Survivor episode 3

I don’t allow myself to blog Survivor on my actual blog, so I’ll talk about it here where even fewer people read (meaning: 0).

I was disappointed that Jerry was voted out, especially when I was hoping that annoying Erinn would go. Jerry seemed like one of those good guys you’d root for and I hoped he’d stick around for a long while. Unfortunately now he’s out and we still have quite a few annoying people remaining.

I’m rooting for Timbira in the challenges, mainly because they have my favorite player, Sierra, who I want to win it all. Probst calls Timbira "the favorite" and Jalapao "the underdog," which is nonsensical, given that they came in tied in challenges, and now Jalapao has won 3 of 4. Then again, Probst loves Coach.

Speaking of Probst, you can see some of his warped mind on his blog on Entertainment Weekly’s website. Probst thinks he’s cool by writing about his sex life while we want to actually find out stuff about Survivor. It’s okay, though, because I love Probst, he’s one of my top-10 people in the history of television. Survivor would have never made it this far without him.

The immunity idol seemed way too easy for Brendan to find, but then again I was thinking coming into the episode that they’re way too hard to find. Maybe it’s because I didn’t want him to get it and I wanted my Sierra to get it. Oh well, maybe he’ll be stupid and give it to her.

Next episode’s preview looks dull, like nothing truly exciting will happen for another week. That’s okay, it takes until there about 12 remaining for Survivor to heat up.

OCD

I hate having OCD. Everyone sees Monk and thinks it’s a big joke. It’s not. It’s a pain in the butt. It’s sucking the joy right out of my life. If it ruins my time at Tekko VII, I might just commit suicide.

Scary

Sometimes you realize how precious life is and how you’re at God’s mercy. Last night was one of those nights, when a tree was uprooted and destroyed our shed… fortunately the wind blew in that direction, and not towards our house.

The Shinji Ikari in all of us

(Note: this was previously posted at my blog, Anime Bowl.)

Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion is often criticized as a character for being not enough of a hero, not likable enough. Yet here I am, in a low point in my life, sympathizing with the character and realizing how well Hideaki Anno captured the feeling of a rejected person. Consider:

-Shinji is rejected by nearly everyone. His father couldn’t care less about his feelings. His mother is dead. His closest colleague is Asuka, a girl who only cares about one-upping him. Actually he does have friends, but circumstances in his life pull him away from them further and further. Misato is perhaps the only one who is able to sympathize with him, but in a rather weird way (a 29-year old kissing a 14-year old).

-Nothing goes right for Shinji. When he tries to do right, it goes wrong. When he tries to run away, it goes wrong. When he does nothing, it goes wrong. He lives in the worst possible circumstances, and things just keep getting worse.

-At the end of the series, Shinji is so depressed, he can’t even commit suicide. This is a big one, as you’d think a person like him would be happy to do so. Yet he feels as if no one would even care if he did, thus making even a suicide pointless.

-He wants to "return to nothing." He wants to escape from his problems, but he can’t, in fact he is necessary in his world. Yet all he would like to do is disappear from his world of hurt.

Anno captures everything about a person who is depressed and rejected. Anyone who’s gone through it can understand Shinji perfectly. In fact, there’s probably a little of Shinji in everyone, wanting to escape from reality. But most of all, when you go through the worst of troubles, such as rejection, depression and everything going wrong, this is the character you’ll feel most like. Shinji, I feel for you. Komm, süßer Tod indeed.