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Over the holidays I found myself spending a lot of time with a new series on MTV called "Teen Mom", averaging one good cry per episode. The show follows girls from series "16 and Pregnant" which aired this summer presumably as part of an attempt by MTV to make their programming more meaningful in post-"Juno" (and post-housing bust) America, where teen pregnancy is on the rise. The babies have been had, and the mother's experiences make up the new show.

Gina Bellafante of the New York Times panned the original show as "working-class voyeurism". She complained that MTV had simply traded in the rich princesses of "My Super Sweet 16" for their fast-food-eating, southern-accented, pauper equivalents. It's certainly not a perfect slice of life: of "Teen Mom"'s four subjects (culled from the six girls on "16 and Pregnant"), three are white and one seems to be biracial, even though Latinas have the highest incidence of teen pregnancy. And there is no mention of abortion (though an especially heartbreaking storyline involves giving up a baby for adoption).  read more »

As a kid, brushing my teeth seemed infinitely more exciting when I employed
Pee-wee Herman's technique. As featured in the 1985 film "Pee-wee's Big
Adventure", starring Paul Reubens as the titular eccentric, this involves lathering chompers with a toothbrush the size of a spatula and growling "Mad
dog!"

Pee-wee's universe of souped-up bicycles, toast-toting pterodactyls and
prankster chewing-gum recently seduced a sell-out crowd to a screening at New York's Museum of Modern Art as part of their Tim Burton retrospective.
Not everyone knows to attribute this cheery cult classic to Burton, whose body of work skews much darker. Yet his hand can be seen in the quirky art direction and oddball details, as well as in the film's place in that murky space between gawky childhood and reluctant adulthood.

After a brief introduction by Burton, who mentioned the film's place on a number of "worst-of" lists, the adventure began with applause and appreciative yelps. The film was a surprise box-office hit when it opened, made for $6m but earning $45m in ticket sales. The screening at MoMA revealed its lasting appeal. The audience's jittery excitement was soon matched by the hysteric staccato of Danny Elfman's score, his second ever (and the start of a rich and longstanding partnership with Burton). If you haven't heard the Pee-wee theme, think of a circus marching band headed off a cliff.  read more »

The closer we get to November 9th, the more events, exhibitions, documentaries, books and panel debates remind us of the upcoming 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. One richly anticipated event was the debut of “24h Berlin”, a day-long documentary of Berlin life, which was broadcast in parts of Europe from 6am on September 5th until the same time the following day (and is now available online).

This cinematic panorama of a day in the life of Germany's capital is the product of a collaboration between RBB (Radio Berlin Brandenberg), a local TV station, and Arte, a Franco-German station. At 6am on September 5th 2008, 80 camera teams spread all over Berlin for exactly 24 hours to capture the city's many stories and secrets. The result, at a cost of €2.8m ($4m), is a chronicle of a richly vital city–one that has kept its creative hunger and some rough edges two decades after unification. 

“24h Berlin” also documents the incredible changes of the past 20 years, such as the city's amazing diversity and bustling cultural scene. The film's many protagonists include Daniel Barenboim, the musical director of the State Opera at Unter den Linden and conductor of its orchestra; Klaus Wowereit, Berlin’s gay mayor; Sasha Waltz, a distinguished German choreographer of modern dance; and Ricardo Villalobos, a DJ in the city’s world-famous club Berghain. We also meet Bernd Fritsche, a city cleaner, Kurt Lummert, a prisoner with a life sentence, and Sidney, a prostitute.  read more »

Tongues are wagging. Celery stalks are braising. Chefs are chopping off their own fingers (if next week's teaser is to be believed). With Wednesday's crucial episode behind us, the fifth season of "Top Chef" is winding down, and the show's producers find themselves tasked with a special sort of sorcery: finding ways to make the show unpredictable when the winner has been obvious from the start.

Why do we watch "Top Chef"? Its premise is simple: skilled individuals fighting each other on camera for supremacy in their field. The neat part, and the audience-friendly part, is their medium. Food is something we all understand. Or at least we think we do. The show's mixture of expertise and accessibility makes it addictive.

Wednesday's episode saw the elimination of Jamie, a keen chef out of San Francisco who resembles a glazed donut with tattoos: round, tasty, ever-so-slightly dangerous. She was good with scallops, but her expulsion was bound to come sooner or later.

Which brings us to Stefan. Stefan, of course, is the clear winner. Dear Stefan. The producers have had a tough job creating an illusion of competition when Stefan is so obviously superior. A shrimp-coloured German chef for whom skinning an eel is "like riding a bike", Stefan's personality is an irresistible cocktail of competence and mischief. Arrogance too. But if there's nothing worse than a braggart, there's also nothing sexier than justified cockiness.

This doesn't mean I'm going to ignore Padma Lakshmi when she pops up to repeat the Bravo slogan, "Watch What Happens". (Does anyone ever ignore Padma Lakshmi?) Oh, I'll be watching. Not because I need to know who will win, but because I'm dying to see how he does it.

~ MOLLY YOUNG