My birthdate is the same as Simon Cowell's. What's your bloody excuse, eh?
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Just a quick review of the 2007 Resolutions I made earlier this year.
(1) Finish up at least a chapter for my novel-in-progress every month
Yes yes yes.. that goddamn Daud In Distress is putting me in distress. FUCK YOU, DAUD. Anyway, I’ve decided to be more realistic. Personally the whole NaNoWriMo thingy puts too much of a pressure. I might still attempt it this year, but not on my precious baby. This baby needs careful thought and time put into it. So, we’ll start a chapter a month. That seems plausible.
— BWAHAHAHAA are you kidding me? I’ve retitled the title to Distressed Daud.. Is Dead in November. And I only got up to a paragraph of that.. so.. I have totally FAILED miserably for this one —
(2) Finish reading at least one novel a month
I’m currently trying to read two novels a month. One novel lies on my workdesk in the office. And the other lies on my bedside table. Theoretically, I can always squeeze in 30-45 minutes everyday for these novels, but there’s always.. I don’t know. I would like to say ‘distraction’, but it’s not. It’s just excuses. There’s internet connection on my workdesk, and there’s also internet connection on my bedside table. That’s the culprit, right there. And don’t ask me to read on my 1.5 hours commute to/from work everyday, that’s time for my iPod.
— Well I’ve managed start reading about 8 novels this year, and I think I only finished half of that. I don’t know what the hell is the matter with me. I used to read a LOT before. Urgh.. I should put more effort into this. Verdict : FAILURE —
(3) Actually send in application form and video for TAR Asia
I have actually filled in 75% of the application form, but we ran out of time, trying to beat the deadline. We needed more time to think of a catchy and interesting application video. By hook or by crook, I’ll make damn sure that we send in an application if there’s going to be a Season 2 of TAR Asia. I will still be putting in ‘Lucy Lawless’ to describe my team mate, but I’m still undecided on choosing which 3 adjectives to describe myself. Judgemental? Foul mouthed? Lardass? Slightly camp? Obnoxious? God.. this is impossible.
— SUCCESS!!!! Even though we didn’t get a callback, that’s fine.. at least I’m not kicking myself for not doing it (ps. fuck you TARA2 casting assholes). And for what it’s worth… the three adjectives I chose to describe myself were (in order) 1. Sarcastic 2. Witty 3. Uninhibited. Maybe next time I’ll put 1. Everything opposite of Roviltwunt 2. Everything opposite of Roviltwunt 3. Everything opposite of Roviltwunt —-
(4) Save and put away 20% of my salary (untouched till next year)
Now this actually seems plausible, putting away 20%, since my car loan only has a few payments left. I’ll be a free man soon. FREE I TELL YA!!! But then again, there’s still that fucking house loan to settle. Anyway, I’ll try to put away that 20%.. but letting it stay untouched will be the most hardest thing I’ll ever have to do. My prediction for this is that I will fail miserably.
— FAILED miserably with the ‘untouched’ part —
(5) Try out at least 20 new dining places (!!)
Okay, kinda contradicts with my number (4) plan but what the hell. Twenty seems like a reasonable number to spread out over a year. And with the abundant food blogs that we have around, I’m 100% sure this will not.be.a.problem.whatsoever.
— SUCCESS! A little too much though… the ones that I remember.. at the top of my head : Bujang Lapok Cafe, Jombali Cafe, Rakuzen Hartamas, Tambak Johor Shah Alam, Kluang Station, that place in Lygon Street, Fitzroy Street, the Docklands and the Harbour, Koko Black, Santai Tesco, Rakuzen Chulan Square, Puzzini, Tony Roma’s, Kari Kepala Ikan Bangsar, Chef & Brew, Just Heavenly Pleasures, Ichiban, Restoran Sup Adabi (VILE), Azim’s Burget @ Rasta (EXTREMELY OVERRATED AND SUPER VILE), Delicious Bangsar Village, Suchan, Hooked, Uncle Lim’s, Big Apple Donut, Raja Sup, Cheng Lock Laksa, Siam Corner Oldtown, Kura One World, Asam Pedas Royal Bintang, Santai Taman Tun, Ayam Penyet Ria, Vienna Bagels, Mariott Putrajaya, Shabu Shabu, Siam Express, Shangri La, J Co, that Italian place in Streetmall, that Udang Petai restaurant in TTDI, Anjung Merah.. and last but not least.. FUCKING KRISPY KREME!!!! If I had to forgo everything on that list for just Krispy Kreme, I would do it in a heartbeat. Seriously.. Krispy Kreme > Dunkin Donuts + Big Apple + JCo combined. When the FUCK is the franchise coming over to our shores?? (I’m guessing you might’ve just gained a few pounds just a few pounds after reading this lardass post) —
(6) Lose 10 kilos (sure, why not)
Sorta contradicts with my number (5) plan but well, since everyone’s doing it nowadays.. *rolleyes*. It’s not impossible though. I think I just have to eat sensibly. But I’m still sticking to the no-gym rule. Hell, if I can lose 18 kilos in 6 months before, I sure as hell can lose 10 kilos in 12 months!
— Urgh FAILURE. I lost SOME initially, and then gained MORE. I can’t help but being a fat bastard. Mmmm krispy kremeeeessssss mmmm One Doughnut To Rule Them All *mega drool* —
(7) Stay at my current workplace and not look for new jobs
Yeah one of the more toughest challenge for me, personally. I get bored quickly, but so far, things are working out okay. Granted that everything ain’t exactly hunky dory over here, I still get to go back from work at 5pm sometimes (only to be called up at 2 and 3 am in the fucking morning).. but everywhere you go, you’re still gonna get some form of shit from work no matter what company you are. If it’s not shit, it ain’t work. So I might as well try and stay here in hoping that I will get some sort of bonus this year.
— Ummm.. FAILURE, but in all fairness, I don’t give a shit cause I fucking LOVE my new job and new workplace (granted we’ll be outsourced in a couple of months time).. and technically, I didn’t look for this new job, the new job found me (my resume was in their resume bank for the past 3 years).. so, I’m going to change this to success —
(8) Hold at least one awesome party at my new apartment
The challenge is not in holding an awesome party itself. The challenge is preparing the awesome environment in my brand new apartment. First step, getting that dream kitchen of mine in place. So that means more money.. which in turn contradicts my number (4) plan. Fucker. Well in any case, I will hold a decent housewarming party when the apartment is done, with or without that damn kitchen.
— FAILURE.. but not my fault since I will only be receiving the keys to my new apartment in a couple of days. OMG I’m moving into my own place in a couple of weeks!!! NO MORE ROOMIES EVAHHH!!!! (and yes, yes.. the lamb rack WILL be served) —
(9) Cancel off one credit card
If I can do this one, I will be most happy (forget the fact that I have eleventy billion other credit cards). This will be hard to do, but not entirely impossible. In fact, it’s a must do.
— SUCCESS!!! I didn’t think I could do it.. but I did! Yay me! 1 down, 26 credit cards to go. Credit cards = The passport to hell —
(10) Stick to at least 50% of my resolution
Hope springs eternal, eh?
— Let’s see… Success for (3) (5) (9).. Failure for (1) (2) (4) (6).. Failure but kinda not (7) (8)…. BAHHH!!! Who am I kidding? Number (10) is a big fat FAILURE. I should lower down the figure for next year’s (will be posted sometime before midnight tonight — if I can be bothered) —
Continuing from the last episode… teams arrive at the pseudo-pitstop in the following order :
.. only to discover that this leg of the race wasn’t over yet. So they get their next clue to the race, which is to travel to Hakata Port, the international ferry terminal where teams had to board a ferry to Busan in South Korea. Personally, I was really bummed that they didn’t have an actual pitstop in Japan, but life .. I mean, the race.. goes on.
All of the teams were again bunched up for the 320 km ferry ride. Well at least this is a brand new mode of transportation to move from different countries. Once in Busan, they had to find the Jongro Taekwondo Academy and had to break three wooden planks each. I wasn’t expecting there to be so much chaos (scratching that word cause that fucking Roviltwunt used that word full of ‘wit’) pandemonium going on trying to find the location. But it did, and finding this initial location pretty much painted how the order of pitstop was roughly going to be.
Once at the academy, almost everyone managed to break their planks with not much trouble. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the teams were allowed to actually keep their TaeKwonDo uniforms. I don’t think this ever happened in previous tasks that involve them wearing uniforms or outfits. They next had to take a taxi and go to Jagalchi Market and find a clue near the Golden Pig statue. Teams were cautioned that Yield was ahead. They were so much smack talk coming from Sawaka and Daichi, and also Paula and Natasha about yielding the Dancing Mums. I’m still trying to figure out where much of the hatred were coming from.
I thought nobody was going to really yield anybody, but Terri and Henry yielded… Marc and Roviltwat, which was surprising considering Marc and Roviltwat had already arrived there. However, as some viewers have pointed out, (thanks MrsG!), it might’ve been a calculated risk on their part, since they can’t really tell if Marc/Roviltwat is either ahead of or behind them - and if any teams needed to be yielded, these two were definitely the ones because they are becoming incredibly dangerous and super incredibly annoying in this race. So, in short, the yield was wasted in this leg.
The next detour was to either (1) Slither - where they had to fish for two tokens from a tank full of slimy octopus, or (2) Deliver - where they had to eliver food to three different addresses. All of the teams performed Slither. I mean, after watching a gazillion episodes of Amazing Race, 99.99% of the time, delivering things to places with weird addresses is NEVER a good thing to do.. so I was surprised when Daichi and Sawaka opted to do it. I was also laughing my ass off when Natasha screamed “OMG the octopuses are mating!”. (I don’t know why.. but I miss Aurelia.. imagine the even weirder stuff that she could’ve said here).
They next had to travel through the APEC building to get a clue. The next clue leads them to the final roadblock in this leg. Teams had to travel to Yongdusan Park, where a gatekeeper will hand them a key, and they need to find a matching lock on the gate (they were probably around a hundred locks there?). Pretty unoriginal and lame considering this has been done before on the season with Romber on it - and at least THAT one gave an actual chance for teams to catch up (they must’ve had over a thousand locks there). Finally teams had to get on a taxi and head to the final pitstop of this race. In the order of arrival at the pistop :
That said, no matter how good racers Marc and Roviltwat are, I honestly don’t see how anyone can get behind this team. They are probably my most hated TAR team ever, even surpassing Victoria and her abusive husband Jonathug.
I will leave all of you with this amazing Lost recap (Seasons 1 - 3) since season 4 will be premiering in a couple of days.
Well, I’m back from Bali (it was fun, a little overrated, but still fun nonetheless, and I’ll be back there again for sure). Was (un)fortunate enough to catch Asian Idol while I was there. I wasn’t too thrilled about Jac’s performance. I mean, it was really good, but I thought Mike did slightly better.. and I was already resigned to the possibility that Jac might not win. Call me unpatriotic, but that’s how I truly felt at the time. Of course, that didn’t prepare me for the laughable results that came on Sunday. LOL Oh well, c’est la vie, no?
I caught the Episode 4 of TARA2 earlier this week.. and my intense burning hatred for Marc/Roviltwat has increased a hundred times over. Their little skit at the pit stop last week, was vomit inducing sickening.Fucking mediawhores. I’m going to miss Sophie/Aurelia. One of the more interesting team dynamics we’ve had this year. It would NOT have been the same if Sophie had gone on to the show with her original partner. I’ll miss Aurelia’s antics. No new English words for her, I guess.
Now, back to this week. Teams drive from Rotorua to Auckland and fly out to Tokyo. I was bloody excited because, we have NEVER had a dull Japanese leg! Japanese legs are always interesting no matter how SHITTY some of the teams are (yes, I’m looking at two teams in particular). The language barrier, and I know things are costly in Japan, so teams might have to really be careful with their spendings there (it’s interesting that TARA never tells the viewer how much money the teams are given at the beginning of each leg).
All teams are on the same flight to Tokyo. Once there they had to find their route marker at Shiba Park. Some of the teams got hopelessly lost and lost a lot of time looking for the route marker. Sucks to be them. They next had to direct a rickshaw to Sony Building in Ginza. Those rickshaw pullers must be the local Ironmen or something, cause they were definitely running through the streets. Next, the producers rather remarkably used the EXACT SAME CHALLENGE from Sydney last year, where they had to sing the Sakura song with a public, and recording it using a Sony Handycam. Lack of creative juice, much? They should fucking consult with the producers of the Kelly Osbourne goes to Japan show. Lazy dumbass producers.
Speaking of Kelly Osbourne, (I love that show, btw, she’s like a slightly grounded version of that overexposed Hilton bitch), the next clue was to identify a Cosplay girl. Once they found that, it was a detour between (1) Catch It - where they had to catch 40 goldfish using a paper sieve thingy, or (2) Cart It - where they had to deliver a kimono somewhere. Next was a roadblock, where they had to go to Icebar Tokyo and rearrange icecube clues to form a Japanese city. The clue turns out to be Fukuoka, where they had to travel to Fukuoka using the bullet train.
All teams were bunched together on the same train which leaves the next day, and it was a taxi ride race to the next pitstop at the Pyramid International Congress Centre. In the order of arrival at the pitstop
Unfortunately for the Dancing Mums, Allan announced that the race is going to continue.. which means this was a To Be COntinued leg. What a bummer.. Anyway, my commentaries on the teams (in no particular order):
Well, can you blame me? I’m off to Bali tomorrow and I haven’t packed shit yet. Anyway, random thoughts on the latest episode of TAR 12…
And this one’s just for miki… I LOVE this screencap from the week before :

Since I’ll be in Bali for the rest of this week, looks like I’m going to miss the next episode of TAR Asia, which sucks.. cause truthfully, I AM finding this season pretty interesting. However, the fucking TARA editing team needs some fucking lesson in making previews… what is the fucking point of showing which teams will be arriving happily at the next pitstop? They have basically given away which teams do NOT get eliminated in the next episode.. and I’m not happy. Dumbasses. Oh and I forgot to mention, Allen Wu’s hushed voice at the haunted forest last week totally reminds me of that guy from Misteri Nusantara… LOL.
Survivor China is coming to an end. The penultimate episode will air this Thursday, and the finale will be aired on Sunday. I haven’t been following spoilers this season, so I have no idea who will win.. but I have to say, this has been one of the BEST seasons to have aired since Pearl Islands.. and that’s saying a lot. And also… I received my China buffs in the mail today. Woohoo!

What in the hell exactly was the point of having that Hong Kong leg? Just so that they can boast they TARA2 went to x + 1 countries? HK truly is the new Singapore (where they had the useless car wash challenge in TARA1). Absolutely pointless to the viewers (even though I bet it must’ve been fun for the racers).
Okay, let me go back where the episode started. Teams left Manila, their last pitstop, and had to travel to Hong Kong. All teams were bunched up on a CATHAY PACIFIC plane out. There was some unnecessary, forced and scripted drama by Terri and Henry at the airport (Terri mostly). Seriously, that woman needs to STFU and tone it down. Anyway, once in Hong Kong, they had to find their clue at the Central Pier.
Now, you’d THINK that having the ‘home advantage’ to the Hong Kong team (technically, Sophie’s Singaporean and Aurealia’s French.. so whatev), but surprisingly, they were the last one to get the clue. I guess, sometimes being on your own turf can backfire you if you overthink stuff. The next task is to go to the STANDARD CHARTERED Bank to correctly count the local currency. GOD! I fucking loathe counting challenges.. Kudos to all teams who finished it, cause I sure as hell would sucked mucho at it. After that challenge, teams had to fly out to Auckland, New Zealand. All bunched up again on bloody CATHAY PACIFIC.
Now, I fucking ask you again. What the HELL was the bloody point in having that leg??? #%@^!%RAGE!@#&@!&*
Once in Auckland, they had to drive themselves to the Howick Historical Village in Pakuranga. Once there, they had to use a SONY CYBERSHOT to take three pictures of (1) Rob McLane - which turns out to be a portrait (2) Mary Syms - which turns out to be a tombstone (3) A Poke For A Pig - which turns out to be a little signboard. Now I must say that this was a really interesting challenge! The not so interesting aspect of it, was the clue giver with his wooden and robotic “Your Evidence Is Correct. Here is the next clue” speech. Mmm no, I’m not referring to Allan Wu for once (who’s actually getting better - wow.. It doesn’t actually hurt me to say that now).
After that challenge, teams are faced with a roadblock where they had to Bungee Jump off Auckland Bridge - which looks so awesome! And editing has not been kind on Terri this week, cause I absolutely abhored her edit. She wants to do the roadblock, and once she finds out it was a bungee jump, she wants out of it.. and was quickly to point fingers to other people. Man, what a beeyotch. But to her credit, she manages to go through it. I was laughing hysterically when Henry’s lines of “You’re goddamned right I should be the one to do it” was translated to “JAHANAM”. OMGFLMFAO. The bungee jump was nice, but I would’ve loved it even more if they did the Zorb thingy (not sure if that’s in Auckland or not though). Also.. Aurelia had her lovely snarky comment of “Hmm no sound”.. when the apparently emotionless Sophie jumped off the bridge.
The detour comes next.. a task between (1) Wall - to scale a rock climing wall, or (2) Waka - to paddle through a canoe course. I’ll be the first one to say that I know for a FACT that my lardass won’t be able to do the rock climbing. I’m surprised that many teams even tried it out in the first place. Rock climbing is hard, people. And I knew I would’ve aced the canoeing challenge. Hey, I did not practice in the Muar River (complete with shards of broken glass) for two years for nothing, alright. Once the detour was over, I started to think if this episode was ever going to end.
But it went on. They needed to find the Ascention Vineyard along the Matakana road. Once there, they get a clue saying they needed to go through the super lame-o Spookers Haunted House to retrieve their next clue. The clue then points to the next pitstop for this leg of the race, which is only a foot path away from the Haunted House to the equally lame-o Forest Of Fear. The editing tried to fool us that there would be a close race between the 2nd last team (who got lost really bad) and the last team (who were trailing badly since they started the New Zealand race).. but I’m guessing most of us, aren’t fools.
In the order of arrival at the pitstop :
It seems like we’ve been stuck in Ougadougou for years now, haven’t we? The teams are finally getting out of Burkina Faso, and they were to fly to Lithuania! I was quite surprised that they’re turning back to Europe, but it’s not like it hasn’t been done before. Lots of ticketing drama, where teams were divided into three different flights from Ougadougou to Paris (the via either Amsterdam or Frankfurt or Prague). Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter much since all the teams arrived in Lithuania with 45 minutes of each other.
Once in Vilnius, Lithuania, teams need to find a marked car (I think they were given Mercedes Benzs.. lucky bastards) and drive themselves to St Anne’s Church to find their next clue. I still find it amazing that some racers still refuse to (1) get a good map (2) ask for directions (3) pay a taxi driver to lead the way, to get to their destinations. Yes, yes, I know everytime they stop to do all those stuff, they’d have to spend extra time getting the other people to sign release forms and what nots, but in the end, I personally think it would be worth it.
The clue points them to a roadblock (Who’s a Better Listener), where one of them has to listen for clues given by some ladies, deliver a basket of fruits and bread, then listen to their second clue, to deliver a book (?). A pretty meh roadblock, but it was interesting to note that Nicholas is proven to be useless yet again. He was the first to start the roadblock, and the last to complete it. Why the hell am I not surprised? And I thought the grandpa would be doing stuff at a snail’s pace. How wrong was I?

The next is a routemarker, where they had to find a Travelocity gnome hidden amongst hundreds of other regular gnomes near a farm house. Now this is a product placement that I can get behind to, because of the amazing extra bonus prize that they give away… (unlike the shitty ones on TARA). Once they find the gnome, they had to follow a marked parth to a church to find their next clue. The next clue is a detour between (1) Countdown - where they had to count the numbers of picket fences, or (2) Step Up - walk on stilts. Personally, I could NEVER do one of these ‘counting’ challenges. I just won’t be able to concentrate with all the pressure and shit. If I were to get on the actual race, a similar counting challenge would definitely be my downfall. Aaaaanyway, once the detour was over, they were to go to the Windmill to get to their pitstop for this leg of the race.
In the order of arrival at the pitstop :
Also, can I just say that the previews for HOUSE is so fucking annoying?? I mean, I love Hugh Laurie in his BBC roles (especially Blackadder the Third), but I just HATE shows with eccentric characters like this (Becker and Monk comes to mind).
I just hate it when the voiceovers in TAR says “Can xxx and yyy’s relationship withstand the pressure of the race?”. For fucks sake, do you really need to get on this race to find out if your relationship is going to last? Hmm.. let’s see. If you can withstand 10 years of your guy shoving you around when he doesn’t get his way.. I’m sure this race won’t do any jackass shit difference to what your relationship is heading into. (Yes yes I’m being over dramatic, but that’s allowed - and very welcomed - on my blog)
But let’s not jump to that just yet. Teams started off at Fort Santiago in Manila for the start of this leg of the race. They had to board a taxi to the GreenStar Bus Terminal and head to Pila Laguna which is an hour and a half bus ride away. Lots of unnecessary bus footage, I almost dozed off. And it was interesting to hear Marc say that “It’s amazing what pretty girls can do (to get what they want) in this country”.. cause I was thinking almost the same thing “It’s amazing what pretty mactors can to get on this show”. Well I guess that’s why it’s called the Amazing Race. Amazing things happen, and amazingly enough, I am still slightly bitter. LOLtastic.
Once they reach their destination, they find out it’s a Roadblock, where they had to go into the muddy rice field and plow a figure of 8 using the carabou. When Allan first explained it, I was like.. WTF is a carabou? I know a caribou… but what the hell is a carabao. It took me several minutes to realize that he was talking about the water buffalos, and interestingly enough.. carabou = kerbau. Duh, right? Yeah, must admit that I was stupid enough not to realize that instantly. I was kinda excited to see this because a few months ago, some spoilers surfaced showing Paula and Natasha finishing this roadblock.
After their roadblock, they next had to go to a Caltex Star Mart (dumbass token product placement of the week) in Manila and deliver 4 boxes of donation using a jeepney to some orphanage. I love the Chong sisters, but man, they really fucked it up by missing the “in Manila” clue, but I guess it could happen to anyone. And I’m not going to go all politically correct here, but the orphanage kids scrambling/attacking the donation package was downright scary/sorry at the same time. Geez! I swear the kids at the African orphanage seemed a lot more civilized than these poor kids. I know that’s not a nice thing to say, but I was just surprised at how the kids were reacting to the care packages. And one of the Chong sisters totally stole my heart for saying this : “given between the kids and the kerbau, I’ll go back to the kerbaus right now”. Again, probably not a nice thing to say, and she’s probably joking, but that’s exactly how I felt. And this is nothing to do with them being orphans. I personally just don’t have the patience around kids. Yeah I’m an asshole. Tough shit.
Okay, next was a detour in Santa Cruz between (1) Heel - where they had to match up 250 pairs of shoes, and (2) Wheel - where they had to assemble a bicycle from scratch. I personally thought matching 250 pairs of shoes would be a total nightmare, but surprisingly the Australian-speaking girls from Thailand did really well on this detour. And finally, the next stop after the detour was the Pitstop for this leg of the race. And in the order of their arrival at the pitstop :
That said, I do think the editing still has a lot of room for improvement. They didn’t even bother to mislead the viewers at how large the gaps were in between the teams. Halfway through the show, did anyone REALLY think Monica and Edwin wasn’t going to be eliminated? Hmm I thought so.
I must say the “No Chicken, No Check In” was a pretty clever tag line from the TAR producers. Well done. But the episode tonight was just okay.. and actually, personally I think it was a let down. Nothing much to bitch about, so I’ll keep this to a short recap. Teams start off from the last pitstop, where they had to find the tribal chief, who will give them a clue, and a gift. It turns out the ‘gift’ was a live chicken that they had to carry around throughout the entire leg of the race. This actually served zero purpose except to prophesize the clever tag that they came up with - No chicken, no check in. Teams without a chicken at the pitstop at this leg of the race will not be able to check in.
Given that fact, and they were given ZERO dollars for this leg of the race, it was a no brainer that this entire episode will be focused on Burkina Faso still. The next clue led them to a detour where they had to (1) shake your pan - where they had to go mining for an ounce of gold using the local panning method, or (2) shake your booty - where they had to learn the local dance and improvise where they will be judged by ‘local celebrities’ (ie. future racers for The Amazing Race Africa - if Michael McKay has any say in it). The dancing detour was truly painful to see for some of the teams, so I’m not even going to comment.
After the detour, teams are faced with one of the two predetermined U-turn - a new element in this race - whereby teams may force another trailing team to perform BOTH detours. This is.. just plain mean, IMO. I didn’t think anyone would use this at this point in the game, but amazingly enough, the dumb blondes decided to use the U-turn on Lorena & Bobby (who was the last team at that point of the race).
Teams next had to go to the Tampouy Goat Market for their next roadblock - to load a flimsy bicycle with stuff, including a small baby goat (wtf?!) to be delivered to various appointed people in the market. Teams did their thing, and lastly had to take a cab (okay, they were given no money for this leg of the race, and yet, they had to take taxis for no less than three times in this leg) to the next pitstop - the Hotel de Ville in the city. In the order of their arrival at the pitstop :
Okay let me be the first one to eat my words. As much as I wanted to watch this show with much despise and hatred, I can safely say that there ARE, at least, a couple of teams on this cast that is worth rooting for. The premiere wasn’t all that great, but it wasn’t as sucky either. Right now, I’m just thankful that we’re getting a double dosage of The Amazing Race on television right now, since a couple of the regular TV shows will be stalled due to the Writer’s Strike (do they fucking think they’re in France?)
SO.. The Amazing Race Asia - Episode 1. Zabrina told me that they were having some sort of gathering at Zouk for the premiere. Unfortunately, I’m working the US shift this week so I had to let that one go. But even if I didn’t, it’s not as if I would go anyway (since I don’t even know if it was a ’special invitees only’ event). Just imagine me scribbling down notes while everyone is watching the show.. and they’d ask me what am I doing.. and I’d go “oh you know.. compiling shit so I can bitch about these media whores on my blog later”. LOL
I found the team introduction helpful, cause even though AXN has practically tried to shove them down our throats for the past gazillion weeks, I haven’t even remember all their names. I’ll try to keep this entry simple for now with a play by play on their tasks and route info in this first leg :
The race started off in Singapore where teams were all given pictures of ornaments/souvenirs. They then had to find a taxi near the Asian Civilisation Museum that holds the ornaments/souvenir to get their next clue. It was kind of funny seeing most of everyone running around like headless chickens, not knowing where the taxis are located. Once they’ve found the taxi, they needed to get their next clue on top of Mount Faber. The clue gives them a Nokia N95 phone which they have to use (using the GPS function) to find their next clue (which turns out to be Suntec City). And holy shit on a fucking stick, batman. Is this some sort of a record when it comes to shameless product placements? Oy.
There is a detour at Suntec City where they had to either (1) Dare - take the elevator to the rooftop and traverse between the two towers, or (2) Stair - climb up over 40 floors up, and then back down again. Not surprisingly, none of the teams took Stair. It’s time like this that I’m thankful that I’m not actually on the show, cause we had to sign an agreement with a clause saying that we can’t sue the production in the event DEATH during the shooting of the race. Well, of course not. You’d be dead. Anyway, it was quite a challenging and fun detour, but I can’t help but notice that they had a similar height-related challenge in the first episode of the first season (oh how I miss watching Sahran cry).
Teams next received a clue to fly to Manila, Phillipines! This took me by surprise cause it seemed like the time they spent in Singapore (the first country) was too short. Anyway, all teams except for Henry/Terri and Monica/Edwin got on the same flight to Manila (and the two remaining teams took a later flight). Once in Manila, they need to go to the Asian Promenade Park to receive their next clue - which is to eat 8 Baluts near Plaza Miranda. I have to say that BALUTs are the most overrated and fucking over-exposed ‘exotic’ food ever. I’m so sick of watching these on Fear Factor, Survivor, Bizarre Foods etc etc etc. I’m still waiting for TAR to have a similar challenge involving the durians. Hmm. After the balut challenge, they may proceed to the first pitstop of the race.
In the order of their arrivals at the pitstop
(1) Vanessa & Pamela (Team Malaysia) - These sisters surprised the hell out of me! Initially I was very meh on them when the cast was announced. But after watching the episode.. wow. I was very impressed that they were constantly in the top four position at all the challenges/detours/route markers, and was even impressed when they got to the pitstop first. Seeing them gorging down the 8 baluts like nobody’s business impressed me more. This is definitely a team that I’ll be rooting for. This team’s performance is one of the main reasons I’m eating my words right now. Bravo! They definitely showed that they are in it, to win it!
(2) Marc & Rovilson (Team Phillipines) - I definitely did NOT like this team after watching their badly scripted audition video. However, they seem to actually have a good sense of humour, and that I like. They were some funny quips by them here and there. And it was funny seeing them checking out the hot girls while traversing between the two buildings. They also had an interesting mantra - “You live and die by the hand of the taxi driver” - which is oh so true, given what we’ve seen in most circumstances in The Amazing Race. I also wonder if this will be a premonition to their downfall or victory in this race. I guess we’ll see. That said, I have to say that their inability to gorge down the baluts was fucking embarassing, since (1) they were both Pinoys (2) they were beaten by a girl/girl team. So far, I have no complains about this team. Love or hate, it could still go either way.
(3) Anne & Diane (Team Malaysia) - They’re pretty cool. I did not expect them to come out near the top, but they did, so good for them. I certainly hope they will last long in this race.
(4) Brett & Kinar (Team Indonesia) - No strong feelings about this team yet. Still just another boring mactor team in my eyes. They may be this year’s Andrew & Syeon. And does she really not know what Aphrodisiac means? And did she really say LAMB is an aphrodisiac too? Oh fer fucks sake. The only thing LAMB will raise is the blood pressure.. not the peens.
(5) Sophie & Aurelia (Team Hong Kong) - Shouldn’t this team be called team Singapore/France ? Anyway… Sophie surprisingly had quite a number of funny quips (”There’s Ed.. looks like he’s lost. Hopefully they ARE lost”, “(re Aurelia) I hope she gets too knackered till she wont be able to speak”) LOL. I hope she gets more and more snipy as we go along. And Aurelia.. omg.. can she just STFU? I mean.. watching her speak and eating those baluts? Ew. And this is another one who needs a dictionary.. for a girl who cant stop talking, it’s a wonder that she doesn’t know what an embryo is.
(6) Paula & Natasha (Team Thailand) - but they sure sound American to me *rolleyes*. Not feeling much on this team yet. At least they show that they have a competitive side on this race.. so that’s fine with me.
(7) Adrian & Colin (Team Singapore) - I love this team! They rocked the shit out of the challenges. I liked them pre-show, and I still like them after watching this episode. Definitely a team that I will be rooting for. It sucks that they got screwed by their cab driver, but hey.. shit happens. I just hope their luck picks up soon.
(8) Daichi & Sawaka (Team Japan) - They’re okay. May turn out to be another Andrew & Syeon. Not much to say about them right now.
(9) Henry & Terri (Team Phillipines) - I love this team. Their bickering is fun to watch. Terri so reminds me of Sandra Diaz-Twine from Survivor Pearl Islands.
(10) Edwin & Monica (Team Hong Kong) - please.. he’s Canadian. The Asian Romber? More like the Asian Jonathug & Victoria to me. I hate his nonchalance. I hate the fact that he wanted to give up after they failed to get on the first flight to Manila. And I hate the fact that it seems like he don’t give a fuck about this race. Terri & Henry bickering = entertaining. Edqin & Monica bickering = Not. Meh.. whatever. They got in last at the pitstop.
UNfortunately, this is a non-elimination leg. But if they don’t get into 1st place at the next pitstop, they will incur a 30 minute penalty *crosses finger*
And that’s it. Oh.. and apparently Allan Wu listens to the viewers. NO MORE AWKWARD WTF PAUSES WHEN HE ANNOUNCES THE TEAMS ARRIVAL AT THE PITSTOP! YES!!!
During the first five minutes of tonight’s episode, I thought that the theme for tonight was going to be.. everything is all about karma.. seeing how after calling his daughter fat and useless, the old Asian man got hernia. I know it’s bad to laugh at other people’s misfortunate, but I can’t help it. I felt kinda bad about it.. but I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t laugh when they announced that. Anyway, as the episode progresses along (and especially towards the end), I realized everything is NOT about karma. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Teams started off the beginning of this leg still in Amsterdam. They were given clues to fly to Ouagadougu (spelling?). It was interesting since the teams weren’t told in which country this location was. It would’ve been better if they were given the town of Springfield (there’s like.. what eleventy thousand Springfields in the States alone?). It would’ve been nicer if they were given the location for Tongkang Pecah. Huh.. bet most of you don’t even know where that is. LOL. Anyway, it was kind of a nice twist. Reminds me of the episode where teams were given the Malaysian flag and they needed to figure out where they were heading to (I remember Zach and Flo immediately recognized it was the Malaysian flag).
Turns out that the town of Ouagadougou lies in Burkina Faso, in Africa. Now, I could’ve sworn TAR has gone on to this location before, but my TAR friends says otherwise. Oh well. There was a little bit of airport drama where teams were divided between two different flights to the same connecting flight in Paris. Blah blah blah… they were once again bunched up in Paris, so all is good. Once they reached the town in Furkina Baso, they had to drive to the train station to get their next clue.
We get a short clip of the ruthless cab driver taking advantage of the Blondes (was it the Blondes?) by taking more money than what was promised to him. I think a similar thing happened to Colin, no? The time when they threatened to put him in an African jail? LOL good times. Anyway, I woulda been pissed as shit too if I was in their position. Fucking ruthless cab driver. And he was fucking grinning from ear to ear. If I was in their position, I’m pretty sure I would’ve said “pukimak haramjadah” to his face (while smiling, of course). What? You think I’m crazy enough to curse him in a language that he understands?
The teams next had to catch a train to BINGO. Haha.. what a name. The train to Bingo leaves the next day, so once again there was bunching at the train station, where they all spent the night there. Did you notice the old Caucasian dude getting all pervy with the Blondes? Eww… but still old White man >>>> old Asian man. The train leaves the next day, and we get clips of the Blondes winning the KKKendra (ie racist) award for the un-PC dialogues regarding the state of the country (and the smell too, mind you). Man, the blondes are truly getting a shitty edit this time around.
It turns out that Bindo lies in the middle of nowhere - an African savannah, where they scurried around like headless chickens looking for the next clue. The clue leads them to the Roadblock where they had to milk a cow.. and drink the milk. God… I can’t even drink regular cow’s milk… let alone camel milk, so kudos to all of them, I guess. And I don’t know why but lactating camels makes me think of my ex-colleague Kelly (she knows why).
Okay, how many of you loved, loved, LOVED Lorena’s meltdown at the roadblock? LMAO! That was totally Flo-worthy. Dumbass bitch. Screaming does not calm a camel down, fool. Damn, I tell ya. Un-cooperative animals are ever so funny on The Amazing Race. Colin’s broken Ox, Nate’s dehydrated donkey.. and now Lorena’s Camel. LOL the only thing funnier was watching some pooping camel action. No wait.. no Lorena’s meltdown was way funnier.

They next had to lead four camels across the Savannah along a marked path, which led them to the next detour.. to either (1) teach it - where they had to teach an African child 10 english words, or (2) learn it - where they had to learn 10 African phrases. Now, is it just me, or is LEARN IT the more obvious and easier option between the two? I’m kinda surprised they took a gamble with the first option (teach it). I can’t believe the Asian old fart started rambling on and going into descriptions of King Kong for the word ’skyscraper’. Yeah, that will help. Dumbass.
Next comes the pitstop.. but before just that, Mother Nature decided that this episode was going to be boring unless she steps in.. so we get a little Savannah Storm action going on for a bit. So, in the order of arrival at the pitstop (it’s quite amazing that 5 teams - from 2nd place to 6th place - came within seconds of each other at the pitstop) :
Oh yeah, I almost forgot the Dumb and Dumber part. Obviously, I was referring to Lorena as the Dumb one. The Dumber is referring to the Latina Sister who actually helped Lorena out at the Camel milking roadblock. For fucks sake…. the Sisters are in 2nd last place, Lorena was in last place having a meltdown of the century… And the stupid sister decided to help Lorena out by giving her hints on which camel she should go for. I mean.. what a fucking dumbass. Serves her right that they were overtaken at the pitstop. Actually I should be thankful that she helped Lorena out, cause that means we’ll get at least another week of Meltdown material from the unstable Lorena. YAY! And yeah, I think Karma did a 180 on the Sisters this week. Well, sucks to be them.
Anyway, I’m too lazy to add pictures to my entry this week.. so have fun viewing all the pictures I took during the Amazing Race All Stars when they were in town last year.
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Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
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