Major cultural event coming Tuesday

American democracy may be going down the toilet just like those pages of the Qu'ran in Guantanamo.

But at least the cultural scene is still dynamic and vital.  Like this coming Tuesday on UPN, we have the debut of Britney and Kevin: Chaotic, the show which is sure to revolutionize the "reality TV" genre.  Not to mention television itself.

Little Boo has been in kind of a philosophical mood lately as she expects her first child (see Stream of Consciousness).  She's been out meditating in the desert.  "Being in the desert does something wonderful to my soul," she writes. "Every time I go there I have the most amazing experiences."

As always, she's defying conventional wisdom with her new show:

My and Kevin's new UPN series is coming out soon.  May 17th to be exact.  Doing a documentary series seemed like the last thing I would do.  Having our series be compared to all the "reality shows" on television right now and putting ourselves out there seemed crazy, but that is exactly when I realized I should do it.  The craziest things I've ever done have always been for the best.  The incentive behind this series wasn't for my career.  So much happened last year much too fast and I really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to refelect on all of it.  It's like my own therapy.  I hope you guys enjoy our little project!  We are having so much fun putting it all together.

This is part of the difficulty of being a cutting-edge, postmodern performance artist.  You have to really focus to remain true to your inner artistic vision.  Especially when you know there's always a legion of cynical critics, uncomprehending Yankees and anti-art religious conservatives ready to criticize everything you do.

But you see in that brief statement her bold approach to artistic innovation.  Note how she uses artistic production as a way of assimilating the experiences in her life.  It's this holistic conception - life as art - that has always been at the core of her attempt to defy and redefine traditional forms even as she utilizes them as a vehicle of expression.

And it's clear that she doesn't see this as just another entry in the reality-TV field.  She says that her series is being "compared to all the 'reality shows' on television."  She refers to it as "a documentary series."  This indicates that we can expect hard-hitting realism in a dynamic postmodern form.  But I'm sure the realism will be the central organizing concept.  Being "real" is very important to Britney.

Truly a milestone not to be missed.