Azazel

Slowly working through Outback and I have no idea how anybody can say this is a boring season or lacking strategy. The first run thought I had this as my favorite season all the way up until probably Panama and I still think its great. The character development is great and there are a ton of things I either missed or forgot about the first time. I get the Jerri thing a lot more this time. I think the producers were concerned that a "villian" won the first season so they wanted to make sure they edited someone as a villain that was going to get beaten to make the fans happy since the fan favorite was going to lose in the finals. Her first "villain" moment was Kel and the Beef Jerky. I didn't know I how I felt about this thing but after seeing it again and remember the reunion it's pretty obvious the Beef Jerky had zero to do with Kel getting voted out. Maralyn was the only person on his side and looks like the only person that he actually had any sort of relationship with and I found it weird how she pronounced his name... until she voted for him and wrote down "CAL" and I realized that the only person who Kel had any sort of connection to didn't even know his name. Another thing I realized a few episodes later is that everybody hated Kimmi. Episode 1 Varner says he wants to grab her by the neck and just shake her, Alicia says almost the same thing during the chicken stuff. Skupin complains that she is dirty and smelly and won't bathe, everyone is constantly complaining about her. Then it clicked, the opening credits has a glamour shot of everyone looking at or passed the camera... except Kimmi. They used a clip of her mid challenge where she looks haggard. Knowing the boot order also makes one thing super enjoyable, and its how inept Jerri and Amber are. They think Tina and Keith are the minority and a risk to flip on the tribe and are terrified of them talking to the Kucha members instead of realizing they are the minority and should be the ones trying to align with Kucha. However that probably isn't possible since Kucha doesn't even like them. All because they think Colby is on their side after he turned on them to vote Mitchell out. Sometimes a complete lack of strategy is fascinating to watch.

Watching the last two episodes now. I understand why Rich won now. Kelly didn't vote with Tagi on the most important vote (the one where Pagong actually voted Rich). If Sean was the least bit smart the alliance would have crumbled then and there. That is where Sue completely turned on Kelly and ended up being the reason Sue got voted out at the final 4 and thus the snakes and rats speech was born. He had Rudy and Sean's vote no matter what, Sue was never going to vote for Kelly after this. He just needed a Pagong vote and Greg was smart enough to realize he deserved to win. So for a "boring" season with no strategy, it's a crazy ride to the finish realizing all the hurdles Rich had to overcome. Sure, he had the numbers in the alliance but it could have turned around on him half a dozen times before he won. Also, knowing the beer reward was changed due to a protest is now hilarious, with Rich saying "okay, that works for me" after they edited it.

Slowly getting through this due to watching other thing as well. There are a lot of great storylines in this season, Dr. Sean is my favorite, the Pagong vs the Alliance is hilarious because they keep voting for Sean because nobody respects him. However, Sue and Kelly is hilariously evil and terrible. They aligned Day 6 to vote out Rudy except Sue was cockily lying the entire time. They pulled Kelly into the alliance and she kind of wavered on it. Sue had this weird confessional about not having friends and refusing to burn Kelly... but then she turns and hates Kelly by the end for turning on her. It's just a hilarious relationship where Sue turned on Kelly then got pissed when Kelly turned on her later. So overall, Borneo was a lot of fun to rewatch and there was more to it than I remembered Favorite Characters: 1. Richard Hatch - He was on the ball from the start and played a super smart game of getting to know people, even Sonja. Once the alliance took power he became arrogant Hatch. Sitting on the beach with Rudy and Sue and laughing at Colleen and Kelly struggle to survive. Then turning and bringing Kelly to the Final 3 instead of Sue, putting himself in a situation where he couldn't lose. Hatch was just fun to watch and the star of the season. 2. Dr. Sean Kenniff - Just a complete putz with a strategy that was only good on paper. Made a lot of dumb decisions and was completely unaware of his surroundings. Dr. Sean looked like an idiot and it was marvelous to watch everyone hate him for it. 3. Colleen Haskell - I have no idea why she was the sweetheart, she just insulted people constantly. Of course, that kind of thing is fun to watch. She hated the alliance thing but was terrible with dealing with it, constantly wanting to vote off Sean or Jenna instead. She also liked to give the producers what they wanted to hear even if she was bullshitting. I can't really say I HATED anybody on the rewatch. Crust old BB was actually more entertaining watching Gretchen try to deal with him and Joel just hate him for it. If there was anybody I would want to see return from Borneo that hasn't already or has turned them down like Colleen and Greg. I would LOVE to see Joel Klug back. He was the young alpha male on Season 1 who lost because nobody wanted to play Survivor. 17-18 years later he returns to finally get to play the game the way he wanted.

I absolutely love how pre merge every member of Pagong said they would not vote for each other until all of Tagi was gone, with Joel being the center of it. Then they merge and Jenna and Greg vote against Pagong immediately. J is for Jenna might be the vote that clutches the season, but I think the Joel vote is what doomed Pagong. I also love how hard they are trying for an island romance. Weird angles to make it look like Colleen and Greg are fooling around and leaving Sean and Jenna on the Sand Spit with begs and wine. They wanted someone to hook up so bad. The opening of the episode after Gretchen gets voted off is hilarious. Dr. Sean can't think of a reason to vote off Gretchen outside of strategy, Gervase says if it happens again then he'll know there is an alliance and he will crush them (despite not having the numbers to do so at that point). The whole alliance thing is just an amazing story, especially how bad Pagong is at it. There are so many hilarious things happening, mostly Colleen thinking then can come together as 4 and vote someone off despite being down in numbers... then they band together against Jenna?!?!? Sue is a much better player than I remember, she straight up lied to Stacey/Kelly pre merge and Jenna/Colleen post merge to make them think the girls were sticking together. Sue could have easily taken Hatch's place if it wasn't for the Rudy friendship. Although Rudy dropped a great one during the Greg video, saying they had to put him with him for another 2 weeks, not even a hint that they are preparing to take him out. I'm not sure what storyline I like better, Pagong can't figure out an alliance, or Dr. Sean is a buffoon.

Based just off the pre merge, this is basically what is happening. Hatch was day 1 wanting to talk about how they were going to vote. Joel wanted to pick off all of Tagi post merge. Sean and Gervase had similar strategies, they wanted to be well liked so they could win at the end. Gretchen was a hard worker and probably the most deserving but didn't want to be in an alliance. A lot of different people had different strategies to win, it just turns out the voting alliance was the strategy that got people to the finals. There is more planning than you would expect, its just not the focus of the show. The Alphabet strategy is less stupid than it seems.

Just speaking of Borneo challenges, I don't think its a budget thing because a lot of these challenges are super basic, like finding items in a house, or just carrying someone on a stretcher they made before hand. I don't dislike the newer seasons, but I think my list of favorite seasons/player and most hated seasons/players is going to change drastically on an actual rewatch. Even looking back to what I wrote like 6 months ago. Dr. Sean isn't really an idiot, he is trying to enjoy himself and his strategy is simple, try not to be responsible for voting anybody out so at the finals you will probably win. If its not that, its just hilarious to watch how dumb he is. I would even say my favorite on the re-watch are Hatch and Dr. Sean.

I decided to go back and rewatch Borneo, and probably a lot of other seasons as well, just to see the stark difference between the early seasons and the newer seasons. I think I understand where the old school vs new school mentality in the fan base comes from. I think rewatchability is the main factor, Borneo is more about the characters, where something like Game Changers is about alliances/voting. On a first watch the new seasons are more dynamic to watch, but when you know what is going to happen the old seasons have a lot more things to enjoy. Random Notes (Pre Merge): - Average Age of the season: 35.69 years old. This is the 5th oldest average age, with Nicaragua being 1st and allstar seasons being 2-4. - Average Age for Tagi: 39.25 years old. This is the 9th oldest starting tribe ever - Average Age for Pagong: 32.13 years old. This is the 49th oldest tribe ever or 29th youngest. - Sonja is ties for the oldest 1st boot (with Jim from Guatemala) - Rudy is the oldest castaway to every play at age 72, beating himself in Allstars. Joe from Koah Rang was the same age - Kelly Wiglesworth is the youngest castaway this season at age 22. Joel Klug is the youngest guy at age 23 Personal Favorite Story lines: - Dr. Sean the buffoon. From wanting to just sit around the campfire and sing songs, not understanding how gay people work, building a bowling alley, and just generally not wanting to play Survivor. I think I understand how the Alphabet Strategy could have potentially been a good idea, but only if it was in a vacuum where nobody else had any sort of a strategy. The guy comes off as really dumb and its super entertaining the 2nd time around. - Gervase falls into the Dr. Sean pile, both were trying to be well liked so if they made it to the finals they would probably be well liked. Obviously this was before alliances became the main thing, so neither had a bad strategy, they just both got trumped. - Early Installment Weirdness of things that would never return. The Gong, the Conch, the "you won immunity now go to that island to get it". - Pagong being the tribe that wants to have fun, votes out the guy trying to lead them (BB) and then doing the same to Joel. They basically set themselves up to lose to any sort of an alliance.

I decided to just watch through Hunter x Hunter, I've watched the Hunter Trial arc previously, but now I'm into Greed Island and I think its just a great show. I'm not a huge anime watcher so this is only the 5th one I'll have watched (Berserk, Attack on Titan, Deathnote and Full Metal Alchemist being the others).

I normally don't like watching the subbed version of shows because I end up not actually watching what is happening most of the time, but I think I'm going to watch Attack on Titan ASAP. I also need more Berserk.

Hell, even doing a season where the gimmick is Survivor Classic. It would be especially great if they even did most of the same challenges from Borneo.

I liked the season overall, but I agree with the the thought of too many twists and idols. I seriously want a season where they say there are idols, they give out clues for idols and people vote based on idols... but they aren't actually there.

I think one of the problems of "its always a blindside" is that as a viewer, you never know what the hell is going on. I'm okay with knowing who is going to be voted out, when its always a swerve then nothing is a swerve and it makes it hard to enjoy. I watched all the last episode thinking it would come down to Tai or Sarah and....BLINDSIDE! The non-transferable thing was pretty hilarious though, the mastermind didn't read. New List: 1. Brad Culpepper 2. Troyzan 3. Sarah 4. Tai 5. Aubry 6. Cirie I'm pretty sure Cirie is out next. We know Tai is already locked in the Final 4 and I'm sure Troyzan is as well since I doubt he is getting voted off next.

1. Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast) - Still my favorite game ever 2. Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green (GBA) 3. Warcraft III (PC) 4. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (Wii) 5. Ogre Battle 64 (N64) 6. Suikoden III (PS2) 7. Time Spillters: Future Perfect (Xbox) 8. Diablo II (PC) 9. Valkyria Chronicles (PS3) 10. Dead Rising (Xbox 360) 11. Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) 12. Disgaea 2 (PS2) 13. Final Fantasy X (PS2) 14. Soul Calibur (Dreamcast) 15. Smackdown Here Comes The Pain (PS2) Can I count Ogre Battle 64? It was released in Japan in 1999 but in North America in 2000.

With 8 people left, here is my list of who I want to win. 1. Brad Culpepper 2. Andrea 3. Cirie 4. Troyzan 5. Tai 6. Sarah 7. Aubry 8. Michaela

Not much to this weeks episode, except everyone crying because of loved ones visits. The highlights being Tai hitting on Sarah's husband and Cirie's son's face when he found out where he had to poop. The weirdest part to me is that Brad, Aubry and Andrea had to choose collectively who else could see their loved one, and everyone was begging Culpepper to pick them. If its a group selection AND he's in the minority alliance, why the hell was everyone asking him specifically?

Still think Fury Road should have won

I loved Guardians 2, especially everything to do with Yondu.

If I had to pick four potential spin offs. 1) Dunk and Egg 2) Robert's Rebellion 3) Balon's Rebellion 4) Bronn

I think it was Brad/Troyzan/Sierra voting for Tai, hoping to save Sierra instead of him? Based on the preview for next week that would kind of make sense.

Trailer for The Dark Tower is out, and while its obvious it doesn't follow the books extremely closely (which I completely understand) it still looks like its going to be a ton of fun.

The Magnificent Seven was just a fun movie. I'm hoping Mad Max: Fury Road wins again this year, it deserves to win twice.

I think the issue is that they want to surprise the viewers because #blindside is cool. I like knowing who is on what side and why and then potentially seeing it work or fall apart. Turning every tribal council into a big unknown can be a bad thing. Hell, some of the best episodes are the ones where you know from minute 1 who is going him, like Randy in Gabon or Roger in Amazon. You know what is going to happen and the focus can be on pretty much everything else and its still a very entertaining episode.