It’s cool to be a nerd.
So where was I last night when I wasn’t watching Survivor? I was seeing They Might Be Giants in concert! It was seriously one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. It was at the same venue as the Wheatus show, but fortunately the “oi-OI!” girls were nowhere to be seen. In fact, it was a Sea of Geeks. Snookums speculated that “half the servers in London are gonna go down tonight”, judging by the rampant and obvious system administrator drunkenness going on around us. It was worth it though. The guys don’t play London very often, and they seemed genuinely surprised that so many people showed up. (I think it ended up being sold out.) They played for almost two hours, and the set included stuff from their new upcoming album as well as every fan favorite from their back catalog. Snookums nearly fell out of his chair when John launched into “Particle Man” and “Doctor Worm”. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a crowd of people frantically pogo-ing and rocking out to “Birdhouse in Your Soul” and “Your Racist Friend”. They even did “The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)” and the incredibly weird “Fingertips”. My favorite moment, though, happened during “Twisting”. As soon as the song started, Snookums and I looked at each other and laughed. Pizza Hut’s been using it in commercials here for their new Twisted Crust pizza. Yes, a song about suicide to advertise pizza. Anyway, in the middle of the song, quiet John threw a “pizzaaaaaa” in the chorus. It was hilarious. Seriously, go buy all of their albums right now.
New Poll: I just had to ask. Who do you think is going to win Survivor? (If you’re not British, I’ve supplied descriptions and links to their profiles.)
Hmmm. As I was typing up the list, I just noticed something. Richard has admitted to studying the US version of the show. Look at who’s left and compare it to the American final three. You’ve got Richard himself, who is obviously playing the “Richard Hatch” role. Then there’s Mick, the old curmudgeon (i.e. Rudy). He’s essential because Richard can beat him in the final immunity challenge, or if the third person wins, they’re more likely to pick Richard to go to the Jury than the nice old guy that didn’t really piss anybody off. Ah, so that leaves us with just one person – the mythical Kelly Wigglesworth. Is it Charlotte or Jackie? Richard obviously wants it to be Jackie, knowing that she’s even more hated than he is. Charlotte’s got too many friends on the jury. So I predict that unless she scores the Immunity idol next week, the Harlotte will be tossed. Too bad.
Huh. Apparently Dave Prowse, who played (the body of) Darth Vader in all three Star Wars movies, has been having some health problems. He’s recovering from some scary operations on his spine. “Maybe the Force was with me,” he said afterwards. I met him a year and a half ago at a collector’s fair in Wembley and he seemed really nice. I’ve got an autographed picture somewhere… I should dig that out and scan it.
Nice article about John Hughes over at Salon. But no mention of Ferris? Shocking omission.
Hmmm. There’s a UK Bloggers meet-up this Saturday in Hyde Park. Should I go? On one hand, it might be fun to meet some of these folks. On the other hand, I’m not British, I’m just a re-located American. I’d feel weird. And the whole point of me having a weblog that I do better on paper than I do in person. I’m really shy around people I don’t know. The blog is where I spout all the crap that would normally only be heard by Snookums and the other people in my house. I dunno. Am I overanalyzing? Should I just suck it up and go? What if I stand around by myself the whole time?
“If you’re a seriously overweight white woman, losing 65 pounds is likely to be as lucrative as an extra year of college or three extra years of work experience.” As if I needed another reason to go to the gym.
Poor Napster. First they bend over and take it from Metallica, and now they’re ditching the mp3 format? Stick a fork in ’em; they’re done.
At long last! Someone has discovered why the shower curtain sucks in. Snookums and I have argued that one before. He was a fan of the hot-air-rising theory, while I stuck to the Bernoulli principle. The real answer is even cooler: a mini-hurricane forms in your shower! (NYT link requires free registration.)
I was happy to note that Google was not named in the complaint filed by Nader’s consumer group about search engine payola.
U.K. Survivor Update
Oh. My. God. You will not believe what a petty little troll Eve is! At least she’s gone. This is yet another episode that I missed (for reasons that shall become clear in a moment), but here are the highlights from the episode summary:
- After Zoe’s departure, Eve quickly realized that there’s a new alliance in town and wasted no time getting in a bitchfest with Jackie. Mick came to the same conclusion but had a much better strategy: if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. As food was still going missing, Mick dropped a few clues that led to the discovery of a bottle of ketchup in Eve’s bag. Incredulous, the group decided to leave it there and seemed resolved to vote her off. Mick breathed a little easier.
- The Reward Challenge involved guessing how much weight you’d lost. Eve turned out to be the winner of a large chocolate cake, which she even shared with the rest of the group. She should’ve kept it to herself. They all hate her.
- Charlotte raised herself even further in my esteem with this comment on her situation: “I trust Jackie more than Richard because I know he’s been playing the game all along. I know he’s looking to be in the last two, not with me I don’t think because he wants me voting because he’s built me up to vote for him, so it’s a difficult situation to be in.” Is that not just what I predicted?
- The Immunity Challenge involved everybody keeping their hand on an upturned log. Whoever left it there the longest would win. In the middle of the contest, though, Charlotte got her period. Richard, Mick, and Jackie told her that it was fine with them if she briefly left the log to go “sort herself out.” Eve, however, didn’t agree and told her that she’d have to stay. So Charlotte had to stand there and put in a tampon while cowering under Richard’s sarong and keeping one hand on a log. CAN YOU IMAGINE? With every petty injustice she suffers, the Harlotte just grows in my estimation. Eve later said, “I felt when Charlotte got her period yesterday on the log I just thought that is so pathetic to say just because you’re a girl you’re allowed to step off because you’ve got your period. It’s like bloody grow up. It’s not anything more than having a wee, it’s just a bodily fluid.” Spoken like the little masculine troll she is. Richard ended up winning the Challenge, of course, and Eve knew she was on the way out.
- But she wouldn’t go down without a fight! On the way back to camp, Eve confessed to Mick (who she mistakenly still thought was an ally) that she was going to drink all the ketchup to spite everybody. On Tribal Council day, she also packed her backpack with most of the remaining stock of tampons (which she knew Charlotte would be needing) and one of the four remaining waterproof ponchos. Later, Jackie went through her bag and found the stash. The rest of the group was so pissed that they took the poncho and slashed a message into the back. It wasn’t clear what was written, but Richard gave a clue when he asked: “Are we allowed to carve words beginning with ‘F’?” Hee! He continued later, “Can you imagine it – you’re out the game and the only way you can make a statement is to put a bottle of half-diluted tomato ketchup under your floorboard and steal tampons?”
- Finally, Tribal Council. Mark Austin asked everyone what they thought of Eve’s behavior during the Immunity Challenge. Mick said it was inhumane. Jackie added, “Our only supply of tampons was taken by Eve, knowing full well that Charlotte needed them and I thought that was very selfish.” Eve responded, “Do I get a chance to answer to this? It’s so pathetic, if you want to go into detail I didn’t think Charlotte was using that particular brand of tampons… Jackie told me she couldn’t cope with having a period here, and I’m about to get my period, so I took some but having put about ten back Jackie did rifle through my bag.” What? Anyhoo, everybody voted for her and the troll was gone. Her only parting words were “Good luck Mick. You’re going to need it.” Did she not realize that he too joined with the others? What an idiot.
I wish the rest of the country would wake up to how brilliant this show is. Of course, judging by how many episodes I’ve missed myself, ITV’s scheduling leaves much to be desired…