Whine & Cheese

Why Didn't I Think Of This?!

I was cruising around the TV Guide website looking for a link for a future blog entry and stumbled across a new feature/poll called You Sexy Thing.  Every other Tuesday, the site will offer up two sexy celebs (not sure if they'll always be male) and ask the public to pick a "winner."

This week is a particularly tantalizing two-some... Jason Lewis (for me, forever Smith Jerrod from Sex and The City) vs. Josh Holloway (Sawyer from Lost).

Now this one was a tough one for me... I probably spent a bit too time staring at the screen and muttering "damn you TV Guide!" under my breath as I pondered my "final answer."   

Now, if I was just looking at pictures with no prior knowledge of either guy or if I had never watched Lost, it would have been a slam-dunk for Jason.  But I am familiar with both and do watch Lost... and Josh, just has this wild, naughty, bad-boy, animal sex magnetism going for him... not that Jason/Smith was lacking in that department (!!) and plus he also had a tender side (I am well aware that morphing "character" into the real person).

So... my choice this week is Jason Lewis!
(Sidenote:  Did you know Jason is romantically linked with Rosario Dawson?)

When I voted, Josh was leading with 58% of the vote.  Who's your pick?

If I remember to check in and the "quality" of the poll continues to be anything like this one... I will make this a regular feature here at W&C...  TV Guide shouldn't mind as long as I link... right?!

Why-Oming

Don't really have too many thoughts about last night's episode entitled "Don't Talk To Me Like I Was An Animal Or Something."

After a quick spin around the Web this morning, we all seem to be in agreement... last night was likely the most boring episode of The Not-So Amazing Race ever!   A balloon ride, waiting for Old Faithful (which one Racer comically referred to as "a fountain"), all ending with a Weaver yelling at Phil "How long is this leg going to go on?".... believe me, I was about to ask Jesus the same thing myself...

Yes, it was the dreaded "To Be Continued..." "it is, but it isn't" non-Philimination episode!   TWoP noted in their update that a team has not been eliminated since November 8th!   So while I saved this episode for Todd, I think this is one episode best watched with a finger on the Fast Forward button (hey, what happened to the fast forwards?).

Another thing most folks are mentioning is what the heck is going on with another "production error" that drained a team's car battery.  Last week it was the Godlewskis, this week the Linzeszeszesss  ... sending them from first to (what likely would have been) last place... yes, it was a non-Philimination, but still... 10 minutes (and the delay was likely far longer than that) would have made a big difference in last night's episode.  But I am sure they'll all be bunched up again soon.

The Linz boys had the best line from last night's episode... I don't know which one's which... but one was saying something that it only took him "three strokes" to get the railroad spike in, with his brother adding it only takes him "that long in bed" as well.  I'm surprised the censors let that one through... but the Linzes are evil... masturbation double entendres... plus NOT pulling off the road for outgoing traffic... I have a feeling that traffic rule would have been different if the Weavers were going the other way.

Will be back with some more stuff later today... so, in TAR-speak...  to be continued...

Reunion Cancelled

Entertainment Weekly is reporting the Fox series 'Reunion' has been cancelled.

Too bad, I was just catching up on a 3-episode backlog of episodes on TiVo.  Since not many of you are likely watching (it is up against 'CSI' and 'Apprentice'), this was the series about 6 high school friends, where one of them is murdered in the present day, but each episode is largely a flashback to a year in their lives.  So the first episode had the group graduating in 1986, the next episode was 1987, etc... with the season ultimately ending in 2005.

Now while the concept was brilliant, the execution was anything but.  On pure nostalgia factor, the first couple of episodes were really quite enjoyable... the next few were just downright bad... but 2 of 3 episodes I watched over the past couple days have been "guilty pleasure" fun... still bad, but "bad is good."   

Each episode was chockfull of twists and turns that would put 'Dallas' or 'Dynasty' to shame.  For example, one of the characters leaves the country to have a baby (by her boyfriend/future husband's best friend!), puts it up for adoption, has remorse and eventually tracks down the baby, gets her best friend to become the baby's nanny so she can see the child, adoptive mother leaves the family, the nanny/best friend starts sleeping with the husband, becomes of mother figure to the baby, adoptive mother returns and tells nanny her husband is abusive, husband finds out and gets abusive with nanny!   Not Emmy material, but kinda fun.

But now it appears that the series will stop somewhere in the early 90s and we'll never get the full story.  I think Fox should have just bit the bullet and let the series run for a full season... it is one of the shows that would have been a challenge to come up with another season anyhow.  Now I am not depressed or anything about this, I'll gladly accept getting 40 minutes of TiVo availability back (just in time for the return of '24' and 'Idol")... but it is still kind of a bum deal.

In the same article, EW also reports the demise of the 'Threshold' (poor Carla Cugino!) and the ABC sitcom 'Hot Properties' - none of which I watch... and I am sure 'Alias' fans have already read that the show will end its run in May.

In pick-up news, a long rumored Nick Lachey sitcom on the WB appears to be finally about to become a reality -- where he'll play -- a newlywed!

UPDATE:  Zap2It has a piece on the 'Reunion' cancellation as well... suggesting the show might skip some years in order to provide better resolution (though no offficial word from producers)... the same article, also mentions that 'Prison Break' will be back in March, two months ahead of the earlier reported May return.

UPDATE Dec 19th:  Reunion ends even sooner than expected, a show rep says the episode that aired on Dec. 15th ("1994") was the series' final episode.

Winter Wonderland

Winter officially arrived here in Phoenix.  On Friday, I was putting up Christmas lights in a t-shirt and shorts (not terribly unusual), but today I woke up to a temperature of 36 degrees... which is a bit odd, since we only tend to have a handful of days when we hit the freezing mark here in the Valley of the Sun. 

But even if it does warm up again, our front yard is officially a pretty non-denominational Winter Wonderland!  Yes, I went from unprepared just less than a week ago... to all decked out over this past weekend.

So get something to drink, sit down, relax... this is going to be a ramble... or just skip to the end of this post and look at the pictures.

As mentioned briefly in yesterday's post, Todd left for France on Saturday morning for a business trip (believe me, it is not as exciting as it sounds)... and despite having a crap-load of stuff to get done, he wanted to help me get beyond the holiday decorating stress exhibited in that particular post from last week.  So much of early Friday, we bucked the "Black Friday" crowds and went in search of a new Christmas tree and new decorations for our front yard.

Our bad luck continued... or else I was just being too damn picky.  We hit about 5 different stores and really nothing was jumping out as "it."   We then went to a pool supply store that transforms itself into a holiday store... and I think I may have audibly gasped when we walked in... everything was really beautiful.  Well, until we started looking at the prices... this tree $1700, the next one... ooh, a bargain at $895... and these were all with alleged 40% discounts!   They also had some nice outdoor stuff, but again a bit pricey.  While I am sure we would have had years and years and years of use from one of those trees, it just seemed too unnecessary to shell out that much cash for something that is just in use for a few weeks a year.

So with still and empty car we headed back home... and let's just say I was not heeding the warning of "you better not pout"... I do not hide "unhappy" well and Todd knew it.  So after lunch, we headed back to Home Depot (a trip we would make 4-5 more times over the weekend... buy some of their stock!) and bought a fairly decent Christmas tree.  At this point, I just wanted something (anything!)... I wasn't excited about it... but now that it is up in our TV room (still waiting to be decorated) I am pretty happy with it ... it fits much better in the space and most importantly it does not lean!

Then Todd suggested we go back to the pool store and get the outdoor decorations we liked... it was way more than I intended on spending on re-inventing our front yard display... but Todd insisted and also insisted on paying for everything himself.  So finally... mission accomplished!

While Todd ran to the office to get his computer and get packed for his trip, I started working on the front yard.   Three hours later I was done and we had one of our typical "arguments"... he thought I was made that he didn't help out, I thought he was mad because I did it all myself.  All very "Gift of the Magi"... but we quickly settled it and it didn't escalate into someone getting really mad over not being mad... got that?

So our front yard display is bigger and better than ever!

Since we moved to this house, I envisioned this idea and generally stuck with it over the years... we have a hill in our front yard... so I surround the hill with blue lights to achieve an "island" effect.  I saw this on a holiday show (on HGTV I think) and really liked the idea.  You then add in some white chaser lights into the blue lights to achieve a motion effect. 

But I felt the need to shake it up a bit this year...  the past three years, we have just had a Santa sleigh and 3 animated "flying" reindeer on the island.  It was kind of a pain to put together... and the white light/wired reindeer are all over the neighborhood in some form or another... so they are out!

So at the pool store, we Todd bought new island inhabitants...  a polar bear and a snowman ... both are animated, moving their head back and forth. 

Also, I decided to light up the island  for the first time this year... putting down white lights to achieve a snow-covered effect.  Actually a mix of 3 different types of white lights:  big white lights, regular/small Christmas tree white lights, and small white lights that twinkle.

I was really quite happy with the end result.  It was nice to have people slow down as they drove by (well, we have a speed bump in front of our house... so they have to slow down anyhow!)... or even a few who yelled out the window that it looked nice... or have kids ride by on their bikes and say "cool" or something.

So here are some pictures.  I couldn't quite get the pictures perfect... using the flash, exposes all the ugly wiring on the ground... and not using the flash, the camera just didn't want to focus right (I know there is a way around this, but I didn't feel like taking the time to figure it out!)... so apologies that some of these are fuzzy... but you get the idea.

Here is a pic with the "flash" ... and probably the clearest view of the new polar bear and the snowman. This picture is taken from the street towards our house/yard.

A fuzzy "non-flash" version of the previous picture.... but you see the "concept"... I joked that those of a more cynical nature may view this display as the warning signs of global warming... as the polar bear and the snowman are marooned on the island and can't get off!

A reverse view... from our house out towards the street.  A better view of the full water effect.

I didn't count the number of lights... kept on adding on (those extra trips back to Home Depot!), but I figure there are about 1,700 lights on the "island" ... NOT including the polar bear and the snowman... and probably at least 2,000 blue lights to create the lake/river/bay.

Believe it or not, our yard probably qualifies as "middle range" holiday display in our 'hood.  The house across the way is on the "holiday light map" and has about 10,000 lights and there are a few more houses in our development that are on that competitive level.   

But after a lot of stressin' about what to do and how to do it...  I am really quite thrilled with the new display, though it was certainly a challenge to get it all plugged in and working on all those timers (three of them!).

No, Fine... Just Looking

I will tell you all about Thanksgiving and holiday preparations on Monday (I hope!), but just had to share a pretty funny experience that happened to me today...

Just a little bit of a warning, it is a tad risque... but since Todd left yesterday for an out of the country business trip for the week, I just have no one else to tell it to!   But don't get too excited, I am keeping it fairly PG-13.

So, I decided to take a run to the "sensual superstore" today.  In the past, we've had to drive into Phoenix to get to the major one that is not around any other major businesses, homes, schools, civilization.  But recently, and after some serious controversy over worries of it "ruining the neighborhood," one was built right here in the middle of suburbia.  To give you an idea, it is on the opposite corner of a Baja Fresh and an Olive Garden and Petsmart is just about 1/4 mile down the road... so you can run all your "everyday" errands and also pop in here in one convenient trip!

Anyhow, I needed to run in to get the one item that always needs gettin' ... but have been threatening to look around the place a bit more and see what else they have to offer.  So with Todd gone and being bored...  I had some time to kill... so what the heck, right?!

This has to be the friendliest adult store in the world... you are always warmly greeted at the door.  Well, actually they are checking for underage kids... or like one time I was there, when a couple had the balls to enter the store with an infant in a carrier!  So the gal said hello and asked me how my day was... hi... fine ... and off I went browsing.

There was a middle age couple looking around the same section I was... so despite thinking that this is an "we're all consenting adults" and "not that's there's anything wrong with it" experience, I admit that it was still a tad awkward bobbing and weaving past them around the different displays.

But the kicker was in about 5-10 minutes time, 3 different employees came by both myself and this couple and asked if we needed any help.  Again, super friendly and really quite genuine... but I think both of us were like... ummm, that's okay... we're fine... leave us alone... pretty please... as we weren't exactly at Target trying to find where the Q-Tips were.   Well, just let's us know if you have any questions.  Umm... okay, thanks!

In the meantime, another middle age woman is walking around the aisles and talking on a cell phone!  Thankfully the conversation had nothing to do with what she was looking at ... just some innocuous chatter, but I wondered if the person on the other end of the line knew where she was... probably as most folks I find usually like to announce their location (I'm on the airplane we just pulled in, I'm at the ballpark, I am taking a dump in the a bathroom at Caesars Palace).

Anyhow, after being overwhelmed by a dizzying array of products, I make my selection and go off to pay.  There is a gal and a guy employee at the counter.  Again, very warmly greeted... how are you today... did I find what I was looking for... yeah, yeah.  Then the gal starts admiring my purchase and says she hasn't seen it before... the guy cuts in (at this point I am 95% sure he is "family") and they start talking all about what I am buying... at this point, I likely have my frozen/fake smile on... the guy gives the stamp of approval to the item... blah, blah... and oy... I am just looking to pay and get out of there! 

Alas it is over... the guy walks my purchase past the alarmed gates... and both wish me a nice day and happy holidays!   Bye, I say... and think it is quite funny, that I got more "assistance" (or the threat of it!) in about 15 minutes time than I did in about the 2 hours I spent waiting for someone to sell me a car at the MINI dealership!

Christmas Music 2005

Just wanted to come back and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving... have a great long weekend and hope you are all spending it with some of the special people in your life.

After purchasing my Christmas cards for this year (hurray), it kind of got me a little bit in the holiday mood... so I decided to rip some holiday CDs.  It is really hard to believe that this is the first holiday season that we have iPods... so now we have about 4 hours of holiday music at our fingertips... which is really quite enough!  I don't know about you, but there is only so much holiday music I can take. 

If you want a W&C "blast from the past" check out this December 2003 (yikes!) post where I blogged about the my favorite and least favorite holiday music... nearly two years later it is still pretty darn accurate.

I did make a few iTunes purchases to round things out... here are the ones I thought were well worth the 99 cents:

What Christmas Means To Me - Stevie Wonder
One of my favorite non-traditional holiday songs... and Stevie is the only one that I want to hear sing it.  Just a lot of fun.

Christmas Time Is Here - Vince Guaraldi Trio
You might be going... huh?  But if you ever watched "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (and if you haven't, what planet do you live on?), you'll be very familiar with this one.

Baby It's Cold Outside - Nick & Jessica
Ok, this is just me fantasizing being Jessica... but the song would be much shorter. 
Me:  I really can't stay
Nick: Baby it's cold outside
Me: Umm... I got to go away?
Nick: Baby it's cold outside
Me: Ok, I'll stay
UPDATE:  Whoops!  It's was just a joke Jess, didn't mean to break you guys up!

O Holy Night - Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Josh Gracin
This is probably my all-time favorite holiday song... so I always love to hear different version of it, though my intention was not to buy 3 more versions of it.  These are all very different.... Josh Groban's version is simply sublime, Celine of course divas it up, and a country take on it from Josh Gracin (and iTunes exclusive).

Do You Hear What I Hear? - Linda Eder, Whitney Houston
Again, one of my favorites.  Eder is well-known for her Broadway work, so you might not be too familiar with her (I know I'm not), but love her take on this one... think Streisand (who she is often compared to) meets Gospel meets 'The Lion King.'   Also, like the "classic" Whitney version and would recommend her "Joy To the World" as well (already had that one on a holiday compilation CD).

All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
I am not a big fan of Mariah... even less so as the years have gone on... but she totally kicks ass on this one... just joyful and toe-tapping.   Probably my favorite Mariah tune, holidays or not.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving and probably not see you back until next week!

And God Says... Not Just Yet

Thoughts on last night's episode "How's That Face Feel?"...

Well, actually I don't have a lot of thoughts about last night's episode of The Amazing Race.  Again, there wasn't a whole lot of excitement... as a TAR fanatic I know that as soon as Phil mentions the "yield" it is going to be a non-Philimination.  So I knew the Weavers would be saved... whether we or even they wanted it to be otherwise.

I just don't know what to say about the Weavers at this point.  I was almost (almost!) felt sorry for them last night.  It just seemed that pretty much everything they said was something horrible or hypocritical... so the editing is definitely manipulative in making them the "villians" of this season's Race... but I also say there is no such thing as a "bad" edit.   There certainly seems to be more things brewing behind the scenes with the Weavers vs. the other teams beyond what the family is saying amongst themselves.  I just can't wait to hear what they have to say about it on The Early Show.  I would hope that they could learn something looking at it from outside in, but I suspect they will still be in a serious state of denial. 

But if I could cherry-pick a bible quote for the Weavers I would offer up this one (now I am not religious, I was only looking for the exact quote of the first line, but what followed seemed even more appropriate!):

“Do not judge lest you be judged.  For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.  And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye, and behold, the log is in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Otherwise, I spent last night's episode wondering which Linz boy I would rather... <ahem!> ... "go on a detour" with:

Nick or Alex... Alex or Nick... hmmmmm?

Finally, on a side TAR-related note, Aaron from TAR6 left me a comment on an old post yesterday... you can check it out here.  Aaron has given up pursuing a career in the entertainment business and is quite happy and doing well in culinary school.  Good for him!  He is still living in LA but hopes to move back to Chicago next summer.

Unprepared

With two days to go until Thanksgiving, I am feeling woefully unprepared... for Christmas ("thanks" to Todd's parents, who have the turkey day responsibilities).

I am just not ready for Christmas in any way shape or form.   You think I would be more prepared since the stores were already decking their halls with Christmas stuff even prior to Halloween.

I don't have a clue what to get anyone for the holiday.  The parents are notoriously difficult to shop for and that has not improved as time has gone on.  For my nephew, I am not in the loop of what are the hot items for kids.  Last week, I was excited when I got a cool wine basket catalog -- something for my brother & sister-in-law... until I read the fine print and saw they do not live in one of the 17 states that allow wine shipments.  And I am even clueless when it come to Todd.  Heck, I can't even come up with something that I want that I can pass off as a gift for him our "the house."

But I am more stressed about the pre-Christmas stuff.

We were planning on getting a new Christmas tree this year.  The first year we moved into the house we bought a pre-lit tree well ahead of the holiday season.  A month or so later when we put it up, we realized it was missing some piece, so we have had to do this little fix to prevent it from leaning at a fairly noticeable angle.  We looked at some trees this weekend, but they all seem pretty crappy.  Fake trees are looking more fake than ever!

Likewise, I was thinking of changing up our outdoor display.  Again, after 3 years it seems like it was time to mix it up... not that we are trying to compete with the 60,000 light display with huge wood cutout figures house just across the street.  But again, we go into the stores and nothing really is floating my boat.  I saw these lighted Christmas penguins in a Sunday flyer one week. I thought they were at Lowe's, but they were not.  Some eavesdropping fellow shopper told us she thought they were at K-Mart ... but with all the recent K-Mart store closures, the closest one is like 15 miles away... which kind of seems insane (considering we used to have 2 within five miles).  So we might just have to stick to our lighted "flying" reindeer.

Heck... I don't even have one of my easiest pre-Christmas items... my Christmas cards!   Since moving to Arizona, I have sent out Southwestern-themed holiday cards (since 90% of my cards are out of state).  That makes the decision of what card to get pretty easy, since there are not a huge selection... but finding them is the hard part.   I went to my usual card store on Sunday and you guessed it... crappy selection.  I have another store in mind, but if that doesn't work out I will be in full panic mode.

And I don't know where I am going to find the time to rectify all of this since apparently we have to put our house up for sale by the end of the week.  Saturday we headed over to Scott & Buckaroo's for an evening of fun, food and games... and we even got to meet "The Pacer" (again signed confidentiality documents forbid me from revealing any further details)... appropriately enough, the night started off with Wine & Cheese.  I joked that only I put the "H" in W(h)ine. 

Despite my going into a wine-induced giggle fit over a game that required us to "name 5 things to complete the phrase: small _____" (you can probably guess my 'mind in the gutter'  response), Scott was not scared away and tried to convince us that we should move to the recently vacated house across the street from them.   And if Scott is one thing, persistent it is ... so he has taken his campaign public. 

While it would be nice to actually know our neighbors, our current HOA rules and regulations highly discourage any interaction with the folks next door, so I am not sure we could deal with such a dramatic "social" change.  And thinking back to my college days when friends were just down the hall, I don't think I would get any work done!  And to top it off, S&B's street has two MINI Cooper owners already... so my springtime arrival wouldn't be very special or unique parked out on that street!   Hey guys, we have a couple of house for sale on our street, too!

UPDATE:  Just got back from the card store... I have my Christmas cards!  I am quite pleased with it, it is both Southwestern and a little bit funny too!

Random Friday Ramblings

We built this beautiful new stadium and no one shows up! 

That is what the folks in Shanghai have been saying this week. It has not been a good first year for the brand spanking new Qi Zhong Stadium.  The stadium is supposed to resemble a magnolia blossom... and even cooler yet, the roof is retractable!

But the stadium is probably the biggest attraction at this year's Tennis Masters Cup - the big year-ending event on the professional men's tennis tour.

The event is supposed to feature the Top 8 players of the year in a round-robin event.  Astonishingly enough, 3 of those 8 either did not make over to China due to injury/personal reasons and 2 more withdrew prior to or shortly after their first match.  The ATP Tour is having a hard time explaining this to tournament officials... calling it a "perfect storm" and promising there will likely not be a repeat any time soon. 

I am guessing those who do not follow tennis likely are more familiar with the players NOT playing... Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, and Marat Safin... than those who ARE on the court.  So the Cup is pretty much just left with #1 Roger Federer, who has been a bit hobbled with an ankle injury of his own.  Heck, even as a pretty rabid tennis fan, I am finding it hard to muster up some enthusiam over a Nikolay Davydenko vs. Mariano Puerta match!

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What exactly did Jennifer Aniston do to be named "Woman of the Year"?  Well, except to agree to be photographed on the cover of a men's magazine with half a breast exposed.

Despite being accused of some recent Jen bashing in my household, I really do like her just fine... she genuinely seems like a nice person and I do think she is quite a attractive.  It is just every so often, I experience some "Jen fatigue."  Like when news of the divorce from Brad Pitt hit... or during the never-ending "Friends is ending" media coverage... or when she got married to Brad Pitt... or when "the Rachel" hair-do was all the rage... but other than those times, I really don't mind her at all... seriously!

Now she has publicly handled the divorce with all the grace and dignity you can ask ... but I just tired of seeing her have to dance around the topic on every single talk show in the country (and also her new non-relationship with Vince Vaughn)... it is really no one's business, despite these talks shows trying to convince us otherwise.

But Woman of the Year?  Now, I realizes this is not Time Magazine... so it is of no real consequence... more of a marketing ploy... but c'mon she got a divorce, made a movie (or two), and had to go on the press junket from hell... is this really an accomplishment?  Now, Angelina Jolie wooing Pitt away from America's Sweetheart... now that's doing something!

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Note to future Survivors:  You want to keep the annoying guy!

It was another classic Survivor repeat blunder on last night's show.  With all the tribe shuffling, I have lost track of who was on what tribe... but going into the merge it was 6 vs. 4... the plan (as it always is) is for the 6 to get rid of 4 before turning on each other.  But this never ends up happening... and "the plan" got thrown to the curb again last night.

Now I could certainly sympathize with the Survivors, we only saw part of Jamie's paranoic ramblings on last night's show and I was rolling my eyes and thinking to myself "shuuuut the ff&$#ck up" ... but this is the under-rated "survival" part of Survivor.  Sure the elements, lack of food, physical contests, being away from your family are all tough... but keeping around a person you (and no one else!) can't stand ultimately ends up being the one challenge most Survivor contestants fail at.

I think anyone could have won in the finale over Jamie.  Heck, even Lydia... who Probst just stopped short of calling a "capital-L" Loser during last night's challenges.

Now, we'll just see if the women are smart enough to take advantage of this abandonment of the 6 vs. 4 plan.  The ladies now have a 4-3 advantage... pick off each of the guys.... barring an individual immunity the following week the original trio of Steph, Cindy and Lydia then knock out Danni... Steph and Cindy battle it out to take Lydia to the final and take the crown.  Easy, huh?  But we all know that is not going to happen... it never does!

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Finally (!!), Oprah's topic yesterday was When I Knew I Was Gay. 

Well, actually the first half hour was devoted to that specific topic... with the remainder of the show focused on an 18 year old lesbian dealing with her mother's not-so wonderful reaction to her relationship with a 21 year old "I never was attracted to another woman before her" girlfriend (in the name of Anne Heche, run young girl run!)

So that got me thinking... when did I know?  "Know" not being acceptance or action (that's a whole other post...or not!). 

But one memory does stand out to me... and as embarrassing as it is, I guess I will fess up.  One time when I was shopping for spiral-bound single-topic notebooks for the new school year, I remember being drawn to one featuring a shirtless Dirk Benedict of Battlestar Galatica... well, not he had a sweater with the sleeves thrown over his shoulders and tied together over his chest (quite the fashion statement, huh?).  Not this picture here... which is really quite more gay than this particular notebook cover (don't you just love the unbuttoned denim shorts?).  The funny thing is I don't even remember if I watched the show... but Dirk was pretty hunky at the time.  So how old did that make me... well a quick check shows Battlestar aired in 1978... so that would have made me 10 or 11.

But I am sure I "knew" well before that... flipping through 70s pictures to find that Dirk picture stirred up some other memories.  I seem to remember being a fan of Nancy Drew (played by future Dynasty star, Pamela Sue Martin), but having a pull towards the Hardy Boys (Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson)... both of those were circa 1977... and I think I was even guilty of getting an issue of Tiger Beat (or two)... so gay, gay, gay, gay...  I guess I should stop my mental teasing of Carson Kressley!

Ana Lucia Makes It To The Merge

Last night's episode of Lost got me thinking that this was just the Survivor episode from hell.  Wouldn't Mark Burnett just kill (whoops, bad analogy) for a cast like this!

When we rounded the the corner and ended up in the same place where we finished last week... I half expected Jeff Probst to pop out from behind Sayid and the dying Shannon and yell out "C'mon in Guys" to Ana Lucia & crew.

At one point last evening, I was thinking... shouldn't these people be happier?!  They've made it to the merge!  After watching Survivor, the ONE thing I do know is that you want to make it to the merge!   Granted on the island of Lost  when the "tribe has spoken" one is not exactly whisked off to a nice hotel for some food and a shower.  Take this picture for instance.... Ana Lucia wins the immunity challenge... but something appears to have gone terribly awry!  Ouch!

But all the signs were there for a tribal merge.  One tribe has been fairly decimated... there was the unexpected tribe switcheroo with Sawyer, Jin, and Michael joining the other tribe for a bit.  Where will their loyalties lie when they return to camp?  We even had the surprise double-elimination with the disappearance of Cindy and the Shannon "oops" moment ahead of the merge.

So the dynamics of the merged tribe should be interesting.  Ana Lucia has likely sufficiently pissed off Sayid.... so that should make the whole Bobby Jon/Jamie Guatemalan "in your face" rivalry look like a couple of school boys fighting on the playground.  Then we have what I assume will be a juicy Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Ana Lucia love triangle square... and who is not looking forward to the reunion of Rose and Bernard!

As Probst would snarkily say at the end of a tribal council... it looks like these folks have a lot of issues to work through... now grab your torches and head back to camp!