Potpourri

1.       I need a new name for my blog, as neither my name nor this blog can still be considered “new.” Does anyone have suggestions? My only idea so far was “Outwit, Outplay, Outblog” but I think as a group we can come up with something better.

2.       Starting on March 19^th, 2011, I am no longer a notary! This is a long-awaited day for me, and I was planning on having a party to celebrate it. But after further consideration I’ve opted against this. There’s so much to celebrate these days already that I think I’ll just throw this in with the Patrick’s Day/Bag’s birthday events. During my 4-year tenure as a representative of the state of Colorado, I’ve completed notarizations for over 200 people and made $0 doing so. I will not miss this responsibility.

3.       One of my favorite fantasy series, George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire, has turned into an HBO TV series! It’s airing on Sunday, April 17, 2011. Whether you’ve read the books or not, I recommend giving it a try. People have been describing it as “Sopranos with swords,” which I believe is a fairly accurate description. Plus, Sean Bean plays the lead, and who doesn’t like him?

4.       In other Ice & Fire news, George has officially announced the release date for his 5^th book, A Dance with Dragons. This is (supposedly) the 5^th book in a 7 book series, and is going to be his longest yet. I will quite probably start re-reading the series in preparation for the book release, but won’t start doing that until George actually announces that the book is complete.

5.       I thought I’d broken my toe on one of our cat-scratching posts this weekend. It turned a lovely deep purple & has now started making very artistic bruise patterns. However, it doesn’t hurt nearly as much as the other toes I’ve broken in the past, and so I now believe that it’s only a serious stub. Also stubbed my left baby toe on a curb in January. The toenail on that one has turned into a deep purple “nailscab.” I think it might fall off sometime in the next month. I’m very excited to see how this develops!

6.       While the toes seem to be doing okay, I caught a hard throw in softball last night right on a finger joint. Again, not broken, but the finger is now twice as large as it’s supposed to be and I can’t bend it or put any pressure on it. Hopefully it’ll feel better by next week’s game!

Bracketology: Redemption Basketball

March Madness is here, which means tournament pools are too! As this is a blog that specifically appeals to people who like to watch & bet on real-life elimination challenges, I wanted to take this opportunity to advertise for the tournament pool that I do. It fits well with this season of Survivor's theme of Redemption. Originally invented by Danny Fahey of Norwich, VT, this basketball pool format became so popular that we had to have a Pickett family spin-off to actually give ourselves a chance to win!

In our pool you don't have to pick the entire tournament ahead of time - we do it by weekend. So even if you guess ALL the wrong teams the first weekend, you still have a chance at redemption (and getting your money back) in weeks 2 and 3. 1st week you pick the winners, 2nd week you pick winners & their margin of victory, and for the 3rd week you pick winners & the final scores. It's $6 per weekend, and participating in all 3 weekends is optional.

The pool is open to any and all, whether you're related to me or not. Our very own Survivor-poolist, Sir Baggage Claim, was the overall money winner last year, and has big plans to defend his title. If you would like to get in on the action & try to take on the reigning champ, let me know! I'll send you all the info you need. Deadline to submit picks for Weekend #1 is Thursday by tip-off, so please get back to me soon!

Go Duke! To hell with Carolina!

Redemption Island: Episode 4

Poor Russell. He wanted it so bad, and was completely crushed when he lost on Redemption Island. What really bums me out though is that he did such a beautiful job of trying to ruin his team's mojo by revealing so much information. But he told Phillip & Kristina, the two people least capable of making good use of it.

I hated the challenge for this week - usually Survivor does a better job of avoiding blatant product placement, but this was a huge fail for me. I also didn't like that so much of the challenge could rest on only 2 team members. These are still supposed to be team challenges, not Boston Rob v. Rooster expos.

My absolute favorite part of this episode was their focus on Phillip's underwear. I laughed so hard at Boston Rob's comments that I had to change my team name. Phillip may not last much longer, but his underwear will be remembered for months after he's gone.

Phillip. Phillip, Phillip, Phillip. Sigh. What am I to do with you? Ben & I had an interesting discussion of this whacky fellow last night. What really makes him unique is that he's super weird, super annoying, but also very aware of the fact. He knows that everyone hates him, but he can't not be who he is. He knows his personality will almost certainly get him voted out. Which is actually really refreshing after dealing with the likes of Coach. Coach was nuts too, but he thought he was awesome. Phillip has no such delusion. He just can't help himself. So while I can't imagine being stuck with him for more than 48 hours without slapping him in the face, I'm still cheering for him. Him and his saggy-bottom panties.

The Standings
 

Team #Winning!: Moon - 41 pts
1. Boston Rob (15 pts)
2. David (13 pts)
3. Krista (13 pts)

Team Evil Crushell: Courtney - 38 pts
[1. Evil Russell (10 pts)]
2. Sarita (13 pts)
3. Julie (15 pts)

Team Cockydoodlebug: Doug/Bri - 33 pts
1. Grant (5 pts)
2. Rooster (23 pts)
3. Andrea (5 pts)

Team Fabioesque: Dachui - 32 pts
1. Mike (15 pts)
2. Matt (2 pts)
3. Stephanie (15 pts)

Team Haterz Gonna Hate: Bag - 25 pts
[1. Francesca (0 pts)]
2. Kristina (10 pts)
3. Steve (15 pts)

Team Saggy-Bottom Panties: Me - 15 pts
1. Phillip (5 pts)
2. Ashley (5 pts)
3. Natalie (5 pts)


Power Rankings

1. Team Cockydoodlebug - I still believe that this is the strongest team this season, and I'm pleased to see my graph backing me up on that! Cockydoodlebug has been making steady progress throughout the season so far, regardless of who is winning challenges.


2. Team #Winning! -  I was worried that David was going to be like Marty - always trying to show everyone else how smart he is. Right now he's turning into one of my favorite players. He's laying low, making really good observations, and keeping his options open. I'd be shocked if he didn't make the jury.



Julie, is that you?



3. Team Evil Crushell - Russell was crushed, but team Evil Crushell lives on! Courtney nabbed the two strongest women from the strongest tribe & I think she can still do well. Craggy-faced Julie is one of my favorites - she's clever & positive, and reminds me of that stone guy from the Neverending Story.

4. Team Fabioesque -  I'm so happy that we're giving the winner of Redemption Island challenges 1 point. It's such an insignificant amount that it's almost an insult, but I think that Matt would be really proud - if he knew about our pool - that he was still earning points for his team. Definitely rooting for him in the Matt v. Kristina duel next week!

5. Team Saggy-Bottom Panties - My team moved up! Woo hoo! My team didn't improve as much as my team name, but I think that should count for something. Plus, Bag's team got much worse, finally dipping into that "This team is actually worse than having Phillip" level.  

6. Team Haterz Gonna Hate - Bag's team is going down the toilet fast. While I disagree with Moon that Bag is bad at the pool (Parvati anyone?) he certainly is on a cold streak. Steve is solid though - he's older which helps him appear to not be a physical threat, but the dude is still tough. He could easily go far, especially if Purple Tribe keeps winning.

Redemption Island: Episode 3

Overall, while an entertaining episode, this week's episode only ranks 3rd on my "Reality Shows Pickett Loves" scale. 1st place goes to Face Off with their Zombie competition (dancing zombies is the ultimate reality trump card), 2nd place goes to Top Chef: All Stars for an episode where everyone did so well that the judges couldn't eliminate anyone, 3rd place is for Survivor, and 4th place goes to Top Shot, which featured an entertaining but forgetful archery competition.

I do want to give Julie major MVP points for the move she pulled against Russell in this episode. She was smart enough to fake going along with his plan so that he wouldn't try and persuade others to join him. That's an advanced move, and one that many contestants mess up. LVP award is a tie this week: Phillip definitely gets one for sitting on top of the hidden immunity idol clue & not finding it, but Stephanie also steals some of that bacon by being so obnoxious during tribal council as to practically guarantee that she's the next to be voted out of their tribe.

Ultimately I think it was a bad idea for the Purple Tribe to throw a challenge. They were not so dominant as to be able to do that. And they really underestimated the momentum swing that just happened. They gave the other tribe some serious luxuries, and a feeling of what it's like to win. Talk to the Cleveland Cavs this year, and you'll know how important that feeling is. And even if you don't care about "feelings" and "momentum" keep in mind that Yellow Tribe got a tarp! That's one of the single greatest reward items you can get. Getting a good night's sleep is more important than food, especially in a game that's so mental.


The Standings
Team Evil Crushell: Courtney - 28 pts
1. Evil Russell (10 pts)2. Sarita (8 pts)
3. Julie (10 pts)

Team Cockydoodlebug: Doug/Bri - 28 pts
1. Grant (5 pts)
2. Rooster (18 pts)
3. Andrea (5 pts)

Team #Winning!: Moon - 23 pts
1. Boston Rob (5 pts)
2. David (8 pts)
3. Krista (10 pts)

Team Fabioesque: Dachui - 21 pts
1. Mike (10 pts)
2. Matt (1 pts)
3. Stephanie (10 pts)

Team Haterz Gonna Hate: Bag - 20 pts
[1. Francesca (0 pts)]
2. Kristina (10 pts)
3. Steve (10 pts)

Team Brief(s): Me - 15 pts
1. Phillip (5 pts)
2. Ashley (5 pts)
3. Natalie (5 pts)


Power Rankings

1. Team Cockydoodlebug - Doug/Bri's team is in the rare position where all of their players are in a majority alliance. That almost never happens. They also have an immunity idol which NO ONE knows about, which gives it more power than a normal immunity idol, I think. I also like Rooster's position of being a leader of his alliance without appearing to be the leader. That's an advantage that Boston Rob doesn't have.

2. Team #Winning! - I have doubts about this team name - it looks way to much like some sort of Twitter thing. That being said, Moon's team is definitely looking solid. My only doubts are that Boston Rob is outplaying everyone too much & that his own alliance will, come merge time, try and turn against him. That won't matter much if he finds an immunity idol though. Krista may have been on the wrong end of the alliance battle, but at the same time she was the least atrocious of the 3, so she could squeak by the danger stages of the alliance crushing, and then watch while the majority alliance turns against itself.

3. Team Evil Crushell - Crushell takes a big hit with Russell going to Redemption Island as there are no hidden immunity idols to be found there! At the same time, he does have a chance to come back, and I was really impressed with Julie this week. Sarita seems pretty canny too, although she's laying low right now. Perhaps this team has more depth than I originally thought :)

4. Team Fabioesque - Fabioesque's team is starting to look sad. Matt's still in Purgatory, and Stephanie looked like a fool. Mike is still going strong, but you gotta have dregs earn points to win The Pool. Dachui needs a Matt comeback for this team to really have a chance.

5. Team Haterz Gonna Hate - Francesca is officially gone, which is really sad because I would have loved to see her go farther in the game. I rarely think this about any of the early-outers, but in this case she just got extremely unlucky. I also like Steve for his strategy, even though I disagree with throwing a challenge. At least he's trying to make moves!

6. Team Brief(s) - My team may still have 3 players, but one of them is Phillip, and the others are Boston Rob minions who appear to have no brains of their own. I'm not loving my team & have decided to cheer against them from now on. Although I will admit that I was thrilled to have a score above 0 by the end of this week!

Redemption Island

Haven't seen the episode yet. Look for a post on Friday at the earliest :).

Redemption Island: Episode 2

Episodes like this completely redeem my faith in Survivor, especially after last season's debacle. I reveled in every minute of the show, watching people outmanuever one another as if they were playing an epic chess match.

Candidates for the LVP award for this episode were Russell & Matt, but Kristina stole the prize with her huge mis-play of her idol. In contention for the MVP battle were Ralph & Boston Rob, but they both ended up losing in a tight race to the Old Spice Man, who is back on the air! He's one of the only people I can think of that will make me stop fastforwarding a show to actually watch a commercial. That's right: Old Spice Man is more powerful than DVR.

Another thing that's exciting in the Suvivor Pool game is my neat little spreadsheet, which you can now access in the right navigation pane. Check out my line graph too which will track our scores throughout the season! And now, for my Oscar-winning acceptance speech: thanks to Kelly, whose Top Chef blog came up with this idea first; to Doug, who helped me figure out how to make my spreadsheet into a Google doc; and to the Wii Play Island board game, for teaching me how much fun line graphs can be.


The Standings

Team Evil Crushell: Courtney - 30 pts
1. Evil Russell (10 pts)
2. Sarita (10 pts)
3. Julie (10 pts)

Team Cockydoodlebug: Doug/Bri - 20 pts
1. Grant (0 pts)
2. Rooster (20 pts)
3. Andrea (0 pts)

Team Fabioesque: Dachui - 20 pts
1. Mike (10 pts)
2. Matt (0 pts)
3. Stephanie (10 pts)

Team ???: Moon - 18 pts
1. Boston Rob (0 pts)
2. David (8 pts)
3. Krista (10 pts)


Team Haterz Gonna Hate: Bag - 15 pts
1. Francesca (0 pts)
2. Kristina (5 pts)
3. Steve (10 pts)

Team Brief(s): Me - 0 pts
1. Phillip (0 pts)
2. Ashley (0 pts)
3. Natalie (0 pts)


Power Rankings

1.  Team Cockydoodlebug - Doug & Bri picked Rooster for entertainment purposes, but little did we all know that they also nabbed a real gem. He's so unassuming with his accent, overalls, and man-sweater, but he's actually quite tricksy. I'm going to enjoy watching him mess with Evil Russell this season.

2. Team Fabioesque - Dachui took a hit with Matt now on RI, but he seems like a likely candidate to make it back on the show - he seems strong & smart and I like his chances. While he takes a vacation though, they still have Mike, who's probably one of the biggest threats to win the game. We'll see how it goes.

3. Team Evil Crushell - Honestly, trying to rank the top 4 teams so far is way too hard. Not enough is known about these players! Courtney is still ranked 3rd, mostly because I don't know anything about the ladies on this team. Will they be power players, coat tail riders, or possibly other loons that will keep Phillip company? Russell looks like he might be in trouble... again... but I'm not concerned yet.

4. Team ??? - I underestimated Boston Rob, though I'm happy to say I'm not the only one. Now though I think it's time to start leading his team to a win so he doesn't have to worry so much about managing his minions. Ranked 4th because Krista seems a little sketchy, David sitting out the last challenge seemed strange, and he hasn't come up with a team name yet. Although, honestly, a team name of question marks is starting to grow on me. :)

5. Team Haterz Gonna Hate - I'm starting to realize how appropriate Bag's team name is. Not only do other people hate Bag's team, but Bag will start to hate it too. I think the contestants will start to hate themselves too over time. I really liked Francesca's attitude when she arrived at RI, and I hope she keeps it up. But what I think will end up happening is that she'll become a miserable wreck who may be broken after too long in solitude, or after having to deal with Phillip again.

6. Team Brief(s) - Bag's team is in really bad shape, but he doesn't have Phillip, which means his team is still better than mine. The only saving grace for this team is that I picked Ashley, and not Andrea... I have trouble keeping the two blondes separate. On the other hand I don't think we've even seen Ashley on the show. She reminds me of Brett from Survivor Samoa. Remember that guy? Of course you don't!

Survivor Redemption Island: The Draft

Yay! It's that time of year again, when I clean the dust off this blog, and start making judgments on others based on little to no information.

In Phillip's case I think we have more than enough information (talking over people, claiming he can read people when he cleary cannot, his fuscia underwear) to determine that the man is a loon. But a really exciting loon! Maybe the next Coach? I hope he sticks around for a while, not just because he's my pick, but because I love how much he can piss off the other players.

Overall I'm super excited for this season. Last season was a HUGE let down, and I hope that this season will redeem the series. Already I think that the twists for the show & the contestants on the show are a vast improvement! Something else that's also been improved since last season is...

The Rules

Our rules get more refined every season, and this one is no exception. Because we now have so many different ways to earn/lose points, I've split the ways in which players can earn points into different categories:

Placement Points
1st Place: 45 (+15 for sweep)
2nd Place: 30
3rd Place: 20 (+10 if makes jury)
Jury: 10

Challenge Points
Win team reward challenge: 2
Win team immunity challenge: 3
Win individual reward challenge: 4
Win individual immunity challenge: 6
Invited to share reward challenge: 1
Sit out a challenge: -2

Hidden Immunity Idol Points
Find the hidden immunity idol: 10
Play hidden immunity idol (success v. fail): 10/-5
If you play hidden immunity idol unsuccessfully during the last tribal council you can play it: 0
If you don't play your immunity idol on the last day you can play it (whether necessary or not): -5
Plays a fake immunity idol: -10
Creator of fake immunity idol, if played: 5

Redemption Island Points
Win battle on Redemption Island: 1
Get back on the tribe from Redemption Island: 3
Miscellaneous Points
Buy bad item at auction/don't buy an item at auction: -2
Buy good item at auction: 2
Fan Favorite: 5
Quitters: -10


The Picks

Team Evil Crushell: Courtney - 15 pts
1. Evil Russell (5 pts)
2. Sarita (5 pts)
3. Julie (5 pts)

Team Haterz Gonna Hate: Bag - 15 pts

1. Francesca (0 pts) (on Redemption Island)
2. Kristina (10 pts)
3. Steve (5 pts)


Team ??: Moon - 10 pts
1. Boston Rob (0 pts)
2. David (5 pts)
3. Krista (5 pts)

Team Fabioesque: Dachui - 10 pts
1. Mike (5 pts)
2. Matt (0 pts)
3. Stephanie (5 pts)

Team ??: Doug/Bri - 5 pts
1. Grant (0 pts)
2. Rooster (5 pts)
3. Andrea (0 pts)

Team Brief(s): Me - 0 pts
1. Phillip (0 pts)
2. Ashley (0 pts)
3. Natalie (0 pts)


Power Rankings

Other Peoples' Power Rankings


I took a poll before watching the first episode to see who everyone thought had the strongest and weakest teams. Although varied and biased (some people chose themselves, others thought they couldn't choose themselves, some people voted Moon's as the worst for tradition, etc.) the general feel was that Dachui had the best team, and Courtney had the worst. After the first episode, though, I think everyone agrees that Bag & I are the bottom-dwellers this season.

The Real Power Rankings =)

1. Team Fabioesque - Dachui is coming on strong after their first win. No Superbowl Slump for them! I like they're team because it's really dynamic. They have Mike (the #1 pick overall), who seemed both determined and capable of bringing down Evil Russell. They have Stephanie, who is in Evil Russell's alliance & will likely get far if Evil Russell wins the war of Mike v. Russ.

2. Team Moon - I really like Moon's team. Again, it has a nice diversity in its players, and I don't think losing any 1 of these people would ruin his chances of winning, which is really huge. Boston Rob is a canny player, and I think he'll do really well, despite the disadvantage of being an easy target for the other players.

3. Team Evil Crushell - Courtney bet it all on Evil Russell, and if you're going to gamble with any of these players, he's the best one to do it with. All her players are on Russell's team, and if Russell does well I think Courtney will start to take a huge lead over the rest of us. It all depends on him though, and things could go downhill really fast.

4. Team Doug/Bri - I think Grant could be a contender, but will his strength work against him? He could easily be eliminated shortly after the merge just for his size alone. Rooster seems like a nice guy, but I honestly don't see him lasting too long. Really, most of Doug/Bri's team is still unknown, so we'll just have to wait and see!

5. Team Haterz Gonna Hate - Bag's team is suffering from association with my team. On the plus side, while one of his players was voted out this week, she didn't REALLY get voted out. Francesca has a chance to come back. (If she does I hope they give her immunity or something for the first week back, otherwise I'm afraid they'll just send her right back to the Island.) And I think Francesca is crafty enough that she might do well if she's allowed back in. Kristina is pretty screwed, but I love that she held on to her immunity idol. Nice move.

6. Team Brief(s) - My team is a laughingstock, and I'm not going to kid myself about it: I don't have a chance this season. But I'm happy to serve as the comic relief for a season, especially one that looks to be quite entertaining! I went into this season with a very specific game plan: get Evil Russ if I could, but not anyone else from his tribe. Russell has a knack for taking out his own, and I thought it was in my best interest to avoid him if possible. So far this plan looks dumb. As does choosing Phillip in the first round.