Looking at The Amazing Race Teams - Part 1

The new season of The Amazing Race premieres Sunday night, February 14, at 8 PM ET/PT. If you want to be a part of the blog pool, the deadline for joining is noon (ET) on Friday, February 12. The way it works is Margo is running the show ... well, maybe not the show itself, but the pool. Each participant is assigned a team to cheer on for as long as they last. The winners get mucho bragging rights and can prance around saying "neaner, neaner" to everyone else. Okay, I added in that last part. Margo should be coming around soon with the list and feel free to speak up in comments if you wish to join in on the fun!

Onto part one of the teams --

Joe and Heidi - This married couple hails from El Segundo, California. Joe Wang is 42, Heidi's 37. He's a software sales executive and she's a homemaker. They have two children. Heidi gave up a successful career in finance to stay home with the children.

Pros for them: Joe speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese. He also coaches youth sports which embody some good qualities for a racer (patience with others, will to win). Heidi lists traveling as a "hobby." Heidi also seems to be quite smart -- was voted "Most Likely to Succeed," "Most Likely to Win a Nobel Peace Prize," and class president in high school.

Cons for them: Heidi was also voted "Most Likely to Total Her Car." She says that Joe tends to be "intense, short-tempered, and thinks he's right all the time." Uh-oh. We've seen that before. I find that sort of racer hard to enjoy. Joe says Heidi can't multi-task. Huh? A mother who can't multi-task? Methinks Joe is wrong!

Jody and Shannon - Ah, a grandmother and granddaughter team! I know we've had grandfathers, but I'm blanking on whether a grandmother/female grandchild team before. Jody Kelly is 71 years-old, from Round Rock, Texas. She's a personal trainer. Shannon Foster is 22, from Georgetown, Texas. She's a healthcare outreach contract analyst.

Pros for them: Jody may be over seventy, but this woman is in great shape! Triathlons are listed amongst her "hobbies." She's proud of the fact she decided to lead a healthy athletic life and leave her sedentary style behind. Shannon is young, listing running, dancing, and swimming as hobbies -- all hobbies which require some stamina. She also seems well-schooled.

Cons for them: Jody thinks she's a comedian. That doesn't always work so well. All she could think to list as a pet peeve for Shannon is that her clothes are sometimes too revealing. Shannon thinks Jody can get a bit carried away and uptight. I don't know. They look like a pretty solid team to me despite Jody's age. (Mind you, I have nothing against 71-year-olds -- they just don't tend to fare well on the show.)

Jet and Cord - Jet and Cord, as unlikely as those names are, are brothers. They're also cowboys. Yippie-kiy-yay. For the icing on the cake, they're the real McCoys. Yep, that's their last name. Cord is a 29-year-old professional bull rider from Tupelo, Oklahoma. Jet is 30, a cowboy from Alda, Oklahoma.

Pros for them: Well, they're cowboys. If there's any horse-riding or bull-wrangling to be done, they're going to stomp the competition! On a serious note, they're both athletic, always a big help on the race.

Cons for them: Neither seem to be too well-traveled outside of the rodeo circuit, especially seem to be lacking foreign travel experience. Cord says Jet likes to voice his opinion (too much?). Jet says Cord isn't punctual. Both seem to think communication and decision-making might present problems. I wonder if they're going to wear their cowboy hats through the various countries.

Dana and Adrian - This married couple were high school sweethearts while attending Los Angeles High School. Adrian Davis, age 40, is in medical sales. Dana Davis, age 39, is a market manager. They live in Arlington, Texas.

Pros for them: They're (thankfully) not in the race to test their relationship or to work out problems one way or another. They seem to be a very solid couple with a good relationship. He seems to lean towards the athletic side while she's proud of her academic achievements. Both appear to be driven to succeed.

Cons for them: She says he burps. I so don't want to see a man burping all season. He better not! They don't seem to have any immediate big drawbacks. They might not be all that well-traveled in light of foreign countries and probably just speak English.

Carol and Brandy - Oh, a middle-aged and youngish-middle-aged female dating couple! I believe that's a first for the show! Both are from Los Angeles. Carol Rosenfeld is 47 and a consultant. Brandy Snow is 40 and an actress. Well, we've certainly had actresses on the show before!

Pros for them: Brandy speaks Spanish. Both enjoy traveling and might even have some foreign travel behind them. They're both very confident women who want to prove a female team can win. Carol seems to be more the intellectual while Brandy is more athletic.

Cons for them: There might be a bit of conflict. Brandy thinks that Carol tends to be too rigidly structured at times. Carol says Brandy is a biter. Yikes! I can see her running up to other teams now, biting them so they'll screw up a challenge! I don't know. I'm not seeing any obvious flaws with the team, but as they say -- others are younger and might be faster.

Brent and Caite - Dating models @@. Just what we needed, eh? Brent Horne (which makes me think of a porn name, something like Bent Horny ... heehee) is 28 and from Columbia, South Carolina. Caite Upton is only 20. Hmm ... I thought you had to be 21 to be on the show! But, you see, she's special. She's the Miss Teen USA gal who royally flubbed when asked a question about students not knowing geography (many people don't have maps). She's a model from Lexington, South Carolina.

Pros for them: Um. Well, they're young and healthy. They're both athletic. They're pretty people. Both have traveled a bit.

Cons for them: They seem a bit shallow. Both want to build their relationship. I don't know. Unless it turns out that their personalities are so intriguing that I want them to do well, I just don't care about this team. She got in there because she was dumb while pretty on national television.

Part two down the road, hopefully later today as I'm snowed in anyway!

Lost - "What Kate Does"

Well, the latest snowstorm (supposedly 12 to 18 inches) has started as I get this written up. Of course, as long as the power stays on, that makes things perfect for television watching. Not that I really need a reason, as you know. I was going to write up the latest American Idol Hollywood Week with Ellen DeGeneres starting her judge reign. But I don't have much to say about it. Eh.

Onto to tonight's show. I remain a tad lost. I'm glad I'm not doing in-depth review/recaps of the show anymore. True Lost geeks would rip me apart. Okay, here's my dilemma:

After last week, I thought that perhaps Sayid had been taken over by the dead/undead Jacob. I thought by him telling Hurley to take Sayid to the temple that the folks there were FoJ. That would be Friends of Jacob, natch. Hmmm ... so they try to save him, it doesn't seem to work, then it works. So this week they torture him, determine he failed (although they told him he passed), and try to poison him. What does it all mean? Jacob didn't enter his body, but someone else? We already know the Jacob's archenemy has taken over Locke's body.

Sawyer's actions seemed very typical Sawyer. I would have liked to have heard more from the black armed guy who escorted Jin and Kate as they went after Sawyer. So, Danielle has been dead for years and Kate knows the one "escort," or should know him.

The Kate/Claire alternate universe (whatever!) storyline was interesting. I'm sure they will meet up again. I'm really not sure what to say about it. Kate does have a way about her, though. She's right that she can be very convincing. Yet she never comes across as really evil.

Your thoughts on tonight's episode?

Happy Super Bowl!

Just to point out that two posts back, I have up the Survivor villains.

Carry on with the game ... and I'll watch the party:

Off Topic - That Was the Week It Was - 02/07/10

Another week gone by as we get closer to the new seasons of two of our blog mainstay television shows. That's right -- Survivor begins on Thursday followed by The Amazing Race season premiere next Sunday. But right now it's time to take a look back at this past week in words and photographs I've taken.

I guess this week's big news story was the huge snowstorm which blanketed most of the Mid-Atlantic. Well, most of. It wasn't bad right here in Plainfield where I live. Oh, cold, windy, some snow. But I think we got maybe three inches if that much.

However, I didn't know we'd get so little Saturday morning when I got up to go to work. I looked out the window and saw heavy snow falling. I listened to the National Weather Service on my scanner and we were still under a winter storm warning and snow was expected throughout the day. Me and my knee didn't want to deal with it. So I called work and took a paid personal day. Then it stopped snowing. Oops. Oh, well. After Saturday, I was to be on my staycation for a week. I just started a bit early.

On the writing front, it seems there will be a few changes down the road for my TV Squad blogging. Right now, it looks for the better. But we'll see. I'll be blogging both Survivor and The Amazing Race episodes there as I have been for the past few years.

On the personal front, karma got me for calling out of work. My neighbors had perhaps 100 kids screaming, yelling, thumping, running up and down the hallways all day and into the night. Okay, it was probably about ten or fifteen kids. But I couldn't help but wonder if ANY adults were over there supervising them. I'd hate to see what that apartment looks like. Sigh. I can only hope they move once their lease is up. If new neighbors move in below them, I'm sure the complaints will come rolling in. I've found there's no use in complaining to the landlord. Nothing is ever done about it. I'm better off calling the police. Sigh.

Onto another tangent -- it's SuperBowl Sunday. Um. Okay. I'm not a football fan. I received the first two new episodes of Southland (due to air in March on TNT) and will be watching them. What snow we have is going to be blowing all around ... and I'll be inside baking brownies and drinking hot chocolate. Yay, staycation!

Well, it's time for the photos I've taken this week. If you click on an image, it will open larger in a new window.

Squirrels' nest

The squirrels' nest outside my window is hanging in there. I haven't seen any baby squirrels or much activity right around the nest. Some squirrels were running around getting material for another nest in a tree further away the other day. This was taken Saturday morning out of my window as I contemplated calling out of work.

The Dead Zone

Yep, that's what the little sign in the window says. What makes it even better is that beyond that window is an annex of the Plainfield Police Department -- it's the offices of the narcotics cops. They don't bring prisoners there, but that's their headquarters. Odd, as the building is very iffy with many of the top floor windows broken out and in ill repair. But I guess it gives them room to do their stuff. Right now the drain pipe by their door is responsible for icing the entire sidewalk. I saw one cop almost fall coming out. If they ever run out, they're all going to go down.

It's KALE!

I found a neglected kale patch near the Plainfield City Hall on Watchung Avenue. Yay. (Not yay that it's neglected, mind you.)

Closer Kale

Yep. I miss my little kale patch closer to home.

Happy Holidays!

Does Plainfield City Hall not realize that the holidays are over and perhaps it's time to take down the adorned wreaths? I mean, it's only February. I made this photo black and white leaving only the wreaths in color.

Urban contrast

Almost like stepping blocks, we have the brick Salvation Army building, one of the city's historic homes (probably cut into apartments), and a larger apartment building (yeah, owned by my landlord). Taken from a Watchung Avenue viewpoint in Plainfield.

Bad, bad siding. Bad.

There's a preponderance of bad siding and bad addition jobs on what probably were really cool older homes throughout the city of Plainfield. Cheap jobs, I guess. But I don't like it. I recall my parents going through all kinds of red tape and having to keep the historical aspects of our battered Victorian home from my childhood. This should be a crime!

E&A Restaurant Supply entrance

I so love the graphics they've added to the building! East Fifth and Cleveland Avenue in Plainfield, the Cleveland Avenue side.

"Architectiral?"

Oh. My. Gosh. If you are in the sign-painting business, you need to check your spelling. And, if you're buying a sign, you do not accept one with misspellings! I blurred the phone and web URL to protect the foolish. By the way, it's architectural. Yes, that's right.

Into the light

The NJ Transit train overpass on Park Avenue in Plainfield.

Pants on the ground

"Pants on the ground, pants on the ground, lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground." - General Larry Platt, the best part of this season's American Idol so far. When I saw these two walk by me with their pants on the ground, I had to shoot them. Now, these are grown men, probably late-twenties, early thirties. But their crotches do NOT start at their knees. I'm sure they don't. General left out big jackets (and shirts), but that's all a part of the look, too. How do BIG guys like these two find such BIGGER clothes to wear? Lookin' like fools, for sure. I edited this to keep the fools in color, the background black and white and "posterized."

Fading away signs

No Parking and Entrance are slowly deteriorating at the closed Crown Cadillac car dealership in Plainfield.

No Caddy for you!

Nope, not from the closed Crown Cadillac, anyway. The afternoon sun was a bit harsh, but not as harsh as the economy.

Abandoned Glory

Peeking inside the window of the old Crown Cadillac building, I saw this trophy sitting on a bucket, a remnant of glory days gone by.

Coffe and News Papers

More bad spelling on Park Avenue in Plainfield. Oy. How do you spell coffee wrong? And, of course, newspapers is a single word. Gotta give 'em credit ... they spelled ATM right.

Uh-oh

Now the birds are rolling in dirt to camouflage themselves in their bid to overthrow mankind.

Who you gonna call?

No one, because the phone has gone missing! I swear more public phones don't have phones than ones that do. With the exception of the clearly vandalized ones (which have broken phones), it seems the phone companies are removing the phones as the wires are capped off. But they leave the shell. What's up with that?

Isn't he too cute for words?

Vincent enjoys a cat nap. So do I.

How was your week?

Looking at the Survivor Villains

The new season of Survivor begins this coming Thursday at 8 PM ET/PT. I previously covered the "heroes" and now it's time for the "villains." In going through the list, I think the criteria in choosing the villains had to be a bit more grey than the heroes. I believe it was Parvati who said in her video that "the women were chosen because they're strong players while the men are characters." The men all seem like easy choices. But, with the women, the only outright villainess I'm seeing might be Jerri Manthey.

Make sure you're signed up for the blog pool (in comments at the Heroes post) if you want to play!


Ben "Coach" Wade, age 38, from Susanville, California. I don't want to talk about him. He does nothing but annoy me. He was the 11th out and 5th jury member on Tocantins. He's full of himself and needlessly "out there." While he's a legend in his own mind, he was a failure at just about every challenge in his season. I hope the first person voted out is him because he's so pitifully annoying.


Courtney Yates, age 28, originally from Boston, currently living in New York City. Courtney was the runner-up in China. She's one who isn't really such a villainy villain. I hope she's gained some weight. Whenever I think of her in her season, I see a walking skeleton in my mind.


Danielle DiLorenzo, age 26, from Boston, Massachusetts, currently living in Los Angeles. She was the runner-up in Panama. Once again, she isn't someone who screams "VILLAIN" to me. I think Parvati hit it on the nose with her comment about the women villains mainly being chosen because they're strong players. Danielle will probably do well. These women should team up and get rid of the guys ... and make it work this time. They're strong enough!


Jerri Manthey, age 38, from Los Angeles and still residing there. Now, here's the only woman who I feel was a real villain in her original season. She was the 8th person out and 2nd jury member in Australia, and 7th out in All-Stars. She had quite a bunch of brouhahas with Colby Donaldson. We can only hope for more. I doubt she'll win.


Parvati Shallow, age 27, from Atlanta, Georgia, now living in Los Angeles, California. On Cook Islands, she was the 15th out and 7th jury member. She was the winner of Micronesia. While she's definitely a bit devious with her flirtations, she's more of a smart player than a villain. She's not my favorite, but she thinks out and plays a good game. I think she could very well put in a good showing once again. I should keep count how many times it sounds like Jeff Probst is calling her "Poverty."


Randy Bailey, age 50, from Austin, Texas. He was the 11th out and 3rd jury member in Gabon. He's a bully. While I don't find him as annoying as "Coach" because he's not as whacky and doesn't get as much camera time, I don't care for him or his game. He can go. Thank you.


Boston Rob Mariano, age 33, from Boston, Massachusetts, now living in Pensacola, Florida. Husband of Survivor winner Amber, as we all know. He was the 7th out in Marquesas, and the runner-up in All-Stars. He was also on The Amazing Race. He has also used up too many fifteen minutes of fame. That said, I'd rather watch him than Coach or Randy. I don't think he's going to get really far this season. I don't think people will trust him.


Russell Hantz, age 37, from Dayton, Texas. He was the runner-up on Samoa. He's fresh in our memories and probably the most evil player since Richard Hatch. While he's the master of finding hidden idols and manipulating people in the moment, he doesn't seem to have learned a better social game plan. Loose lips and gloating cost him the million once. Will it happen again?


Sandra Diaz-Twine, age 34, from Stamford, Connecticut, now living in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She was the winner of Pearl Islands. Is she really a villain? I'm just not getting that. She was tight with Rupert in her season. Her chances? I don't know -- she's against a tough crowd and she's really not too villainy. If she makes it to the merge, maybe final six.


Tyson Apostol, age 30, from Lindon, Utah, now living in Heber City, Utah. He was the 8th out and 2nd jury member in Tocantins. He looks much better in this picture than I recall him looking on the show. He's another one I don't like -- that chip on his shoulder should make him list to one side. But he is strong in challenges and the tribemates always seem to think he's entertaining. I'd rather he didn't win, though.