Survivor Strategy

RE SSW’s comments in https://www.triscribe.com/wp/index.php?m=200312#post-69:

I thought that the boy scout leader’s strategy in keeping Sandra backfired. I suppose that if you had to spend your last night on the island with someone, it would be better for one’s sanity to not have Jon scheming and psyching you out all night. However, there was no way that anyone on the jury would have voted for Jon. When the questioning by Jon (I think) forced the scoutleader to renounce her uniform, that lost it for the jury, IMHO.

Movie season climax

Not a real big movie goer and having missed a number of big ones this year (like T3 and Matrix3), I’m definitely not missing Lord of the Rings. I saw The Last Samurai only because a couple of my friends wanted to go. I’m really glad I did, despite me not being a big fan of Tom Cruise.

I saw The Last Samurai twice. The second time, it was more powerful emotionally to me. I was able to appreciate the actor’s and character portrayals more and realized that was a big reason for its effect. Probably won’t get a lot of awards but definitely for me a big winner. The movie spoke to me and I wasn’t sure if it was due to my “Asian-ness” or because of the universal (maybe, maybe not) virtues of service and honor. My swedish friend saw it twice and was also completely taken in by the movie and the virtues the movie tried to depict through the movies characters.

Don’t know enough about Chinese history to say whether or not there have been any similar classes in China. Service, honor are also very Confucian type of virtues. Going to do some preliminary research into this but probably won’t turn up much. I think this movie is a Top 5 movie of all time for me.

=YC

TV and then some

Watching enough tv this weekend:

The news’ broadcasting of Lt. Gen. Sanchez’s press conference of the capture Saddam Hussein in Iraq kept repeating Sanchez’s use of the phrase “spider hole” to describe the location in which Hussein was hiding. Today, Slate.com’s “Explainer” explains what the heck is a “spider hole.” Interesting explanation.

Slate.com also has a nice article on CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” a.k.a. that show that Charlie Sheen and John Cryer are on, with the time slot after “Everybody loves Raymond.” I thought the article was on target. I have actually caught myself watching an episode of “Two and a Half Men,” and expected it to be below average; after all, I still saw Charlie Sheen as the one who lowered the standards on “Spin City.” However, imagine my surprise when I actually found myself laughing at some of the jokes and watching for the full half hour (granted, I may have been waiting for the 10:oo news). Hmm. Charlie Sheen isn’t so bad when playing a character with whom he seems to identify (there were moments when his character was reminiscent of the Sheen of the gossip pages). But, the series’ writing still seemed weak and one is left wondering if it could be just a little more original. (I haven’t watched it in a long while, so the spoiler in the article about Cryer’s on-screen wife was surprising – but not by much, since Friends on NBC has already done a similar storyline). But, tv shows that are considered “average” can manage to stay on the air; lucky for them, I guess. I still miss “Boomtown” and its challenging elements.

Last night’s “Survivor” was, as usual, riveting. I haven’t really followed it very much this season, but felt very much caught up by watching the last episode. Host Jeff Probst was as sharp as ever, and the “cast” was quite a bunch of crazies. The cast reunion in the third hour wasn’t too revealing, but I thought it was especially unsurprising that Mr. Savage was the contestant who was an attorney in real life, considering the way he analyzed everyone’s strategies in response to Probst’ questioning; could he possibly be less… analytical? Ah, well; a good tv night.