"The Revenge Of Abe Lincoln"

Here is the big one. Oscar Nominations. Lets check ‘em out, shall we.

You know what? I do not give a fuck. There, I said it. Lets look at the list for the best movies of 2005.

“Good Night and Good Luck”, “Brokeback Mountain”, “Munich”, “Capote”, and “Crash”.

I do not care, because I saw none of them. Someday I will probably watch “Good night” and “Munich”.

Here are the 5 best movies I saw in 2005

“Sin City”, “War Of The Worlds”, “Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire”, “Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith”, and “King Kong”.

Now I understand that the Academy will not recognize any comedy, science fiction/fantasy or comic book movie. Fuck you Oscar. Ya know what? Sometimes movies are better than films. Sometimes popcorn and 10 gallon sodas aint a bad thing. Fuckers. Yes I am a little bitter towards the movie industry. The last Oscars I cared about was 2 years ago when Return of the King took home it all.

See, ya did it then, so why not make another exception? or make it the norm. What would you rather see? A western-space opera-samurai movie, or a film about gay cowboys? And couldn’t the obligatory Spielberg nom. be for “War of the Worlds”? Just saying...

I am sure I sound like an uneducated ignorant ass right hick right now, but I do not care. Sometimes I LIKE big fucking explosions and over the top villains hamming it up.

~Oz

"Preacher With a Shovel" (with Dolores Montenegro)

Cool. It cost me 15.03 to mail my application out. It will be there Thursday by noon. I can also track it as it go. Lets see where it is now.

Okay, it is still at the post office where I just dropped it off. But soon... it is on its way to Santa Monica, and I am on my way to...somewhere. Wherever Survivor sends me.

I hope you like the current titles I am using. I decided after using all of the titles from the original series of Star Trek, and the first 2 seasons of the Next Generation, I decided to take a break from the Star Trek titles and go a different direction. Lets see if anyone can guess where the new titles come from.

And I am putting you all on the honesty wagon. Don’t google the titles.

And ya know what? I am actually enjoying “Disturbed”. Whoda thunk it?

~Oz

"Here Comes The Coast Guard"

Damn it all, forget what I just said. I have 15 dollars to my name which I was going to put into gas. Fuck it! I will put 5 bucks in, and the rest is going to the get Alex’s survivor application to sunny California!

In other news...

~Oz

"Cry Yuma"

I am an angry young man. Why? Nothing seems to go right. I have made my survivor tape, filled out the application, got my Passport, all to find out I do not have enough money to get the application mailed to California in time - the deadline is February 3rd at 5:00 pm PST. I am worsted in the end by a simple matter of cash. And neither of my parents will lend me the money. They tell me it is my own fault I do not have enough cash for anything. My fault I do not have a good, full time job. My fault my station in life sucks balls. And I am pissed because I know damn well that they are right.

Now I find myself listening to “Disturbed” as loud as possible. Its amazing how therapeutic loud metal music can be. I find it very uplifting.

~Oz

"Shades of Gray"

Super Bowl Party This Weekend at my house. If you are in the area and are interested, just stop on by. And if you’d really like to be cool, please bring something to eat/drink as I will have limited supplies as I am broke and unemployed again.

Go Steelers!

~Oz

"Peak Performance"

Survive This!

The next logical choice for the Chaperians to vote out would be Shii Ann. Throwing a monkey wrench in the works however, she went and won herself immunity. The odd woman out on Chapera seemed to be Alicia, who when during the reward challenge the tribe was asked to write down who they felt deserved to be there the least. Nearly everyone wrote Alicias name down, making her very angry with her tribe mates. So due to her anger, Romber decided to vote her out next. They totally blindsided her, as Rob swore to her that they would be voting for Rupert. Alicia was axed and Probst made an interesting comment to the tribe. When they are dealing with voting out an enemy, they are very honest about it. But when it comes to a friend, they just stick the knife in the back and blind side them.

Why she is gone?

Attitude. Poor attitude. Trusted Romber.

How she could have stayed?

Made an alliance with Shii Ann, trying to pull in Rupert and possible even Jenna in with them.

See ya next time yolks!

~Oz

"The Emissary"

Survive This!

Well, the merge was now here. Lex and Kathy had put their fates in the hands of Boston Rob when they saved Amber for elimination. When the newly formed tribe was merged however the ex-Sabogans wanted Lex out of there. So Rob did nothing for Lex, despite telling him he would do his best to save him. Kathy won immunity, but it was all for naught. Lex was the first person voted out to join the jury.

Why was Lex voted out?

He placed his trust in Rob and Amber. Big Tom wasn’t too keen on keeping his alliance with him any longer because Lex had already orchestrated the ousting of Ethan. Lex voted out all of his friends on Mogo Mogo besides Kathy, and was now left alone in the numbers game.

What could he have done to stay?

At this point, nothing. The only thing that would have saved him was winning immunity throughout the remainder of the shows run. His strategy had blown up in his face.

Part 2 of this is the voting out of Kathy in the next show. She only had Shii Ann left as an ally, and her fate was already decided by Romber.

What got her voted out?

Much like Lex, it was a numbers game. Chapera was pagoning the Mogo Mogos out one by one.

How could she have stayed in?

Once again, I sound like a broken record in this episode, but nothing. Chapera was a tight team at this time. She was seen as slightly more a threat than Shii Ann, so she was next on the chopping block.

So now the jury which will be voting for the sole survivor consists of Lex and Kathy.

Next time: trouble in paradise.

~Oz

"Manhunt"

Well, I watched “Land Of The Dead” tonight. It is easily my favorite zombie flick ever made. This is a genre a really do like, but at the same time hate because zombies scare the living daylights out of me. This movie got to me, because it actually makes you feel sympathetic towards the zombies. Honestly, we humans (well, the humans in the movie) are horrible people. There are a few exceptions (see our trusty band of heroes) but for the most part, the humans are acting worse than the zombies.

I was not along in this way of thinking, as my mother and sister and her boyfriend all agreed. Undeniable proof that my family and myself are all true blue democrats.

Other movies I rented and watched were “Hellboy” and “War of the Worlds”.

I have seen both of these films before and I do like both. These movies all fall into one of the 3 types of the “scary” movie. “Dead” is the freak out with gory visuals and loud sounds type which includes one of your typical evil entity (see ghosts, werewolves ----there wolf. there castle.---sorry----, vampires, zombies, john denver, etc...). “Hellboy” is the comic book type which uses far out there scenarios (compared to aliens or zombies) of apocryphal doom and gloom. This type draws on legendary/ mythical types of evil characters. Usually in this type, mankind is in grave peril but never knows it due to the actions of the hero. I would probably put this movie in the same category as “Constantine”.

The final type of the genre is (well, I would say there is a fourth, but I am not going to get into that here) the science fiction type. “War of the Worlds” is a scary movie, but not in the same light as either of the other films. Like “Dead”, mankind is facing extreme peril and comes close to the brink of extinction. Due to the graphic scenes and use of loud noises as a scare tactic this movie does get put into the horror genre in my view. Horror/science fiction. After all, mankind is supposed to be scared shitless by these invading Martians.

Sorry, I lost the point there towards the end. I will be back tomorrow with more movie goodness, and don’t fret; I am still doing my Survivor reviews.

~Oz

"Up The Long Ladder"

As an add on to the rant about downloaded songs and how they are mislabeled, I have one I would love to see just for stupidity reasons

Mozart, Bach, Dvorak, Beethoven, the three tenors, Bhrams, Sousa, John Williams, Wagner, Howard Shore, Karl King, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Handel, and Rossini live in Vienna, RARE RECORDING of “The Messiah”.

Alas, time, death and contractual obligations will NEVER allow that to happen.

I am currently reading a trilogy of books about Star Trek Deep Space Nine. It is the “Millennium” Trilogy. Very good for both Star Trek fans and science fiction fans in general.

Just because I am bored, here is what I have downloaded in the past week.

2 Rich Vos tracks

Hawthorne Heights “Niki FM”

Hot Hot Heat “Middle Of Nowhere”

Audioslave “Doesn’t Remind Me”

Rise Against “Swing Life Away”

Janes Addiction “Just Because”

The Killers “Mr. Brightside”

Bright Eyes “Easy Lucky Free”

System of a down “BYOB”

Save Ferris “Come On Eileen

Reggie and the Full Effect “Get Well Soon”

Beck “Hell Yes”

The Bravery “Honest Mistake”

and

William Shatners album “Has Been”

Yeah, nothing to talk about.

~Oz

"Samaritan Snare"

That’s right! # 7 on our 007 countdown is 1997’s “Tomorrow Never Dies”. This is one of those movies that I like to make a nice big spaghetti dinner and sit down and watch. Don’t ask. The beginning has Bond at a terrorist arms bazaar. Just as the navy sends a missile to destroy the terrorists, Bond informs M and the Admiral that their is a plane with nuclear missiles at the bazaar. In a daring move he has to pilot the plane to safety which leads us to the opening credits.

Bond is up against Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), a media mogul who is interested in becoming the sole media provider to the entire world. His means of getting to this goal; starting World War 3 between the British and the Chinese. In a plot devise from “You Only Live Twice”, he is using a stealth boat armed with a decoder devise to attack the two sides with their own weapons.

Bond is teamed up with Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese operative to dispose of Carver. The other bad guys in the film are Mr. Stamper (Gotz Otto) and a great performance from Vincent Schiavelli as Dr. Kaufmann. The other Bond girl is Teri Hatcher, playing Carvers wife Paris.

The car chase scene is one of my favorites ever when Bond is using the remote control to steer. Also the scene on the motorcycle when they have to escape the helicopter is frickin’ awesome.

Sorry that this edition didn’t get the attention and detail that “The Living Daylights” received, but I am in a hurry to get this out now, and I couldn’t find any site with a good collection of good images from the movie. Notable also for being the last movie with Desmond Llewelyn as Q for the entire movie ---he was in “The World Is Not Enough” but made his exit with R (now Q) taking over in a performance from John Cleese.

Okay. Go watch this movie already! Go.

~Oz

"Q Who?"

I am wasting no time in going right into the next episode. At the reward challenge, the teams dropped their buffs, believing it was time to merge. Jeff hit them up with a huge surprise. They were all redrawing buffs to see who winds up on which team. All of Mogo Mogo ended up on Chapera. All of Chapera ended up on Mogo Mogo, except for one member; Amber (Rob M’s girlfriend and strongest ally in the game). The new Chapera tribe then lost the immunity challenge, and it was obvious what had to happen. They had to vote out Amber. However, as the two tribes were leaving, Boston Rob quickly made a plea to Lex that if he saves Amber that he will protect him from getting voted out once the merge comes. So, Lex decides to take him up on this, confers with Kathy and decides to vote out Jerri, who he now realizes was using him all along. The Jerri threat is now removed, but 3 episodes too late. Because now as it stood (one day before the merge) the original Mogo Mogo was down to 3 members where the old Chapera tribe was still at 6. Not good odds.

What should she have done to stay in?

She should have tried harder to work over Lex (here it would have been in his advantage to listen) and vote out Amber.

Why did she go?

She was manipulative and Lex finally realized it. Lex felt he would have a couple of good allies in Romber if he kept Amber in the game. Kathy agreed with this as she was close to Rob from when they were tribe mates on Marquesas, and felt she had a good connection with the Chaperians after the day she went on the cruise with them all.

Final What Mogo Mogo should have done.

In either universe, they should have voted out Amber. Hindsight is always 20/20.

~Oz

"Pen Pals"

On the Next Episode of Survivor, Mogo Mogo continued it’s losing ways. This time Kathy, Shii Ann, and Ethan all knew who to vote out; Jerri. Only thing, was that Lex was now up her ass. He convinced Kathy and Shii Ann to vote out Ethan instead, stating that he had won it all once, he was a physical threat, and the merge was nigh at hand. The foolish women let Lex change their minds and voted Ethan out.

It was in this episode that we found out a major shocker. Lex, Ethan, and Big Tom (on Chapera) had made an alliance at the beginning of the game somehow (they were all on separate tribes). So, Lex had no broken his alliance with Ethan. More so, Rob M would find out about this and use it to attack Big Tom later on in the season.

How could he have stayed?

Once again, convince Shii Ann and Kathy of his worth to them.

Why did he get ousted?

Jerri wanted it, and Lex thought it would help his game out more if he voted out his friends.

What should Mogo Mogo have done in a perfect universe?

Well, Jerri and Shii Ann are gone in my universe, so that leaves Richard, Ethan, Colby, Lex, and Kathy. Kathy seems to be the logical choice.

In the real show what they should have done was stick to their original plan and voted out Jerri then and there.

~Oz

"The Icarus Factor"

I am sick of downloading songs that are not what I was looking for, or finding the wrong artist linked to the wrong song. The Mamas and the Papas did NOT do Mr. Tambourine Man. Van Halen did not perform “Stairway To Heaven” with Robert Plant. And sorry to disappoint you all, but Phish, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Ratdog, Hot Tuna, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaugh Led Zeppelin, The Doors, and the Beatles did not get together in 1995 at Red Rocks to play ONLY a RARE RECORDING of “All Along The Watchtower”.

And doesn’t “rare” mean very few, but more than once? My thesaurus states that it means uncommon, unusual, exceptional, odd, extraordinary, atypical and singular. Only one of those ---singular--- means it happened only once. Trust me, those artist did not get together one magical night (some from beyond the grave with Zombie Power ©) let alone more than once to perform any one song.

The closest song I own with a number of artist performing on stage together is as follows

“My Back Pages” - Bob Dylan tribute concert. - Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, G.E. Smith, Steve Cooper, Al Kooper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Anton Fig, Jim Keltner, and Stan Lynch.

Or how about that Studio Recoding Cover of “Gin and Juice” by Phish, Les Claypool , Primus, Widespread Panic, Fish, O.A.R., Dispatch, etc...?

~Oz

"Time Squared"

Survive This!

The next show, Mogo Mogo again lost the immunity challenge. Colby and Ethan were set to vote out Jerri. Given the volatile history between Colby and Jerri from Australia, it was the only logical thing to do. She was the possible the weakest member on the tribe, the most troublesome member and simply had to go. Shii Ann and Kathy were ready to join them in voting her out when the 2nd huge mistake was made. Lex decides to form an alliance with Jerri and go after Colby. Lex was very wary of Colby’s physical presence (he did win each and every physical individual immunity challenge in Australia). Jerri was more than willing to vote Colby out. Kathy was not around for the tribal council or the scheming before. In winning the immunity challenge, Chapera got to go on a boat cruise, and was allowed to pick one member of Mogo Mogo to join them, so they picked Kathy. Shii Ann admitted to feeling along without Kathy around to help her decide on who to vote for. She fell under Jerris sway and the rest was history. Colby was voted out and now Mogo Mogo had made its second huge mistake, while Lex made his first and second mistake (first being making an alliance with Jerri, 2nd being to vote out Colby).

What could he have done to stay in the game?

Colby and Ethan would have had to work over Shii Ann a lot more than they did. Colby tried his best to communicate to Lex that Jerri was a down right bitch that could not be trusted.

Why was he voted out?

I think I explained this already. Jerri - bitch. Lex - changed his game play at a dumb time for all involved. Kathy - out partying with Chapera. Shii Ann - cannot make a decision for herself.

What Mogo Mogo should have done.

For the purpose of this episode in of itself- voted Jerri out.

In my universe from last column however, Jerri was out and Hatch was kept in the game. Knowing that at this point there was still 3 tribal councils (9 days) left before the merge, they should have continued to vote out the week women, in this case, Shii Ann.

That’s all the Survivor stuff for today. Later bitches!

~Oz

"The Royale"

How fitting a title for this tid-bit.

You heard it hear 1st remember: Rose Byrne will play "Vesper" the Bond girl in the upcoming 007 flick, "Casino Royale". She is best known for her performance in "Troy" as Briseis, the neice of King Priam.

I rented a Daniel Craig flick this past weekend called "Layer Cake". Go rent this movie NOW. It is awesome. I put it right up there with "Sin City" on my list of favorite movied (well, most pleased and surprised by movies) of 2005.

Okay. Go. I also saw a Jap Zombie film called "Junk". Terribly funny. Worthwhile if you are into the Zombie genre, or into seeing off foreign films. Otherwise stay away, because I swear to god, fat white haired Japanese Zombie gangster man will haunt your dreams for all the wrong reasons.

~Oz

"Contagion"

Wow, so I only got one pick right this week for my NFL predictions. That puts me at 3-5 on the postseason. Not good at all. But I can turn it all around this week with the Championship games.

AFC: Pittsburgh over Denver

NFC: Carolina over Seattle

Survivor Time!

Now is where it gets real interesting. At this time (5th episode) Saboga had lost two members (Rudy and Tina). Mogo Mogo and Chapera had only lost one member a piece (Jenna M and Rob C respectively). It was announced at the reward challenge that of the 3 tribes the one to finish last would be absolved and it’s members be taken in by the other two tribes, whichever tribe finishing first getting the first pick. Fittingly, Saboga lost, while Mogo Mogo came in first. When it became apparent to Mogo Mogo that Chapera would beat Saboga, they immediately began scheming on who to take first. Colby convinced them to take Ethan first so that they could vote him off immediately. So Mogo Mogo took Ethan and Jerri, while Chapera took Rupert and Jenna L.

The perfect plan to vote Ethan off quickly turned for the worst for one Richard Hatch. Ethan, Colby and Lex decided to form together and vote the first ever winner out of the game. The girls, Kathy, Jerri and Shii Ann were none to pleased with this decision but decided to go ahead and vote for Richard anyway. This was the first mistake of many for Mogo Mogo, which will be analyzed in depth later on.

***Quick side note*** During the immunity challenge which Mogo Mogo lost, Richard (naked as usual) brushed provocatively up against Susan (his ex tribemate from Borneo), causing her to FREAK OUT big time ---more on this next time.

Why Richard was voted off

He was the 1st ever winner. His male tribe mates recognized the threat he was to them if he could make ti to the individual immunity section of the game. They were able to sway the girls against their better judgment to their side. Plus Richs arrogance was just becoming too much to bear at times. He thought that he was safe, and did not try at all to get in an alliance with the women.

What could he have done to stay in the game?

As I said, he could have worked the girls into an alliance with him; they did not want to vote him off at first anyways, and during the next episode Shii Ann and Kathy both remarked how they felt they had made a very big mistake.

NEW PART: What Mogo Mogo SHOULD have done:

They should have voted off Jerri right away. She was one of the weaker members on the tribe. As the merge was still 5 episodes (roughly 15 days) away the tribe still needed strong men to win tribe immunity. She was a terrible instigator, and as we will see later, she used her she-devil (bitch) charm to make one member of the tribe make some down right dumb decisions.

Aww fuck it lets give you a two for one special.

The next person to leave the show was Susan. She was disgusted with Richards actions towards her and decided she could not go on any further with the show so she just up and quit. Easy as that. Only she was pretty loud and obnoxious about it.

How could she have stayed on?

Not been a whiny bitch. Sorry, but I am totally unsympathetic towards her.

All right, I’m done.

~Oz

"The Dauphin"

Right into the Survivor Stuff. The Fourth person off the island was Rob C. from the Chapera tribe. All of his tribe mates voted for him.

Why?

Well, he was a little too annoying for everyone’s tastes. He was too goofy. He didn’t do enough work at first, and then tried way too hard to make up for it when he realized he was in danger. His biggest mistake however was putting his trust in Rob M. and Amber. Rob swore to him that he would protect him and see that it would be Alicia or Sue getting voted out. It was a total lie however as Romber (Rob and Amber) turned on him while they also used the opportunity to bring Tom into their alliance.

What could he have done?

He could have worked harder during the first week on the island. He should have tried harder not to piss off Alicia and Sue. Didn’t try hard enough to bring big Tom into an alliance, and he foolishly placed his trust with Romber (the1st of many).

Okay, I am watching Hulk Hogan versus Undertaker from Survivor Series 1991 on Google video. I gotta go now I guess.

Later

~Oz

"The Measure Of A Man"

Well...JCC is screwing with me even after I have graduated. After I thought I had everything settled with them I get a letter in the mail today in reply to my request for my transcript to be transferred to Fredonia. They informed me they will not do so as I am on progress probation and until I have earned enough credit hours to credit hours attempted my transcript will not be sent on to any school. So now I am off to JCC to ask them how many more classes will I have to take down at that rotten shit hole before they allow me to move on. I am taking my shotgun with me by the way.

Survivor for today.

Jenna M was the next contestant to leave. She belonged to the Mogo Mogo tribe. She was not voted off, she left because she felt that she should be with her mother who was dying from cancer. She left and was able to spend one week with her mother before she died. As their was no tribal council there is no need to analyze anything. See you next time.

~Oz

"A Matter Of Honor"

Well, I played cards last night, and I did not drink at all. Well, one bottle of Pepsi but hey...no alcohol in Pepsi. I lost both games. 2nd game was total bull shit because of buy ins (I would have won, mark my fucking words on that one). Oh well, I had fun, even though I was up until early morning hours.

Survivor Time fellas!

On the 2nd show, Saboga lost again. It looked like Ethan was done for. However, 79 year old Rudy hurt his foot pretty bad and it became apparent to his tribe mates that he had to go. He would disagree with them, but to no avail. He and his loyal tribe mate Rupert voted for Ethan, but Ethan Jenna and Jerri all voted for Rudy making him the 2nd castoff.

Why was he voted off?

Real simple this week on both accounts. He injured himself.

How could he have stayed on?

Not injure himself. Simple as that.

When a tribe mate is injured, not to mention being 79 years old, they become very expendable. Even though Jenna and Jerri still saw Ethan as the biggest threat to their game play, they saw now that he was going to help the TEAM out more in the short term than Rudy would.

Looking back however...

Maybe if Rudy and Rupert had sided with Tina and Ethan in the first vote instead of Jenna and Jerri, Rudy might have found a better chance in getting sympathy from Tina and Ethan...

That does it for me, I’m out.

~Oz

"Unnatural Selection"

Well it seems as if I erred in my matchups for the AFC. Here is my corrected version

AFC Divisional Playoff

New England over Denver, and Indianapolis over Pittsburgh

The rest follows as is already placed down.

Sorry for the mistake.

Speaking of mistakes...

As I have applied for Survivor, and am obsessed with the show, I will begin today a new segment about Survivor. I will take a season, go show by show and run down what the person who got voted off did to get the boot, and discover what could have been done (if anything) to keep that person in the game.

The first season I will tackle is the All-Stars edition. Here is a little background to my obsession with Survivor and why I chose this edition first. I watched the first episode of the first Survivor (Borneo) ever. I was not impressed in the least. For one thing, there was this fat ugly gay man declaring in the 1st 20 minutes of the show that he was the winner. The check was signed and had his name on it. I realize he was only making a prediction, but I told myself that he was probably telling the truth, thus making the comment a “shoot”. A shoot comment for those of you unfamiliar with the term is one commonly used in wrestling when a wrestler breaks kayfabe; bringing up real life issues and conflicts. Now, I love when this happens in wrestling, but it was not something I thought was cool in a reality television show. I stopped watching then and there. Over the next few years I caught some episodes here and there; some guy falling into a fire, some old hick getting a hot air balloon (or was it helicopter ride) over the African landscape with a guy with lots of tattoos, some hot chicks stripping for food, and some asshole lying about his grandmother dying.

Well, in the weeks leading up to the Superbowl in 2004 (which aired on CBS that year) no one could escape the ads for Survivor All-Stars. It was going to be the best ever, and the contestants were going to be given nothing to start with. “But still the same old Survivor in the end probably” was my only thought. So, I watched the Patriots beat the Panthers in the Superbowl that evening, and while doing so I consumed a lot of food and beer. When the game ended I was dead in my seat, not wishing to move out of it for anything. My sister and mother (both avid fans of Survivor from the beginning) were settled in to watch Survivor. I just sat and watched as I felt I had nothing better to do. Then the show began.

Maybe I got caught up in there excitement over which contestants were back. Maybe it was the beer coursing through my veins mixing in my stomach with all the wings, meatballs, etc... Whatever it was, I watched the entire episode. I saw the previews for the next weeks show. And the following Thursday at 9pm, I just happened to be sitting in the living room in a chair, “too tired to get up” and had to watch the show. I was hooked like that. So with that, on with the column.
The show started off with 3 tribes. I will list them all here for you, along with the contestants in each tribe.

Mogo Mogo: Jenna M (winner Survivor Amazon), Lex (Africa), Colby (Australian Outback), Kathy (Marquesas), Richard (winner Survivor Borneo), and Shii Ann (Thailand).

Chapera: Amber (Australian Outback), Rob M (Marquesas), Tom (Africa), Alicia (Australian Outback), Sue (Borneo), and Rob C (Amazon).

Saboga: Tina (winner Survivor Australian Outback), Rupert (Pearl Islands), Ethan (Winner Survivor Africa), Jenna L (Borneo), Rudy (Borneo), and Jerri (Australian Outback).

In the first episode it was Saboga who went to Tribal Council. The first person voted off of the All-Star Edition was Tina. The reason she left was the Jenna L and Jerri felt she didn’t deserve to be there as she has already won once. They pulled Rudy and Rupert into voting with them, and the only person who did not vote for her was Ethan as he was also a previous winner and knew he would be the next to go.

So what got her voted out, and how could she have changed her fate?

She was ousted due to her already winning the game once before. Jerri and Jenna felt jealous/nervous due to this and saw her (rightly so) as a threat. Rupert and Rudy entered into an alliance on day 1 and agreed not to vote for each other. This left Tina and Ethan to come together as I stated because they were both previous winners. Jenna was able to sway Rupert into voting with her, which meant they had Rudy’s vote as well.

What could she have done to stay in longer? Sadly not much honestly. She and Ethan could have tried harder to work over Rupert and Rudy. She also could have tried to screw Ethan over and make a plea that he was the stronger (physically) of the two and therefore bigger threat. But she was not dirty enough a player to do so. And given Jerris hatred towards her due to their experience together in Australia, it was almost predestined that Jerri and Jenna would chose to vote her out over Ethan first.

Well, I hope at least some of you enjoyed this segment because it is here to stay one way or the other.

Till next time...

~Oz

"The Schizoid Man"

Well, Saturday was a great day for my playoff scenario as both New England and Washington moved on. Sunday...well Sunday fucked it all up as The G-men went out and my super bowl winner Cincinatti went out. Now I have to re-work it all and I feel very cheap about doing it.

Divisional Playoffs

AFC: New England over Pittsburgh, Indianapolis over Denver

NFC: Carolina over Chicago, Washington over Seattle

Conference Championship

AFC: I would love to see Indy go on and win it all but.... New England over Indianapolis

NFC: Carolina over Washington

Superbowl 40

Well, two years ago they beat em by 3 and this year they will beat them again to become the first to ever win 3 in a row and the 2nd team (I think) to win 4 in 5 years.
New England over Carolina 42-27

Well, it has now been 3 days since I last drank. Not a large number, but it is a start.

Haji, great to hear from you man. I know I missed ya on your b-day and on New Years but hopefully the next time you find yourself up blue jays way we can all get together, hang out. Hey, WHEN the Sabres playoff season starts we will have to go to a game. We missed out on it five years ago when they last went but this time damn it all..this time we will make it!

5 for 4 will win the war!

~Oz

"Loud As A Whisper"

Well it is time for me to finally make a very hard decision. Actually, I have already made the decision. I am giving up drinking beer. Why? Because I need to. I sure as hell do not want to, and I am sure that that fact is going to make this a very hard time for me. I do not feel as if I need to attend AA meetings because I think the whole “anonymous” part is bullshit. I feel that we live in a society that wishes to keep it’s dirty side a secret. We’re a society which is embarrassed by the product we churn out. I have never been one to slink away from owning up to my mistakes. But hey, that is all just a part of my own personal beliefs and really doesn’t matter much to my decision.

So, what drove me to this decision? The major concern to me was my ballooning weight issue. I have been the same height - 5’ 10’’ since the 7th grade. When I graduated high school in June of 1999 I weighed in at 140 lbs. (give or take a pound or two). In May of 2002 I weighed roughly the same. Today I weight 212 lbs. What has changed in the past four years that has caused me to jump 70 lbs.? My diet is the same (actually I might eat healthier now than I did a couple of years thanks to Mary Kate). The only new substance introduced to my system in the past four years has been alcohol. Do not get me wrong, yes I did drink before I turned 21 on May 17th 2002, but it was in GREAT moderation. I never once purchased a fake I.D. to purchase beer or sneak into bars with. Just didn’t see the point for myself. At that point I hated beer. I would drink only Jack Daniels or Vodka. And that was in the quantities of about one night of drinking every couple of months tops. Need further proof? Ashley hated the idea of me drinking, so I did not drink while we were dating, or even while I was initially trying to win her back. We dated until 9/15/00 and I would....well that is not that relevant now is it?

Even after I turned 21, I still did not initially drink much. I had now giving up on Vodka and JD, and drank exclusively “bitch” drinks ; Mikes Hard Lemonade, and other fruity drinks. I just couldn’t get into beer, which my father told me was an acquired taste.

***Actually I remember the night I turned 21 I went to the Surf Club with my cousins, parents, and Ashley. I had a few shots of Tequila along with a few Labatts. The Tequila was to wash away the flavor of the beer. Ashley also drank a little bit that night even though she was only 17 at the time.***

I know that as of Christmas 2002 I still was not all that into alcohol. I was giving Saranacs “12 Beers of Christmas” as a “gift” from Danni and Juanita who worked with me in the shoe dept. at Sears. I think Shawn Kevin Josh and Elisha drank all of it. I sipped a few and would pass them on or throw them out.

Honestly, it does seem right around that time that I started drinking more now that I think of it. I was hanging out more with my friends I was making at Sears. We seemed to go out bowling and to the bars to play darts a lot, and the drinking just began occurring naturally. I remember how happy I was that I had now acquired the taste for Labatts. I could now drink it all the time. Elisha, Haji, Kevin and myself went to Shawns house for new years eve 2002 into 2003. I got absolutely shit-faced that night. It was the first time I drank myself to the point of passing out. That really was when it all started.

When I went in for my check up at the doctors in Spring 2003 I was in perfect shape (weight wise), maybe 155ish or so if I recall (and trust me, I do recall if you haven‘t noticed yet). Just a point to remember later. Well, at this point I was down at “Tommys Place” every single night ---no exaggeration. Me, Shawn, Nate, Kristen Travis Haji Elisha...you name it I was there with someone. When they shut down in August of 2003 I mourned. But it was all right, I just started going to Mileys. I could give you more history but it is not really something I feel like continuing to do at the current moment. Maybe some later time.

Doctors check up in May of 04, I weighed 185 lbs. I had put on around 30 lbs. in one year. That was still roughly what I weighed last Spring as well. Now I am at 212 lbs. I am honestly just disgusted with myself, and I feel that I owe it to myself to bring that weight down. My doctor tells me 170ish is where I should be shooting for at my height. That means I am 45 lbs. overweight. I am sure I cannot blame alcohol entirely for that, but it does make up a good deal of the problem.

I said that their were other reasons besides weight that contributed to this decision. Without going into such in depth analysis as the weight issue, I will just touch on them briefly.

1. When I play poker and drink I do terrible. When I do not drink I do honestly do much better. And yes, there have been instancing when I am drinking that I do well, but they are far and in between. Nights I do not drink, I am better without a doubt. The problem would always be I will say I will have just one or two, but it NEVER stays that low. Never. Usually one or two turns into 7 or 8 minimal. As I play poker a lot, and have a deep desire to succeed at it, my drinking while playing has to end.

2. Drinking has caused me to be less of a good boyfriend to Mary Kate. Yes, it seriously has. Now, there is no drastic thing like me hitting her or abusing her in any physical way. But when I have been drinking and she calls me up or if we are out together drinking, I became very cold to her emotionally. I develop theories that she is cheating on me, or accuse her of talking too much to other friends of mine. I usually raise my voice to her and I know it hurts her because she shows obvious visual signs (crying and such) and that kills me afterwards. I love this girl and she is the girl I want to spend my life with. Now that is no way to treat the girl I want to marry and have children with.

3. Even though I do not drink and drive now, I did and I paid for it. And now I drink and have my friends drive me; friends who have been drinking themselves. They already have to get home themselves, and I shouldn’t be making them drive me home drunk as well.

4. I am not to the point where I am drinking each and every night, whether I am at a party, with Mary Kate or just at home by myself. I think that one is an obvious reason.

My goal: Stop drinking alcohol the way I do. Right now I am abusing beer. I cannot currently drink in moderation. Therefore I need to walk away cold turkey. Yes I will bitch, complain, grow angry when other do not let me drink, but in the long run it will be for the better, and I realize that. Maybe some day down the road I can allow myself to drink in moderation if I feel I have a control on myself. Someday I might get sloshed again, and not feel the need to do so every day. But until that day comes (and it may not), I have to give it up.

And yes, I saw the ep. of “South Park” where Stan’s father has a drinking problem and he thinks he is disabled because of it. In the end of the show, Stan tells his father that if he just quits altogether that he hasn’t overcome his problem, that he is just hiding from it. That the only way to overcome alcoholism is to be able to drink in moderation. That’s all well and good, and I do actually agree with that assessment. Unfortunately for me however is the fact that I cannot allow myself to drink in moderation. I will drink more if I drink at all.

So...that’s that.

And please, my friends, do not drink one for me; I have had enough myself.

~Oz

"The Outrageous Okona"

Last night I went down to the Pub because Kristen K is leaving for Chicago. I had a good time overall, but once again had to find out the hard way that they have the worst Labatts in town on tap. I am absolutely dying to play poker, as I missed Monday nights game due to my being in Erie with Mary Kate.
About two weeks ago I made a decision which seemed acceptable at the time to take the spring off of school. I would find a full time job and save up money for a fall or even summer semester. I was content to do so until yesterday. I was re-bitten by the same bug that got me last August. I have made my mind up to at the very least take a few classes through SUNY Empire State Online college. I would love to attend Fredonia, but as classes start up in 13 days that seems to be near impossible.
I have been thinking about doing some sort of music top 10 albums list sometime. For right now however I will give a list (in no particular order) of the albums I became the most obsessive- that is to say I listened to them over and over and over again until I just had to listen even more.
Pink Floyd has 5 albums in this list- “Animals” “Wish You Were Here” “Dark Side Of The Moon” “The Wall” and Disc One from “Ummagumma”
Led Zeppelin has one entry - “III”
Smashing Pumpkins - “Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness”
Weezer has 2- “Eponymous Album (the blue one-not the green one)” and “Pinkerton”
Dream Theater- “Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory”
H.I.M.- “Razorblade Romance”
Franz Ferdinand- “Franz Ferdinand”
Oasis- “What’s The Story (Morning Glory)?”
The Beatles- “The White Album”, “Abbey Road” and “Anthology 2”
Rent- “Rent - The Original Broadway Cast Recording”
Pearl Jam- “Ten”, “-vs-” “Live On Two Legs”
just to name a few...
Well that’s all for now folks. Be back soon with #7 in the James Bond countdown.
~Oz

"Elementary, Dear Data"

Poll Question of the Day

Do I have any chance at getting on Survivor, and if I do, how far do you believe I will get in the game?

Feedback is most welcome.

~oz

"Where Silence Has Lease"

My NFL Playoff Predictions, and remember that I was perfect in predicting the MLB playoffs.

Wild Card Weekend:
AFC: New England will beat Jacksonville and Cincinnati will beat Pittsburgh.
NFC: Washington over Tampa Bay, and NY Giants over Carolina.

Divisional Playoffs:
AFC: Indianapolis over New England, and Cincinnati over Denver
NFC: Redskins (Playoff Upset) over Seahawks, and Giants over Chicago

Conference Championships:
AFC: Cincinnati (upset pick number 2 and HUGE ballfroster to all of those ---including me----who would love to see an all Manning Superbowl) over Indianapolis
NFC: Its all right Ma, Im only bleeding Redskins Red as they beat the Giants in the Meadowlands

Superbowl 40: Carson Palmer throws for 287 yards and 4 Touchdowns as the Bengals beat the Redskins 38 - 35. Forgot to mention the three defensive TD's the Skins "D" will score.

A big part of me would LOVE to see the Patriots make it to the Superbowl and win it, so I could hate them even more (plus I just ache for an NFL powerhouse that no one can seemingly defeat), but I would love it even more should them make it and LOSE.

In other news...

LOST comes back one week from tonight, and the show looks to focus on Charlie. Makes me happy, because he is one of the more interesting characters on the show, and he hasn't been used too much this season yet. And it looks like that Eko will get some more featuring as well, playing off of Charlie much like Locke did last season.

Here's hoping Wyatt is having a good time in Prague.
~Oz