We are back from vacation, though we still have today and tomorrow to decompress, unpack, and still have time to walk down to see the cherry blossoms, which are quite considerately blooming a week before all the tourists arrive to crowd us locals out.
I'll post again with some pics from our trip, which was, of course, totally fun. We are happily Disney'd out, check that off our list thank you vera much. (That was for you Kyle.)
I also surprised myself to find that perhaps my internet addiction isn't quite as bad as I thought it was. Besides a twinge when we checked into a hotel and some lady was hogging a free terminal the whole time we were there, I never even thought about checking my email. The only phone calls I got were from my mother, but they were good ones, announcing that my little brother just had his first baby!! I left him and Melissa messages, but hopefully I'll hear from them in person to get all the details. However they did send some pictures, and of course he is just adorable. And judging from his name - Jackson King - he is destined to be totally awesome. I gave Gavin that name several years ago, and am very happy to see him taking my good advice. (Good thing the baby was a boy, because they strangely did not like my girl name suggestions. I'm all for old-fashioned girl names that are ready for their comeback, like Ruby or Rosetta/Rose or Pearl. On the other hand, my other little brother is going to name his girl Chloe for me, which isn't old-fashioned but still a great name.) Mom and Dad don't know it yet (unless they got their Disney postcard today), but I have every intention of calling the baby Jax. To be sure, Jack is a totally cool name all by itself, but Jax is even cooler. Jacks? Perhaps I'm still malleable on the spelling.
Well I've got some plants that need watering and some laundry that needs laundering and a gym that needs to feed off of my sweat. But I'll be back, with pictures.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Survivor, or the one where the talking outfunned the action
SURVIVOR Fans VS Favorites
I love presents. And CBS just gave me one with an unexpected episode of Survivor a day early. Why is this so awesome? Because tomorrow I leave on vacation to Florida where watching television is hardly going to be on my list of things I want to do. I'm still going to be delayed watching next week's episode, but only by a day or two. It is much better that I won't end up being two weeks behind, and I don't even have to sacrifice any of my standards. That standard being, of course, making fun of people who watch television while they are on vacation. Seriously, you are 21 and in Australia and all you want to do is spend the morning sitting in a grungy hostel watching Jerry Springer? But don't get me started, I have a couple of Survivors I have to kiss on the mouth.
If I thought I was relieved having mean Joel gone, it is nothing to the relief I felt not having Chet around. Just as I'm wondering how Kathy could possibly screw up badly enough that people would go back to the old way of doing things, namely voting off the lame weak people, she gift-wraps my idea for me and quits. Note to producers: I realize that you want colorful characters. A crazy mother, a gay pagent consultant, well, they probably sounded good on paper. But don't you put these people through a psych eval? Frankly I would love a season chock full of James and Ozzy clones. Let the warriors battle it out. Especially with a dynamic like this one, with half your contestants already battle scarred, why let these emotionally/physically unstable folks through? Any why do people who quit always say "I don't want people to think I'm quitting." Uh, we will think that, because you are quitting, it is sort of the definition of the word. It doesn't automatically make you a terrible person, but it doesn't change what you are doing. Anyway, whatever, they are both gone and I couldn't be happier about it. In Kathy's defense, she did at one point do the "I Dream Of Jeannie" doing-magic move, which was sort of awesome. Chet could have at least led the girls in a walk-off or something.
OK, let's just say it, I am love love loving Cirie. Even if she hadn't done anything else all season, calling out the boy-crush Erik has on Ozzy was delicious. Cause it is cute, really, all that straight male bonding. Her Lion King comparison had me in stitches. When Ozzy was being his usual kick-butt self on the immunity challenge and in the background you can hear Erik scremaing "GO OZZY!!!!!" (the cameraman who missed that shot should be fired), you know he is like one of those girls in the 60's who were crazy for the Beatles, and I couldn't possibly approve of this story line any more than I do. Heh. Mufasa even lets his lion cub make one run out to retrieve some puzzle pieces, but just once. For me Erik just storylined himself into my hope for Last Fan Standing.
Anyway, reward challenge was pretty good. Cirie got her team off to a quick start and even if she confused her left and right still led her team to victory. And then, Ozzy gives Tracy the boot to Exile. I thought that was pretty lame, especially his "Can you take one for the team?" line. I get it, and really you want her out of the picture so she can't bond with any of the other girls, but still I sort of felt Ozzy should have sucked it up and went back himself. But I guess he isn't there to be a gentleman. Although, if he had gone back it also would have sent a message to Jason that Ozzy was still looking for the Idol, and I want nothing more than for Jason to believe his idol is real. Also, totally bummed that we didn't get any footage of Tracy and Jason on exile. What did they talk about?
The "spa reward" was notable only for some more entertaining commentary by Cirie. Ozzy with his head between two sets of bosoms, Erik looking longingly in from the side, and Cirie watching it all and giggling with us about it. More, please.
Immunity challenge was fine, although the "physical first then puzzle" formula is getting a tad predictable. Funny how Eliza is turning out to be one of the strongest players on her team. She has mostly faded into the background the past few weeks, but she is consistently strong in challenges, especially considering her size. Just noticing.
Ok, then the real fun begins, and Amie is the one puckering up to me in the camera this time. She devises a brilliant plan of deviousness to boot off Ozzy, putting herself in control of her tribe, which is something I always root for. I mean, how awesome would it have been if she had played so many people like that? Ozzy is my man, I totally love him. Well, apparently not as much as Erik does, but enough to be happy if he won. However, the truth is that I will be very surprised if he does. He just has too big a target on his back, as does James. They are useful for now, and for the most part very likable, but I will be amazed if either of them really make it to the end. Yao was in that same boat, which is why I'm not at all mad at Cirie for targeting him. Targeting him was smart game. So while I'm in no rush to see Ozzy go, I was totally down with Ami's plan to better her position in the game.
That said, any triple layer plan has rather small odds of actually working, there are just too many variables. I'm fascinated to know whether she even approached Erik about it, and what he said. Did he flat out refuse to vote out his papa bear? Did Ami just decide it would piss too many people off? Wish we knew more. In the end, I was unsurprised to see Tracy go. (Although if I were those girls, I'd rather have had Tracy on the jury than Erik.) Which was a bummer, she played some very good game herself and should be very proud of what she accomplished. She also helped reveal a chink in Ozzy's armor, who got his panties in a bunch when she called him out about being their team leader. If even your girlfriend is complaining about your arrogance, well, getting defensive isn't going to help your cause. Even that is a nitpick though, Ozzy is still way cooler than anyone else in any season who has been as strong as him.
So we are two extra people down now, I wonder how that is going to affect things. In most any other season I'd be talking about how that unfairly affects the otherwise winning team, but since there really hasn't been any cross-team alliances made anyway, I just don't really care. I want those two Fan girls to go next, poor things can't seem to make themselves interesting at any cost. We get a hint that Parvati may try to woo them next week, but if all they become are Parvati-pawns, well, it might make me like Parvati more but I doubt it will do much of my opinion of them.
My Tivo also cut off Tracy's farewell speech, but I just watched her whole remarks on the cbs website, and she is just awesome. She is easily my favorite player among the fans, I wish we'd had more time with her. My only disagreement with her is the very common thought that Parvati and Amanda are going to take Ozzy and James to the final four. I just can't believe that those two girls don't have higher aspirations than to fight over third place. They will turn on their men eventually, it is just a matter of timing.
I love presents. And CBS just gave me one with an unexpected episode of Survivor a day early. Why is this so awesome? Because tomorrow I leave on vacation to Florida where watching television is hardly going to be on my list of things I want to do. I'm still going to be delayed watching next week's episode, but only by a day or two. It is much better that I won't end up being two weeks behind, and I don't even have to sacrifice any of my standards. That standard being, of course, making fun of people who watch television while they are on vacation. Seriously, you are 21 and in Australia and all you want to do is spend the morning sitting in a grungy hostel watching Jerry Springer? But don't get me started, I have a couple of Survivors I have to kiss on the mouth.
If I thought I was relieved having mean Joel gone, it is nothing to the relief I felt not having Chet around. Just as I'm wondering how Kathy could possibly screw up badly enough that people would go back to the old way of doing things, namely voting off the lame weak people, she gift-wraps my idea for me and quits. Note to producers: I realize that you want colorful characters. A crazy mother, a gay pagent consultant, well, they probably sounded good on paper. But don't you put these people through a psych eval? Frankly I would love a season chock full of James and Ozzy clones. Let the warriors battle it out. Especially with a dynamic like this one, with half your contestants already battle scarred, why let these emotionally/physically unstable folks through? Any why do people who quit always say "I don't want people to think I'm quitting." Uh, we will think that, because you are quitting, it is sort of the definition of the word. It doesn't automatically make you a terrible person, but it doesn't change what you are doing. Anyway, whatever, they are both gone and I couldn't be happier about it. In Kathy's defense, she did at one point do the "I Dream Of Jeannie" doing-magic move, which was sort of awesome. Chet could have at least led the girls in a walk-off or something.
OK, let's just say it, I am love love loving Cirie. Even if she hadn't done anything else all season, calling out the boy-crush Erik has on Ozzy was delicious. Cause it is cute, really, all that straight male bonding. Her Lion King comparison had me in stitches. When Ozzy was being his usual kick-butt self on the immunity challenge and in the background you can hear Erik scremaing "GO OZZY!!!!!" (the cameraman who missed that shot should be fired), you know he is like one of those girls in the 60's who were crazy for the Beatles, and I couldn't possibly approve of this story line any more than I do. Heh. Mufasa even lets his lion cub make one run out to retrieve some puzzle pieces, but just once. For me Erik just storylined himself into my hope for Last Fan Standing.
Anyway, reward challenge was pretty good. Cirie got her team off to a quick start and even if she confused her left and right still led her team to victory. And then, Ozzy gives Tracy the boot to Exile. I thought that was pretty lame, especially his "Can you take one for the team?" line. I get it, and really you want her out of the picture so she can't bond with any of the other girls, but still I sort of felt Ozzy should have sucked it up and went back himself. But I guess he isn't there to be a gentleman. Although, if he had gone back it also would have sent a message to Jason that Ozzy was still looking for the Idol, and I want nothing more than for Jason to believe his idol is real. Also, totally bummed that we didn't get any footage of Tracy and Jason on exile. What did they talk about?
The "spa reward" was notable only for some more entertaining commentary by Cirie. Ozzy with his head between two sets of bosoms, Erik looking longingly in from the side, and Cirie watching it all and giggling with us about it. More, please.
Immunity challenge was fine, although the "physical first then puzzle" formula is getting a tad predictable. Funny how Eliza is turning out to be one of the strongest players on her team. She has mostly faded into the background the past few weeks, but she is consistently strong in challenges, especially considering her size. Just noticing.
Ok, then the real fun begins, and Amie is the one puckering up to me in the camera this time. She devises a brilliant plan of deviousness to boot off Ozzy, putting herself in control of her tribe, which is something I always root for. I mean, how awesome would it have been if she had played so many people like that? Ozzy is my man, I totally love him. Well, apparently not as much as Erik does, but enough to be happy if he won. However, the truth is that I will be very surprised if he does. He just has too big a target on his back, as does James. They are useful for now, and for the most part very likable, but I will be amazed if either of them really make it to the end. Yao was in that same boat, which is why I'm not at all mad at Cirie for targeting him. Targeting him was smart game. So while I'm in no rush to see Ozzy go, I was totally down with Ami's plan to better her position in the game.
That said, any triple layer plan has rather small odds of actually working, there are just too many variables. I'm fascinated to know whether she even approached Erik about it, and what he said. Did he flat out refuse to vote out his papa bear? Did Ami just decide it would piss too many people off? Wish we knew more. In the end, I was unsurprised to see Tracy go. (Although if I were those girls, I'd rather have had Tracy on the jury than Erik.) Which was a bummer, she played some very good game herself and should be very proud of what she accomplished. She also helped reveal a chink in Ozzy's armor, who got his panties in a bunch when she called him out about being their team leader. If even your girlfriend is complaining about your arrogance, well, getting defensive isn't going to help your cause. Even that is a nitpick though, Ozzy is still way cooler than anyone else in any season who has been as strong as him.
So we are two extra people down now, I wonder how that is going to affect things. In most any other season I'd be talking about how that unfairly affects the otherwise winning team, but since there really hasn't been any cross-team alliances made anyway, I just don't really care. I want those two Fan girls to go next, poor things can't seem to make themselves interesting at any cost. We get a hint that Parvati may try to woo them next week, but if all they become are Parvati-pawns, well, it might make me like Parvati more but I doubt it will do much of my opinion of them.
My Tivo also cut off Tracy's farewell speech, but I just watched her whole remarks on the cbs website, and she is just awesome. She is easily my favorite player among the fans, I wish we'd had more time with her. My only disagreement with her is the very common thought that Parvati and Amanda are going to take Ozzy and James to the final four. I just can't believe that those two girls don't have higher aspirations than to fight over third place. They will turn on their men eventually, it is just a matter of timing.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Survivor, or the meek shall inherit (almost)
First let's just take another moment to revel in the sweetness that is the now Joel-less Survivor. Ahhhh.
After a string of totally awesome episodes, I guess it was inevitable that one would come along with the potential to ruin everything. Fortunately things didn't get as bad as they could have, but I am not pleased with Penner's exit. It screws up the game in too many ways, not to mention is the exit of yet another strong player. I'm all for the weaklings using the outwit card as far as they can take it, but this gives them an unfair advantage. Also, even though he was sometimes annoying, he was still entertaining. I didn't care as much that season when Papa Smurf got hurt, because he was boring anyway, but Penner has been a big player this game. We had better never see that challenge again. I'm all for challenges being physically tough, but the producers need to take more precautions to make sure people don't get hurt like that, because it just sucks.
Heh. Jason found the fake idol. Please, TV Gods, let that be fun.
This is my problem with the fans vs favorites concept. I like the favorites, but of the fans the only one I like is Tracy. It comes off a little obnoxious, but I totally understand when the Favorites are all complaining about not wanting to teach the Fans how to play the game and not just be lazy. The Favorites are all the cream of the crop of their respective seasons, while the fans, well, don't seem to have much cream to begin with. I'm all for people mixing things up, and I think Ami is smart to consider switching sides, and normally I would be rooting hard for her to do so. But I absolutely cannot stand Chet anymore. He is in way over his head at this point, I don't think he is a bad person or anything like Joel, but at least Joel was prepared to play hard. So when they started talking about voting Ozzy off, I started getting sick to my stomach.
Well, back up, why are we even having tribal if we got rid of Penner? I immediately started hoping that maybe Penner was coming back post-surgery, but it didn't happen. I certainly hated it when the Boy Scout lady got to come back after being voted off, but especially since Penner's team didn't go to tribal, if he comes back next week I'd be down with that. Pipe dream, I know.
I hated the challenge. I mean, props to James for thinking outside the box. But blowouts like that are boring TV, again the producers created another bad challenge. And again, the whole time I'm thinking, why are we even having a tribal anyway?? Are they really going to just eliminate an entire episode from the season?
Chet, who is apparently as unlucky as he is boring, is apparently injured, which sucks for him because of how lamely it compares to Penner's injury. So he asks to be voted off. If I hadn't been completely over him for so long, I still would have been annoyed with this, but as it is I can't stand it. And his teammates are, of course, trying to plot with him and Ami to stay in the game. Which I respect, but blondie is reduced to outright begging. If they had stuck with Cirie as their target I may have been slightly more sympathetic, but all I'm thinking is that if Chet stays and Ozzy goes, how can I possibly be ok with that universe? My aggravation level is high.
Fortunately Chet does not discover some hidden well of courage, and goes, so my universe is saved from implosion. Oh, I was too busy being relieved, but did anyone notice who he voted for? Just curious.
At this point I'm kind of bummed at where the game is heading. With Penner gone, I'm really afraid Eliza will band with the Fan girls and vote off James. (Which, frankly, Penner might have done as well.) At least I don't see Ami switching up at this point, too dangerous when it would just be a tie-breaker vote. I hate to say it, but I hope Ozzy starts throwing challenges to save James. But then, who do I love more, James or Tracy? That is a hard question to answer.
All this angst in a season where somebody HAS A FAKE IMMUNITY IDOL!! I bet it doesn't play out as deliciously as I want it to, but still, that is pretty awesome.
After a string of totally awesome episodes, I guess it was inevitable that one would come along with the potential to ruin everything. Fortunately things didn't get as bad as they could have, but I am not pleased with Penner's exit. It screws up the game in too many ways, not to mention is the exit of yet another strong player. I'm all for the weaklings using the outwit card as far as they can take it, but this gives them an unfair advantage. Also, even though he was sometimes annoying, he was still entertaining. I didn't care as much that season when Papa Smurf got hurt, because he was boring anyway, but Penner has been a big player this game. We had better never see that challenge again. I'm all for challenges being physically tough, but the producers need to take more precautions to make sure people don't get hurt like that, because it just sucks.
Heh. Jason found the fake idol. Please, TV Gods, let that be fun.
This is my problem with the fans vs favorites concept. I like the favorites, but of the fans the only one I like is Tracy. It comes off a little obnoxious, but I totally understand when the Favorites are all complaining about not wanting to teach the Fans how to play the game and not just be lazy. The Favorites are all the cream of the crop of their respective seasons, while the fans, well, don't seem to have much cream to begin with. I'm all for people mixing things up, and I think Ami is smart to consider switching sides, and normally I would be rooting hard for her to do so. But I absolutely cannot stand Chet anymore. He is in way over his head at this point, I don't think he is a bad person or anything like Joel, but at least Joel was prepared to play hard. So when they started talking about voting Ozzy off, I started getting sick to my stomach.
Well, back up, why are we even having tribal if we got rid of Penner? I immediately started hoping that maybe Penner was coming back post-surgery, but it didn't happen. I certainly hated it when the Boy Scout lady got to come back after being voted off, but especially since Penner's team didn't go to tribal, if he comes back next week I'd be down with that. Pipe dream, I know.
I hated the challenge. I mean, props to James for thinking outside the box. But blowouts like that are boring TV, again the producers created another bad challenge. And again, the whole time I'm thinking, why are we even having a tribal anyway?? Are they really going to just eliminate an entire episode from the season?
Chet, who is apparently as unlucky as he is boring, is apparently injured, which sucks for him because of how lamely it compares to Penner's injury. So he asks to be voted off. If I hadn't been completely over him for so long, I still would have been annoyed with this, but as it is I can't stand it. And his teammates are, of course, trying to plot with him and Ami to stay in the game. Which I respect, but blondie is reduced to outright begging. If they had stuck with Cirie as their target I may have been slightly more sympathetic, but all I'm thinking is that if Chet stays and Ozzy goes, how can I possibly be ok with that universe? My aggravation level is high.
Fortunately Chet does not discover some hidden well of courage, and goes, so my universe is saved from implosion. Oh, I was too busy being relieved, but did anyone notice who he voted for? Just curious.
At this point I'm kind of bummed at where the game is heading. With Penner gone, I'm really afraid Eliza will band with the Fan girls and vote off James. (Which, frankly, Penner might have done as well.) At least I don't see Ami switching up at this point, too dangerous when it would just be a tie-breaker vote. I hate to say it, but I hope Ozzy starts throwing challenges to save James. But then, who do I love more, James or Tracy? That is a hard question to answer.
All this angst in a season where somebody HAS A FAKE IMMUNITY IDOL!! I bet it doesn't play out as deliciously as I want it to, but still, that is pretty awesome.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Kiss of the Spiderwoman
We just got home from the Signature Theatre where we saw "Kiss Of The Spiderwoman". I'm not the biggest fan of the show, but I can say this was an excellent production. I think the show does a bit better in a smaller house rather than a huge Broadway theatre. I actually was a bit tentative about going. Will Chase and Hunter Foster as the two leads both seemed woefully miscast to me, and while I love Natacia Diaz (she blew me away in tick...tick...BOOM!), she isn't exactly at Chita Rivera star level. But the great news was that it was way better than I'd expected. It is unfortunate that Hunter learned all he knows about playing effeminate gay from watching Roger Bart in "The Producers", but vocally he really knocked it out of the park, so I easily forgave all the acting-via-floppy-wrist-action. I always knew Natacia could sing, but boy can she dance too! She must get bored turning down offers for playing Anita in West Side Story, because she must kick butt at that part. But Will was the best of all, in great voice and looking far more rugged and genuine than I thought he was capable of. Even the ensemble rose to the occasion and gave a far more coherent performance than those of the other shows I've seen there. I just love good singing, and this production was chock full of it. More, please.
Speaking of singing, of course I am enjoying Idol. I was very sad to see David Hernandez go this week. He isn't much of a performer, and I can't deny that his song was pretty terrible this week. But from a strict vocal perspective, I think he was the best actual singer of them all. He wasn't a good enough performer to win or anything, but for me I was sort of hoping Ramiele was going. It is a season without a Bucky or Scott Savol, so I really can't complain about the talent level though, which is a great thing. Even Chickizie, who for me so far has been little more than a really fun name, totally gave the best performance of the week, I mean talk about fun! I'm perplexed, however, by the decision to torture the audience with re-watching the worst three performances. What douchebag made that decision? I could live with watching perhaps the three best performances again, but why on earth would I want to suffer through that country singer disaster a second time? Lame.
Since we were at the show tonight, I had to tape Survivor. I'll watch that tomorrow, I hate being behind but going out is fun too. Of course we leave for vacation a week from today, I can't wait! So I'll be two weeks behind on Survivor by the time we get back, that is gonna suck. But I'm sure the Florida sun will ease my suffering. ;)
Speaking of singing, of course I am enjoying Idol. I was very sad to see David Hernandez go this week. He isn't much of a performer, and I can't deny that his song was pretty terrible this week. But from a strict vocal perspective, I think he was the best actual singer of them all. He wasn't a good enough performer to win or anything, but for me I was sort of hoping Ramiele was going. It is a season without a Bucky or Scott Savol, so I really can't complain about the talent level though, which is a great thing. Even Chickizie, who for me so far has been little more than a really fun name, totally gave the best performance of the week, I mean talk about fun! I'm perplexed, however, by the decision to torture the audience with re-watching the worst three performances. What douchebag made that decision? I could live with watching perhaps the three best performances again, but why on earth would I want to suffer through that country singer disaster a second time? Lame.
Since we were at the show tonight, I had to tape Survivor. I'll watch that tomorrow, I hate being behind but going out is fun too. Of course we leave for vacation a week from today, I can't wait! So I'll be two weeks behind on Survivor by the time we get back, that is gonna suck. But I'm sure the Florida sun will ease my suffering. ;)
Friday, March 7, 2008
Survivor, or how to frontload all of your good episodes
SURVIVOR: FANS VS FAVORITES
This will be briefer than usual, but I'm gobsmacked sleepy and need to get off to dreamland to repair my weary neurons for work tomorrow. However, this week's Survivor obviously requires some enthusiastic worshipping.
I was worried the merge would be random, and gratefully it wasn't. Four and four, just the way it should be. It actually seemed to be a pretty fair split, and I'm sure the couples were happy to stay together. I wonder how long it takes the fans to realize they are couples?
The reward challenge was brutal. I do not appreciate injury on the show, it is just boring when people have to leave because they hurt themselves. Jonathan was hurt pretty bad, and although he is trying to tough it out, I'm really worried he might have to bail next week, which is just not cool. Amy seemed to recover, but I wasn't amused at having to look at Parvati's swollen lip the rest of the episode. Ick. Other than the injuries, I came away from the challenge with two impressions. Eliza might actually be stronger than I've been giving her credit for, despite wounding Parvati she also managed to win her point. The other is that Joel sucks. His answer to everything is just to run like a bull, which is great in some scenarios, but not in this one. He was killing Chet out there. As we saw in all the other rounds, as long as you work together you can always catch the other team, but instead of having any patience at all he tried to do it all himself by dragging Chet along and in doing so lost the game for his team. And then he was a dick about it. Lame.
The immunity challenge was sort of boring. But it did again seem to highlight that Chet really is worthless, although Joel didn't seem to be helping much. The editing made it impossible to tell who really was right or wrong, but in this game manners count. Also, Eliza really pulled it out again, solving the puzzle smartly and efficiently to give her team the win from behind. Dang, I was all settled in not liking her too.
So the losing team seems sure to vote off Chet. Again. But don't tell Cirie what to do. Once again she asserts her will over the rest of the tribe, and singlehandedly forces them to vote off Joel. A move like that would be inconceivable in any other season. (Well, Hunter I guess.) But Cirie has the big picture. Though I'm sure they didn't tell her, she knew that if Chet went her number would be up sooner rather than later, and she talked them into voting off their strongest player. Without Penner around to get her goat, I have to say at this point she is one of my favorite players so far this game. Talk about a mover and a shaker.
I'm a little bummed Chet is still around, because he is inherently uninteresting and in fact painful to watch, I really hope the poor guy gets put out of his (and my) misery soon. But I totally understand the thinking behind it. I wonder how long before Ozzy and James start getting nervous as the weak players really start to outnumber them. It is making for a killer first half of a season, but honestly, who wants to see Kathy and Chet in the final three? Oh that's right, no one.
The look on Joel's face when he got the fourth vote was simply delicious television. Not to mention his pal Blondie, who suddenly realized how close he himself is to having his own fire snuffed. Joel's death speech was predictably ironic. "I don't know what they were thinking" - uh, maybe the exact same thing you were thinking last week when you voted off Mikey?
So far Ozzy is the only one this season who doesn't seem to get cocky about his strength. Oh, and how funny is it that the blonde kid is totally in love with him? Hero Worship 101. Kinda cute, really. Wonder if that will change after last night?
So for now the Favorites are in the lead, although if Penner has to go next week that would even things out. I really don't see how he is going to prevent infection in his wound as he runs around in the tropics. They hint Amie considers swapping over next week, which might be a smart move for her, and very dangerous for Ozzy. At least she has finally worked her way into a storyline. I still hardly know who those Fan girls are. I also wonder if we will have any other tribe swapping mischief prior to the merge. One can hope anyway. One can hope.
This will be briefer than usual, but I'm gobsmacked sleepy and need to get off to dreamland to repair my weary neurons for work tomorrow. However, this week's Survivor obviously requires some enthusiastic worshipping.
I was worried the merge would be random, and gratefully it wasn't. Four and four, just the way it should be. It actually seemed to be a pretty fair split, and I'm sure the couples were happy to stay together. I wonder how long it takes the fans to realize they are couples?
The reward challenge was brutal. I do not appreciate injury on the show, it is just boring when people have to leave because they hurt themselves. Jonathan was hurt pretty bad, and although he is trying to tough it out, I'm really worried he might have to bail next week, which is just not cool. Amy seemed to recover, but I wasn't amused at having to look at Parvati's swollen lip the rest of the episode. Ick. Other than the injuries, I came away from the challenge with two impressions. Eliza might actually be stronger than I've been giving her credit for, despite wounding Parvati she also managed to win her point. The other is that Joel sucks. His answer to everything is just to run like a bull, which is great in some scenarios, but not in this one. He was killing Chet out there. As we saw in all the other rounds, as long as you work together you can always catch the other team, but instead of having any patience at all he tried to do it all himself by dragging Chet along and in doing so lost the game for his team. And then he was a dick about it. Lame.
The immunity challenge was sort of boring. But it did again seem to highlight that Chet really is worthless, although Joel didn't seem to be helping much. The editing made it impossible to tell who really was right or wrong, but in this game manners count. Also, Eliza really pulled it out again, solving the puzzle smartly and efficiently to give her team the win from behind. Dang, I was all settled in not liking her too.
So the losing team seems sure to vote off Chet. Again. But don't tell Cirie what to do. Once again she asserts her will over the rest of the tribe, and singlehandedly forces them to vote off Joel. A move like that would be inconceivable in any other season. (Well, Hunter I guess.) But Cirie has the big picture. Though I'm sure they didn't tell her, she knew that if Chet went her number would be up sooner rather than later, and she talked them into voting off their strongest player. Without Penner around to get her goat, I have to say at this point she is one of my favorite players so far this game. Talk about a mover and a shaker.
I'm a little bummed Chet is still around, because he is inherently uninteresting and in fact painful to watch, I really hope the poor guy gets put out of his (and my) misery soon. But I totally understand the thinking behind it. I wonder how long before Ozzy and James start getting nervous as the weak players really start to outnumber them. It is making for a killer first half of a season, but honestly, who wants to see Kathy and Chet in the final three? Oh that's right, no one.
The look on Joel's face when he got the fourth vote was simply delicious television. Not to mention his pal Blondie, who suddenly realized how close he himself is to having his own fire snuffed. Joel's death speech was predictably ironic. "I don't know what they were thinking" - uh, maybe the exact same thing you were thinking last week when you voted off Mikey?
So far Ozzy is the only one this season who doesn't seem to get cocky about his strength. Oh, and how funny is it that the blonde kid is totally in love with him? Hero Worship 101. Kinda cute, really. Wonder if that will change after last night?
So for now the Favorites are in the lead, although if Penner has to go next week that would even things out. I really don't see how he is going to prevent infection in his wound as he runs around in the tropics. They hint Amie considers swapping over next week, which might be a smart move for her, and very dangerous for Ozzy. At least she has finally worked her way into a storyline. I still hardly know who those Fan girls are. I also wonder if we will have any other tribe swapping mischief prior to the merge. One can hope anyway. One can hope.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
I got me some love coming from Albuquerque
Dang, so I finally got myself adjusted to nights for my three-in-a-row night shifts, and now I can't adjust back. lol Ah, well. So far I've never actually gotten sleepy at work, always too busy for that, so hopefully Sat will be fine.
Hey, you Albuquerque peeps! According to my map you've pushed me over the 1000 visits mark! Rock on! I still look at those maps in wonder, because I still have little idea where some of those other dots are coming from. I mean, I know many of you prefer to email me instead of leaving comments, and I can figure out where most of the dots from the SW are coming from. But I seem to have regular readers in, say, Chicago, and somewhere smack dab in the middle, Kansas City or something. Y'all should leave me a note sometime and let me know who you are.
Idol is really shaping up to be a great season, lots of really good singers this time. The judges are one degree away from crazy, but where it used to be cute it is starting to get a little tiresome. Thank goodness for the singing. And is it just me, or does Ryan suddenly look like he's had some, uh, work done? Maybe he just hired a bad makeup person to go along with his bad wardrobe assistant, but he is looking a bit haggard these days. All that Cowell-baiting finally taking its toll.
Hey, you Albuquerque peeps! According to my map you've pushed me over the 1000 visits mark! Rock on! I still look at those maps in wonder, because I still have little idea where some of those other dots are coming from. I mean, I know many of you prefer to email me instead of leaving comments, and I can figure out where most of the dots from the SW are coming from. But I seem to have regular readers in, say, Chicago, and somewhere smack dab in the middle, Kansas City or something. Y'all should leave me a note sometime and let me know who you are.
Idol is really shaping up to be a great season, lots of really good singers this time. The judges are one degree away from crazy, but where it used to be cute it is starting to get a little tiresome. Thank goodness for the singing. And is it just me, or does Ryan suddenly look like he's had some, uh, work done? Maybe he just hired a bad makeup person to go along with his bad wardrobe assistant, but he is looking a bit haggard these days. All that Cowell-baiting finally taking its toll.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
All this March sunshine is making me happy
My dad came to town for business, and stayed with us last night. He has 20-year old memories of some amazing Mexican restaurant which we tried - and failed - to find. However the place where we did end up was having burrito special night, and I had a rather delicious BBQ chicken burrito that gave me Happy Tummy. Also they had cinnamon ice-cream for dessert, and as everyone knows, cinnamon ice-cream is corporeal joy.
Dad drove the rental car, and quietly showed off his mad driving skills with a deft job of parallel parking. He even apologized that he was maybe two inches away from the curb. But here is one reason my dad is awesome - before I could get my compliment out, he started telling this 30-year old story about this one time when my mom was driving and, the way he tells it, made parallel parking history neatly fitting in her 40 foot long car in a 40.2 foot space. My dad is totally crushing on my mom because she once parked a car. I think it is adorable.
I worked three nights in a row this weekend. Physically it was tough, I tried all week to stay up late and sleep during the day, but besides feeling jet-lagged all the time, my body fought back and I got sick. I hardly ever get sick, and it totally annoys me. Of course I was able to ignore it while I was working, but within a half hour of leaving work on my last shift I could barely speak. Sometimes I don't know where I get my jock-adrenaline from, but it sure comes in handy. The good part is that I have a few days off to recover, and David has two weeks to get it and get over it before we go on vacation to Florida.
Oh, my favorite part of the weekend, was this little old lady who was sharing a room with a patient of mine. She was very confused, and while I was checking some equipment on my patient I could hear her nurse trying to assess her orientation. She couldn't remember what year it was, or where she was, or pretty much anything. Finally the nurse asked her if she knew who the president was.
"Well," she replied carefully, "it isn't Clinton anymore."
"You are right about that." the nurse said, "But can you remember who it is?"
She thought a few moments, and finally exclaimed "Oh, yes, it is President Obama!"
Well, at least we know she has been paying some attention to current events. Or she is psychic, who knows? lol
Yesterdays primary decided little, as I suppose was expected. I keep hearing all this chatter, mostly from Fox News (hey, my dad was here, so I let him watch, though I did force him to change to CNN when Karl Rove came on, even I have limits), about how the Democrats are going to destroy themselves choosing between Clinton and Obama. But I just don't get it. While I am certainly suffering from primary fatigue and would love it to be over, I don't really see why people think this it is so terrible that we have two great candidates to choose from. Yeah, they are going to play every advantage, and they are going to fight a little. But so far the only time I've been upset is over Hillary trying to change the rules in the middle of the game to allow the Michigan and Florida elections to count after the other candidates agreed not to campaign there. That's lame. But otherwise all it shows is, again, that we have two great candidates and are having a tough time choosing which one would be "best". That is a choice I can live with. I find Obama inspiring, something I never thought I'd find in a politician, so he remains my choice. But either one will appoint the right supreme court judges.
I finished that Stephen King novel about cell phones killing off mankind. Or whatever it was about, I don't know, it was so poorly written that I'd go paragraphs without remembering anything. And even when I'd realize I'd done it, I'd rarely go back to catch up. I did read another book called "Hero", about a teenage boy who is coming out as gay and as a superhero at the same time, which was kind of interesting if a bit simple. I'm thinking of grabbing something like "Treasure Island", which I've never read. I'm just afraid it is going to make me start fantasizing about living on a deserted island again, and I've already been down that road. We also just Netflixed "Oliver Twist", the Polanski version, and it was so boring that I'm not convinced reading a classic is really what I want either. I mean, really, does Oliver actually DO anything? He is worse than Harry Potter, just reacting to everything around him rather than actually accomplishing anything himself.
Special note to Rick, Jeffrey and Erin - we are going to have super fun when you come visit! And now I know a great place to get burritos!
Dad drove the rental car, and quietly showed off his mad driving skills with a deft job of parallel parking. He even apologized that he was maybe two inches away from the curb. But here is one reason my dad is awesome - before I could get my compliment out, he started telling this 30-year old story about this one time when my mom was driving and, the way he tells it, made parallel parking history neatly fitting in her 40 foot long car in a 40.2 foot space. My dad is totally crushing on my mom because she once parked a car. I think it is adorable.
I worked three nights in a row this weekend. Physically it was tough, I tried all week to stay up late and sleep during the day, but besides feeling jet-lagged all the time, my body fought back and I got sick. I hardly ever get sick, and it totally annoys me. Of course I was able to ignore it while I was working, but within a half hour of leaving work on my last shift I could barely speak. Sometimes I don't know where I get my jock-adrenaline from, but it sure comes in handy. The good part is that I have a few days off to recover, and David has two weeks to get it and get over it before we go on vacation to Florida.
Oh, my favorite part of the weekend, was this little old lady who was sharing a room with a patient of mine. She was very confused, and while I was checking some equipment on my patient I could hear her nurse trying to assess her orientation. She couldn't remember what year it was, or where she was, or pretty much anything. Finally the nurse asked her if she knew who the president was.
"Well," she replied carefully, "it isn't Clinton anymore."
"You are right about that." the nurse said, "But can you remember who it is?"
She thought a few moments, and finally exclaimed "Oh, yes, it is President Obama!"
Well, at least we know she has been paying some attention to current events. Or she is psychic, who knows? lol
Yesterdays primary decided little, as I suppose was expected. I keep hearing all this chatter, mostly from Fox News (hey, my dad was here, so I let him watch, though I did force him to change to CNN when Karl Rove came on, even I have limits), about how the Democrats are going to destroy themselves choosing between Clinton and Obama. But I just don't get it. While I am certainly suffering from primary fatigue and would love it to be over, I don't really see why people think this it is so terrible that we have two great candidates to choose from. Yeah, they are going to play every advantage, and they are going to fight a little. But so far the only time I've been upset is over Hillary trying to change the rules in the middle of the game to allow the Michigan and Florida elections to count after the other candidates agreed not to campaign there. That's lame. But otherwise all it shows is, again, that we have two great candidates and are having a tough time choosing which one would be "best". That is a choice I can live with. I find Obama inspiring, something I never thought I'd find in a politician, so he remains my choice. But either one will appoint the right supreme court judges.
I finished that Stephen King novel about cell phones killing off mankind. Or whatever it was about, I don't know, it was so poorly written that I'd go paragraphs without remembering anything. And even when I'd realize I'd done it, I'd rarely go back to catch up. I did read another book called "Hero", about a teenage boy who is coming out as gay and as a superhero at the same time, which was kind of interesting if a bit simple. I'm thinking of grabbing something like "Treasure Island", which I've never read. I'm just afraid it is going to make me start fantasizing about living on a deserted island again, and I've already been down that road. We also just Netflixed "Oliver Twist", the Polanski version, and it was so boring that I'm not convinced reading a classic is really what I want either. I mean, really, does Oliver actually DO anything? He is worse than Harry Potter, just reacting to everything around him rather than actually accomplishing anything himself.
Special note to Rick, Jeffrey and Erin - we are going to have super fun when you come visit! And now I know a great place to get burritos!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
