Cocktail Confessions

The Survivor Nicaragua cast has finally been revealed.  Supposedly it’s the ‘young’ versus the ‘old’. meaning that one tribe will consist of players over 40 while the other tribe consist of players under 30 years of age.  I’m not sure I like this seasons gimmick as I did the “heroes vs. villains” angle they did last time.  It just seems inherently unfair from the get-go, and while you could argue that there are some whiny and weak players in the past there were younger, I think Survivor history has shown that the older players (with very few exceptions) last very long.

I still not so secretly wish that they would ditch the tropical settings they’ve done for so many seasons and go with some new surroundings.  I’d personally like to see something in the mountains and higher altitudes such as the Rocky Mountains or something like Yosemite, or maybe even a colder place like the Alaskan tundra or way up in northern Canada where contestants may have to deal with the cold and maybe even snow and grassy plains than the typical tropical beaches and rain.

Onto Big Brother, episodes 13 & 14:

During the eviction ceremony we learn that Kristen in fact has a boyfriend back home.  *Gasp*  The boyfriend is shown watching BB at home, and he’s not to happy that Kristen and Hayden are making out.  He comments that if she comes home, their relationship is most likely over.

Kristen is infact voted out.  Julie Chen then questions Kristen about her boyfriend back home, and Kristen just says “I may need time for myself” and won’t go into any further details.

The new HoH competition finds Kathy being out first thus becoming the only ‘have not’ of the week.  Brendon falls out early on to a disappointed Rachel.  Britney ends up throwing the competition herself as she feels that she is safe enough and doesn’t want to be in a position where she has to decide people’s fate.  Sounds a little chicken-shit to me, but I kinda understand her thinking on this.  She’s pretty confident that everyone else is gunning for Rachel and Brandon, and she’s pretty much correct by most accounts.  Anyway, it ends up coming down to Matt and Ragan and Ragan finally slips up and Matt is the new HoH (2nd time).

The last two episodes sees Kathy trying to melt back under the radar, and while still considered a ‘floater’ by some, she’s managed to stay low and out of trouble thus far.

Ragan

The Brigade is ecstatic that Matt has won and they are all pretty sure it is time to get rid of Brendon or Rachel.  Rachel senses this and really tries to pitch an alliance of some type, any type, to save her and Brendon.  However, when she approaches Matt (while he and Ragan are talking) she of course makes some dumb-ass comment that sets Ragan off.  Ragan is a little perturbed by these series of events and before you know it, he and Rachel are now arguing as Matt just sits back and watches it unfold.  Soon enough, the rest of the houseguests are made aware of the current argument.  Brandon then walks in out of left field, not knowing how it all started, and opens his big mouth to Ragan trying to defend Rachel, but really only succeeds in making him looking very stupid.  This isn’t lost on anyone and I think Brendon figures this out a bit too late; the damage is done, and he’s trying to save face but just can’t recover at this point.

Meanwhile Pandora’s Box is once again let loose on the house and Matt decides to open it, taking the newly revealed ‘diamond veto’ for himself, and thus also introducing a new saboteur into the mix.  America has chosen to elect Ragan as the new saboteur and he must last 2 weeks.  If he does, he collects $20K.  He does a fantastic job of not arising suspicion when the other house guests learn there is a new saboteur.  The houseguests also learn that former contestants and showmancer’s Jordan and Jeff will be dropping by for a visit.

Big Brother 12

So Big Brother season 12 started last night on CBS.  I don’t know why I always get so giddy about this show.  The idea of being the proverbial fly on the wall and watching silently 12 other people living in a sequestered house from the outside world for the next few months fascinates me.

Of course, there are always different personalities, but you can usually always count on one over-dramatic female, one stereo-typical gay person, one meat-head, one brainiac, and one social outcast.  The formula in how they pick cast members always seems straight forward, and as the saying goes “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”, and in this, CBS pretty much did the same as they had done in the past. 

However, there are a few differences to note this time around: 1) There really aren’t any contestants over the age of 40.  In the past, you could usually count on one or two middle aged or older players, but this season they are all in their 20’s and 30’s.  The oldest one is the 40 year old female cop.  2) As someone pointed out on a Twitter feed I was reading, this is probably the “whitest cast” yet.  I didn’t really notice that myself until I read that, and I have to agree.  The cast is indeed predominately “white-bread”, with one gal that seems to be half black (if that).  3) This has to be the best looking cast yet.  Seriously, it seems as if CBS execs and producers really went out of their way to choose people that were very pleasing on the eye and to the camera.  So much so in fact, I wonder if it is a way to boost rating here after they realized the smash phenomena Jersey Shore is with all these young, hard bodies.  The girls are all extremely attractive in one way or another, and the guys all seem like they may have come out of Surfer or GQ magazine.

Too bad the season premiere was only an hour long.  There was nothing else on television except some stupid press conference regarding LeBron James going to Miami, (and what a Disneyland press conference that was) there was just nothing else on.   An hour just wasn’t enough to get a good feeling for the house guests.  It was barely even a tease.  I suspect there will indeed be some showmance hookups, drama, and alliances, but there just wasn’t enough time devoted to the players for the audience to even warm up to any of them.

Not sure what I think about the saboteur aspect this time around.  Could be fun, but I wish CBS wouldn’t reveal the player so soon, (they said next week).  I think it makes it fun for the audience at home to make their own guesses and be just as surprised, sorta like a mystery for us to solve at home and has a lot of potential to keep us hooked.  However, by revealing the ‘saboteur’ to the viewers after week one, takes some of the tense drama out of the game.  Anyway, I’ll be posting more about the strategies and individual players as the show marches on.

We finished the night by watching Zombieland, a psuedo-campy comedy horror fil with Woody Harilson.  It was ‘okay’ leaning towards ‘good’, but at 88 minutes in length, and the subject material, what do you expect?

Eye Exam

Later today, I have an eye exam.  I’ve always been very blessed with excellent eyesight.  I’ve never had to wear glasses before and at my last general exam, (just over a year ago) I was told my vision was 20/15, meaning at 20 feet, I can see what most people have to move up to 15 feet in order to see.  I also have blue eyes which do make them more sensitive to light than those with brown eyes, and I do tend to get headaches more easily in direct sunlight if I’m not wearing some sort of polarizing or quality sunglasses.

However, the last few months I’ve noticed that my eyes over all just seem to tire more easily than before.  It may be a couple of different things: my age for one (as I did just broach 40), the fact that I stare at flat panel computer screens for the majority of any given day, and finally the fact that I build very small train models (I often wear magnifying diopters along with tweezers when building them).

Needless to say, by the time evening rolls around my eyes just feel a little sore.  They still work just fine, but I am noticing (or maybe its all in my head) that it’s taking a few seconds longer to focus.  Everything is still sharp, but it seems my eyes are slower to respond now at various depths.  When reading small print, I’ve caught myself moving the paper away a few extra inches just so my eyes can relax and adjust, not because they can’t focus.

Maybe it’s time for reading glasses now.  I’m not exactly sure what’s gonna happen, but  they will most likely dilate my eyes where I’ll be wearing glasses until 9pm and I’ll have to look through that funky lens device.  That’s 2 hours from now, and I already feel like it’s a chore and my eyes are tired.  It’s hell getting old.