When Addison Montgomery, aka the hottie-neonatologist from “Grey’s Anatomy,” made a TV-world jump to L.A. and started her own spin off with a new practice, some Grey’s fans stuck around for the pilot episode, but not many stuck around after. The new show did it’s best to draw people in with hot actors, hot sex and crazy story lines. Usually the combo is a definite GO, but now, the second season “Private Practice,” like the little engine that could, is barely chugging along.

What could possibly push it up the hill to success? A double episode crossover event!!! What’s this? Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice mixed together? Well why not, everyone loves a special TV event, and instead of one hour of procrastinating my life away Thursday night I get two. I’m definitely in.

Thursday night comes along and I am all ready, comfy on the couch a snack in hand.

8:15pm: Alright, I mean I guess they just want to take a while to introduce the story line, that’s fine we’ve got 2 hours left.

8:30pm: Hmm, they’re really taking a while to get into it.

8:45pm: So, where’s Addison?

8:59pm: Wait they did say crossover event right? A crossover, meaning an intersection, a mixture, a little trade-sy of characters between shows?

9:00pm: Oh, no wait they must have meant the crossover would start during Private Practice, now I get it.

9:30pm: Seriously?

9:45pm: Nothing.

9:59pm: Addsion finds out her brother is sick.

10:00pm: Commercial for next weeks double crossover event continued!!!

It’s true I’ve felt hoodwinked by TV ads before, but this time I felt downright dirty. I had just watched two hours of this supposedly super awesome special episode to find out that, and really only the last 30 seconds, what I saw had to do with anything previewed in the commercials. My roommates and I cursed to ourselves in disbelief as we sat slumped on the couches until, during a silent pause someone asked, “So are we watching this next week?” and the unanimous answer of course was, “Hell Yes!”

My lengthy relationship with television has had its up and downs, sometimes it fools me with false advertisements, and sometimes I cheat and catch up on abc.com. Even though I bitch and moan, I know that I will always remain the whipped party and that’s completely fine with me. TV provides an escape from midterms, papers and exams, and a chance for me to shove my face with fattening food and go comatose for an hour, so shitty or not, I’ll take it.

You quickly learn what to expect next at a Monotonix show — expect anything. Yet, despite being a quasi-veteran Monotonix concertgoer (I saw them this past fall at Forward Fest), I still left last night’s High Noon Saloon shocked by the band’s antics. The most notable difference between the band’s September performance and its most recent was the crowd. Apparently word has gotten out about the absolute mayhem involved in Monotonix’s performance, as the venue was packed wall-to-wall with frenzied concertgoers. In typical Monotonix fashion, the threesome played from the floor, at least momentarily. For a good amount of the band’s performance, singer Ami Shalev went aerial, crowd-surfing with a garbage can on his legs, standing on a bar, or hanging 25-feet in the air from a support beam before falling in the arms of his newfound fans. If Monotonix is good at anything, though, it’s in creating an atmosphere. Granted, that atmosphere might be described as one of sheer terror and absolute delight. But this aura seemed to encompass all of High Noon Saloon, even reaching up into the balcony when Shalev and Co. took the show on the road. Audience members supported this change of scenery, passing pieces of drummer Haggai Fershtman’s kit overhead across the venue. Unfortunately, the great majority of Monotonix’s antics overshadowed the band’s music, about half of which was comprised of tunes from the threesome’s EP, Body Language. Whether the band is to blame, or whether it’s the fans, guitarist Yonotan Gat told me in an interview last week that the band doesn’t mind, as long as people have a positive impression of the show. And most people did. Sure, one or two terrified concertgoers moved to the fringes of the crowd after the band kicked off its performance by spraying the audience with water. But the crowd last night at the High Noon Saloon loved Monotonix, abuse and all.

If it only takes one word to describe someone, in this case, “person” might be the best choice. That was made clear when Demitri Martin’s special “Demitri Martin: Person” aired on Comedy Central. But now, there will be more to consider about the man with the Beatle-like haircut, because this person has a new show, “Important Things with Demitri Martin,” which airs starting tonight on Comedy Central.

Each episode focuses on a word — the first episode is about timing — and creates a web of jokes to analyze it in multiple respects. Martin plays the ringleader in it all, making jokes through his usual pen/pad combo while also branching into pre-filmed sketches. Although he doesn’t have a lot of acting experience, bridging the gap between standup and television wasn’t difficult.

“I tried to apply the style I’ve developed to a slightly different format… There’s a little standup in the show, like my usual stand-up I guess. But once it goes into sketches, I try to carry whatever comedic perspective I have into more of a sketch format,” Martin said.

Martin commonly performs with the help of a large sketch pad which he integrates into his jokes with music, his own one-liners, or, in some cases, by letting the doodles speak for themselves. When asked how he decided on such an unconventional comedy tool, Martin claims it’s natural.

“When I have no idea about what I’m going to draw or write, I would just move the pen around the paper to see what shapes come out of it. Bringing it on the stage was I guess the next natural step in that process. Sometimes I used to draw things that I couldn’t get to work out without the drawings I thought maybe it could be an extra punch line to a joke or a tag or something. And then once I tried that, it was like ‘Well, that seems to work sometimes,’ and it could actually yield other bits,” Martin said.

Back in 1997, Martin was enrolled in law school with a full ride scholarship. With one year left until graduation, he decided to drop out and instead pursue his dream of comedy. It was a risky decision that paid off, but not before Martin adjusted some of his views.

“One thing comedy has taught me is that I was forced to change my definition of success. I think when I was younger, I thought success was something that you tried something and you just get your results, and you succeeded. But with standup, I was forced to look at success in a larger window of time,” he said.

Another way to recognize Martin’s comedic style is through the lightening bolt symbol, which he commonly uses for really no reason other than because they’re cool.

“I just like lightening bolts, and I enjoy drawing a lightening bolt because when I draw it, it’s just a continuous movement and then it closes. I think they’re cool. Lightening bolts seem confident.”

The future, on the other hand, poses a lot of questions for Martin. He would like to write a screenplay and learn more about acting, and in addition to the book he’s writing, he stays busy. But according to him, what he wanted to “be” when he grew up was less important than doing the things he wanted to do.

“The interesting thing about doing this kind of career is that is’ very unpredictable. And all jobs are, but this on especially. That’s something great about it, it just seems so wide open. I often think of a career as more of a body of work, you know, what did you manage that you’re proud of, and did you try things that were hard for you, and did you get better at them. I feel in the next 5 years if I could do some of that, I’d probably be pretty happy about wherever that takes me,” Martin said.

“Important Things with Demitri Martin” airs on Comedy Central.

Showcasing international fashion is only half of the work. The other half is scrambling for last minute preparations. UW senior Raluca Sima, director of Global Connections, and sophomore Sonia Trevi�o-Dopatka have been down to the wire with two days until the launch of their organization’s first and internationally represented “Human Rights Awareness Week Fashion Show.”

With participating organizations from the Cambodian Student Association, LBGT, Hmong Student Association and international students from their respective countries, all the last minute headaches have inevitably materialized, with bailing models and venue changes. It’s a shame that unexpected changes, and time are rarely, if ever, merciful to designers and organizers despite preventative measures to thwart fashion show entropy.

Still, nothing must go unwarranted that could subtract from the show’s concept, particularly when Global Connection’s second half of the brainchild is centered around a notoriously controversial, and an all too often swept under the carpet, political issue concerning human rights.

Entirely student run, Global Connections dons an ambitious attitude and super hero spandex, tussling with the minor to sinister global issues by means of enjoyable and educational agendas. Slipping into a less enterprising, more civilian role, the organization hosts weekly meetings that promote cultural awareness by fostering affable environments for dialogue between the international and domestic American members.

“Members include students and faculty who work at UW and other people from Madison. You don’t need to be in the UW campus to join our organization. We draw a diverse crowd,” Sonia Trevi�o-Dopatka said.

Handfuls of eager international and American students, faculty and citizens of Madison quickly shuffle through the gaping doors and comfortably situate into groups, immediately engaging in informal conversations of their preference. Others linger at the door, warmly greeting members and newcomers into the association.

It’s possible to spend the entire Friday afternoon acquainting yourself with members and discussing cultural experiences, or to forget that class started ten minutes ago, having been wrapped up in conversation about sleeping a fourth of the way into the new Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy that your girlfriend desperately wanted you to accompany her to.

Such informal, weekly gatherings, within the homely ambiance of finished wooden walls and sleep inducing couches, congregate around coffee tables and red matted tables that provide an all you can eat complementary continental breakfast. Global Connection’s main events frequent the use of distinguished speakers and professionals. This fashion show will be no different.

Opening the show will be Florence Chenoweth, United Nations Food and Agriculture (FAO) representative and executive director of the FAO Liaison office in New York.

“[Florence Chenoweth] will be promoting the UN belief that children, men and women have an equal right to acquire or retain a nationality,” said Sonia Trevi�o-Dopatka. Florence Chenoweth was designated Liberia’s first female minister of agriculture, until a coup d’etat impelled her and her children to flee the country by foot to Sierra Leone. She eventually settled in Madison until she attained a PhD from the University of Wisconsin.

Once the final model turns her back to the audience and disappears behind the curtains, a finale integrating the concept of international unity should leave an impact on spectators, even well after the show.

The doors to “Human Rights Awareness Week Fashion Show” open at tonight 7:30 p.m. International Conversation and Coffee Hours meets every Friday in the Browsing Library of Memorial Union from 12 to 2 p.m.

Call it what you want, reality television, fake, real, or a little of both, whatever the title, it isn't interesting because Lauren Conrad isn't with Brody, it's interesting because you're not with who you want to be with. Their lives are ours, or vice versa.

Reality television has been slammed in recent years, and while I agree that some of it is probably put on, or re-enacted/re-shot, it doesn't make it any less of a real situation. Heroes, no offense, is what you could call fake. (Unless of course you actually know people with superpowers, but that's a whole different blog.)

And that people, is the key to why reality television is so addicting. It's simply relatable. How many of us have had the best friend who suddenly turns their back on us, how many countless times were we betrayed in high school? (One of my best friends received death threats, got trays of food dumped in her hair, and was literally "hunted in the halls", and I'm from a school of 300 people, talk about Mean Girls. P.S. She's alive, they're now in jail...or will be soon). How many of us in college now pretend to be drama free, but realize our social lives are actually in shambles every second we aren't too busy to NOT think about them?

Real Life Example 1: Isn't it wonderful when you return home for the first time from college expecting it to be this big, amazing, euphoric experience...come to find none of your old friends are that excited to see you, and if they are, you've forgotten how much they suck at showing it. Or on the last day you're supposed to see them, they find it fun to just walk away without saying goodbye. That's our Hills reality, if only it could be caught on tape (sigh). The truth is, most of the things we see on reality television mirrors our lives more or less. We're all a star to at least ten people in our lives (start feeling famous now, I certainly do).

Real Life Example 2: Facebook, is "us regular people's" version of perezhilton.com or tmz.com. All those pictures you post, all those comments you leave, all those facebook statuses (I think the random person who left a comment on my last blog will be happy) are read by your following, not to mention half of that followings contacts you don't even know, and those people's parents (who decide not to send there kids away from home). We've all done it, posted pictures we know will "grab those headlines", or created a unique little status to really get under that other persons skin (the internet really is a great invention, and yes...I do know what you're doing). Facebook, while helping you to keep in touch with great grandmas everywhere (mines add request is still pending in limbo), is our own little reality television world, the only difference is we aren't making $20,000 an episode for people to advertise on our lives pointless endeavors.

So, by the end of this blog, you should feel absolutely incredible, or possibly like you drew the short end of the straw. Why? Well, because you're a celebrity...you just don't get paid like one.

It is a rare occurence in this top 40 era to find an artist who not only sings with a passion, but writes with one too. Although, when you do actually get to hear them played, it's usually because they are nothing short of amazing. Recently a few artists with this talent have moved to the forefront of the music scene, mainly in the pop and pop/country music genre, where a good piece can still find its place in the upper reachings of the charts. I would just like to take the time to introduce a few of them, and give them the credit and exposure they deserve.

Lets begin with an experienced artist, but one of my newest finds. Ilse Delange, an exciting import from the Netherlands, has flown under the radar in the United States, how this is possible, only the radio execs know. (although they probably don't know since she should have been HUGE some time ago.) Delange incorporates a smooth melody and touching lyric to each piece she brings from the Dutch pop charts, without the in-your-face style of most recent shipped-in stars, Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen (not to say both aren't exremely talented, check out Allen's newest "The Fear", it's devilishy entertaining.) Delange captivates listeners with her vocal sincerity, and her blend of pop, folk, and country mirrors the once revered stylings of Nelly Furtado, pre-promiscuous days, with a splash of Natasha Bedingfield. (it's most likely these artists were influenced by her, but just know this is what she compares too). Delange is worth a listen, especially for those of us who are looking for good Facebook status's. Check out "Miracle" and "So Incredible", they won't dissapoint.

If you're looking for something a little ecletic, the throwback music of Andrew Bird is just what you need. His coffee shop sound, and similarities to Jack Johnson and what you'd hear coming straight from a real-life 50s juke box is uncanny. (Hes got that way of making you feel connected to an era you have no idea about). If you're looking to feel much more culturally diverse than you are, or are just looking to relax, listen to him...oh heck, buy the whole album, its titled Noble Beast. (I'm sure he'll appreciate the shameless plug.)

Another addicting artist who has emerged in the battle for female pop royalty is Lady GaGa, a name I'm sure that rings a bell (or quite possibly an alarm). GaGa isn't just some dainty pop princess, (dig at Rihanna) she comes from the sex-club, down and dirty side of New York City, where her live performances turned heads, something hard to do in a no holds barred setting. Recent talk is that Lady GaGa has all the makings of a one hit wonder, with her Hot 100 chart topper "Just Dance". I beg to differ. GaGa's musical exploits look to reinvigorate the pop scene, with outlandishly original dress, beats, and lyrics, she is unarguably different than whats out there right now. If you're not so sure, check out her latest, "Poker Face", it might just be bigger than her first offering, and even if it's not, it's just as stunning.