“Kid Nation” ep.6 review
by V.E. on October 31st, 2007
filed under entertainment, recap/review
Official | IMDb | Wikipedia
Wednesdays @ 8 PM ET on CBS
Previous episode reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Fast Stats
Episode title: “Bonanza is Disgusting”
Awarded the gold star: DK, red team
Left town for home: no one, but DK almost did
Episode favorite: Greg, blue team
Days elapsed this episode: 3
Total days elapsed: 19
Remaining residents: 38
Woo hoo for trash! This episode involved cleaning up Bonanza City and burying the rat-infested trash heap outside of town limits after hauling it all the way out there from the designated trash area. The new leaders take a crack at leading their city, and the showdown this week was disgusting. I kid you not. The Book lead the council to the city’s trash; they decided to pick a few members of each district to help shovel all the garbage into wheelbarrows and then haul it all out to an area of town that’s not really part of town at all—way past the water pump—to bury it. Greg, Sophia, and DK were (among others) chosen for the job because of their work ethic and willingness to create a better Bonanza City. Taylor and Leila were both chosen because they haven’t been doing anything to help out the town at all since Taylor was ousted from power. Instead of helping, they hid in one of the buildings, and when Laurel and others came to find them, they refused to budge. After giving up on getting them to help with the trash thing, the other chosen people and the council went out past the water pump to bury the town’s garbage.
Guylan had a hard time doing his part of the digging the hole for the trash, and he spent most of that part of the episode moping under one of the wheelbarrows. He felt really bad for not being able to do his part, but he helped make up for it later during the showdown. Leila decided half way through to go and help because she didn’t want the entire town angry with Taylor and her, so I think she was at least somewhat redeemed. Taylor, unfortunately, was given a serious punishment: to refill the town’s water supply all by her onesies. That involved carrying two metal buckets to and from the water pump, getting herself and the full buckets up the ladder, and pouring the water into the water tower that is featured in the show’s beginning credits. And then repeating that over and over until the tower was full. Seeing as the tower was nearly completely empty, that could’ve been an insurmountable task for Taylor to complete, even if she’d wanted to. Never came to that point, though, because halfway back from her first trip to the water pump, she set the buckets down and intentionally tipped them over… obviously indicating that she wasn’t going to take shit from anyone—even if she deserved it.
So, she and Leila were given dish-washing duty, which they didn’t do either… Taylor’s work track record is extremely low, I must say. She certainly doesn’t take her own “advice” well at all (to just “deal with it!”). Zach finally threatened to withhold her pay and make sure she never earns the gold star because he was so fed up with her non-compliance. Soooo… thus is the Taylor drama.
The showdown focused on recycling, but with a twist. The kids had 15 minutes to find as many colored tin cans as possible while wading through a large “pan” filled ankle-deep with 1600 gallons of baked beans and 30 live pigs. (The following borrowed from Wikipedia:) Only one kid from each district was allowed in at a time and they couldn’t return until they found a can. The team that found the most cans in 15 minutes was awarded the upper class and so forth for the other job classes. If all four districts accumulated at least 75 cans, they would be rewarded with either a choice of all the fresh fruits and vegetables they could eat or two dune buggies and an unlimited supply of gasoline to operate them. The goal was met, and the council selected the fruits and vegetables for the town… (End borrow.) The whole thing was soooooo disgusting. I’m not even kidding. It made me want to shower just watching it. So gross. Ooooh, soooo gross. Greg got my vote for favorite of the episode because he dove right into the challenge—literally. But, man did they need to be hosed off afterwards. Sheesh, it was disgusting. I cannot emphasize enough how disgusting it was.
For the first time since the first episode, the red team won the right to be upper class (at least until the next showdown). The green district remained the merchant class, yellow went back to being the cooks (as they have been most of the season thus far), and blue was stuck with being laborers for the lowest pay. Later, while enjoying their “new” class, two members of the red team were rough housing in the street and when one of them got hurt, DK stepped in and straightened things out. I have to admit, he was a little harsh with them, but I can’t honestly say I wouldn’t have done the same thing in his position. I mean, the stress can get to you sometimes, you know? It’s not right to displace your frustration on other people like that, but they did need to stop messing around before someone was seriously injured. Anyway, DK almost went home because of the drama/stress/issues in dealing with the other residents, but Guylan convinced him not to. Good thing, too, because the council had unanimously decided to give him the gold star earlier in the episode and just hadn’t announced it yet.
I think sticking it out is a positive quality, but not at the continued expense of one’s mental health. If you know better things are coming, then by all means, stick with it. But if you already have for a fair amount of time and things still aren’t getting better, you might want to think about changing your behavior or some other aspect of your life so that you’re happier in the long run. My personal test is this: I ask myself, “Will I regret quitting/leaving/failing?” If the answer is “no, I won’t regret it” (and it sometimes is), I quit. I don’t have time to waste on things that I don’t care enough about to stick out. I learned that late in high school when my then-therapist and I were talking about my Pre-Calculus class. She asked me why I was still taking a math course when [1] I had already completed the required math courses to graduate, [2] I knew my career wouldn’t have much (if anything) to do with the subject, and [3] I didn’t like it?? Good question. Why was I still taking a math class? I didn’t know. I guess I felt like I needed to be well-rounded or something… even to the point that I didn’t like what I was doing.
Okay, so I didn’t mean for this review to go off on a tangent about my personal life like that, but it sorta applies to DK’s situation. If he really wanted to go home, I believe that Guylan wouldn’t have been able to convince him to stay. If things don’t get better, however, DK may need to rethink his place in Bonanza City—for his own health if nothing else.
CAT (in the hat… er, picture)
by V.E. on October 24th, 2007
filed under entertainment, fyi, personal
YAY. I’m finally un-lazy enough to upload some Cleo pictures, complete with commentary. She’s getting a collar and tag as soon as I can scrounge up the money to get them, so if you wanna donate to the “I hope Cleo doesn’t run away before I can attach return information to her” fund, please do so in any amount here. Also… I now know why my parents refuse to let our kitties at home sleep in the house (they’re stuck in the adjoining garage each night): waking up to cat fish-breath is… well, not fun… IF that wakes you up before the meowing and insistent poking does.
Oh, and I basically took her off the hands of a guy who has cancer (or something) who can’t take care of her anymore because of his condition and who was going to put her down because he couldn’t find anyone to take her. And yes, she is spayed and has had all her shots… Well, that’s what he said anyway. Eventually I’ll take her to a vet to have her checked out, but identification first.
Cleo’s Arrival
by V.E. on October 20th, 2007
I’ve somehow acquired a kitty. Her name is Cleo… not what I would’ve picked, but her name was already attached when I got her…. Luckily for me, she’s already spayed and has had all her shots. So… now I have a cat…
I will post photos once she comes out from under my bed long enough to take any.
————
EDIT 21 October 2008: I’ve used the following formula to figure out Cleo’s birthdate… for future reference.
I got her in mid-October 2007; the previous owner said she was a year and a half at that time. That is, 18 months. So, twelve months prior to October 2007 is October 2006, and six months (12 + 6 = 18) before that is mid-April 2006. Therefore, for record-keeping purposes, I’m going to assume Cleo was born on 15 April 2006.
An Evening with Bennett
by V.E. on October 18th, 2007
filed under personal, thoughts
Yeah, so… um… I found out why Bennett wasn’t too keen on letting me help him move into his new place. Apparently he found this (one-bedroom??) apartment in the Crowne Heights/Bed-Stuy area along the A line that’s a really great deal and has been moving his stuff from the Upper West Side, where his parents live, this past week or so. Last night (Wednesday) I finally got to hang out with him for a while (after a serious lapse of etiquette on his part over the weekend in which he said we could visit on Saturday evening and then never called to confirm or cancel and never picked up his phone when I finally ended up calling him… it’s a long-ish story and I don’t really want to get into it.)
Anyway, so I met him near Central Park last evening around 7 pm and something interesting happened. We spent a couple of hours together, and for the first time since I’ve known him, he didn’t make me feel better about myself and I didn’t have a good time. It was sort of odd, actually. I’d been looking forward to seeing him all week(end, despite his annoying self) and was sort of surprised that I didn’t really like him. I mean, I got into the car with him (his parents’, which he’d been using to take his crap to his new place) and the first thing he did was mess up my hair… As in, you know, give me a noogie or whatever. He knows I don’t like having my hair touched… it just freaks me out, I don’t know why (although, I’ve gotten better about that recently)—but he also knows that he’s one of the few people who can touch it without my completely acting weird. Except this time, he reached for me and my first instinct was to back up, not lean in, as it has been for the better part of two years.
He dropped his car off at his parents’ place and we went walking in the direction of downtown. He was hungry, so we stopped at this falafel place, which apparently makes excellent Greek food (I didn’t have any, as I’d eaten ahead of time, so I’m taking his word for it) but is in dire need of some kind of air conditioning, or at least a fan. Then, we went on down to the Barnes & Noble on 82nd (I think) and Broadway. I wouldn’t have gone in if I’d been alone, but he opened the door and I was ambivalent about the whole thing, so I went in after him.
I’ve come to loathe book stores because I love books… That sounds weird, I know, but I discovered that when I see a potentially interesting book in a book store, I feel like I need to buy it—or otherwise acquire it (which is another problem altogether that I don’t want to get into right now)—or I may not be able to find it when I want to read it in the future. I know that’s practically ridiculous, especially in this day and age; if I want something worth having, it’s likely Amazon.com has it or it’s so rare that I probably can’t afford it anyway. But it’s not a rational thought process. It’s an anxiety thing and it’s really difficult for me to overcome. So, after we’d walked around for a bit, I told him I wanted to leave so I wasn’t tempted to buy/take anything (at least no more than I already was), and he pleaded with me to stay a bit longer…He was just being his normal self, but I felt really vulnerable, so I went to sit in the store café and read the book I had brought with me.
A while later, he found me and asked if I had a book in my bag (I proudly noted that I didn’t) and joked about something or other until I asked him if he was happy. I know that’s sometimes a loaded question, but I honestly wanted to know. I’m not happy. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do with my life, and there’s no easy (or comfortable, or—in some ways—acceptable) answer. He avoided the question, which I was expecting. I would’ve been pleasantly surprised if he’d actually given me a straight answer, but that would’ve been very unlike him. Turns out, he and Elivra have moved out of their respective homes into an apartment together, which is the (obvious) reason why he wasn’t going to let me help him move. And, to top it off, she was at church while he was with me… Do you know how crappy that made me feel? I mean, I’m not really a church/religious/believer-type person, but this is getting ridiculous.
I asked him if he was/is going to marry her (he avoided the question until I pressed it a bit more) and he said he wasn’t sure, maybe… but probably not. I looked at him like he was nuts. “Well, then why did you move in with her?” I asked after a moment. Bennett said (essentially) that he needed to move out his parents’ place (which was true) and so did she, so they moved in together. I was sort of like, “That’s it? That’s why you moved in with her?” I don’t think he realises what a huge decision he made or—should they ever break up—what a pain in the ass it’s going to be to disentangle themselves from one another.
We talked more generally about quite a few things that I just wasn’t really interested in… Marvel and DC characters and crossovers like “Infinite DC” and “Ultimate Marvel” and how blah blah blah blah blaaaaah (no offense intended, Dave, it’s just not my top conversation topic, you know?)… This new rock song about date rape that he said I’d like; I said I didn’t want to hear it because no kind of rape is funny and then I was thinking, wasn’t that a Sublime song from the early ’90s? No, apparently it’s a new one… though I’ve looked for this “new one” and can’t find it, so I think it may just be a cover of the original and Bennett just doesn’t know that. In any case, I said I wasn’t interested and he said, “Just listen to it. You’ll like it.” I usually just cave when he says stuff like that, and usually, he’s right (that I do like it, whatever “it” is at that time), but last night I wasn’t in the mood. And I wasn’t just playing, either, as I have before. Sometimes I say I’m not interested but in such a way that he knows I actually am but don’t want to admit it. In this case, I really wasn’t interested. The whole evening, he just came off as more crass than charming.
I don’t think he’s changed. I think I’ve changed. Maybe I’m getting over him. It’s sad if that’s the case, because I love(d?) him, but I guess I have to move on, you know? I mean, really move on… not just talk about moving on. And something else occurred to me. I can’t be 100% sure of this, since it didn’t come up directly in conversation, but I don’t think he’s ever going to finish his bachelors degree. I don’t have a problem with people taking longer than is considered normal to finish something they start… but if they don’t finish at all and just give up? No way, that’s not acceptable to me. It’s one thing to be delayed, it’s another to just stop trying. I don’t think he’ll finish out college, and I doubt he’ll finish getting his Paramedic certification (the next step up after EMT).
Kudos to Elvira for getting him to keep a calendar, though. Seriously, that’s a huge accomplishment. I asked him a couple days back to take me to Diplocon in early November and even though he said he would, I wasn’t holding my breath. He wrote it down on a calendar somewhere, though, which is a positive step in organizing his life, so I may not have to shell out $60 for a train ticket at the last minute. Whatever she’s doing, it’s working. I hope it keeps working, ’cause I’m not really in the mood to pick up the pieces if something goes awry between them.
“Kid Nation” ep.5
by V.E. on October 18th, 2007
filed under entertainment, recap/review
Official | IMDb | Wikipedia
Wednesdays @ 8 PM ET on CBS
Previous episode reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4
Fast Stats
Episode title: “Viva La Revolución!”
Awarded the gold star: Greg, blue team
Left town for home: no one
Episode favorite: Anjay, blue team
Days elapsed this episode: 3
Total days elapsed: 16
Remaining residents: 38
The yellow district slacks off (in their jobs as town cooks), as usual. Well, except for Zach, who mentions during an interview that “Taylor’s leadership skills just suck!” So the council reads The Book and learns they should hold council elections. Council elections! My first reaction: “OMFG|YAY! Taylor is sooooooo outta here.” Well, if I was voting, anyway. But unfortunately, I’m just watching.
“It’s time for a very… political… showdown.” The residents had to break apart red, white, and blue piñatas to (hopefully) find a picture of a US president inside and then put them (the pictures) in order of their (the presidents’) years in office. They all finished in the time given them and won the group prize. Yellow came in first, green second (finally!!), red third, and blue was last. The group prize choices were a “political party” of MEAT galore or toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss. The council went with “the dental health” over the burgers, much to the chagrin of the entire town, including two of the council members, although many of the kids who had braces were glad for not having to brush with baking soda anymore.
There were two candidates in each district except green, who collectively decided to keep Laurel as their council member. Red: Mike (current) against Guylan. Blue: Anjay (current) against Olivia. Yellow: Taylor (current) against Zach. As the election campaigns heated up, posters were made—and torn down—feelings were hurt, and people cried. Loooovely. Just like real life. No, seriously, that’s just like real life. One of the blue team members was a real jerk to one of the younger residents and caused her to literally run away crying because he ripped up the poster she’d made for Taylor. Glad HE’s not running. While helping in the kitchen, someone asked Anjay what he thought of Olivia (who was running against him) and if he thought she had a chance to win; he responded, “Please don’t talk about Olivia while I have this in my hand; please.” That’s why he’s my favorite for the episode.
So, the election results are as follows:
Green District – Laurel (ran unopposed)
Blue District – Anjay (7) defeated Olivia (3)
Red District – Guylan (9) defeated Mike (1)
Yellow District – Zach (5) defeated Taylor (4)
The yellow team’s election was especially interesting because it reminded me of my time in F&M’s Greek Council: boys against girls. All Taylor needed to win was the girls’ votes. Thankfully, the results weren’t like the ones I experienced. In any case, it looks like I got my wish (to see Taylor ousted). Also, on a side note… Bonanza City had a 100% voter turn out. (Am I saying that right?? Basically, though, every resident voted. YAY. Good habits begin early.) Unfortunately, I’m really starting to dislike Olivia because all she did the entire episode was bash Anjay… not cool. Oh, and Greg won the gold star, which he’ll be using to attend college. Sweet, so he’s not all bad… not that he was in the first place, but he has been a jerk in the past. Hopefully he doesn’t go back to being one now that he’s got a star.
“Kid Nation” ep.4 review
by V.E. on October 11th, 2007
filed under entertainment, recap/review
Official | IMDb | Wikipedia
Wednesdays @ 8 PM ET on CBS
Previous episode reviews: 1, 2, 3
Fast Stats
Episode title: “Bless Us and Keep Us Safe”
Awarded the gold star: Morgan, green team
Left town for home: Cody, yellow team
Episode favorite: Alex, blue team
Days elapsed this episode: 3
Total days elapsed: 13
Remaining residents: 38
Okay, so Taylor (yellow team’s town council member) is really starting to piss me off. I know that this is a “reality” show and it’s not really reality—especially since there’s so much we, as viewers, don’t see, but I’m not the only one. The other residents have tolerated her refusal to work (and/or encourage her team to work) thus far, but it doesn’t look like they’re going to put up with it much longer since episode 5 apparently includes an election of the (new??) town council. We’ll have to wait and see.
This episode, the town council read “the book/journal,” which gives them advice about what they should do next (or what they shouldn’t do). As the title implies, episode 4 tackles the issue of religion. After reading about religious services in “the book,” the council decides to announce services for that afternoon for their Bonanza City, which creates resistance among the residents because they’re not all one religion, and even those with “the same” religion (ie: those that are Christians) don’t have the same beliefs (ie: some are Catholic, Pentecostal, Methodist, whatever). Essentially, there are 39 kids (this is before Cody went home) and 39 different belief systems, and—sensing that—the kids want to avoid any unnecessary conflict, ’cause heaven knows they have enough of that already without bringing religion into it. Finally Mike (red team leader) just yells out that they’re going to have one big group service that afternoon and they can pray/sing/whatever once the service begins. Interested in the actual break down of the town, Alex (blue) sets out to tally the religious beliefs of the residents. Turns out they mostly ascribe to various incarnations of Christianity with a few Jews and atheists scattered in for flavor and one Hindu to make things interesting. There are apparently no Muslims to speak of, and one resident (I think it was Greg or Blaine (both blue), but I don’t remember for sure) asked what “Sunnys” (Sunnis) and “Shits” (Shiites) were/are. [sarcasm] I’m glad that kids these days are sooo informed [/sarcasm].
So, when the time came for the group service, the council called everyone to the chapel… and—surprise, surprise—no one showed. The council members were dismayed but, really, what could they do? Morgan (green) went around and gently asked residents to come to a prayer circle that evening if they wanted to, which I think was a better way to approach the whole subject. Quite a few people showed up; there was prayer in multiple languages and at least one of the kids was brought to tears because of the community created around the fire during the circle that night. So, the religion thing didn’t go over as badly as expected.
The showdown this week was a “steeplechase” in which the residents (split up by color, as usual) raced to see which team could put together a large puzzle of a steeple fastest and in under one half hour. Blue won and once again became the upperclass, red came in second (merchant class), yellow third (cooks), and green last (laborers). Again. Seems to be a trend going on here… Green seems to get the short end of the stick more than is deserved… and yellow less than is deserved. In any case, all four teams finished their respective puzzles with time to spare and were awarded the group prize: either a miniature golf course OR a set of religious texts from quite a few religions, including some religions not represented by the residents themselves. The council took a vote (instead of deciding for the town, as they have in the past) and the majority, interestingly enough, wanted the religious texts. Sooo, no mini-golf for them anytime soon.
The yellow team became cooks again, and again didn’t do much in the way of actually cooking or cleaning up after themselves, so Zach (yellow) had to ask members of other teams help him with the dishes, which they did with some reluctance. At least cleaning is more fun when there’s more than one person doing it. At the town meeting on day 13, Zach (yellow) asked/told Taylor to shape up or ship out (essentially)—to which Taylor responded that if he wasn’t careful he’d be scrubbing toilets with the green team. My mouth dropped open at her gall, but no one ever said she’s the sharpest crayon in the box, did they? He responded after only a split-second by calmly saying, “Taylor, stop threatening us.” I’ve gotta give her props for taking so much shit, though, and still being such a jerk. I’d have broken down by this time if I were in her position. In any case, Cody (yellow) went home after being homesick for nearly a week, and Morgan (green) was awarded the gold star. So that means three of the four stars that have been awarded have been to green team members. Even though they’re having to deal with a lot of shit (literally), they are being recognized for their efforts.
I still wanna know what happens to the gold star after it’s given out. Do they reuse the star, or does each awardee literally get his/her own that s/he’ll have to later exchange for real money? Can they choose to just keep the star and not exchange it? Why hasn’t anyone broken into the building with the phone in it? Is the star safe after it’s been given out, or have they had issues with stealing, etc. etc.? What about the rest of the town? Does the town council have to follow the advice given in “the book” or can they just ignore what it says and do their own thing? Would it really be that bad if an episode or two was unscripted? I mean, it is supposed to be “reality” TV, after all. Stuffing three days into less than an hour of on-air time (have to account for the time commercials take up) just seems like futile effort. Who decides what to cut or keep? It’s not like this is really a “Kid Nation” because the editors and producers aren’t kids (at least so far as I know) and they’re the ones cutting the show—so they get to decide what we see. I’d like to be a camera-person just so I can see what’s really happening in Bonanza City… not just the stuff the editors want us to see.
Oh, and it snowed one of the days… didn’t last for long and the town was soon covered in mud. Loooooovely.
PS: If you’d like to have a looksee at the contract the parents of the participants had to sign, check it out over at The Smoking Gun, which is—I believe—a biased source, but which has nevertheless scanned and reproduced the contract in its 22-page entirety. Talk about legalese.
TO DO
by V.E. on October 3rd, 2007
filed under school, to do, writing
Due Sunday evening, Sept. 30
finish posting for nonfiction unit 1
finish posting for poetry unit 2
post all for nonfiction unit 2
poetry unit 3 including posting
nonfiction unit 3 including posting—8-11 hrs.
More stuff
apply for jobs!!!
complete Javits Fellow app.
internship thingy
one “to blog about” journal entry
begin portfolio on personal website
“Kid Nation” ep.2 recap/review
Thai Iced Tea article
“Witchblade” article
cancel/reschedule therapy appt.
cancel Shopper Services membership
Red Cross interview
openhousenewyork training
—————
(…sometimes I feel like a headless chicken…)
First posted: September 19, 2007 @ 14:23
