I do a lot of blog posts on one of my favorite TV shows ever, Survivor. I enjoy how the game has evolved over the years, and new things are happening all the time with its evolution. We had a fan-favorite player get eliminated by default with Cirie in Game Changers. We had a tribal in Second Chance where idols negated every vote. But some instances or occurrences have never happened in Survivor history. With all the new advantages and the numerous idols put into play by the showrunners, not only are some of these things likely to happen, but I think they (Jeff included) want them to happen.
10. A "No Vote" Tribal Council
One thing I'm not a fan of in recent seasons is how easy it is to lose your vote. In fact, in Season 44, just going to the summit meant you lost your vote, unless you got lucky and succeeded in that 1/3 shot of getting an advantage. It's so dumb. Anyway, with how easy it is to lose your vote, and with shots in the dark, and with how small tribes can get, I feel like a "no vote" tribal council may happen someday. I'm sure they have a plan in place for this, but this "dramatic moment" would feel so contrived, as do a lot of them in recent seasons. And by a "no vote" tribal council, I do not mean a tribal council where all votes are negated. That's happened before. I mean a tribal council where everyone present has lost their vote or chooses to lose their vote. Very unlikely, but it's theoretically possible.
9. A plurality tie at Final Tribal Council
I have a feeling this could happen in 44 (Spoiler alert: It does not). But given three finalists, a tie with a plurality vote is certainly possible. With 8 jurors like 44 has, we could see a 3-3-2 final vote. Or if they had 9 jurors, a 4-4-1, or do I even say a 3-3-3? We've seen a tie before in Ghost Island, but in that case, Laurel did not receive a vote and ended up casting the tie-breaking vote. So if there's a 3-3-2 tie, how is it broken? Do the 2 people who voted for the 3rd place person and the 3rd place person themself break the tie? We may get that answer someday.
8. "Everyone's Safe" Tribal Council
This is what I think Jeff and the producers want most. A tribal council where everyone is safe via immunity, idol, advantage, or shot in the dark. We were close to it with the Cirie elimination in Game Changers. But what would happen here? They just vote out two people next time? Everyone's safety cancels out and gets removed? Draw rocks? They fight for it?
7. Someone puts themselves into final 4 fire making and loses
We've seen it only once before where the player who won final immunity put themselves into fire: Chris in Edge of Extinction. He won his fire-making duel with Rick Devens and then won the game. A few others have considered attempting it, some of them regretting not doing so. I think we will see (and likely soon) someone put themselves into fire, but lose. It's become a running trend that winning fire-making looks a lot better to the jury. This would happen when someone needs a boost to their resumé and knows they have no shot at winning without it.
Update: Heidi in 44 put herself into fire making, but won the fire making over Carson. However, she still did not win the game, the first to put themselves into fire making but lose the game.
6. Multiple fake idols played at one tribal council
Hard as it may seem, we've never seen multiple fake idols be attempted to be played at the same tribal council. For the first time in 44, producers made and introduced fake idols into the game. In the past, players always had to make them themselves. I think we may soon see a tribal council where someone attempts to play an idol but it turns out to be fake, and someone else attempts the same, feeling like there is no way theirs could be fake as well.
5. A player gets all the way to the end without ever having been vulnerable at a tribal council
I'm sure there have been a few players who have been somewhat close. But this may never happen. However, it theoretically is possible that a player gets all the way to the end without having been eligible to be voted for. Their starting tribe would have to win every immunity, and they'd have to win individual immunity or be separated into a group that doesn't go to tribal every vote until the Final 3. This person would have to be godlike at challenges. They'd have to be smart with puzzles and athletic for endurance challenges. I wonder if this ever happened, would this make a jury want to vote for them or not?
4. A rock draw on a plurality tie
We've seen some rock draws in Survivor history, from Marquesas to Blood vs. Water to Millennials vs. Gen X. But we've never seen one when there's been a three-way tie (or more). I believe Survivor has had a three-way tie before, but it's always been resolved on the revote. You'd think perhaps there'd be a tribe of 6 people with three twosomes, the twosomes all targeting three different people. But generally, two pairs of twosomes get together to target one of the two odd people out. Or, if a tribe has three people, each one targeting someone else. I thought we might've seen that on Tika in 44 when they had just Caroline, Joshua, and Yam-Yam.
3. Someone gives someone their immunity necklace who then in turn plays an idol for them
I just think this would be a cute moment if it ever happened. Two players close in the game, both of whom would be vulnerable. One has individual immunity, but they decide to see if they can throw off the opposition and they give their immunity to their ally. Said ally then plays an idol they happen to have on the first player. This has never happened before, since the second player could just play their idol, but I'd still love to see it for the drama and fireworks. Plus, it's something players would have to come up with, not the producers.
2. A player votes out someone with their idol
Let me explain. In 44, we saw the introduction of the "Control a Vote" where Heidi got to control Lauren's vote. Also, players loan idols all the time, namely in recent years to avoid the Knowledge is Power advantage. This could mean someone is forced to vote out someone who has their idol. That would just be such a kick in the nuts.
1. A rock draw for $1 million?!
Even with a final three, a deadlock tribal council is possible. I believe, for this reason, the show tries to avoid a jury size that is a multiple of 3 (namely 9). I don't believe they've had a jury where the final 3 could've each gotten the same number of votes. But I could be wrong. But surely they must have something in place for this in case it happens. For example, in Winners at War, what if one more person had left the Edge (joining Sandra in doing so), and the 15 jurors split their votes 5-5-5 between Tony, Natalie, and Michele? Surely they wouldn't do a rock draw for $1 million, right? I guess they'd have the jury talk it over until they came to a consensus. Or possibly re-vote until someone gets the majority.
BONUS (Unlikely): A juror that never casts a vote
We saw in 44 how Matt got to the jury, despite the only time he ever cast a vote being the time he got voted out. Well, with how much the producers love taking people's votes away in mind (and the Shot in the Dark), we could see a juror on Survivor who never casts a vote, not even for a winner. This could only happen if they re-introduced the "Remove a Juror" advantage, as seen in Kaoh Rong. That was only introduced because of the med-evacs and needing an extra challenge, but I feel like we potentially could see it again. Imagine, you get on the jury, but you don't get to cast a vote all game. We will probably see a juror at some point that the first time they put pen to paper is for the winner.
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Top 10 Things We Have Yet to See on Survivor (But May Someday)
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Top Ten Californication Moments
It led me to thinking what the best moments on the show were. I've come up with my favorite ten moments on the show. If it's a show you've considered watching, this might help, but of course there will be spoilers. This is your warning.
A lot of these involve music, which I think the show does so well. Here we go:
10. Hank dreams about getting a blowjob from a nun in a church, opening with "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones, Season 1: "Pilot"
This show kicks off and gets right to it in its first scene. They instantly show it's going to be a show about sex and a show that's not afraid to push boundaries. It's iconic and there's even references to this a couple times throughout the show. Anyone watching this show not knowing what it's about receives an absolute shock when the nun asks, "What about a blowjob?" Although to be fair, Hank curses a bit before she propositions him in his dream. And this whole scene starts with Hank driving up to the church set to the London Bach choir's part of the song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones. Funny thing I just found out: They use the Stones' vocals of the same song to conclude the show in Season 1, book-ending the season with different parts of the same song.
9. Hank gets carjacked, set to the Foo Fighters "The Pretender", Season 1: "Filthy Lucre"
As Hank pulls up to a red light, he gets asked by a female pedestrian how to get to the highway. Soon after he responds, her male partner approaches Hank from the driver's side and points a gun to Hank's head, ordering him to get out. We see Hank trying to save what he thinks is his only copy of his novel, but he is unable to due to the carjacker's threats. They speed off with the car and novel, and instead of panicking, Hank like a boss calmly lights a cigarette. We then see Mia had made a copy of his novel, and then fade to credits right as the chorus of "The Pretender" hits. Just one of the most perfectly timed moments with one of the best song choices.
8. Hank trying to put out fires (one literally) left and right, but all hell breaks loose, Season 3: "The Apartment"
This moment is from the highest rated episode of Californication on IMDB, so I had to include it. In season 3, Hank juggles varying levels of relationships with three different women, all with ties to the school he is teaching at: One student, one teacher/wife of the dean, one his teacher's assistant. They all decide to visit him one morning, all trying to seduce him or be with him in some fashion. Meanwhile, Charlie and Rick Springfield (Yes, the Rick Springfield who sang "Jessie's Girl") are in the main bedroom with two hookers. It's a long story. And of course, Karen and Becca and Becca's friend, Chelsea, and Chelsea's dad the dean all show up. It culminates into one of the most hectic but entertaining moments in the series.
7. Hank reads Karen "The Story of Us" on the plane to their daughter Becca's wedding, Season 7: "Grace"
Hank makes the grand gesture of going to New York with Karen for Becca's wedding (after initially saying he wouldn't go because he objects to the marriage), and when he boards the plane he pulls out a letter he's written to Karen. He initially hands it to her, but she doesn't seem keen on reading it so Hank steals it back and reads it aloud. It really summarizes up their relationship pretty well. Just like in the show, it doesn't have a definitive ending, but that's ok. The letter was moving enough to make the stubborn lady sitting next to Karen switch her seat.
6. The chaos of the dinner party, Season 4: "The Last Supper"
At a dinner party hosted by Stu Beggs with tons of guests, chaos of course ensues. At the party are Hank, Karen, Karen's date Ben, Marcy, Stu Beggs, Charlie and his date, Peggy, Eddie Nero, the director of "Fucking & Punching", Hank's lawyer Abby, and Sasha Bingham. Basically, it's a party to celebrate the movie they're all making, and most people bring dates. Anyway, arguing starts, plus a lot of personal and sexual details revealed. After Charlie confesses that he still loves Marcy, Marcy reveals the baby she's carrying is Charlie's, then Peggy in her anger stabs Charlie through the hand with a knife. Marcy then attacks and fights with Peggy, Hank takes the knife out of Charlie's hand, which causes the director to vomit. I told you there was a bit of chaos.
5. The glorious mangina, Season 3: "Wish You Were Here"
Season 3 kicks off with a bang, as Hank has dinner with his daughter's friend's mother and her family. There at the party is an author Hank looks up to, Richard Bates. Hank makes the mistake of getting Bates to succumb to his desire for alcohol (He had been sober for many years). After Bates' drinking, the next time we see him he is naked. What is funny though is he has his penis tucked between his legs, showing off what he calls his "glorious mangina". Never did I ever think I'd see a man's crotch with his penis tucked between his legs on TV. Bates then goes streaking to God knows where. What made this moment a classic was Hank's several times referring to it years down the line.
4. Hank and Becca bond as Season 2 ends, set to "California Dreaming" by the Shaw Blades, Season 2: "La Petite Mort"
I have just always loved this scene. Hank meets the skater girl he had previously slept with, and as she leaves Becca approaches and she and Hank talk about relationships. It's one of their best father-daughter bonding moments. I really like the song they chose for this, a cover of the Mama's and the Papa's "California Dreaming", this time done by the Shaw Blades. The camera pans up as we see the large crowd at Santa Monica and the season ends. One of the best, if not the best ending to a season.
3. Hank punches a guy for calling Karen the "C-Word", Season 1: "Fear and Loathing at the Fundraiser"
It's a quick moment, but a guy earlier was extremely rude to Karen and called her the "C-Word", while Hank wasn't around her. When everyone is leaving the fundraiser, they see each other again and the guy says, "See You Next Tuesday!" which is another way of saying the C-Word. Karen cusses him out, and Hank asks what it's about. When Karen tells him, Hank calmly walks up to the guy, says, "Excuse me," and sucker punches him. I love this moment because we learn how much he really loves Karen deep down and that someone calling her the most insulting term for a woman really makes him want to defend her honor.
2. "BOOOOO-YA! The baby's black!", Season 2: "La Petite Mort"
This is undoubtedly the moment in Californication that made me laugh the hardest. After a fling of Hank's, Sonja, tells him she's pregnant with his child, Hank gets into hot water with Karen, of course. However, Hank and Karen are present at Sonja's water-birth. Everyone receives a surprise when the baby comes out as black, proving that Hank can't be the father. His reaction to seeing the baby is utterly priceless. He says the above line, including a fist pump while he's at it, and celebrates with Karen that he's not the father.
1. Karen finds out about Hank and Mia set to Elton John's "Rocket Man", Season 3: "Mia Culpa"
It's amazing that this show was able to keep Karen from knowing about Hank and Mia for almost THREE seasons. After a fight with Mia's manager, Hank realizes he has to tell Karen himself rather than her hear it from someone or somewhere else. As soon as he gets serious and begins telling her, "Rocket Man" by Elton John comes on. It fits the moment perfectly, and we know basically what they're saying so we don't have to hear the dialogue. It's a lot of chasing and shoving and running, anyway. It ends with the cops coming and whisking Hank away for assaulting Mia's manager, signaling his absolute lowest point. I said earlier Season 2's "La Petite Mort" had the best ending scene to a season, but I think this tops it.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Top 10 Surreal Moments of My Life
Now, before I start, I must say there are some exciting stories, and there are some sad stories, and there are some scary ones. All in all, in my life, these are the 10 most surreal moments.
Without further ado, here they are:
10. Seeing a coyote
Now this doesn’t sound so surreal, but it was to me. Anyway, I was riding home on the bus one day from college, and this was about 1 in the afternoon mind you. As I’m going through Bellevue and the Microsoft area there (just north of Crossroads Mall), I see a coyote on the grass near some trees. At first I thought it was a dog, but no, a real live coyote. Now you see why this is only #10. I just thought it was neat seeing a coyote in the broad daylight. I thought they were nocturnal like owls or rats or raccoons.
9. Waking up to a beetle
This is probably the scariest item on my list. At least the one that made me scream the loudest.
I was waking up one morning, and I heard this clicking noise. I didn’t recognize it. I reached my hand over to the edge of my pillow where I heard the noise, and felt something small and bumpy. For some reason, I didn’t freak out at this point.
However, as I turned on my light to get a look at the thing, I saw what it was. Some brownish, flying (I just know these things can fly) beetle. Right on my pillow. It was right then I let out the loudest scream of my life, waking up my sister. My mom came rushing in. We took care of the beetle.
But ever since then, my bedroom has had bug problems. I have found dead wasps on my floor. I’ve had a moth in my room. I’ve had flies. And just recently I encountered the VERY same beetle that was on my pillow that one morning. Scared me half to death yet again, but this time, I had no mercy. I killed it when I saw it on the corner of my bed.
I am tired of bugs in my room. I want to move.
8. Walking into the Kingdome for the first time
The year was around 1998. Perhaps 1997. I can’t remember. It was my first sporting event since I was a toddler. I was about 8 or 9 years old. The Mariners were playing the Yankees in the Kingdome. The first steps I took into the seating area and my first glimpse of the playing field were so magical. I had seen the Kingdome so many times on TV during Mariner and Seahawk games. The Mariners ended up losing, but I had a blast.
7. Kittens being born
In 1996, the family cat Tobi, who was almost 2, got pregnant via a neighbor’s cat. One night my dad and I were watching television in the rec room when Tobi, who BTW was very pregnant, comes in and is all of a sudden the nicest cat in the world. She is giving me love more than she ever has. She is usually skiddish around my dad, but in this instance she was giving him love too.
After I went to bed, my mom woke me up because Tobi was giving birth. I watched as she gave birth to three kittens. The first was a spotted black and white cat—I think we called her Minnie. The next was orange, white, and black—I can’t remember the name we had for that one. The last one was a black and white tuxedo cat, just like his father.
For some reason, I remember some slimy yellow stuff on top of the third cat’s head. I don’t know what it was or why I remember it. Anyway, that third cat was the only one that survived and is the family cat we have today, and his name is Blackjack.
6. Seeing Nate Burleson, Bryce Fisher, Deion Branch, and Kelly Jennings in Safeway
Now, I work at Safeway currently as a Checker/Cashier. But I used to be a Courtesy Clerk, or what is informally known as a bagger.
Over my time there, I saw former Seahawk Bryce Fisher, now-former Seahawk Nate Burleson, Deion Branch, and Kelly Jennings. I never actually bagged for any of them. Bryce, Nate and Deion all went through a different checkstand than the one I was bagging at. And Kelly went through an express checkstand where there are no baggers. But I definitely recognized each, and felt surreal in the moments during.
5. Bagging for Nicole Zaloumis
You probably don’t know who Nicole Zaloumis is. Let me explain. She is a former reporter for FSN Northwest, primarily covering Mariners games. Anyway, I was working late one night at Safeway as a bagger and wouldn’t you know it, she comes through my line.
Now Nicole is no ordinary woman. There is a reason she is nicknamed Nicole “Bazoombas”. Or at least that’s the nickname I have for her. She is drop-dead gorgeous with a great…hem hem…. Body.
Anyway, I bagged for her. I can’t remember the items she purchased. Nothing that stood out. No condoms. Oh well. What I do remember is that she was on her cell phone the entire time, which, from a former courtesy clerk and current cashier’s perspective, is kinda rude.
However, I wished her a good night, and she was kind enough to hear me and wish me the same. And now, she is no longer working for FSN and my chances of ever seeing her again have really dwindled. Oh well.
4. 9/11 attacks
We all remember where we were when we found out about the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. I was getting ready for school when my mom called me, and told me to turn on the TV to the news.
I saw both of the Trade Center buildings smoking. I found out the 2nd plane crashed into the 2nd tower just before I turned on the TV. They, much to my sadness, kept replaying the plane flying into the tower.
As I went to school that day, it was all people could talk about. There was a moment of silence for the victim’s during the morning’s announcements. And I still remember it like it was yesterday.
3. Tobi dying
For some reason, the most I’ve cried for someone or something dying was for my cat, Tobi. I figure that’s because I’ve been lucky enough to have her being the closest thing to me that’s died.
Anyway, the story starts out like this. On September 10, 2002, I wake up and continue my regular routine. I find out Tobi has not been inside all morning, but that’s not unusual as she often stays out there late hunting.
I go to school, get home, everything normal. After dinner, I go downstairs to watch TV while my dad does yard work. I distinctly remember that I was watching “Smart Guy” on the Disney Channel, starring Tahj Mowery. My dad comes in to the rec room and says “Brian, come here”, and he says it in a tone I’ve rarely, if ever, heard him use.
I follow him outside to the front yard, then he leads me to the side of the house where I see my mom choking up, and I see Tobi lying to the side of our house, unmoving, with blood around her neck.
My hearts sinks faster than it’s ever sunk in my life. Tobi, DEAD? I go over and look closer and see she is not breathing. It starts hitting me. I start crying. My mom consoles me.
Eventually, they bring my sister out after she just finishes her shower and upon seeing Tobi she instantly becomes 10x more miserable than I was.
We determine her cause of death was probably her collar catching on the top of the fence, strangling her. She probably tried to wriggle herself free, but by the time she got free of the fence she had done too much damage to her neck.
We decide to bury her right where we found her. Before we do so, however, we bring her son, Blackjack out to see her. He sniffs around her body, and I can just tell he realizes his mother his dead.
The next day, it is really hard to hold back tears for the pet at the time I had had the longest. However, since it was the one-year anniversary of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, I was partly crying for that. One of the saddest moments in my life.
2. Nisqually Earthquake
On February 28, 2001, I experienced the first (and so far only) major earthquake in my life. It was the magnitude 6.8 (some sources say 7.0) Nisqually Earthquake.
I was in 6th grade and I was on the computer. And that’s when it hit. Instinctively, I get under the desk quickly and cover my neck. I feel the ground moving. To me, it felt like the school was on a giant raft on the ocean and we had some big waves.
It was all anyone in Seattle could talk about for a week. And because it’s the only earthquake I have ever felt, it is truly a surreal moment for me.
1. Meeting my girlfriend
My most surreal moment happens to be the moment I met my girlfriend. What makes it surreal is that I met her online. We started talking through an instant messaging service and eventually started communicated using webcam. We communicated over webcam for 8 months before deciding to meet each other. We knew we both had a deep likeness for each other and wanted to meet each other in person.
The day was August 20, 2009. This moment actually happens to be triply surreal, because of not only meeting my girlfriend, not only was it my first flight ever, but it was my first time going to California.
I flew from Seattle to Sacramento. The flight was perfect. No turbulence. As I landed and started walking through the gate, I realized. I’M IN CALIFORNIA. It was surreal. I saw a sports shop with gear for the UCLA Bruins, LA Lakers, Oakland Raiders, and USC Trojans. No Seahawks or Mariners or Huskies, which I was so accustomed to seeing.
I texted my girlfriend to let her know I was there and asked her where she was. She replied back “By the escalator you are coming down on.”
I saw the escalator. I knew she was at the bottom, with her mom and best friend, waiting for me.
I got to the top of the escalator, and looked down. I saw her mom, with a camera pointed at me. I saw my girlfriend’s best friend waiting anxiously. And then I saw my girlfriend. I was blown away.
As I got off the escalator, I did what I told her I was going to do. I lifted her off her feet and spun her around.
After I set her down, she replied that she had to pee. Lovely. We got my bags, then headed to In-N-Out for lunch (a place I had never been to, but what I found out to be one of the best burger places ever).
What made this even more surreal was the fact that my girlfriend was wearing more makeup then she ever had on webcam. She had her hair done like I had never seen it. She was almost unrecognizable to me. But I just was able to recognize her, and she was gorgeous, and I fell in love.