In this leg of the race, teams raced from Seoul, Korea to Brisbane, Australia. David and Jeff used the Fast Forward to end up in first place, Reichen and Chip survived a big scare, and unfortunately the big favorites to win, Jon and Al, the circus clowns, were eliminated from the race. Jon and Al were at a big disadvantage early on in this leg. They decided to book plane tickets on a Korean Air flight that was heavily delayed, while the rest of the teams decided to book flights on a Singapore Airlines flight. Things were not looking good for the clowns. Reichen and Chip lost control during this leg of the race. Chip was snapping at everyone, especially the Korean cab driver. Chip’s attitude didn’t win him any points. Adding insult to injury, Reichen and Chip did not READ their final clue which directed them to go “by foot” to the Pitstop. This isn’t the first time that Reichen and Chip have failed to read the clue properly. In Episode 8, they didn’t read the clue which stated that the Pitstop was “at the end of the beach.” You would think that reading would be a requirement for the race. |
Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today that he would be running for governor on a reform platform to battle special interests and “clean house.” I think it is unbelievable to me that this guy is getting so much press and that the Democrats consider him a viable threat against Davis. Due to this new development, Democrats are looking for strong candidates to battle the Terminator–they don’t think Davis can hold his own. Geez, let me bring the general public back into the confines of reality. Arnold is an (make quotes with fingers for emphasis) “actor.” Sure, he may act like a governor now, or for a couple of months after the election until it becomes time to do any real work. And when he fails miserably from lack of political or legislative experience, will we recall him too? Davis is not at fault that Enron and its gang of thugs, er executives, decided to corner the energy market and milk California for millions, check that, billions. Davis is not at fault for the dot-com bubble bursting and for the failures of high-tech businesses all over the state. You can blame dumb and wishful VCs for that. Who’s to blame for all these things ultimately!? Greed. Good old-fashioned greed. I bet that’s what’s fueling this recall effort! |
Today we found out that Melissa’s former co-worker, Kay Lillibridge, passed away last Thursday from a blood clot in her lung–less than a week before her thirty-fourth birthday. Needless to say, this came as a huge shock, as Melissa did not envision burying one of her peers anytime soon. Kay was the co-founder of the Cornell Japanese Animation Society, then known as the Cornell Japanimation Society back in 1988, and was an active member of that organization for many years. Beyond her passionate love for Japanese animation, I knew very little else about her, except to say that she was extremely kind and loved her cat very much. Kay, you will be missed! Update: 08/08/2003 – A memorial scholarship has been created in Kay’s name by the Saratoga Springs Public Library in New York. This scholarship will be available to individuals in Saratoga Springs or San Francisco that shared Kay’s drive, passion, and love for books. If you would like to contribute to the scholarship fund, please contact: Kay Lillibridge Memorial Scholarship Our hearts go out to Kay’s surviving family; to her loving parents, Jan and John, and to her brother and friend, Mark. May we all remember Kay forever. |
A judge ruled today that bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman will not receive the $1 million of forfeited bail for capturing convicted rapist and Max Factor heir, Andrew Luster. Instead, the money will go to the Luster’s victims, the police, and district attorney fees. The judge stated, “In my view, you violated state statutes and Mexican statutes, therefore you are not entitled to any restitution.” WTF!? Since when is breaking the law in Mexico something that judges in Los Angeles gives a shit about? The Dog risked life and limb to bring an arrogant rich motherfucker to justice and I think the Dog should get a bone. Who cares if he broke some Mexican laws, who cares if nobody told him to do it, who cares that he looks like a white Busta Rhymes? Give him the cash! |
I watched the show on Thursday night, but forgot to write the review. Better late than never I guess. Okay here it goes. In this tenth leg of the race, Kelly and Jon battled back from last place to finish first as teams traveled from Malaysia to Seoul, South Korea. Once teams landed in South Korea, they had to go to a frozen river only a few miles from the North Korean border to perform a Roadblock. It was the craziest Roadblock I’ve ever seen! One team member had to strip down and swim in freezing river water, while fighting the river current, between two holes carved in the frozen ice. It was only a distance of about 25 feet, but in water that was maybe 36 degrees that is a really long way. Once team members got out of the water, they were warmed in heaters and not allowed to leave the area until their core body temperature reached normal levels. You have to give it up to the Bruckheimer production staff–that was some crazy shit! |
Okay, there I said it and it feels like a heavy weight has been lifted. Yes, admission is the first step to recovery. But, in order for a full recovery to take place, something drastic needs to happen to make the franchise exciting and fresh again. The star, in Star Trek, is falling and someone needs to catch it. I have felt this way for some time, but I was in complete denial. I didn’t want to admit that I don’t really like the current series, Enterprise, that the last movie, Nemesis, was good but not great, and that Farscape reruns, are ten times better than anything Trek has done since the finale of The Next Generation and a couple of standout Voyager episodes. What pushed me over the edge!? Well, I just read an article in Entertainment Weekly titled Fallen Star that pretty much summarized everything that I had been feeling about Trek for the last couple of years. In addition, the article has several suggestions on how to make the series better, which gave me some hope. Hey, Rick Berman, you listening!? Here are some of the suggestions: |
The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) was perfect in the early days of Arpanet, when there were only about a thousand trusted hosts. That was back in 1981. Those numbers seem like nothing compared to the 170,000,000 domains that are currently registered. That’s a potential 170,000,000 mail servers! When you think of those numbers, and the number of unscrupulous marketers and spammers, you can begin to see that the protocol has outlived its usefulness. I personally don’t care if they make changes to the existing protocol or just start one from scratch, but let’s make it happen–we’re all tired of spam. |
The FDA removed warnings from olestra, the zero-fat substitute, earlier today concluding that if it has any stomach-troubling effect, it’s mild and rare. Uh huh. Don’t you remember the warning that was there before: “Olestra may cause violent vomiting and projectile bowel movements.” Uh, I guess the 20,000 complaints that were reported to the FDA were all one big misunderstanding. Yeah, right. I guess this is what happens when you have a Republican-controlled Food and Drug Administration and Procter and Gamble gives huge campaign contributions to the Republican party. Even stuff that’s bad for you is all of the sudden safe again. Perhaps a new product slogan is in order like, “Olestra, you’re sitting on it.” |