Lantern7

I figured that there could be a thread for Amy's stand-up rountines, both on IAS and in general. I hear her a lot on XM (Comedy Central and Raw Dog), so I'm familiar with her stuff. Basically, she's the nice Jewish girl next door with a dark streak. I even went as far as seeing her perform several years ago at the Stress Factory in NJ. I told her that she got jobbed in Last Comic Standing and Reality Bites Back, and I meant it. She's that good of a comedian. As always, your milage may vary. BTW, "Mostly Sex Stuff" refers to her Comedy Central special, which is a blast to watch even if it's bleep-filled . . . especially the end, where she talks about attending a brunch with a friend who's just as slutty as her but is trying to impress her new friends.

Just found out that TARCon is likely done and over. I'm a big guy, so I know that I can watch the finale at home if needed. However, I was wondering if there was any chance that a transplant or two can take over. I would volunteer my services wherever I can*, and I don't need Racers past or present to show up. I just like watching the finale with like-minded fans. I don't consider a lack of TARCon to be a crisis, but I do feel it would be a huge bummer to not have. *I'd try to organize things, but the last time I did that, I wound up with a grand total of two other people for the finale of Mole 2. I don't have much going in my life, so I would be happy to assist.

I like Gail Simone a lot. I'll read anything she puts out . . . but after six issues of Red Sonja, I jumped off the wagon. I don't think I'm into swords and chain mail, even if the heroine is more snarky than usual.

Right now, I have four shows in front of me: the Asbury Park Comic Con next weekend, a one-day show at a New Jersey high school, AnimeNEXT in Somerset, and the Special Edition show in NYC. The latter is intriguing to me, since I didn't think I'd be back at the Javits Center until October. Also, I'm pumped that Gail Simone will be dropping by, since I haven't seen her in years. I'm thinking of getting my copy of Leaving Megapolis signed. ETA: I forgot about MoCCA Arts Fest . . . probably because there's no ticket reservations to be had. I'll be going there as well.

I go to comic cons from time to time. I try to devote one trip per year to go to a big con, in addition to stuff that's close to me in the NY/NJ area. Right now, I'm thinking of going to one of two cons in August: Boston for their comic con, or Toronto for my fourth Fan Expo Canada. I haven't been to Boston in ages, but I've had fun whenever I've gone to Toronto. What do you guys like to do at cons? My main thing is sketches, which you can see here. I also like bargain hunting, meeting friends, and hitting panels. I also try to do some tourist stuff whenever I can . . . last year, I was able to squeeze in a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, as well as a museum devoted to the history of sports in the area, as well as Babe Ruth's birthplace. I highly recommend going to San Diego for Comic Con International . . . it's basically Mecca for geeks. However, I'm aware that it's been getting tougher and tougher to attend. Crap, I got in on a press pass the last time I went in 2009. I will say that it's a great city to visit any time of year . . . especially if you go to the zoo. ETA for Chip: Heroes Con is a mash of big and indie cons. My problem was that there really wasn't anything to do in Charlotte outside of the convention. If you don't mind the mellowness, I'd recommend going there.

I jumped onto the Survivor bandwagon near the end of the first season, and I've been watching since. While I feel that the show is a shadow of itself and Jeff Probst has become a poor man's Jeff Probst, I still tune in every week. I'd like to think it's because of the occasional happy ending (Sandra winning her second title, for instance), but I guess I need to snark on hapless idiots every seven days. S28 has been chock full of those, especially Tony (Russell Hantz Overdrive), Trish (who's lucky Lindsey quit and didn't clean her clock), and J'Tia (perhaps the worst player ever, or at least in recent memory). FTR, I'm rooting for Spencer, but I'm thinking Probst would die of embarrassment if a "brain" won. And I'm willing to bet that we'll have more "all stars" flooding future seasons, particularly for S30.

Hi. I offically got on board TAR with the second season, and I haven't looked back. Sure, the show has had some decline in it, but I still feel it's the best reality show on TV today*. You got travel porn, people under pressure, animals, locals gawking at those wacky Americans, and the hardest working host in reality television. How has Phil Keoghan not won an Emmy? I've also gone to all but one TARCon (the original), and I hope the tradition will continue. You can check out my pics among my Flickr sets; they date back to TARCon 4 in 2003. *ETA: I admit that I don't watch a lot of reality shows nowadays, but I feel that most have been in decline, so TAR still holds up for the aforementioned reasons.

In my mind, they're as capable of screwing up as any other team. In fact, I was worried that their log mishaps would doom them. Instead, they merely took their leave of the front of the pack for the first time, finishing fourth out of seven. And yes, seeing Jessica & John outrun the older Dave was distressing . . . but I have faith in Dave & Conner, and I'm hoping they shock the Cowboys and Afghanimals in the long run.

What do you take away from the RW season that took place during the cusp of the Reality Revolution? For me, there's Julie and her Mormon ways (becoming the biggest ingenue since Julie in the original season); David, his massive ego, and "Come On Be My Baby Tonight"; Matt being really, really white; Danny, his sweaters, his sexiness, and his blur-faced boyfriend Paul; Melissa, perhaps the most intentionally funny cast member in the show's history; the Mardi Gras episode; and their cable access show. I reckon this season is a standout from start to finish.

Editor's Note: Discuss Too Cute! here. In brief: Too Cute! is a show on Animal Planet that usually focuses on kittens and puppies, from shortly after birth to their eventual journeys to their "forever homes." It is unbearably sweet, very funny, and seldom dull. Viewers have gotten warm fuzzies over the Coton de Tulear puppies and their encounters with Pipsqueak the psycho pygmy goat, Moxie the French Bulldog momma who liked to watch her "stories" on TV, and the multiple puppy howl-off between Alaskan Malamutes. Yes, I'm more into puppies, but the kitten episodes are usually cute as well.

I got my start on TWoP posting on RW. I shortened my e-mail nickname to "Lantern7" in part because there were seven roommates in any given season of RW. These days, I think that the show should be put down hard . . . yet I can't seem to quit it. Even with Corey and Brian trying to outmeathead each other, Jay being a p-hound to Jenna's chagrin, Jamie's possessiveness and Thomas' douchebaggery, and the horror that was Ashley (the Southern party girl, not the lesbian ex), I still tune in every week with little fail. And I know that I'm never gonna see Arielle or Ashley (her lesbian ex) again, because they're way too normal for BMP. As for watching the show . . . I know I got into it in 1992, and I think I jumped off around '96, when I was crushing on Sarah, the tomboy blonde who worked at Wildstorm Comics. I got back on the horse midway through NOLA (crushing on Melissa in the process), and I haven't looked back, even though I should jump off. The seasons kinda blur into one another . . . I look at old posts I made on the TWoP thread, and I try to remember getting worked up over people I pretty much forgot about today. For anybody who wants to kill a few minutes . . . here's Vulture.com's 18 Most Annoying Roommates list. I can't agree with a lot of it, but it's so hard to argue with the top two on the list.

I got into DW thanks to TWoP and Jacob's recaps. If you look at my avatar/icon/whatever, you'll see it's a headshot of Ten/David Tennant. I like getting sketches from comic book artists, and I got one of Ten from Humberto Ramos. It was my first DW sketch, and it was far from the last. Three of my most popular sketches came from cartoonist Roger Langridge, whose work can be seen on Doctor Who Magazine . . . featuring Four, Nine and Ten. As to the spoiler . . . Moffat, what are you doing? It's not the worst idea he's had, but why make things complicated?

Recently, Vulture.com did a "Rumble" which pitted the greatest reality seasons against each other, and RW3 was the representative for The Real World. It's hard to argue with that. The balance was amazing . . . you had a guy with a compromised immune system and an asshole with diseases oozing out of his scabs, a conservative student and a liberal cartoonist, a naive girl and an overacheiving med student, and then there was Mohammed, perhaps the most neutral of roommates. It's hard to argue with the show's legacy. Although two roommates have been seen on the Challenge (three if you count Rachel on Road Rules: All-Stars), they're a pretty visible bunch. Rachel got hitched to Sean Duffy, and she keeps squeezing out kid after kid. Judd was a mainstay at DC Comics for a while, and he created two memorable characters in Barry Ween and Juniper Lee (who had a series on Cartoon Network), and he married his crush Pam to boot. And Pedro is still a go-to figure in relation to understand AIDS. BTW, I never got the hate about him being a "martyr." To me, he spent his final few years on Earth trying to get people not to make the mistakes he did. If you come across a copy of Pedro & Me, please read it. I know there's a lot of Judd-hate out there, but he crafted a great story on his roommate, and I don't feel it was exploitive at all.

"Minor Ruckus" works for me, even though I can't stand the character. Have you ever wanted to beat up a tuba player just for his entrance music? I'm not there, but I'm close. Quick heads up . . . last night, while watching the Toonami block, I saw a commercial with clips from the fourth season. I'm pumped, mostly because of the music, fistfights, and heavy-handed storytelling. Also, Stinkmeaner seems to be back from the dead, and his stories are always funny. Remember the Hateocracy from the third season, with Bushido Brown getting beheaded? And the Freemans doing a collective "OH, SHIT!"? Good times . . . unless you're Bushido, of course.

Sadly, this show is my jam. I recapped four seasons on another site, and I did two more on my blog. It's a trainwreck from start to finish, and I know that I should quit it, but I just can't. Occasionally, you have a happy ending, like CT winning Rivals II last season with that ginger jackass Wes. But more often than not, it's a huge pain in the ass. If anybody has a twelve-step program on swearing off Bunim-Murray programming, I'd like to hear it.

I've been rooting for these two from the start. I feel that the editors have been leaning on them too much in regards to Dave's injury in TAR22, and I can see how that would wear on some viewers. And yeah, we haven't learn much about Conner in his two tours of duty. But I feel that they're good drama-free Racers, and I'm hoping they pull off the win in the end.