I am sitting here watching tonight’s episode of Big Brother. Once Matt said his wife has the disease “Melariatosis”, and Andrew the Podiatrist had never heard of it I immediately went to Google to see who was right.

The problem is the way Matt is pronouncing/spelling it. Of course, to be clear he is making it up and his wife DOES NOT have the diesease. He is just trying it to win some sympathy from the other house guests. A move similar to Johnny Fairplay’s move on Survivor of saying his grandmother had died.

The disease Matt means to be saying is “Melorheostosis”.

I am taking this definition from the site www.melorheostosis.com , a site helping get the word out about the disease and trying to fund research into finding a cure.

“Melorheostosis is a rare and progressive disorder characterized by hyperostosis (thickening) of the cortical bone. Melorheostosis affects both bone and soft tissue growth and development. Melorheostosis can result in severe functional limitation, extensive pain, soft tissue contractures, and limb, hand an/or foot deformity. The age of diagnosis is typically based on the severity of onset and symptoms. On x-rays, the appearance of melorheostosis been likened to flowing, melted candle wax.

Diseases associated with melorheostosis include, osteopoikilosis, osteopathia striata, scleroderma and Buschke-Ollendorff syndrome.”

It does indeed have an incidence estimated to be 1 in 1,000,000 (or maybe the .9 in 1 million that Matt stated).

You can find more information about the disease, the search for a cure, and how you can donate to help find a cure at www.melorheostosis.com

We will have to wait to see if Matt’s strategy works in taking him further in the game, or if it backfires on him.

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The Celebrity Apprentice Finale

I have always liked Bret Michaels and Holly Robinson Peete. On The Celebrity Apprentice however I didn’t like Holly. She came across as being mean. She always stayed TOO conservative, and it cost her most of the time. If it isn’t obvious by now I was pulling for Bret Micheals to win going into the finale.

I was shocked to see the celebrities they brought back to help the two finalists last week. Summer Sanders being on Bret’s team was very unusual, but she worked well in the task for Bret. Darryl Strawberry coming back at all was surprising since he essentially quit early in the season. He also worked very well in the task though. Maria Kanellis coming back wasn’t a huge surprise, but her being on Holly’s team was. They didn’t get along at all before Maria was fired. Curtis Stone was the least surprising of the returning celebrities, and him going with Holly’s team also wasn’t at all a surprise.

In last week’s episode it seemed like Curtis gave Holly a definite advantage because of him knowing which flavors would work with the others. Maria didn’t seem like she helped a lot, but I am sure that is more due to editing than anything. Darryl and Summer seemed to help out a lot on Bret’s team, even though it seemed like Bret was actually doing everything, again probably due to the editing.

The products that both teams produced were amazing. The bottles looked great, the commercials were good and funny, and either of them could have won really.

From here on might be some spoilers, so stop reading if you don’t want to know the important stuff.

I think the best thing that happened to Bret was that he lost his script and had to get creative in the editing of the commercial. It eliminated him doing two commercials which would have led to the Snapple people and Donald Trump thinking he spread himself too thin and both commercials suffered because of it. Not to mention the one commercial all together was really good and much better than each one individually. His brochure was much better too. Holly’s was just to plain, which is actually what she was going for. Her commercial was good, BUT it was a Snapple commercial. Which in essence was a good idea, but as usual she wasn’t outside of the box. Luckily for Bret he lives outside of the box.

During the live finale it was great to see Bret up and around after coming so close to death. That in itself was a huge victory. It was also very nice to see the real Holly come out. Her and Bret had become friends during the show, and she was genuinely happy to see him at the finale.

In a REALLY anti-climatic moment Donald Trump pointed out that Snapple was matching the $250,000 prize, so both Bret and Holly’s charities would be receiving a quarter of a million dollars. This basically meant that it didn’t matter who was named The Celebtiry Apprentice, cause after all they were both definitely there for their charities.

He then finally announced that Bret had won and is The Celebrity Apprentice.

All in al it was a good season for the show. I am sure it has rebuilt an audience that had to be shrinking a bit. Last year’s Celebrity version I lost interest in with a couple weeks to go. This one kept me watching every episode. Of course that was partially because I liked many of the celebrities before they were on this show. So, I guess casting had a lot to do with it all. They should try an All-Star season. Bring back some of the regular players, and maybe a couple of the celebrities that might be interested to compete together. Would probably go pretty well I think.

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Once again, I won’t reveal the winner of the show until later in the post to assure you don’t accidentally see the winner before you watch.

I was definitely an interesting season for Survivor. After 20 seasons of the show they still manage to keep it interesting. That in itself is very impressive. They also manage to find the almost perfect mesh of all-stars to assure it is interesting.

I was so upset when Stephenie and James went out so early on in the game. I bet they will both be back for another try at some point. At least I hope they will be. Them, along with Rupert are probably my three favorites in all of Survivor. I am betting that one of those three WILL be winning the $100,000 fan favorite vote. (I am writing this as the jury is interviewing the three finalists.)

Now, we are beyond the excerpt point, so here we go.

The three finalists turned out to be Parvati, Russell, and Sandra. The worst decision that Russell made this time, is the same worst decision he made last time. That decision is who he took to the final three with him. This time he took the two people that have actually won Survivor! Sure, he was right that he will have Jerry’s vote, but it might turn out to be one of the few he actually gets.

Russell did control the game all the way through again, just as he did last time. He had people actually giving him idols this time. How stupid was that? Russell just makes bad choices when it counts the very, very most.

Parvati was great at challenges, she played a good social game, she aligned with the guy controlling everything early on. It all worked to get her into a position to win a million dollars AGAIN! She did however make too many enemies along the way though, I think.

Sandra managed to ride coattails to the final three, and stay off everyone’s radar AGAIN! Did people not watch her original season at all?? She has played the exact same game, and it worked. Not only did it work, along the way she gave people the chance again and again to try and take out Russell, and no one would help her get it done. The one time it was going to work Candice threw a wrench into the plan which caused Sandra to vote with Russell again.

I don’t really understand how, but I feel Sandra is about to win AGAIN! I still don’t understand how she won the first time. Her winning was one of my least favorite Survivor moments of all-time.

Here is how I think voting is going to go:

Russell gets: Jerry

Parvati gets: Danielle, J.T.

Sandra gets: Courtney, Rupert, Candice, Colby, Coach, Amanda

Yep, I think Sandra wins by a landslide.

So, now let’s see how the voting actually went.

Well, Sandra did win again. I am amazed, even though I just typed that she would win a minute ago. She is the first two-time winner of Survivor. Probst asked, and Sandra agreed that she is the best Survivor ever.

Of course Russell still thinks he is the best player in Survivor history. He may very well be the best ever. He makes the bad decision at the end though. He claimed there is a flaw in the game if Sandra can win twice. He says America should have a percentage of the final vote.

OK, they just announced they will be picking the dumbest move in Survivor history. My pick is Erik giving away the idol and then being voted out, or James getting voted out while holding idols.

And the winner is…J.T. for giving Russel the idol this season. I totally disagree. lol

Wow, Russell won the $100,000. Oh well, I thought it would be Rupert, but it wasn’t.

In closing, I enjoyed the season. All-Star seasons are the best. My idea for the next All-Star season… there have been 300+ Survivor contestants. Put all of their names into a vote of America. The two people that get the most votes are named Tribe Captains. They then do a schoolyard type tribe choosing from the remaining top 28 vote getters (that previously agree to be on the show if chosen). Do the tribe choosing show live and then start the show 2 weeks later. Mark Burnett and Jeff Probst, are you listening?

Next up is Survivor: Nicaragua…interesting choice of location. I also can’t wait for Survivor: New Jersey.

Hey, they never did reveal who voted for who. They did mention that Russell didn’t get any votes at all though.

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Just in case you are like me and record stuff and some times don’t get around to watching it until a few days later… I will be revealing who won The Amazing Race last night later in this post. I am making sure it isn’t in the excerpt that will show on the main page because I HATE when someone ruins a show for me, especially a show finale.

Anyway, for me the ideal ending would have been Jeff and Jordan from Big Brother winning. I was excited to see they were still together, and trying out The Amazing Race. Just wish they could have stuck around longer.

I actually would have liked to see Louie and Michael (the two police officers) win the race, too.

OK, I think I filled enough space to start talking about the finale now.

Out of the three finalist; Brent & Caite, Dan & Jordan, and Jet & Cord…I couldn’t stand Brent & Caite, or Dan & Jordan. They were the two most annoying teams throughout the race. Well in the top three anyway (Brandy & Carol aka The Lesbians get in the top three too.). They whined, they fought with one another, and other teams, they whined some more. It was just so annoying! Of course in the history of The Amazing Race, the annoying teams usually tend to stick around longer than the likable teams.

Now, here is the bone I have to pick with last night’s finale. What ever happened to the rule that teams HAVE to fly in business or coach class, or whatever they are calling it now? Dan & Jordan moved up to first class! At that moment I was celebrating because I was expecting that if they had crossed the finish line first, Phil would say “Dan & Jordan, you are the first team to arrive…However I am sorry to tell you that you must serve a one hour penalty before I can check you in for flying in first class.” Then when I saw they were the team running for the finish line first, I got even happier. I loved that they were going to be first, but have to serve a penalty. It would have been perfect karma biting them in the butt. Then Phil told them they had won The Amazing Race…I was like WTH?!?

Jet and Cord were the only option of the final three that I would have enjoyed seeing win the race. It has nothing to do with them being from Oklahoma either. They were just very real, genuine people. It was enjoyable to watch them go through the entire race. They weren’t bickering with each other at every turn. They worked together nearly constantly, rather than against one another. They should have won!

They will be on our local news here on Friday morning. I can’t wait to hear their thoughts about everything. I am sure they will be very gracious in losing, even with their competitive spirit.

I certainly hope they bring them back for the next The Amazing Race: All-Stars season.

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As many of you know I am rather busy with other aspects of the site and have little time to actually be posting stuff on my own blogs. That being said, sometimes a story comes along that I just cannot pass up writing about.

Teaching today's youths English

Tony Danza became the lovable sit-com and TV drama staple for many years. He was starring (and co-starring) in primetime almost nonstop from 1978 – 2002. From Taxi’s Tony Banta (1978 – 1983), and Tony Micelli on Who’s The Boss (1984 – 1992). then onto some drama roles as Tony Canetti on Hudson Street (1995 – 1996) after a three year break from TV. Then back to a short-lived comedy The Tony Danza Show as Tony DiMeo (1997 – 1998). then finally after another short break from TV he returned for Family Law (2000 – 2002) as Tony. . . no wait. . . finally his character was not named Tony! Instead he was Joe Celano.

Fast forward till now.

Danza is set to star in his very own reality show on the A&E network. The network that has spawned hits like Gene Simmon’s Family Jewels, Intervention, and of course its biggest legacy, Biography will follow him on a daily basis for the new show.

Danza is the second one from the right in the white shirt. That is his Taxi co-star Danny DeVito on the far left.

The main focus of this show which Danza is referring to as “responsible reality”, will be the tenth grade English class he will be teaching in a New York City school. That’s right I just said Tony Danza will be teaching tenth grade ENGLISH! He also suggest he might teach some drama, while fulfilling the nromal teacherly duties like cafeteria duty.

Danza told New York Post reporter Michael Starr, “I was talking about going back and answering the call to service and doing something different with my life,”

As for the “responsible reality” remark he told Starr, “I don’t want to do that other [reality] stuff and I don’t want to do a game show and nobody’s knocking down my door for acting jobs.”

Danza actually has his degree in History Education from the University of Dubuque which he got prior to following his dream of portraying many Tonys on the big and small screen.

This seems like one of the strangest matches, Tony Danza, and ENGLISH. I will actually be tuning in at least a couple times though to see what the new show is like. I have always liked Danza’s shows for the most part. He just might be the next hot reality star, you never know.

I wonder when Stallone will stop making Rocky and Rambo sequels and get a spin-off show in the same school teaching Speech Class.

On that note I will leave you with a clip from the show The Family Guy, that kinda drives home the strangeness of this situation.

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