Jean-Robert speaks Mandarin

My short story “Change of Plans” was accepted for issue #2 of the new eZine Nossa Morte, which launches next month. Issue 2 will be out in February, 2008. While they aren’t a pro-paying market, they are a paying market and I had a terrific experience working with their fiction editor during the submissions process. The editor had some very good ideas about how to maximize the effect of the ending of the story and picked up on ways that I showed my hand concerning the ending too soon. That level of editorial input is all too rare, in my opinion.

Whodathunkit? Jean-Robert (Survivor) speaking serviceable Mandarin had to be both one of the freakiest and coolest developments this season. The cultural event was made all that much more special by the fact that they were able to communicate with the locals through him. Their manner of fishing was amazing, too, with those trained birds. Pretty freaky.

The eviction was a toss-up. Without being present all the time, it’s hard to judge whether someone who is productive but annoying is worse than someone who isn’t helping around the camp but is easy to live with and can pull her weight at the competitions. It’ll be interesting to see how the tribe fares next week.

It would be fascinating to see the reality show from the players’ POV. By that I mean—exactly how many people are swarming around them all the time with cameras and parabolic mikes. To eavesdrop on people swimming in the lagoon, they must have pretty good audio equipment. What would happen if, say, all members of a tribe decided to go into the jungle in different directions? Are there enough camera people around to follow them all at the same time? If not, would the producers prevent someone from doing something they couldn’t film? Inquiring minds (i.e. me) want to know.

I wondered about this, too, with something like The Amazing Race. Are there times when the players can’t take certain flights because there’s room for two, but not for the cameraperson? If they’re dashing to get on a bus and just make it, do they have to wait for the crew to catch up? What would happen if they got away from their handlers and ended up on a flight with no one following them?

I also wonder about the logistics of planning the challenges on Survivor. They would have to prepare for any number of lopsided team compositions. Suppose it ended up seven to three—that would rule out certain types of challenges.

I’m thinking waaay too much about all this stuff! In the shower this morning, I was even thinking about a themed short story collection with each story inspired by a different reality show.

I’m looking forward to next week’s C.S.I. to see how the Griss/Sara story evolves, based on the preview. I missed a few minutes of last night’s episode. Did the old bum in the alley die of exposure? And what was the deal with the bee’s-eye-view at the beginning, which was mirrored again at the end when Griss found the bee next to the final victim. Were we to assume that had something to do with evil spirits being cast out? I know Griss is studying bees to find out why they’re dying.