Lantern7

I'm bored. Wound up tweaking my blog. I replaced some links and added YouTube sites and lists, though I didn't overhaul everything. What are you guys doing for NYE? I'm probably going to stay home and watch Anderson Cooper & Kathy Griffith ring in 2015.

Heads up . . . there's going to be a half-hour BOTE2 casting special airing at 11 p.m. tonight on MTV.

Just curious . . . what conventions are you guys planning on attending in 2015? I'm registered for three shows, though I'm not sure if I can make a big event outside of NYC this year.

A New Year's Eve quartet from CNN . . .

Saw "Battle" today. I thought it was okay, though I confess that I'm not a Tolkien nerd; otherwise, the padding would have bothered me. At least it was a short chapter, though guzzling on a medium soda was a mistake. Man, Smaug went out like a punk, didn't he? Forgive me . . . but what were the Five Armies? I'm counting dwarfs, elves, the denizens of Lake-Town, orcs . . . what am I missing? Aside from the urine and coins trail leading to Alfred, I mean. ETA: Here are the "Honest Trailers" for the first two movies. Good for a laugh, right?

Heads up . . . I think last year's holiday episode airs tonight at 8. The cable listing says "new," but I recognized the description of Humphrey the grumpy Brussels Griffon. ETA: Old footage, new footnotes. And, of course, poor Humphrey as Yoda. He really looked grumpy in that last photo.

I'm okay with theme seasons . . . or at least bringing back teams. The "dating couples" theme sounds like a disaster, but I'm hoping it'll work out because the show deserves to still be on the air. Out of curiosity, what TAR25 teams would you want to bring back? In order of preference: The Field: Defined as "eliminated teams one through six." I mean, do we need to see Michael & Scott again, even if the one guy's injury might have held them back? Also, there would be fans of the show that would have killed to have done the ox task . . . or at least mock-lamented having a "broken" ox. Adam & Bethany: Who knows what could have happened if they swapped Roadblocks in the final leg? They're low on the list because they're way too mellow, at least in contrast to the intensity of the other teams. Amy & Maya: I know, only one pair of champions have ever had to prove themselves on an "all star" season. I figure if the Beekmans don't come back, these two should. Also, how much better could they be if Amy isn't hurt? And Phil might employ a "NO TOUCHING!!!!" rule strictly for Maya. Brooke & Robbie: If you tilt your head, they got hosed. It's a matter of opinion . . . but you figure if they get back together, it would beat Brooke stalking Phil with a steel chair. Besides, it would be like having an evil version of John Vito & Jill. It might be intriguing. Misti & Jim: They're here for overachieving . . . though I'd hate to be nervous about Jim blowing a gasket this time around. For pity's sake, man! Blink!!! Kym & Alli: They should get an automatic invite back. If they decline to go for the Fast Forward, they might have eliminated the Scientists. Also, they like having fun in their downtime. If they don't snap at each other, they're fun to watch.

I didn't it was that bad, random chance. Well, except for the "this Christmas could be your last Christmas" spiel. Now that's depressing. Seriously, here's to better stories for 2015.

Dang. Just we needed for Christmas: Inception and Alien in a pureed package. Oh, and the hopes that Clara would be too old to travel with Peter P- . . . I mean, the Doctor. Maybe Clara won't bug from here on out. Maybe Moffat will stop trying to cram her down our collective gob, and maybe he'll plant his focus on the Doctor. Christmas is about lots of things, and why wouldn't hope be one of them?

I guess we need Henry Strozier to point out what the puppies and kitties are doing. And I'm used to them having names .. . it took me a while to remember one of the French Bulldog puppies' names was Chauncey. I don't remember the names of his sister and his "stories"-watching momma, though.

Team Four Star reveals most memorable Dragonball moment. They also throw in some honorable mentions; sadly, it doesn't include Cell slapping Hercule/Mr. Satan into a mountain. I guess a "funniest" list would be a separate thing. Tomorrow, I'll check in to see if they have a new episode out. ETA: They delivered. It's Piccolo vs. Seventeen!

Checking in to see if anybody saw the new episode. Basically, it was a 60-minute highlight package set mostly to Christmas music and with no narrator. It was a little weird, but we did get some fun flashbacks, like the mommy Shar-Pei putting her paws up outside the window as Raisin chewed on his sister, Pipsqueak the psycho goat kid, and the Rottweiler puppies scratching at their new collars. Good stuff.

Just a big ole mess this week. Here's my question: if the roommates know that people who they don't like are coming, then what's stopping them from rebelling? One sheep gets scared, and now the whole herd is spooked. The only thing missing is seeing Production guys giggling to themselves, as the "Skeletons" countdown clock ticks down. Does the entire house smoke? That has to be annoying if any non-smokers arrive at the house. ETA: What's up with the turntable phone set-up? And what kind of name is "Briah"?

Big whoop. I say "y'all" a lot, and I'm from the East. I swapped out my avatar for the holidays . . . it's the Miser Brothers as Captain Cold and Heat Wave. I haven't gotten around to seeing The Year Without a Santa yet, though. ETA: Here's an essay I wrote on TAR25. Enjoy!

Anybody else catch the OWN profiles? They weren't too bad, except for maybe Heather's choice in outfits. I didn't even mind Eric Friggin' Nies getting repainted as a proto-Jersey Shore guy-turned-New Age guru living in Hawaii with a wife and a newborn. Of course, all I have to do is remember him winning $60K on Battle Of The Sexes 2, and then I get mad all over again.

A thought after seeing Bethany struggle on the final task: If you go to a final leg, assume that the first Roadblock you hit is the penultimate one, and that the other partner would have to do a final Roadblock. If the Surfers knew this, Bethany might have done the stunt, allowing Adam to tackle the final Roadblock. Or maybe he would have flamed out as well. We'll never know.

Obvious question for those in attendance: is Maya as manic as she was on TAR?

Heads up . . . there's going to be a marathon on Christmas Eve, culminating with a new episode at 8 p.m. that will repeat through midnight.

While I'm feeling it . . . The Colbert Report Maya, The Amazing Race

Glowing review of TAR25. The author loved him some Sweet Scientists. ETA: Here are the Beekman Boys talking about the merits of Time-Warner. Also, Andy of RealityBlurred weighs in on TAR26.

In regard to the "previously" segment for the finale . . . was this the first time since TAR6 that teams have not had their flaws mentioned, a la Kris & Jon? I was expecting the Dentists' mistakes to be mentioned, especially their non-elimination. I wasn't surprised by Adam & Bethany's lack of ineptitude shown, especially since we had Kym and Brooke go on about what a gamer Bethany was. Oh, and I would've shown more of Amy & Maya's massage. A lot more. ETA for needschocolate: Remember, the Survivors and Firefighters had to take a penalty for giving up on the Roadblock along with the Realtors.

I liked Shii Ann. I didn't even mind her calling herself "Shii Devil." Heck, I even tried to improve on it with "Shiiablo" on the TWoP forums. She came across as very aware, and I loved it when she held off her own elimination in S8, celebrating wildly afterward. I vaguely recall meeting her at TARCon 5 . . . I just found this picture I took of her ten years ago.

So . . . what's the good word at the party?

I guess Brooke & Robbie gave better interviews. CBS just posted the last batch of clips on YouTube. I've made Maya wrapped around Phil a JPEG, and it should be a motivational poster soon. I just saw this clip of the girls celebrating their win before the other teams arrived.

Here are the final leg-average standings, with adjusted and readjusted stats in parentheses: 3.42 (3.20) (3.13) Misti & Jim 3.67 (3.60) (3.75) Adam & Bethany 4.08 (4.10) (4.13) Brooke & Robbie 4.50 (4.50) (4.50) Amy & Maya Damn, the Candy Girls were persistent and consistent. Take away their best and worst legs, and they're still statistically mediocre. I don't think any other winning team has a worst average aside from Josh & Brent. ETA: For the record, I counted the last two episodes as having their own legs, as opposed to being one long leg.