The new iTunes is an abomination. I say "new" because a few months ago I let myself get bullied into an update and now getting my podcasts onto my iPod is a Herculean chore. The desktop interface is just as bad. I'm listening to an album in my Music and it doesn't show me what number track it is. I can see the song before this one is 8 and the one after it is 10, but instead of 9 it's showing me a sound icon, to show me that I am listening to a song. It's not that I can't do the math. It's that I don't want my music player to be coy with me and play guessing games. It's withholding information instead of disseminating, because of design awfulness.
But what I'm really cranky about is Survivor. The last two episodes have been the best of the season, and the only good ones since the first episode. The Brandon meltdown doesn't count as a good episode because that's just ugliness and that's not what I'm watching for. Anyhow, tonight's episode had enough good game play to fill a whole season, and all the challenge footage was cool. Footage of people winning immunities. People like Brenda.
Last week I heard Stephen Fishbach say on Rob Cesternino's podcast that Brenda had been in 7 episodes and hadn't spoken to the camera in confessional yet. Tonight makes 8 and there still haven't been any that I can remember. Even though she won an individual immunity.
I cry foul. I cry sexism. What male player wouldn't get a confessional talking about how good it feels to win? We saw the other players speak to Brenda and compliment her performance in the challenge, which was Tom Westman-worthy. But no words from her. Not even the "it feels good to win" sound bite.
Who else could win an immunity idol and not get a confessional? Jerri Manthey in Heroes Vs. Villains certainly didn't get much attention when she won the house of cards immunity against Russell. We didn't see any players strategizing with her, even though the person with immunity is a major factor.
Sure, Brett didn't get much camera time either, but he had more than 0 confessionals this time in the season. Brenda got visited by medical: they bandaged her leg, and then I guess it got better. We don't know. We haven't seen any of that. Rob gets footage when he gets a case of crybabyitis.
At IndieCade last year, Celia asked every in the room to raise their hand and then said, "If you think men and women should be treated equally, leave your hand in the air." Everyone left their hands in the air. She said, "If you have your hand in the air, you are a feminist." My wife graduated from Wellesley. I am attending her 10 year reunion this summer, with our son. I am part of a proud family of feminists. And I am calling sexism on Survivor for its portrayal of Brenda, and as a mega-fan it bums me out in a mega-way.
So there it is, a grumpy complaining blog post about a show I love. I feel that Malcolm's move belongs in the hall of fame along with Amanda's idol play in Fans Vs. Favorites and Parvati giving out 2 idols, and Russell finding his 2nd hidden idol without a clue, but does Andrea's? I'm not sure. What do you think?