The Amazing Race - 10/19 Show

Sigh. Once again, the show is delayed in this area due to football. 60 Minutes started at about 7:45 PM ET here. I'm going to go ahead and open this post for comments in case the show started on time elsewhere. While I won't be live-blogging tonight's show per se, I will update this post with important events ... once I see them anyway. Remember, it's going to be Phil's father at the Pit Stop tonight!

Finally, it's starting ... recaps.

Uh-oh. My team in the pool -- Aja and Ty -- have a flat tire. I can't believe neither know how to change a tire. That should be required knowledge to drive a car as far as I'm concerned!

Maori warriors are cool.

Pit Stop Order

1. Ken and Tina - used FF. Won a trip to Rio.
2. Terence and Sarah
3. Kelly and Christy
4. Toni and Dallas
5. Nick and Starr
6. Andrew and Dan
7. Aja and Ty
8. Marisa and Brooke -- Philiminated

TV Squad, CliqueClack TV, and Off Topic Photos

My review of last night's Survivor episode is alive and well over on TV Squad. And, I have a new TV Shows Off the Beaten Path column up over on CliqueClack TV. I want to thank everyone for the well-wishes. I'm feeling okay now, mainly just really tired. But that didn't keep me from going to the vampires for my weekly blood draw or my Doppler test yesterday. I won't know the results of the latter until next week, but I didn't like the look on her face as she did the test. The sounds would make a cool Halloween wav noise, though.

Here are some of the photos (click on them to enlarge) I took on my rounds yesterday:


Now, what are the chances of me noticing this bench graffiti on the way to my blood draw? I think it's the same vampire slayer as in this older post of mine. Along with the vampire reference, it had that "lovescool, warkills" tag line.

Detour on the way to the Doppler test.

The hawks were circling above me. No, I am not a small bunny, nor am I a mouse!


I think this ornamental kale was perhaps planted a bit early as we have been having a warm streak lately. But it's a neat plant nonetheless.


Perhaps if we all go to the market and invest, do you think we might actually have peace on Earth?

Survivor Gabon - 10/16 Show

The show has started here on the East Coast. While I won't be live-blogging it per se, I will update this entry with the big news. My full review will be going up on TV Squad later tonight. As always, have fun in the comments. But if you make a mess, you have to clean it up yourself!

Kota won Reward -- herbal garden, oils, spices,and fruit. They're sending Sugar to Exile again. She'll be back for Immunity Challenge.

Kota wins immunity.

GC was voted out ... he wanted to quit anyway.

The Latest

I took this shot with that illustrator mode on my old Pentax digital camera a week or so ago. The Red Tower #1 restaurant in Plainfield, NJ. Not to be confused with the Red Tower #2 or #3. As always, if you click on it you'll see it enlarged.

I am still alive, but still a bit under the weather. I caught some sort of stomach virus last week. That was bad enough in itself. But, because of it, I didn't eat hardly at all (couldn't) for more than a couple of days. And, because of that, my levels for the Coumadin went all kinds of screwy and I ended up in the hospital for one day due to internal bleeding. I'm recovering again now, but I'm totally wiped out. I'm trying to catch up slowly.

Tomorrow I go to the vampires for my blood draw and then an early evening appointment for my Doppler test to check on the blood clot and see if there are any more. Yes, I still plan to return to work on October 27.

I thought I should get an explanation up.

CliqueClack, TV Squad, and Other Things

I have no idea what kind of bird this is -- I call 'em dotty birds. They're kind of ugly and have evil beaks.

I have a new Reality Clack column up over on CliqueClack TV and my Amazing Race review is up over on TV Squad.

My condolences go out to blog reader Nana in the NW on the loss of her mother. Words can't always express how we feel, but know you're in our thoughts and prayers today.

The Amazing Race - 10/12 Show

I apologize for my absence as of late. I haven't been well. But the show has started here on the East Coast (on time even!). I won't be live-blogging it, but I will update this post with important events. As always, everyone's welcome to hang out in the comments rooting for your team or mocking teams!

Argh. The clue says "make your way on foot." Mark and Bill, wake up!

Uh-oh ... will Starr convince Nick to U-Turn Kelly and Christy (who have crashed anyway)? U-Turn wasn't used. The Roadblock is a hoot with them donning spandex and fighting women!

Pit Stop Order

1. Ken and Tina -- also won trip to Mexico
2. Toni and Dallas
3. Terence and Sarah
4. Marisa and Brooke
5. Aja and Ty
6. Nick and Starr
7. Andrew and Dan
8. Mark and Bill -- Sit out 30 minute penalty due to taking cab
9. Kelly and Christy

Alas, Kelly and Christy arrived before the 30 minutes was up. They're still in while Mark and Bill were Philiminated.

Survivor Review up on TV Squad

Why, yes it is... my Survivor review can be found right here.

Survivor Gabon - 10/09 Show

The show has started here on the East Coast. While I won't be live-blogging it per se, I will update this entry with the big news. My full review will be going up on TV Squad later tonight. As always, have fun in the comments. But if you make a mess, you have to clean it up yourself!

Yep, they switched tribes --

New Kota - Marcus, Dan, Charlie, Randy, Corinne, Susie, Bob
New Fang - Matty, Ace, Crystal, Jacquie, Ken, Kelly, GC (Danny)

Since she wasn't picked, Sugar goes to Exile and returns after TC going on whatever tribe is short a member. I hope she has her hidden idol with her and Ace doesn't have it!

Kota wins Immunity!

Uh-oh, my namesake was voted out -- Jacquie. They really should have voted out either GC or Kelly, but old Fang is running the show and Kelly teamed up with them.

Announcing the Winner of the Bonnie Hunt Contest!

Yes, blog commenter Lynn1 has won the Bonnie Hunt sweatshirt and mug! I want to thank everyone who entered and wish that there was more to give away. The correct answers to the Ultimate Bonnie Hunt Quiz were as follows:

1. In what HBO movie did Bonnie share the billing with Mekhi Phifer?
Subway Stories

2. How many times has Bonnie been married?
Once

3. What was Bonnie's occupation before her show business career took off?
Oncology Nurse

4. In what movie did Bonnie Hunt make her acting debut?
The Rainman

5. Who was the co-executive producer of two sitcoms of Bonnie's -- The Building and The Bonnie Hunt Show (not to be confused with the current talk show and later retitled simply Bonnie)?
David Letterman

6. How many siblings does Bonnie have?
Six

7. Is Bonnie Hunt related to Helen Hunt?
No

8. What famous improvisational comedy troupe did Bonnie join in 1986?
Second City

9. How many movies has Bonnie appeared in, not including voice work?
I accepted 18-23 in the contest due to discrepancies on websites.

10. What is Bonnie's zodiac sign?
Virgo

11. What character in the 2006 animated movie Cars was Bonnie's voice?
Sally

12. What kind of pest recently infiltrated Bonnie's home?
I was looking for rats, but also accepted crickets as she's had problems with both.

Thanks again, everybody! And, congratulations to Lynn1!

We have a winner!

And we have a winner of the big Bonnie Hunt Ultimate Quiz prize giveaway! I've notified the winner by email and will wait for confirmation before announcing the name. I want to thank everyone for participating.

I'll be posting the answers and the winner's commenting name here a bit later today (after the vampires have their way with me). Until then, I found this snippet of Bonnie with Amazing Race Philiminated team Stephanie and Anthony. It's just a teensy bit of their interview with her. He did say he was joking and put on the spot when he said he was thankful for his good looks.

Reminder: Bonnie Hunt Ultimate Quiz Prize Giveaway Ends Tomorrow

This is an older photo I took and messed with. He's not waiting for the subway train -- he's waiting for you to enter my Ultimate Bonnie Hunt Quiz Prize Giveaway! So far I have over a dozen correct entries in the punch bowl and, if you haven't entered already, you have until midnight ET tomorrow to get in the running!

The Big Bang Theory Review

I actually took this photo of fall foliage in my neighborhood a season or two back, but it's fitting for today. Brrr ... it's chilly!

My TBBT review is up over on CliqueClack TV if you want to take a peek!

NEW 2008 Dancing With the Stars Discussion - Part 2

Here's your NEW place to discuss the new season. The official website for the show is located right here. I received comments that there were too many comments on the original post, so spread the word there's a new one!

'Prison Break' Blog Discussion Post

Here's your place to gather and discuss Prison Break. I don't watch the show, but I do read the comments! You can get here via the link in the sidebar. Prison Break airs on Mondays at 9 PM ET/PT on FOX and the official show website is right here.

Blog Announcements and Stuff

This is another flowers photo I took with the illustration mode on my older Pentax digital camera last week.

You may wonder why I called you all here. Well, I didn't really physically call y'all, but you know what I mean. A longtime member of this blog community, Sharon, has been experiencing extreme health issues. As a result, a group of folks got together to try to help her out. With no health insurance and hospital/doctor bills, it's probably cash Sharon needs the most. If you wish to contribute, please send an email to laurie1109@yahoo.com with the word "donation" in the subject header. She can give you more details. We're all praying for her.

In other news, I have a new Reality TV Newsy Bits post up on CliqueClack TV and my Amazing Race review is aboard TV Squad. Hmm ... interesting ... someone at CliqueClack decided to change the name of Newsy Bits to "Reality Clack." Nice of them to ask me.

In yet other news, I have to go for another Doppler test next week to check the status of my DVT and check for any new ones. I don't mind the test as it's actually kind of cool -- sort of like an ultrasound for pregnancies, but the veins have all kinds of audio. What I'm not too thrilled about is that they're out of my insurance network. But I've already paid my out of network deductible (the day after my surgery when the clot was discovered and I was all doped up). So it's not as bad as it could be.

Tonight I'll be reviewing The Big Bang Theory for CliqueClack TV. I think I'm going to drop trying to live-blog Heroes here as it's hard to pay attention to the show and you really have to. Maybe I'll put a post up around the time it airs so folks can talk in commercials, then fill it in with some of the major goings-on afterwards. I'll face the same quandary with Lost once it returns. Both shows are very hard to blog because there's so much happening in each episode.

The Amazing Race - 10/05 Show

Argh, it's no surprise, but the show is delayed here in the NYC area due to football. Once it starts, this entry will be updated with major events and perhaps a random thought or two as it airs. Meanwhile, enjoy Zoetawny's new TAR graphic and cheer on your team in the comments!

Finally it started here, 8:30 PM ET.

Okay, I deem both Terence and Tina utterly annoying.

I feel bad for Sarah, but don't mind that Terence didn't follow the signs to the taxi. Kelly and Christy digging for a container on the Beach It is a hoot!

Pit Stop Order
1. Ken and Tina - Each won an off-road vehicle
2. Mark and Bill
3. Terence and Sarah
4. Aja and Ty
5. Toni and Dallas
6. Nick and Starr
7. Kelly and Christy
8. Andrew and Dan
9. Marisa and Brooke
10. Anthony and Stephanie - Philiminated

What I've Been Up To

No, I didn't go into the city today. This is a photo I took when I was at the Feast of San Gennaro a few weeks back. I edited it to have the hard-working NYPD guys in color and the background black and white.

What I have been doing isn't nearly as much fun. I've been going through this blog, uploading image files to a Photobucket account (it was easier than getting them to show from my web host), and then redoing the HTML coding on hundreds of pages of this blog. All of the animated images have to be moved. But if you want to take a cool trip down memory lane for Zoetawny's blog contributions, check out my Photobucket album. Right now I'm nowhere near done -- for one, I still have BB8 to get through!

I also wrote this post for CliqueClack TV and I'll be back for The Amazing Race a bit later.

Looking at 'The Ex List'

I watched The Ex List last night and found myself enjoying it more than I thought I would. Now, I can't really say it's going to be on my "must see, never miss" list. But thankfully, it's not one of those shows which you end up totally lost if you miss an episode. The premise is that this young woman went to a fortune teller who told her that she's already met her true love during previous dating. If she doesn't find him within a year, she will never find her true love again.

So she has to go back over all the men she's dated in the past to try to find the right one. She's obviously had more of a social life than I have. The series wouldn't last long with the men in my past and I know none of them were Mr. Right!

All in all, I found the show entertaining and nice light fluff kind of stuff for the rather barren wastelands of Friday night television. Did you watch it?

Stuff and Some TV Stuff, too

Nope, this isn't a television image. I took my older Pentax digital camera with me yesterday as I went to the vampires for my weekly blood draw. It has a filter in it for illustration photos and I really like the effect. You can click on the photo to enlarge it. So here are some fall flowers for everyone!

If you haven't kept up with the comments, blog reader Sharon has been located and has been having some severe health issues. Sydney is acting as a go-between and is the one who finally found her. Kudos to Sydney!

I got the bad news that AOL is closing Hometown, the FTP space for members, and all AOL Journals. I'm looking into relocating the content of a few of my older blogs. But the more immediate problem is that I've been using my AOL FTP space for all of the animated Zoetawny graphics as Blogger won't support GIF files. The shutdown is scheduled for November 1st. I've already backed up my files to an external hard drive but have to figure out how to get them actually showing on a new web host I have. But this news means I'll have to go back through all of the posts to change the image addresses. So we might have some missing graphics and I apologize in advance. Plus, folks using any of my AOL Journals or the web pages I made with AOL to get here will have problems after November 1.

I want thank all of the commenters discussing the VP debate for being respectful to others. I was wondering how the Survivor episode generated that much discussion! (Especially with no exposed bananas!)

I have new posts up over on both TV Squad and CliqueClack TV if you're moved to take a peek.

Don't forget to enter my Bonnie Hunt Giveaway if you haven't already done so. I've decided to give a bit of leeway in the movie counts as there seem to be discrepancies. I have lots of names already sitting in the punch bowl for the drawing and I'd like even more!

Let's see ... tonight's TV ... hmm. For me, Friday nights are almost like a night off from writing. I might try out The Ex List tonight and will probably watch Life although I've missed most of that series. How about you?

Survivor Gabon - 10/02 Show

Okay, Survivor fans and those in the pool ... the show has started here on the East Coast. I won't be live-blogging it per se, but I will update this on and off with important events and/or some thoughts of mine. As always, everyone is welcome to chat it up in comments!

Wow, that rewards challenge was brutal ... and Fang actually won! They're sending Sugar to Exile Island.

That seems to be the wrong choice ... she's found four clues and has it!

Yikes, Fang won Immunity!

Paloma is out, Sugar didn't use her (and Ace's evidently) idol.