Tag Archives: survivor

Mother’s Day + more

Today, we went over to Mom’s and had a great dinner with Stacie, which she fixed up.   Drinking of wine commenced along with a couple of games of Jenga and Rack-o, and all was well in the world.   We had a lot of fun, snacking on food and laughing about memories past – it’s also Harv’s birthday, so it was fun to remember the fun (and drinks) we had on his 80th birthday.   Anyway, I think today was a lot of fun, and here are pictures I took:

Sunday, May 13, 2018 – Mother’s Day in Duarte

That’s the main picture-worthy stuff from the past week, to be honest.  It’s been kind of hellacious the last week or two or three at work for me, much like last May.  This is the end of the engagement I’m on and there’s a lot of having to get us across that finish line in ways that both sides agree on.  Cross your fingers that this week is it, okay?

The rest of this post will be videos I’ve been loving this last week or so; you’re welcome.

Childish Gambino’s “This is America”:

We saw Donald Glover host SNL last week and he performed, as Childish Gambino, this song as well as one that hasn’t been released yet.   The performances were amazing, but the real show was to come in the release of this music video the next day.  It’s fantastic and powerful and intense and requires multiple viewings.

Then I saw this mashup with Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me, Maybe” and now I can’t help but think there was intentional synchronization going on:

I had previously raved about the first few singles that Janelle Monáe had released in advance of her new album, Dirty Computer, being released – well, that album has been released and it’s amazing.   She also released an entire long-form video containing many of the songs within as well as an interesting tale to stitch these videos all together.   If you have 45-50 minutes or so, it’s well worth a watch:

Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer Emotion Picture:

Random videos time now –

First up, this latest season of Survivor, “Ghost Island”, has been okay, but it’s had in its cast one of the hottest men to be cast on this show, ever:  Michael.  Good lord, he’s fine.  So fine.  But alas, he got voted out recently and so now he’s on the jury and having to kill time.   Lately, CBS has been getting cute and indulging the cast to do fun stuff, so with Michael, they filmed a fake cologne commercial in the vein of Calvin Klein….and they’re pretty damn good with the vibe they create because hot damn this mofo can sell me anything.

Lego videos, especially those around Star Wars stuff, are awesome.   Here’s one I previously raved about with regards to the Death Star kit, but this new video is one that isn’t a kit and is made by those folks who collect thousands and thousands of Lego bricks to make any and everything.  This guy made the Star Destroyer wreckage as seen in The Force Awakens when we first meet up with Rey….and wow is all I can say.  It’s incredible!

Finally, there have been these small animated cartoons being released in the Star Wars world that are canon and cover areas of the lore that may not necessitate a movie on their own but it’s cool to see nonetheless.  These videos are called Forces of Destiny and there are more than that I’m showing here – but this one is about Porgs and I love porgs and you must too:

I love it so much.

Alright, that’s enough from me for now.   I hope all is well with you out in the world.

Dinner with Sharon, KBBQ, and Other News

Hi everyone, first off, I’m sick today and I hate it.  Fever and Stomach issues = FUN.   Honestly though, today has just been a good opportunity to take it easy, take some occasional naps, and catch up on some of last week’s TV!

Speaking of:

broad-city-season-3-clip-picBroad City, Season 3, Episode 1 – “Two Chainz”:  Abbi & Ilana came back just as funny as ever, and this crazy ordeal of their around NYC while trying to find a bathroom, release Ilana from her chains, and eventually get to Abbi’s friend’s gallery showing was absolutely amazing.  It just feels right that Broad City is back.

106310_d00614bSurvivor – Season 32 (Brawn vs Brains vs Beauty 2): Holy shit this first episode was loaded with brutality.  Whether it was everyone getting pummeled by the weather by Day 2, the woman who got a worm crawling around in her ear, the other woman who was having an anxiety attack, and some of the terrible moves by some players (looking for an Idol way too obviously; dropping the snorkeling mask immediately during the Immunity Challenge) – this was a very engaging episode.  We shall see if the claim this is the most intense season ever holds true, but if this episode is any indication, YEAH, IT IS.

The 11 new teams of social media influencers who will embark on the journey of a lifetime on the 28th season of THE AMAZING RACE which premieres Friday, Feb. 12 on the CBS Television Network. Top Row, L-R: Kurt and Brodie, Darius and Cameron; Second Row, L-R: Matt and Dana, Korey and Tyler, Hagan and Marty, Scott and Blair; Third Row, L-R: Sheri, Erin and Joslyn, Host Phil Keoghan, Zach and Rachel, Burnie and Ashley; Bottom Row, L-R: Cole, Jessica and Brittany Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2015 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The 11 new teams of social media influencers who will embark on the journey of a lifetime on the 28th season of THE AMAZING RACE which premieres Friday, Feb. 12 on the CBS Television Network. Top Row, L-R: Kurt and Brodie, Darius and Cameron; Second Row, L-R: Matt and Dana, Korey and Tyler, Hagan and Marty, Scott and Blair; Third Row, L-R: Sheri, Erin and Joslyn, Host Phil Keoghan, Zach and Rachel, Burnie and Ashley; Bottom Row, L-R: Cole, Jessica and Brittany Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2015 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Amazing Race – Youtubers Edition:  I’ve actually been enjoying this season a lot more than I expected to.  The cast are all characters and there’s some very entertaining hotness to keep me occupied.  Man, some of the stupid things that racers have been doing!  Not buying plane tickets at the airport; not taking your taxi to the beach and having to run a mile each way; totally not reading the clues….yeah, I guess that kind of stuff happens every season!

So yeah, television has been interesting so far.

Anyway, very exciting yesterday was getting to have dinner with Sharon, my former NBC coworker and who lives in Israel but is in town for work. Love her to pieces and it was great to go to The Misfit in Santa Monica and enjoy catching up.  Here are the pics I took with us all getting back together (including George!).

Feb 20, 2016 – NBC Reunion at The Misfit

A little earlier in the week, we had a PwC worknight excursion to a Korean BBQ restaurant to celebrate getting through busy season.  Larry & I had been to previous KBBQ joints that the NBC crew had found and they were a bit different than this one, as the others were pretty much all all-you-can-eat and you grilled your own food.  This week’s version was not unlimited and they cooked for you…not altogether a bad way to go, but certainly surprising!

Feb 18, 2016 – PwC Korean BBQ night

Tomorrow is going to be a cool day – it’s our Engagement Photo session.  Here’s hoping I’ll be feeling closer to 100% than I am right now.  And here’s hoping I don’t like a goddamn mess in these photos.  But who am I kidding?

Damn You, Survivor

Due to all of the hectic life changes going on for me at the end of February/beginning of March, I ended up not watching either Survivor or Amazing Race this season.  Frankly, I didn’t miss them.   I probably miss Amazing Race more but the whole premise of Survivor this season (social class) seemed just pandering and terrible.  So I didn’t watch and didn’t miss it.  But then I find out yesterday that for the next season, it will be 20 people from a pool of 32 previous contestants who’ve only played the game once but never won.  THAT is interesting, folks.  And now I’m suddenly intrigued and will likely watch the next season.

survivor_secondchance2I’ve been looking at the roster and I definitely remember those from the earlier seasons, like Kelly from S1 who was the runner-up to infamous Richard Hatch.  Kimmi is also extremely memorable as the loud-mouth who went up against Alicia in S2.  Anyway, I’m intrigued and can’t deny I’ll be watching.  And probably voting too.

Random Musings on a Thursday

This post will be full of randomness.  You have been warned.

Godzilla (2014)

Godzilla-2014-poster

Released May 16, 2014, seen at Universal City IMAX on May 18, 2014.

I was very very excited to see Godzilla, especially after the recent previews showing epic scenes like the high-altitude jump with the red smoke trails into a devastated San Francisco or seeing brief glimpses of Las Vegas utterly decimated.  What was going to happen?  Why was Godzilla going to return, this time?  And more importantly, was it going to be as terrible as the 1998 version?

Happily, the answer to that last question is no.  Not by a long shot.  This 2014 version is quite good and often very thrilling.  You may have read reviews about it already but what a lot of them point out is that you don’t get a full view of Godzilla for nearly an hour into the movie.  It’s a Jaws-like move and it really works, as the story being told in the first act is compelling and you anxiously await what will happen next.  It also helps that the movie isn’t about us vs. Godzilla – instead we end up discovering there are a pair of bad-ass monsters ready to tear some shit up to get some radiation food.  Godzilla is the balance.  Sit back and enjoy.

Aaron-Taylor-Johnson-Shows-Off-Godzilla-Muscles-in-Men-s-Health-437225-2
DAAAYYUUMMMMMM

Plus, I certainly enjoyed the sight of cute guys trying to save the world.  The lead character, Ford Brody (that name….smh….) is played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and he is quite a sight.  A lot of people fault his acting, but I’m not here for that.  Not at all.  Just look at that pic.  Mmm hmmm.  Honestly, the acting really didn’t distract me -it’s not Oscar caliber but I don’t care.  It wasn’t terrible either and won’t ever get confused with Showgirls.  Ah, Showgirls, so bad it’s good.

Overall, Godzilla is a great monster and disaster movie with compelling action and wisely-paced reveals.  I really liked watching it in IMAX and while the 3D was okay, it really didn’t add much to the experience.   Catch it if you can before the next wave of movies comes in.  X-Men: Days of Future Past is right around the corner!

Some more Survivor: Cagayan Thoughts

x3-survivor-finalists.jpg.pagespeed.ic.9KyO91oGkOThe final 3 last night were a bit expected, weren’t they?  Nobody with any brain cells at all would want to let Spencer get any closer to the Final Tribal than necessary.  Sure enough, once Spencer lost the Final 4 immunity challenge to a CRAZY come-from-behind Kass, it was inevitable.  I was intrigued by Spencer’s scrambling and thought that perhaps it would convince Tony, but guess what?  Tony’s not totally stupid.  Reckless and impulsive, but not really stupid.  So yeah, Spencer was gone.  s28_2814_sg_059b

It was just when it got to the final challenge and Woo won just barely over Kass, that things became strange.  Woo was going to the Final 2…..my reaction to that?  Fuck.  Woo’s the nicest guy around it seems, but an absolutely irrelevant Survivor player.  There’s nothing there.  Then it was all about who will Woo choose to take with him to the Final 2?  Clearly, if you want a real shot at winning, you take Kass.  Kass has made endless and needless waves and made enemies of nearly every juror.  Some of the jurors may have gotten over it and still rewarded Kass with a vote since she really was playing (good? debatable), but Woo would’ve had a good shot at getting bitter jury votes.  But no, he decides to “play by the tenets of Tae kwan do” and do the “honorable” thing and votes Kass out, bringing Tony to the Final 2. Ugh.  The jury was predictably angry at Tony and dismissive of Woo in the Final Tribal, but they also basically knew that Tony deserved the win.  And of course he would, and it’s hard to think of anyone in the jury that he shouldn’t have beat.  Tasha, Trish, and Spencer could have been contenders, but no one else really had a shot.  So congrats to Tony, a big shrugging of shoulders to Woo, and an amused eyebrow to Kass who just avoided a likely verbal smackdown at Tribal Council.  That could have been epic!

Airing Dirty Laundry

Another great day in the world!  Another time where all I want to say is concerning a great lesson I learned repeatedly in ROTC:  praise in public, criticize (or bitch out, attack, vent) in private.  Why is that a foreign concept to so many people?  It really doesn’t seem that hard of a concept to grasp.  You’ll get a lot more respect if the target doesn’t feel like they’re going to be humiliated at every bad move.  Today’s public service announcement is complete.

Memorial Day Weekend

Yay for a 3-day weekend.  It’s been kind of a long week!

The Survivor Results

I’m very okay with who ended up winning this season of Survivor but I have to shake my head at the poor decision Woo made in taking Tony to the final 2. Bad move, man. But it was a fantastic and compelling season so regardless it was a fun ride.