spugbrap’s blog

I’m not going to go into detail about last night’s episode. Just going to post a few observations and make fun of a couple people. :)

What was up with Simon having his hand up by his head like 1 moose antler all night? Lacey and I kept seeing it and cracking up, and both kept thinking “Nanu, nanu”. We realize that the hand sign was different, seeing Simon Cowell doing that over and over reminded us of Robin Williams’ quirky behavior on Mork and Mindy.

Next we come to the boy that Jena and Lacey have been referring to as “Vampire Boy” all season: Jason Yeager. I didn’t understand why, so Lacey tried to show me last night. She said he had very pointy canine teeth, but I kept watching and could not see what she was talking about–until she paused it at just the right time:

Don’t see the sharp, pointy fang? How about a closeup?

I was sold at this point. That tooth is a bit pointier and sharper than normal, and the one next to it (towards the back) looks a bit fang-like as well. But Lacey is good with the remote. Real good. She managed to pause it at just the right time again, a minute or so later, so we could check out the other side of his mouth:

…and another closeup, if you’re not convinced:

Okay, enough about Vampire Boy. If I remember correctly, his performance was “just aiight for me, dawg.” Most of them have been that way, so far this season, and last night was no different.

Our next victim is the boy who Lacey and Jena have nicknamed “Man Cuddy” (or something like that), after Lisa Cuddy on House, M.D. (one of our favorite TV shows). I have to agree, there is some resemblance.

I was going to link to a picture of Cuddy to prove this point, but when I looked at their pictures side-by-side I didn’t really see it. But from memory, if you’re a fan of House, you may see a younger, more masculine version of Cuddy in the following 4 pics of Jason Castro:

Lacey thinks Cuddy’s much cuter as a guy. She liked his performance last night, too. I was fine with it, but not blown away.

The kid at the end, though (David Archuleta)–the one who sang John Lennon’s Imagine–he was definitely the best of the night and maybe even the season so far. If I wasn’t confident that he’ll get a TON of votes, I would have voted for him (haven’t voted yet this season, probably won’t for a while still).

First of all, we were confused as to how it was a “Grand Finale”, when last week they had the top 4 men and 4 women listed as contenders to win the competition. Then, suddenly they’ve narrowed it down to 2 men and 2 women to compete in what was basically just a regular episode (no new events or anything, just more of the same) with lots of extra flash backs to earlier footage, and extra warm and fuzzy stuff like, “This is my family in my small home town. Look how everyone in the town is loving and supporting me! Look how cute my kids are! I want to win for my dead family member or the kids that look up to me as a role model!”. Fluffy.

Anyways, here are my notes from the American Gladiators 2008 Grand Finale episode from February 18. Like last time, this is not a very polished blog entry, just a bunch of notes.
I wish they would stop advertising Knight Rider *constantly*. Lacey and I were looking forward to watching that, but unfortunately didn’t record it. Luckily, they’re showing it again next week, so the Tivo’s set to record it then. We were both surprised to see that it’s a movie, though. When they first advertised it, during one of the early American Gladiators episodes, we thought it was going to be a series.

Women contenders: Monica and Shanay
Shanay should have been disqualified for kneeling down the whole time in Joust. She did that last time as well. Not fair.
Evan vs Titan in Joust: 2 hits and Evan was in the water.
Alex vs Titan in Joust: holy crap, Hulk said there’s a huge size difference up there and he’s not kidding! Seeing them next to each other it’s like a toddler next to his father.
Titan kneeled down both times, and he had some serious pushing power behind his push.
Pyramid: announcer said “Both contenders were completely dominated […] Monica spent more time on her back than on her feet”
Toa: “My volcano, my volcano!”
Mayhem: “Now what, I’m king tut, yeah!”
The Wall:
Monica started out quick, and made it up for 10, despite some resistance from Siren near the top.
Shanay kept up pretty well, and ended up getting 5 points for hanging on up near the top when Venom was pulling on her foot
Evan: This guy is like a spider monkey. Ridiculously fast climber. 10 points, well deserved.
Militia tried to pull Alex down but couldn’t. pulled something off his shoe though.
Alex made it up for 5 points.
Ugh, there’s the Subway Replay. I kept wondering when that was coming. They kept using the words “Fueled up” throughout the episode, so I kept expecting the annoying “Fueled up and powered on by Subway” thing.
Evan has a 19 point lead over Alex going into the Eliminator. 9.5 second head start. Evan had the fastest time in Eliminator all season so far, so that 9.5 seconds might seal the deal for him.
announcer: “Both these contenders have performed beautifully throughout this competition” [hmm. you mean all TWO episodes??]
Evan breaks his previous Eliminator record time.. 1:19ish? Something like that.
Alex backflipped off the platform onto the mats at the end. We were kinda rooting for him because he’s a school teacher setting a good example for students, and trying to earn money for the wrestling team he coaches. Also because he’s kinda goofy, and that’s endearing. :)
Sounded like he said “I’d like to thank everyone for turning me on” but he said “cheering me on”.
After fast forwarding through the commercials, the first sentence I heard sounded like “penis was all hard” but really it said “Venus was all heart” or something.
Monica’s 3.5 second lead going into the Eliminator barely got her up the first wall.
Did Shanay belly flop into the flaming pool? definitely made a long splash and took longer than she should have to
30 foot cargo net climb - Shanay caught up.
Both fell off hand bike right away–good plan.
Monica barely made it to the top of the Travelator, but she did. We were glad–she was our pick for the women in this finale.
Her husband jumped down onto her when she was laying on the mats after the Eliminator. her daughters hopped on too.

So, Evan and Monica each won $100,000, a Toyota Sequoia, and they will join the ranks of the gladiators next season.
Have you seen how HUGE and muscular the existing team of gladiators is? These two had better start seriously hitting the HGH gym if they’re going to be gladiators next season!

Lacey pointed out that they should definitely have Evan do the rock wall, though. The contenders won’t stand a chance!

I used to occasionally watch American Gladiators when I was a kid, but I think I have a greater appreciation for it as an adult. Lacey used to watch it, as well, and we’ve both been looking forward to the new series, which premiered on NBC tonight. Here are some notes I took, while watching it. Some are my own comments, some are Lacey’s, but they are all things we discussed and both agreed with:

• Holy crap, Hulk Hogan’s still ripped at his age. Amazing!
  • I saw him in a WWE match, a few years ago (the one and only one I’ve ever actually seen live), and remember feeling a sorry for him because it seemed like his age was showing. I don’t remember how he actually did, that night, but I do remember thinking it was cool to actually see him. I hadn’t seen or heard about him for probably a decade before that night (save a few Slim Jim commercials back in the 90’s, maybe), and he was the only wrestler I saw, that night, who I remembered from when I was young.
  • Okay, I guess I should qualify that “ripped” statement, a little bit. His arms are HUGE with well-toned muscle. I said to Lacey, “Wow, I’d suspect steroids or something, but he’s been at this way too long to still maintain that kind of muscle, without having major noticeable side effects, so I don’t think drugs are involved.” She pointed out that he has kids, which apparently rules out steroid use. I don’t know much about that stuff, so I’ll take her word on that.
  • However, along with the big, muscular arms, he’s also got some pretty sizable man boobs. Check out this photo I took of a paused TV scene with him standing next to his co-host, Laila Ali. Who’s got the bigger breasts?
  • We do like Hulk Hogan as a host on this show. He’s still a bad ass after all these years, and he smiles enough that he doesn’t come off as taking himself TOO seriously. :)
• Injured contestant (Jessie): Her replacement (Venus) should have gotten to do the Power Ball event herself, instead of inheriting the other girl’s measly 2 points. Oh well.
• Injured gladiator: The firefighter should have had to do the Hang Tough event over again, since the gladiator hurt himself and didn’t put up any fight. If anyone needed a free ride through that event, it was the “Skater Dad”.
• Gladiator: Wolf: Lacey said he looks like James Hetfield (Metallica’s lead singer) on steroids. I watched for the next time they showed him, and she was right! His howl isn’t even in tune, just like James Hetfield’s “singing” [crooning] (disclaimer: OLD Metallica still KICKS ASS!)
• Gladiator: Toa: His battle cry totally reminded me of Timmy from South Park.
• Gladiator: Fury: That’s not a female gladiator, it’s a man, baby! See for yourself:

That’s it for tonight. We enjoyed watching it, although we both like Ninja Warrior better.

When searching for the name of the injured gladiator (still didn’t find it.. maybe Militia), I ran across a blog entry which, along with some of the comments on it, pretty much said everything I just said. :) Honestly, I did take these notes during the show, though, but I piddled around for a while and didn’t post it as quickly. It was kinda cool to see that other people made some of the exact same pop culture comparisons that we did. I think we might be the first to report on the man-boobs, though! hehe

This post is kind of a stream-of-consciousness, with very little editing. I usually put a lot of effort into my writing, and re-read things over and over, editing the hell out of it. This is why I sometimes go so long without posting anything — because I over-analyze it and make it a lot more work than it, perhaps, needs to be. I also tend to avoid posting too much about my guilty pleasure TV shows. I also went a bit link-happy, but that’s mainly for people who don’t watch the show, if they care to see who/what the hell I’m talking about.

Last night, all of the 10 finalists had to dance the same solo (choreographed by Wade Robson). Hearing that same song, over and over, was very obnoxious. If I liked that song at all before (don’t think so), I am sick of it now. It’s almost as if they read what I said last week, and took it to a whole new level. I’d like to say that it backfired, because I am totally sick of that song. But, I must confess, that damn song has been going through my head all day. Ugh! Isn’t that always how it works, though? The songs that get stuck in your head the most are the ones you dislike, and you want to stop replaying them in your head (but you can’t).

I think the judges were excessively harsh on Dominic. After he and Jaimie danced, all 3 judges went to town, ragging on him. I can definitely see where they were coming from, as he didn’t do so great in that routine, but all 3 judges basically threw him under the bus. Then, when they critiqued his solo (which was actually my favorite, out of all of them), they drove that bus right on over him, and backed up over him again. He’s toast. There must be something more behind the scenes, for them to all want him gone so badly. They didn’t treat ANY of the other dancers anywhere near that harshly.

I liked Sara’s solo second best, for the same reason I liked Dominic’s. They both showed a little of their b-boy/b-girl style, with all of the moves being very short and quick (the words stacatto and violent also come to mind). The judges had a little bit of negativity to say about her solo, which made it look slightly less like they were just out to get Dominic. But really, they were way too light on her, compared to him, so I think they just had it in for him.

I was not as impressed with Lacey (Schwimmer) last night, as I have been on every other performance show. But, I still enjoyed watching her, and think she’ll be there for at least a few more weeks, if she doesn’t win the whole thing. Before Hok got sent home last week (which I’m bummed about!), he and Lacey were my favorites to make it to the last round of the finals.

I like Pasha, and I’ve got a lot of respect for him, especially after hearing about how he stayed with Jessi in the hospital, and danced with the scary substitute lady (Speaking of which, my Lacey pointed out that he didn’t do [m]any of the lifts with her, because she’s rather heavy. Also, that substitute lady acted all pretentious and didn’t look like she was trying at all.. It didn’t look good. But when he danced with Jessie the next night, they did an amazing job, and it was actually a hot/sexy performance). Last night, I thought he did great in the hip-hop routine with Lauren, but his solo was not so good. He was out of his element, though, as he’s a ballroom guy, and that was a stupid contemporary routine (I think).

Well, I’ll tune in tonight, and expect to see Dominic go home. Not sure which girl will go, but I don’t have too much of an opinion on that right now.