I swear I'm trying; episodes 1 and 2

So I'm trying my best to keep up with the blog, but alas I'm slacking. Here we go:

So life since the show has been quite cool. Even though we didn't win the money, people are still approaching me and telling me that they're sorry we didn't win and that they were rooting for us. Seems to be the consensus. Someone asked me what Josh was doing... I looked at my watch (subtracted 2 hours for CA time) and said "he's probably brushing his teeth." It was 1 am. Do you think I have a future as a professional guesser? I've always wanted to be one. So last night, we went to Four for the Chicago Style Magazine pre-release party. Can you believe yours truly was featured in any magazing with style in the title? Anyhow, there was a great picture of Brittany and I (and Karl and Danielle) with short little interviews below from when we watched the show at the Funky Buddha Lounge a couple weeks ago. Check it out at www.thechicagostyle.com.

After Four (which was quite dead because it's an afterhours place), we (me, karl, brittany, matt, annette) headed to the new Barleycorn's, where Karl had befriended the entire staff. That = cheap drinks. We had watched an episode there a couple weeks back as well and the bar staff just loved him. How could they not? Hell, I love him and lamp. So we got there and it was completely packed with NCAA patrons. They have more tvs than bestbuy there. It's insane. At first I was kind of skeptical because it was so packed, but the music picked up once the games ended and everyone was soon dancing everywhere. Some more people ended up joining us so it was quite a delightful time.

Let's backtrack further (how's this whole working backwards thing working for you). I forgot to mention earlier that day, brittany, danille, karl and I did a live remote at bourbon st on the southside. amanda met us there. we were guests on the eric and kathy show, which is the most tame radio show ever. I've always been a Mancow fan. We had the pleasure of going to Mancow to promote the finally, which was definitely one of the highlights of this whole celebrity experience. Turns out a girl that I went to grade school with that was in playboy works there. So she was busting my balls a little about being a geek. Turns out the token hot chick Mancow hired also knew Karl from when he worked by Depaul. So the remote was cool; we got gold vip cards which apparently get us into the upstairs vip area. We met Steve from Sex and the City and the Fonze (sp?). Better than Ezra sucked... I mean played. I think it's time for them to retire. They weren't bad, but just bland. If I ever look like a rigamortis on stage, tell me to retire too.

That was Friday night and day (in that order). Thursday was kind of empty without an episode. We had a sleepover with Brittany, Danielle, Karl and I at my house. We're all really good friends now which is awesome. We watched a couple movies and passed out early because we had the live remote at bourbon st at 6 am. Which reminds me I have to go return the movies tonight. Darn.

Ok now onto the good stuff. I wrote up some quick reviews of the first two episodes of batg. If you guys let me know if you find it educational, I'll keep doing it. I don't know how I feel about rewatching all the episodes cause it seems kind of lame to me at this point, but I would do it if people want to know what they didn't show in a given episode or how things were edited. Oh ya, we (karl, danielle and I) had a meeting on friday lunchtime with a guy that might be interested in using us for something. Can't say what, but if it happens, could be awesome. Right up our alley. I'll keep you posted. Ok here's my thoughts on the first two episodes:

Episode 1)
1) the golf carts sucked. ran out of batteries and seemed funnier than they really were
2) all the geeks sorta met during the golf cart thing because there was a lot of hurrying up to wait
3) i was most nervous going out to see the girls. in fact, brit's answer to one of the finally questions was right (not sure if they showed that question)
4) i made a joke since i was the 2nd to last person that the two remaining girls could come with me as my partners. they (b and sarah) both stood up. of course they can't show that because it's me being too suave but it was to hide my real nervousness.
5) didn't know that room selection was based on the order we went out to meet the girls
6) the girls weren't snobby at all. i was really impressed with the girls they picked. they all wanted to learn and participate
7) some people said tristin was fake at first and she admitted it to i guess. i didn't really pick up on it until watching the episodes at home.
8) i thought the pairing was amazing. i don't think the producers could have picked better themselves. the best thing that happened to me was being paired with brittany.
9) during my first interview in the house, i could barely answer the questions because i thought josh was a plant. part of the reason is because one of the casting people mentioned that one of the geeks was somewhat different when we went out for drinks. that made me a little more aware of my surroundings. the thing that tipped me off was when we were waiting to go meet the girls, josh asked wes if he was mexican. clearly he's not. but then after wes being like are you retarded, he asked again on camera. that's when i could tell that it was some really bad acting. so i told th producer that if he's a plant or acting, just take me off the show before it's too late. they guarenteed he wasn't, so i gave josh the benefit of the doubt thereafter. i wasn't the only one who thought that either. i should say, josh is an awesome person. i think he's a lot more aware of film and writing lines having been in the film industry and press. since his title was museum critic and he was very laconic with his upbringing, it was as evident as it is having watched the episodes now. he's a very clever guy and very well spoken. we had some great chats about movies and screenwriting. i also told him there was no mario party 4 yet, which was something i saw looking over his shoulder in something he was typing up. ok this is turning out to be way too long. in short, he's a cool guy. i'd like to hang out w/ him outside of the show, but alas he's in CA and hasn't returned my call or email :(
10) Brit made the first introduction so easy. She talked about how we're both from IL and have younger sisters and such.
11) I must have helped just about everyone carry their bags up the stairs. I don't think they showed me though.
12) the first night karl did a body shot off one of the girls in the hot tub. of course they can't show that because then karl would be too cool. none of the girls wanted to do it proper. i was like, this is gonna be a really tame season at that point.
13) I made sure not to drink too much the first night so I didn't say/do anything stupid. Moreover, it was just tequila and wine which aren't my drink(s) of choice. A couple people did get really drunk though and were so funny. I think if I were involved in the next season, I would suggest having more alcohol on hand. They limited us for obvious reasons, but I think we handled ourselves well.
14) 1st challenge brit and i got like 6 questions right. chris got 8 in a row! so we're not all that socially stupid. they just showed the ones we got wrong mostly. b and i went back and forth so that we could both be involved.
15) the meeting that chris called was stupid. made him an easy target. if you're ever going to do reality tv, note this: THE FIRST PERSON/TEAM ELIMINATED IS ALWAYS THE ONE THAT SETS THEMSELVES APART. I was certain brit and i were going to get picked, but thankfully we didn't.

episode 2
1) On the trip to karoke, we sang the whole way. all the guys in one van. we sang everything from bohemian rhapsody to guns and roses. it was awesome. our voices were shot before we even went on stage. they switched the order of us performing, which they often did on the show. brit and i went first actually. i think we performed too well so they couldn't show too much footage. we were dancing w/ each other and the crowd and harmonizing and everything. you should have been there!
2) i think i was the one that told B that the song was from the 80s and suggested dressing as such, even tho a bandana seems much more 70's anyhow.
3) a lot of the geeks were pissed that tyson used a rubik's cube to win. that's why when we picked them the 2nd round, it was a shocker. though i did realize that using outside stuff could work in your favor if that ever came up. as an aside, tyson is an awesome dude. really well spoken. in fact, he gave like a goodbye speach on the episode. i was the one that suggested it. i suggested it to all the people because after amanda and brandon left, i felt like they didn't get to say their final words to everyone. also, the strategy for picking was to pick the strongest teams because that meant competition would be easier later in the show. tyson and ty were a strong team so getting them off early was probably good. so it sucks because we liked them and america loved them, but that's why they had to be picked. we phrased the strategy as "wanted people on top of their game" instead of strongest teams in the choosing ceremony. in general, it sucked picking anyone. i wish we didn't have to pick and that you just won prizes each week instead of going home.
4) The speeches were really funny. here's some highlights i remember. after each person gave their speech, the geeks got to ask 3 total questions. they didn't show it cause there wasn't enuf time in the episode and cause we decided to ask funny questions instead of serious ones. i wish they would show it in outtakes or on dvd or something. the producers actually yelled at us for being so funny; they wanted us to bust the girls balls (if that's possible), but alas we felt we didn't want to be ignorant. it was already hard enough for the girls. i think brandon asked sarah about to large points she raised while gesturing to her upper half (it was hillarious). jen talked about her neighbors cat dying from eating a straw. cher's speech was better than one i would have given. after i/we heard it, all the geeks were like WTF? thais said karl's children were her children or something in response to karl's question about future generations. it was funny as well. amanda was not speechless; they used a lot of footage of her before she even started her speech though she did probably say the least.
5) the toga party was wes' idea. and a great one it was.
6) the walkoff was part of the night, though i did get drilled with 20 questions by the girls. there was no truth or dare, but it was a lot more risque night than they show.
7) the walkoff was a zoolander reference, which we quoted like the entire show
8) sarah's toga didn't always properly fit so to speak
9) i always guessed the winner of the eliminations wrong. i sucked at guessing. there goes my career as a professional guesser eh
10) the producers said we couldn't randomly pick the teams to be eliminated. we thought that way it wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings or whatever. i didn't like that idea anyway. why not control what you can? also, the first elimination was not based on our study materials necessarily, which is something we complained to the producers about. because if we're studying and such but the elimination were just based on previous knowledge, it didn't seem fair. that's why the then rephrased the questions, according to your study materials.

in response to one of the comments to my journal about sleeping in the same room as brit and our convo's, here's what i'll say:
The first night of sleeping in the same room was a little weird for me. more because i had to get used to bunk beds. i have had gf's before, so sleeping in the same room wasn't too crazy for me. i was worried i might snore or wake her up often. we had a good conversation on how i wanted to her to open with me and i would do the same with her. that i wanted to be her friend first and foremost. and that i thought we had a good chance at winning. and also thoughts on the different people in the house. we also talked about our upbringings, families, etc. as for the other interesting conversation we had, i remember one in sarah's room where we talked about college and jr. college. i was arguing that the point of college is to teach you how to think or to learn how to learn and not just about getting a job or learning facts. as for my thoughts on jr college, you can consult the many diatribes by adam corolla on love line; i concur with him. bottom line, jr college good as stepping stone or to save money, but often gets misused and isn't for everyone. a trade school might be more appropriate and lucrative, as they often do in europe. there were other conversations about exs, dating and the like. i won't get into details however. hope that helps.

Ok that's about it for the first two episodes. if you have questions, i'll try to answer them. thanks for your time. enjoy. thanks again to everyone.