Amazing Race 8

Final Three Standings

2005-12-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

Adam 7490
Jan 6800
Allegra 6060

Woo hoo!

A recap of the finale is perhaps coming.

Final Bonus Question!

2005-12-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

Within +/- 1000 of the number I came up with, how many miles have the teams traveled so far?

Good luck!

FINAL STANDINGS BEFORE FINAL

2005-12-07T06:30:00.000-08:00

Adam 3745 (2)
Jan 3400 (2)
Stephanie 3315 (3)
Karen 3250 (2)
Linda 3235 (2)
Allegra 3030 (2)
Jonathan 3015 (2)
Dave A 2955 (2)
Judy 2925 (2)
Mark F 2765 (1)
Jill 2710 (2)
Ashlee 2625 (2)
Kristin L 2605 (2)
Dave 2550 (1)
Sarah 2505 (2)
Mark 2465 (2)
Jay 2435 (2)
Mary P 2370 (2)
Scott 2305 (2)
Victor 2285 (2)
Samuel 2235 (2)
Mary 2140 (1)
Eric 2095 (1)
Chris 2070 (1)
Mike 2035 (1)
Curt 2030 (1)
Caitlin 1935 (2)
Liz 1930 (1)
Les 1880 (2)
Frank 1845 (2)
Chris H 1770 (1)
Laura 1725 (1)
Anton 1685 (1)
Bari 1585 (1)
Ben 1490 (1)
Joanna 1420 (1)
Peter 1310 (0)
Tracy 1045 (1)
Kristin 695 (0)

Caption THIS!

2005-11-30T09:07:00.000-08:00

Week Eleven - Bonus Question

2005-11-30T09:04:00.000-08:00

I am afraid this season has gone Belly Up. What is the origin of that phrase?

Week Ten - Bonus Answer

2005-11-30T09:01:00.000-08:00

Skeleton!

It's first two appearances were in 1928 and 1948, both times when the winter games were held in St. Moritz.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2005-11-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

From Karen, Jessica, and Jaime and Oliver Phelps, the Weasley Twins.

Caption THIS!

2005-11-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

Week 10 - BONUS QUESTION

2005-11-23T09:05:00.000-08:00

We find ourselves in Salt Lake City, home of the 2002 Winter Games. What sport was included as a medal sport at these games for only the third time in Olympic history?

BONUS ANSWERS - Week Nine

2005-11-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

1. Francis Scott Key's home in Georgetown was dismantled in 1947 to make way for an entrance ramp to the Whitehurst Freeway. Congrats to Chris H who was the only one to find this! I did, however, also accept the park as an answer.

2. A Wobble was a six-day endurance footrace that was popular in England and New York in the 1880s. The Bransens would have done terrible because, um, Wally? Not too into that whole "in-shape" thing.

Happy Harry Potter Day!

2005-11-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

I've already got my tickets.

Bonus Answer - Week 8

2005-11-18T08:27:00.000-08:00

The Bransens would have looked for a chalk drawing of a top hat, because during the Great Depression that was the hobo sign for "rich gentleman lives here". Cool!

Bonus Questions - Week 9

2005-11-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

We're back in America! At least the show is showing a little respect to American History. Much more so than Washington DC showed to the house of Francis Scott Key. What structure was built on the site of Francis Scott Key's house?

We're down to the final four! If this was a wobble, why would the Bransens probably be the next to go?

Good luck!

The Amazing Case Photos

2005-11-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

Enjoy, y'all.

Episode Seven - My Thoughts

2005-11-09T09:52:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling like a lazy recapper today, so I think we're just going to get random thoughts for each team.

Bransens

You know, girls, you can either 1) have no faith in your dad's physical strenghth or 2) let him do all the physical tasks. I don't think it works to do both. But your little dialogue "I can get in!" (wally at the swimming challenge) "Are you sure?" (Bransen girls in unison) was kinda funny.
Wally: I'm glad you "don't want to make a mistake" at the Go-Karts, but how hard is it to screw something up that involves you driving around in a circle?

Godlewskis

You brought toilet paper? And somehow kept it after all your stuff was taken away? Don't think I didn't see that roll stretching out across the road when one of your bags fell!
Apparently, Arizona is "hotter than snot". I'm not sure how hot snot is, but thanks for sharing that delightful commentary.

Linz

You know, I wrote absolutley nothing down about y'all on the first hour tonight. But you better come in first on at least one leg here, kids! At least the last one. When it counts.

Paolo

Oh, was Mama Paolo throwing around the one liners tonight! I'm not sure what was better, "I'm gonna have more muscles than brains in my head when I'm done with this race", or "Why are we going to Phoenix? I want to go to New Zealand!" Who am I kidding? The latter is far more superior, and echoing the sentiments of devoted Race Fans everywhere...
The only good thing about Tony almost drowning is that we got a glimpse of some of the local production crew. Kind of nice to give the locals a moment in the sun, right?
There was something just so...I dunno...pastoral about the Italian immigrant singing on the back of a truck with big sticks in it. And there's more of a joke to be made but I can't pull it out of my brain right now.
You know, the Paolos were downright awesome (and one both legs) while out of the country. It must be the US soil that does something to their brains, becuse the minute they were back on the ground they were up to their usual arguing antics.
I'm trying to control my laughter that's still continuing from their getups at the pitstop. At least it was more sensible than the Godlewski thongs (and more supportive than they are to each other)! But Phil was right. They looked ridiculous. But if they'd taken time to count to, oh, I dunno, THREE and notice how many cars were actually there, they wouldn't have needed to do it at all!

Weavers

You know, I hate to keep harping on your guys. Wait, I'm not sorry at all. And here we go!
I'm thinking that Rolly just might be Brandon's long lost brother. Christian but not overtly crazy, and coming out of the water he totally had that Blue Lagoon think going for him.
Did they actually chant "Go Arnold Go!" for two and a half hours in the Costa Rican cab? I was kind of hoping they would, and the cab driver would put out an APB on them to all other cabbies not to pick them up.
"What state are we in again?" Need I even comment on that?
If I had been that dude at the track that you said you needed someone who was "compassionate", I would have shown you the nearest church and not let you race. Maybe that would have been more your speed.
When some nice ladies come up to you to try to make you feel okay about your mom out on a GO KART on a race track after your dad died at a track, they're probably sincere. I don't think I'd return their kindness by saying how they lie and are so mean to you.
And again, kids, it's a GO KART. No need to freak out until they have, like, crash-test dummies littered around that you have to "avoid the pit crew" or something.
Here is the link to the CBS glossary of Race Terms. Please note the definition of the yield. If I were you, I'd spend less time interrogating DJ Paolo about why he used it on your and following it up with a "We've still got our yield, sweets", and instead worry about the little fact that YOU CAN GET YIELDED AGAIN, YOU DUMBASS.
Need some help with your kids, Ma? I found someone who can help you!
I think the Weavers need a mirror to hold up to see their behavior and their words. And to fix their pants, too.
I think they should have tried out for this show. Because it'd be a miracle if you were ever nice to someone.
It is amazing that as much as they hate speedways and racing, they drive likes bats out of hell on every single stretch of road. I'm just saying.
I have this dream for next week, where the teams go to Independence, Missouri, and Phil says "This is the scared returning place of Jesus according to Mormons. Look up 5 verses in the Book of Mormon that exemplify good family practices" and Ma throws a fit in which she refuses to touch a "sacred" text that doesn't involve hot pants or thowing garbage at other teams.
With all their paranoia and delusions, these dudes really are a four person Mirna. Oh, the scariness of typing that sentence.
But, really, what I think it boils down to is that this family is a textbook example of people who create the situations they fear, project all their own bad behavior onto other people, they're defensive and nasty, they haven't given any of the others a single reason to like them, and then they just get mystified by their social isolation. Maybe they're President Bush's favorite team. That certainly describes his foreign policy.

And with that it's Scrappy, signing off.

Caption THIS!

2005-11-09T09:47:00.000-08:00

Week 7/8 Team Scores / Pool Scores

2005-11-09T06:39:00.000-08:00

Team Scores

Godlewski 230 (745)
Linz 230 (805)
Weaver 210 (605)
Bransen 130 (675)
Paolos -80 (585

Pool Scores

Adam 2870 (3)
Jan 2585 (3)
Karen 2415 (3)
Jonathan 2390 (3)
Linda 2335 (2)
Stephanie 2300 (3)
Allegra 2290 (2)
Mark F 2285 (2)
Judy 2185 (2)
Dave A 2095 (2)
Dave 1905 (1)
Jill 1850 (2)
Kristin L 1825 (2)
Ashlee 1760 (2)
Sarah 1645 (2)
Mary P 1630 (2)
Liz 1610 (2)
Mark (2), Scott (2) 1605
Chris (2), Mike (2) 1590
Victor 1585 (2)
Jay 1575 (2)
Mary 1555 (1)
Laura 1550 (2)
Eric 1510 (1)
Les 1450 (2)
Samuel 1375 (2)
Caitlin 1335 (2)
Curt 1285 (1)
Frank 1265 (2)
Chris H 1165 (1)
Anton 1080 (1)
Peter 1035 (1)
Bari 1000 (1)
Ben 865 (1)
Joanna 815 (1)
Tracy 730 (1)
Kristin 615 (0)

Week Eight Bonus Question

2005-11-09T06:33:00.000-08:00

We ran into another Non-Elimination Leg in the first hour of tonight's race.

If the race had taken place, oh, 75 or 80 years ago, why would the Bransens have sought a chalk drawing of a top hat?

Good luck!

Week Seven Bonus - ANSWER

2005-11-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

And the answer is...William Walker!

Here is the article I originally found on the "crazy man's war" of 1856.

Today, however, when I was trying to find a site to put up with a little about Walker, I came across this one. That almost makes him sound like a hero. Stupid Americans and their manifest destiny.

Well, we did it

2005-11-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

I'm proud to say the Scrappy Monkeys came in a respectable 12th place in the first annual "Amazing Case" in Minneapolis. I don't remember much after the, oh, fifth bar, but that's okay! We've got lots of pictures and, as soon as I get them uploaded, a link will be available.

Episode Six - My Thoughts

2005-11-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

An open letter to The Weaver Clan.

by Allegra J. Lingo

Dear Weavers,

I realized tonight that I miss the good ol' days from episodes of yore (well, fourteen days ago) when I just thought you were really stupid. Like, an inbred Forrest Gump kinda dumb. But tonight, we just learned so many things about you that I'm ready to dock myself 100 points in the pool for picking you as one of my four teams. Sigh.

Ma Weaver, good call on tonight's episode title quote, "I'm sick of doing stuff I can't do." I have a feeling you didn't just mean driving stick or getting your van out of the mud. Maybe raising respectful children? That seems to be something you've got a problem with. Whose fault is it that you have daughters that admit they were raised not to trust other people? That must be that platinum rule they forgot to put in the Bible, making it worth more than the Golden Rule of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", because I'm fairly certain you wouldn't want people doing the following:

Making fun of someone for their profession (Papa Paolo) and standing in front of their company car (well, I can't say too much about that because I just did that last week).
When teams tell you "Good luck, it's harder than hell" (Megan Linz) your answer is, naturally, "They're lying. We'll show them."
Calling everything, including an inanimate object (the volcano), retarded.
Demonstrating a level of maturity Carissa Gaghan achieved upon conception, exemplified when responding to the yield by dissing every other team to make yourself feel better, and asking how much the Godlewski sisters' boobs cost. Although, I have a feeling this was actually a serious inquiry, because what I see in the future for these two daughters is a lifetime of hotpants, bikers, and bad run-ins with hair dye (well, they got the hotpants and hair dye woes already).

It's nice to know that you think highly of yourself, especially when you say "We're Christians and we're above them." Very Jesus like. Except, my Jesus hung out with the prostitutes and lepers. I have a feeling you wouldn't be doing that any time soon. You are to Christianity what the Hindenburg was to transatlantic airship travel. You totally bypassed snarky (a compliment, in my book) and went straight to snotty fuckwad (there's just no other word to use right there). For a minute, I thought you were going to drive off and leave your kids to fend for themselves and their camera crew, relying on Rolly's fluent Mirnish (two new entrieds: "righto" and "lefto") to get you back home. I guess God' guides you until you get stuck in the mud, huh?

So, WWJD? I think He'd kick some Weaver ass. I found myself wondering if there's a national sanitation worker's union, because if there is, I don't think you're ever getting pick-up again. And remember, it's not cool to make fun of someone for being a garbage man when your dad got killed clearing debris (or did you not know what that word meant?).

So, I close with a line from Dennis Leary:

Lady, your husband isn't dead. He's hiding.

And on with some other random thoughts:

Gaghans

Dude, you guys were not supposed to go out so soon! It's sad, sniff, now I'm moving on.
Carissa was totally cute getting ready to run to Costa Rica, if need be (she probably would have gotten there the same time her mom got done with the roadblock).
Likewise-cuteness goes to Billy being a little monster in the back of the van.
Coffee Beans? Totally the new Haystacks. Those were definitley not cool beans (please don't hit me, Anton and Peter!).
Why didn't Carissa do the roadblock? I totally thought she would, especially after they've spent every episode telling Carissa "nice eyes" on spotting all the flags and stuff. That would have been awesome.
The shot of Carissa on the dark, deserted streets of San Jose, clutching the water bottle? That was straight out of "Oliver Twist: Costa Rica".

Paolos

You came in first? Again? Good lord! I do hope that at least DJ and Mama choose the Segway people movers. How awesome would that be to see them chasing each other around and shouting on those down the Atlantic City Boardwalk or something?!
I admit, I'm starting to like these dudes. Jerry Maguire might have had Renee Zellwegger at "hello", but they had me at "I'm coming!" "Yeah? So is Christmas."
These dudes also had the (mis)fortune to run into the best drunk local this side of Iceland. Yeah!
I noticed for the first time tonight that DJ and Jonathan - excuse me, he-who-must-not-be-named - wear the same brand of clothing? Coincidence? I think not. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourselves.

Godlewskis

Oh, boo hoo. You lost all your money. And then you got some again. I do think, however, this is the first time that any local has answered "I don't have money. I have love." EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Apparently he didn't see them last week with their underwear on their head.
Good line, one of your shrieking harpies, with "Could we get cinco dinero? Viente would be fine, too." That made me laugh.
That's all I wrote about you. Now stop fighting and keep in the race. And do something interesting.

Bransens

You don't know what a relic is? Sad, sad, sad.
That's all I wrote down about you. Now go do something good.

Linzes

Apparently, I thought you were really boring last night, because I didn't write down anything about you. See second bullet points to the Godlewskis and Bransens.

Ethnic Greeter

Was your biological clock ticking or something? You just looked like the saddest thing having to help philiminate the Gaghan kids. Seriously. Go back and check out the tape (if you taped it) of her face. It's awesome.

Yield History

Well, the Yield that has never played a significant role in the Race makes its first appearance. For those of you who are not Weaver or Paolo fans, this is not the best news if you want to see either of those teams gone.

In Race 5, Chip and Kim yielded Colin and Christie. Chip and Kim came in first place, Colin and Christie second.
In Race 6, two yields were used. Adam and Rebecca first Yielded Freddy and Kendra, and then Freddy and Kendra got them back and yielded Adam and Rebecca. Freddy and Kendra came in first place, Adam and Rebecca came in third.
In Race 7, Rob and Amber yielded Ron and Kelly. Rob and Amber came in second, Ron and Kelly came in third.

Will the use of the Yield which makes no difference continue to serve as a predictor for good race results? Tune in next week, when Mama Weaver continues to go batshit crazy and Papa Paolo nearly drowns.

Scrappy (or, as the below picture from Halloween would seem to indicate, Harry Potter), signing off.

Caption THIS!

2005-11-02T10:14:00.000-08:00

Have fun!

Week Six Team / Pool Scores

2005-11-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

Team Scores

Paolo 205 (655)
Linz 125 (565)
Bransen 85 (545)
Godlewski 85 (515)
Weaver 15 (515)
Gaghan -125 (155)

Pool Scores

Adam 2090 (3)
Linda 1995 (3)
Jan 1930 (3)
Allegra 1870 (3)
Mark F 1845 (3)
Dave A 1795 (3)
Judy 1765 (3)
Jonathan 1710 (3)
Dave (2), Karen (3), Stephane (3) 1680
Jill 1480 (2)
Mary 1345 (2)
Eric 1340 (2)
Kristin L 1335 (2)
Sarah 1275 (2)
Ashlee 1270 (2)
Mark (2), Scott (2) 1235
Victor 1215 (2)
Mary P 1180 (2)
Jay 1165 (2)
Liz 1140 (2)
Chris (2), Mike (2) 1120
Les (2), Laura (2) 1110
Curt 1040 (1)
Samuel 1005 (2)
Caitlin (2), Chris H (1) 885
Anton 840 (1)
Frank 815 (2)
Bari 760 (1)
Peter 750 (1)
Kristin 745 (1)
Ben 625 (1)
Joanna 575 (1)
Tracy 480 (1)

Week SEVEN - BONUS QUESTION

2005-11-02T09:41:00.000-08:00

The race teams aren't the only ones that are a bit frightened by the Weavers. Why, according to their history, would to Costa Ricans be a bit scared of a crazy American from the southern States?

Good luck!

Week Six Bonus - ANSWER

2005-11-02T09:40:00.000-08:00

The answer is William Van Ingen, and the murals hang in the Panama Canal Administration Building.

Good job, nearly everyone!

Media Prufrock

2005-11-01T08:29:00.000-08:00

credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non vivo alcun, s'i'odo vero,
Senza tema dinfamia ti rispondo.

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out the sky
Like a etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow a tedious Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question ...
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.

Episode Five -- My Thoughts

2005-10-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

Heck YEAH my Amazing Race is back! Too bad it only took five episodes to really find it again. Airports, hours of operation bunching, horribly mangled foreign languages...sigh. I have missed you.

I totally freaked out at the beginning of the episode when Phil came on to talk about New Orelans again, and then they showed stuff about Space Camp. I thought they were playing the wrong episode. So, Jan, sorry about that frantic call.

We are leaving the US? Are you serious? Just as much as Carissa, I'm excited you're leaving, too. However, wouldn't it have been funny if the Linzes did go to Panama City, Florida, as one of them thought they were? Apparently, they've got two bingo halls, so I'd be cool with going there myself.

We arrive at the airport where apparently they've been told to take either Continental or American, and the Bransens figure out quite quickly that, in a race situation, it makes sense to take the one that lands three hours earlier. Duh. But my favorite airport moment? One of the Godlewski sisters (I think Michelle?) hitting DJ Paolo over the head and telling him to be nice to his mom. It was probably Christine Godlewski's idea, though, since apparently she's the one on the team with all the good ideas (and asking for validation whilst sobbing is apparently one of the them).

And off to Panama, where they go to the Smithsonian Institute (or, in the words of the Bransens, "Institute de...whatever") where they will hop a boat to an island and find a scientist. Still not exactly "find Pablo in Mexico City", but it'll do! However, the boats don't go until 7 AM, and since it's really ass dark, we know they're in for the night and all the teams will catch up. BUNCH! I really would have loved to see them all get out their camping mats right on the ground in front of the gate, as has happened in years and episodes past, but obviously there's a big-ass empty building right near by that can convienently fit 24 racers and all their crew. Talk about an uncomfortable slumber party. I wonder if the Weavers say prayers in their sleep.

When the teams get up and jump for the boats, the editors spend the next few minutes messing with my pool scoring as they continually flash "currently in [enter number] place" over, and over and over with different teams. I haven't rewatched the epsiode to make sure I got everything, but if you're wondering how all the teams got / lost so many points this episode. This was the sequence that did them in. But what is up with the Gaghan's driver wanting to go back to pick up more people? Does he not understand the concept of raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace? Wasn't that obvious by the boom mike, camera, and people in matching clothing on his boat? Oh, the horrors as I watch Billy and Carissa fall further and further behind.

On the island, the teams make their way to the scientist chillin' in the hammock to get their clue, which tells them to find their bus that will take them to one of the detour options. Now, here was my favorite moment--the Godlewskis realizing that they've wasted time looking for their bus on the island, and Christina (whose ideas are the best, you know) finally saying, "This is an island, guys, we knew that!" as they cackle towards their boat. Hee hee.

The Paolos decide to go for the fast forward, and Phil tells us this is the only one on the entire race. Come on! I miss the fast forward every leg. Oh well. And it involves bungee jumping. I saw an image of Hell during this segment--being trapped in that tiny elevator with the Paolos going up to the jump. This is something I'd be a bit iffy about myself, but we get to see DJ for what he really is--a little wuss who screams like a little GIRL! It's too bad they didn't chicken out because I would have loved seeing the kids doing that (and Mama Gaghan totally smacked into a van trying to get there--see this week's CAPTION THIS!) but the one good thing is that doing the Fast Forward took the Paolos completely out of the second half of the episode. And they won...a trip to Panama! Huh. I liked the gnome with his feathers on, though. That was funny. And it did look like Tony was having the time of his life in that country, so maybe it's good they're going back. They can relive all those close family memories of thirty seconds of DJ and Momma not shouting at each other.

Detour options: Rhythm or Coos. It would have been a toss-up for me--birds? eh. Especially wooden ones (but the bird geek extra was AWESOME). Rhythm: Run around to different music halls, grab instruments, bring them back to the Take 5 jazz club (I'm assuming named after my favorite piece of all time--must have Real Player), and put them in their cases? I would have been way too tempted to stop and play a set (scroll down). The most nervous I got all episode was watching the Linzes and Billy Gaghan carrying the saxes around the streets of Panama City by their NECK. Dudes--these are precious babies (here are mine). Do NOT be carrying them around by their necks. Or I'll reach through my TV Screen and carry you by yours and see how you like it. Best you be warned. But you know what? Putting a sax, a trombone, a trumpet, and a drum in their respective cases is not a puzzle. They didn't even have to take them apart.

And...off to the baseball field. You know, it's kind of amazing that even though they went to another country, they managed to do three American things--baseball, the Smithsonian, and the Panama Canal (owned by the US). This challenge was totally a throw-back to the season one with the ping-pong challenge. Here were my favorite baseball moments:

"It's baseball--you can swear" -- Godlewskis
Rolly Weaver--actually doing a task? Crazy!
"Pretend it's the boss that wouldn't give you that raise!" -- Godlewskis
Ma Weaver's OUTRAGE that the Linzes would trash talk while her son was hitting. Dude. It's baseball. That's what you do. It's a good thing the Weavers weren't doing it, otherwise it would have been white trash talk.
That fabulous 14 inning win the Sox pulled out over the Astros last night (and Houston's problem? They made us keep our roof open!)

People swing. People hit. The Panamanians really need to work on their defense. In the end, it's the Godlewskis left swinging while the Gaghans get stuck at a real roadblock--a truck with a Pepsi vending machine blocking their way. And this is where Bill Gaghan goes "these people...". I'm hoping that wasn't as totally bad and culturally insensitive as it sounded. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, and at least he didn't say "These Panamanians just keep breeding and breeding!" like KKKendra (I'm having a hard time finding which episode that happened in--anyone remember?). But the Gaghan's make it despite these people and the roadblock, which givees us the opportunity to watch all four Godlewskis (who obviously watched the show last year, and are fans as they said, "We have to see the 'Philiminator') put on every single article of clothing they brought with them and greet Phil at the map looking like...well...I'm not exactly sure. But the editors rocked. As the sisters say, "We've got wit, charm, and beauty, they cut to THAT -->

And then Phil says, "It's illegal to wear underpants on top of underpants on top of pants." Oh, the funny. Thanks, Phil.

Other random thoughts:

Wow, the Bransens got taken for a ride--to work! If a bus with paintings and flashing lights, four Americans and a 2 person camera crew come up to me and make me sign a waiver form, my first inclination would be that they're just going somewhere and offering me a ride to work. Evil Fern.
Rolly's one funny line "This is a pimp bus." Does his mama know he watches MTV? I'm sure that's the spawn of satan.
Did anyone else notice that while the Godlewski's were handing over their possessions, they handed over their cash in a PINK Wallet? Fitting, huh?
Weavers: Just because you're in a spanish speaking country, don't blurt out the only two spanish words you know: "Burrito" and "Conquistador". Besides, the position of Burrito Conquistador is already taken.
Oh, Rolly, thanks for adding "El Speedo" to the Mirnish dictionary. I need an entry right between "El Doctoro" and "Emergencia".
I was so upset that the Broken Ox didn't make the "Amazing Moment" from season five. But they still picked a good one.
For those of you in the Minneapolis area, what the HELL is up with Phil's little WCCO Morning News intro? So bad, it's downright awesome.
In other news, James Cameron is releasing the definitive DVD of Titanic with an alternate ending. Huh? So the boat doesn't sink?

That's it for today. Scrappy, signing off.

Caption THIS!

2005-10-26T08:05:00.000-07:00

I could think of funny captions for all of these, so this week there are three!

Week Five - Team / Pools Standings

2005-10-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

Team Standings

Paolo 300 (450)
Weaver 60 (390)
Bransen 90 (460)
Linz 100 (440)
Gaghan -10 (280)
Godlewski 80 (430)

Pool Standings

Adam 1780 (3)
Jan 1585 (3)
Linda 1535 (3)
Allegra 1500 (3)
Jonathan 1495 (3)
Stephanie 1430 (3)
Dave 1425 (3)
Karen 1415 (3)
Mark F 1405 (3)
Judy 1400 (3)
Dave A 1390 (3)
Jill 1360 (3)
Kristin L 1170 (2)
Les 1150 (3)
Victor 1140 (3)
Ashlee 1100 (2)
Liz 1070 (3)
Sarah 1045 (2)
Mark 1040 (2)
Scott 1030 (2)
Mary P 1025 (2)
Curt 995 (2)
Eric, Mary 990 (2)
Laura 980 (2)
Jay 940 (2)
Mike 910 (2)
Chris 890 (2)
Samuel 820 (2)
Bari 780 (2)
Caitlin 775 (2)
Chris H 735 (1)
Frank 710 (2)
Anton 695 (1)
Peter 600 (1)
Ben 525 (1)
Tracy 505 (1)
Kristin 490 (1)
Joanna 475 (1)

Week Six - BONUS QUESTION

2005-10-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

The following three murals were created to show the building of the Panama Canal.

Where do they hang?
Who painted them?

Good luck!

Week Five - Bonus ANSWER

2005-10-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

I gotta have at least one controversial question a season, and the answer to this week's question was...

Buddy Bolden!

WEEK FOUR - My Thoughts

2005-10-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

All right, before y'all go and start saying how all the tasks they did in the episode were boring, shut it. And this is why:

They've gone to Giant Things before: First big thing. Second big thing. Third big thing. There are probably more, but they're currently inaccessible in the Reality TV Vault which is my mind.
They've gone to gas stations to find someone to hand them a clue (well, a convenience store. Pretty much the same thing). Except that it was in Africa and was a tin shack on the side of the road (I'm having a hard time finding which episode that was in).
They've gone to traditional homesteads of the indigenous people before.
They've had to dress up before to perform detour tasks.

It's just that it, you know, feels a lot more cool when they're somewhere other than at a Giant chair, a gas station where we filled up Karen's car last night (well, the same chain anyways), trailer homes, and lumberjack shirts. Moving on.

I noticed for the first time tonight that the Paolos have a garbage truck behind them whilst doing their headturns. Fitting somehow, isn't it?

We start off at Space Camp, and the teams get a clue to drive to a Giant Chair in Anniston (like Jennifer, says Char Schroder), Alabama (cue dueling banjo music from...wally? A little humor from him? My goodness!), and then they'll have to climb on top of the chair to reach the clue. When they showed the chair, was anyone else thing, "Hello Edith Ann!"? Okay, maybe just me, but I've got her on the brain since she's coming Saturday.

We get a shot of the Weavers in their car, apparently taking turns with the praying duty. But Ma Weaver? I've heard the power of prayer can be quite intoxicating, but I think down in the Bible Belt (do you know where that is?), it's totally acceptable to pray and drive.

And the Paolos drop their clue (at least the additional information part) again. But they must have found it, because I think that's what gave Paolo the Youngest the REALLY BIG PAPER CUT ON THE BACK OF HIS NECK. There are certain instances on the race that it's okay to complain that you're hurt (getting your car run over by a taxi in the jungles of Brazil come to mind), but I don't think a paper cut is one of them. Yeesh.

People climb the chair. Including, surprisingly, Hunter! He actually did something!

And now...the Race Track. I feel for the Weavers, I really do. But it is an interesting coping technique on Ma Weavers part to instruct her kids to just run through really fast and get it over with quick. This is not like taking a band-aid off, you know? For their sake, I was glad they didn't have to, like, change a tire and take a lap around the track. But a party bike? Sometimes, you just gotta bring the transportation funny and in a season without Tuk-tuks, these will have to do. I'd never heard of these things, but for some reason it didn't surprise me that the Linzes had. And the race track provided us with a moment I'm not sure we'll see again--the Paolos all working together without too much fighting. Amazing. I did feel bad for little Carissa, who really just wants to help and her legs just weren't long enough to reach the pedals. Shucks.

Along the way we had some mooning. I was trying to remember the last time I mooned out of a car window while my father was sitting next to me. Nope, never happened. Actually, I'm trying to remember the last time I mooned someone anywhere. Nope, never happened. It's kinda fun to see the Bransen girls gone wild--they actually have a personality beyond their inexplainable wit! And was it just me, or did one of the Linz boys actually say, "No show us your tits!"? I think I heard that. Must rewatch the tape.

Ah, the Southern Colonel (every time I write or see that word I always think I spell it wrong. But I checked. It's right). They've done these types of tasks before, but again the memories of them are locked away in that Reality TV Vault I'm having a bit of trouble accessing at the moment. But I still can't believe it's a trailer park. That place is hoppin'!*

*Thought I'd take a moment to share the embarrassing Karen story about "this place is hoppin'." When we were back in college, we were really bored one night and I wasn't 21 yet so we couldn't go to the bar, so instead we ended up driving around the bustling metropolis of Kalamazoo. We rounded a corner and there was this big building with all these cars parked outside and lights in the parking lot and Karen says, "Hey, this place is hoppin', we should check it out!" So we drove closer, and it turned out it was a used car dealership.

Now back to your regularly scheduled recap.

Back at the ranch, I mean, the trailer park, Carissa thinks the trailers are EEEEEVIL (like fruits of the devil evil? She must be a fan), Daddy Architect Schroeder thinks "there's no way they'd have us go to a trailer park" (he must have missed that part where they went to a giant chair earlier in the day), Stassi falls prey to the Killer Fatigue of Mississippi (thought Alabama was the next India? Apparently, it's now Mississippi). Stassi, could you enlighten me on something? Does EVERY minute count? I thought you said that once. Or three hundred times. And the Paolos catch a really lucky break when other teams apparently forget that they're supposed to be searching for the best departure time and grab 8.00 AM because that sounds early (I'm looking at you, GAGHANS). However, I have to cut them a little slack. Ma Paolo said, while they were going to bed in the trailer, that they were leaving in less than five hours (for a 7.40 departure time), meaning that they rolled into the trailer park around 2.30 - 3.00 AM. Yikes.

As we move on to New Orleans, we learn an interesting fact that Lake Pontchartrain is one of the Five Great Lakes. Well, anyone could tell you that's not right. It would totally through the mnemonic HOMES out of the water, and then how would you remember them (besides the fact that they're those really big-ass ones all next to each other along the US / Canadian border)? I feel the need to point out right now that Ma Weaver is an elementary school teacher. I sincerely hope she doesn't teach geography.

I thought this was a fun roadblock, and I have a feeling the race designers started, with this leg, to design challenges with the assumption that the small children would be out of the race at this point. Seriously, look at the choices the Gaghans had--saw four pieces of a big ass log where the stand is taller than one of the racers, or take your 9 and 12 year old gambling on a river boat. At least Carissa looked cute in the boa. I was surprised, however, that the Weavers chose to gamble. Do you think they prayed before hand for luck at the cards? And was anyone else surprised to hear that Rolly's real name is Roy? Dude, who names their kid Roy nowadays?

And some random closing thoughts / favorite moments:

Christine Godlewski [while crying] "I need some validation here, guys." The rest of the Godlewskis, "ehhhhhh...".
Roadblock? Anyone? Bueller?
Sistah smackdown! That's one of the notes I wrote down, probably with the intent to formulate something witty later, but I got nothin'.
Phil to the Linzes: "It is my understanding there was a moon out today?" AWESOME.
Ma Weaver said they were scared when they got to the pitstop. Is it because they thought they'd be last, or that they were surrounded by all those heathens in New Orleans? (tm Karen)
Carissa's "Lucky Pen" song. She's still cute and young enough to pull that off.
Do you think the Weavers know that others are talking about them when they're referred to as "The Florida Team"? Somehow, I don't think so.
On tonight's episode, four of the remaining seven teams threw temper tantrums. And none of them were from the 9 and 12 year old.
As next week is Week Five, that means we get an "Amazing Moment" from episode five. Oh, how I'm hoping it will be the famous "My OX is BROKEN" sequence. That would kick ass.
Schroeder Family: Meet Frank. And Will. Two other vicitms of the TAR Hometown Curse.
This race went to New Orleans just a couple months before Katrina hit. They went to Sri Lanka a couple months before the tsunami. The leg in Dubai was quickly planned due to the bombings in Moscow and Istanbul (where they were supposed to go). TAR 1 debuted (with a starting line in New York) only a week before 9/11. I'm beginning to think there's a curse and Bert and Elise should start sending the teams to the countries they DON'T like. On second thought, maybe that's why they've stayed here this race...

A very-unpatriotic-today Scrappy, signing off.

Caption THIS!

2005-10-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

In this first one, write a little synopsis of the scene.

And here, the ususal.

Week Four Team Scores / Pool Scores

2005-10-19T07:32:00.000-07:00

Team Scores

Bransen 145 (370)
Paolo 75 (150)
Linz 105 (340)
Godlewski 75 (360)
Weaver 65 (330)
Gaghan 45 (290)
Schroeder -135 (110)

Pool Scores

Adam 1450 (3)
Jan 1275 (3)
Jonathan 1215 (3)
Jill (3), Stephanie (3) 1140
Karen 1095 (3)
Les 1010 (3)
Linda 1005 (3)
Allegra 1000 (3)
Dave 985 (3)
Kristin L 970 (2)
Victor 960 (3)
Liz 910 (3)
Ashlee (2), Dave A (3), Judy (3) 900
Mark F 895 (3)
Curt 865 (2)
Mary P 860 (2)
Laura 850 (2)
Scott 840 (2)
Sarah 815 (2)
Mark 810 (2)
Mike 740 (2)
Jay 710 (2)
Bari 690 (2)
Chris 680 (2)
Samuel 630 (2)
Caitlin 615 (2)
Chris H 595 (1)
Anton 555 (1)
Eric (2), Mary (2), Frank (2) 550
Peter 465 (1)
Ben 425 (1)
Tracy 405 (1)
Joanna 365 (1)
Kristin 190 (1)

Week Five - BONUS QUESTION

2005-10-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

We find ourselves in New Orelans, so here's an obvious question to ask:

Who is the person credited with inventing Jazz?

Good luck!

WEEK FOUR BONUS - ANSWER

2005-10-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

It is, of course, Sebastian the Crab from Disney's The Little Mermaid!

However, Curt posed an interesting theory to me, which gave him double points. Enjoy.
-----
According to cursory research and personal accounts, there appears to be only one clear choice of crustacean famous enough to consider for this bonus question. Jiminy Cricket, a fellow arthropod, is certainly close, but wrong subphylum. And god only knows what Fizzgig from The Dark Crystal was, but since he/she seemed to avoid the sea and had no antennae, a crustacean he/she probably was not. The obvious choice is Sebastian from The Little Mermaid. Aware of his personal struggle to avoid a certain death by boiling, I could certainly imagine his sympathy to his fellow crustaceans' cruel vivisection.

However, since Disney's 2004 purchase of Jim Henson's Muppet empire lock, stock and Fraggle (actually, the Fraggles were excluded from that purchase, but I needed something that sounded close to "barrel"), the spectrum of characters to consider is even more vast. For instance, many of our friends from the series Dinosaurs may have been evolutionary precursors to our modern crustaceans ("Trilobite On Board!"); however, that show having fallen into obscurity, I feel safe eliminating its characters from my scope of investigation.

Muppet Treasure Island may have featured numerous uncredited crustacean cameos, but the Muppet Crustacean Crown obviously goes to Pepe the King Prawn, with starring roles in Muppet productions from the early '90s "Muppets Tonight" series to the more recent "Muppets In Space" and "The Muppet Wizard of Oz". His appeal to "the youth of today" and his dedication to diversity in broadcasting have garnered Pepe numerous accolades, including a guest host spot on ESPN2's coverage of the X Games, co-hosting with pro-skateboarder Bucky Lasek, and Animal.

Pepe has claimed to be native to the southern coast of Spain; however, even to a lay observer, it is clear that his accent is more closely related to Creole French. According to the Public Library System of Beaufort, South Carolina, there is a Creole pidgin dialect indigenous to the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia (the area extending from Georgetown, SC to the Golden Isles of Georgia above Florida) whose aural inflections are essentially an identical match to sample voice recordings of Pepe.

For whatever reasons, possibly criminal, Pepe appears to be hiding his true origins. The Spanish cover story is quite flimsy, and no witnesses have stepped forward to actually place Pepe in the region; however, at the time of this publication, his green card status has not yet been confirmed nor denied by the United States Departments of Immigration or Homeland Security. If our hypothesis proves true, his geneological proximity to South Carolina would certainly foster a sense of familial relationship to the pictured delicious South Carolinan Atlantic shrimp. And even if the hypothesis proves false, Pepe's record of public servitude attests to his compassion and concern for civil rights, especially for those who cannot speak for themselves. Such as shrimp.

This is frankly too close to call. As my research indicates, either crustacean would have a great sympathy for the plight of the pictured shrimp.

But either way, I'm obviously stretching for mega bonus points for researching the entire Disney crustacean family tree.

Respectfully submitted,
Curt Lund
2005 Lund Fellow in Crustacean Research at the Lund Institute

Miss Alli's Recap - Episode 3

2005-10-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

It's up! Enjoy.

Media Wasteland

2005-10-14T06:16:00.000-07:00

A Small Poetic entry of links

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept

Week Three - My Thoughts

2005-10-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

Oh boy. This epsiode? Was, well, weird, and strange, and a little bit...odd. I'm just going to give a shout out to the editors and the music people who work on this show (and they won an emmy for it), because sometimes it's all about the little things. Don't think editing and music add that much? Do yourselves a favor and check this out.

Wait...was that a plane?! Am I Tatoo? I was glad to see the teams got to fly somewhere and leave all those gas guzzling cars and camping gear behind--except, when they got to Charleston and in turn to Alabama, they still had the camping gear. Now, there's no way they could have carried all that on, so does that mean that all the teams are forced to check luggage this year? Yikes.

Anyways, we find ourselves leaving the pitstop on the way to Dulls (tm Megan Linz) Airport. Has anyone seen anything as precious as Billy Gaghan trying to psych himself up for a 2.30 AM start time while on the mat? Some people probably found it annoying. Those are probably the people who aren't in my car when I'm driving to work at 8 am pretty much doing the same thing. Nothing too out of the ordinary on the drive to Dulls--the Linzes make poop jokes (I'm assuming that's what the wideload was), and the Weavers pull yet another fantastic driving move and end up going in reverse on the freeway.

But Dulls? Anything but Dull. So first we have Rolly and Hunter hanging out, being normal fourteen year old boys, and Hunter is quickly admonished by his stepmom to "shut his pie-hole" and come back with the rest of the Schroeders. I mean, honestly, what did Hunter think he was doing, fraternizing with the enemy? I suppose he did have a lot more to lose than he did to gain, seeing as how the Weavers don't really understand the airport. Here's the Weaver's current intellectual level:

Pennsylvania might be a state.
Washington DC is in Washingston (she thought)
When Dad gets killed on a speedway, the most obvious thing to do is pick the task involving moving wheels. Every single time.
Airports (especially that whole gate B13 part) are very confusing.

Now, speaking personally, I don't like the airports (this has already been well documented). I have to increase my betablockers each time I approach Lindberg terminal because even picking people up at the baggage claim makes me extremely nervous. But I understand airports. You give your confirmation and ID to a very grouchy woman who must be made that way because she spends her time printing out boarding passes for people going anywhere and everywhere while she stands behind a counter in a really ugly uniform and doesn't get to see anything except the green tint of the computer screen and zit-ridden morning-breathed early morning travelers who just want a window seat. Then you go through security where security guards the fitness level of Wally or Tony (it's a toss up) sit on a stool with their butts hanging over each side and glance at X-rayed things and tell you to take off your shoes and you kick yourself because you wore your converse high-tops again which are a pain to take off and you promised yourself you'd remember to wear something else but you didn't so it takes forever to take the shoes off. Once you're done, you find your way to a gate to a very uncomfortable seat (but still twice the size of the one you've paid around $300 to sit in for the next few hours suspended 30,000 feet in the air), and then you board and shove your possessions into either a poorly latched bin or shove it underneath the seat in front of you thereby negating all leg room you might have had and buckle yourself into the aforementioned $300 seat (because that strip of nylon will do so much when your plane turns into a cartwheeling ball of flame) and then wait for your fate to be put in your captain's hand who you have never seen or met because he's protected behind bullet proof solid doors.

So, Mrs. Weaver, what don't you understand about airports?

Oh, and Hunter thinks you're a bitch, Char. Which you kind of are.

So back at Dulls, the Aiellos get all up in arms because the Weavers are being so sneaky and deviant trying to find out more information that the Aiello boys totally psyche themselves out (see previous paragraphs on the Weaver intellect level and what's not to understand about airports)--and I found myself laughing really, really, hard during this sequence. The Weavers being sneaky is about as likely as the Paolos not fighting over buying a map (which also happened at the Dull airport. Dude! Just buy the map!).

And off we go to Charleston. I've heard Charleston is a nice city and all, but I really don't understand why the teams went there. They flew to a town to do a detour? Odd. Anyways, it looks like I was a week too early on the Forrest Gump comment in last week's recap. I think I would have done the mud bogging myself, because I was on the northern coast of France a few years ago and our table of people ordered a "Fruit d'Mer" platter and this huge plate came and the seafood was so fresh the shrimp still had eyes and legs on it. Oh, it was gross. There were also oysters on the halfshell, and the people at my table who liked that kind of thing said they were the best they'd ever had. When the waitress came back she stared in horror at the empty plate, save for a few lemon wedges we figured were garnish. In broken English, she was all, "You didn't put ze lemon on the oysters? But that's what kills them!"

I would have done mud bogging. And, back to complete preciousness, I love it that nine-year old Carissa understands the physics behind mud bogging--"Just go 120 mph and we'll just float over the top". And her dad listened! As I mentioned, I don't understand why the Weavers keep picking detours that involve wheels. They've switched out of both of them (buggy pulling and this one). And Mama Weaver said "dang it"--she must have been feckin' pist off. But the poor Aiellos--thirteen attempts before you switched drivers? Dude. As my mom said, that's exactly what a bunch of guys would do. They won't admit they can't do something. Yes, boys, you were going great guns.

And next--board a charter bus to a...mystery destination. They've pulled this mystery destination things a couple times before, if memory serves me correctly in Africa is season five and on the train in India last season. They've also done really long bus rides (the one from Cambridge to Edinburgh, Scotland comes to mind from season three). But this was a little whack. First bus? No problem. Second bus? Besides Papa Gaghan's exuberant "We're on the last bus!!" shout, pretty much trouble.

Dear Lord, please give me the wisdom and strength to put up with the Weavers.

I'm not sure what happened to them, between Mama Weaver's "I'm imprisoned on a bus" and the entire family looking like they've converted to Islam and are practicing whirling dervishes in the parking lot of the Waffle House parking lot, but it was weird. Killer fatigue on leg three? Is Alabama the new INDIA? In the words of DJ Paolo, the Weavers cracked. And you know they must be really cracked if the Paolos are saying it. That's like Jonathan telling Freddy to calm down in Season six at the railway museum in Hungary. I think that's all I'm going to say about that besides Waffle House?! What?!

And onto Space Camp. Peter sent me this cool map and if you change it to satellite and drag the map over a bit, you can see the rockets.

Godlewskis: "A hangar is an airplane"? I thought y'all were smart! The pink must be getting to your head.

Onto the roadblock, where the clue actually read "Who wants to pull more than three G.I.s?" I thought this was a family show. But didn't Phil look hilarious trying out the centerfuge? I don't ever remember him actually demonstrating a roadblock before--he sure picked a fun one to start. I was hoping, however, that Mama Paolo and DF had taken the roadblock and been pushed to that point of near vomitousness, just so they could know how the viewers feel every time they're on the screen.

The "Search for the Saturn Five" rocket must have been really hard. Especially since it's the big one pointed at the sky with all the spotlights shining on it that's visible from the aforementioned satellite map if you zoom in a little bit.

Free gas? For life? The Bransen's totally hit the jackpot on this leg. Especially with gas prices the way they are now, I bet they're sitting pretty. I'm kind of wondering how it works, though. Are they just given a gas credit card, like in Reality Bites? If they play their cards right, they'll never have to work again! I love BP. About ten years ago their ads on TV were "BP...it keeps ya movin'." We didn't have BPs in Minnesota then, and my family was on a trip out to North Carolina the first time we saw that ad. My little sister spent the next few days singing that in the car. I hope the Bransens have BPs near their homes (otherwise I guess it kinda sucks for them).

Just a few more random thoughts.

This leg was very much like Season 3 episode 3 (also where they had a big bus ride) in that your success in the leg depended completley upon what you did very early on. I don't think it was planned this way, but no one who did the mud-bogging (or attempted it) made it onto the first bus, which isn't cool. Once you got on the second bus you were pegged as one of the teams to get Philiminated, and since the roadblock was a "first-come first serve" and the rest of the leg was on the grounds of Space Camp, if you were last, you were pretty much done. Which is exactly what happened to the Aiellos.
I'm not one for the "Hours of Operations", but I think Space Camp would have been a good time to have that. According to Peter, if they'd done tasks during the day, they could have done more exciting things than the centerfuge.
And finally, next week: The Weavers go to the racetrack. Seems a little mean, but you have to be ready for anything on this race. If Avi and Joe from season six had made it to the Hungary leg and tried the Fast Forward which was drinking pigs blood, they would have had to make a choice to stay with their Kosher diets and risk falling behind. But they'll be fine--God's already given them strength, wisdom, a GPS system, and (apparently) free waffles.

Scrappy, signing off.

Caption THIS!

2005-10-13T07:01:00.000-07:00

All right, I've got two again for you this week. Have fun!

Week Three Team Scores / Pool Scores

2005-10-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

Team Scores

Bransen 125 (225)
Linz 95 (235)
Schroeder 105 (245)
Godlewski 75 (285)
Weaver 45 (265)
Paolo 35 (75)
Gaghan 45 (245)
Aiello -105 (15)

Pool Scores

Adam (3) 1100
Jan (3) 895
Kristin L (3) 880
Jonathan (3) 875
Jill (3) 800
Karen (3) 790
Mary P (3), Stephanie (3) 780
Curt (3) 765
Les (3) 750
Scott (3) 720
Allegra (3) 710
Dave (3) 705
Liz (3) 680
Victor (3) 660
Ashlee (2) 655
Judy (3) 650
Laura (2) 640
Linda (3) 635
Mark F (3) 595
Chris H (2) 575
Dave A (3) 570
Anton (2), Mike (2) 530
Sarah (2) 515
Mark (2) 510
Bari (2) 490
Chris (2) 450
Ben (2) 445
Caitlin (2) 435
Jay (2) 410
Samuel (2), Frank (2) 370
Mary (2) 360
Eric (2) 320
Peter (1) 315
Tracy (1) 285
Joanna (1) 245
Kristin (1) -40

Week Four - BONUS QUESTION

2005-10-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

What crustacean Disney character would have probably had something other than a period at the end of that sentence when faced with the above scene?

Good luck!

Week Three Bonus - ANSWER

2005-10-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

The answer is Dr. W.C. Minor! He made significant contributions to the Oxford English Dictionary, which you can read about in the book The Professor and the Madman, or in this article.

Check it out!

2005-10-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Adam and Tracy go to New York for a long weekend for his birthday, and what do they spend their time doing? FINDING RACE PLACES!!

Tracy and Adam outside the EMS store (I wonder if they fixed the display yet?)

Two shots from about where the race started

Media, Media, Media

2005-10-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

From Chris Holtz:
Brock goes to school in Michigan!

From Ashlee:
AR Trivia--I kicked ass
Wiki
The Amazing Race Rap
One of my favorites: TARFlies

From Peter:
Toys for the Weaver kids

From Mark Franko:
Amish Reality TV

From Adam:
Okay so I know all of you are thinking is winning this pool because of all the media articles he sends me. SO not true. In fact, before you factor in his bonus points he's sitting at a healthy 680 points, put him in 2nd place right Kristin Lang with 690 points. So. There. Next week I think I'll type out James Joyce's Ulysses.

Week Two - My Thoughts

2005-10-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

All right, I'm beginning to think this Race is beginning to turn into "The Amazing Abuse of Local Reenactors Race" (TAAOLRR), anyone else with me on this one?! Seriously, with the "don't hurt your general" last week and "oops, sorry dude" as they roll the injured off the stretchers, I would live in fear if I was a Paul Bunyan reenactor and they were coming this way.

Another solid episode. I laughed, I didn't cry when the Rogers were eliminated (probably mainly because they aren't one of my teams), and Billy Gaghan continues to make me smile.

And without any more prattle, my thoughts.

Did anyone else notice that right after they left the pitstop, the Godlewskis stopped for gas and one sister said, "You've got ten bucks in there, that's enough for now!" Dude, that wouldn't even get me down the block today. I miss July.

It's a shoe! A giant...shoe? Well, they've seen a hand and a duck before, so a shoe isn't out of the question. But, apparently, this shoe servers locals really good Ice Cream. That's my kind of shoe. So much more useful than Prada.

And it's off to DC! Which is not, as Ma Weaver put it, "in the state of Washington?" (she must be really into those states since she figured out that Pennsylvania is one). You know, instead of praying for help everytime you open a map, maybe you should pray for a geography lesson. Or that your daughters will stop dressing like circa 1970s Rollergirls.

A clue! An actual clue with something they actually have to find (the clue box)! Oh, refreshing. I probably would have screwed up on this, too, since the only reflecting pool I know of in DC is the one Jenny ran through to get to Forrest faster. This was totally a shout-out task to episode two, season one, with the whole Focault's Pendulum debacle. But I still can't believe the Gaghan's wandered around the wrong pool for two hours, and wouldn't even stop when Billy wanted to ask someone for directions. That's a move worthy of Don and MJ. But maybe they'll pull it together if they remember they're in "race mode" not "stupid mode", as was the admonishment when the kids were making faces at the camera in the car. Honestly? If I was nine years old and there was a camera pointed at me all the time, I'd totally spend time making faces at it. Oh, who am I kidding--I'd do it now! Maybe that's why they haven't cast me.

And now it's time for the coolest roadblock of the season so far (well, it's the first one, but whatever). These are my favorite kind of roadblocks, along the line of the Venitian Carnival and the Argentinian Tango. And it's here where my teeny, tiny bit of enduring okayness with the Paolo family occurred, because they are obviously fans of the show--not only was yonger Paolo boy the only one to recognize Kevin and Drew last week, this week DJ paid attention to the fact that "only ten briefcases are an exact match to the one you have in your hand" part, which is why he was running so funny trying to look at the briefcases. And seriously, who doens't want to play spy for the day? I personally harbor fantasies of being a spy, especially since Jennifer Garner because the spokesperson for covert operations recruitment for the CIA. I'm hoping that they okay'd it with Homeland security because if they didn't? Little Carissa might have been spotted getting a briefcase out of an unmarked limo [by the way, was anyone else hoping the Paolos would bang on the wrong limo and get hauled off by the Secret Service?] and then trading it with a stranger in the park, and her picture could have been on the front of the Washington Post the next day, with the caption "The Little Terrorist Who Could". Some of these spies (like the ones the Gaghans got) were playing their role a little too much--seriously, that spy was SEVERE. But I did like the one that, when told "The sky is blue" replied, "Yes, it is," and walked away. Awesome. And then the Paolos pull another move which wants me to wish them nothing but off my screen when DJ goes, "Thank you, my brother" to his spy. Papa Black? Totally could have gotten away with it. And seeing as how one of the Race's former contestants was a CIA Agent, wouldn't it have been a perfect opportunity for a cameo from SpyDaddy Gus?

And onto Virginia we go. Mad props to the Linz and Bransen families (maybe another one, too?) for getting off the dreaded 66 through Manassas and taking the side roads. I've been on that road in a tour bus before, and it's quite scary when the cars make a lane out of the shoulder, another lane after that, and your tour bus tries to pass again while on a declined plane. Take the backroads, dudes.

I really liked this detour. I'm not much of an American History buff, nor a loud noise fan (balloons scare me because they might, you know, POP), but I did admire this from the distance of both time and space watching it on TV. You had to wonder, though, what was crazier for those fallen soldiers--being a "wounded" soldier in a Civil War battle, or being surround by a gaggle of shrieking harpies (Godlewskis, you know I love you!) wondering if this guy was light enough for them to carry? Oy. I also think the Weavers would have learned their lesson by now and done the battle option, as opposed to something which includes rolling objects.

And the Rogers family. All episode. You know, if you're a southern baptist and you live by the literal interpretation of the Bible (as I'm sure Pa Rogers does), you'd think that he'd learn to, you know, read things carefully. Like a map. Hope the Hurricane threw some stones your way so that Brock no longer has to cast the first one, but now is free to turn you into a pile of fundamentalist pulp.

Wow. I had no idea my reaction to them was so strong. I really don't think it is, except that was a really fun paragraph to write.

And Phil, what's up? Have you lost your mojo? You gave away a trip to Bermuda and it wasn't "beautiful" or "exotic", but you extolled the virtures of the nine hole golf course? Oh well. I think the Weavers will enjoy it. But I doubt they'll have any idea where Bermuda are.

Some random closing thoughts...

I love the Gaghans. I've said it before, I've said it again. They're normal. The kids are kids. Billy notices Carissa isn't doing much, parents say, "Well, she's doing what she can," and Billy fires back, "Can I have her job, then?" The parents aren't toting they in front of the cameras like little Gary Coleman and Rudy Huxtible, it's more like the Taylor kids--functioning members of the family unit. And with two tots they choose the heavy lifting / strength detour. And do it better than many of the other teams. Now, I know the parents are both marathoners, but I'm beginning to think they're the Incredibles. I think that Ma and Pa Gaghan were actually cast for an earlier season but couldn't find a babysitter, so they made this season for them.

I go back and forth on the Schroeders (remember, I had huge intial dislike), but they're growing on me. Pa Schroeder is kind of like that rude kid in the back of the classroom that makes fun of the substitute teacher, but really they're good kids (and I know the type well).

Enough with the Free Winona and Free Martha (and Free Ron, for that matter). I think it's time to FREE BROCK!

I envision two different ends for the Paolos. In one, their car breaks down no where near a gas station, Tony's sitting on the edge of the road crying with his face in his hands, and Marion has both her boys by the neck, shaking them like a pair of chickens. Wouldn't that be fantastic? In my other vision, they do this.

Next week...it looks like they're off to Alabama. Will the Weavers know where to go, or will they think they are becoming...GROUPIES?!

Scrappy, signing off.

Caption THIS!

2005-10-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

I am thoroughly enjoying these photo challenges. Come up with some thing witty for either of these (or both, if you're like that)!

WEEK TWO - TEAM SCORES / POOL SCORES

2005-10-05T06:31:00.000-07:00

Team Scores

Weaver 125 (Total for all episodes: 220)
Linz 85 (130)
Godlewski 105 (210)
Schroeder 75 (140)
Aiello 65 (120)
Bransen 55 (100)
Gaghan 65 (200)
Paolo 35 (40)
Rogers -135 (-50)

Pool Scores

Adam 880
Kristin L 690
Jan 645
Les 640
Stephanie 610
Jonathan (3) 600
Allegra, Jill 590
Laura (3) 580
Dave 575
Ashlee (3) 540
Karen (3) 520
Curt (3) 500
Scott 490
Mary P 480
Linda 475
Liz (3), Mike (3) 450
Chris H (3), Judy (3) 420
Bari (3) 400
Caitlin (3) 385
Anton (3), Victor (3) 380
Chris (3), Mark F (3) 370
Sarah (3) 345
Mark (3) 340
Mary (3) 320
Dave A (3) 300
Eric (3), Peter (2), Tracy (2) 280
Frank (2) 210
Joanna (2) 195
Ben (2) 175
Jay (2), Samuel (2) 130
Kristin (2) 20

WEEK THREE - BONUS QUESTION

2005-10-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

As we find ourselves in Virginia at the site of a Civil War battle (or maybe just the reenactment thereof), here's a related question!

The following describes what man, and what is his greatest contribution to the world (two hints: he's a hero of mine, and Webster probably saw him as competition)?

This Yale-trained doctor volunteered his medical services as a captain during the Civil War, and subsequently went bat-shit crazy. He finally got so paranoid that he killed a man who he thought was after him, and got sent to insane asylums. He started collecting rare books, which proved invaluable to his future "profession".

Good luck!

And one more clue just to confuse you more: gangsta d'oh!

Week Two Bonus - ANSWER

2005-10-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

The answer is...William Penn!

I learned a lot of amazing things about Willy while I was looking for this question.

"For you are now fixed at the mercy of no governor that comes to make his fortune great; you shall be governed by laws of your own making and live a free, and if you will, a sober and industrious life. I shall not usurp the right of any, or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution and has given me his grace to keep it."--Penn, 1681

In 1693, William Penn wrote a plan for the "Present and Future Peace of Europe", which basically put forth the idea of arbitration instead of war for settling disputes between nations. The plan is considered a prototype of the United Nations charter, and UN Day is celebrated on October 24th, Penn's birthday.

For more information (including the two things above), click here!

The Amish and Papa Black's Paddle

2005-10-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

Ashlee just sent me this very informative article about the Amish. I learned things I didn't know before!

Sidenote: do not open this article while on a conference call, or have your finger ready to push the mute button.

Peter, on the other hand, just sent another incredibly informative article about a paddle (and other things the Weaverses may find interesting).

Sidenote: do not open while on conference call. I think they could hear me through the mute.

Miss Alli's Recap is Up!

2005-10-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

And here it is. All 25 pages of funny.

Point of clarification: I'm not Miss Alli. Even though that, I supposed, could technically be a nickname for me, and she talks about Minnesota (because she lives here in town). But as much as I would love to be a writer for Television Without Pity, I'm afraid it's a pipe dream.

Enjoy!

Friday Media Update!

2005-09-30T07:50:00.000-07:00

Out of Boston: Now That's Love
Out of Cincinatti: The Proud Mom of the Farter
Awards!
Has CBS Ruined TAR?
New York's Digging it
Phil
The Home Edition
Brains, Brawn, and Teamwork
This Show Deserves American Idol Size Ratings!
Time slot reminder
The Family With the Million Dollar Look
Phil again
It's Educational!
About the Aiellos (warning: possible spoiler alert)
The Schroeders Escaped Hurricane Katrina
Time slot Reminder
From Kansas City
Another article
Local Listings
More Local Listings
And another article
Poor (Token)
(Token) on the Early Show
Ratings
More Ratings
Race Recap USA Today Style
Ratings
Ratings
Ratings
Phil Talks to a Philly
Phil: The Next Robin Leach?
Phil: The Kiwi Hottie
Phil's Busy Schedule
Quick TAR Mention
Another Recap--but not as good as mine, according to Adam!
Up North?
Britney Rogers: First Miss Louisiana 2003, then Fear Factor Miss America Champion, and now TAR.
Chicagoland Racer Bios
From Asia
There were three more farters that wanted to come along
Bye Bye (Token) Family!
The Bowling Moms (from Season 5) are blogging, too!

Caption THIS!

2005-09-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

Come up with a witty caption for this photo, post it as a comment, and I'll throw some bonus points your way.

Week One - My Thoughts

2005-09-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

All right, y'all. The show is back. The pool is back. Which means my recaps are back (now's your turn to roll your eyes or cheer silently in your cubes at work).

I think I'll start off the stuff I wrote down in reference to all the teams, and then some more general stuff. See how that goes.

Linz Family

You know, judging from their little game of beanbag toss in the opening shots, I don't think aim is something high on their list. If you watch closely, not a single beanbag made it into the hole, and they were, like, two feet away. Thank god their not in Scotland.
Lady Linz (I have no idea what your name is, yet), I dig you. Of course, I've got a soft-spot for anyone that laughs at farts. Admit it, y'all. It's funny stuff.
If anyone was wondering what "Who dey?" meant (I was, apparently it's the name of the Cincinnatti Bengals' mascot.
Was I the only one who thought, when this team first stepped out of the water taxi and started talking, "I'm sorry, you're so on the wrong show." We'll see how these dimly-lit bulbs end of doing.

(Token)

Yes, Austin, you are kinda cute. But I also thought you had a black belt in tae-kwan-do, so what's up with your dad pulling you out of the puddle?
Papa Black--"Oh, Geez, those kind of paddles." What was he expecting? This?
I will miss your cheer, "1, 2, 3, BLACK FAMILY!", and also the opportunity for two and a half months of off-color jokes.
Well, I'd miss you more if you weren't so dumb. None of you know what a Silo is? Aren't both mom and dad teachers?
"We've never traveled out of the East Coast"--oh, the sad and prophetic words of Papa Black. And you never got the chance.

Bransen

I think I'll give these girls the "most unexplainable wit" award. "We call him, 'Wall-der, instead of Walter!' [giggle giggle]". Maybe that's something you learned at Hope, but it sure didn't make it an hour and a half south to where I used to live.
And that's all I noted about you. Now, go do something interesting.

Aiello

Dude, with all the gold chains and your demonstrative skills in kissing babies, you are not the father-in-law. You are just the good ol' Godfather. No wonder your sons-in-laws are a bit scared of you.
On the crossing "Stroke it all you want". I have so many jokes floating around in my head but as my parents read this blog I'm just gonna leave it there.
I gotta agree with Kevin and Drew, Tony. You're gonna have a heart attack.

Godlewskis

Oh my god, where the hell do I start?! I'm going back and forth between two nicknames. 1) Team Powerpuff"--prissy, pampered, and powerful (as noted by that first place finish!) or 2) Team Grease, being that they are, after all, the Pink Ladies. Maybe CBS is hoping to subliminaly use this team to make viewers think of Grease and remember that Stockard Channing played Rizzo and then make the connection that Stockard Channing is now staring on CBS' new comedy, Out of Practice. Then again, maybe not, because I watched that show Monday night and it was really bad.
Ladies, SoHo is not a town. No wonder they looked at you weird (it couldn't have been the shrieking harpies y'all descended into).
Dudes, you pick up camping equipment in the Sports Store. Not a hot guy to help you put the tent together from the lounge next door. Geesh.
You are the best team to have the last leaving time. "11.00? We get to sleep in!" Good attitude. I kinda dug that.
Blue silos are popular? What? I didn't see "farm realtor" listed as any of your occupations"!
Now, I happen to like this team so far. Yes, they screech, but their enthusiastic. And they pulled out a win after leaving with their (apparently coveted) late start time. But, seeing Phil's frightened face on the mat, it made me wonder, "is he missing Mirna right now?"

Gaghan

Oh my god, I'm in love with this team. That's all I gotta say. And here are some reasons why.
"SoHo's a nice place. I think"--Little Gaghan Boy
"We'll need her later, so let her rest"--Papa Gaghan on Carissa. Oh my, the nine-year old is actually an asset to the team!
[Upon seeing grafitti] "Looks like a lot of people like to spray paint. Are you allowed to do that here?"--Carissa "Um, I think it's highly discouraged"--Papa Gaghan
Little Gaghans in the buggy, singing "she'll be comin' round the mountain". Aiellos: "This is embarassing. Precious.
Little Gaghan Boy: "Mom, Dan, I'm wicked proud of you!" Seriously? Didn't that phrase go out of style, like, ten years before he was born?
And, oh my god, little Carissa has a lisp. It doesn't get cuter. And no, she isn't schtupid, either.
The little Gaghans: "Sorry I can't contribute [boy to parents while they're hauling the buggy]" "Get used to it, dork!" [Carissa to her brother]
Keep going, y'all.

Weavers

First and foremost, lessons we should have learned from Dad. 1) do not go the wrong way down a one way street. 2) Look both ways before crossing the street 3) Don't drive either barefoot or in flip-flops, and keep both feet on the ground instead of one leg propped on the seat leaning against the window. 4) Don't run over mom with a buggy--learn where the breaks are.
Don't you know that the only proper time to invoke God's help is when you're searching through mud for a clue? It's the only time it's worked so far. It's not cool to invoke the Good Lord at any other time on the race, especially when you're trying to make sure the nice truck driver who gave you his road map (because if he's a truck driver with the same route, I'm sure he really needs that map) was doing so with Christian intentions, while your lost is not the time to make sure he's found the lord. But I'm glad you're happy he'll be spending eternity with you. But I bet at that point you didn't know you're eternity might be real close when your kids ran over you with a buggy.
Now, there's some discrepancy as to how the following line was said, but what I heard was, "I don't know if that means the state of Pennsylvania?" As opposed to what, Mama Weaver? The presence of Pennsylvania? I'm confused.
I used to teach in high school classrooms. And what did I miss the most? I momentarily had a flash of screaming high-strung teenagers. That's when I rememebered I don't miss teaching really at all. Thanks, Weavers, for reminding me of that noise.

Rogers

Brock's my new hero. He said monkey (in regards to the holier-than-thou Weavers who, I'm sure, weren't happy to be compared to monkeys since, they, you know, don't believe in that whole evolution thing)!

Paolo

Well, we found our He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Nameds in training. Seriously, y'all are insolent pups. Including you, mom.
But props to the younger dude for knowing Kevin and Drew!
I did dig the Organ-Grinder soundtrack. But pretty much any time any of them opened their mouths, my personal soundtrack was the teeth-grinding going on in my mouth.
I've already had some questions from others: why didn't they get penalized for losing their clue? Well, it was frankly because they didn't need it (same scenario as Tara and Will in Alaska). They were able to remember where to go, they did pick up the clue and go to the route marker (like Chip and Kim). Nor did they retrieve a second clue (like Freddy and Kendra). Frankly, as they are one of my teams, I'm glad they didn't get a penalty.

Schroeder

Cheers to the team that I have a feeling will give some great off-beat humor until they get the boot!
Mama Schroeder at the Crossing: "Don't let the flag touch the water! It's sacreligious...or something" (I bet Mama Weaver would know if it was, indeed, sacreligious).
Papa Schroeder: "Too bad we don't have a handicapped kid to block traffic." Wha?!?!

All right, so here are the rest of my thoughts. I have read enough about this season to know that there will be less flight and more driving (so why oh WHY didn't I get cast?!). But to let the teams use their credit cards for both gas and flights? Yikes. Maybe it's because GMC is a sponsor, and with the six people in each car (four person team plus sound and camera guys), I guess you have to drive a gas guzzler. Thank god Hummer wasn't a sponsor. Speaking of sponsors, I didn't think Travelocity was one this season. But, dude, that Amish greeter sure looked like Jerome! However, as impressive as that eyebrow pop was (we know Miss Alli was happy), equally unimpressive was the voiceover about tem minutes later that said, "team most now driver over ninety blocks...". It just doesn't have the same ring as "must now fly over 6,000 miles from Johannesburg to Paris", does it? But let's accept the fact that this season is an experimet, it is what it is, and move on. Capice?

You know what we need more of on this show? Cameos by ex-racers who only one team recognizes, but are still among the favorites for die-hard fans and had their own TV show for awhile. Oh my God, it's Kevin and Drew! The fat bastards are still swinging. However, it put me in fear that we were going to get a cameo from my favorite "All American Team!" at the Deleware Crossing. Man, I would have wished I was in Baghdad (couldn't resist one more of those lines. Moving on now).

Eagle Scouts? It's no "Welcome to Hungary", but they'll do for now.

And I think that'll do it for now from me.

Scrappy, signing off.

Week One - SCORES

2005-09-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

Team Places / Scores

Godlewski (105)
Gaghan (135)
Weaver (95)
Rogers (85)
Schroeder (65)
Paolo (5)
Bransen (45)
Aiello (55)
Linz (45)
(Token) -95

Pool Places / Scores

Adam 460
Laura 380
Curt, Jonathan 370
Les, Mike 330
Ashlee, Jill 320
Victor 310
Kristin L. 300
Chris H., Jan 290
Dave, Stephanie 280
Judy, Mark 270
Allegra 240
Dave A 220
Scott 210
Karen 200 (3)
Linda, Mary, Liz (3), Peter (3) 190
Tracy 180 (3)
Mary P 150 (3)
Bari 140 (3)
Joanna (3), Frank (3) 130
Samuel 120 (3)
Anton (3), Chris (3) 110
Ben (3), Caitlin (3) 105
Mark F 100 (3)
Sarah 90 (3)
Jay 80 (3)
Eric (3), Kristin (3) 50

WEEK TWO - BONUS QUESTION

2005-09-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

In line with the Weaver's "Holier-Than-Thou" attitude, I thought this was an ironic question:

Who's experiment was responsible for the Amish settling in Lancaster County?

Good Luck!

Week One Bonus - ANSWER

2005-09-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

Iceland!

Icelanders don't really have last names, or a for sure one--they follow either a patronyml or matronyml naming system. They are given the suffix "son" on "dottir" to follow either their father or mother's last name (i.e. "son of" or "daughter of"). It has become common for both sons and daughters to take on the "son of" suffix. However, it was once common to take either. Since you couldn't be sure of their last name, you had to naturally refer to someone by their first, or given name! Once married, women also do not take their husband's last name. They keep their family name.

Interesting, huh? I sure thought so. Now we know why Bjork is, well, just Bjork.

Woo hoo!

2005-09-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Race Day, y'all.

Party at Anton's!

And Ben's on the Board!

2005-09-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

Here's an article Ben sent me on the Weaver Family.

2005-09-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

Come up with a clever title for this picture, and I'll give you some more bonus points. Feel free to post as a comment or email it to me.

The Top Ten Things We'll Hear on AR 8

2005-09-23T12:42:00.000-07:00

From TARFiles

10. Mom! He's touching me!
9. Use the bathroom at the pitstop, because we're not stopping until the next one.
8. Do kids under 12 get in free to the Holy Temple?
7. If we don't win this, you're grounded until college.
6. Son, did you take your Ritalin today?
5. My dad can totally beat up your dad.
4. I can't believe I just lost to an 8 year old!
3. No more chocolate until you eat all your live octopus!
2. So, after the race is over, you wanna hook up?
1. ARE WE THERE YET?

Media articles from Adam

2005-09-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

All right, it's the Friday media update!

Guess what Cincinnatti will be watching on Tuesday nights?

Emmy Coverage
1
2
3
4
5

Emmy Buzz
1
2
3

Time slot reminder and show recap (as if we could forget)

A little article about the man that made it all possible, Jerry B

Numbers!

The DVD is coming!

Mystifyingly Popular?

Stats

2005-09-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

If winning the race is a combination of youth / athleticism + experience:

Average age of the race: 29.4

Teams would place in this order:

Bransen (Average age: 29.50)
Schroeder (27.75)
Rogers (32.25)
Gaghan (25.75)
Black (25.25)
Weaver (23.75)
Paolo (36.00)
Godlewski (36.00)
Aiello (36.25)
Linz (21.50)

Week 1 BONUS QUESTION

2005-09-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

All right, we're a week out from the show, so it's time for your first bonus question!

I have been trying to keep away from location spoilers this time around, so I really don't know where they are going, but I came across this cool little fact the other day:

Question: What is the only Western country to alphabetize their phone books by first name and why?

Good luck! Come on and get yourself 40 points!

And two more media articles from Adam!

2005-09-15T06:38:00.000-07:00

CBS is gonna rock the Nielsen's this fall!

There were Amazing Race reruns planned for Saturday nights?

Media Articles Everywhere!

2005-09-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

Two From Karen:

An Audition Video from a team who didn't make it

Teams spotted while running the race (CAUTION: LOCATION SPOILERS!!)

And...from Adam!

What do you do if several shows you watch are on at the same time (don't even get me started on my Thursday at 7 pm slot this fall)?

Not so much about TAR, but it does mention Jerry Bruckheimer

Sick of reality TV? How can that be?

Emmy Odds (go Race! Let's make it a three-peat in the competitive reality TV category!)

Not Everyone's looking forward to Family TAR

2005-09-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

At least, not from this article (brought to you by Adam!).

And Caitlin's on the Board

2005-09-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting article Caitlin sent about how much the losers get paid.

New Media Article!

2005-09-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

Guess who sent it? Adam! Keep 'em coming!

Click here for a previews for a lot of reality shows.

Take Another 5, Adam!

2005-09-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

I know who's all over the bonus points this year.

Here's a pretty great article on my predicted winners, the Paolo family.

And Adam is on the board with 10 points!

2005-08-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

Say hi to Adam, everyone. Not only is he brand new to the game, he's already submitted to articles to me!

Here's one about the family (Token). Who knew they were from the same town as our favorite "I think we'll find Argentina if we drive along the coast of Chile" team?!

For those who haven't put in picks yet

2005-08-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

I came across this article which lists the official odds on each team. Happy picking!

The Teams: My Initial Thoughts

2005-08-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

The Gaghan Family

I have dubbed this team in my mind team "Picket Fence and a Golden Retriever"--because you just know they have both of those at home. Sounds like Bill, the dad, has a pretty cush job in jet engine sales?! That's a profession you don't hear of often. Probably because there is only one page of airplane manufacturers in the country, and, seriously, how many engine salesmen do you need to supply, like, thirty companies? Judging from their colonial-style brick house in the back of their picture, he must be at the top of his game. Tammy, the mom, works as a substitute teacher. Now, after having done that for a couple of years, mad props to her. You know she knows how to keep kids of all ages in line, and that will help her manipulate the kids on the other teams in to listening to her. Trust me. I know the tricks. Oh, how cute the kids are! Little 12 year old Billy going through pre-teen mood swings. I would say they're definitley fulfilling number 11 on this list of "what to do with your moody annoying kid when you can't ship them off to school--where you'll probably run into them anyways since you're a sub". And little Carissa. You know, I like third graders. While I was doing the aforementioned teaching, nine year olds were the last time kids were normal until they emerged as cool near adults around age seventeen. It was just those eight years in the middle that were a pain. While the kids are young, they're young enough to not react to everything with "that's stupid, MOM" and an eye-roll. I'm giving these guys a predicted 5th place finish.

The Schroeder Family

You know, any family with a kid named "Hunter" is just screaming "I don't want to travel around the world with a backpack! I want to sit out on my Ralph Lauren Polo beach towel at the country club on the lawnchairs by the pool with a sucker in my mouth but with one of those battery powered holders for it so all I have to do is open my mouth and it turns itself! Pass me a Mai Thai!" Now, I guess this is Char's job, so she's all about providing for those country club types. And maybe I'm wrong. And the older daughter, Stassi (with one of those stupid spelling for a normal name) is a beauty queen, and beauty queens have done well before. I'm not quite sure why my initial negative reaction against this team is so strong. Based on that alone, I predict an 8th place finish.

The Aiello Family

You gotta dig a dad that wants to run this race with his three sons-in-law. After all, I'm named after a poem about a father and his three daughters. And they're from Massachusetts, and I've got an inclination for East Coast teams. Maybe it's because, as a general rule, East Coasters are used to a more strenuous pace of life and are better suited for the race? Or that I really wish I lived out that way as opposed to where I am? I don't know, but I like the look of these dudes. Tony, the dad-in-law, strikes me as an actual race fan. The "mature" people on the Race who are actual fans are really fun to watch. Until they turn into a mix between a screaming harpy and Wonder Woman. And the three dudes are a PR guy, a corporate project manager, and a police officer (who used to be in the Marines. This might become my team "Okay Good Bye Now"). All good things, and maybe it will keep them out of a Tanzanian Jail if they don't want to pay their cab fare with those negotiation and law skills on their side. Eventually I think the strain will come to pass, however, but not before they reach my predicted 4th place finish.

The Rogers Family

A second team from Louisiana! I like this season already! Mom and Dad are a beauty pageant trainer and someone "in the car buisness". I'm going to read that as "used care salesman", otherwise I think you would probably say your actual job title. Older daughter is a kick ass kickboxer who has an affinity for those annoying headbands that look like those Multiples clothing that were all the rage when I was a kid (I'm having a hard time finding a link to a website that has that fashion atrocity on it. If anyone finds one, let me know and you score your first points of the season). Younger son's a shaggy haired dude named Brock. I like the look of the team. I know their accents are going to be awesome. They're all smily. But I think there's going to be some chemistry between Brock and 17 year-old beauty queen Stassi Schroeder which is going to lead to the alliance--and demise--of this team. My prediction? 9th place finish.

The Black Family

I really want to talk to the casting agent who decided that, on the season where we are calling teams by their last names, it'd be a wise idea to cast the one African American family with the last name of "Black" so that every time they go up to the Amazing Mat at the pitstop Phil will have to say, "Black Family, you're team number xxxx". Anyone who has read the blog in the past knows I'm really not the most PC person ever (see the Amazing Race 7 blog, and do a text search for Baghdad--you'll get the picture), so, unless there are any strong objections, these guys just became team (Token). Enough with the bad jokes. On to the team itself. Dad is a high school math teacher, mom is a fifth grade teacher. Go EDUCATORS! Like Tammy Gaghan, they will have a good handle on their kids and the other kids on the race. And little Carissa Gaghan and Austin Black are both going into fourth grade! I hope they get to be good friends. They can entertain themselves on the plane rides by kicking the backs of the chairs of the people in front of them, who are hopefully the Schroeders to throw them off their game. Like the Gaghans, I really want this team to do well. But I think the youth of the kids will finally bring them down. I predict a 6th place finish.

Team Weaver

Well, any team whose now deceased father / husband was a professional race car driving who died on the racetrack has both 1) a competitive drive and 2) a reason to win. They are the heartstring team of the season, one which I will tolerate better than "oh my god, I'm infertile", "people see me and they just think I'm short", "we're going to show the world what gay people can do", or "I lost my brother on 9/11 and he's really the third member of our team". Now, before y'all go and think I'm insensitive, know that I really liked all of the teams I just mentioned. If you want to see evidence of my evil, text search the Amazing Race 7 blog for Baghdad. I like the look of these four. They look like fun, they're athletic, and the little dude's name is Rolly. I predict a good future for these dudes. In fact, I think I'm looking at my 2nd place team.

Team Linz

Well, their last name is an Austrian city. But their from Ohio, and that's a little close to the U of M / Ohio State rivalry for most people reading this blog. And dudes, while you are definitley
Team Gorgeous, matching orange and khaki? No no no. I really don't like that color combination. In fact, I will not wear my trademark orange converse high tops if I'm wearing my khakis. What worries me a little bit is that the love Cincinnati so much that I think all of them still live there. Are they going to be able to be away from home long enough without pining for The Haymarket Riot? Despite my initial, "huh, I'm not so sure I like these dudes", the fact that they range in age from 19 to 24 will bode well, and they all look athletic. I predict a 3rd place finish.

The Bransen Family

I'm not so sure how I feel about a family whose claim to fame is that they once starred in a Pert Shampoo commerical together. I mean, they couldn't even get the Pert PLUS?!?! And it's a dad with five daughters. How did they decide who to leave at home? Save it for Family Feud, you know? Dad's into history, which is good. The daughters are a social worker, communications person, and a college student.
But here's why I don't like them.
The two younger daughters went to HOPE COLLEGE. Hope, the Dutch Christian Reformed Church's answer to the location of my freshman year of collegiate hell. Not cool in my book. Maybe it's my personal bias, but I just don't think these dudes are long for the reality TV history book. I predict an early exit, 10th place finish.

The Paolo Family

This team has everything I look for in a good one--East Coasters, a good sense of humor (the sixteen year old is painfully embarassed by his family and thinks he's the only sane one in the bunch), and at least the dad has lived abroad (judging by the fact that he's an immigrant from Italy). It's a team that looks like they know how to bicker effectively (unlike these two) and the homemaker who wants to make her kids proud of her has worked well in the past. I don't really have much else to say about them except that I think they'll do well. Really, really well. Prediction: 1st place millionaires right here.

The Godlewski Family

Adult sisters racing together? Well, we've tried that three times before, and the results were mixed. I don't really like the pink thang they've got going on. There is nothing about this race that could be categorized with a pink hue. There just isn't. But they are scrappy midwesterners, which is a plus. As with the team above, there's really nothing to make fun of, nothing too descript about them yet. So we'll leave it at that, and predict a 7th place finish.

POOL PICKS

2005-08-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Allegra

Aiello
Weaver
Linz
Paolo

Anton

Schroeder
Aiello
Black
Linz

Tracy

Aiello
Rogers
Black
Weaver

Mark

Aiello
Rogers
Linz
Bransen

Eric

Aiello
Black
Linz
Paolo

Adam

Aiello
Weaver
Linz
Godlewski

Joanna

Aiello
Rogers
Black
Linz

Jonathan

Rogers
Weaver
Linz
Godlewski

Caitlin

Aiello
Black
Weaver
Linz

Scott

Schroeder
Aiello
Linz
Bransen

Karen

Black
Weaver
Linz
Godlewski

Judy

Rogers
Weaver
Linz
Paolo

Liz

Gaghan
Black
Linz
Godlewski

Sarah

Aiello
Black
Linz
Bransen

Kristin

Aiello
Rogers
Black
Paolo

Mary

Aiello
Rogers
Linz
Paolo

Jan

Aiello
Linz
Bransen
Godlewski

Dave

Gaghan
Aiello
Linz
Paolo

Stephanie

Aiello
Weaver
Linz
Bransen

Ben

Schroeder
Rogers
Black
Linz

Chris

Aiello
Black
Linz
Godlewski

Mike

Aiello
Rogers
Linz
Godlewski

Linda

Aiello
Linz
Bransen
Paolo

Chris H.

Schroeder
Aiello
Rogers
Linz

Dave A.

Rogers
Linz
Bransen
Paolo

Curt

Gaghan
Schroeder
Rogers
Linz

Kristin L

Schroeder
Aiello
Weaver
Linz

Ashlee

Aiello
Rogers
Weaver
Linz

Bari

Gaghan
Aiello
Black
Linz

Jay

Rogers
Black
Linz
Bransen

Jill

Gaghan
Aiello
Linz
Bransen

Mary P

Schroeder
Black
Weaver
Linz

Les

Gaghan
Aiello
Weaver
Bransen

Mark F

Black
Linz
Paolo
Godlewski

Peter

Aiello
Rogers
Black
Godlewski

Samuel

Rogers
Black
Linz
Paolo

Laura

Aiello
Rogers
Weaver
Godlewski

Frank

Rogers
Black
Weaver
Linz

Victor

Gaghan
Rogers
Linz
Bransen

Amazing Race 8 Pool Rules

2005-08-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Each pool participant will pick four teams. No two pool participants can have the same combination of four teams. This is to eliminate the chance of a tie. Based on what happens in each episode, people will receive the following points:

1. Place at the Pitstop

First Place: 100 points

Second Place: 90 points

Third Place: 80 points

Fourth Place: 70 points

Fifth Place: 60 points

Sixth Place: 50 points

Seventh Place: 40 points

Eighth Place: 30 points

Ninth Place: 20 points

LAST (ALL ELIMINATIONS): -100 points

2. Team Uses the Fast Forward: 100 points

3. Team uses their Yield: 50 points

4. Team Gets Yielded: -50 points

5. Screen shows the team "currently in first place": 10 points

6. Screen shows the team "currently in last place": -10 points

7. Only team to complete a detour option: 20 points

8. Team gives up on a detour option: -10 points

9. MONKEY points: a team says monkey, 10 points. They show a monkey on the screen, 5 points to all teams.

10. Team says the quote that is the episode title: 10 points

Active Participation Points:

Bonus Questions: Answer the weekly bonus question: 40 points
Media: send me an article to post on the blog, have been to one of the places and send me a photo to post on the blog, etc: 5 points

As a reminder, I am playing for real again this time. So be on your guard. I'm going to kick ass this time around.

And We're OFF!!

2005-08-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the ever popular Amazing Race pool! And, if you're new, welcome! The teams have been posted on the web and I will post a few entries in regards to the rules of the pool, my picks, and my thoughts on all of the teams.

If you would like permissions to post on this blog, please let me know. The most postings you post or send me, the more points you amass. Woo hoo!