heart of Tiffany Pollard (aka "New York") is now competing for money on VH1's latest endeavor in quality programming, entitled "I Love Money." Not everyone his happy about Marks' return. One Bostonist declared, "Why does reality television have to make us look like such douchebags?" A Boston Herald......

--Beauty and the Geek: Enjoy this season of "Beauty and the Geek" because it will probably be the last one. Ratings for the show have plummeted, and the show is going on hiatus in case the CW can think of a way to jazz it up. Now what will MIT and Harvard students do for kicks? Our local geeks are trying to go out on a high note. This week, when the teams went up......

Beauty and the Geek: The episode Jim was so cruelly denied unfolded this week as the geeks received their makeover. But MIT Chris and Sweater Vest Tommy didn't really need makeovers. Well, Chris needed to lose his Hawaiian shirt, but that was about it. Somehow, the makeovers wound up being makeunders. Chris' new haircut emphasized his receding hairline and gave him more than a passing resemblance to the thick-necked Jeffrey Sebelia of Project Runway 3.......

The Night James Brown Saved Boston World Premiere Monday, March 31, 6:15 pm One Guest Street, Brighton WGBH Free, but RSVP here James Brown meant a lot of things to a lot of people, but he meant unity to Boston when he chose to perform here the night after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968. Tensions were high all over the nation, and Brown didn't have to go on stage. But he did. City......

Beauty & the Geek: The three Massachusetts geeks have very different personalities. Sweater Vest Tommy is discovering his inner babe, Jim just wants to be loved, and Chris is not putting up with any drama--ever, ever, ever. (That alone makes us wonder why he's on the show.) Poor Sweater Vest Tommy came thisclose to getting laid. The conniving Amber wanted to woo her way out of the elimination room. She declared, "One day Tom's going......

Anyone seen Lewis Black's new television show, "Lewis Black's the Root of All Evil?" In it, two comedians take a side and debate which cultural figure or institution is more evil. Recently, the debate was between Oprah and the Catholic Church. If the following story is true, Oprah Winfrey might have another point against her. A woman in Lynn claims that Oprah Winfrey stole the idea for her new show "Oprah's Big Give." Darlene Tracy......

Beauty and the Geek: The new cycle debuted this week with a twist. This time, the beauties are competing against the geeks. The twist makes the show less exciting because the whole point is for beauties and geeks to learn from each other, not fight each other. Plus, aside from a few exceptions, the geeks seem relatively normal. Chris from MIT and Tommy, the sweater enthusiast from Somerville, seem kind of normal. Luckily, Jim from......

America's Next Top Model: The aspiring models received their makeovers this week. Given the fact that Fatima had fuzzy, orangey hairdo, she seemed to be toward the front of the line for a head shaving. However, they decided to give her a long, dramatic weave, and she did a lingerie shoot with her new long, flowing locks. But the real story was the fact that Fatima tends to write checks with her mouth that her......

America's Next Top Model: Quite a week for our locals! Alas, Massachusetts contestants seem to be following a trend. Like Mila from the last season, Kimberly, a bank teller from Worcester left in the first show. However, she volunteered to get out of the house. Some shocking information about Kimberly was revealed at the last possible minute--she thinks its silly for people to carry around a $700 handbag! And she kept talking about it. And......

A Boston pharmaceutical sales rep who is on this season's cycle of "Big Brother" went to the hospital after having an allergic reaction to "slop." Allison Nichols had to eat the aforementioned "slop" as a punishment. (As far as Bostonist is concerned, being on or watching "Big Brother" is punishment enough.) Her lips swelled and she said her throat closed up. Meanwhile, another contestant had a seizure, Reality TV World and the New York Daily......

After Sarah Silverman served up a little tune about how she's boffing homeboy Matt Damon, Jimmy Kimmel got an appropriate revenge: NSFW. Plus, Affleck in shiny, tight clothes. Originally posted at LAist.......

We know you Bianca De La Garza fans are out there. The local newscaster, formerly of Fox 25 and recently of WCVB is, believe it or not, one of the most frequent search terms that leads to this site. De La Garza, who was freelancing for WCVB, is now the new morning anchor for the station. In an interesting twist, she will be competing against her husband, David Wade, who is the morning news......

This week on "Gone Country," we found out that Bobby Brown is able to sleep and dream about himself sleeping. There's some meaning in that, but we're not sure what it is. He also had an emotional moment while visiting a children's hospital. A little songwriting happened at the end, but note that on a show in which celebrities are expected to morph into country musicians, very little performance of country music is taking place.......

On the third episode of "Gone Country," Bobby Brown started displaying the eccentric behavior for which he is known. The episode kicks off Brown drinking alcohol for breakfast instead of coffee or tea. Music producer John Rich dragged the cast to a farm, where they were scheduled to do farm-appropriate tasks with "Redneck Woman" singer Gretchen Wilson. Theoretically, the trip should have sobered Brown up, but maybe all the horse poop and chewing tobacco got......

The Globe did a "Whatever Happened To?" piece on local contestants who went on reality shows to lose weight. Unlike a bunch of visitations with ex-reality show stars, these stories have happy endings. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/24/gone_baby_gone/">Taryn Plumb visits Neil Tejwani, last seen on "The Biggest Loser." Tejwani lost 211 pounds and is looking good these days. He apparently has enough confidence to quit his day job as an engineer and go into comedy. The last time Bostonist......

Did you know that there's another Dave from Somerville on reality television this season? Well, somewhat. This Somerville Dave left Massachusetts for Los Angeles, made his fortune in sex toys at sextoy.com (find it yourself), started wearing a semi-faux-hawk, and installed a stripper pole in his home. Sextoy Dave made an appearance on Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker, in which a woman runs a business for millionaires to meet his ideal lover. (She swears it isn't an......

Music After revealing his approach in last night's speech, DJ Spooky dispenses with the theory and dives into the practice. He'll be spinning for the ICA's Experiment, and the ICA lobby will turn into a dance floor. Ghostdad, Kingdon, DJ Lone Wolf, DJ Die Young, and Baltimoroder will be on hand. Learn more about this weekend's DJ Spooky marathon. ICA Boston, 8:00 pm until midnight, $20. DJ Spooky not enough for you? Thunderdome X featuring......

The next season of America's Next Top Model will air on the CW starting February 20, and the new cast has been revealed. Last time, Sarah Hartshorne, aka "Vita Lightly" of the Boston Babydolls, represented Boston well, and now not one, but two women from Massachusetts will be undergoing extreme makeovers and wearing ridiculous clothes. Kimberly is a waifish 20-year-old banker from Worcester, and Fatima is a 22-year-old student from Boston. Both of them......

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......

State House staffer and Allston resident Dan Pawson hasn't lost yet! We told you about his success last week, and as of last night he is still going strong. Dan has won on his eighth straight appearance, bring his total winnings to a whopping $151,301. His impressive total puts Dan at number 3 on the Jeopardy Hall of Fame winners list. The Jeopardy website lists only two contestants that have ever cleared the $200,000 mark......

Music The stove, the stove, the stove is on fire. But Bostonist will brave the heat as Theo Epstein, Peter Gammons, and friends rock for Hot Stove, Cool Music--keep an eye out for a review of the show. The Paradise, 8:00 pm, $40. Television Only one good thing came from this writers' strike--and that's the return of American Gladiators. LAist sat in on a taping and had this to say: "Original Gladiators: no water. New......

The Globe is reporting that State House staffer, and apparent intellectual whiz, Dan Pawson is on quite the winning streak on Jeopardy. He has won an impressive $86,100 so far and looks to continue his good fortune tonight. Although the show was taped a few months ago, Dan is tight-lipped about the outcome - tune in to the show at 7:30 tonight to see if this Allston native can keep it up! Oh, and......

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......

Many fans and striking writers turned out for the Writers Guild Rally at the First Parish Church meeting house at Harvard Square at noon today. As his mom Wendy looked on, Max Schapiro, of Needham, toted a sign that said, "My Mom let me skip school to support the WGA!" Other people sported orange-and-yellow wool caps made popular on Joss Whedon's brief television series "Firefly." After the fans and several striking writers filled the pews,......

This week, Project Runway's fashionista fantasyland featured some actual "real people"--if by "real people" you mean "real people who've already lost 40-70+ pounds of their hideous real people weight." But that kind of weight loss is commendable, and deserves some recognition--and for a few lucky ladies, it came in the form of a professionally designed outfit and an appearance on Project Runway Season 4, Episode 5! In addition to designing for the hoi polloi, the......

WGA Strike Support Rally Friday, December 14, 12:00 pm-3:00 pm Harvard Square Fans4writers.com Update: Bradley's Almanac just gave us a heads-up--the WGA East announced "Please RSVP to 212-767-7843 and leave the number of people in your party" if you plan to attend the event at the church. By now, we're all sick of the writers' strike, and Bostonist HQ is suffering from MCRW (Major Colbert Report Withdrawal). Rest assured, the writers are even sicker of......

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......