TV: Amazing Race 9 - Ep 4

Readers, the lesson for this week is "Learn to read a map." It might be difficult enough to find someone who speaks English in a foreign country, but maybe even rarer that the person can give good directions as well. But I understand the difficulties some teams may have had in Germany. Street names get concatenated together so you have to get used to separating out the -strasse and -platz parts when reading maps. The exit (ausfahrt) lane line markers confused me as well when I was out there. Anyhow map reading skills and a good sense of direction appeared to be what separated the teams from each other the most on this leg.

- I thought men were supposed to be the ones who never stop to ask for directions. The reference to Groundhog Day was appropriate considering how two teams were driving around in circles for a while. [OnDemand cable has been promoting this movie recently too. Coincidence?]

- Interesting decision to caption Michelle yelling "Oh shoot" presumably to avoid FCC fines.

- Was that a car ride or a luge run? That may be more effective than a double espresso for getting the juices flowing in the morning. That, or waking up to "I've Got You Babe" on the alarm clock / radio.

- The Florida guys asked a local if German women are hot. The response is along the lines of "Meh" with an implication that drinking beer helps. Later another team recruits help from a man walking down the street sort of in the middle of nowhere and saying he was too drunk to drive. Considering it was probably mid-morning at that point, he must have been seeing a beauty pageant the night before.

- Hopefully Eric and Jeremy are smart enough to wipe off the lipstick from the clue carrying fraulein before they recommence tongue wrestling with the DoubleDs.

- It would have been a very difficult detour for me either way. I'm not sure I'm coordinated to dance, but having someone break stunt bottles over my head for potentially several hours might bring back a mild concussion I suffered a few years ago. Both were funny to watch though.

- I wonder if Bavaria Film used for this Detour is the same studio that produced a cool little movie called Run Lola Run. [It's a mystery to me how I can recall random bits of info like that] And it had a tinge of Groundhog Day flavor in it. Coincidence?

- I hope the Amazing Race keeps the product placement tricks to a minimum. I stopped watching The Apprentice during the second season when it started turning into disguised info-mercials / merchandising for a string of sponsors.

- Santa? The Hippies might be trying a bit too hard for laughs, but I guess different people appreciate different types of humor. So who am I to complain? It's kind of like how some people find the repetition of Groundhog Day funny...