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!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Survivor, or how to manipulate your teammates for fun and profit
Usually the first four episodes of Survivor are a little bit of treading water. It is time to get to know all the characters, and allow some trimming of the weaker players that you don't really care about getting to know anyway. Every once in a while someone will, you know, declare that they have found love-at-first-sight with a member of the other team, but that kind of award-winning television doesn't often come this early.
So far, this season is breaking records and upping the ante for totally excellent Tribal Council shenanigans, and I, for one, couldn't be more pleased.
So we get the Penner/Cirie bickering right out of the way, which is fine with me. I like them both, but they are bringing out the absolute worst in each other. Fighting is only good as a motivator for devising some seriously devious outwit strategy. Otherwise it is just uncomfortable and boring. James is up to his usual tricks of refusing to let me decide if he is a hero or a villain. I was all over the map last season, and he is doing it to me again. Suddenly he turns into a bitch over Eliza. Now, I'm hardly an Eliza fan, but there is no need to be rude and dismissive. What kind of a team leader is that? Also, in a game where you never know who is going to be on that jury voting for or against you, it is simply stupid to pick meaningless fights like that with people. In any case, he has now cleared the way to make Ozzy my number one pick. (For now anyway.)
Speaking of Ozzy, he rocked out the reward challenge, as usual. What was funny is that early on Joel yells out to his team to take notice of Ozzy's strategy, but then they apparently ignore the advice. And lose. I was annoyed with them anyway though, because after all the talk about how pathetic Chet is, they decide to sit him out of a reward challenge, guaranteeing he will be competing in the immunity challenge? Dumb. Funnier was that they lost before half of their team even did anything, so it didn't even matter.
Color me unsurprised that Ozzy found the immunity idol. I'm so over Kathy, who seems to enjoy hanging out with the celebrities but otherwise has totally checked out of the game. I'd been assuming there would be two idols, one for each team member, but since there was only one I'm glad Ozzy got it. I bet the producers are mad that he found it alone, since apparently their plan was that two people would find it together and then have a Jungle Deathmatch for the spoils. I think it would have been more interesting to have two. I love it when people start cross-team alliances and strategies. How fun would it be if Exile Island was the lap of luxury, giving them time to really bond and make friends with each other? Anyhoo, it cracks me up that Ozzy must be out searching for quite a long time, but Kathy seems to accept that he is crab-hunting the entire time.
The immunity challenge we've seen before, but it is a decent one. With all the sick Eliza editing I'd been assuming they would lose, but instead they rock out and just kill the other team again. Ouch. And then, with everything seeming to be pointing to a simple Chet elimination, Tracy stops, knocks on the glass of the TV screen, beckons me over and gives me a full kiss on the mouth. She approaches Joel with some coconut milk in her hand and within seconds he is lapping it up. "I can't believe you are letting Mikey run the show like this. I'm actually kind of mad at you about it, letting yourself get played like that." Holy crap I love her. "This is your one chance, after this you won't have the numbers anymore, and he will get rid of you the first chance he gets". I know she is playing him, but she is so good even I almost believe she is being sincere. Joel seems to waver, but though I thought Tracy played it pitch perfect, I just can't see him falling for it with Chet sitting on the log one calorie away from falling into a hypoglycemic coma.
Then comes tribal, and the fraternal twins are having a disagreement. The dark haired dude who mysteriously appeared last week out of nowhere is talking about how they need to focus on tribe strength. Then Blondie is all "Physical strength isn't everything." Then my darling Tracy comes out with a devastating critique of her teammates. "Chet, Kathy and I didn't participate in the last two challenges at all, and you still lost." Sha-zam! She totally owned them! Tracy, no matter what happens after this, I officially welcome you as one of my Favorite Survivors of All Time. Brunette dude gets visibly nervous at that and literally starts pleading with his team to vote off the weakest person. But Mikey, who had already been annoying me with his "you have to give a little to get a little" attempt at strong-arming Joel, heads bitterly into the darkness.
The thing is, I have very little love for Chet or Kathy. They both seem to have given up, which is lame and boring and any other number of pathetic descriptors. But they served a purpose tonight, as much as the other two invisible girls did who voted for Chet. In a situation where the strong are being targeted far earlier than normal, I'm afraid they might make it farther than I'd like. But as long as I'm getting these kinds of tribal councils, I can't say that I really care.
Next week it looks like we have a team trade, which will shake things up. I really hope that instead of randomly picking teams, they do it four and four so they are forced to make cross-team alliances in order to survive. That is far more interesting than like last season where they just traded two making tribal council totally uninteresting for a couple of weeks. Gotta make 'em work for it.
So far, this season is breaking records and upping the ante for totally excellent Tribal Council shenanigans, and I, for one, couldn't be more pleased.
So we get the Penner/Cirie bickering right out of the way, which is fine with me. I like them both, but they are bringing out the absolute worst in each other. Fighting is only good as a motivator for devising some seriously devious outwit strategy. Otherwise it is just uncomfortable and boring. James is up to his usual tricks of refusing to let me decide if he is a hero or a villain. I was all over the map last season, and he is doing it to me again. Suddenly he turns into a bitch over Eliza. Now, I'm hardly an Eliza fan, but there is no need to be rude and dismissive. What kind of a team leader is that? Also, in a game where you never know who is going to be on that jury voting for or against you, it is simply stupid to pick meaningless fights like that with people. In any case, he has now cleared the way to make Ozzy my number one pick. (For now anyway.)
Speaking of Ozzy, he rocked out the reward challenge, as usual. What was funny is that early on Joel yells out to his team to take notice of Ozzy's strategy, but then they apparently ignore the advice. And lose. I was annoyed with them anyway though, because after all the talk about how pathetic Chet is, they decide to sit him out of a reward challenge, guaranteeing he will be competing in the immunity challenge? Dumb. Funnier was that they lost before half of their team even did anything, so it didn't even matter.
Color me unsurprised that Ozzy found the immunity idol. I'm so over Kathy, who seems to enjoy hanging out with the celebrities but otherwise has totally checked out of the game. I'd been assuming there would be two idols, one for each team member, but since there was only one I'm glad Ozzy got it. I bet the producers are mad that he found it alone, since apparently their plan was that two people would find it together and then have a Jungle Deathmatch for the spoils. I think it would have been more interesting to have two. I love it when people start cross-team alliances and strategies. How fun would it be if Exile Island was the lap of luxury, giving them time to really bond and make friends with each other? Anyhoo, it cracks me up that Ozzy must be out searching for quite a long time, but Kathy seems to accept that he is crab-hunting the entire time.
The immunity challenge we've seen before, but it is a decent one. With all the sick Eliza editing I'd been assuming they would lose, but instead they rock out and just kill the other team again. Ouch. And then, with everything seeming to be pointing to a simple Chet elimination, Tracy stops, knocks on the glass of the TV screen, beckons me over and gives me a full kiss on the mouth. She approaches Joel with some coconut milk in her hand and within seconds he is lapping it up. "I can't believe you are letting Mikey run the show like this. I'm actually kind of mad at you about it, letting yourself get played like that." Holy crap I love her. "This is your one chance, after this you won't have the numbers anymore, and he will get rid of you the first chance he gets". I know she is playing him, but she is so good even I almost believe she is being sincere. Joel seems to waver, but though I thought Tracy played it pitch perfect, I just can't see him falling for it with Chet sitting on the log one calorie away from falling into a hypoglycemic coma.
Then comes tribal, and the fraternal twins are having a disagreement. The dark haired dude who mysteriously appeared last week out of nowhere is talking about how they need to focus on tribe strength. Then Blondie is all "Physical strength isn't everything." Then my darling Tracy comes out with a devastating critique of her teammates. "Chet, Kathy and I didn't participate in the last two challenges at all, and you still lost." Sha-zam! She totally owned them! Tracy, no matter what happens after this, I officially welcome you as one of my Favorite Survivors of All Time. Brunette dude gets visibly nervous at that and literally starts pleading with his team to vote off the weakest person. But Mikey, who had already been annoying me with his "you have to give a little to get a little" attempt at strong-arming Joel, heads bitterly into the darkness.
The thing is, I have very little love for Chet or Kathy. They both seem to have given up, which is lame and boring and any other number of pathetic descriptors. But they served a purpose tonight, as much as the other two invisible girls did who voted for Chet. In a situation where the strong are being targeted far earlier than normal, I'm afraid they might make it farther than I'd like. But as long as I'm getting these kinds of tribal councils, I can't say that I really care.
Next week it looks like we have a team trade, which will shake things up. I really hope that instead of randomly picking teams, they do it four and four so they are forced to make cross-team alliances in order to survive. That is far more interesting than like last season where they just traded two making tribal council totally uninteresting for a couple of weeks. Gotta make 'em work for it.
The hidden epidemic
Have you talked to the children in your life yet?
Who thinks of this stuff? Parody is always delicious, and this is a superb example.
Who thinks of this stuff? Parody is always delicious, and this is a superb example.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
A warning to the Huckabee-haters
I'm probably the only person who never saw the "Leave Brittany Alone" Youtube, but even so, this is too funny:
Lewis Black used to really annoy me, but in the past few years he's really started to grow on me a lot.
Lewis Black used to really annoy me, but in the past few years he's really started to grow on me a lot.
Trying to sleep my days away, but so far not succeeding...
Had a good weekend at work, but nothing particularly funny or interesting. I'm working three nights in a row this coming weekend, so I'm trying to stay up late and sleep in to get ready, but boy is it hard for me to sleep when the sun is up. I stayed up until 2am last night, and still couldn't sleep past nine this morning, and even that took a lot of effort. Staying up late with nothing but TV as company isn't the most fun thing either. I mean, how many episodes of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" can you watch before Ty Pennington's megaphone makes you want to kill yourself? (Answer: one.) I really need to get a book or something. A friend recommended "The Witching Hour" by Anne Rice. Has anyone else read that one?
So have all y'all who are Idol fans seen the youtube of David Archuleta singing "And I am Telling You" to Kelly Clarkson when he was 11? What is amazing about this to me, is that not only did he know that song years before the movie came out and made it popular again, but that as an eleven year old kid he wasn't embarrassed to bust out singing in a crowded hotel lobby in front of a celebrity. That takes some cojones, especially for a pre-teen. I thought most of the guys did better last night than last week, but still I think this is David's competition to lose. I think the other David has the best voice, and was glad he did so much better, but he isn't as comfortable with the performing aspect. The Aussie is a fantastic performer, but his voice is pretty thin. Chickizi, bless his heart, needs to let someone else start dressing him stat, cause he has the worst taste in clothes like, ever. (And this is coming from someone who likes colors.) I was ready for him to go after last week, and this week I thought he sang terrific. Unlike the judges I really liked the performance of the guy who has the blonde streak in his black hair. However I can't get too upset with any criticism of him because I HATE THE BLONDE STREAK and need it to be out of my world as soon as possible. Also suffering from bad hair choices are the rocker with the red-streaked hair who looks too much like Jack Black for me to take him serious, and the gay boy with full on girl hair.
Mostly I'm afraid it is time for the judges to retire. Simon seems to have gotten to the point where he hates his job, I mean he just seems miserable to have to be there. The other two still obviously enjoy it, but they have both completely exhausted their library of comments and insight. Whereas I used to love hearing Randy try to make a new attempt at coining a catchphrase, and I used to love watching Paula channel another dimension in attempts to cling to coherency in her ramblings, and where Simon used to be a mean but say-it-like-it-is kind of guy, at this point I'm just getting bored with their infighting. I love Ryan with the singers, he has good rapport with them, but as soon as he start trying to bait Simon he gets insufferably tedious. We need some new blood, or something. I love the singing, but it seems Idol isn't aging as well as, say, Survivor.
Oh, yeah, the Oscars. Got home in time from work to watch, but I fell asleep before the end. I'd seen like three of the nominated movies so I just didn't really care all that much. David loves the Hollywood glamour of it all, and you'd think I would too, but all that inane reading of the teleprompter annoys me. Really, writers, I love you, but that's all you got? Jon Stewart was funny, and I did giggle at the Halle Berry/Judi Dench bit. Is it sad though that my favorite part was Jennifer Garner getting accosted by Gary Busey on the red carpet? As someone who totally hearts Amy Adams and actually enjoyed "Enchanted", I thought all three songs came across terribly. Poor Amy Adams was abandoned in the middle of a huge stage with a novelty song that doesn't make much sense without a bunch of dancing cockroaches, and even Kristin Chenoweth seemed nervous and awkward with all the silly staging of her song. I've heard several people say they are now going to steer clear of the movie, which is a shame, because while it is hardly groundbreaking or whatever, it is very sweet and charming.
So have all y'all who are Idol fans seen the youtube of David Archuleta singing "And I am Telling You" to Kelly Clarkson when he was 11? What is amazing about this to me, is that not only did he know that song years before the movie came out and made it popular again, but that as an eleven year old kid he wasn't embarrassed to bust out singing in a crowded hotel lobby in front of a celebrity. That takes some cojones, especially for a pre-teen. I thought most of the guys did better last night than last week, but still I think this is David's competition to lose. I think the other David has the best voice, and was glad he did so much better, but he isn't as comfortable with the performing aspect. The Aussie is a fantastic performer, but his voice is pretty thin. Chickizi, bless his heart, needs to let someone else start dressing him stat, cause he has the worst taste in clothes like, ever. (And this is coming from someone who likes colors.) I was ready for him to go after last week, and this week I thought he sang terrific. Unlike the judges I really liked the performance of the guy who has the blonde streak in his black hair. However I can't get too upset with any criticism of him because I HATE THE BLONDE STREAK and need it to be out of my world as soon as possible. Also suffering from bad hair choices are the rocker with the red-streaked hair who looks too much like Jack Black for me to take him serious, and the gay boy with full on girl hair.
Mostly I'm afraid it is time for the judges to retire. Simon seems to have gotten to the point where he hates his job, I mean he just seems miserable to have to be there. The other two still obviously enjoy it, but they have both completely exhausted their library of comments and insight. Whereas I used to love hearing Randy try to make a new attempt at coining a catchphrase, and I used to love watching Paula channel another dimension in attempts to cling to coherency in her ramblings, and where Simon used to be a mean but say-it-like-it-is kind of guy, at this point I'm just getting bored with their infighting. I love Ryan with the singers, he has good rapport with them, but as soon as he start trying to bait Simon he gets insufferably tedious. We need some new blood, or something. I love the singing, but it seems Idol isn't aging as well as, say, Survivor.
Oh, yeah, the Oscars. Got home in time from work to watch, but I fell asleep before the end. I'd seen like three of the nominated movies so I just didn't really care all that much. David loves the Hollywood glamour of it all, and you'd think I would too, but all that inane reading of the teleprompter annoys me. Really, writers, I love you, but that's all you got? Jon Stewart was funny, and I did giggle at the Halle Berry/Judi Dench bit. Is it sad though that my favorite part was Jennifer Garner getting accosted by Gary Busey on the red carpet? As someone who totally hearts Amy Adams and actually enjoyed "Enchanted", I thought all three songs came across terribly. Poor Amy Adams was abandoned in the middle of a huge stage with a novelty song that doesn't make much sense without a bunch of dancing cockroaches, and even Kristin Chenoweth seemed nervous and awkward with all the silly staging of her song. I've heard several people say they are now going to steer clear of the movie, which is a shame, because while it is hardly groundbreaking or whatever, it is very sweet and charming.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Survivor, or let the machinations continue sweetly along
Holy crap I love Survivor.
We begin with Mikey lecturing Joel over how his brilliant stab-in-the-back voting off Mary maneuver was the stupidest thing he could ever have done. Joel is just nodding while Mikey rambles on and on. Then it cuts to his private cam, and Joel takes the knife in the back metaphor one further and says something like "I can't wait until my baseball bat hits him upside the head." Mikey, I just learned from his official bio, is a commercial actor. But apparently he skipped the day in acting school where they talked about learning how to listen, cause he just talks and talks and talks. Hmmm, I'm sensing a parallel to Penner here, but that would be getting ahead of myself.
The reward challenge is sort of lame and proves that I'm not quite as evolved as I wish I were, cause I sort of enjoy watching them all wrestle and tackle each other in the mud. Curiously invisible is Ozzy, but Penner is shown working it out. The biggest gyp though (is that how you spell gyp? My spell checker seems to think so) is that we get very little in the way of James VS Joel, which is what I was hoping for. Producers, take note, at some point I am going to need a showdown here. Even more crazy is afterwards they like give each other a "good game" hug. C'mon guys, is it too much to ask for a little bitter rivalry here?
The crazy lady is again sent to Exile Island. Will someone please explain this to me???? Unless they are just hoping she is going to find the idol, I see absolutely no tactical advantage to sending her. Ami is awesome for going with her, and apparently Cirie has told them nothing about what happened. But then, uh, Kathy, right? Kathy gets there and decides she is too tired to play anymore. WTF? Why doesn't she take Ami to the fourth clue and start looking from there? This makes no sense to me, and I am officially over the crazy lady.
Big storm, the new kids are all wet and very, very sad. I only mention this because suddenly there is another guy on their team sleeping in the cave scared of spiders, and I swear I have never seen him before. It's like Ethan on Lost who just shows up and everybody assumes he has been there all the time. (Actually his name is Jason, but still he is absolutely unfamiliar to me.)
The immunity challenge seems like a good one. (And begins with another violence-laden threat from Joel about killing anyone who comes into his camp. I'm wondering if I should be scared of this guy?) However I've still had too much talk at All-Star camp (do they even have stupid local tribe names this time?) about alliances to know that they are heavily foreshadowed to lose. The editing is impossible to follow, but I guess the other team was just better with the coconuts or something. Why can't we just have a tug of war between Joel and James? Sometimes simple works you know. ;)
So it comes down to Cirie. And thus begins one of the absolute best pre-tribal shenanigans ever. Parvati and Amanda get Cirie alone, and promise her top three. Which to me sounds perfectly plausible. If James or Ozzy make it to the end, none of the girls would have a chance of winning. And regardless of the wacky hormones flying around, lust isn't worth a million dollars. Or so the girls say anyway, and at this point I believe them.
Watching from a distance, Eliza complains that the girls are "filling her head with lies", which totally cracks me up. I mean, obviously a lot is riding on what decision Cirie makes. But she isn't completely wrong when she complains that people aren't courting her vote more. Especially with a player like her, she should have been made to feel on the inside of an alliance from day one. So with her vote in the air, strategy and confrontation begins. But as the various strategies unfold - vote for Eliza, vote for Parvati, vote for Yau - I keep getting confused about who is involved in each scheme because all of the strategizing is apparently happening right out in the open. Penner is wooing Cirie with Parvati standing right behind him. Ozzy talks about voting for Eliza instead of Yau with Ami at his side. By the time Penner and Cirie start the yelling match it seems the entire team is there. Forget the stealth, these guys aren't even pretending that it isn't all about the alliance. Better yet, other than Penner and Cirie, there doesn't seem to be much animosity, just a realization that alliances are how you win. Pure naked strategy. I'm lovin' it.
All of the maneuvering is delicious to watch, but I'm unsurprised when Yau goes home. Bummed because I like him, but really I like almost all of them except Eliza. And Cirie is right, the three most dangerous are him, Ozzy and James. Yau is probably more valuable at the middle-of-the-game challenges than Eliza is due to his skill and coordination, but in these early challenges where it is all about strength it is a toss up. And even if Eliza makes it to the end, she isn't winning. So why not eliminate a threat? Penner, who I've been digging on, loses it with a lot of fake bluster about only wanting what is best for everyone, which is so ridiculous that I almost think he has convinced himself it is the truth. His strength is valuable, but his stupid fighting (and history of betrayal) makes him very, very vulnerable I think. Another great guy to go to the end with, but too untrustworthy to make it to the merge I think.
Very funny was when Penner and Cirie were going at it at tribal, Jeff was just sitting back with this smile on his face, and I half expected him to pull out a bag of popcorn. Also interesting was Ami voting for Cirie. Remember back to good old season one where every vote against you might actually mean something? Still, interesting.
Looking forward to more on the Joel/Mikey showdown. But until I start to get to know more of that team I'm still fine with them losing and getting rid of more of the excess baggage.
PS - is it just me, or is "Lost" back in a groove? Last nights flash-forward with Kate and Aaron was awesome!
We begin with Mikey lecturing Joel over how his brilliant stab-in-the-back voting off Mary maneuver was the stupidest thing he could ever have done. Joel is just nodding while Mikey rambles on and on. Then it cuts to his private cam, and Joel takes the knife in the back metaphor one further and says something like "I can't wait until my baseball bat hits him upside the head." Mikey, I just learned from his official bio, is a commercial actor. But apparently he skipped the day in acting school where they talked about learning how to listen, cause he just talks and talks and talks. Hmmm, I'm sensing a parallel to Penner here, but that would be getting ahead of myself.
The reward challenge is sort of lame and proves that I'm not quite as evolved as I wish I were, cause I sort of enjoy watching them all wrestle and tackle each other in the mud. Curiously invisible is Ozzy, but Penner is shown working it out. The biggest gyp though (is that how you spell gyp? My spell checker seems to think so) is that we get very little in the way of James VS Joel, which is what I was hoping for. Producers, take note, at some point I am going to need a showdown here. Even more crazy is afterwards they like give each other a "good game" hug. C'mon guys, is it too much to ask for a little bitter rivalry here?
The crazy lady is again sent to Exile Island. Will someone please explain this to me???? Unless they are just hoping she is going to find the idol, I see absolutely no tactical advantage to sending her. Ami is awesome for going with her, and apparently Cirie has told them nothing about what happened. But then, uh, Kathy, right? Kathy gets there and decides she is too tired to play anymore. WTF? Why doesn't she take Ami to the fourth clue and start looking from there? This makes no sense to me, and I am officially over the crazy lady.
Big storm, the new kids are all wet and very, very sad. I only mention this because suddenly there is another guy on their team sleeping in the cave scared of spiders, and I swear I have never seen him before. It's like Ethan on Lost who just shows up and everybody assumes he has been there all the time. (Actually his name is Jason, but still he is absolutely unfamiliar to me.)
The immunity challenge seems like a good one. (And begins with another violence-laden threat from Joel about killing anyone who comes into his camp. I'm wondering if I should be scared of this guy?) However I've still had too much talk at All-Star camp (do they even have stupid local tribe names this time?) about alliances to know that they are heavily foreshadowed to lose. The editing is impossible to follow, but I guess the other team was just better with the coconuts or something. Why can't we just have a tug of war between Joel and James? Sometimes simple works you know. ;)
So it comes down to Cirie. And thus begins one of the absolute best pre-tribal shenanigans ever. Parvati and Amanda get Cirie alone, and promise her top three. Which to me sounds perfectly plausible. If James or Ozzy make it to the end, none of the girls would have a chance of winning. And regardless of the wacky hormones flying around, lust isn't worth a million dollars. Or so the girls say anyway, and at this point I believe them.
Watching from a distance, Eliza complains that the girls are "filling her head with lies", which totally cracks me up. I mean, obviously a lot is riding on what decision Cirie makes. But she isn't completely wrong when she complains that people aren't courting her vote more. Especially with a player like her, she should have been made to feel on the inside of an alliance from day one. So with her vote in the air, strategy and confrontation begins. But as the various strategies unfold - vote for Eliza, vote for Parvati, vote for Yau - I keep getting confused about who is involved in each scheme because all of the strategizing is apparently happening right out in the open. Penner is wooing Cirie with Parvati standing right behind him. Ozzy talks about voting for Eliza instead of Yau with Ami at his side. By the time Penner and Cirie start the yelling match it seems the entire team is there. Forget the stealth, these guys aren't even pretending that it isn't all about the alliance. Better yet, other than Penner and Cirie, there doesn't seem to be much animosity, just a realization that alliances are how you win. Pure naked strategy. I'm lovin' it.
All of the maneuvering is delicious to watch, but I'm unsurprised when Yau goes home. Bummed because I like him, but really I like almost all of them except Eliza. And Cirie is right, the three most dangerous are him, Ozzy and James. Yau is probably more valuable at the middle-of-the-game challenges than Eliza is due to his skill and coordination, but in these early challenges where it is all about strength it is a toss up. And even if Eliza makes it to the end, she isn't winning. So why not eliminate a threat? Penner, who I've been digging on, loses it with a lot of fake bluster about only wanting what is best for everyone, which is so ridiculous that I almost think he has convinced himself it is the truth. His strength is valuable, but his stupid fighting (and history of betrayal) makes him very, very vulnerable I think. Another great guy to go to the end with, but too untrustworthy to make it to the merge I think.
Very funny was when Penner and Cirie were going at it at tribal, Jeff was just sitting back with this smile on his face, and I half expected him to pull out a bag of popcorn. Also interesting was Ami voting for Cirie. Remember back to good old season one where every vote against you might actually mean something? Still, interesting.
Looking forward to more on the Joel/Mikey showdown. But until I start to get to know more of that team I'm still fine with them losing and getting rid of more of the excess baggage.
PS - is it just me, or is "Lost" back in a groove? Last nights flash-forward with Kate and Aaron was awesome!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
My Obama woes, frogs, and can the entire country adopt one 17 year old?
First I just want to say that my finger is still hurting from when gravity made me its bitch last week when I was going to vote for Obama. At least Obama is still winning, which provides some comfort. ;)
Tomorrow David is taking the day off so we can go to the National Geographic Museum to see their new exhibit on frogs. Oh yeah baby. I'm sure fantastical frog blogging is to come.
I'm not really interested in spending a lot of time doing recaps on American Idol, because as far as the show itself goes, little changes week to week. Randy says "Dawg" and "Yo" and tries to talk about pitch as if he has any idea what that word means even though he is clearly tone-deaf himself. Paula gets loopy in her efforts to find the words to describe just how much she loves everyone and everything. For my enjoyment level, the loopier the better. Simon either tells the truth, or, if he is desperate, makes one of his stock comparisons to cabaret or weddings or cruise ships or whatever. Then my least favorite part, where Ryan tries to pick a fight with him. One time out of ten it is actually funny, but them aren't good odds dude.
The boys sang last night, and for me it starts and ends with David Archuletta. After he sang I kept expecting the judges to declare the competition over right there. But then he had all that banter with Ryan, and (my) David and I were joking about how everyone in America, regardless of age, was now looking into adopting him. Then Ryan made basically the same joke, and TV-David was all embarrassed and confused and was like "but, I'm 17!". He is so completely adorable, I really cannot fathom him not winning. Can he sing as good as, say, Melinda Doolittle? No. But who the hell cares? Bonus points because his dad is a ringer for Danny Bonnaduce, which is just funny.
A couple of the others are good too though. I like the Australian guy, and though he needs to loosen up I thought the first guy had a really good voice. Maybe his name was David too. My favorite song was the guy who the judges hated most. He sang just a really nice quiet song, and I thought it was really effective, and then they all told him it was forgettable. Well, I remember it more than most of the others, so poop on you judges.
Happily, all of this nonsense by Ryan about how this is the most talented crew ever, was finally shown instead of just talked about. I actually thought all of the boys could sing, which is an improvement over past years. But, as always, some just aren't ready to be a superstar. At the bottom for be was Chickezi, or whatever his name is. I wish he were better, because he has as good a name as Sundance Head did, but, boring. I wasn't impressed with either of the gay boys either. (I know, I know, but you know which two I mean.) I just can't take either of them seriously with the hair, even if both of them did better than I expected.
Tonight come the girls. Bring it on!
Tomorrow David is taking the day off so we can go to the National Geographic Museum to see their new exhibit on frogs. Oh yeah baby. I'm sure fantastical frog blogging is to come.
I'm not really interested in spending a lot of time doing recaps on American Idol, because as far as the show itself goes, little changes week to week. Randy says "Dawg" and "Yo" and tries to talk about pitch as if he has any idea what that word means even though he is clearly tone-deaf himself. Paula gets loopy in her efforts to find the words to describe just how much she loves everyone and everything. For my enjoyment level, the loopier the better. Simon either tells the truth, or, if he is desperate, makes one of his stock comparisons to cabaret or weddings or cruise ships or whatever. Then my least favorite part, where Ryan tries to pick a fight with him. One time out of ten it is actually funny, but them aren't good odds dude.
The boys sang last night, and for me it starts and ends with David Archuletta. After he sang I kept expecting the judges to declare the competition over right there. But then he had all that banter with Ryan, and (my) David and I were joking about how everyone in America, regardless of age, was now looking into adopting him. Then Ryan made basically the same joke, and TV-David was all embarrassed and confused and was like "but, I'm 17!". He is so completely adorable, I really cannot fathom him not winning. Can he sing as good as, say, Melinda Doolittle? No. But who the hell cares? Bonus points because his dad is a ringer for Danny Bonnaduce, which is just funny.
A couple of the others are good too though. I like the Australian guy, and though he needs to loosen up I thought the first guy had a really good voice. Maybe his name was David too. My favorite song was the guy who the judges hated most. He sang just a really nice quiet song, and I thought it was really effective, and then they all told him it was forgettable. Well, I remember it more than most of the others, so poop on you judges.
Happily, all of this nonsense by Ryan about how this is the most talented crew ever, was finally shown instead of just talked about. I actually thought all of the boys could sing, which is an improvement over past years. But, as always, some just aren't ready to be a superstar. At the bottom for be was Chickezi, or whatever his name is. I wish he were better, because he has as good a name as Sundance Head did, but, boring. I wasn't impressed with either of the gay boys either. (I know, I know, but you know which two I mean.) I just can't take either of them seriously with the hair, even if both of them did better than I expected.
Tonight come the girls. Bring it on!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A busy night at work
So last night did not begin auspiciously. I began my shift with two patients asking for pain meds while a third was just being admitted from the PACU with some huge bloody dressings and two JP drains. The day nurse was nice enough to get the new admission settled while I was madly drawing up percoset and dilauted. My one guy had a chest tube following a partial lung resection, and they had just dc'd his epidural that afternoon, so he was really hurting, and my lady was recovering from sickle cell crisis. My fourth patient is a regular on our floor, an older lady with afib and rotating infections (including, of course, MRSA isolation) and issues with a big dose of dementia who enjoys putting on her "coat" (a gown) and walking off the floor. The day nurse told me she was more oriented than usual, but that she had stepped on her foley tube and her urine had since turned to a nice shade of cranberry.
OK, I can do this, right? My charge nurse was extra awesome and helped set up my continuous pulse ox while I was dealing with my poor lady whose heart rate had been in the 130s since early afternoon. She had been given a few meds, but nothing had really worked, and, well, I don't know what people were thinking, but it was making me very uncomfortable. So after the hydralazine, po metoprolol and then an IV push of another 5mg of metoprolol, I called the cover docs and said, listen, can we do something here? They said give her another 5mg. I did, and though it was difficult to get a very accurate assessment of her (at one point when I was asking her if her chest hurt she said simply "I'm just going to agree with anything you say") she finally started breathing 40/min and was clutching her chest. Out came the EKG, and a third dose of IV metoprolol. Still her rate was in the 130s/Afib, so we started her on a Cardizem drip, and FINALLY she calmed down into a more comfortable 80s-90s range.
Just as she is getting settled, my chest tube dude calls me. I've been giving him rotating doses of oxycodone (q4) and dilauted (q3) and oxycontin (q12), but suddenly his heart rate is in the 150s. I guess it was a lesson the health care gods wanted me to learn tonight. So on came another round of 3 IV pushes of metoprolol and an EKG, portable chest xray, and lots of meds including ativan, ambien and more dilauted to calm him down. (I thought giving him ambien at 3:30 in the morning was kind of mean, but he was anxious and sweaty and he did finally fall asleep after that, even though his heart didn't slow at all.) Just as I was leaving he went off to get a CT scan to eval for a pulmonary embolism.
Things were crazy, but all my night shift peeps totally stepped up to help me out, drawing labs and giving pain meds and just helping out wherever they could. My charting probably left a bit to be desired, but everything got done and at least all my meds and vital signs were well documented. It made me very aware of how glad I am where I am, where there is a real sense of a team and I wasn't just left to flounder, or given reluctant help or an attitude. I'm definitely baking for next week, because they totally rock and deserve to be fat and happy.
I'm at that stage with nursing where for the most part I am holding my own, but still I learn something every single shift. I really feel like I learned practically nothing in school, not because the schooling was bad, but because when I was busy learning how to do an assessment I wasn't really able to absorb many of the practical details of what I was really assessing. Now that I'm comfortable in the setting, all the details are finally making sense. Or to put it another way, all the stuff I memorized without necessarily understanding is now starting to make practical sense. I'm absolutely tired of often feeling just a little bit lost at work. But with every new experience I get that much more, well, experienced. And I am sure glad that it just keeps getting better and better.
OK, I can do this, right? My charge nurse was extra awesome and helped set up my continuous pulse ox while I was dealing with my poor lady whose heart rate had been in the 130s since early afternoon. She had been given a few meds, but nothing had really worked, and, well, I don't know what people were thinking, but it was making me very uncomfortable. So after the hydralazine, po metoprolol and then an IV push of another 5mg of metoprolol, I called the cover docs and said, listen, can we do something here? They said give her another 5mg. I did, and though it was difficult to get a very accurate assessment of her (at one point when I was asking her if her chest hurt she said simply "I'm just going to agree with anything you say") she finally started breathing 40/min and was clutching her chest. Out came the EKG, and a third dose of IV metoprolol. Still her rate was in the 130s/Afib, so we started her on a Cardizem drip, and FINALLY she calmed down into a more comfortable 80s-90s range.
Just as she is getting settled, my chest tube dude calls me. I've been giving him rotating doses of oxycodone (q4) and dilauted (q3) and oxycontin (q12), but suddenly his heart rate is in the 150s. I guess it was a lesson the health care gods wanted me to learn tonight. So on came another round of 3 IV pushes of metoprolol and an EKG, portable chest xray, and lots of meds including ativan, ambien and more dilauted to calm him down. (I thought giving him ambien at 3:30 in the morning was kind of mean, but he was anxious and sweaty and he did finally fall asleep after that, even though his heart didn't slow at all.) Just as I was leaving he went off to get a CT scan to eval for a pulmonary embolism.
Things were crazy, but all my night shift peeps totally stepped up to help me out, drawing labs and giving pain meds and just helping out wherever they could. My charting probably left a bit to be desired, but everything got done and at least all my meds and vital signs were well documented. It made me very aware of how glad I am where I am, where there is a real sense of a team and I wasn't just left to flounder, or given reluctant help or an attitude. I'm definitely baking for next week, because they totally rock and deserve to be fat and happy.
I'm at that stage with nursing where for the most part I am holding my own, but still I learn something every single shift. I really feel like I learned practically nothing in school, not because the schooling was bad, but because when I was busy learning how to do an assessment I wasn't really able to absorb many of the practical details of what I was really assessing. Now that I'm comfortable in the setting, all the details are finally making sense. Or to put it another way, all the stuff I memorized without necessarily understanding is now starting to make practical sense. I'm absolutely tired of often feeling just a little bit lost at work. But with every new experience I get that much more, well, experienced. And I am sure glad that it just keeps getting better and better.
Friday, February 15, 2008
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