A Cast of Crazies! Who Knew!?

Wow... am I glad I wasn't cheering Dreamz on. (referring to Survivor, yet-again.) What a profoundly vile idiot he turned out to be.

In a nutshell... his promise to God, his "word"... when promising Yau Man immunity (should he win it in the final 4) in exchange for a truck... meant nothing. During the infamous tribal council determining which 3 of the 4 remaining contestants would sit before the jury... Dreamz holds onto the immunity necklace and Yau Man gets sent packing. This; after he made this big, noble pledge for the camera that he was going to set such a good example and win immunity just to purposefully hand it over to Yau Man and do the honourable thing. Yeah... didn't happen. And if you happened to watch the Reunion Special... Dreamz went even further to making me move beyond just "disliking" him to just not wanting to hear another word out of him. As in, "Shut the hell up now"! Even Jeff (the host) was repeatedly frustrated with Dreamz continuous dodging of questions. Mind you, the fact that Dreamz couldn't give a straight answer to any question might be directly related to his grasp of the English language. (or lack thereof) If ever a village was missing it's idiot... Dreamz could move right in. I don't know how he figured anybody would want to give him the million dollar prize after double-talking, back-stabbing and stumbling his way through the entire game. And then to tell an audience that that's how he planned it??? Give me an effin' break mmmkay?? The boy could barely form a coherent sentence. He brought new meaning to the expression: "flying by the seat of your pants". Thank God he didn't win.

And how 'bout that jury session huh? Venomous. I had no idea that a third of the contestants were all stone-cold crazy. They kept it hidden well. I for one, could've lived out the rest of my life happily, never hearing from Lisi or Rocky ever again. ...Gee Lisi... you did all but turn around and ask your fellow jury members if there were indeed "6 zeros" in a million. Nice attempt at making Dreamz look stupid, but sadly you're the bigger monkey of the bunch. And attacking Cassandra over not having the proper footwear? Sit down heifer. Sit down. It's time for the smart people to talk. But wait... no it's not... there's Rocky. And wait... there's Alex... who's mysteriously fuming mad at everyone. I take it, the Survivor boat cruise was an uncomfortable one.
I understand why everyone was mad at Dreamz. Really I do. But I'd really like to know where all the hostility towards Cassandra came from. Truly puzzling. Sometimes the overall editing of the season lacks the proper keys to unlock the mysterious contestant opinions. Although, kudos to the editors for at last having Boo come crashing out of the closet as a flaming.... ....born again Christian. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I still think he's a sizzlin' slab o'meat. But it did shine a little light on why he was largely wanted gone. His posing questions directed at Dreamz under the heading of "as a good Christian... how did you play this game?" (or something similar) was a huge eye opener ...and... it got heated. But I saw nothing wrong with him bringing morality to the table (religious or otherwise) because Dreamz was severely lacking in a sense of right or wrong. It was however, a curious decision to broadcast an entire season of Boo being largely disliked, with no signs of annoying behaviour.

So yeah... Earl won. After all that. Unanimous. 9 votes... all for Earl. Ok. If you guys say so. But truly, after all the drama... Yau Man deserved the prize. I eat my words for wanting him gone. No one has EVER played this game better. And everyone knew it.

But I have to say... dissatisfying finale or not... BEST SEASON EVER!

Now the hard part.... ....no more Survivor til the fall. : (

Oh well... ....Hell's Kitchen is coming back. Me likey. Me likey whole lot!

Go Boo!!!

(post started on Friday but finished on Sunday afternoon)

If I make only one post for the whole weekend, let it be this... Survivor Fiji is just quite simply rockin' this season. The finale is this Sunday (tonight) and I can hardly wait.

Last night Stacy got an unexpected boot, 'cause she didn't think to keep her mouth shut during the tribal council, thus tipping off Yau Man
that he'd best lay down his immunity idol to save his own skin. Which he did. What a wily old fella he is. Two steps ahead of everyone whilst the clan scrambles like a buncha boobs.

Right now, I'm inclined to say "Go Boo"! Because in the scheme of things he's an underdog. For some reason he's been painted as a huge annoyance, but it hasn't quite come out in the editing as to "Why?" everyone wants him gone. As one of my co-workers agrees... "Yeah, he (ironically enough) hasn't said "boo" all season." Not to mention, I think Boo is incredibly hot. Like that rough n' tumble, strong-enough-to-break-you-but-he-won't kind of hot. He's really pulling out all the stops in the competitions too. Immunity 2 weeks in a row - hee hee. I like it when the person most favoured to be voted-out by the big-bad alliance throws a monkey wrench at said-alliance forcing them to eat one of their own. Last night, they tried to eat Yau Man and they might have even succeeded had it not been for stupid, stupid, useless Stacy.
I realize that makes it sound like I want Yau Man gone, and I must admit I kinda do. He's just so smug. Not that he hasn't earned the right to be smug. He's undoubtedly the most clever Survivor contestant EVER. Last night he took BLATANT advantage of Dreamz desire to win a car (and Dreamz penchant for "do first, think later") by trading the truck he'd just won to Dreamz in exchange for immunity should Dreamz win it in the final four. I guess Yau Man is counting on Boo being gone and Dreamz being the strongest player by then. Yet another reason why I hope Boo has another monkey-wrench hidden somewhere on his person. (His incredibly sexy person.) For that, I think Yau Man will pay for his loyalty to Earl who also got his hands on an immunity idol last night. You think Earl's gonna give that up to save Yau??? I don't. Yau Man is now idol-less and vulnerable. I (boldly and perhaps stupidly) predict the Core-4 alliance is about to crumble and Earl is going to look like a weasel. I'm not saying he is a weasel... but this is a game, and if he's smart, Earl won't give up immunity. My take on Earl is that he's felt in control and in-the-know for most of the game simply by aligning himself with Yau Man, but hasn't really done anything note-worthy on his own. I don't feel he deserves to win. But that's just my opinion.
Dreamz and Cassandra... well I don't think either of them stands a chance. Dreamz has played double-crosser a few too many times and although he seems to have some kind of plan that he's not able to articulate, he's just a shot in the dark for the million. I've got to say that even though I think he's the village idiot... a million dollars would change his life and the lives of his family, so I'd be happy-enough if he did win.
Cassandra... not a strong contender in my book. She's been a coat-tail rider and basically she just sits on her thumbs during the challenges and waits for everyone else to finish. I will say this though... she's proven that she's observant and insightful and she's obviously well-liked. I like her too. Unless someone decides to take her to the final four though, her lack of physical-effort will eliminate her in any challenge of strength or stamina.

In just a few hours, the most exciting season of Survivor yet will be concluding. Sadly this post is going to look a little stupid/irrelevant goin' online now. But oh well. Let the games begin!

Largely Ricky Martin

Yay - Ted got to meet Ricky Martin!

Strangely enough, I think I'm more excited about it than him. He did have a great time though. 'Came home with a tour book and 40 or more pictures of the concert. To your left is Ted, Ricky and Tammy (in her brand, spankin' new purple leather jacket as mentioned earlier.)

And apparently, Ricky smells delightfully of "Vanilla Musk", so says Tam. Ted didn't get close enough to catch a whiff.

Incidentally, Ted also commented that Ricky didn't set off his gaydar one iota while he watched him interact with the people backstage. Ted's got pretty good gaydar too... so maybe Ricky's not the closet-dweller the media has made him out to be. Maybe he's just enlightened and evolved enough to say his sexuality is none of anyone's business even though he's heterosexual? Or maybe all of his experience has taught him how to keep it all hidden well. Who knows? Truly, I do believe that everyone's sexuality is their own business. Just because celebrities are in the public eye, doesn't entitle anyone to knowledge of their personal lives.

There's no arguing just how beautiful he is. And I think it's pretty giddy-sweet that we've got pictures of him on our camera. A little surreal even. I was secretly disappointed that he wasn't rockin' the leather pants. C'mon, that's his calling card... wouldn't you say??

And I'm not even a full-blown fan. (nor is Ted to be truthful. Ted's just always found him extremely attractive.) We have 3 of his CD's, one of which is a greatest hits, but I was almost an anti-fan because of his dreadfully boring role on General Hospital as "Miguel". That also had a lot to do with his long curly hair though.

Ahh well... a good time was had by all. While Ted and Tammy were at the concert, I took the dogs for a super-long walk, and added another 100 songs to my iPod when I got home. For me, that's a nice, relaxing evening.

Tonight, we chill. 'Cause the rest of the week is fulla' plans. Tomorrow night, Chris, Ted's sister Crissy's bf is in town from Timmins. So we're going to the Keg with him. (Crissy and Chris... yes I know. Isn't it cute??) It's his favourite restaurant and they don't have a Keg in Timmins, so he hits one every time he's in Southern Ontario. Eventually, we're hoping to introduce him to some other restaurants of interest. But we're certainly not anti-steak.

Thursday night is Survivor of course, so Tammy will be over. It's getting down to the wire, and with Mookie gone and Alex being an obvious swing vote next week things could get yet-more-ugly. I'm predicting right now that Dreamz or Alex himself will be going home. We'll see though.

Friday night, our friends Arran, Alessandro and Christian are coming over for a barbecue and probably games or a movie. So we're looking forward to that too. We haven't seen them since the "Super Bowel Party". It should be fun.

Anyhoo... on that note. I sign off. Now to pick a favourite Ricky Martin track... (just to be thematic) hmmm.... wow... this is tougher than I thought. I guess I'd have to pick the song he did and then re-did with Christina Aguilera (woo... I actually spelled her name correctly without checking first.) "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely". Not exactly the best song in the world, but I enjoyed it. Blah... Blogger's going to pull the ol' spacing issues thing on me today. It's not worth it for these particular lyrics. So yeah... technical difficulties. But I do really like that song. Their voices sound very good together.

Cheers.

Subway Follies

Hi Ho... the train ride home tonight was perfectly varied. It starts out completely normal, like the auto-pilot routine that is my commute on most days .... until I walk down to the platform. There was quite a crowd amassed there... I've got my iPod on... and yet... what's this I hear? Yelling among the throngs. Loud, heated, gonna-bitch-slap-you yelling. As I continue to walk ('cuz ain't nobody gettin' on that packed train sitting there as per usual at 5:05 on the Yonge line.) I can see that the yelling is coming from these 2 women standing just inside the doors of the second door of the second car. The pair are literally in each other's faces (whether they wanted to be or not - TTC random-act-of-God placement on a train truly can be cruel and unjust) yelling stuff like "Yeah!!? Well, go ahead and see what happens!" and "Well you should watch what you're doing blah, blah, blah!!" I say "blah, blah, blah" because I didn't deem the incident too life-threatening for anyone in the vicinity, thinking A) there wasn't going to be much room for fisticuffs should the urge overwhelm them, and B) about how people in general are not adjusting well to the surge in TTC ridership. (ie: temperament, courtesy, litter). But I was left without any resolve, because the doors closed and the train pulled away with these two women still yelling at one another and the people around them wide-eyed and wary of pepper spray. No interruption in service, so I'm guessing they were mature enough to just walk away with a vehement rant for suppertime. Anyhoo, this was the first time I'd seen a full-blown screaming match at rush-hour. I can hardly wait until the usual temper-flaring that comes with hot weather starts affecting this ever-growing group subway patrons.

And my subway ride only continued to be interesting... at the risk of depravity I must admit that the crowded-nature of my trip up to Bloor/Yonge got rather stimulating. Thankfully only 3 stations to endure... or was that regretfully only 3 stations to enjoy, amidst standing-room-only with this handsome brown-skinned man nonchalantly pressing his ass into my crotch. Before you picture anything blatantly obscene.... it wasn't like a scene from an after-school special, (me needing to put a school-book over my nether-regions), nor was it pornoriffic. Yes folks. I must admit I was slightly aroused by this. Cheap, jolly, thrills. But the subway was THAT packed, and I don't care what any of you pervs think. So there are advantages to a crowded subway. hee hee
Oh come on... tomorrow I'll be nose-deep in a blue-collar schlep-fest, no deodorant-required. I have to cherish the "kinky" with the "mundane" when the "kinky" is so scarce. We all know how much I enjoy foul-stench while trying to dodge a dandruff convention 2 inches from my face. Oh but wait... something like that DID happen on the next train. Again, I smile, only because karma also comes in a gaseous state...
My dirty thoughts were rewarded with little old lady farts. You know the Tim Horton's coffee-and-a-muffin blue-hair special blend... quietly squeaked out while gabbing extra loud to mask their arrival.
"Yeah, Gladys... everyone will think it's the fat guy next to us... let 'er rip!"
Scandalous biddies! Farting on the subway is not cool.

Farting on an elevator is cool. 'Cause it's concentrated but brief. Of course the default condition of that being cool depends entirely upon whether you're the "farter" or the "fartee" of course. (...Of course.)

As high-brow as this entry is... I really must be getting to bed. Survivor was good tonight.... but not as good as last week. Hearing Boo's knee audibly "pop" back into place was a little too sound-effects-intense for me. The fact that he stayed in the competition amazed me. You "know" it was excruciating!

No song... 'cause it would be from the infectious new Hillary Duff album. Yeah. Seriously. I just can't bring myself to do that, even though it's pretty damned good.

3 Dollars and 6 dimes

Y'know sometimes my sweet little Cole looks up at me after I've been screeching at Porthos to behave, (shut up, drop it, NO, Bad Dog) and his eyes almost tell me he's thinking "I was never that bad, was I daddy?". And I have to agree. 2 more different dogs have never existed. Cole was always such a good dog, and smart as a hound can be. The only thing he ever chewed that he wasn't supposed to was a pair of "Joe Boxer" underwear, and he was house-trained by 11 weeks of age. This week it would seem Porthos is having some psychological issues. He's house-trained, but for some reason, the post-meal trip outside is causing him some anxiety lately. He'll run for his crate and pee, either on the way there, or while he's in there. (I cannot tell you how much extra stress and laundry this brings to us.) Last night, I showed remarkable restraint by the simple act of "not" killing him.
Mind you, taking him outside the other night (a night on which he had also peed inside) I walked past this guy dragging a Rottweiler puppy outside yelling: "No caca en la casa"!!!
Now friends, I don't speak Spanish. But I've watched enough Sesame Street to know what that means. hee hee I felt like telling the guy how much I could sympathize. (Cute puppy; Cuter guy!) That was the good thing about it too. It made me feel like I wasn't alone in the struggle to domesticate a pooch without succumbing to primal rage. Besides that: we've been lucky in the poop department with P-Dawg. It's just his bladder he can't seem to keep a handle on. (sigh)

As long as this entry is bordering on the completely frivolous, I'm gonna babble 'bout TV for a second or two. First off: Survivor. Tomorrow is another episode, but before that is upon us, can I mention just HOW MUCH I loved last week's episode? Yes folks, an immunity idol was played at long last! It was completely smoked-out and wasted... but it was played for the first time ever! And so much scrambling and back-stabbing to get to it. What frickin' fun!

Ah... Ted is home and there's more pee to clean up. sigh

Here's an oldie but a goodie: "On & On" Erykah Badu

Oh my my my
I'm feeling high
My money's gone
I'm all alone
The world is turnin'
Oh what a day
What a day
What a day
Peace and blessings manifest with every lesson learned
If your knowledge were your wealth then it will be well earned
If we were made in his image then call us by our names
Most intellects do not believe in god but they fear us just the same

Oh on and on and on and on
Whew on and on and on and on
I go on and on and on and on
Ohh on and on and on and on

I was born under water with 3 dollars and 6 dimes
Yeah you might laugh
'cause you did not do your math
Na qua 2..3. Damn, y'all feel that?
Oh...Qua 2..3. The world keeps turning
Oh what a day what a day what a day

The man that knows something knows that he knows nothing at all
Does it seem colder in your summertime and hotter in your fall
If we were made in his image then call us by our names
Most intellects do not believe in god but they fear us just the same

Oh on and on and on and on
On and on and on and on
I go on and on and on and on
On and on and on and on

I am feeling kinda hungry 'cause my high is coming down
Don't feed me yours 'cause your food does not endure
I think I need a cup of tea,
the world keeps burnin'
Oh what a day, what a day what a day

You rush into destruction 'cause you don't have nothin' left
The mother ship can't save you so your ass is goin' get it
If we were made in his image then call us by our names
Most intellects do not believe in god but they fear us just the same

Oh on and on and on and on
On and on and on and on
Ooh ooh wee on and on and on and on
On and on and on and on

Mama Said Knock You Out Rocky

Something must be said about last night's episode of Survivor: Fiji. I have NOT had this level of lingering anger and frustration over an episode since Jonny Fairplay splayed his assholishness all over every inch of Survivor: Pearl Islands.

I am well-aware that every edition needs it's villains and abrasive personalities to make things interesting, but "Rocky"... has got to go. He is quite possibly the most obnoxious Survivor contestant I've ever seen. He's sexist, homophobic, disrespectful, loud, rude, has no self-restraint, arrogant, he's a complete hot-head and he's stupid as hell. Were I among this tribe and seen/experienced the way be behaves, I think I would be very prone to violence. I'm sick to death of mild-mannered, good-natured people being down-trodden, disrespected and cast-aside because they are pacifistic and "too nice". How sad is it that anybody in our world could be considered "too nice"? That's appalling! "Too needy" perhaps. "Too lacking in self-esteem" maybe. But from what the editors allowed us to see... Anthony's game-play was always respectful and considerate, and evidently his only crime was a lack of aggressiveness. I really hate bullies. And that is precisely what Rocky is. My respect for the other seemingly "nice" guys in the tribe has just plummeted because they acknowledged their disdain for Rocky and pretty much denounced his behaviour for the camera, but when the other tribe members are around, they just let it happen. They just let another human being be treated like garbage by one of their peers when they should be telling the offender to "shut the hell up".

When Jonny Fairplay was causing havoc on Pearl Islands, it was all with the wink/smile, lie-through the teeth, just-playing-the-game mentality. You can tell that Rocky is just as big an asshole in his "day-to-day" as he is for the cameras. Someone like that needs to be centred-out and sent home, and told exactly why their bags are being packed for them. He's a disgusting sack of crap and a poor example of a human being. Maybe that in itself explains his one constant facial expression: that of a man in a state of eternal constipated poop-cramps. He's ugly on the inside and it shows on the outside. DOWN WITH ROCKY!!! Ship him home in a crate!

I'm almost as displeased with Lisi as well, but I'll save my soap-box rant on her despicable behaviour for a later date when she's had more air-time with which to show more of her thus-far nasty personality.

At any rate, it would seem to anyone reading this that I hate this season of Survivor, so I should clarify that I'm loving it - aside from some "unsavoury" characters. It's nothing if not engaging.

And since Global took it upon themselves to unceremoniously cut-off the end of the show, thus depriving Canadian viewers of Anthony's closing comments and how the vote went, I did a little online research. The vote was unanimously for Anthony (except for Anthony's lone vote for Rocky/James.) And this was what Anthony had to say about getting voted off:

"I am a little pissed off. I'm a lot pissed off. I'm mad at myself for apparently not screaming to the world (and) being a jerk. Apparently that's what you need to prove that you're out for a million dollars. Regardless of what Rocky says I have great social skills. I'm not what was wrong with that tribe. It was Mookie and James; those are the problems with Ravu and that's why they're losing and their going to continue to lose until both those guys are gone."

His comments about Mookie aren't surprising, because he's been one of those "dick-head jocks who only went along with the other cool kids in high school" type people. He might be an under-the-radar player that goes farther than you'd expect though. We'll just have to wait and see.

For now... I'm rooting for Boo. But it's precarious. He could slide easily to a position of being the target of my contempt. Right now... he's eye-candy, and he seems to be smart without being cocky. Anyone who openly acknowledges that their game play has to change with the circumstances is one to watch in my book. It's way too early to be declaring yourself powerful in this edition.

***Post-Posting... I remembered that I also wanted to comment on how it baffles me in this life that people with no social skills are always accusing others of having no social skills. WHY is that? Since Rocky is a complete buffoon with no idea how to respectfully interact with other people, how the hell does he even know what social skills are to be accusing someone else of lacking them. I'm wondering if he caught an episode of Oprah on the flight to Fiji and picked up a few foreign terms that he just decided to throw around at leisure. GRRRRR***

Anyhoo... Survivor rant at a close. Sorry if you're not a fan. But if you aren't... ...well... why aren't you? It's sooooooo good! hee

Song of the day is a favourite electronica track with a lot of break-beats. Love this song. It's slick, and driving and the lyrics although simplistic and repetitive, have a lot of merit.

"Somnambulist (Simply Being Loved) by B.T.

So little time, so little time
I'm so frustrated
So little joy, so little joy
It's complicated
So little time, so little time time
To work it on out (Yeah yeah)

So little joy, so little joy
It's complicated
I feel I'm stumbling in the dark
Somnambulated
I feel my heart seeking the sparks
I'm praying for love (Love love)
Praying for love

So little joy, so little joy
It's complicated
So little time, so little time
When your heart's been faded
So little hope, so little hope
I'm praying for love (Love love)
Is more than enough

(chorus)
Simply being loved loved loved
Simply being loved loved loved
Simply being loved loved loved
Is more than enough(Yeah yeah)(x2)
Simply being loved(Yeah yeah)
Is more than enough(Yeah yeah)
Simply being loved(Yeah)
Is more than enough

So little joy, so little joy
It's complicated
So little time, so little time
Be acclimated
So little hope, so little hope
And I'm prayin' now with love(Yeah)

So little time the pace has changed
But I'm still waiting
A thousand years of timeless days
Somnambulating
I'm stumbling wounded in the dark
But I'm praying still for love
Love love
Prayin forLove
love love

(chorus)

Some little joy some little joy
It's complicated
So little time, so little time
So frustrated
So little hope, so little hope
And I'm praying still for love
Love(Yeah)
Prayin' for love

So little hope, so little time
It's so frustrating
I feel I'm stumbling in the dark
Somnambulated
I feel my heart's seeking the sparks
But I'm praying still for love(Yeah)

(Yeah yeah)I'm in love
Yeah (yeah yeah) Simply being...
(Yeah yeah) I'm in love
Yeah yeah!
Simply being..
Simply being loved loved loved
Simply being loved loved loved
Simply being loved loved loved
Is more than enough(Yeah yeah)(x2)

Simply being loved(Yeah yeah)
Simply being loved(Yeah yeah)
Simply being loved(Yeah yeah)
Simply being lovedYeah
Simply being loved Is more than enough
Yeah.

Chaka Khar III

Weekend: gone.

One of the things I wanted to talk about on Friday, was just how close Ted and I were to getting a hybrid car. Now I'm happy to report that it has come to pass. We're proud "leasers" of a 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid. Her name is Chaka Khar (the third) and she's very likely going to be blue (but maybe red, depending on availability). Isn't she pretty? And fuel-efficient at 1000kms or more per tank. Yeah, I know we've only had our last car for 3 years, but this is quite simply the more responsible vehicle for us. Bearing that in mind, we're quite hurried to get a potential buyer or someone to take-over our lease on our current car. We've got 2-6 weeks before the Camry arrives. So if you're reading this and in the market for a babied, immaculately maintained 2004 Acura TSX, please give me a shout. It's fully loaded (leather & titanium interior/6-speed manual transmission/6-disc CD changer/4-cylinder engine w 200hp/heated front seats/power everything including driver seat/heated mirrors/all 4 windows & sunroof) and within the allotted kilometres on our lease at 76,000. 11 months left on the lease. Oh, and it's also blue. A blue very similar to our new car. (with the possible exception of it being red - hee)

We've been hybrid shopping since December and finally decided that the Camry was our best bet. Although we did come close to choosing the Nissan Altima Hybrid. (decidedly more handsome than the Camry) But the Camry won-out for it's larger trunk (Hybrids are sadly lacking in trunk space because of the battery) and the Toyota track record. The Altima is Nissan's first attempt at a hybrid, whereas Toyota's been making them for 15 years or more.

Ted wanted the Camry from his first test-drive. But it was a bit harder for me to accept it, since it has a big tumor on the hood where the "T" emblem is. To me it looks warty and bulbous. Something I'm more inclined to overlook on it's cuter, smaller sibling the Yaris. 'Cause on the Yaris it's a cute lil meep-beep nose. On the Camry... it's something you try not to look at while you're speaking to it so as not to be insensitive. But... it's a small sacrifice (even if it just begs for reconstructive surgery). At any rate, we're both very excited about the new car, and among the many, many perks of getting a Camry are the stereo (which sounds sublime) and the $2000 rebate we'll get from the government. (Which we'll then sink back into the car, but that's beside the point.) So yeah - YAY!

On the reality TV front. I'd like to emphasize for anyone NOT watching Survivor and/or the Amazing Race... you should. No really, you should be watching. Survivor for one, has not been this cut-throat and nasty since the Pearl Islands edition. You've got 2 tribes living in complete opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of prosperity, morale and desperation. They hate one another and it's seething, competitive, feed-you-to-the-sea-snakes tangible hatred. At times it's uncomfortable, but some really heated conflicts are on the way (I can just feel them coming) and you can tell there will be villains emerging from all sides. It makes things edgy and engaging - which is good since they're noticeably short on the man-candy this season. If you can't have one, you'd better have the other. hee And Amazing Race has been incredibly FUNNY and fast-paced so far this season. Since all the teams have done this before, and they've all obviously been picked to do it again because of their colourful personalities, it's been top-notch. Absolutely nobody is boring to watch. Some, competitors are inane and painfully inept, but they do funny, stupid things so it's all good. Last night the Kentucky miner couple got eliminated with little fan-fare. I'd like to say I'm sad to see them go, but really, they were out of their league and it's a wonder they lasted 3 legs of the race. Rob n Ambah won for the 3rd time in a row which is a bit maddening, but hey... they evidently have what it takes. It could get old mighty fast if nobody takes them down a few pegs, but we shall see.

Song of the day is a good driving tune in honour of new cars and less greenhouse gases.

"Real Gone" by Sheryl Crow.

I'm American made but I like Chevrolet

My momma taught me wrong from right.

I was born in the South

Sometimes I have a big mouth

When I see something that I don't like

I gotta say it.

Well, we've been driving this road for a mighty long time

Paying no mind to the signs

Well, this neighborhood's changed

It's all been rearranged

We left that team somewhere behind.

Slow down, you're gonna crash,

Baby you're a-screaming it's a blast, blast, blast

Look out babe, you've got your blinders on

Everybody's looking for a way to get real gone

Real gone.

Real gone.

But there's a new cat in town

He's got high-faded friends

Thinks he's gonna change history

You think you know him so well

Yeah you think he's so swell

But it's just a front you wait and see

Slow down, you're gonna crash,

Baby you're a-screaming it's a blast, blast, blast

Look out, you've got your blinders on

Everybody's looking for a way

To get real gone

Real gone.

Real gone.

Real gone.

Uhh.

Well you can say what you want

But you can't say it 'round here

'Cause they'll catch you and give you a whippin'

Well, I believe I was right when I said you were wrong

You didn't like the sound of that

Now, did ya?

Slow down, you're gonna crash,

Baby you're a-screaming it's a blast, blast, blast

Look out, you've got your blinders on

Everybody's looking for a way to get real gone

Well here I come and I'm so not scared,

Got my pedal to the metal, got my hands in the air

Look out, you take your blinders off

Everybody's looking for a way to get real gone

Real gone.

Real gone.

Ooh.

Real gone.

Real gone.