Because I know you all wait breathlessly to hear how we did on the trivia each week… we lost last night. By one stinking point! We did beat our hated rivals (the “Rebels Without a Clue” team), but it was harsh to be so close and miss it. See if you can get some of the ones we missed: (1) What were the names of Marilyn Monroe’s three husbands? (We got two of those.) (2) What’s the term for the heart’s contraction that pumps blood throughout the body? (3) At which Olympics did Amy van Dyken win a bunch of swimming medals? If you can get those, you shoulda been there! We’d have won.

Australian Survivor News:
Oh my god. THAT SUCKED. I can’t put it any other way. You would’ve thought that no one could mess up such a surefire concept, but they did. My impressions:

• The theme song bites. It sounds more Irish than Australian.
• How much free shit are they gonna be provided with? As near as I could tell, each tribe got rice, cooking equipment, a tarp, a rope, blankets, a compass, fishing equipment, a shovel, and a machete. Why not a camp stove while you’re at it? Sheesh.
• Food is not going to be an issue. Each tribe pulled more fish out of the ocean in the first day than the Brits did all season.
• The first reward/immunity challenge was RIDICULOUS. First off, David from Kadina was allowed to “sit out” because he was sick! Therefore the other team had to lose a member. Outrageous. Then the challenge (which involved pulling logs out of the ocean to make a bridge across a fire pit, climbing a tower and lighting a torch, lighting spears off the torches to throw at a bonfire, and waiting for the bonfire to burn through a rope) ended up as a DRAW because the wind blew out both fires before they could burn high enough! The tribes had to come back and compete for immunity again the next day!
• The tie-breaker was a silly “true” or “false” quiz based on a history of the location that the host read two minutes before. Lucinda ended up losing it for Kadina.
• God I hate Lucinda. She’s like this 42-year-old soccer mom who’s trying to pretend to be 25 (i.e. she had tiny braids in her hair and she loved parading her bony ass around in a sports bra). She was so distraught after the challenge that she sobbed back at camp and told her teammates to vote for her. It was the most pathetic thing ever. (I almost wanted them to keep her around, just so I’d have someone to loathe a bit more.)
• Lucinda bit the big one. In fact, she was voted out 8-0! She voted for her damn self! That should be against the rules! And nobody called her on that shit!?

As you can see, I’ve been bitterly disappointed. I had high hopes, but the show let me down all over the place. And the contestants are all too nice! There hasn’t even been a whiff of an alliance yet. It better improve next week…

Thanks to John‘s heads-up, I just pre-ordered the My So-Called Life DVD. It ain’t cheap, but they’re only gonna do this once folks, so get in while you can.

Oscar nominees are out. A few thoughts:

• Good for Will Smith and Denzel Washington! For the first time ever, two black men are nominated in the “Best Actor” category.
• Renee Zellweger? Please. (I’m so over my pro-her phase.) All she did was put on a few pounds. Her accent was actually terrible, we discovered (when we didn’t watch the screen). Whoever thought that both Renee Zellweger and Ethan Hawke would be nominated for Oscars??
• I haven’t seen the movie, but doesn’t Jennifer Connelly have, like, the leading female role in A Beautiful Mind? Did they call it a supporting role just so she wouldn’t have to go up against Sissy Spacek?
• Personally, I think the artistic categories are the really difficult ones to call this year. I mean, the costumes in Moulin Rouge and Lord of the Rings were used for completely different purposes, and both brilliantly. How do you pick one over the other??
• It’s nice to see Amelie picked up a few. It’s a shoo-in for Best Foreign Film, I think, seeing as how I’ve never heard of any of the others.
• Wow. They caved to the critics and threw David Lynch a bone. My sister hated that movie.

I expect my friend Kel’s annual “Oscar Pick ‘Em Contest” e-mail to be arriving soon. Anybody got any hot tips?

I finished Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. Wow. I’m not even really sure what I think. It was so dense. I’ve got a few questions for the few of you that have read it. Go to the comments page to discuss…

Snookums and I decided last week that we wouldn’t be celebrating a traditional Valentine’s Day this year. Personally, I’ve always been bitter about the holiday because I never really had anyone special to share it with. (My relationships always seemed to implode about that time of year.) So we decided not to participate in something designed solely to sell merchandise and make single people feel crummy. That’s why I was super surprised when he came home with flowers for me yesterday afternoon. He said it was a non-Valentine’s Day present for me. He even remembered that gerberas are my favorites! What a sweetie. I’m feeling all warm and lovey-dovey now, but I promise to compose myself by Thursday. Okay, single people?

Is your house drafty? Never fear! It’s Tara D’s Craft Corner to the rescue! This week, TD teaches us how to make a draft snake. Now if I just had some decent pinking shears…

Australian Survivor starts tomorrow!
Tonight was the “Casting Special”, which showed clips from the 8500 audition tapes that were sent in. They had an entire section of people singing “I Will Survive” (a very common idea). Several people demonstrated their ability to eat gross things (including cow’s brains). There was a lot of animal wrestling. It was pretty funny. At the end they showed the tapes from the sixteen selected contestants. I haven’t made my selections for our Pick ‘Em game yet, but I’ve got a few hunches. I’ll let you know how I go.

Tara Lipinski is guest-starring on The Ice Dream tonight. She’s all grown up with alternative hair. She looks like some scary blonde Fairuza Balk.

Did you ever look for the star on a Tootsie Roll Wrapper? I was always told that if you found one, you could send it in for a prize (or make a wish on it or something). Turns out it’s just another urban legend.