TV: Amazing Race 10 - Episode 10

The Cho Bros pretty much choked this week, or at least that's how it was implied. Starting out the second half of the leg having to confront their fear of heights may have made them too tentative for the rest of the leg. The time they wasted needing to stop and ask for guidance over and over was about as bad as driving the wrong way confidently. But at least they dispelled one stereotype that men never ask for directions. The male models also have shown navigation impairment, but they realized quickly that they would not be able to read the Ukranian Cyrillic alphabet and were thoughtful enough to trust taxi drivers and the Beauty Queens to lead them around. This vaulted them to victory.

I wonder if the Beauty Queens came in second because they were being perfectionists with their Rap song. Other teams sounded like they just let the passenger throw some lyrics together while the other drove. The Queens worked diligently together on a routine that they might use if they were still competing in pageants. They could have just over-estimated how long it would take the Models to find the sheet music and a piano player at the other Detour.

Dustin might be cute and an excellent tank driver, but may not be the person you want on a Trivial Pursuit team. I think she was the one who knows about the Chinese inventing paper. She is also familiar with the Ukranian Bell Carol. However, last week she talked about Finnish clogs; this week she thought Chernobyl was where an atomic bomb went off. Granted I thought the nuclear reactor was in Russia rather than the Ukraine. If I were competing, there's a slight chance I would have gone to Moscow instead of Kiev and committed the most monumental blunder in Amazing Race history.

Rob and Kimberley were lucky that the Chos and the 'Bama Moms were moving so slowly. They were able to overcome an automobile breakdown and still come in third. It's funny how pessimistic Rob gets whenever anything goes wrong. At least he's realizing that Kimberley is a superhuman alien. They did try to be nice this week and invite a very helpful local couple into a club to watch their Rap performance. The expression on the locals' faces were classic and it was funny to see them standing patiently outside the club when Rob and Kim finished. I guess they were not in a hurry to go anywhere and enjoyed the opportunity to appear on TV. I wonder how many other countries air the Amazing Race. At least, it is being broadcast in the Philippines and Canada along with an Asian edition.

Hopefully the teams get some money for laundry after traipsing through mud twice on the same long leg.

I guess the Race was filmed in the summer. It looked like it was still early afternoon as the racers ran into the Helsinki airport at 9:17PM. It also looked pretty bright at 6:00AM the next morning. The longest amount of daylight I have experienced was June in Berlin, Germany where the sun rose around 4:30AM and did not set until around 10:00PM. The furthest north that I have traveled is Skagway, Alaska but that was in September.

Kiev looks like an interesting city to visit. After eating duck in Beijing, I am considering eating chicken in Kiev, but several sources say it did not originate there (though the text is almost identical on every site).

News: Wireless Electricity

A while back Tom Kyte was reminiscing about some old IBM equipment and joked about wireless electricity. 11 months later this news article talks about a more practical wireless electricity solution.

TV: Amazing Race 10 - Episode 9

This was a pretty tense week. It ended with a literal cliff hanger as the Male Models rappelled down the side of a stadium tower face first hoping to finish first and get a nice prize from Phil only to find out the race was not over. The Beauty Queens should not have been that far behind them. Meanwhile the remaining three teams were about an hour back and scrambling not to be eliminated.

The Bama Moms almost found themselves looking at a 12 - 15 hour deficit when all the other teams were able to grab a 7AM flight that would eventually take them to Finland while the next flight could have been a 9PM flight to Paris. But somehow they were able to wheedle their way on board with just seconds to spare. It was a pretty crazy flight plan from Madagascar to Johannesburg, South Africa to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Frankfurt, Germany to Helsinki, Finland.
[I had the same number of stops on a flight going from San Francisco to Bangalore, India via Paris, New York, and Mumbai. When I saw that itinerary, I changed the layovers to be about 12 to 15 hours each, so I could do some power sight-seeing at each stop.]

Whenever there is a bunching up, it seems like the Beauty Queens are always the first to get out of the airport. It has been giving them a huge time advantage and has made the other teams jealous. The producers have not shown how the Queens achieve this, but I suspect they are able to sweet talk other passengers into switching seats so they can exit the plane first.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Chos were out to prove that nice guys finish last. One of them correctly observed, "Being polite sucks sometimes." and earned title of the week. From the previews of next weeks episode, they finally make a second observation that their alliance is over. I may have been wrong about their outlook. Even when they had a chance to pass some teams racing through mud, they ran out of gas again and remained last.

Rob and Kimberley outraced the Chos as carrying Kim was probably much easier than carrying a Cho bro. In one of the funniest moments this week, Rob made the remark that carrying his partner was much easier than he thought. This left him open to the nightmare question, "Do you think I'm fat?" That exchange probably threw them off course so much, they ended up dropping from third to last in finding the Road Block challenge.

The teams had to descend into a scary dark mine to retrieve what sounded like the final clue of the week. Rob let out some evil yells as he raced his bike up the mine shaft and caught up to the Bros and the Moms The shot of Rob's headlight coming up behind the the Mom who was panting like crazy sent chills up my spine. It was like something out of a horror movie.

The ironic part of the challenge is that David of the recently eliminated Coal Miners probably would have felt right at home there. I'm not sure where the Chos got the Miners' T-shirts, but it was sort of funny that the Chos were racing in memory of David and hoped to channel David's spirit in the mine. The dude was just eliminated not killed.

The walk down the side of a stadium tower would have been the scariest challenge for me. My knees would have been trembling like crazy. But it was funny to watch. It would have reminded me more of the Batman TV series if they let both members rappel together.

And bats would have been appropriate for a slightly post-Halloween episode.

Other Notes:
I have to admit I am finding myself more attracted to Dustin each week even if she thinks people in Finland wear wooden shoes.

Someone needs to warn Tyler that being Metrosexual is "Out" while Real Men are "In". This at least according to the latest episode of Men in Trees. I may have to blog a bit more about this little TV show which is a pleasant mix of Sex and the City and Northern Exposure. Not quite as good as either, but it's the closest one can get to new episodes of each.

Did it sound like Kimberley was asking for directions to La Jolla?

Here's is a pretty cool Google Earth Mash Up of all the Amazing Race 10 locations. Similarly, here's the Google Maps Mash Up. Neat stuff.

Web: Time lapse movies

Carl Backstrom's Blog mentioned a cool video of a trip from LA to NY taken with time-lapse photography. But the link to the movie from that site seemed to take too long to download. So I found a better source here. The mount did not seem to drift at all. It is also pretty interesting that nobody tried to steal the camera from the back of that convertible (or maybe any attempts were edited out). Someday, or more likely some might, I might drive from one end of Interstate 80 to the other.

This blog collection of time lapse videos has several other interesting clips as well. I particularly enjoyed anything that included San Francisco, of course, along with the aurora displays. The video of A Year in Antarctica was educational and entertaining.

TV: Amazing Race 10 - Episode 8

All good things must come to an end (I figured I needed a Star Trek: TNG reference in my blog eventually). For the miners, the race around the world finally ended in Madagascar. At least Mary got to experience some new things, and learned that Madagascar is more than just an animated move. It also was good to see that the new non-elimination penalty of a 30 minute wait for a non-first place finish actually had an impact on the outcome. They actually came in 5th but only 10 minutes ahead of the Bama Moms. This added to a tense, emotional finish.

Barring a major surprise, the odds are that the Bama Moms are the next to go. I think the message from their cute children (in next week's episode) might make them want to lose and go home. So, I can start to handicap what I believe will be the final four.

The Models could be the most physically fit but most directionally challenged. There's also sign of some conflict brewing between the guys. But at least James can eat (and giving Tyler the inspiration to name an episode). That might only be good enough for 4th place in this close race. The preview showing them getting stuck in the mud might be a hint for an upset.

The Needlers pretty much have fate in their hands. If they can get along, they can win this thing. Chances are the mounting pressure will lead to another Rob meltdown or a full-blown argument. The presence of the Models and just doing the Fast Forward may have spared them for one leg. They seem to be doing OK in the developing countries despite some of their odd preconceptions about people who live there. They may get an advantage if the race goes through the fancier areas of Europe, but staying in the third world could mean a third place finish.

The Chos have been trying very hard to prove that nice guys can finish first, but so far that has only happened once for them in this race. Perhaps after they are unburdened by the rest of the six-pack they can jump over a couple of teams. It will be interesting to see if they will try to form a new alliance or try to keep the Bama Moms in it. The work they did with The Queens at the Intersection / Detour challenge showed they could work with anybody -- even the most hated team. Most importantly, the brothers get along with each other. Unfortunately, they can also get lost while driving or while in deep thought. That may only let them take second at best.

This leaves The Queens who have been on a roll despite piling on more bad karma points. This week they took the Bama Moms' car instead of using the same car that they wrecked earlier. Then they made a dumb joke about perhaps doing the Paper challenge because the Chos were Asian (maybe the only time the Chos showed any disgust, with the "Let's just go" comment). At least the comment showed that the Blondes know some history. They have gotten lost less frequently than the other teams, and could be resourceful when needed. It would be great to see an all-woman team win this race for the first time, even if I am still rooting for the nicer Chos.

This race may still have a few tricks up its sleeve, so nothing is a lock.

Other Notes:
While Los Angeles is known for its traffic and smog, most of it blown into the surrounding valleys (see simple flash demo there). Therefore, I guess Rob and Kimberly must live around Long Beach since they seem most sensitive to the smog in other cities.

I wonder if the taxi drivers in Madagascar's capital city were trying to take tourists for a ride. A few of them tried to find some long way to get the "Black Angel" and many of them waited until the last minute to get gasoline. I do not remember that issue being shown as frequently in any other race destination.

The taxi driver reaction to Karlyn's comment about being a "Black Angel" did look edited and fake (or at least more so than previous attempts to display driver "double-takes" to racer comments). But it is still kind of funny every time it happens.

I used to devour cow or ox tongue when I was a very young child until I learned what it was. I am not sure if I have ever eating cow lips, but considering how often I dine out, who knows what I have been eating. I never could eat balut, though most of my family loves it.

How many times have contestants vomited at those eating challenges? Kimberley was having the toughest time this time around.

Between the stiff dancing and the uncomfortable look Phil had while being hugged by two attractive blond women, I wonder how much of a nerd Phil was in school.

TMI: Thought for Food

I have been meaning to write this for weeks but I suppose the day after Halloween is as good a time as any to stop procrastinating.

One thing I have been thinking about as the "Big Four-Zero" quickly approaches is going on a healthier diet. I decided I will not try to eat less and exercise more since the more I think about not eating the more I actually do eat. I am sort of like that slow reading cartoon character on The Electric Company who would forget a sign contained the "NOT" word. [Yes, my TV viewing habits were established at a very young age.]

Of course, the fates have conspired against me. I went on my first cruise this summer. If there is one thing I learned, it is impossible to go hungry on-board a luxury liner. I finally fully appreciate the old joke, "I'm on a seafood diet. When I see food, I eat it." Fortunately, I did spend several hours power walking through the streets of a few Alaskan towns, otherwise I would have gained a ton of weight. I do not know if I will ever lose the half-ton I did gain.

Next, it seemed like every food that was supposed to be healthy to eat could make you sick instead. It started with spinach, then it was a lettuce recall, and next it is something else yet to be identified. On the bright side, all these food scares have allowed my sister to achieve some airtime on news show on a station in Los Angeles, KTLA [For some reason you have to use Internet Explorer and click on Part Two: An E.Coli Lab to see the video]. She does not get a speaking role but is one of the women seen messing around with test tubes and lab machinery. This means she is one of the few people in my family who has a job that all my relatives can now understand. I imagine it is a cross between CSI and Ghost Germ Hunters.

But I digress. I suppose if I live in an age where any food I eat could potentially kill me, I should get to choose my poison. So, let me introduce you to Deep Fried Coke. I wonder what happens if you squeeze a Mentos into that.

If I had just procrastinated a few minutes longer, I could have incorporated this news hot off the press that obese mice can stay healthy (but not get skinny) with a chemical called resveratol. Could Woody Allen actually be the second coming of Nostradamus?