Talking About Stuff, with Mike and Christiana

Monk-E-mail's from Careerbuilder.com

Working harder

Oh, snap! A cliff-hanger!

The argument at the beginning with Terry and Cirie wasn't fun to

watch. It's the sort of petty thing that will happen whenever

people are in stressful situations, but Aras made it worse by

piling on and making it a bigger deal than it needed to be.\

Now instead of voting out the people who are second-strongest, they

vote out the person that Terry wants to take to the final two.

Terry's "whining" during the challenge. Did come across a little

whiny at first, but again, Aras escalates it.

Calling in the "Whambulance". If Aras want's to be considered a

grown-up, that's a pretty childish thing to say.

Psychoanalyzing Aras's "Demeaning women" comment.

Would Terry have won if he hadn't misunderstood the rules?

Once again, my reaction at the end of the challenge were dismay at

the bad feelings between the teammates.

An intense challenge.

Rivalries are cool, and why people like sports.

Psychoanalyzing Aras's "Demeaning women" comment.

No one was really upset or even surprised by the two that got sent

to the exile island.

Danielle, the "underdog"

Her "real" assets.

Clues that Danielle may be the winner of the tiebreaker challenge.

We get confused about the "scenes from next time"

Strategies going into the final four vote

Can anybody beat Terry in the final two?

Aras's introspection: when he was still by himself, he seemed at

least self-aware, but not yet contrite.

The great thing about the show is that you don't get to be who you

"want" to be, only how you "are"

Aras the scolded puppy.

Terry handled it in a very direct, effective, respectful way.

That resolution made the uncomfortable feelings from earlier

worthwhile.

At the next challenge, the change in their relationship was

noticeable.

The whole dynamic between Aras and Terry has been all about respect

from the beginning.

It took bad behavior and being called on it to finally show Aras

that Terry does respect him.

It's a very father / rebellious son relationship between them.

Only one really scrambling at the end was Danielle, because the tie

was the best she could even hope for.

Getting sloppy with the ropes

I think Cirie, Aras, and Terry are the three best players.

Danielle's strategy. Though clearly it worked, it's not a strategy

I respect as much.

Danielle the windsock.

Terry the superhero

Stoked for the finale

Shane and Courtney seem pissed at Danielle, which is funny, because

Cirie was more directly responsible.

Why Cirie is likable.

Danielle probably loses against anybody in the final two.

Cirie probably beats Aras or Danielle, but not Terry.

Apples and oranges.

Danielle almost certainly can't win, but what strategy would get

her the closest second?

If the final three was Aras, Cirie, and Terry, and Aras wins

immunity, who does he take to the final?

Aras maybe should have voted for Cirie this time.

Hints toward the winner of the tiebreaker?

Will Danielle come to the reunion show with weird curly hair?

Mike says "hard" alot when he talks about Stephanie.

Plans for the finale show.

Yet another demonstration of how expertly Cirie is playing the mental/social part of the game.

Headset trouble.

Terry is guaranteed final three at this point, so Cirie is trying to control who, besides herself, will be there with him. She seems to be targeting going to the final three with Aras, because of the remaining castaways, he is the most likely to beat Terry in the final immunity, and he may take her over Terry to the final two.

Terry voted for Aras instead of Danielle? Likely a safety vote, just in case.

Losing respect for Aras, based on the conflict with Terry regarding the mom vs. wife question. It was really frustration and sour grapes driving him in that discussion.

Terry made the right decision in that challenge, particularly with Shane. Shane is so emotionally driven, that choosing him gets Terry more points than he'd get from anyone else.

Terry will probably get Shane's vote in the final two now, because Aras, Danielle and Cirie betrayed him.

How can Terry lose at this point? If he makes the final two, he's already got Austin, Sally, and Bruce on the jury. Probably Shane too, so he may have enough votes to win right now.

Terry hasn't been very good in the strategic/social element of the game, but he's been SO good physically, that it has made up for anything else he may be lacking.

If not for his phyisical dominance, Terry would have been voted out right now.

I miscount his individual immunity winnings. Should be five, not four, because it started at the merge when Nick got voted out.

The three elements of the game are the strategic, the social, and the phyisical.

Choosing Cirie's husband to go back to the camp was better than it would have been to bring them with him, because of the opportunity she had to impress him, plus keeping her happy.

Danielle, of course, would be disappointed by being chosen last, but then, she knows it is retribution for lying to Terry the previous episode.

Choosing Shane not only makes him happy, but DOESN'T make him mad. Shane would have taken it out on everybody.

No one should choose to not go on their own reward.

As Terry's chief competition, Aras's feelings aren't going to rank very high on Terry's priority list, because he knows they won't be cooperating on anything anyway.

Physically, Terry seems to be the strongest player ever to play the game.

The Cassayas are actually doing Terry a favor by continuously voting off the second-strongest person.

Terry's wife's reaction to his physique was surprising, because we thought he looked pretty good considering. We got cheated in the early part of the season because of his stupid polo shirt.

I'm distracted by one of my favorite scenes from The Abyss.

More on Terry's studly self.

Terry's competitive wife.

We liked Shane this week. He was classy even!

We were sorry to see him go, and not just because he's one of the more entertaining Survivors in recent history.

Plus, he really deserved to be in the final four more than Danielle.

On the other hand, Mike points out, she's hot.

I accuse Mike of still holding onto his crush for Stephanie, and I challenge him to choose between them.

"Danielle, just seems like something you would want to do one time, and say, 'that was awesome.'"

Stephanie just has to quit with the curly hair.

Danielle was the Stephanie, and Sally was the Danni.

Shane is Johnny Fairplay? Neither of us saw the Pearl Islands season.

"This other joker"

Romber winning All-Stars wasn't "shady", it's just that they weren't that likable.

Discussion of Boston Rob's betrayal of Lex on All-Stars.

Famous Indianapolisians: Mike has met Subway's Jared and watched him eat a Whopper.

You, all of you belong to an exclusive club.

The immunity challenge was pretty cool, and evened up the odds a little, even though Terry still won.

Terry doesn't feel like the underdog anymore. Everyone else does!

We are predicting that Terry will win immunity again, and that Cirie and Aras will vote out Danielle.

Unless Terry gives Danielle the idol, in which case, Aras will go. Then, neither Cirie nor Danielle will beat him in that final three challenge. Terry goes to the final two with Danielle and wins.

Cirie is the only one of the remaining people that could even MAYBE beat Terry in the final two, and even then, probably not.

We would like to see a final two of Terry and Cirie, but it doesn't seem likely.

Who would Courtney vote for?

We are impressed by Cirie and all she has accomplished. We remember Episode 2 where she was told pretty bluntly that she wouldn't be around long.

Terry is strong physically, and less so on social/strategic. Cirie is the reverse. Aras has kind of been average all the way along.

Where is his supposed yoga-calm?

Starting in the middle: Car commercials

Schizophrenic branding.

Oh Snap! Do you know anyone who actually says that?

Out of the mouths of babes...

Lamer than "Oh, burn!"

Segueing from Nothing!

Our signature.

Hitchcock's staircases

Boston Legal and DVR-troubles

Kisses that aren't between Mike and Julie Bowen

I saw Silent Hill

I thought it was well-made, but it kind of crossed my line. A little too disturbing for my preference.

If I sat all the way through Godzilla, I can stay through anything.

I've started playing Graal Online, which is like World of Warcraft for people with crappy computers.

Finding time for video games

Survivorman, on the Science channel.

A neat idea, but a little lacking in the execution.

Should maybe be a half-hour show, occasionally shows the "man behind the curtain" a little too much.

A little behind-the-scenes hocus-pocus is implied. It doesn't need to be made explicit.

Apt.

Saved by the Bell on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. (Also, 28 Day Slater on Team Tiger Awesome...is awesome!)

Very sad. I accidentally ran over a squirrel.

A brief 50 Pounds, 6 Months update

Bizarre email exchanges.

King Bonk has been Google-chatting me!

Screech was in Made

Carrot-Top, now with muscles!?!