Thursday, May 05, 2005

Miscellany

Alone in the office today, so today's entry will be more random than most...Things are well here, rehearsals are at that hectic place again. Looking forward to finishing the "Links" series, I have one last one to do, and I want to do it justice. Also, I need to figure out how to create a "featured entries" link that will yadda yadda.

Anyway, a couple of rambling points:
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Amazing Race Gets to the Final Three

Unsurprisingly, Gretchen and Meredith aren't in it.

Man, I don't know, this is the first time they've ever not actually raced around the world. Before this time, they actually traversed the globe. And so now, the "around" in "race around the world," is being used in the same context as "leave some stuff around the room." I wonder what world events caused them to reconsider the route this time through. Usually, after India would come either a trip to an Asian country, or a stop in the Australia region before heading to the US. Kinda disappointing.

As far as Rob and Amber (this year's "controversial" team), I've been with them for the most part. I never really watched Survivor, so I never got a chance to get bored with them. Rob gets too cocky, and he shoots his mouth off a fair amount, but that's negated by the fact that they usually perform extremely well. Very few flaws in their race.

I'm on the wall on the fact that their celebrity, such as it is, has helped them out in a few different countries, I mean, yeah, it's not fair, but at the same time, ehh. I just figured that eventually they'll come to a place where people aren't going to give a shit. But then they reached England this last week, and I thought that the Brits wouldn't care for these loutish Americans with their cameras and desperate demeanors.

How wrong was I? Even the English seek their refracted glory in being camera whores, and so, the only hope left is the unnamed African country seen in the previews and the US, where they do stand a chance of playing on a level field. I gather that Rob and Amber aren't that popular over here. We'll See.

Here's how I'd like for it to finish: 1) Uchenna & Joyce, 2) Rob & Amber, 3) Ron & Kelly (and what a piece of work this woman is...criminey.)
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Music

Every once in a while, when you're listening to a new CD, you'll find that you like most of an album, but a couple of songs just plain kick your ass. Songs # 3 & 4 off of the self titled Franz Ferdinand CD are like that for me. (so, I'm late to the game...ehhh.)

Take Me Out is one of those songs that gets overplayed, and will always be linked with FF, just like Can't Get No (Satisfaction) is overplayed and linked with the Stones. This doesn't take away from the fact that it's a great song, though.

The Dark of the Matinee, the next song, stands on its own. Between the riff-y bridges and the disco-ish refrain of the chorus, this little beast is a heady swirl of fun.

2 Comments:

At 1:38 PM, Blogger Joe said...

I've got to disagree with you entirely on the Rob & Amber thing, Jefe.

Rob is a self-loving asshole who deserves to be dropped down a very deep hole. I hate--HATE--how he's played the game. Taking people's cabs? Asking people who help him to not help anyone who comes after him? Hiring or merely co-opting a local every fucking place they go to guide him? It's bullshit! He's scum. He takes some of my enjoyment out of the series, which I've always found interesting because it wasn't as contrived as other reality shows. This one was already inherently interesting because of the stress of travel on the duos and the fantastic locations to which they traveled. It doesn't need the tacky trappings of The Apprentice, which is what Rob brings to it, in my mind. Fuck Rob.

Anyway, how are you?

 
At 4:55 PM, Blogger the beige one said...

ach, well, I agree and disagree on a number of things here.

Asshole? Man, I don't know. He treats his girl right. His brashness is not different from any of the construction guys (his background) I've met, most of whom are actually pretty cool.

Taking people's cabs? The cab driver could've said no. The people helping him don't have to comply with his request, so his asking doesn't really hurt anyone; we haven't seen anyone get hurt by it, so it's benign in my book. And he sure as hell isn't the first person to utilize the locals for help. The first team that did that was actually a fan favorite. Rob is adept at picking those who're fame-hungry (maybe because he recognizes the symptoms). My biggest annoyance with him, over the course of the race, was quitting the meat roadblock, and that was mainly because he succeeded at convincing others it was the right thing to do, which blows. It doesn't take away from the fact that it was the other teams lack of backbone that allowed that ploy to work.

But I do agree that his presence has probably altered the face of this game towards the negative, and I hope that the producers take steps towards not having those be repeated. Though I don't think it's anywhere near Apprentice/Survivor levels of manipulations.

I'm fine, though, and you? Looking forward to going to NYC next month. I need it.

 

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