Web: A Parody of 24

I must be officially old when people start to reminisce about life and technologies in the 1990's as they do in this Engadget Blog Posting.

Spin the clock back another 15 or 20 years and now you have a television show with no cell phones, pagers, or even personal computers and it would be doubtful anything could be done in 24 hours. Roll the clock back just a bit more, and the show would be called, The Wild Wild West.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars - Finale

A very belated congratulations to Eric and Danielle for winning the Amazing Race and $1 million dollars after being "Yielded" twice, surviving an elimination penalty, and basically tolerating each other. The editors made their relationship look less stable than maybe it really is. I did not think they would survive so long in the race. In the end, Eric's memory of Danielle's opinions of the other teams may have made the difference. In other words, he did "listen to the woman."

The final challenge was a inventive one. Based an answers to questions about the other team, one team member generated a 4-digit code to lock the sort of safe you would see in a hotel. Then the other team member would enter the room and hope to arrive at the same answers to unlock the safe.

It was an interesting final leg. It did not look like the teams left 12 hours after they arrived like they normally do. It may have been more like 24 hours. The teams had to fly from Guam to Hawaii and for a while it looked like Charla and Mirna had once again found a better flight than other teams to gain a 20 minute lead. The first challenge did not seem very difficult or take long to do. The order did not change as each team finished as the next team arrived at that first challenge. The next challenge was a little more difficult as the teams had to paddle a kayak in rough waters to reach the next clue. [Memories of my second to last shoulder dislocation came haunted me when I saw the Beauty Queens capsize.] Charla and Mirna fell deep into last place and I thought it would spell the end for them.

However, the next clue told teams to go to San Francisco but they had to book flights into Oakland International Airport. The smaller number of flights to choose from allowed the teams to be tied again. This brought them to the final challenge mentioned above. The teams left for the final pit stop just a few minutes apart (1st were Eric and Danielle, then the Beauty Queens, and Charla and Mirna) but I guess the traffic in San Francisco and random taxi drivers did not allow for any lead changes.

Funny that last week I talked about flying from San Francisco to Manila via Hawaii and Guam. Travel has changed quite a bit since then. The teams had to go to Tokyo (Narita) first to get to Honolulu.

I have visited most of the Hawaiian Islands except for Lanai. Although I have lived practically my whole life in San Francisco, I have never been inside the Old Mint or the Botanical Gardens. I would still need Google Maps to figure out the fastest way between those two points as well. I only rode the cable cars for the first time a few years ago. But I guess it is typical for people to visit the tourist attractions closest to them last. I will be spending a bit more time in San Francisco next week for Oracle OpenWorld. Maybe I will hit a few more tourist spots then. Yosemite is still on my list of places to visit.

Next Episode: The First Leg of Season 12 and a chance to see some hopefully interesting brand new teams.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars - Ep 12?

This episode marked the end for Danny and Oswald. Not sure how they fell behind again after all the teams were bunched together in Guam. They must have gotten lost driving again. Despite the bunching, the Beauty Queens seemed to breeze through this leg from start to finish. It left very little tension in the race. The airlift and search and rescue exercise were highlights in this episode, and may have been the most unique aspect of this particular race. Granted I barely remember the episodes from seven months ago, so I don't remember what cool stuff they did before.

I actually spent a short amount of time in Guam when I was 3 or 4 years old. I flew back to the Philippines with my mother and perhaps some other relatives to attend my grandfather's funeral. I think my father stayed behind to watch my brothers and sister who did not miss school. Funny thing is I cannot remember if my sister was there too or not. Anyway back in 1970, that flight from San Francisco to Manila included changing planes in Hawaii and Guam. All I remember of those two stops was that it was raining, humid, and the plants were huge and green. Plus we always had to dash to get onto the plane -- either that or my mom just wanted to stay out of the rain. I thought it was called a runway because we had to run on it to reach the stairs into the plane.

My other memories of the flights back and forth was that it was a double-decker 747 and I snuck upstairs once or twice. The airline food was pretty bland (and unusual). Of course, I should save all the memories of that trip for a separate blog entry. And yes, I do remember several things that happened in my life even before I was 3 years old...

Next up is the final episode and a 67% chance that an all-female team wins the million dollars. The race is long over so I guess I should not even waste time predicting who the winner is. And believe or not none of my friends have ruined it for me all this time, and I avoided any web site that might spoil the outcome for me. That, in itself, is kind of amazing.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars - Ep 11?

In this leg with no airline flights involved, one would think a six-hour gap between first and last place would be safe. But Team Cha Cha Cha decided to do just about everything wrong.

1. Earn bad karma by dealing with the devil team disguised as blond beauty queens.
2. Never ditched their incompetent taxi driver (or at least a driver with communication issues)
3. Waited to long to ask for directions.

Once again it was a non-elimination leg, so the sins might be forgiven. And it was a tense leg for Eric and Daniele who had to overcome another Yield and a 30-minute penalty for not coming in first.

I didn't know Macau was so close to Hong Kong. I might have to stop by there next time I am in that part of the world. Of course the last time I was out there, Macau probably was only beginning to transform itself into the Asian version of Las Vegas.

The drop from the tower looks like fun, and the views looked spectacular. But I would have had a hard time doing the walk around the tower in the wind and rain. I wonder how much my knees would be wobbling up there.

If I ever train for the Amazing race, I will have to remember to learn stick shift. There has been much driving on the left side of the road this season. Unfortunately, there may not be many places to practice driving on the left inside the US. I think the Barney Oldfield ride in nearby Great America is the closest I can get to having the steering wheel on the right. But it is not stick and there's no crazy traffic.

Next episode: Danielle has a break down. Can't wait...

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars: Ep 10?

Okay I took a six-month+ leave of absence from my blog for reasons I may or may not go into someday. On top of that I lost my notes for an episode (if not two) of the Amazing Race All-Stars. But since the new season starts tonight, I better post what few notes I do have.

This leg involved teams racing from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. The order of finish was pretty much determined in the Kuala Lumpur airport as teams jostled for spots on various waiting lists. That order was influenced by two Amazing Race laws: "Maintain good karma" and "Listen to the woman." Team Cha Cha Cha being the nicest of the surviving teams managed to find the various airline offices at Kuala Lumpur airport first. This allowed them to be the first team on standby, survive a flipped over stunt car, and win a return trip to Hong Kong for Chinese New Years. By not listening to Danielle, Eric kept getting lost on the roads of Hong Kong and perhaps missed a chance to move up a spot with the help of another AR Law: "Know your directions otherwise ask." Fortunately, it was a non-elimination leg, so the pair do get to live to race another week.

Hong Kong is one of the cities I have actually visited. I was supposed to work there for six months but the whole exchange was canceled at the last minute. My manager did not want to lose a veteran for someone who had only been hired a few weeks earlier. Eventually, I did get to visit Hong Kong for a week for business reasons, but I spent most of my time at a customer site and never did get to see most of the places the teams went to -- Victoria Park and the Jockey Club. The apartment I would have lived in was in Happy Valley near the Jockey Club. I did take the subway to Kowloon, but did not feel like taking the ferry back.

Also I have changed flights in Hong Kong more times than I can remember. I think the last time was the day Great Britain handed over control of Hong Kong to China. Oh no, that was the second to last time as I went to Singapore. My return flight from Singapore also went through Hong Kong shortly after monsoon Dot had passed through, and experienced the scariest air pocket during takeoff. Sometimes when I see the airplane coming apart in "Lost", it reminds me of what when through my mind that day. But otherwise I try to forget that was my last trip through Hong Kong. I will still go back someday if only to check out the newer airport and all the construction that must have happened over the years.

The Kung Fu fighting detour looked like a bunch of fun. But I think I would have had more fun in the stunt car. How they set things up so that the car would flip back up on its wheels at the end was pretty cool.

The other detour was called Lost in Translation, but last I checked that movie took place in Tokyo. Teams were wise to avoid what sounded like a Needle in the Haystack challenge.

Mirna was quoted the episode title. And Charla on roller sneakers was kind of cute.

Next episode brings us some Yield drama. Back to my DVR I go.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars Ep 7 and 8

This episode turned out to be a two-parter. What started out as a gap of 16 hours or so between first and last place ended with the last few teams just a few minutes apart. However, a 30-minute penalty incurred at the end of a non-elimination leg resulted in Team Guido being Philiminated. Meanwhile, Team Cha Cha Cha decided to try to win some karma points by allowing Joyce and Uchenna to win a prize at the Pit Stop where the Teams finished in first together.

Episode 7 basically boiled down to who could find the best travel agent to book the earliest trip from Tanzania to Warsaw, Poland. That competition was won by the Beauty Queens who were patient with their agent while Mirna and Charla may have placed too much pressure on their agent by crowding in too closely. It would take 7 hours for their agent to find an alternative route to Poland. Joyce and Uchenna chose the wrong travel office, and it was funny that when they called another travel agency, it happened to be the one where all the other teams were sitting. The other teams convinced the agent to hang up on Uchenna abruptly. Eric and Danielle and The Guidos had to settle for using the original airline tickets provided at the beginning of the leg. Unfortunately, missing a connecting flight put them way behind the other teams. The tension between Eric and Danielle finally started to boil over.

Joyce and Uchenna had a chance to catch up with the Beauty Queens on a connecting flight through Frankfurt but I guess for a change they were not able to talk their way onto a plane. This allowed the Queens to cruise to victory in this leg with the Guidos somehow finishing last in a non-elimination leg and incur a 30-minute penalty if they did not finish first at the next Pit Stop.

The Guidos were so far behind that other teams had actually starteed the next leg before they finished. Fortunately, there were a couple of bunching points that allowed them to catch up to the other teams. The first was waiting for buses to take the teams to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The next was an Intersection that ultimately had members of four of the teams each eating a 2-foot long sausage. The whole eating contest was made for one of the most hilarious moments of the All-Star edition.

Eric and Danielle played it smart to just make sure they stayed close enough to Team Guido to the next Pit Stop, so they would not be eliminated. For a while it looked like there was a chance that Mirna and Charla would have had such a hard time getting directions from locals that they could have lost the race, but maybe their troubles were exaggerated or the distance to the Pit Stop was not very far at all.

I liked that the Race spent some time in Poland. I have yet to visit that country, but it is near the top of my list of places to go. Before a trip to Vienna, Austria in the early 90's, the mother of a good school friend loaned me a book by James A. Michener called Poland. It was excellently written, and made me really appreciate that part of the world, its history, and particularly the plight of the people of that country. [Unfortunately, I still have the book and never have gotten the chance to return it.]

The scenes at Auschwitz were particularly moving. On my airline flight, the day after viewing this episode on my DVR, I watched a touching movie called Freedom Writers. It also talked a bit about the Holocaust. Thirdly, Mirna and Charla discussed the Armenian genocide. Given some very current events around the world, it was interesting to compare how the world has for the most part gotten better -- though not by much.

I suppose the producers decided to relieve viewers from some heavy thoughts by having us see the teams struggle to eat giant sausages. I was laughing out loud when Mirna belched so loudly. Next, we witnessed Dustin suddenly throw up shortly after swallowing the last bite of her sausage. Then we had to watch Charla try to practice bulimia. That was sick but kind of humorous.

Other notes:
I wonder how long the poor guy playing Frederic Chopin had to stay in costume and sit in the misty weather waiting for the last few teams to arrive.

I never really learned how to play the piano though I had one in the house I grew up in. I did kind of learn Chopsticks and would watch how the piano tuner would work. So I know the little black spongy thing is used to do more than just clean the wire (according to Mirna). I have a decent ear for music notes but I likely would have made the same mistake as the Team Cha Cha Cha by snapping the piano string a couple of times.

I don't remember Charla falling down so often running to the Pit Stop the first time she ran the race. Fortunately, it does not look like she has gotten injured in those falls.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars Ep 6

This leg of the race was largely determined by luck in getting chosen off a waiting list for flights from Mozambique to Tanzania. The most dramatic moment was Eric and Danielle getting booted off a plane after they had already been seated. It was interesting that Eric had a premonition that something like that could happen. It also seemed a bit unfair given that they were the first team to get on the waiting list.

Once all the flights were sorted out, it was boiled down to a two team race to avoid elimination. Team Guido was much more methodical and solving a jigsaw puzzle, and they left Teri and Ian in the dust.

The race for first was kind of funny. Charla and Mirna started out with a huge lead going into Tanzania. Unfortunately "bad weather" held them back a night and allowed a few other teams to catch up. Team Cha Cha Cha had passed them at the puzzle challenge but then they made an odd decision to stop for fruit. The fruit may have been cheap to buy, but it also cost them the first place prize of a couple of catamarans. Hard to tell if they would have made more use of it than Charla and Mirna who looked confused about what they had won.

It would have been interesting to know how long it took for some of the teams to hit a target by throwing those sticks. I think in a couple of cases, contestants hit the pole holding the target instead of the target itself.

Next leg ... a two-hour special. Guess I will have to catch up with it on another evening.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars Ep 5

The key to this leg of the race was depending on the kindness of strangers. Charla and Mirna moved from last to first [as opposed to Romber who fell from first to last in the previous leg] by getting a local to give them directions around Maputo. They also were quick to find both men and women willing to pay to have their nails painted. Meanwhile, Joyce and Uchenna showed that nice guys can finish last and live to see another leg. I think they were saved by at least one non-elimination leg in the season where they ended up winning the race.

The teams were separated by as much as two or three hours at the start of the leg, but the first challenge and airline schedules caused a bunching situation as the teams raced to Africa.

It was good that the Amazing Race raised a tiny bit of awareness of a couple of problems being dealt with in Mozambique (and many other places around the world for that matter). The first is the high number of landmines buried during a civil war. It's encouraging to learn that trained rats could be used to sniff mines vs. using expensive anti-mine equipment. The second issue was the high rate of AIDS.

In lighter news, the Beauty Queens gained some karma points by taking time to paint the nails of a young girl who had no money. It may have helped them to a second place finish, but in general the task they chose was much easier and faster than filling large bags of charcoal. It helped Teri and Ian finish third.

It was also funny watching Phil avoid a hug from the coal laden Team Cha Cha Cha. That is probably the most we have ever seen him move in the history of this show. It would have been interesting to see how the Miners (David and Mary) would have done in that task.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars Ep 4

I'll have to post some very quick recaps of the last few episodes as I've fallen way behind in my TV viewing. Perhaps it has just taken me this long to get over the shock of this episode.

On this leg, the Karma police decided to strike down Team Romber pretty early instead of making Rob feel the huge disappointment of losing on the very last leg. I was hoping that when Rob and Amber were married, that maybe Rob would become a nicer guy in these reality shows. Instead it was Amber who became a little more deceitful, and that was a shame.

Ultimately, it was a spelling error (Phillipeans?) at a Detour that cost Romber the race. Coincidentally, Ferdinand Magellan himself never did make it around the world. He was killed in battle in the Philippines (correct spellig), and only 18 members of his crew completed the first known circumnavigation of the Earth. Much to the slight disappointment of my parents, that is about all I know about Filipino history.

I thought there might be a chance for Romber to save themselves at the mail sorting task, since that is a typical "needle in a haystack" type challenge where luck can play a bigger role than skill. But Rob seemed to be conceding defeat at that point.

The only other bit of trivia we got to learn this week was that Kandace snores pretty loudly.

Not as surprising, more commentary from Eric is interested in Danielle mostly because of her ample boobs. That does not bode well for a long-term relationship.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars Ep 3

This week marked the end of the race for the beloved Kentucky miners. All through this leg of the race I kept hoping the karmic police would step in and punish Charla and Mirna for trying to cut in line. Their panic can also be a bit annoying but that does not impact Karma points. Fortunately, they gained some points for inadvertently helping the hopelessly lost Team Guido. The miners somehow missed an exit on their way to a clue, but it was not really clear how far it had put them behind all the other teams.

We learned a few interesting though not very surprising tidbits about the teams this week:

- Danielle and David have never touched live fish before. But David managed to learn how to handle them faster, while Danielle somehow overcame her discomforts with them eventually. But it cost her team a bunch of time.

- Team Cha Cha Cha needs to do much more cardio work. Granted I do too, so I cannot really make fun of them.

- The Beauty Queens are in really good shape at physical tasks, and they have not gone into a panic. Now they just need to pay much more attention to directions and clues. Otherwise they may not last longer. They were incredibly fortunate not to lose any ground in skipping a clue.

- Amber seems to do most of the Road Blocks. I guess Rob does most of the plotting. But since all the other teams know the game, it may not be much of an advantage this time around. Following signs carefully did allow them to pass other teams at the end and finish first for the 3rd week in a row. However, taking a brief wrong turn early in the leg did show they are not perfect.

- I guess we now know from comments at the fish challenge why Eric is dating Danielle, but that was not too hard to guess. If I put the word he used a lot in my blog I might start getting some interesting hits from people searching for that word. So I won't.

Every team chose the rafting detour instead of a rock climb. Well the Queens did the rafting by accident. I wonder if the 40-foot climb would have been faster considering the time needed to drive to the rafts, get changed, raft, and catch a shuttle back to the cars. Teri was remarkably calm for someone who fell into the rapids. I wonder how quickly the guides were able to pull her back into the boat. The river rafting would have been frightening for me - a dislocated shoulder waiting to happen. The closest experience I have to that is riding the Rip Roaring Rapids at Great America. I vaguely recall that ride had a category associated with it but I cannot find that information anywhere right now. But people are restrained securely to a tall seat within a big rubber tire on that ride, and there are no sharp rocks to worry about.

Mirna spoke the title of the episode this week, but I have not been keeping track of this as much as last season where Mary spoke some classic lines.

Next week the teams may finally make their way out of Chile, with a finish that is sure to shock people.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars Ep 2

The theme of this episodes race revolved around paying attention to details. Missing one instruction about speed limits cost Kevin and Drew the race while Romber cruised to another victory.

The Road Block challenge took the teams into a staged boardroom meeting. Letters on buttons or pens or shirts had to be combined to find a secret word that would get them the next clue. Eric should have been the first to figure things our, but sort of outsmarted himself. This allowed Dustin to be the first to solve the puzzle. The interesting thing was seeing Amber being nice to other teams, which did not please Rob too much. I guess Rob still does not believe that karma has been an influence in many of these races.

The Detour challenge had teams choosing between putting a giant tire on a giant machine or moving some gravel around. It turned out that the gravel was easier to do while the bolting wheels required some attention to detail, and that cost some teams a bunch of time. Teri and Ian almost made a fatal error by not knowing where the cars where. Then a bunch of teams took a wrong turn, but ultimately it was the insistence of not driving over 40 km/h that cost Kevin and Drew the race.

Outside of the interesting terrain that teams had to drive through to get to the Pit Stop, there was not much in this episode that might make viewers want to book a trip to northern Chile. Almost all of my international trips have been to Europe and Asia, so it's hard for me to comment on places in South America (unless they ever visit Bogota, Columbia).

There also weren't any big surprises in the order of finish. But this is the Amazing Race, so who knows what the future holds. :)

Movies: The Academy Awards

With the small amount of hits my blog gets, I easily noticed a random blip of recent activity around my review of The Departed. I take that as a sign that the Academy Awards will be on tonight.

I have been negligent in sharing my thoughts about several other movies I have watched since seeing The Departed, and maybe I will give them the fuller reviews they deserver at some later date. Also, I have not seen every movie that was nominated for an award this year, but I will try to make public predictions for the first time. I have made correct predictions in private even without seeing any of the pictures nominated. Granted I believe all my predictions are based on an ability to process the "buzz" on the street and the media rather than on any true psychic abilities. :-)

Best Picture: The Departed. A lot of people are hoping that Little Miss Sunshine wins. I loved that movie, and I am rooting for it, but I think it may ultimately fall short. Perhaps the cast should jump on-stage and dance or do something outrageous to get the movie completely disqualified :-) If somehow the popular vote gets split between those two movies, then another excellent movie, The Queen, could just sneak through. How fearless a first public prediction is that? Not.. :-)

Best Director: I think Martin Scorsese will finally get an Oscar. I have heard good things about Letters from Iwo Jima but I think voters may say Clint Eastwood already has two directing Oscars from movies that may have been better.

Best Actress: Helen Mirren. When I saw the opening shot of The Queen, I thought I was watching a documentary rather than a movie. Maybe if I paid attention to the royal family more, I would notice differences between the real queen and an actress, but Mirren just disappeared into her role. In this case, I have to admit that I missed the movies of all the other nominated performers.

Best Actor: Forrest Whitaker. I have to go on buzz alone on that one as I have not watched The Last King of Scotland yet -- though Whitaker looks convincing as Idi Amin in the trailer for the movie. I thought Leonardo DiCaprio performed better in The Departed than in Blood Diamond. But he did an excellent job in both, so maybe he deserves some sort of an award just for that accomplishment.

Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy. I have to go with the buzz once again since Dreamgirls is also still on my "to see" list. Mark Wahlberg stole every scene in The Departed but his role did not allow him to display many emotions other than anger. Alan Arkin was awesome in Little Miss Sunshine as was Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamond. So it is kind of funny that I am leaning toward a performance I have not seen.

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson. But I really think it would be cool if Abigail Breslin wins.

Like most people, I do not pay too much attention to the other categories. I suspect Pan's Labyrinth will get some award related to art. Finally, I think An Inconvenient Truth will win Best Documentary. I never thought a movie about a class lecture delivered by a politician criticized for being stiff would be so compelling. I've heard good things about the other documentaries so it could be a close vote.

TV: Amazing Race: All-Stars Ep 1

The Amazing Race is back and well I guess I am too.

I guess I now better appreciate people who manage to post entries more regularly. It is so easy to let blogging slide way down on the "To Do" list.

Anyway, it is hard for me to comment on the first leg of the race because I messed up. Not entirely but pretty badly. I forgot that by DVR was set up was specifically to record the Amazing Race 10 and not the Amazing Race in general. I did not realize that until I arrived home after a party. Fortunately, I did try to watch the show while I was at the party, but for various expected reasons, it was really hard to hear anything that was going on.

At best as I can tell, there were supposed to be some surprises with the teams this season. The two biggest surprises both involved John Vito and Jill. First, they are an ex-couple who, I guess, are still friends. Second, they managed to be eliminated quickly, falling victim to the oldest pitfall of any race - getting lost.

Not as surprising is the fact that Eric and Danielle are now dating and racing together this season. I personally would have preferred to team up with the other Dani of Team Pink (not that I would have had a chance with either of them). Anyway, I think Eric had a better chance of winning if he had stuck with his original teammate, Jeremy.

Least surprising is that Romber came in first place. Love them or hate them, they are skilled reality show competitors. It will be interesting to see how other teams keep up. Joyce and
Uchenna did beat them before, but they happened to get very lucky at the right time, and it seems unlikely that lightning will strike twice.

It's still too early to predict an elimination order. But I get a general impression that teams from earlier seasons are outmatched, along with the Miners who may not be able to form any sort of
alliance this time around. I'll still hope

Oh well, hope I correctly record the second leg and hear the audio.