Big Brother 11- Week 3

Like I said last week, they are actually playing the game this season. It was definitely in Jessie's best interest to boot DJ Casey out of the house. He's a strong competitor and he was aligned with the other side of the house. Why would he get rid of Ronnie, when it's not likely that The Dork would win another HoH. At this point Ronnie has no allies and Jessie should be able to use him as he wishes.

It still amazes me that people can get offended and our surprised when they are put on the block. Casey said that he 'didn't know what he did to get in that spot.' Case, it's Big Brother. You have to expect that you can go up at any time. Maybe if you weren't 6 foot 5 and trying at competitions you wouldn't have such a target on you. Did you watch Dan blow competitions last year? That's how it's done.

Two pieces of big news from Julie Chen this week...

One: the cliques are over (They need to get a little sneakier with these announcements. When Julie brought them into the living room, three people said 'cliques are done.') With no more cliques I see Jessie and Natalie still sticking together, but that's about it. I wouldn't be surprised to see Russell jump ship, and who knows what the Michelles and Chimas of the world will do now.

Two: special power. America will vote on one housemate to receive a special power. This housemate can switch the two nominees for two that he/she wants at any moment (including right before the eviction vote). He/she has this power for the next two weeks and can use it for either eviction. I am going to add a ten point bonus for whoever America picks to have this power.

Fantasy results



1st. The Babysharks (The Kid)
Russell (Athletes)- 4
Ronnie (Brains)- 4
Kevin (Off-beats)- Lux (5), 4= 9
Week 2= 17
Total= 64








2nd. Working Title: Plate Boys (Lar)
Jeff (Athletes)- 4
Lydia (Off-beats)- 4
Michelle (Brains)- Nom (-5), PoV (15), 4= 14
Week 2= 22
Total= 41









3rd. Working Title: Pizza Eaters (Mags)
Casey (Off-beats)- Nom (-5), Votes ((-21)= -26
Jordan (Populars)- Lux (5), Nom (-5), Votes (-3), 4= 1
Natalie (Athletes)- 4
Week 2= -21
Total= -9










4th. Gaydon's Misery (Jaydon)
Laura (Populars)
Braden (Populars)
Chima (Brains)- 4
Week 2= 4
Total= -59

Top Movies- 90s vs. 00s

With a couple of the Sports Guy's recent podcasts touching on the topic of movie of the decade, it got me thinking a bit. One of the points made was that the 00s didn't have as many great/iconic movies as the 90s. At first I thought, "isn't it too early to grade the 00s since we haven't had enough time to reflect on the films?" I then went ahead and took a look at our trusty Imdb Top 250.

These are the movies from the 90s in the imdb top 50

1. Shawshank Redemption
5. Pulp Fiction
6. Schindler's List
15. Goodfellas
20. Fight Club
22. Usual Suspects
24. Silence of the Lambs
27. The Matrix
32. Se7en
35. Leon
37. American Beauty
39. American History X
42. Forrest Gump

...pretty unbelievable list

And here are the movies from the 00s in the top 50.

7. The Dark Knight
13. LotR- Return of the King
17. City of God
21. LotR- Fellowship of the Ring
25. Up
29. Memento
33. LotR- Two Towers
43. Wall-E
45. Amelie

...that is a pretty pathetic list. Three out of the nine are Lord of the Rings. Not that Return of the King wasn't great, but the first two? Come on. Two Pixars that are not in the same realm as Toy Story and Monsters Inc.

Either there is a flaw in the imdb system, or the 90s dominated the 00s in movies.

Big Brother 11- Week 2

Why does Julie Chen continue to play up Ronnie like he's some big mastermind in the game? He is easily the worst Big Brother player I have ever seen. At least Brian of last season had a chance of keeping all of his early alliances on the down low. Ronnie basically shouted from the balcony that he was playing both sides and everyone (except for Laura) couldn't figure it out for the longest time.

Jordan, the waitress from North Carolina, doesn't know what it means when someone says it's "a quarter to seven." Even after Jeff tried explaining it to her, she couldn't understand. She knows that there are four quarters in an hour. She knows there are 60 minutes in an hour. But when asked how many minutes are in a quarter of an hour she says 25!!! How dumb do you have to be to get on this show?

It seems to me that Jessie has definitely learned a few things in watching himself destroy his chances last season. He is much quieter so far in the house this year. I guess it takes a whole season for some people to realize that freaking out at people is a good way to get an early boot.

Fantasy results



1st. The Babysharks (The Kid)
Russell (Athletes)- 2
Ronnie (Brains)- HoH (12), 2= 14
Kevin (Off-beats)- 2
Week 2= 18
Total= 47








2nd. Working Title: Plate Boys (Lar)
Jeff (Athletes)-
Nom (-5), PoV (15), 2= 12
Lydia (Off-beats)- 2
Michelle (Brains)- 2
Week 2= 16
Total= 19









3rd. Working Title: Pizza Eaters (Mags)
Casey (Off-beats)- Luxury (5), 2= 7
Jordan (Populars)-
Nom (-5), Votes (-3), 2= -6
Natalie (Athletes)- 2
Week 2= 3
Total= 12










4th. Gaydon's Misery (Jaydon)
Laura (Populars)-
Nom (-5), Votes (-24)= -29
Braden (Populars)
Chima (Brains)- Lux (5), 2= 7
Week 2= -22
Total= -63

Florida Trip- Worker Voting

47. Kamran (Steward)- 225

46. Wendy's Jerk- 224

T44. Lifeguard Ryan- 217

T44. Marylin's Security Guard- 217

43. V Jungle Cruise Jerk- 215

42. RnRC No Video- 206

41. Jaws Carolyn- 183

40. Concierge Alex- 176

39. Girl Muggsy- 173

38. MGM Opener Danny- 167

37. Andi (MGM Greeter)- 164

36. Mummy Jacob- 160

35. Lion Guy- 159

34. Warthog Guy- 157

33. Lisa Renee (MGM Greeter)- 151

32. Y&B Ike- 146

31. Idol Courtney- 141

30. Fat Parade Worker- 139

29. The Gift- 138

28. Universal Sue- 132

27. Ollie (Idol)- 127

T25. Universal Herk- 117

T25. Stewardess Goddess- 117

24. Lifeguard Sam- 112

23. Drop the Towels Guy- 107

22. Margaritaville Jesse- 106

21. Sonic Nicky- 101

20. Black Parade Worker- 100

19. ESPN Riley- 99

18. ESPN Joe- 93

17. Princess (Lion King)- 92

16. Idol Mark- 91

T14. Shereen (Stop short)- 88

T14. Jimmy Braswell- 88--(above)

13. Daisy (Cuttin' it close)- 77

12. Zebra Goddess- 75

11. Chantelle (T Bahama)- 72

10. Idol Sean- 71--(below)

9. Boardwalk Bartender- 70

8. Y&B Bartender- 68

7. Lauren- 63

6. Marylin Monroe- 61

5. Angela- 49

4. Janette- 41

3. Raney- 14

T1. Naomi- 9

T1. Kurt- 9

Individual Votes are Here

Florida Trip- Attraction Voting

38. Lazy River Ride (172)

37. Ellen's Energy Adventure (163)

T35. Jaws (158)

T35. Star Tours (158)

34. Runoff Rapids (154)

33. ET Adventure (151)

32. Dudley Do-Right (146)

31. Living with the Land (143)

30. Men In Black (134)

29. Test Track (125)

28. Toboggan Racers (124)

27. Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor (122)

26. Kilimanjaro Safari (121)

25. Jurassic Park (120)

24. T23D (118)

23. Double Dipper (108)

T20. Summit Plummet (104)
--the scary walk up to the top wasn't worth the three second thrill down to the bottom

T20. Incredible Hulk (104)

T20. Pirates of the Caribbean (104)

19. Tower of Terror (102)
--It's crazy how much our antics on a ride can move it so far up or in this case, down.

18. Enchanted Tiki Room (95)

T16. Shrek 4D (92)
--Way too long of a pre-show. Thanks, we didn't need an entire recap of Shrek 1.

T16. Rock 'n Roller Coaster (92)

15. Buzz Lightyear (91)
--50% chance that you're gun or cart will be broken. If working perfectly, much higher.

T13. Dinosaur (85)

T13. Spider-Man (85)
--As I've said before, great ride but no Dar Kastle. And no room for antics.

12. Dueling Dragons (77)
--One of the best coasters out there mainly because of the thrill of smashing into the other dragon.

11. Toy Story Mania (74)
--Awesome precision with the shooters and the 3D effects are great. Unlike JJ, I love that I could win by shooting as fast as I can.

10. Soarin' (60)
--If not for Jonny skipping Epcot, Soarin' would have easily finished top five.

9. Virtual Jungle Cruise (58)
--Highly dependent on antics, getting kicked off in 45 seconds boosted VJC into the top ten.

8. Mummy Returns (51)
--For my first run, I was impressed with the story, but it needed to be a minute or so longer.

7. Teamboat Springs (48)
--It's crazy how many of these top attractions are based solely on antics. Pretending to sleep at the bottom of this will never get old.

6. Festival of the Lion King (41)
--I don't think anyone has enjoyed the Festival more than the lady sitting to my right. And she definitely made it a better experience for everyone in our section.

5. The Simpsons (35)
--Sort of a cross between the old Back to the Future and Spider-Man, the Simpsons Ride had great motion, a cool story, and a gigantic screen that really made you feel like you were in Springfield.

4. Expedition Everest (33)
--Great theming, great coaster. Enough said.

3. Mickey's PhilharMagic (32)
--Can't beat this nostalgic show through 90s Disney classics. Best 3D show out there.

2. Great Movie Ride (20)
--Wow does this depend on your tour guide and the others around you. This year everyone was cracking up at us while we were ducking down to not get shot by the gangsters and giving Muggsy our wallets and phones when she asked for them.

1. American Idol Experience (6)
--Right out of the box. Idol takes over where Millionaire left off. It's sad that no one in our group can sing, because if one of us could go on stage this attraction may never be topped. Nothing like getting your antics recognized and complimented on by the host and judges of the show.Individual Votes Are Here

Big Brother 11- Week 1

I didn't have high hopes coming into the season because the cast of characters looked terrible. That being said this has been a fantastic first week. The most hostile first week of the three seasons that I've seen. Casey is the only one out of the thirteen players that has stayed out of hot water. In the recent past the first week saw a few people blowing up to mark their territory and a good amount of people staying in the background so that they don't get evicted early. More than half of the house has already gotten into a huge, blown out of proportion fight and it has all been great television.

A couple of reasons this may have occurred. 1) this group is just more hostile than any other. 2) The house was separated into high school cliques and this most likely agitated some of the individuals. I personally don't like the clique idea, but at this point in its run, it's a good call for Big Brother to keep shaking up the structure. That way it stays fresh, unlike survivor. Or 3) Jessie from season 10 has returned and causing a raucous. If most of the players in the house were anything like me a year ago, they hated Jessie. He was obnoxious (not in a good way) and really dumb. He must have not watched last season back because would have realized it was a bad idea to get his face out there again.

Another thing that gives me high hopes about the season is that in the first week there was already a PoV used and a 6 to 5 vote! The past two seasons the house guests would always be like "we'll just vote for who the head of household wants to evict because we're afraid to make any moves" for the first four to five weeks. This group isn't messing around, they're all going after each other and it's sure to get juicy.

I would have really liked to have seen Chima go home because she was bringing nothing to the table for me and I'm sad that Braden left. I enjoyed his outgoing, ho hum attitude in the house. I fear for my team of Russell and Ronnie. Russell is going nuts early and Ronnie is trying to make so many sneaky moves and is really bad at it.

Fantasy results



1st. The Babysharks (The Kid)
Russell (Athletes)- HoH (6), PoV (15), 1=22
Ronnie (Brains)- 1
Kevin (Off-beats)- Team (5), 1=6
Total= 29









2nd. Working Title: Pizza Eaters (Mags)
Casey (Off-beats)- Team (5), 1
Jordan (Populars)- 1
Natalie (Athletes)- HoH (6), 1= 7
Total= 9









3rd. Working Title: Plate Boys (Lar)
Jeff (Athletes)- 1
Lydia (Off-beats)- Team (5), Nom (-5), 1= 1
Michelle (Brains)- 1
Total= 3










4th. Gaydon's Misery (Jaydon)
Laura (Populars)- 1
Braden (Populars)-Nom (-5), Votes (-18)= -23
Chima (Brains)- Nom (-5), Votes (-15), 1= -19
Total= -41

Florida Trip- Park Voting

8. Downtown Disney (34 points)
--Ok so we only went to DisneyQuest for less than an hour, but getting kicked out of Virtual Jungle Cruise after 45 seconds was classic enough to get a 3rd place vote from Bonz.

7. Blizzard Beach (33 points)
--Blizzard Beach just edged out Downtown Disney even though we had one of the best Teamboat Springs runs in a while. Nothing like jumping around in the raft during the slide and then pretending to sleep at the end. The Kid also made his first run down Summit Plummet and it was not all it's cracked up to be.

6. Islands of Adventure (29 points)
--The rides at IoA just don't stand the test of time like Disney does. The long walk through the queue of Dueling Dragons was tough to take and Spider Man was (as JJ and I said all along) not as good as Busch Gardens' DarKastle.

5. Universal Studios (27 points)
--JJ was the only one who had been to Universal in a long time, so I was happy to have a bunch of new things on my plate. The atmosphere still couldn't hold a candle to any of the Disneys but between Mummy, Simpsons and Shrek it was a good big three.

4. Animal Kingdom (25 points)
--Maybe the best top four (everest, dinosaur, festival, safari) of any of the parks. Hit Everest twice and Festival was fantastic this year (mostly thank to Lion King Enthusiast sitting next to me during the show. She was going nuts through the entire thing).

3. Epcot (15 points)
--How did Epcot make it this high? Jonny didn't even go. Soarin' is great and the ambiance is always nice, but Test Track and Living with the Land as your two and three? Interesting.

2. Magic Kingdom (11 points)
--Ok so we didn't get on a lot of the big guns this year (splash, thunder, jungle), but it didn't matter because the Brazilians made up for it. Can't get much better than foreigners thinking the Bonz is a celebrity and demanding pictures with him for a good 15 minutes straight.

1. Hollywood Studios (6 points)
--Well it does get better and it's the one-two punch of American Idol and Great Movie Ride. When Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Roller Coaster are your fourth and fifth best rides, you got something going on.

Individual Votes Here at Google Docs

Florida Trip- Food Voting

The Park Guys made their way back to Florida for the fourth time this July. It was the five year anniversary of the first ever Forcella family trip with friends in tow. Unlike year one, there was no Case the Base and no Whitey...but The Bonz was still there kicking around, and Jon the Bon made it for his second trip with the Park Guys.

As always, the trip was capped off by The Kid's special...voting. What started out as me bugging my family members to vote on what theme park attractions were the best, has blossomed into something the entire group looks forward to and has spread to restaurants, workers, guests and superlatives. I'll be posting the results here and recapping some of the events of the trip along the way.

Food Voting

T13. Yacht and Beach Club Bar (55 points)
--Some pretty disgusting, greasy burgers at this bar. It didn't help that it started to rain heavily immediately after we finished eating.

T13. Starlight Cafe (55 points)
--Ttime hopes that this was the best chicken sandwich Jonny ever had. Although Ttime also had some fries here, it didn't stop him from jumping down Jon the Bon's throat after we lost some major time at the Magic Kingdom.

12. Wendy's (54 points)
--This was the Ttime and JJ show. After the Wendy's Jerk gave JJ change for a $10 when he ued a $20, Jayj objected early but then let it go. Ttime came to the rescue and was clever enough to get the money back from the manager.

11. Boardwalk to Go (52 points)
--Always a good late night snack of chicken sandwiches, fries or burgers when we would get back from the parks and nothing else was open. Boardwalk to Go never had any problems so it beat out the bottom three.

10. Funnel Cake Stand (50 points)
--While we were at Epcot we were supposed to be enjoying 52nd Street (Billy Joel cover band) and complaining that they only sang 80s doo wop Joel, my camera broke and I was stuck trying to fix it. Meanwhile The Bonz got a funnel cake and JJ scarfed down some fried ice cream and I was very jealous.

9. Old Port Royale (48 points)
--Why am I the only one who still enjoys the Caribbean Food Court? So much selection, a ton of ease, and great atmosphere.

8. Pizza Planet (44 points)
--Not nearly as good as the Pizza Planet in Toy Story, but solid.

7. Beaches & Cream (33 points)
--Thank you Twitter...I got an tweet that said Beaches & Cream, the soda shop at Yacht and Beach Club will now be serving breakfast. Pancakes were a perfect choice for our last day's breakfast.

6. Sonic (30 points)
--A southern classic, Sonic is always a great experience if only because of the roller skating waitresses.

5. Domino's (29 points)
--How did this beat out Sonic and B&C? I can get Domino's anywhere, when I'm in Florida I want something different. To be fair it was the cheapest thing we ate all week.

4. Waffle House (28 points)
--I wouldn't eat my grits anywhere else. Well I don't eat grits, but if I did, it would be at Waffle House. Seriously though...Waffle House hashbrowns, I love you.

3. Earl of Sandwich (27 points)
--Surprise bronze medalist. I know my meatball sandwich was fantastic, but what was it that got JJ and Ttime to vote it so high? Maybe they enjoy not eating...or maybe JJ likes to argue that a chicken sandwich isn't a sandwich.

2. ESPN Club (11 points)
--Can't beat the ESPN Club at 6:00 PM when the live show is on.
ESPN Riley: "Where you guys form?"
Park Guys: "Baltimore."
ESPN Riley: "You all Ravens fans?"
JJ: "Nope, Raiders."
ESPN Riley: "Why are you Raiders fans in Baltimore?"
JJ: "Two words...Bo...Jackson."
ESPN Riley: "Haha, I like this group. Keep a microphone in this corner."

1. Margaritaville (9 points)
--Jimmy tunes and Cheesburgers in Paradise. It doesn't get much better than that. The food was great and Jesse the waitor brough Jon the bon his food out first. What more can you ask for?

Full individual voting can be found here thanks to google docs.

Fantasy Big Brother Rules and Teams

It's been a long hiatus, but what can you expect when The Kid is in the great state of Maine hanging out with JJ every second of the day? There is no time for blogging, too many activities to do. Just got back from Florida and am now back at work. Many Florida related blog posts are to come but with Big Brother 11 getting under way last Thursday it is about time to get on with the first ever Bro Out Fantasy Big Brother League.

Because of all the success of the Fantasy Survivor League, Fantasy Big Bro promises some great action. There were 12 contestants that the viewers knew about heading into the first episode, with one mystery contestant on the horizon. For our four player league we each get three players. I hope the fact that the mystery contestant, now known to be last season's body builder Jessie, is in play won't hurt the game that much.

Scoring is very similar to Survivor with each player receiving points for making it through a week and bonuses for winning competitions. Minus points will be awarded for being nominated for eviction and extra deductions per vote cast against them.

Points per week of advancement: 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29, 37, 46, 56, 67, 79, 92
Power of Veto: 15 points
Head of Household: 12 points
Other individual challenges: 10 points
Team challenges: 5 points
Nominated for eviction: -5 points
Votes for eviction: -3 points
Back stab: 20 points
Cut a deal mid competition: -10



The Babysharks (The Kid)
Russell (Athletes)
Ronnie (Brains)
Kevin (Off-beats)










Working Title: Plate Boys (Lar)
Jeff (Athletes)
Lydia (Off-beats)
Michelle (Brains)










Working Title: Pizza Eaters (Mags)
Casey (Off-beats)
Jordan (Populars)
Natalie (Athletes)











Gaydon's Misery (Jaydon)
Laura (Populars)
Braden (Populars)
Chima (Brains)

Double Feach

So last night The Bonz, JJ, The Neon Kid and I pulled off the old double feach. For those of you who don't like to cheat the system, that is going to a movie and then strolling down the hall to another. Like most people, I don't enjoy paying $9 for a movie, especially when it's not fantastic (like the four that I have now seen this summer). First on tap was Land of the Lost, which was followed by Public Enemies (note: I would switch this order if I had to do it again).

Land of the Lost
I have to stop thinking that Skip Bayless has great ideas about what a good movie is because I went into LoL with semi higher expectations because he tweeted that it was good. Don't get me wrong, he claims that Anchorman is the best comedy of all time, so I guess he kind of knows what he's talking about.

I came away from Land of the Lost pleased with the comedic performances of Will Ferrell and Danny McBride, but disappointed with the movie as a whole. This is the big difference, for me, between The Boreover and Land of the Lost. I would take a movie like LoL, that is low budget, ridiculously stupid, but has extremely funny people in it over a high budget movie that deals with a lifelike situation that only has one guy that is semi-funny.

I haven't seen much of the original show, but I'm assuming the crazy fake looking aliens was a nice omage to the show. Kenny Powers was funny throughout, my favorite being when he would wonder why the other two weren't freaking out at the dinosaurs and other crazy things that were happening. The girl was reasonable and Jorma had his moments.

Ferrell had some great one-liners...

[as they hang by vines in a cave looking down at their dooms]
"Fortunately I have been in this exact situation three times before,"

[after throwing a temper tantrum he walks up to the others playing a banjo]
"Is there room around that camp fire for a jerk like me?"

My most laugh out loud moment was when Ferrell, Kenny Powers and Monkey Jorma were stoned on sweet nectar and eating gigantic crab legs. Kenny asked the other two how much money it would take to get them to make out. What ensues is comedy gold.

Public Enemies
I went into Public Enemies with high expectations for many reasons. Gangster movies can be sweet, Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, my boy Christian Bale was the detective, and was getting good reviews. I have to say I was disappointed.

It moved too slowly for me, but that could have been enhanced by it being my second movie of the night. Depp was great, but not as sweet as I thought he would be. Christian was again given a bland character that gave him no room to breathe. Why can't he be Alfred Borden or Jack Kelly in every movie?

Here's the big problem I had. I am all for love stories, but I couldn't get into this one at all. Maybe it just wasn't believable for me, but I couldn't feel anything for Dillinger and his girl throughout the film. I wish I could have been sad at the end, for as we all know Dillinger dies, but I didn't care because if he actually loved this chick he would've stopped robbing banks and gone away a long time ago.

I know it was based on a true story, but it was too standard and obvious to me. He robs banks, hides out, robs more banks, gets caught and dies....blah blah blah. Seen it many times before. What makes it better/different? The beginning was interesting, as we see Dillinger doing his thing, but then it runs kinda old through the middle. Things definitely picked up with during the cabin shootout scene and it was solid from there to the end, but overall not enough to pick me up.

Note to dudes (myself included): here is how you pick up a lady, "I like baseball, movies, whiskey, fast cars and you," and then you hold up her coat for her. Boom. Lock it up.