Lantern7

Cartoon Network is running Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race, which takes cues from The Amazing Race. It's not perfect, but it's an amusing parody. Some of the teams seem modeled after TAR duos. Here are a few that work out with my skills in MS Paint and BigHugeLabs: I can do more if there's a demand. TRR airs weeknights at 7:30, and episodes are On Demand. ETA: I passed 600 posters, aside from special editions. Here's to not having a life!

They ran a bit on Yogi in the news, about his firing as Yankees manager in 1985. I remember the day because the Mets had a wild extra-inning win against the Pirates. Gary Carter tagged out two guys at the plate, and Davey Johnson has so short-handed, he had to put Rusty Staub in the outfield. Back then, he was used exclusively as a pinch-hitter, and always got taken out after he got a hit, because he had the physique Bartolo Colon currently sports. He switched fields with Clint Hurdle, depending on who was at bat . . . and he wound up chugging for a catch when a Pirate went to the opposite field. It was pretty epic.

Would anybody object to reruns on Thursdays while CBS airs NFL games past the allotted time?

Let me get this out of the way . . . "Evo" is not a good term for powered people. Seriously, it's like waving a banner saying "We can't say 'mutant' or 'inhuman'." The magic isn't in the show. There are good moments, but I accept that we'll never hit the highs of Peter and Nathan flying, or Hiro teleporting to New York. Now those were two kickass hours. I can't pick out a favorite of the new blood. "Katana Girl" is a silly name, but it comes the nifty power of going into World Of War- .. . Evernow. Also . . . there is no way D'ohinder Suresh could've caused a terrorist act. He was such a goober, and not an entertaining one like Hiro. Next up: accepting Chuck as a hero-hunter. One step at a time. ETA: Man, that was a disappointing use of the Haitian. I get how he could lay a mind whammy on Noah, but shot in a struggle? What's next . . . an errant bullet felling Claude and nobody knows about it?

Anybody else get a little nauseous seeing the brief clip of Jon giving Andrew the "Fairplay Fingers"? Also, he did his impression of Randy Savage in his vote, and that takes a zero-point-zero-zero degree of difficulty. Just start every sentence of "Ooo, yeah!" and make like you're dropping a load on the john. Seriously, fuck Jon Dalton.

Well, it looks like the Ice Dancers are the official villains of the show. I'd compare them to Team Guido, but I think there was more to Joe & Bill behind the surface. Also, the Ice Dancers don't have a cute mascot like Loki the Goth Bunny. Wasn't surprised by the Rockers' dismissal. Was caught by the double elimination, which TAR would never pull on teams in a haphazard manner. Maybe Spud and Rock (okay, just Rock) can help the Stepbrothers with their theme song.

Why do I feel that this is going to be a long season? I find it hard to root for anybody. Maybe I'm a grandpa. Or maybe I'm anal about Canada having a prime minister, as opposed to a president. Or maybe I don't "get" things because I never saw a sequel to The Lion King. ETA: Also . . . Colorado doesn't border Canada. Okay, I'll stop now.

I'm pulling for her, even if the editing makes it look like she's nowhere near the grand prize. She got saddled with real pieces of work like Dan and Will, and I hope her second tour of duty is a lot more pleasant.

Idols hidden in challenge courses? Tribal Council immediately after a challenge? Looks like the old dog has learned a few new tricks. I think Vytas got hosed. You should eject crazy right away, not muscle. I can see how he can creep people out, but Abi-Maria is a loose cannon. This is going to bite TKO in the ass. So far, no major complaints about the show, though I might tire of Probst's insistence of using last names. Also . . . who is the sadist that decided Kelly and Kelley should be on the same tribe? They even share the same initials. Oh, and I still think Keith came in eleventh in the men's voting, getting bumped up when Mike won S30. Between the spitting and the torch miscues, he isn't doing much to change my mind.

I went to Yogi's museum last year. Nice place. Kinda on the small side, but there's a lot of nice stuff on display.

When I went into The Muppets, the Mets were up 1-0. Afterward? Braves up, 4-1. At least the Nationals lost, reducing the magic number to 6.

"His name was George Constanza. He murdered my parents." Oh, and I liked the dorky high-five between Bruce and Alfred. Very cute.

Focused on the season premiere of Gotham, so I missed most of the Mets' 4-0 win over the Braves, which drops the magic number to 7. Nationals/Orioles got rained out, so the Mets are only able to get a half-game better. The Mets are going to face the dregs of the National League before their final series with the Nationals, so maybe they can coast to the division.

Wouldn't Bruce and Alfred have entered "BRUCE" into the keypad on, like, day two? At most? Oy, this show. On the bright side, I think Barbara is no longer going to be a liability. At the very least, she balances out Noker, which is what I'm calling the wannabe Joker. We shouldn't have an origin for Joker, even in this particular universe. Oh, and loving the "traditional" prison stripes So . . . generic craziness for Nygma, huh? At the end of the episode, I wanted the "reflection talks back" gimmick to be applied to Jim. I'm probably going to miss Fish. Can't wait to see Penguin choke down scenery like she did last season.

There's no press release about Wednesday's episode, but there is a clip. When was the last time Mr. Garrison was front-and-center, plot-wise?

I was going to say "It's like The Force," but yeah . . . . "battle aura" works for me. I don't know when haki comes up against. I'm thinking Season Seven, but I'm not sure. I think "Berry" is the global standard of currency. In Skypiea, there's an exchange rate for the Extol of 10,000 to 1. And yeah, Luffy shouldn't have been able to get into the safe. Maybe Aqua Laguna softened it up? ETA: Here's a sketch I got of a healthy Whitebeard. The artist decided to use two pages on his own, to show how badass the character was.

This week: more interdimensional TV fun. Also, Jerry tries to get out of sacrificing his penis to an alien voiced by Werner Herzog. Thank you, AVClub, for cluing me on that. Reminds me of the pilot I saw of The Jim Gaffigan Show, only with aliens. And penis-cutting instead of a vasectomy. Jerry winds up looking like a dork, but it's no worse than usual. ETA: Who is Jan Michael Vincent? I'm too lazy to look him up.

It's been a while. Here's something that went through my mind tonight, and I know I'm not the only one . . . Emmys/Key & Peele/Game of Thrones

Had to catch up to the Emmys tonight. Two things: 1. Anybody else thinking of counting out the Mets? It's not just the slump . . . if they play like this against competitive teams, how will they do against the Dodgers? 2. Um, Terry? You might want to pull up on the throttle. The magic number is stuck at 8. It would be nice not to sweat the final week of the season, and give the fans reason to believe in the team. ETA: At least the Mets can thank the Giants for blowing another fourth quarter lead, so that the beatdown from the Yankees would be minimized in the back page.

Warning: do not waste Nami's hard-fought money. She will give you massive hematomas, even if you're made of rubber. It's a shame that it'll be a while before Whitebeard kicks some ass. I'm conflicted as to whether to spoil his abilities in this thread. Ditto for Shanks and his use of haki, which takes a while to explain. Once again . . . we got three episodes' worth of filler coming up, but it's pretty good.

So . . . how many more episodes are left? Nice that Asuna can take Yuuki out to school and to her old home, then top that off by finally getting her mother to understand her life. I guess I'm used to the ass-kicking VR/MMORPG stuff, but the personal stuff is okay by me.

Heads up: the show is going to have new episodes at 7:30 p.m. Also, we can think of the show more along the lines of TAR because eleven teams are left. Having eighteen teams would be a logistical nightmare. That's why it works better as a cartoon. ETA: TAR went to Victoria Falls at least once, right? I'm amazed the Ice Dancers weren't detained for breaking into the friggin' cockpit of the plane. I know, it's a cartoon, real life stuff shouldn't be applied . . . but how funny would it have been for them to get eliminated while in jail? Anyway, they manage to barely finish last, which was a feat given their Helsinki-Hawaii-Zimbabwe route, but they're saved by a non-elimination leg. In other news, Junior has chest hair. As in, a singular hair. Okay, then. I'm willing to bet the Rockers would be next out, because I reckon we've gotten enough from them. Also, Spud probably wouldn't realize it until 2-3 legs later.

Where was the TARDIS, anyway? I must have missed a mention on where the Doctor stashed it. I think "Seeds" would have worked better with four parts, as opposed to six, but that's mostly because my attention span strains at watching a show for three hours. Also . . . what happened to the first Krynoid (?) in Antarctica? ETA: I heartily advise anybody to watch/record the "Breakfast With Baker" stories, especially if you haven't seen them before. I'd like more Doctors to be thrown into the mix, though mostly due to me not being able to access the stories on DVD from the library. "Porridge With Pertwee," anyone?

Dude. Why do I feel that the story is going to be a mess even after the second part? So . . . Missy winds up endangering the Earth because she's trying to find the Doctor. I'll admit, it's fun seeing Michelle Gomez ham it up, everything just felt disjointed. And the Doctor meeting Davros as a child? It's as big a headache as Clara meeting the young Doctor last season. I did like the guitar number, though. ETA: Who is the "Magician's Apprentice"? Lil Davros? Clara?

Ditto. I've never seen "The Seeds of Doom." Is it ironic that I've seen "The Seeds Of Death" with Troughton?