Monday, the day after Sunday.
I had no specific title imagined, so I went with something mildly obvious to all but the non-english speakers, and why the hell would there be any "reading" this anyway?
So, I finished my Amazing Race marathon yesterday, and it just renewed my opinion of how great of a show this can be. Take 10 or 11 separate teams of two people with an existing relationship per team(family, friends, dating, etc) and give them clues that send them around the world. Saying each team is 2 people is a bit of a misnomer just because each team also has a cameraman and, I believe, a sound man to take care of any issues that arrise and to record all that I guess. Now, the teams are racing around the world in various countries, perpetrating the whole "americans are stupid jerks" stereotype, which is a problem in and of itself, but it's also quite exciting(or edited that way at least) to see what happens next. It's not like all those other reality shows with their "voting to kick people off" sort of thing, this is a race, last in is kicked out(usually...) Each episode typically consists of a "road block" and "detour" and a few hops in between to various clue spots, some episodes have them traveling through multiple countries or sometimes it's all within one. A Road Block is one of the 2 people has to complete a challenge of some sort by themself(each race has about 12 roadblocks, so no person can do more than 6 since in one season, a guy named Chip did all but I think one challenge and he and his wife eventually won that season's race) A Detour is when they are given 2 tasks to pick between, sometimes it's not even a guess which is easier, sometimes it's a bit up in the air. After they do those in whichever order the producers pick for that "leg" they get a pit stop at the end, to rest for 12 hours before the next leg, and they leave in the order and times in which they came in for the previous leg. So a good head start should conceivably help out, but they usually have "chokepoints" where everyone ends up getting stuck for hours until a place opens.
So that's a basic rundown of the show in general, sometimes they mix things up, but this season they are doing it more it seems like. This season has had a decent mix of people(last season had 3 or 4 teams of "model/actor" people for the pretty-factor) with a lot of variety between the teams, but some teams have stood out(for good or bad) and they are:
Lynn and Alex, the 2 most stereotypically gay men on the planet. It's almost makes you think they will implode into a black hole of gayness. I have no problem with homosexuality at all, so this isn't meant to insult them at all, but it's almost like 2 actors "playing" gay at times... They just got kicked out in the last episode I watched, but they did make it to the final 5(of 11) teams.
Meredith and Gretchen. Old couple, in late 60's and early 70's. Meredith is the guy. That's enough right there, but damn Gretchen is loud. Every episode, she's running through the streets and buildings of some country and screaming at the top of her lungs for various reasons, either to maybe her husband or maybe if she's looking for something. Maybe she doesn't realize it and needs a hearing aid... A few episodes ago she fell and actually bruised and bloodied up her face a bit, she had blood streaming down her face and had to get a stitch or two. They are the least competent "old person team" in any amazing race I've watched, but they've made it farther than any "old person team" and are currently in the final 4.
Rob and Amber from Survivor. Fun couple, she doesn't seem that into him at times but they are a very competent couple. He does backstab and lie quite a bit, ala survivor, but they get the job done and have come in first several times so far on legs this season.
Son and Mother team. Don't remember their names, but at first they seemed quite a nice little team, a Sweet late 40-something mother and her gay son. But as time went on, he just turned into this whining little ass, always wanting to quit. But she was also a bit pushy with him, and I can see why since he was being a jerk, but at other times she didn't even seem to be compassionate or considerate at all of his feelings and it was just such a weird vibe coming from them...I would hate to see their home life if the show was any indicator of that.
There are other teams that are doing a great job, like Uchenna and Joyce(she shaved off all of her hair to not be elimated in the last episode, she cried some but was adamanet she wanted to do it, which is really amazing and I respect her being so brave doing it) who are kicking some ass this season, or rob and kelly who seem to be slowly falling apart at the seams with their relationship. But it has been as enjoyable as always.
In other tv news, I am actually looking forward to the end of this season of 24, I started losing interest several episodes ago when they kept going from disaster to disaster and it is a never-ending cycle. Fun to watch early on, when you don't know what's happening and it's a big mystery, but this season has just kept trying to one-up the previous problem and it is getting to the point where it's just silly. I do watch it and enjoy it to some degree, but eh, they went off-track this season I think. Lost is good, and I'm sure I'll have a post about that at a later date, many-much rantings about that possible.
Guess today I'm in a tv-mood, that's the problem with having so many interests, some days you just aren't in the mood or really are, and it's hard to work around that sort of thing to do what you are really in the mood for. I sometimes envy the people with just one main hobby who can just sit down and do whatever that is, say watching movies or building things, and that's all they need and they never go "but I could be doing this other thing" the whole time.
So, I finished my Amazing Race marathon yesterday, and it just renewed my opinion of how great of a show this can be. Take 10 or 11 separate teams of two people with an existing relationship per team(family, friends, dating, etc) and give them clues that send them around the world. Saying each team is 2 people is a bit of a misnomer just because each team also has a cameraman and, I believe, a sound man to take care of any issues that arrise and to record all that I guess. Now, the teams are racing around the world in various countries, perpetrating the whole "americans are stupid jerks" stereotype, which is a problem in and of itself, but it's also quite exciting(or edited that way at least) to see what happens next. It's not like all those other reality shows with their "voting to kick people off" sort of thing, this is a race, last in is kicked out(usually...) Each episode typically consists of a "road block" and "detour" and a few hops in between to various clue spots, some episodes have them traveling through multiple countries or sometimes it's all within one. A Road Block is one of the 2 people has to complete a challenge of some sort by themself(each race has about 12 roadblocks, so no person can do more than 6 since in one season, a guy named Chip did all but I think one challenge and he and his wife eventually won that season's race) A Detour is when they are given 2 tasks to pick between, sometimes it's not even a guess which is easier, sometimes it's a bit up in the air. After they do those in whichever order the producers pick for that "leg" they get a pit stop at the end, to rest for 12 hours before the next leg, and they leave in the order and times in which they came in for the previous leg. So a good head start should conceivably help out, but they usually have "chokepoints" where everyone ends up getting stuck for hours until a place opens.
So that's a basic rundown of the show in general, sometimes they mix things up, but this season they are doing it more it seems like. This season has had a decent mix of people(last season had 3 or 4 teams of "model/actor" people for the pretty-factor) with a lot of variety between the teams, but some teams have stood out(for good or bad) and they are:
Lynn and Alex, the 2 most stereotypically gay men on the planet. It's almost makes you think they will implode into a black hole of gayness. I have no problem with homosexuality at all, so this isn't meant to insult them at all, but it's almost like 2 actors "playing" gay at times... They just got kicked out in the last episode I watched, but they did make it to the final 5(of 11) teams.
Meredith and Gretchen. Old couple, in late 60's and early 70's. Meredith is the guy. That's enough right there, but damn Gretchen is loud. Every episode, she's running through the streets and buildings of some country and screaming at the top of her lungs for various reasons, either to maybe her husband or maybe if she's looking for something. Maybe she doesn't realize it and needs a hearing aid... A few episodes ago she fell and actually bruised and bloodied up her face a bit, she had blood streaming down her face and had to get a stitch or two. They are the least competent "old person team" in any amazing race I've watched, but they've made it farther than any "old person team" and are currently in the final 4.
Rob and Amber from Survivor. Fun couple, she doesn't seem that into him at times but they are a very competent couple. He does backstab and lie quite a bit, ala survivor, but they get the job done and have come in first several times so far on legs this season.
Son and Mother team. Don't remember their names, but at first they seemed quite a nice little team, a Sweet late 40-something mother and her gay son. But as time went on, he just turned into this whining little ass, always wanting to quit. But she was also a bit pushy with him, and I can see why since he was being a jerk, but at other times she didn't even seem to be compassionate or considerate at all of his feelings and it was just such a weird vibe coming from them...I would hate to see their home life if the show was any indicator of that.
There are other teams that are doing a great job, like Uchenna and Joyce(she shaved off all of her hair to not be elimated in the last episode, she cried some but was adamanet she wanted to do it, which is really amazing and I respect her being so brave doing it) who are kicking some ass this season, or rob and kelly who seem to be slowly falling apart at the seams with their relationship. But it has been as enjoyable as always.
In other tv news, I am actually looking forward to the end of this season of 24, I started losing interest several episodes ago when they kept going from disaster to disaster and it is a never-ending cycle. Fun to watch early on, when you don't know what's happening and it's a big mystery, but this season has just kept trying to one-up the previous problem and it is getting to the point where it's just silly. I do watch it and enjoy it to some degree, but eh, they went off-track this season I think. Lost is good, and I'm sure I'll have a post about that at a later date, many-much rantings about that possible.
Guess today I'm in a tv-mood, that's the problem with having so many interests, some days you just aren't in the mood or really are, and it's hard to work around that sort of thing to do what you are really in the mood for. I sometimes envy the people with just one main hobby who can just sit down and do whatever that is, say watching movies or building things, and that's all they need and they never go "but I could be doing this other thing" the whole time.
posted by Ocho at 1:59 PM
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