Survivor and the Changing Face of the Country

Yes, I am going to make another post about reality TV.... Ron and I haven't had much time to watch anything together, but he has Survivor downloaded, and we finally got around to starting this season. For those of you who don't watch the show, each season is structured a bit differently. Often, tribes are picked on the first day, but this season, they were "prepicked". They also did something else I don't remember seeing before (although I have not watched all of them). They had the tribes each vote for a leader, just based on appearance and without knowing anything about the people. They didn't even know their names! People had to write down descriptions instead. The players come from all over the country and from many different backgrounds, so I was pretty surprised (in a good way) with the results. First tribe, Russel gets voted as leader:
Not just a black man. A black man with dreadlocks.

Then in the next tribe, Jaison almost wins:

I have no idea when this was filmed in relation to the election, but I have to wonder if there is any connection. Things like this make me think we are headed in the right direction. There were even a few female "names" written down. Would be nice if they were just as likely to get elected, but I have been surprised once.... Where are we headed?

Oh, and for those of you who DO watch the show, no spoilers. We have only watched the first two episodes. :)

Unschooling Attitude

Whenever I see an example of something I really dig in a show, I like to make a note of it. Orion has been watching Imagination Movers off and on for awhile. It's a pretty cool show with great music, but something more struck me about it recently.

I get so tired of shows that try to teach lessons. Invariably, there will be some character displaying some "bad" behavior who learns something along the way. The only thing Orion ever learns from these shows is to imitate the bad behavior LOL! OK, I'm sure that is not entirely true, but these shows are still just really annoying for me.

In imagination Movers, there is usually some problem to solve. OK, fine idea, but that wasn't the aspect that got me thinking. There are a couple other characters that make regular appearances, namely Nina and her uncle Nitnots, who you can see in the brown suit above. Nitnots is boring, as boring as boring can be, and he likes everything around him to be boring. Now boring usually has a negative connotation, but not on this show. Nitnots is accepted for exactly who he is. In fact, there is a whole episode about wanting to throw a birthday party for him. But how?! Ah, a problem to solve! All the usual birthday stuff is out. He doesn't like anything colorful or loud. So they come up with the perfect boring "celebration" for him, and he is thrilled. The more I thought about this, the more touching it was to me. You just don't see alot of unconditional acceptance on TV for characters who are "out of the norm". It is a really refreshing approach.

Another Season Begins....

Yes, I'm talking about American Idol folks. And yes, I watch it. I even watch the auditions. Not sure why, because parts of them piss me off more every year. I really hate the way they set aside the very worst and the very best. It is just a stupid waste of the judges time, and why? So the rest of America can laugh at them? Sorry, it just isn't funny. And some of the people are really hurt when they get rejected. But we watch it anyway. Mainly because they do some really interesting background stories on the people they do put through. It is often the ones they suspect are going to do pretty well, so it is nice to see a bit of their story. And then, every once in awhile, they do something awesome and amazing. Watching a new year start, I am reminded of Sherman Pore. In my humble opinion, this was the greatest American Idol audition ever:

Another Amazing Little Bear

I have always loved how often there is a pagan vibe to this show, but the episode I saw today truly knocked my socks off! In the beginning, LB's mother tells him about a charm she lost when she was a little girl. Then he goes to sleep and has a dream in which he finds out where it is! He actually meets his mother as a little girl in the dream. It is set on the day she loses the charm, and he sees where she puts it. When he wakes up, he tells her he knows where it is and goes right to it! Wow, just wow.

A New Type of TV Show...?

Orion got interested in "real TV" today for the first time. Namely Dirty Jobs at first with Ron and then we started watching something called How It's Made. It was perfect because there was a segment on MegaBlocks, so he was totally sucked in! Now this type of stuff I will be happy to watch with him! I hope it is the start of a trend!

School for Otters

Speaking of otters... I just saw the coolest Little Bear that had an unschooly vibe to it I thought. Emily is trying to act like a teacher, and the otters play along for a little bit. Interesting that she puts on a mean face and tells them they have to sit up straight and pay attention to be in school.... She is trying to teach them to count, but the otters are much more interested in having fun. At first Emily and Little Bear are a bit frustrated, but then they decide to give up and tell them they like them just the way they are. The episode closes with the otters playing and counting themselves, and Little Bear and Emily realizing they had been learning after all, even though it looked like they were just goofing off and not paying attention. Totally loved it!