Day 678: Calculating Survivor

Okay… let’s beat a dead horse.

What really rubs me the wrong way regarding Russell is his childish need for validation.  He desperately wants someone to admit he is the greatest Survivor to EVER play the game.  He made this claim constantly threw out each of his two seasons and he continued to make the claim at the last reunion show… after he lost… for the second time!

And yes, even though I totally dislike the guy he made it to the final tribal council two seasons in a row.  Survivor is a game of skill and luck… and making it to the final vote twice is a big deal, I will give him that.  HOWEVER, he is not the first contestant to make it twice.  Amanda, who made the jury in Heroes vs. Villains, made it to the final vote in back to back seasons the first two times she played the game.

Also, Russell’s birth into his second final tribal council was not an honor solely his.  All three Survivors making it to the final vote this season, Russell, Pavati, and Sandra, were all making their second appearance at the final vote.  PLUS, both Pavati and Sandra were previous winners making Russell claim of being the best a little egomaniacal.  Great player?  Yes.  Is he the best player?  No.

But these are just my opinions, right? Let’s put personal opinions aside and test Russell’s hypothesis that he is, in fact, the greatest Survivor EVER to have played the game.  A few months ago we talked about the Olympics and how medals should be scored to determine which country was most victorious.  I propose we use, roughly, the same formula. 

We’ll keep the numbers simple and award 3 Points to anyone who’s won the game, 2 Points to anyone who’s made it to the final vote but lost/a runner-up, and 1 Point to anyone who’s made it to the jury.  For the sake of the experiment, I will exclude any player who has only competed in one season since their overall score cannot be greater than three… I only plan to cover the contestants who have earned more than 3 Points.

Furthermore, I will break ties by taking the following into account, in order:

1.      Fewest number of seasons played gets the edge.

2.      Highest single season ranking get the edge.

3.      Votes

Sounds simple enough?  Math never lies, although it can be manipulated… but let’s see what these numbers tell us.

Let’s start with the Man, the Myth, the Russell.  Having played twice and making it to the final vote both times Russell is worth 4 Points.  How does this fair against the rest of the Survivors?  Well, Russell… based on my math… is in 6^th Place.  That’s right!  Only 6^th Russell, sorry. 

In 5^th Place, I have Boston Rob’s wife Amber, who made it to the jury in seasons two (1 Point) and won ‘All Stars’ (3 Points) giving her a total of 4 Points.  Since Russell and Amber are tied and both played two seasons, we have to look at Tie Breaker Method #2: Highest single season ranking.  Amber is a former winner… so she gets the edge.

4^th Place goes to J.T.  Who also has 4 Points, from winning ‘Tocantins’ and making the jury in ‘Heroes v. Villains’.  Since JT only played two seasons and is a former winner, we have to separate Amber and J.T. by Tie Breaker Method #3: Votes.  When Amber won ‘All-Stars’ she received 6 out of 7 winning votes from the jury, However, J.T. received 7 out of 7 votes giving him the edge.

3^rd Place goes to three season veteran Amanda.  Although Amanda has never won the game her success is undeniable.    She has been a runner up twice (4 Points) and she made the jury in ‘Heroes v. Villains’ (1 Point).  Yes, the fact she has played three seasons give her an edge over others… however, Colby, James, Cirie, Jerri, Colby, Rupert AND Boston Rob have also played three seasons and NONE of them are able to boast more than three points.   

2^nd Place goes to Pavati, another three season veteran, who is the only survivor to score points in ALL three categories: She made the jury on ‘Cook Islands’ (1 Point),  Won ‘Micronesia’ (3 Points) and was a runner-up on ‘Heroes v. Villains’ (2) Points, for a grand total of grand total of 6 points. 

1^st Place will probably surprise Russell quite a bit… because based on the numbers; Sandra is the most successful Survivor of all time.  She has won the game twice giving her a total of 6 Points… and since she has only played the game twice, verse Pavati’s three times, Sandra wins the tie breaker against Pavati. 

Wow… I’m such a nerd… BUT, I’m cool with that.  As you can see… a simple mathematical exercise as proven Russell’s self-serving theory wrong… and in case anyone is interested, I ran a second test where the points were divided by the number of seasons they played to determine their final score… which still confirmed Sandra as the all time winner… but Pavati and Russell tied for second place.  I threw this method out not because Russell scored so high, but because it unfairly penalized Survivors who had played three seasons.  Instead I opted to have the number of seasons played the main tie breaker to give the edge to a contestant who was able to achieve the same level of play in a shorter period of time.  In doing so, this formula rewards those who played fewer times while not penalizing those who have played more.

Nerd-tastic!

I can’t wait till next season.

Day 677: Survivor Heroes vs. Villains

So I FINALLY got around to watching the season finale of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains… and I have to say the conclusion restored my faith in humanity.  I don’t think Survivor knows how close it got to being cut from my viewing list for good… but it’s been saved!

SOILER ALERT

Of course I was rooting for the Heroes and seeing Rupert and Colby, my two all-time favorite players, stick around as long as they did was awesome.  Even in the Villains camp I had a couple favorites like Boston Rob, Tyson, and even Sandra.  Sandra was a heck of a playing on Pearl Islands and honestly she never struck me as a Villain… she was just a really good strategic player.  So, I was thrilled to see her push through all of the other Villains to claim victory. 

However, even Rupert and Colby’s longevity in the game and Sandra’s win couldn’t correct one major issue I had with the show… Russell.  Who the hell is this guy?  I can’t believe how ugly he was at reunion show, a time where contestants normally chill out and shed their “in-game” personas.  The things he said were delusional and at times uncalled for.  His accusations that Sandra has no game and did nothing to deserve winning struck me as funny.   Because argument is a classic management style conflict… personally I call it the ‘Pin Ball Effect” because you can liken the two management styles to pin ball playing technique.

In my experience, there are some managers who are so good at their job they have the ability to make it look easy.  So easy, in fact, it looks like they’re not even trying.  This is a skill.  When your job is to work behind the scenes you need to get things done without being noticed.  In terms of playing pin ball, these folks would play patiently waiting for the ball to come to them; using only the flippers to manipulate the ball intending to launch it in a specific direction of the machine, to maximize a high score.  The flaw in this style is missing your mark… and if the ball drifts down the wrong path it may fall of the board without the player having any control over retrieving the ball.   This is the kind of game Sandra plays.  For two seasons, her aim has been impeccable and she hasn’t dropped the ball.

On the flip side, I have seen managers who think scrambling and making a production out of being busy is a necessity when getting the job done.  After wanting Russell for two seasons… this is obviously how he operates.  In terms of pin ball, these players will constantly click the flipper buttons (even when it’s unnecessary) and they would normally use brute force to physically move the machine in attempts to manipulate the movement of the ball in areas of the where the flippers wouldn’t help.  Doing everything short of breaking the glass and using your hand to move the ball where you want it to go.  The flaw in this style is tilting or breaking the machine.  This is how Russell plays.

In the end… just like every management style, there are benefits and flaws to each.  However, in my experience scramblers never seem to understand or appreciate a laid back approach to management… which seems to be the root of Russell’s relentless attacks on Sandra’s ability to ‘play the game’… he doesn’t seem to understand one pretty simple fact.  There is more than one way to play the game.  Boston Rob totally called him out on lacking the social game, pointing out Russell only plays to be a runner-up and not a winner.  It’s very true.

Anyway, thank you season 20 Jury for restoring my faith in one of my favorite shows… I’ll see you in September!

Day 676: Pangas, A Love Story… or something

I know, I’m getting a lot of mileage out of this whole Pangas fish thing… but it’s kind of fun to talk about so I thought I would share this story.

Last Friday at work I walked into the café, glanced at the specials noted on the chalkboard and I stopped in my tracks.  There is was in big white chalky letters… “CATFISH”.  Horror!  Gasp!  What do I do?  I looked up… there was Kurt studying the samples of the daily specials… what could I do?  Educate.

Me: “What’s up buddy?”

Kurt: “Hey man… they fish today.

Me: “Yeah I know… I’d order something else.”

Kurt: “I know… its catfish… bottom feeder… discussing.”

Sweet, this is going to be easier than I thought… and then… one of our café waiters came up behind us.

Waiter: Good afternoon gentlemen, if I were you today, I would order the fish.

Both Kurt and I quickly panned that idea grumbling something about catfish and then the waiter chimed in with a big smile… “Yes… but this isn’t just any catfish… it Vietnamese catfish… very exotic.”

Folks… I might embellish from time to time on this blog… but I am retelling this conversation pretty much exactly how it went down.

I just can’t seem to escape Pangas… it seems to be haunting my dreams too… but that’s a whole different story for a different time.

Day 675: Leaving it all Behind

If you are an avid reader of SchutzHappens… you’ll already know I have a tendency to get on a topic and jump on it until there’s nothing left.  So, please forgive my current preoccupation with my theatre past.  Mother’s Day marked my 10 year graduation anniversary from the College of Charleston… which I guess is some sort of milestone… or at least it has spawned a certain amount of reminiscing. 

Beyond it being 10 years since CofC… this year also marks 17 years since my first stage performance.  Even though the anniversary doesn’t actually take place until November and it certainly isn’t a nice round number worth celebrating… the realization of 17 years and its close proximity to 20 years is baffling to me.  And the numbers are simply ridiculous.   If you were to take the number of shows I worked on and divided then by 17, I can still boast an average of 4 shows a year for the last 17 years.  When I step back and look at that it feels pretty crazy. 

At one point my average was up to 6 shows per year, but I cut back after meeting Serena… and I cut back more after become a father… and now?  Well, I haven’t even been active in the theatre community for over two years.
When I joined this wacky Foreign Service machine I left it all behind, completely… walking away from my creative outlets.  Shockingly, this seemed to worry quite a few people other than myself.  “What are you going to do?”  Well… I don’t know… I guess something different. 

Some people ask, “Don’t you miss acting?”  I guess… maybe a little bit… but not really.  Performing is a huge time commitment… and even if you land a paying gig, you’re still working during the day.  Time is precious, right?  I think we all grow up and our lives end up taking new directions.

When I used to teach I would always tell my kids one very specific thing, “don’t get too attached to one idea of how your life is going to turn out… while you’re busy working towards that… you might miss a really great opportunity.”  Granted, when you teach theatre you’re dealing with 30 kids who all ‘know’ they’re going to be ‘discovered’ and become famous actors before they get ‘old’ and turn 22.  I know because I was one of those teenagers. 
Anyway, at the time I was dishing out this Tony Robbins-esque fortune cookie advice, I really didn’t know what the heck I was talking about.  But, it sounded good… and it helped put things into perspective for my kids.  And now?  I just think it’s really cool that I had the opportunity to take my own advice.

I don’t know if any of my former students actually read this blog, but about a year ago I received an email from one after hearing about my transition into the Foreign Service and my move to Belgrade.  She wanted to point out the truth behind Oscar Wilde’s quote, “Life imitates Art more than Art imitates Life”.  Her example?  Me.

While teaching at Walton High School, I directed Woody Allen’s “Don’t Drink the Water”.  The play takes place in an American Embassy located in a non-descript Eastern European country.  Eight years later… well… you know the end to that story… I guess I ‘won’ that Oscar I’ve always had my eye on after all. ;)

Day 674: Dibs

Okay, I had to share this little piece of Wiki-ness.  Watching an episode of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ they referenced a Wikipedia entry for ‘Dibs’. 

Of course, I had to check it out.  This is probably one of the most entertaining wiki entries I’ve ever read.  Enjoy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dibs

Day 673: Blog Self Awareness

No shame my friends!  This blog is what keeps me sane.  And trust me… my sanity is a very important thing.  And ‘no shame’ is a pretty apt mantra to what I’m doing here in my little electronic den of… of… whatever. 

During my wonderfully intoxicated years studying theatre at the College of Charleston my roommate organized a weekly event called “No Shame Theatre”.  The quick and dirty on this tradition is pretty simple: Every Friday night at 11pm, us theatre folk would congregate in the courtyard outside the Simon’s Center and read through scripts we had been working on.  Oh, I should probably mention that CofC has a very dynamic Playwriting section… which is pretty much where my loose ‘monologue-esque’ informal writing style comes from.

Anyway, ‘No Shame Theatre’ pretty much served two purposes: 

1)      Playwrights need to hear their words spoken out loud by actors… that’s the whole point of writing a play.  However, young playwrights almost never get a chance to hear their words.  In addition, the writing process can get very long, daunting and lonely.  ‘No Shame’ gave us something to look forward to… a mark for personal deadlines… and sometimes even new inspiration when writers block or second guess had settled in.

2)      Actors need practice reading lines ‘cold’… which means picking up a script they’ve never seen before and performing it without any preparation.  At least 98% of every audition I’ve been to had a ‘cold reading’ component to it.   So it was an important skill to develop… and ‘No Shame Theatre’ was the perfect place to hone it.

So, why was it called ‘No Shame Theatre’?  Well… become most of the stuff we did there completely sucked.  We were a bunch of writers in our early 20s who ‘thought’ we knew something about the world and had a story to tell… and frankly, at the time most of us were still trying to figure out our voice and weren’t exactly producing quality material… not to mention the fact most of the actors showing up to read our ‘brilliant’ meanderings were half in the bag by 11pm on a Friday night.

To us, ‘No Shame’ meant the acknowledgement of imperfection, liberation from judgment, and dedication to our community.  We gave each other permission to fail gracefully.  And it was awesome. 

PS: If anyone tries to tell you I hated ‘No Shame Theatre’ and spent the better part of three years calling it the ‘speed bump of my Friday night’ because it interrupted my buzz… they are liars.

PSS: Okay, they aren’t liars… it’s just taken me this long to see how awesome ‘No Shame’ really was.  A guy can change, right?

Day 672: Stuck on Prom

Its Prom season, isn't it?  I have no idea anymore.  I discovered this website years ago when I was working as an educational director.  One of our students was profiled on this site after posting her prom dress and her boy friend’s matching vest.  This is cool stuff.  I wish I had this much initiative in high school.  Now it’s a full blow scholarship contest and the outfits are way more elaborate. 

www.ducttapeprom.com