Most Improved Survivor Players

With Survivor Game Changers currently airing, I've been thinking about previous Survivor players that improved their game play on their 2nd time around. I am only limiting it to a player's 2nd season and the emphasis is on game play and not position. Therefore a player can do better than their first season, however their game play may not have been better, at least from a viewer's perspective.

• Boston Rob-Survivor All- Stars. If you re-watch Survivor Marquesas Rob tries to rally his troops to vote along with him, much like he did in All-Stars. The key difference between the two seasons is not only the effectiveness, but the ruthlessness that he showed. Players were willing to go to end with him and Amber, with nothing really being shown of people trying to take either one out. This is a credit to his strategy and game play of convincing people to do what he wanted, see Jerri's vote out, and keep himself out of the cross-hairs. I firmly believe that All-Stars made Rob's Survivor and reality show career. Without this season, Rob and Amber potentially don't fall in love and I don't think Rob comes back for future seasons of Survivor. Rob should count his blessings that All-Stars was filmed when it was, or there is a good chance he is not on the cast list.
• Amber- Survivor All-Stars. Amber is in a similar situation as Boston Rob. She appeared to play a similar game as her first season, however her partner, Boston Rob, was much better at navigating the other players. Jerri was Amber's partner in Australian Outback and the other players didn't seem to like her. These players also had power and were willing to vote her out at the right time. While some people might not have like Rob, players never had enough power to vote Rob out. Some tried to get rid of Amber, however that was not successful. 
• Parvati-Micronesia. Parvati, herself says that her only role in Cook Islands was being a flirt. In Micronesia, she pulled together a women's alliance and got credit for getting Ozzy out. It is debatable who actually put together the move, her or Cirie, but she got the credit. Parvati had a similar game surface level, however she turned her devious nature up and worked every angle she could. She might have tried this in Cook Islands, however as viewers, we were not able to see it. Parvati's story is similar to Boston Rob's without a returning season close to her original, I don't know if she is brought back. 
• Stephenie-Guatemala. Stephenie's whole play in Palau was being physical. Guatemala allowed her to show off her strategic skills. She did receive a villainous edit in Guatemala, however that was just a foil to her over the top heroic edit in Palau. Being strong in challenges is a strategy one that relies a lot on some luck in order to work. While Stephenie was still strong in challenges in Guatemala, her main focus was on strategy and using to her alliance to move forward. 
• Kelley Wentworth-Second Chances. Kelley wasn't shown too much on San Juan Del Sur, therefore getting a chance to return would only help her game reputation. Kelley played from the bottom of the tribe a lot during her returning season, however she was always playing. Kelley kept trying to make things work and trying to get things going. She had strategy and some physical game play, which helped her be considered as a winner contender in the finale. 
• Andrea- Caramoan. Andrea had the unfortunate luck to play with Boston Rob and his cult tribe the first time around. Being apart of the cult tribe, she saw that they all listened to Rob and didn't want to get rid of him. These blinders ensured that Rob would win Redemption Island. In Caramoan, Andrea didn't try to play Rob's game and instead tried to play her own game. While it ultimately wasn't successful, she did show that she was willing to play and wanted to make moves. She wanted to be aggressive her second time, she just couldn't she where the aggression was going to get her.  
• Jeremy- Send Chances. Jeremy was shown a lot in San Juan Del Sur and he corrected the mistakes that he made in that game. He name his strategy of using meat shields. I won't say that he started it, since I know it's been used before. He did however use the strategy on a larger scale, using both physical and mental meat shields. Jeremy used this chance to change his game and not just make small adjustments based on his previous experience. 
• Sierra-Worlds Apart. Sierra was a cast member on Game Changers that made me scratch my head. While I am still not convinced that she was the best choice for the theme, she is playing. She is considered to be in a power position and appears to be running the show a little. While I am not completely convinced that she will win, I think she will make a strong showing. Keep in mind, that her strong showing is in comparison to a very poor showing in Worlds Apart. 

There are so many other people that I want to put on this list, but I feel like these players truly changed their games. What do you think? 

words I want to describe other than pretty

I stumbled across a couple of posts today that got me thinking. These posts talk about words that women would rather be described as other than pretty. Society has put so much emphasis on looks, that people forget all of the other amazing words that languages have. These words can be used in a variety of ways, and language is ever expanding. However, when I hear people talk about another person the same words keep popping up, nice, pretty, and The Bachelor favorite, amazing. While I liked the post, some of the words didn't connect with me, as I am not that way. So I decided to make my own list of words that I would want used to describe myself, other than pretty, nice or amazing.

1. Quirky - This word has become "cool" and almost everyone considers themselves quirky. I like being a little different and I like it when people notice that. It takes time for me to warm up to most people, so those that see that side of me really get to see me in all my quirkiness.
2. Determined-I've had rough times like most people, but I pushed through. I had help from other people and media, but I made it. Someone recognizing this and my desire to complete my goals is touching. This shows that you saw the fight and the struggle not just the result. 
3. Raw- No not, uncooked. Raw in this sense is akin to vulnerable, but not that extreme. Raw shows that I allow people to see my emotions and feelings in a way that I want them to. This takes real strength and courage to show people this side of you. 
4. Erudite- Fans of Divergent might not like this word, but remember it was the corruption of being Erudite that is bad and not the word. Erudite brings to light a thirst for knowledge that was only quenched by develing further. This thirst led to either reading more or more schooling. 
5. Curious- To be Erudite is to be curious. I really just want to know. I don't like sports, but I want to know what is happening. I have to watch shows as they are airing to avoid spoiling them for myself. I really just want to know. 
6. Understanding- This is a hard one for me to show. I would like people to know that I understand what is happening. I might not agree with your approach but I understand.
7. Loyal- This is why I choose Hufflepuff for my house. Who does not what to be thought of as loyal? I am loyal to those that I choose, while some may not like who I choose I am loyal to them. 
8. Hopeful- To touch on my notes from Determined, I want people to recognize that I do think the future will be better. I sometimes think that hope is the best and worst characteristic to have. It can help you move forward or make you sad when things don't change as quickly.

Along with these words, I of course what the usual, funny, smart and kind; but as everyone wants these I chose not to include them in this post. What words do you want to be used to describe you? 

Those who do not learn from the past....

After 2 episodes it seems that a major theme this season is how the person played on their last season. This theme seems to come up more and more from any other previous returning player season. On All Stars it was new and exciting and there really wasn't any talk of how the players were going to correct the mistakes from last time. This also held true for Heroes vs. Villains, as this season mainly focused on Russell Hantz and his horrible social game play. The first player that I can recall stating what they needed to change for Parvati in Fans vs. Favorites, when she stated that she was the flirt on Cook Islands and there was no other dimension to her. She voiced that she knew what she needed to change about her game play in order to be successful at this game. However, this season it seems to be talked about all the time, even at tribal. With everyone talking about what they did wrong last time, I am very surprised that Shirin did not comfort Abi. Even if this comfort is just for game play, as soon as you see Terry go down there, walk down there too and talk to her or talk to her the next morning and ask for her side. Mike came to Shirin's defense, even when it was against his alliance and Shirin could have made a similar move. Or at least had a pow wow saying, "guys let's suck it up and deal with Abi until she can get cut loose", anything but letting the other alliance bond with her. Abi for all her faults is very loyal to the people who show her kindness. She was very loyal to Pete an Artis as soon as they solidified their bonds with her. She was even loyal to Malcolm until he betrayed her. So how Abi some kindness and she will be yours forever and be a bigger target than you almost any day. As for Spencer, I'm kinda surprised he didn't make the bonds needed sooner, as that's what he talked about needing to do on day 1 and apparently he failed to do this.  I do have to say that my stand out so far is Kelly Wentworth. As she has an idol, that she grabbed at a challenge in front of her tribe, she's seems to be good with everyone and is playing a low key, somewhat Sandra game. She definitely comes off of having the attitude "as long as it ain't me". This worked very well for Sandra and it might get Kelly very far.  There really hasn't been any strategy talk shown at the Bayon camp after the first episode where an alliance was shown. Really the only thing from Bayon we get is the Stephen is not well received and Savage wants him out. Oh, and everyone loves Joe. I'm kinda indifferent on Joe and find Spencer and Stephen to be more interesting. I will say that the only thing the only place Stephen can go from here is up and the 3-way tribe divide is going to be great from him. However, 1 tribe will be screwed and have to make a new camp, with only 6 people on day 7. Sorry to those people. I am very excited for the 3 way tribe divide and kinda want to see things go south for Monica or Abi. I can dream at least.

Til next week.

Thoughts on Survivor Second Chance premiere

Abi being Abi

It's that time again, Survivor is back!! For this season the producers gave fans "control" of who was going to be cast. I use the term control loosely as I'm not 100% convinced that the producers didn't put some people in that the fans didn't vote in. While these people probably got close to the top 10, I don't think they actually made it in, but more on those people later. The show premiered last night and since I got my wires crossed, I missed the first 30 minutes or so, which I just watched and I got to say I still have the same reaction, who picks Abi over anyone else! This woman is horrible and just plain mean, she isn't even funny and doesn't understand anything and was basically useless in challenges in her first season. Arg!! Why?! I'm somewhat surprised she got back in, but at least you remembered her and she made an impact on her season. I just hope that people kept Abi as either a shield or the other person was a bigger threat to their game, and if that is the case then please leave soon. Before the Abi lovers get on me about her, I also don't like Woo either. However Woo is for a completely different set of reasons. I mainly don't like him, since I think he took Shane Powers spot and I would have liked to see him play again, which probably will never happen. Shane has since gone on to say that he will never go through the Survivor  process again, so I guess I just have to watch Exile Island over and over again. Woo didn't really do anything in his season, he was just kind there and I know nothing about him. I'd rather have almost anyone else there than Woo. I can't even say that at least he plays the game, even Abi had that going for her, Woo just seems to be out there having fun. This is fine for your first season, however on your second try I want to see some sort of awareness on your part and some sort of knowledge about the game, Woo showed none of that. I just looked on CBS's website to see what he was known for and it's "vibrant attitude". Really?! I will say Woo is true to himself and that's nice to know, still doesn't make me want to watch him anymore. I will say that it appears that Jeff Varner is most willing to adapt of the "Old School" players. He seems willing to have the conversation and run off, but we were shown a bigger portion of Takeo camp than the Bayon camp. Speaking of Bayon,I really like the people on this tribe, they seem aware and wanting to play. While I am not a big fan of Kass or Monica I really want this tribe to go far. Go Bayon! However, my all-time favorite to win would be Kelly Wiglesworth. I was 9 or 10 when her season aired and it never occurred to me that a girl could beat a boy in a physical competition, she did- a lot. I loved it and rooted for her so hard, looking back Rich was the better player, but Kelly's impact still stays with me.

Til next week.

BB17's Bumpy Start

Clay and Shelli being Clay and Shelli

While I am a bigger Survivor fan than Big Brother fan, after last season I was really excited to watch Big Brother 17 play out and I have to say that I am very disappointed. I gave it 4 weeks to wait for something good to happen and I got nothing. Nothing at all. Instead I got people who don't understand the game and in general not a lot of people that I can or even want to root for. While I am a sucker for a good romance, Clay and Shelli have just bored me and even made me angry from Day 1. I'm sure that they are nice, good people but they are just so blah, both together and apart. Like there is nothing to them except for how good looking they are. Austin and Liz aren't even a real thing and I don't get Austin at all. He says he will sacrifice his game for her or words to that effect and she doesn't even really like him. If it's really meant to be then, she will be there after the game and y'all will live happily ever after, if it's not then you might have $50,000 cause I really don't see him winning the $500,000. I actually really don't want anyone to win the money or at least really don't care who does win at this point. I think last season must have been the funny season, cause the people on this season are just boring on the show. I will admit that I do not watch the live feeds and I have heard that they are good, but I just don't care enough about the people to buy the feeds. A contributing reason why I don't like this season is how the "Battle of the Block" or "BOB" is being played out this year. I'm trying to compare the BOB from this season to last season to find out why I don't like it and I think has to do with how last season there were some twists but it wasn't as calculated as this season.  This season the HOHs or Heads of Household decide who will stay in power and then convince someone to throw BOB. Why would you throw a competition that means you'll stay on the block?! Why? I am glad the BOB has ended earlier than last season, with it only going for 5 weeks, but please retire this twist, please. We don't want to see it again, it was cool and different last season but we don't want to see it every season. Another factor into my dislike for this season is the "BB Takeover", where a random person outside the house takes over the game for a week and then random powers are introduced in the house. This twist seems to have died out but it just didn't seem good to start with, with there being too much of a chance that production was going to mess with the game. However, everything goes back to the people, because all the good twists in the world won't save your show unless there are people that the viewers want to watch and want to see play. Well here's hoping the either the season gets better or Survivor Second Chances is amazing.

Yeah, cause who wants America to hate them?

Hollywood's spin on "The Duff"

Before I start off I want to let you know that I know that the movie and book are almost never the same. It just doesn't happen as the director and write use the source material and spin it for the movie or TV show in some cases. Sometimes the changes or things that they leave out aren't noticeable and sometimes they are. There are are a few cases where the movie is better than the book, see Legally Blonde, and there are more cases were the book is better than the movie, see The Princess Bride.  More often than not Hollywood will take the name of a book and keep a couple of the character's names but then they will have completely different characteristics and the plot will have gone through the cookie cutter plot maker for Hollywood. This is wanted happened to The Duff

I read the book The Duff for the first time when the movie first came out in theaters and I really enjoyed it. The story was different and featured a strong female who didn't really make excuses but instead analyzed her actions at the end. However, based on the previews I had a feeling that the movie wasn't going to be anything like the book that I had read. I recently saw the movie for the first time and I was right. The movie keeps lets some characters keep their names, however all of the backstories are different.

You can change a character's name all you want, but keep at least a portion of their backstory, please! How do you have the same protagonist if she isn't taking care of her father or hiding from one of her best friends that she dated his brother? You don't. Instead you get a cookie cutter nerd protagonist who is kinda flat, which makes the story kinda boring. For the best friends they kept them somewhat the same, but they more or less combined them into a mish-mosh. In the book, each girl in the group gets a distinctive personality, and in the movie only Bianca has a distinctive personality.  Jessica and Casey are boring and almost a non-factor in the story. The best thing they do is shut down a website and make a dress.

Wesley's character gets the worst treatment, as in the book he explains that he is basically shunned from guys for competition reasons and his family shuns him due to other reasons. In the movie, he gets the, what has become cliche, fighting parents for sympathy points. You stripped this character of EVERYTHING that made him different and instead made him a typical teen character movie. A fraction of his character could have been kept for the movie, just a fraction. Toby gets transformed from a seemingly perfect guy in the book, to just a guy in the film. There is nothing interesting about him in the movie, other than Bianca likes him. His look probably gets the biggest change, as in the book is described as being straight laced and preppy; while the movie sees him as a rocker.

What makes me most disappointed about the film is that it takes out one of the original messages that I got out of the book. That if you start using a word that someone means negatively and give it a positive spin, then the power the word had is gone. At the end of the book the girls start using DUFF to comment on themselves, which means the power of the word is gone. That makes me saddest about this jump from page to screen, but I understand why this change was made. As everyone gets something different out of a book and with mainstream release, especially for teens, studios want everyone to get the same thing out of the movie going experience.

Should you chose to experience The Duff,  I obviously recommend reading the book and skipping the movie. As really the only thing it's good for it watching Robbie Amell, who you can catch on The Flash on TV.

Positive Attitude on Project Runway

While catching up on some older seasons of Project Runway, I have come across a very unwelcome conclusion. The majority of the seasons feature a challenge called the "every day woman" challenge where the designers make clothes for "real woman" sometimes with unconventional fabric.  The women or models that the show brings in always feature a mixture of full figure woman and women who tend toward "model size"; sometimes the designers get to pick their model via random draw and sometimes they are randomly assigned. In the majority of the seasons a designer who receives a full figured model complains and gripes about how to make clothes for women of this size. I find this attitude to be insulting. Who are you designing for it not women?! If you aren't thinking about women who are wearing your clothes then all you're doing is making art from fabric! In season 8, 1 designer stated that they wanted to make something that his client loved and didn't utter a horrible word about the client or her figure.  While in season 10, a designer constantly made jabs at his clients size and figure, while complaining about it was unfair that he had a full figured model and others didn't.  While both contestants had the same result, bottom 2, the experience was most likely much better for the season 8 designer. I just think that that's how you should tackle challenges, with a positive attitude and being practical. Like Tim says, "Make it work." Complaining about your client isn't going to do you any favors and might get you a bad rap, but wanting to help them and handling the challenge with grace will only make the experience better. Actually arguing with your client can make you end up in the bottom 2, as it did for a season 3 contestant. This also just might be the legacy that you leave behind in reality TV and this legacy almost never goes away, so be wary of how you approach the challenge.