Back to school, Spartacus, best doesn’t win, ragtop
Last night Ali and I went to the high school that is only a few miles for our house. We agreed (well I volunteered Ali) to hand out a scholarship from our running club to a graduating senior that applied for it. We had very little direction as to who to see or what to do when we arrived. At first we wound up in a cafeteria where the seniors were hanging out.
One adult in the area said we looked like lost parents. We told him actually we were supposed to hand out a scholarship but didn’t know where to go. He got us redirected to the proper door and in short order we found ourselves seated up on the stage with other people handing out scholarships. It felt sort of odd to be sitting up on a stage in front of an audience of students and parents. This ceremony was just for seniors that were receiving some sort of scholarship or recognition.
When we first got up on the stage there were a lot of empty seats. By the time the ceremony started almost all of the chairs were occupied. I was surrounded by women. There were various smells entering my nostrils that were not pleasurable at all. It smelled like a bizarre combination of perfume, BO/bad breath. It made sitting there for 45 minutes not exactly enjoyable.
The awards/scholarships handed out varied wildly. On the high side there was a kid that got a 400K+ scholarship to the Air Force Academy. On the low side was the kid that got $50 from the Hip Hop Club. Our $1000 scholarship went to a girl that appears to be an excellent student who has very lofty goals. She laid out exactly the academic path she wants to follow which would culminate in a PhD. She listed an ultimate goal of being Secretary General of the United Nations!
I was impressed that she had such a clear picture of what her future would be. It’s something I never had. When I was 17 my future was filled with fear and uncertainty. Once being drafted by a pro baseball team was out the door I pretty much went blindly into the future, not really sure what the hell I was going to do. In contrast this girl seems ready to take on the world and has all the tools to do so. Good for her.
Ali was the one to actually hand the award out. She was a bit nervous getting up there in front of all of the eyeballs but she did fine as I knew she would. We got out of there a little before 7:45 I was more than ready to get out of there between the warm temps on the stage and the unpleasant smells that surrounded me.
When I signed up for NetFlix I was looking for something I could stream to the Tivo. I saw Spartacus pop up. I had heard about this show. It was described as a bit of a cheesy 300 rip off. I was interested in seeing just how close it was so I set it up in my queue.
Well it definitely is a 300 clone. It is shot using the same style, including the digitally added fake blood. They actually cranked the gore up a few notches above 300 (it’s a Showtime show) as well as adding lots of gratuitous nudity. In no time at all I saw full frontal nudity as well as multiple sex scenes. It was almost like they were trying to jam in nudity/sex on a timer. The show is 100% geared towards men with non-stop violence, blood and T&A. It was so over the top it made me laugh out loud a few times.
When Ali caught a glimpse of one naked woman licking the breast of another naked woman she requested that I find another show to test Netflix streaming with. She’s such a party pooper.
Last night we watched the Survivor Finale. This season was just plain fantastic, perhaps the best of the 20 seasons so far. I haven’t talked about how good it is just because I sort of dropped reality TV off the table as a blog subject. After all who wants to admit they watch reality tv?
Anyway this was another all star cast. They broke the group into Heroes and Villains where the players were categorized on how the were generally perceived during their appearance on their original season. A lot of fan favorites were there and it translated into some pretty crazy competition.
Russell, who had just played what may have been the most conniving game ever in making it to the finals last season was again cast in the show. This time he was going against a group of pro’s, some of which had already played the game of Survivor twice before.
There were some big disappointments for me during the show as some of my favorite players performed poorly or ran into some bad luck. Stephanie, a Philly girl, who is incredibly gifted physically (and easy on the eyes) got voted out very early when she was viewed as too big of a threat. James, the monstrous grave digger blew out his knee about halfway through, ending his run.
Colby, probably my all time favorite player who holds the record for winning the most amount of challenges ever was HORRIBLE this time around. Although he made it to the final 5, he was a complete failure in challenges. Time after time he just fell on his face and choked. I’m not sure why there was such a huge reversal in his ability to play the game this time around. Sure, he is 10 years older than when he first played but he still is in great shape, I don’t really know what was going on. By the end of the game he was viewed as a non-factor in challenges. It was almost like throwing Babe Ruth 80 mph fastballs down the middle of the plate and having him strike out again and again.
So anyway, Russell once again was able to somehow maneuver his way through this all star cast to the final three at the end. He pulled off some unbelievable moves to get there, making deals with almost every person in the game and backstabbing almost all of them by the end.
Last season when he got to the final day he used the simple logic that Survior by definition was about outwitting, outlasting and outplaying your opponent, which he obviously did. Well his expectation for the jury to forgive the deceptions he committed upon them and reward him for his overall accomplishment proved to be incorrect. The million dollars instead was given to a girl that did nothing in the game but ride on Russells coat tails. Quite simply she didn’t piss people off so they gave her the money, even though by definition of the game, she actually did very little to deserve it.
Again Russell was unapologetic in front of the all star jury. He thought this time around, his evil genius would be seen for what it is by a crew of Survivor veterans, brilliant Survivor game play. Unfortunately for him, once again he miscalculated. Hurt feelings won out again and the million dollars was given to the person who most arguably played the game the least. Russell didn’t get a single vote.
Ali was glad Russell didn’t win, she shared the jury’s sentiment that you can’t screw that many people over and get rewarded for it. In the real world I agree, but in Survivor I think he 100% deserved to win the game both seasons. In my mind there is no doubt that he is the best player Survivor has ever seen, regardless of my personal like / dis-like of him. He was robbed.
Yesterday my Camaro buying decision got another avenue added when I was reading about the convertible which is supposed to begin production in January 2011. I have to admit I would LOVE to have a convertible. Three of my hobby cars all were open air vehicles, the 69 Firebird, the 71 Buick and the 88 Vette (removable glass top).
Of course a convertible would tack several thousand more on top of an already very expensive proposition. I have no idea if I could work any sort of magic to make it happen. I have always maintained I’m not willing to slit my financial wrists to do this.
As if my confusion wasn’t big enough, I further clouded the picture by taking another look at some old muscle online. I could spend half the money and get a pretty pristine classic. However my experience with the 71 Buick going up in flames still is fresh in my head.
Buying a 40 year old vehicle means it will spend most of it’s time being a glorified painting in my garage that I am afraid to use much beyond short joy rides. I really want something I can drive whenever I feel like relieving some stress with horsepower.