Sunday, May 19, 2013

It's Celebrity Apprentice's turn this week.

Yes, I still love the show.  Yes, with all of the political hulabaloo and weather disasters going on I am choosing to speak about this instead.  Instead of just speaking about the final outcome, I would like to talk about the season in general.  In Apprentice fashion, I will state the pros and cons.  I will start with the cons, because in my mind, there were so few of them.

CONS:
1.  Omarosa - I don't need the drama.  The show is good enough without it.
2.  Stephen Baldwin - see above
3.  I really wasn't a fan of Trace's attitude during the beginning task.  I felt like maybe he'd been too influenced by his loss to Piers Morgan
4.  Certain players were afraid to bring Omarosa to the boardroom.
5.  The dresses that many of the women wore in the finale.  Please forgive me Trumps if the dresses were from any of your lines, but seriously I was questioning if we were back in the '80s.
6.  The fact that Trump brought back Piers Morgan to be a celebrity judge.  I think my feelings about Piers echo those of Trace on the finale (although I must say, I was glad to see Piers' charity get the money it did from him winning.  It was a very worthy charity).
7.  Dennis Rodman's look on the finale - sorry, Dennis.

PROS:
1.  The integrity of a majority of the players.
2.  The general civility on the show (minus the two characters mentioned in the "CONS" section).  Give me civility any day of the week.  I think this season showed that you don't need all of the drama to make a good reality show.  If you have the right talent of the players and the right tasks, the show should be able to stand on it's own.  Drama is only needed if the competition isn't good enough.
3.  Penn's creativity
4.  The true reason I felt Trace should win the show - He knew how to not only handle Gary Busey, but how to use his talent's to the teams advantage.  I especially loved the first episode when he used Gary to distract Piers.  Also, he did choose a darn good team - that shows that he knows what he's doing.
5.  The talent on the show.  I seriously thought many players were good enough to win
6.  The cleaned up Dennis - he was a completely different person this season.
7.  The fact that Marilu Henner and Lisa Rinna were not nearly as annoying!
8.  That the true Trace eventually came back
9.  The money given to the charities of those who didn't win tasks.
10.  The 100k given to Lil John's charity on the last episode - love that guy!
11. Penn's charity Opportunity Village.  Not only the charity itself, but the fact that it was a local charity.  While I love Trace, and I feel the American Red Cross does wonderful things, I still liked Penn's charity better.
12.  That players were able to illustrate that a leader does not need to be high energy and a stress case to accomplish something
13.  The wonderful directing job of little John on several of the videos.
14.  That the two final contestants were both worthy of the win.  They both played with honor, they did not tear each other down, and they both showed respect for each other throughout the entire show and on the final episode.
15.  Trace's nod to God
16.  Trace's video in the final task - loved Gary's dance.
17.  Learned more about teller.
18.  This one I'm torn about, but I think I appreciated that in the final task Trace used his team without bringing in outside performers.  Now, he did bring in outside performers to donate at the event, but he didn't make a big show of them as Penn did.  That being said, It was very smart of Penn to use the blue man group, the dancers, teller, etc. to pass out ice cream and just entertain in general.  That is why I am torn, but I think I like the more purist route of Trace.  I think.
19.  I'm sure there are actually so many more that I am not remembering right now...please post any comments on your pros and cons (and by that, I'm basically only expecting comments from E.G.B. but if others post, wonderful!)

Sunday, May 5, 2013

WARNING - Amazing Race Spoiler Alert

So, I know you were all amazed that I made it through the complete Amazing Race season without even a post.  Now that the season is technically over in my time zone, I'm commenting.  Hooray to the Hockey Players!  You did a wonderful job Bates and Anthony.  I was routing for you, although there were quite a few teams that I wouldn't have minded winning.  This season there was a pretty good group of teams in my opinion.  (The fact that Bates and Anthony were two single men may have had a little to do with why I was routing for them.  Also the fact that they weren't airheaded.  They had pretty good heads on those hockey bodies).  I also enjoyed that the season finale was in Washington, D.C., where I used to work and near where I used to live.  Btw, for those of you who don't know, 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. is the Old Post Office Pavilion.  I recognized it, I did not Google it, so if I am wrong...feel free to tell me.  I was also surprised at the lack of non-"spies" at the tidal basin

In other news - Last night I went to IHOP and had some incredible peaches and cream brioche french toast.  There were so many other good looking foods on the menu as well.  I was thinking that I may have to visit there a few more times on my 2 weeks away from home.  I went on a Sunday afternoon drive today.  It was a beautiful drive.  The western part of the state is definitely more beautiful than the eastern part, in my opinion.

In terms of the Kentucky Derby, I missed it.  There was a Montana owned horse in the race this year, though.  It didn't do too well.  We'll have to see if we have a triple crown winner this year.