After an arrest for being publicly drunk and disorderly a little over a week ago, the squat(test) star of MTV reality hit Jersey Shore has vowed to cut down on her drinking. In a press conference following her arrest, Snooki was nonchalant about it and said “I didn’t hurt anybody – stuff like that happens in Jersey… I had too many tequilas. What are you gonna do?” Later, after a talking-to from her father, she said she “felt bad” about the arrest and would cut back.

“My dad was very, very pissed. He’s like, ‘I didn’t raise you like this.’ I just felt really bad, so I’m definitely going to stop drinking during the daytime. And now when I go out, I only have a couple drinks. I learned that I need to calm down with drinking.”

That’s a lot of insight considering the source. Snooki was trashed relentlessly in a NY Times profile published a couple of weeks ago. (If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth a read.) The author compared trying to have a conversation with Snooki to talking to a child and wrote “You have to come down to her level, and sometimes you almost think you need to bribe her with a piece of candy to coax her to be more responsive. She is really only responsive to her own immediate needs and desires.”

The Times journalist also spoke to her father, who wondered aloud why his daughter was famous despite a lack of talent. He also gave an example of how Snooki is just as loud and attention-seeking off the show as she is while the cameras are rolling. He told an embarrassing story of Snooki visiting him at work, “Instead of standing at the counter and saying, ‘Can I speak to my father?’ she walks in and goes, ‘Daddy, Daddy!’ And people are looking at her. It’s not an act. It’s just the way she is.”

I finally broke down and tried to watch this show. (You can see full episodes online at MTV.com) I made it through a whole 20 minutes of episode two in this second season before turning it off. The cast was dealing with hangovers, going shopping, and fighting. In the last scene I saw, Snooki was clumsily trying to clean up the mess from some marinating chicken that fell out of the refrigerator when she opened it. My five year old could have cleaned up that chicken mess better than she did. It’s just The Real World with some really obtuse characters, and it’s really popular for some reason. It doesn’t hurt that the characters can be fascinating to watch, if only to marvel at how truly dense and witless they are.

Speaking of dense characters, a new girl is coming to the Jersey Shore house following Angelina’s exit. She’s named Deena Nicole Cortese and is an old friend of Snooki’s. At a press conference with the cast on Friday, Cortese outlined her qualifications. “I’m very energetic, I’m going hard and you never know what you’re going to get with me.” I’m sure she’ll fit right in with that petri dish of spray tan chemicals, Axe body spray, and frosted lipstick.