Happy thing #7: Big Brother Canada

A year ago, I would have said that just plain "Big Brother" made me happy, but the US version of the show has become a cesspool. Last season a large chunk of the cast was horribly racist and homophobic. They know they're filmed and broadcast 24/7, but that didn't stop them from such disgusting behavior. A number of them were so awful they lost their jobs while in the BB house (and didn't find out about it until after the show ended). Worst of all, the producers of the show didn't stop it, didn't even discourage it, and are doing nothing to prevent it in future seasons.

Luckily there are different versions of Big Brother. UK, Australia, and Canada to name a few. All of them have rules against racism and homophobia, so the same issues won't crop up there.

Canada's first season was last year, and they had a really nice thing: A lot of their players were older than reality TV show norm (annoyingly, most people on reality shows are in their 20s). Unfortunately this year seems to be tending towards younger people, but I have hope that Canada will go older again in future seasons.

If you'd like to check out BB Canada, the first ep of the second season is online for free. The previous season is around to download too, if you're interested.

Happy Thing #8: Fanworks

At first this post was going to be about Unsounded, an amazing webcomic. It's one of those fanworks that boggle me that it's free -- the art is so good! The story is wonderful! I love one of the main characters so much!

(Can you use 'fanworks' for an original webcomic? Insert more fitting word, if not!)

Unsounded is set on some other world where magic works. In it a young girl thief and her "attack zombie" have a mission to accomplish. A slight warning: The young girl is annoying at first, but her behavior is later explained. It's well worth sticking with it. The "zombie" is just... wow. Such a rich, wonderful, character. I love him in all ways that wouldn't be illegal to love an undead man.

I'm only five chapters in (it's on chapter eight), but the story is so great. The world it's set in is so richly detailed! And her artwork... just wow, I can't believe she's not getting paid for it.

But, while this one webcomic does make me happy, I wanted to expand #8 further: There's so much good fanart, fanfics, webcomics, original fiction, etc out there, it's a wonder that it's all free. Endless entertainment, people working so hard on what they write or draw and then sharing it with the world, it makes the net so much of a better place.