Oh the Nerdity! - The Big Bang Theory Season 4

How can you not love this show?! I discovered this little gem last season and I've hardly stopped laughing since. I love the idea of a show where the socially awkward Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of The Rings geek getting the hot blond? I can appreciate that; it happened to me too. Granted, Leonard and Penny are currently broken up but lets be honest; we all know they're gonna end up back together eventually. And, since the show has already been renewed for 3 more seasons it looks like there will be plenty of time to do it and have lots of fun getting there. Of course, Sheldon makes the show. And now the addition of the almost as awkward Amy makes it even better. With the season finale they had the next season should be great.

The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business

So, a few days ago I watched the season Finale of The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business. As always, this season was great. This season was unique in that it was all made up of returning teams so I was already familiar with almost all of them. Unlike The Amazing Race: Allstars (which was also made up of returning teams), none of these teams had won when they were on for the first time and most of them had been eliminated because of one particular big mistake or problem. Zev & Justin had been eliminated because they lost their passports, Gary & Mallory because of an incompetent cab driver, Flight Time & Big Easy because of a Road Block that they just couldn't finish, etc.

Just as I did a couple seasons ago, I was cheering for Jet & Cord to win and, just as before, I was disappointed. They got U-Turned and it was all over. Kisha & Jen ended up winning and I was happy to see that. So, as I say every time, great season and I look forward to September when it will come back for season 19.

Dan & Jordan Win The Amazing Race 16

Well, another season of The Amazing Race has come to an end and I have to say; I cannot believe that Jet & Cord didn't win! I'm even more surprised that Dan & Jordan actually did win. Let's face it, I don't think anybody would have predicted that. During the last few minutes of the show I sat on the edge of my seat with my heart pounding and hoping that Jet & Cord would pull ahead and manage to win. When I saw Dan & Jordan come through the gates and start running to the finish I began to feel a little bit sick. Now, don't get me wrong; it's not so much that I dislike Dan & Jordan (in spite of their little stunt at the airport). I just really, really wanted the cowboys to win.

I'm also glad that Brent & Caite made it into the final three. Much more glad than Carol & Brandy were. Brandy's little tirade against Caite at the finish line was an embarrassing display of what it means to be a sore loser. She thinks that Caite was stupid to U-turn her and Carol? As Caite pointed out, if she's so stupid, why is she the one standing on the finish mat while Miss Carol who thinks she's so smart is not? Personally, I think that Brent & Caite were absolutely right to U-turn them. If I were in the race and some team was treating me or my teammate with the kind of contempt and rudeness that Carol & Brandy were showing Caite, I would want to get rid of them too.

Anyway, that's a wrap for now. I look forward to September and the premiere of the next season of The Amazing Race.

Spooky Ghosts in Miami

So, last night Alisa and I watched a very interesting episode of CSI: Miami. In this episode Calleigh helps to figure out who started a fire that resulted in the death of a 15-year-old boy. Now, that in and of itself is not unusual at all considering that's right in line with what she does every episode. The weird thing was, she did this while she was unconscious in the hospital and her "ghost" was wondering around the crime scene and the lab with the ghost of the dead 15-year-old boy. All I can say is, they must really be desperate for ideas for new episodes because this was a little out there. Probably would have worked a little better if they had done this one around Halloween.

Another Amazing Race Finishes

Well, earlier this week, The Amazing Race 15 concluded in Las Vegas with Meghan & Cheyne pulling out the win. This season was unique for several reasons. First off, a team was actually eliminated right at the starting line before even getting to start the race. So, Eric & Lisa lost the race before even having a chance to go anywhere. I don't know if anybody else noticed but they were the only team that was not at the finish line. The other thing that was unique was the fact that for the first time since I started watching the show I really didn't have a single team that I strongly disliked. Usually, there is at least one team that I can't stand and which, interestingly enough, seems to always make it into the final three so I have to endure them for the whole race. Fortunately for me, there wasn't a team like that this season.As for my predictions. I was right on some and wrong on others. Several weeks ago I predicted rightly that Meghan & Cheyne and Sam & Dan would both end up in the final three. However, once it got down to the last four teams I was sure that Flight Time & Big Easy would make it to the finale. But, they got eliminated and Brian & Ericka took third place. Once it got down to the end I predicted that Meghan & Cheyne would take home the prize and though it looked at times like Brian & Ericka might actually pull it off, I was right. One of the great things about this show is the fact that it is so popular that CBS airs two seasons of it every year. That means I just have to wait a few more months (February probably) for the show to come back again.

Amazing Race Issues

OK, so last night I recorded The Amazing Race as I do every Sunday night. However, there was a slight problem. I ended up missing the last few minutes of the show because 60 Minutes went over time by about 15 minutes. I then had to go online and try to watch the end of the show so I could find out who got eliminated. Needless to say, with my slow internet connection it took a while to watch.

Anyway, why am I blogging about this? I guess I could do a blog post about the fact that last night I made and ate my first caramel apple of the fall. But, I just think that it is a bit ironic that a show called 60 Minutes would go for any longer then, well . . . 60 Minutes. Wow, this is pretty much the lamest blog post I've ever done.

Harper's Island

Back in 1939 Agatha Christie published a book called And Then There Were None. In this book a group of people are trapped on a deserted island. Even though they are quite sure that they are the only people on the island one by one they start to be murdered. There was a great deal of fear in the hearts of each of the characters because they knew that the most likely scenario was that one of them was the murderer. But there was also the nagging fear that there might indeed be someone else on the island that they didn’t know about. And Then There Were None is considered to be one of Agatha Christie’s best novels and is by far her most financially successful. As a result of this fame there have over the years been numerous horror movies made based on the same premise of a group of people trapped on an island being killed off one at a time with no way of getting off.CBS just finished airing a single season, 13 episode show called Harper’s Island. When I first heard of this show it looked like just another cheap carbon copy of the template Christie employed in her classic novel. However, it turned out to be a very different and interesting take on the trapped-on-an-island-with-a-nutcase-killer story. The story is set on a fictional island off the Washington coast and features a previously supposed dead, serial killer named John Wakefield. The difference that I found so fascinating about this was the fact that this was not a deserted island. Harper’s Island was an inhabited island with hundreds of people with all the normal stuff that one would find in any other town. I found that way of doing things interesting because this type of story has so often depended on the fact that the characters are cut off from any help or escape. The way the creators of the show were able to make it all work was by keeping the first several murders secret from the characters. The people that were killed early on in the show were people who were supposedly about to leave the island anyway, flighty people who had a habit of taking off suddenly and without warning and people who most of the characters didn’t know were on the island anyway. One murder was even disguised as a suicide. Of course, eventually people start realizing what is going on and, like any good mystery, suspicion falls on several people before it is finally revealed who is behind it all.In the end, in addition to John Wakefield there was also a bad guy among the main group of characters that was committing some of the murders himself. Though this was a pretty good show, there were several things that I didn’t really like that much. First, when our crazy man finally shows his face and starts killing people openly you have one of the most annoying horror flick clichés. That is the whole thing where five people with loaded shotguns can’t seem to kill one kook with a long ugly knife even though he is standing ten feet away from them. The other thing that bugged me was in the second to the last episode when we found out who Wakefield’s accomplice was. I know with these types of reveals it is supposed to be a huge surprise but when Henry turned out to be Wakefield’s son and accomplice it was so unexpected and such a big surprise to me that it didn’t really seem plausible.

Job Fair

Well, yesterday I left Collin in the care of his grandma and headed up to Idaho Falls to attend a job fair put on by the Idaho National Laboratory. Considering how little luck I've been having with the job search here I thought it would be a good idea to take a look elsewhere. I felt like it was a pretty good experience. There were some companies that kind of brushed me off but I felt like I made some good contacts. There were a lot of people there so I had to park way off in the boonies and then wait in line for a while. But, while I was in line I got interviewed by a local TV station and I appeared on the news for a few seconds. Below is the video:

The Amazing Race Concludes

Seeing as how The Amazing Race is one of CBS’s highest rated shows and is in no real danger of being canceled you can be sure that this will be rather briefer than my other TV related blog entries. So, Tammy and Victor won! This is what I predicted would happen though I will admit it was not particularly what I wanted to happen. It’s not that I don’t like the brother and sister, lawyer team but I was really rooting for Jaime and Cara. What can I say? I guess I just have a thing for redheads.

The one team I didn’t really want to win came in last and that was Margie and Luke. I will admit my respect went up for them a lot near the end but they were still my least favorite team of the final three. My problem was really with Luke. I just thought he was a bit of a whiner. But, in the final leg of the race he and his mom Margie did great and came incredibly close to winning the whole thing.

Anyway, another great season of The Amazing Race. I really look forward to next season.