Russell loses to Natalie in Survivor finale
Dude, I’m tellin’ ya……….
In the two hour season finale of Survivor on Sunday night, southern belle Natalie beat mastermind Russell to win the $1,000,000 prize. I watched with a couple of fellow rabid fans and then a guy who had never watched an episode before. Ever. So it was all new and oftentimes amusing for him to hear the petty squabbles and the malicious attacks on people’s character.
So Natalie took home the cash. She didn’t exactly outwit Russell. And she didn’t outlast him. She sure didn’t outplay him. Jeeez, what the hell did she do?
Well, she got more votes from a bitter jury that couldn’t move past their jilted feelings and personal scorn for Russell and properly award him the money. I will say one thing for Natalie that was expressed by her in the show, and also put forth by another friend who is a huge fan. He watched the finale with his wife and so they hadn’t been exposed to the discussions at my home. And they said that it’s very easy for the jury members to completely dismiss a player who “rode someone’s coattails” to get thru the game. They do it every year. Someone rides another player’s coattails…and the jury calls them on it. And on one hand, they have a point. Sometimes a coattail rider is completely undeserving and is no match for the other finalist they are up against.
But on the other hand—and I do agree this is a fair position—–being a “coattail rider” can actually be someone’s strategy. And it does require some strategic decision making along the way. What if the person whose carrying you becomes such a wanted man that just conversing with him is downright poisonous? You have to know when to abandon that coattail ride. This season, Natalie never had to. Another thing is actually identifying and aligning with that special someone very early who looks like they may dominate the game . They just may not take a liking to you. You have to forge that relationship and maintain it for 39 days.
And Natalie expressed some of this position on the finale. She said she knows that Russell was out in front “taking enemy fire” for her. Taking the bullets. But she pointed out that she made it to the end of 39 days outlasting all of the more aggressive, outspoken, and calculating women.
So I give this position some credence. Her strategy was to fly a little under the radar, allign with a really strong player, let other bigmouths get knocked out of the game, etc. According to her, those were big, conscious elements of her strategy. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt on that.
But even so, Russell deserved the million dollars. Bottom line……his strategy was better—-and better executed than Natalie’s. And he was her damn benefactor ! Just that alone should be enough. Then when you factor in everything else he did like finding the three immunity idols without any clues. Like turning Shambo against her tribe, then using her for every last drop he could squeeze out of her, and then shipping her ass right out of the game……
{And to Shambo’s credit, she was the only jury member who was used and abused by Russell, can blame her ouster directly on him, and still voted the right way. She voted for Russell to win the million bucks. She didn’t have any lasting animosity. She realizes it is a game and she got voted out after a good run. And the person who played the game the best should get the vote. She was the only one who seemed to do that}.
Russell was the executioner on at least 7 or 8 people being voted out of the game out of the total of 17 who were eliminated. {Actually two people left due to injury}. He won the last and hardest physical challenge against a healthy 21 year old kid. He did everything a man can do to win the game and get the money in turning in one of Survivor’s greatest all-around efforts.
But the people on the jury forget (or dismiss) the fact that this is a game and their bitterness and personal dislike for somebody jades their vote. Not just this jury…..it happens every year and really irritates me. They don’t want to give a million dollars to someone because they perceive him to be a jerk. That’s it. They give a million dollars to a person who is undeserving because they are nicer. To hell with merit.
This jury was so filled with hostility that they accused Russell of acting and behaving in the real world the exact same way he acted on the island. It wasn’t even enough for jilted little Jaison to tell the active players what he had learned of Russell’s private life. He also made him acknowledge that he was a successful businessman to the (to that point ignorant) jury in the Q & A part of the voting process. What a puss Jaison was. He himself is going to be a lawyer. So I guess by his own viewpoint, we shouldn’t give him the money either. Everyone knows lawyers make big bucks. So all lawyers, doctors, and successful businessmen shouldn’t win, right Jaison? You puss.
I don’t care if it’s Alex Rodriguez up against a Red Cross volunteer at the end of the game. If A-Rod outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted everyone else but the volunteer, then I vote for him to get the money. If you are not ready to face the truth of the game and possibly find yourself voting for a rich person……or a cocky braggart…….or just someone you find completely abrasive…..then don’t even apply to be on the game. You might just have to vote for someone like that.
But I found the general opinion that Russell must be a backstabbing, conniving jerk in real life that uses people and throws them aside to be very small and close-minded by the jury. We know very little about this man. On the reunion show, we learned he has a wife and twin 9 year old daughters. We know that he respects a young man (and I’d assume anybody) who seems moral and brought up really well, and is a spiritual person–like the contestant Brett was. Russell said he is the type of young man he hopes his daughters eventually end up with.
For all we know, Russell organizes the town Christmas party for the kids where he lives in Texas. Perhaps he donates generously to his old high school. His employees may think he’s the greatest and most generous boss in the world.
Who knows? He very well could be a dick in real life.
That’s the thing…..we don’t know. And the losers on the jury gave the wrong person the million dollars. Russell said some cocky things on the reunion show and made a strange, sorry offer to Natalie just to get the title of Sole Survivor. But I don’t hold that against him. He was quite obviously very upset with the vote.
As was I and a few of my friends.
And still am. Dammit !
Shambo bites the dust on Survivor
Dude, I’m tellin’ ya………
Despite what he has accomplished to date and even though I have grown to really admire him, to me Russell pulled one of the dumbest moves on Survivor that I can remember. I almost wish he got voted off to teach his ass a lesson.
The show started with the final 6 tribesmates at camp. Shambo made her usual ass of herself going on about her scummy hair and acting like Jenna Jameson around the campfire as Brett picked the fleas out of her hair like they were a couple of chimps at the freakin’ zoo.
Finally that uncomfortable moaning was disrupted when they jumped to the next day and there was a reward challenge. The tribe was divided into two groups of 3 and they had to pull strings on a suspended batch of coconuts. The goal was to not dislodge any of the coconuts if possible. The first team to dislodge 100 coconuts lost. A game of Jenga but Survivor-style. The prize was one of the cool cultural trips that Survivor puts together complete with natives preparing a feast and some local music and dancing on the beach. Then the winners would sleep in a comfy bed for the night.
In a blatant (to me, at least) example of how Pretty Boy Probst watches footage of the tape in order to interrogate and pester the contestants, he started riding Shambo about her hairstyle right at the start of the reward challenge. Coincidence? She tried to play it off the way she always does when she looks bad—–like when she bid for and won the pile of sea slugs in the food auction. But that was the type of thing that reminds me this is a very staged and purposeful “reality” show.
So somehow, Shambo and her teammates overcame the subtle mocking by Probst and won the challenge. They got to go on the cultural experience and chow down on some good grub to revitalize themselves a bit. Then get a good night’s rest in the comfy sleeping quarters. Even there, Shambo acted like some sort of goofball on her first sleepover. What a friggin’ weirdo.
During the course of the reward festivities, Russell and his partners confirmed to each other that Brett remained the biggest threat. They agreed that if he didn’t win immunity for the second time in a row, then Brett was gone. And if he did win immunity, they targeted Mick. However, there was some red herrings put out there that Natalie was scraping some nerves by choosing Brett to be her first teammate in the challenge……and then their spiritual connection seemed to enhance that bond. So she was dangled as an alternative to Mick—if Brett won the immunity challenge.
The immunity challenge itself was about memorizing the unit count in a variety of settings. They had pigs in a coop, they had a bunch of rocks on a table, a collection of fish, etc. Then you had to produce a combination from those unit counts that produced a formula to release a hammer. Once you had the hammer, you smashed your tile and won immunity.
Lo and behold, Brett won immunity for the second week in a row foiling Russell’s ideal plan. So now Russell had to decide between Mick and Natalie. But the heat on Natalie was more of the show’s editing than a true threat. The true choices were Mick or Shambo.
Shambo had pretty much worn out her usage at this point. Number one, the former Foa Foa tribe that was facing a helpless numbers disadvantage some weeks ago now has the majority….thanks to Shambo jumping ship. Like Benedict Arnold. And number two, she’s a freakin’ nutcase who you always have to keep an eye on to make sure she doesn’t go loco.
You know the type I’m talking about. Yeah…yeah…she’s entertaining until you start thinking she has a little Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver in her. That’s when you stop sleeping at night just to keep an eye on old girl. And when you desperately need sleep 36 days in the bush, you have to vote a psycho bitch like her out of there. Am I right?
Like Stone Cold Steve Austin used to say, ” Can I get a HELL YEAH ??? “
And when it was said-and-done, Shambo was the latest blindside.
But I want to call out Russell on this one. Last week, I said he should play the immunity idol no matter what this week. I actually had no idea this was the last week that he could actually play it. And when he had the opportunity to do so, he said he was going to keep it around his neck and consider it a souvenir.
I didn’t like that move at all. And not because it was cocky or ballsy or pompous……simply because it is the wrong mathmatical move to make. You spend 36 days on an island starving and suffering and you have a guaranteed ticket to the final 5 and you leave that 1% risk out there to get voted out ?? He could be blindsided as easy as anyone else. It’s possible in the realm of possibility. It’s a mathmatical possibility.
I was hoping he would get voted out even though the show’s own editing pretty well eliminated that notion from my mind. They don’t have the balls to not show any footage at all of other players scheming against Russell and then have him voted out. This was the first show in four weeks in which Russell’s name didn’t get thrown in the hat. So there was no way he was going home; at least for the viewers to see. But there on the island with no footage to watch, Russell should have played the idol and bought his way into the final 5.
He got a little bit lucky in my book.
So this Sunday is the big finale. A champion will be crowned.
Oh shit !! I almost forgot. Did you see how smokin’ my girl Monica looked on the jury?
See ya Sunday.
Video games and aggression
Dude, I’m tellin’ ya………….
Don’t let the title of this one deceive you. It’s not a deep-rooted psychological examination of the correlation of video games and aggression.
Hell, it hurt my head just to type those words. I’m not bright enough to pull off something like that. It’s just that I witnessed something yesterday that had me remembering how many times I’ve seen video games spawn violence. And they’re all funny memories to me. Nobody ever got hurt or anything. So the violence is funny, right?
Last night I’m watching the Blackhawks kick some ass (3-0 for their second consecutive shutout) with a buddy. Well actually, I was watching the game intently and he was half-watching it while he played World of Worldcraft. He’s a regular player of this fantasy world game where you develop a character and slay monsters and other evil beings in various dungeons. A few times per week, he connects with 24 other players around the country and they all go on a raid together to slaughter these terrible beasts. It is his “guild”.
I know ?? Right ??
I think the same thing. Usually when I see him engrossed in this game, I’m thinking, “Awwwww, for Christ sake !! Really ? “
So last night, he and his guild were out on a raid while the Hawks played. And about every two minutes he would pound his fist down on his desk and shove his chair away from the computer muttering profanities and waving his arms around. Apparently he kept getting killed right near the start of every battle. And didn’t know exactly how it was happening.
Next thing you know he’s looking at me all wild-eyed and going off on the game and the battle. All I could do was look at him with my mouth open and nod my head in agreement. It reminded me of some of the boys at Sunday football when Lovie Smith makes another asinine play call.
That reaction by my buddy over his video game was pretty tame though compared to some performances over the years. And anybody who plays video games knows what I’m talking about here.
When my brother and I were kids playing that Atari system my parents bought us for Christmas, there were some incidents. After a while you become such an expert at the games that anything short of your all-time HI score is unacceptable. And if you invest 2 hours into a game of Pac-Man or Space Invaders and then fall just 40,000 points short of your HI game……..let’s just say that things get thrown around. Such as the actual game cartridge that was ripped from the game console.
The king of throwing things has to be the guy whose house we go to on Sundays for football. He’s our generous host every week. But when we were a little younger and played football games like Madden ’98 or the old TecmoBowl (remember that ? ), no one could throw a controller like this guy. Me or my brother would complete a bomb for a touchdown and as his defensive player lagged behind on the play, he’d be screaming, “I can’t control this fuckin’ thing ! The fuckin’ guy won’t move ! Look !! I’m moving him and he won’t move !! “
Next thing you know, the controller is flying across the room until it’s cord ran out and it snapped to a stop. Many times he threw it straight at the television screen. We’d have to stop the game for two or three minutes to regain our composure from laughing. And the whole time we’re laughing our asses off, he’s going off on a raging diatribe about how the “stupid thing” wasn’t working right.
Don’t get me wrong here, either. I’m guilty myself of every mental breakdown shared here. But it’s funnier when other people do it.
There’s another pair of brothers that are very close friends of mine. And I have seen these two wrestle around on the floor over just about everything. Arguments in Monopoly. Poker games. Everything.
But when we all used to play NHL ’92 , that’s when the real brawls started. First there was always an argument as to who would be the Hawks since they had a great team on the game. They were just coming off the NHL Finals in real-life and were loaded with players like Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios, Michel Goulet, Ed Belfour, Joe Murphy, Steve Smith, and so many others. What a great, great team that was. And so whoever played always wanted to be the Hawks. That’s when the first wrestling match started.
Then when someone scored the first goal, another one often took place. And heaven help us if someone was really getting an ass-kicking in the game. Then the two of them would be rolling around on the floor like Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. Hilarious.
In 1996, the movie Swingers came out and this exact scenario was in the movie. Vince Vaughn and his buddies would play hockey before they’d go out to the bars. Same as us. I couldn’t believe the scene when I saw it. But then again, Vince Vaughn is a Chicagoan. Right around my age too. I thought to myself that obviously this type of behavior happens everywhere because we were doing that in 1992-93. Until that movie, I thought it was just me and my buddies.
My brother can attest to my staunch belief that a video game is programmed to a point that when the computer needs a touchdown, there is nothing a human can do to avoid it. I’ve worked myself into a lather arguing this neurotic point. I’ve even had my brother watch some plays where I tried to demonstrate my position. Say I’m beating the computer 28-0 in the 4th quarter. And I’ve noticed that on the last three plays, I played the perfect defensive alignment to stuff the plays that the computer ran. To me, it has locked in to the “nothing you can do” mode.
I tell my brother to watch as I reposition all 11 of my defensive guys on the computer’s best wide receiver. I mean I have everyone on him—-lineman, linebackers, safeties, everyone. On his one wide receiver. The computer hikes the ball and throws to that one wide receiver who bounces off every one of my guys and waltzes in for a touchdown. No problem.
That’s usually when I throw something.
I tried to tell my buddy that if he wants to avoid all that aggravation, he should just watch the Blackhawks. There might even be a wrestling match just like with the video games. He ignored me and joined in on another dungeon battle.
For all of two minutes. Then came the fist pound again.
I just smiled and watched Marian Hossa score a goal.
Memorable Christmas Presents…..Pt. 2
Dude, I’m tellin’ ya……….
As I recollected some of the amusing and cool gifts I have gotten thru the years for Christmas last week, I actually had to cut it short. The post was getting a little long and I still had some thoughtful and memorable gifts to remember. But that’s the nice thing about having one of these blog dealies or a regular column in the newspaper. You can always go back and finish what you started another day.
I didn’t really get to delve in to the gift exchanges by my brother and I. We have always tried to give each other a “cool gift” that was more in-line with our hobbies and personalities. You know how it is. Aunt Sally is going to give you the white tube socks or an ugly-ass striped shirt from JC Penny for you to wear to school. Old Uncle Charlie gives you the card with his name scrawled in it and a $5 bill. If you’re lucky.
My mom and my aunt each had three kids in a similar age range. So on the gift exchanges, the gift tag to my older sister would say the present was from my aunt’s oldest child. And my brother in the middle would get a gift from her middle child. Etc.
I’m sure lots of families do that stuff. Of course the aunt is the one who picks out and buys the gifts. But my gift always had the illusion of being from my youngest cousin. One year it was a Bee Gees Greatest Hits album. Another year it was another album; one of those collections of hits from Ronco. {Remember that cheap-ass company that made everything from record cleaners to smokeless ash trays} ? I think it had Leo Sayer and Earth, Wind, and Fire on it.
Thanks, cuz.
‘Preciate it
It was for that sort of shit that bro and I tried to get each other something useful. Something manly. A gift we wouldn’t be afraid to show our friends—-unlike the Bee Gees vinyl.
I did get him a 45 record once when we were just 9 or 10 and that was all I could afford. But it was for the Rush tune “New World Man “. Just a little bit higher on the “cool scale” than Leo Sayer, I think.
One year when I was 18 or 19, I had to work quite a bit at Mainstreet Liquors here in the neighborhood leading up to Christmas. I hadn’t thought of anything good yet for bro and was running out of time quickly. It got to be Christmas Eve and I was working at the store until we closed around 7 pm. I was going to go home to the big family gathering and I still didn’t have a gift. So as I was hiding from the boss and sneak-drinking bottles of Anchor Steam Christmas Ale in the backroom, I noticed a couple of neon signs laying on an upper storage shelf. They seemed to be in good shape; we just didn’t have them hanging up for whatever reason.
So I told the boss my dilemma and we negotiated a little bit. At 7 pm, I walked out of there with a sweet neon Augsberger beer sign. It has a sherbet green color to it and looks kinda cool. To this day, it hangs in my little entertainment room where I live. I did give it to bro and he had it hung up in his various apartments for years. We were briefly living together a few years ago and somehow it is now up on my wall. That’s the sort of thing that happens when people drink. I may have won it over a video game or something. Who knows? But that sign has to be 20+ years old now.
Also hanging on my wall is the deluxe, talking, multi-game dart board that he got for me almost ten years ago. Still works like a champ. It plays 301, 501, cricket, hi-score, and almost every other game in the world of darts. He and I just played on it a few weeks ago before we went to see the Dick Ourada band together.
Another year involved him getting us tickets to go see Buddy Guy at his downtown club, Legends. Always a great time, Buddy only plays dates at his own club in the month of January. So my brother scored tickets for the show and we went up there with a few of our friends. A terrific night out of blues and jambolaya courtesy of bro. Of course, I saw fit to steal a shot glass from the bar. It’s a nice glass…..thick and heavy. A double-shot glass. Bro palmed it from me when I wasn’t looking—or drunk— and took it to an engraver who inscribed the name of the bar and the date we went to the show. The glass is a staple of my personal shot glass collection.
For a stretch of about four years, we agreed to just burn (6) CDs for the other guy out of your own collection. We are both avid music fans with CD collections of 350-500 each. So we said to pick out six CDs that you think are really, really good. Some CDs that you know the other guy doesn’t have and they should be a part of his collection. Some music you really want to turn the other guy on to.
I know I burned for him Frank Zappa’s album Joe’s Garage. And I burned him a reggae CD that I love by Yellowman. He turned me on to the band Los Lobos who I hadn’t been enlightened to just yet. And he introduced me to a jammin’ guitar player named Tab Benoit who has played Legends many times. So over the four years, we exchanged about 25 CDs and helped to enhance the other guy’s overall collection.
Recently…..like in the last 10 years……I collected t-shirts from all the cool places and events I found myself at throughout the year and gave him about a dozen of them for Christmas. There was one from the local pizza joint we both love (Ledo’s in Countryside, IL). And there was another one from the best burrito joint in the area (El Faro’s in Summit, IL). There was one from Summerfest up in Milwaukee. And another from Legends when I saw Buddy play that year.
True to form though, my bro’s favorite one was the shirt I bought from a head shop I used to drop in to occasionally. You know….just to browse. Not to buy……just to browse. But they had a really tasteless shirt that looked like a concert tee for a band. The back had a bunch of dates and cities on it. But it was actually for all of the deadly school shootings that were happening back then like Columbine. So it was a “School Shootings ’98 Tour” shirt. He still has it and wears it to places like Jewel just to piss people off.
Oh that brotherof mine !
So those are some of the gifts we have given to each other. There’s also been a leather Bears jacket, expensive dart sets, a Hawks jersey, a Rod Woodson Pittsburgh Steelers jersey, and many more sports-oriented presents.
Rumor has it that bro is out-doing himself this year. I heard thru the grapevine he’s getting me a Lovie Smith weeble-wobble punching bag this year.
I’m already doing pushups so I can beat the living shit out of it.
My girl goes down on last episode of Survivor
Dude, I’m tellin’ ya…………
Yup…..my girl Monica actually went down on last Thursday’s episode of Survivor. No, not literally of course.
She was voted off when the course of events—and the odds went against her. She did go out clawing by trying to really stir up trouble for Russell. In doing so, she cemented her ouster by angering him. But it wasn’t exactly a dumb strategy on her part because either way, she was gone. She had the bullseye on her back already. So by whipping Russell into a frenzy and having him angrily confront a number of other players, she almost created a new vibe in camp that could have saved her. In the end, it didn’t happen. But her effort wasn’t a really stupid manuever that put her in Russell’s sights. She was already there.
I’m just gonna miss her prancing around in those tiny little pink shorts—God bless her.
And me and two other guys I know who watch the show are curious to see her all dolled up next week after she refreshes herself at the Ponderosa (where the jury stays sequestered). Every girl that gets voted off and then makes her initial jury appearance looks so much better….as you would expect after a shower and some make-up.
Now all we got left is Natalie.
Oh, and Shambo if you swing that way.
Anyway, the show began with some of the usual strategizing before the next reward challenge. However, when the tribe arrived for the challenge, they found out it was an immunity challenge. They did a Survivor-style bowling challenge and when it was over, Jaison had won immunity again.
At the ensuing Tribal Council, it was rather cut-and-dried as to who was leaving. Russell knew he pretty much had to appease Shambo after not voting Dave off in the last vote. He considered going down a few other paths, but when it came down to it, Dave was history. I actually think everyone voted for Dave. And of course he voted for Shambo. But there wasn’t a whole lot of suspense about that vote.
The players then had to do a second immunity challenge in the same program. I was wondering how they were going to pare a group of eight players down to three by the season finale this Sunday (12/20). I guess this is how. Two players were going to be jettisoned by the end of Thursday’s show. So that brings it down to six. It would seem they’ll have to get rid of at least two more this Thursday. So that they can enter Sunday’s finale with a maximum of four remaining players.
In the second immunity challenge, the players had to swim out to get bags and then swim back and catapult them into a basket by jumping on a leverage spring-board. Seemed a little bit stacked against the petite women. Not Shambo. I said the petite women.
Poor Monica couldn’t get a single bag in there. Brett ended up winning immunity this time.
That’s when the fireworks and the fun started back at camp. Russell had been looking to get Brett voted out because of his friendly nature and youthful strength for physical challenges. But when he won immunity, Monica became the next obvious choice. She recognized that right away. So she decided to toy with Russell’s mind by spilling the beans on the personal info everyone knew about Russell. She told him that it was common knowledge that he had a lot of money.
Russell was furious and went on a mission to find out who had the loose lips.
That whole scenario is entirely his own fault. What possible good was there ever in telling someone about his wealth? I saw him share that secret first on the Thanksgiving day review show. It was among the previously unaired scenes to get you to watch what is essentially a rerun. And yes…..they got me. I watched on Thanksgiving day while my dinner was digesting. OK ? But that was where I saw Russell make what is really a big tactical error.
Season after season when there is a perceived wealthy player, the weak-minded jilted losers who get voted on to the jury in Survivor make a stand that they won’t award the prize to that person because, “they don’t need it like so-and-so does“. I hate that shit. What a bitter mentality. People always seem to forget that this is a game as far as their feelings go. As I’ve mentioned in some previous Survivor posts, sometimes I have to be reminded it’s just a game as far as the brutal tactics I encourage. But the people actually on the show often forget that it is a game and after they get voted off, they aren’t going to win it. But to purposely not vote for the best player in the end….the most deserving as they say……because it is revealed they have money back home, is lame and weak.
Unfortunately for Russell, that is how people on the show consistently think. So he made a huge error when he felt he just had to brag about his personal wealth. Now even if he makes the final 2, I could easily see the jury give the money to a Natalie or a Jaison. Just because they have more pedestrian jobs.
Russell played one of the great mind games in Survivor history when he pulled out the hidden immunity idol and wore it around his neck at the start of the second Tribal Council. I was very nervous for him when he didn’t play it before the votes were read. It was a brash move to wear the idol, and it was a ballsy move not to play it. And it all worked out for him.
Monica went down. But just figuratively. Figuratively.
If I were Russell, I would play the idol at the next Tribal Council no matter what. No matter what ! If he doesn’t win the immunity challenge, he buys himself a spot into the final 5. And he also buys himself a shot at winning the next immunity challenge. But this is it now. Everyone left fears him. Everyone is weary of him. They have all had conversations about ousting him already. They are ready to make their move. So no matter how confident Russell is next week that there is a plan to vote out Brett or Jaison…..he should play that idol.
Now if Natalie gets voted out this Thursday leaving me and the boys with just Shambo……..I’m gonna really be pissed.
Cool Christmas gifts from my childhood
Dude, I’m tellin’ ya……….
I was talking with a friend of mine recently, and we were remembering some of the more thoughtful and cool gifts that we have either given or received thru the years.
Both of us lamented the fact that unfortunately most people don’t put a hell of a lot of thought into their gifts anymore. It’s all gift cards and crap. It is thoughtful in itself to give someone a present. Kind and generous too. We were just thinking more in terms of really finding that deeper, special gift that is just perfect for the personality of the person. Or the long-lost days of making something yourself.
She shared how she put a lot of time and effort into a special gift for a friend who had shared a very cool experience with her. She sought out and gathered material pertaining to the experience and made a remembrance-type gift that would help her friend relive that special time over and over. Apparently, he left it at the bar that night. It was gone just like that. And she’s disappointed to this day.
I started thinking of some of the special, really cool gifts that I have received for Christmas. Or gave to someone else. Or just memorable gifts in general.
The very first Christmas gift that I ever remember getting was when I was 5 or 6. It was a Bat Cave with action figures. It had Batman and Robin, the Joker, the Penguin, etc. And there was a little playset that was the Bat Cave. I loved it because I was still watching the relatively new reruns of the campy show with Adam West. So to this day, that remains the earliest Christmas gift I can ever remember receiving.
Right around that same time…..1976 or 1977…..my parents bought the kids an Atari system. We were the first family on the block to get it. None of my friends had it yet. But within a year or a year-and-a-half, everyone had it. I remember playing the 3 man baseball game most of that Christmas day. And it came with Pong and a game called Combat where you shot at each other in tanks. Eventually we had upwards of 120 games and they were part of the Christmas gift list every year until we were teens.
No shit……my parents still have the original game console and the cartridge games. They held on to it “so the grandkids can play on it”.
Well, they have grandkids now. But these kids are used to playing World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. Games that depict incredible fantasy worlds and war-torn Europe circa 1944 complete with burnt out churches and B-52s swooping in. The grandkids aren’t too hot to play Atari these days. Since my folks live in Henderson, NV I tell them they should take it to the pawn shop nearby on the cable show Pawn Stars. I saw them give a customer like $100-125 for the console and about 50 games. My parents should be able to get $150 for the whole set ( joysticks, paddles, games).
Back in the day, my eccentric grandfather apparently had an extreme dislike for Billy Carter—-President Jimmy Carter’s goofy brother. I remember someone gave my grandpa a big ol’ poster of Billy Carter with a silly bucktooth grin on his face holding a can of beer. But when they gave it to him in the canister, you had no idea what it might be…..Sinatra? The whole Rat Pack? A classic car?
Nope……Billy Carter. He took a long drag on his ever-present cigar and just held it up and glared at it. Everyone was laughing.
Other than the Atari, the gift that may have gotten the most mileage out of my brother and I was electric football. I think they still sell it at ToysRUs. We played that game for hours and hours. Once our friends owned it too, we created a league and had sleepovers where the order of the night was all about electric football. We’d keep stats on sacks and touchdowns. You could buy teams painted in the real pro jersey colors thru the manufacturer. For years, we bought teams from the NFL and expanded our little private league.
Another year, my parents bought me the entire set of a book series I really enjoyed as an adolescent. There were about 33 books to the series. It took me a good year or longer to devour them. I held on to them too. And when my nephew (now 16 and who likes to read as much as I do) was about 8, I passed them along to him. Saved some coin on his Christmas gift that year !
One of my favorite Christmas gift memories was when that crazy-ass cousin of mine, Bill, gave a present to our grandma. This is the guy who provided so many of the Thanksgiving adventures { See: Thanksgiving Memories }. He was only about 18 at this time–making me about 12 years old. And he brought in this big ol’ box that could’ve had a big microwave or a TV in it. Grandma unwrapped the first box to find a second gift-wrapped box. And then a third. And a fourth.
As a younger kid, it was the first time I had seen this gag. But Bill took it to the extreme. He literally had 14 or 15 wrapped boxes stashed inside each other. When she finally got down to a box that could hold a pair of earrings, there was a little wallet picture of him in there. He had to have gone thru three rolls of wrapping paper. And some of the boxes were taped air-tight like Fort Knox. She had to take a knife and cut the tape off. …..really wrestle with some of ’em. Hilarious.
Her grandmotherly quotes of, “What the sam-hell?” or “Oh my gosh !! Billy !!! “
That was pretty memorable.
Eventually my brother and I got to that age where we searched the house and eventually would find some of the wrapped presents. We even adopted the careful technique of slitting the tape with a knife and then re-wrapping it perfectly; with fresh tape laying exactly over the old strips. Of course, that took the surprise out of many of the gifts on Christmas morning.
So my recent discussion with my friend about cool and thoughtful gifts made me remember all of those memories.
Which was kind of a gift in itself from her. Thanks, kid.
Like the news….keeping you up-to-date (but the truth)
Dude, I’m tellin’ ya………..
We were waiting for a decent snowstorm to start landing today and into tomorrow to the tune of 5-9 inches. My area would have only gotten about 5 inches. But up near Rockford and that northern area, they were predicting as much as 9 inches. Right up until last night I was getting this forecast. All of a sudden, it’s down to 1-3 inches. Mostly tomorrow. Just like that. Now the story is that there’ll be a frozen rain “wintry mix” that will make things a bit messy all day Wednesday. Winds as high as 45mph that will keep the light snow whipping around. Whatever. Tom Skilling strikes again {See: Like it or not, here comes winter}.
By tomorrow, they’ll be saying it’s going to be 50 degress and mostly sunny. Weather forecasting is almost as big a scam as the US court system or medical care/costs in the US. Pure bullshit.
But the snow rumors did put me to mind of some more memories like the nightmare traffic and cleaning off your car. These were pleasant memories of when I was a kid playing in the snow. My dad would change his summer quotation around slightly when recruiting me and my brother for work. Instead of “mowing the lawn”, he’d say:
“Hey…..I need a couple of big, strong, young guys to go out and shovel the driveway. And don’t do a half-assed job on it either.”
My brother and I would go out with a couple of shovels, but we weren’t ready to shovel just yet. We would start at the top of the driveway and make a single shovel-wide twisty curvy path all the way down. With some intersections. Then one guy would start at the top and the other would be at the bottom. The guy at the top had to catch and tackle the other guy. But you had to stay on the path. If you went off the path, the other guy got to nail you with a snowball.
Of course the driveway was pretty slick with ice and the matted down tire tracks my parents seemed intent on grinding in there before sending us out to shovel. The kind where you need a damn garden hoe to scrape ’em up. I think that was part of their plan and they sat inside and laughed their asses off. They always said it happened because me and bro took so damn long to drag our asses out there and shovel.
That issue remains unresolved to this day.
But it was a hell of a lot of fun chasing each other around. One guy would wipe out and slide 8-9 feet into the grass. Or one of us would slide right into the garage door in a loud collision. The old man would come down to the front door and scream to start shoveling and quit screwing around. What he didn’t realize was that as we slid around and our bodies cleared off snow, we were cutting our eventual shoveling job in half.
Then there was the Great American Past-time for young boys. Pegging cars with snowballs. And especially schoolbuses. The neighborhood guys, bro, and me had a terrific little spot. This one front yard a few houses down had a somewhat thick growth of Evergreen trees. Good enough for almost complete enclosure. Four or five of us would be ready and when a car came by, we’d nail the shit out of it. Then you ran to the people’s backyard (which had no fencing) and led all the way to a ditch about fifty yards back. We’d skim the ditch the few houses back to our own and be back in the safety of our own yard.
Once though, me and two other guys nailed a schoolbus in the wide open. The driver was a neighborhood woman we all knew. She drove the buses for all of us for years. This particular route was the high school dropoff. She pulled over and let four guys off the bus. We ran like hell and they chased us down. Gave all three of us a helluva white washing. You know….where they tackle you and rub snow all over your face.
Ah…..the memories.
On another note, it looks like we’re on a run of skanks in the whole Tiger Woods thing { See: Power = infidelity }. Skanks looking to get famous. I connect to the internet thru my Comcast cable hookup. And the newscover page on Comcast today has a feature entitled, “Tiger’s List Grows to 9 ?? ”
That makes like one skank crawling out from under a rock every day for about four or five days straight now. Let’s just cut to the chase here. OK? Let’s just establish that he has a honey at every stop on the PGA tour and one in every resort/vacation spot that he frequents. The same as every other playboy athlete or actor. If Tiger has played in the Bangkok Open in the last five years, just assume he has a booty call somewhere in Bangkok. Deal ?
I love the way the media has to act so surprised and shocked every time another ho’ comes forward.
I’m afraid Southern Illinois University lost their playoff game this past Saturday ending their season { See: Some wacky stuff in the news }. As soon as I give them some kudos for a great season and wish them luck, they lose. Nice guys.
The SIU basketball team is 5-2 though. So I got that goin’ for me. Which is nice.
My Blackhawks are still playing pretty well. Marian Hossa is healthy and back in the lineup. He had two goals in his debut. And on Saturday night in Pittsburgh against the very talented Penguins, he had a first period goal that looked like it might hold up. Unfortunately the Pens scored a goal with about 1:30 to go in the damn game. But the Hawks pulled it out in overtime. A great scrappy game that to me could be a preview of this year’s NHL finals. To win in Pittsburgh is pretty good. Even though the Pens played without their best player.
Finally we checked in with the great state of Texas and also asked a handful of people throughout the US and they all agreed. Unanimously. Nidal Malik Hasan is still a bona-fide, 100 % Grade A asshole { See: Asshole of the Month November 2009 }.
And that’s the news. The truthful news.
Here’s another truly great band for ya
Dude, I’m tellin’ ya………….
After everyone had such a great time seeing the Dick Ourada band last month, I wanted to turn you on to another extremely talented group of musicians I know.
Whereas the Dick Ourada band is a versatile group of guys that have been playing together since the early ’90s and have a song catalog of over 200 songs, this other band is a lot more “in your face” rock-and-roll. These guys tear the house down with a wall of sound. Dick O. and his merry men write a lot of originals recalling high school principles and crazy keg party memories. While they take their music quite seriously and have a lot of pride in their shows, the chief thing is to laugh, join in, and have fun. Dick dons various costumes throughout his shows and once they even did a medley of popular beer commercial ditties.
“Come to think of it……..I’ll have…….a Heineken”
On the flip side, you have West 34. Like Dick O, the leader of the band is a good friend of mine going back over twenty years to high school. Since the day I met him, “Diamond” Dave Johnson has been the best musician that I personally know and hang out with. And I’m here to tell you, it’s like hanging out with Joe Satriani or Joe Perry or somebody like that. In his band, they’ve assigned Dave the moniker “Big Wave” Dave Johnson. And it is appropriate because like I said……this band blows you away with a wave of “in-your face” music jams.
Dave is classically trained on trumpet and piano and used to play in weddings when he was just a kid. Both elements (actually trumpet, piano & keyboards) have been incorporated into the band. He wears many hats. But his main role is as the ass-kicking lead guitar player. This guy can friggin’ crank it out.
Back in high school when there’d be 30 or 40 of us hanging out at the forest preserve drinking beer and playing softball, Dave would entertain the crowd with his playing. Other guys would have their acoustics out and try to impress the girls as well. But Dave was the king. He’d take requests and play sixty or ninety seconds of whatever tune you threw out there. Then to play as many suggestions as he could, he’d stop the melody, kind of smirk as if no one could stump him, and say, “Ok…….what else? ”
He had a swagger and a cockiness about him which he definately earned. Used to crack me up.
The cockiness is gone—–he’s a family man now and pretty humble—-but the swagger on-stage is still there. He’s a true showman.
So the band is called West 34. It’s one of those bands where every guy is a master at his instrument. And every guy is allowed to show off his talent each show they do. Like the drummer does an awesome version of the Led Zeppelin composition “Moby Dick”. He thumps that shit out. They cover the heavier, more jammin’ rock tunes. They also have a strong dedication to the blues roots of rock music. Dave has played with many collaborators including Chicago bluesman Melvin Taylor and his band.
I’ve seen West 34 play many times; a good six or seven in 2009 alone. The last time I saw them was on Halloween night after I left a house party. I was just in time to catch their third and final set of the evening, which was basically what they tongue-in-cheek called their “instrumental” set. A couple of the tunes they selected had vocals, but otherwise they just rocked out.
Dave Johnson led the way on a sweet version of Eric Johnson’s “Cliffs of Dover“. Then they went right into the Rush anthemn “YYZ“. The set included the drummer’s showcase of “Moby Dick” and they did a couple of extended bluesy jams. Dave likes to play with the cordless amp pack strapped on and was out in front of the bar on the sidewalk playing to surprised people on the street. A little schtick that I’ve seen Buddy Guy do at his Legends club a number of times.
There’s another guy in the band who impresses the hell out of me every time I go to see these dudes play. He’s the youngest member at about 24, and he does most of the lead vocals and plays rhythmn guitar. That’s not exactly being fair to him though, as he often steps up and does a searing lead guitar as well. His name is Tim Majewski and he and Dave combine to make a talented duo up there. He too has been playing guitar since he was about 8, and played with the Southsiders blues band all around Chicago before hooking up with West 34.
I can’t tell you enough to come out and see this band play. Whereas Dick Ourada and his crew try to thrill their loyal Dickheads and provide a lighthearted night of solid entertainment, West 34 tries to blow the roof off whatever venue they’re playing. They actually just landed a spot as the regular Thursday night house band at Walter Payton’s Roundhouse in Aurora starting in January.
But you can see them at the exact same venue as the Dick Ourada Band just played. If you came out for that show, don’t miss West 34. They are playing at:
Rolling Lanes (bowling alley bar)
Friday night January 15, 2010 at 9:30pm
Joliet Road Countryside, Illinois
They play some sweet Allman Brothers tunes, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Ted Nugent, Clapton, Albert King, and so much more. Typically they play the tunes that are too intimidating and technically challenging for most bands to try.
So check out their website and listen to a demo or two. These guys freakin’ rock !! I will definately be at the January 15 show and I’m going to try and get as many people up there as I can. West 34 is the best band I know of on the local scene.
Survivor hot streak continues to roll
Dude, I’m tellin ya………
It’s funny because it takes me a little while to get into each season of Survivor. I love the show. I love to mock the show and mine it for comedy material. But I usually think the people are boring and the season kind of uneventful thru the first six or seven weeks. By then though, a handful of people have developed their personalities and players are maneuvering and selling each other out. That’s when I start to enjoy it more. The first several tribal councils are the ousting of the old people, the sickly, and the non-workers. After they get weeded out is when the show starts getting good.
And the show is damn good right now. Actually for the last four episodes that began the “blindside” stretch.
Last night’s show opened with Monica expressing some mistrust for John based on what happened at the Tribal Council that voted Laura out. Twenty-eight days out in the boonies and she still looks good. Bless her little heart. Monica was kind of quiet this episode. So I had to get some mention of her in this thing.
The next interesting thing to happen was the traditional Survivor auction. Like most viewers, I like this part of the season. It’s fun to see some people get an awesome feast, others get dogshit, and a few people are too cautious and get nothing at all. And that’s what happened this time around too.
Cutie pie Natalie bought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for $200
It reminded me of when government overspending on basic items was a big issue. Like when we learned the government was paying like $24 per roll of toilet paper. Or that a paper clip was like $4.95 each ???
Then Shambo—-who was more wacko in this episode than any to date—–paid $200 for a plate of slugs. She tried to play it off, but it’s like when you got an F on a test and the teacher announced it to the class. You can’t do anything but go up there and get your paper. She had that embarrassed but “I’m-going-to-feign-dignity” kind of look on her. What a screwball. Take your slugs and slink back to the bench.
Someone paid $300 for a roasted chicken which was the deal of the auction. Then Jaison paid his whole $500 for an advantage in the immunity challenge—which paid off for him later. Natalie followed up her PB & J sammich with a Survivor shower. Which was nice. You couldn’t see anything. But HEY !! It could’ve been Shambo or Russell or Dave………and who the hell wants that? I’ll take Natalie and my friggin imagination, thank you.
Finally, there was a comical situation where John paid $300 for a big ol’ hunk of apple pie. But Pretty Boy Probst made him an offer of a whole pie that he could share among other people. He opted to have his own wedge stating, “I know these people and they’re good people. I don’t think any of them will vote me off over a piece of pie.”
Immediately they show Russell in a personal aside and he says something to the tune of, “John just made a big mistake right there. He should have shared the pie.”
I’m laughing my ass off and thinking, UH OH !!! Here comes another cookie controversey !! Like last season when that issue rippled thru camp for two days.
But this one seemed to die down right away and wasn’t mentioned or considered again. (or was it ???? )
More comedy ensued as they returned to camp and one of the next situations was Shambo saying goodbye to the chickens. She told them she’d see them in heaven. Oh for chrissake. Then she seemed to adopt this really cocky kind of attitude as if she is the puppetmaster in the game, and not Russell. She just seemed so self assured versus when she felt like an outsider. Then she got into a verbal spat with Dave over how to cook the damn chicken. Dave forged his way onto her shit list.
Apparently the chicken came out OK because that wasn’t mentioned again either. But Shambo then said she had a dream where they voted Dave off. She seems to have adopted some whack-job oracle persona. But everyone around camp has her pegged. When she decides she doesn’t like someone, it dominates her thoughts and she will vote for that person no matter what. She would be very hard to sway in another direction. And that worked against her later.
In the immunity challenge, they had to hold a heavy log up with the power of one arm. On the strength of the advantage that he bought at the auction, Jaison won the challenge. So he was safe. And if Russell learned his head was on the block, he’d have played the idol. So he was pretty safe (at least from my TV observer role with knowledge of his idol).
Russell decided to switch gears after he made a bad decision and confirmed for John that he had the immunity idol. Russell decided that he would align himself with Dave and get John voted off. Dave was on the chopping block because of Shambo’s wrath. Russell was willing to sell out on Shambo in order to eliminate John and his sole knowledge of the idol.
In the end, that’s how it was. Dave and Monica both voted for John. {Monica’s vote was kept rather quiet but revealed at the end of the show}. Shambo voted for her enemy Dave and was shocked when her’s was the only one. John was totally blindsided as he was sure that he and Russell were partners in crime. So this week, both Shambo and John had those dumb, surprized looks on their mugs.
Maybe things would have been different if John-boy had shared some pie with the group. I seriously doubt it. But maybe a slice of pie could’ve saved his sorry ass.
So as we head into next week, the only one with knowledge of Russell’s current immunity idol is gone (John). I don’t think Russell told Shambo about this third idol. And she’s reeling anyway because she doesn’t know who her friends are now.
Next week should be yet another good show. People are selling each other out left and right.
Just the way I like it.