'The Amazing Race 11: All Stars' - April 15 - East Coast Update

Pit Stop Arrival Order:

1. Oswald and Danny (used Fast Forward) - won the most expensive trip on the show so far -- Hong Kong for Chinese New Year.
2. Dustin and Kandice
3. Charla and Mirna
4. Danielle and Eric

It was a non-elimination leg, so all teams still in it.

A full review/recap will be posted later tonight.

Tonight's 'The Amazing Race 11: All Stars' Blogging

The show will be starting on time here in the NYC area, so I'll be posting an East Coast Update with the arrival order and Philimination (if any) at about 9 PM EDT. A full review/recap will be posted late tonight.

It's Pouring Pants! - This Week on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' - April 16-20, 2007

Oh, my... I've had a lazy Sunday. I usually post this early Sunday morning, but something went awry today, eh?

I blame the rain, the big nor'easter. While we haven't had the horrible winds forecasted (yet), we've had about four inches of rain. I've lazed about listening to the rain on the windows, old jazz, and the upstairs neighbors bowling (or whatever they're doing up there). I've read, watched the latest (tape) BET The Wire episode, took a bubble bath, did a bit of housecleaning... and now I should get the Letterman schedule up.

While we won't have Bruce Willis with a Sanjaya FauxHawk this week, here's what we can expect:

• Monday, April 16: Kelly Ripa from Live with Regis & Kelly, Simon Pegg promoting Hot Fuzz, and comedian Jim Short.
• Tuesday, April 17: Craig Ferguson (The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson), Dave Della Terza from votefortheworst.com, Avril Lavigne whose latest CD is The Best Damn Thing. Okay, I'm marking this the hit show for me for the week. Craig Ferguson makes me snicker and votefortheworst? Gotta see that segment!
• Wednesday, April 18: Edie Falco from The Sopranos, Paul Scheer (Human Giant), and musical guest Son Volt (CD is The Search).
• Thursday, April 19: Garry Shandling promoting his latest DVD Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show, American CHopper guys Paul Teutul Sr. and Jr., and musical guest Tokyo Police Club whose CD is A Lesson in Crime. This one sounds very intriguing, doesn't it?
• Friday, April 20: Jessica Biel (Next), Ira Glass (This American Life), and Regina Spektor promoting her CD Begin to Hope. Um, okay. I'm not familiar with the first two guests and not a Regina Spektor fan at all. Ira Glass sounds a bit intriguing. I guess I'll see!

There are your hip-waders pants for the upcoming week!

TV Newsy Bits - Saturday, April 14, 2007

It's April 14th. Do you know where your taxes are? Mine are already done, but it seems we actually have until the 17th this year for procrastination fans. Monday is a holiday in D.C. and the 15th is a Sunday, thus the change in deadline.

Here on the East Coast, we'll have a nice day, albeit a bit chilly. But a nor'easter will arrive a bit out of season tomorrow bringing us torrential rain, high winds, and perhaps even a bit of snow. I'm about ten miles inland and not directly near small rivers (closest one is two blocks away), and I live in an upper floor of an apartment building. I'll run errands which need running today and plan for one of those days that I look out the window from my cozy apartment and say, "looks nasty out there."

Here are the TV Newsy Bits of the day:

• Celebrity Spider has a promotional peek at this week's Survivor 14: Fiji while Inside Pulse has an interview with castoff Lisi.
• The Globe and Mail has an interesting interview with Jeff Probst.
• An interview with the most recent castoff, Michelle, can be found here. A rather poorly-written transcription of her Early Show appearance is here.
• American Idol reject Haley Scarnato doesn't want to be remembered just for her skimpy clothing.

'Survivor 14: Fiji' - Ep, 9 -or- "Start anew, all target Boo."

Oh, the game is getting good. People are doing stupid things. People are in alliances, yet not. Lots of sneaky stuff and mistrust. I love it!

Ten are left. Who will be voted out tonight?

At the Ravu camp, Alex and Edgardo are mighty worried about the hidden Immunity Idol that Mookie is holding. They should be as Mookie's main interest is Mookie, not Edgardo and Alex. He told us in a confessional segment that he plans to use it to further himself. If it works out that it helps Edgardo and Alex, that's fine.

Although they hid the Idol find from Dreamz, the boys have a pact -- "the Four Horsemen." (Where have I heard that before? Yikes... Jase, Scott, Cowboy, and Drew on Big Brother 5!) They think the merge is coming soon and quickly decide that Boo has to be a target. I guess they think Earl isn't a threat? Silly boys.

We got a neat relaxing musical intro to the luxury Moto camp. Uh-oh. Tree mail brings news that they have to gather only their personal belongings -- no tools, no rewards, no flints -- and head to Exile Island. Over at Ravu, they got the same mail. Is the merge on or is it another trick up the Survivor sleeve?

Both tribes get to Exile and there's no Jeff, no sign of anything. They immediately head to about the only real "place" on the island, the tower. Sure enough, there's a chest with new purple buffs. The castaways have varying thoughts on the merge. Earl welcomes it, but he's leery. He wants to watch who's watching whom.

The newly-formed tribe was sent to the Moto camp. Mookie was thrilled as he's never seen the camp at all. Oh, but it wasn't the lap of luxury. The camp had been stripped of its worldly goods. All they found was the cave, a bit of fishing gear, one pot, one machete, and one flint. Earl got pretty excited. He had been at Ravu before, so he felt like he was "back home."

Mail told them that they would start anew, with a new name and new camp flag. They decided the name of the new tribe would be Bula Bula. Bula means "hello" in Fiji.

Not knowing the twist which would come their way, Stacy and Michelle were pretty confident that since it's now a game of individual immunity, the women would be safe. After all, the guys would pick each other off trying to eliminate the strongest targets.

Then the alliances and the not-so-alliances came to play. Earl thinks his group is good -- himself, Yau-Man, Cassandra, and Michelle. Can Cassandra flip Dreamz (even though Earl doesn't trust him)? Mookie and Dreamz know that although they're a part of the Four Horsemen, they're a bit on the outside of Alex and Edgardo's circle. But, as directed by the others, they talk and listen to the buzz from the other folks. Boo feels extremely targeted. He should as both of the larger groups seem to want him out first. Yau-Man trusts Earl, but no one else. No one seems to be targeting Yau-Man even though he was a powerhouse in the last challenge. He played it up well with Dreamz, though.

Alex truly believes the Four Horsemen are controlling the game. (With the way things turned out a bit later, maybe they are.) Then Mookie told Dreamz about the Idol. What's going through his mind? I think that he feels that, with the exception of the Idol find, he actually has more of a link to Dreamz than he does to Edgardo and Alex. Dreamz was ticked that he wasn't told before. Alex and Mookie told him it was the Cassandra connection and they were worried. But Dreamz rightfully thought it was that they didn't trust him. They don't.

When the other three "Horsemen" gathered without Dreamz, they lit into Mookie for telling him. Alex and Edgardo want to pull Stacy into their group to make it five strong, but Mookie is leery of her. He later spoke to Dreamz. Both know that Alex and Edgardo would choose her to be with them over Mookie and Dreamz when the numbers got low. The plan that Dreamz and Mookie wanted was Boo out first, then Stacy as she was a threat to them. Dreamz went on about how much he wanted her gone. Yeah, right.

The Immunity and Reward Challenge turned things about once again with a new twist. Jeff told the tribe that the merge did indeed go down, but... for this challenge teams had to pick colored stones from out of two bags (one for the men, one for the women). Then, with a reveal of stones, the tribe was split into two teams. The Orange Team had Boo, Earl, Yau-Man, Cassandra, and Edgardo. The Green Team had Alex, Michelle, Mookie, Stacy, and Dreamz.

Jeff told the teams that the winning team would win Immunity and Reward. The latter would be a feast of steak, vegetables, and wine. The losing team would face Tribal Council. There was a note he'd read after the challenge was finished.

The teams had to row out first to memorize the symbols and placement of designs on a turtle-puzzle, then to platforms with suspended bags of... you got it... puzzle pieces! They had to collect three bags, then row back to the shore. Once there two team members de-bagged the pieces and put the puzzle together.

The Orange Team (yay, Earl and Yau-Man!) won. That, of course, saved Boo's butt in the game. No one was more happy than was he. But there was another bit of a twist. The note Jeff had indicated that the losing team had to head immediately to Tribal Council. There would be no time for scheming, strategizing, or anything.

Sigh, but there sort of was. Jeff asked very leading questions which pretty much laid out the cards on who may vote for whom. He asked various folks what reason they'd have to vote out others by name. For example, he asked Alex what reason he'd have to vote off Stacy. "None." Michelle? "I don't know her." Mookie? "No reason to vote him out." Dreamz? "No reason to vote him out." Jeff asked everyone in turn about everyone else.

And, here's where the stupidity of Dreamz came to play. When Mookie voted, he voted for Stacy because she was on their list (no Boo to vote for). Now, Dreamz knows that he wants Stacy out, so what does he do? He votes to oust Michelle! Argh! Combined with Alex and Stacy's votes for Michelle, Michelle was voted out.

Where is this guy's mind?