Overrated - TV Show - Survivor

I don't watch a lot of reality TV. I do remember, though, when it first started to become popular, how much I got into Survivor. I remember watching it way back when in 2000, and I loved it. My friends and I would take turns watching it in each others' basements. It was great, I even won the pool we had going about who the winner would be (always naked Richard, ugh). I remember liking it for one main reason: it seemed like a real physical challenge. People starved, had to survive rainstorms with no shelter, and had gross sand fleas. Oh, and they had to put up with a bunch of really weird people.

I don't know how it happened, but I started watching Survivor again this year. Cancelling my cable probably helped. I hate it, but I can't look away.

 Pictured: "Surviving"





My biggest problem is that my main reason for loving it years and years ago is gone.  It seems like there is no surviving! Every other challenge is centered around food! There's no need to hunt or scavenge because there are so many food companies sponsoring challenges.

Also (and I feel silly even bringing this up as a critique of a reality show), there's so much stupid drama. At this point I'm probably being redundant, but Survivor and reality TV in general just seems so overrated. Where is the entertainment in watching people fight and talk, talk and then fight, and then maybe talk some more about how hurt they are that other people want to win the show. I don't mind scheming and plotting, that can be fun to watch, but everyone takes everything so personally. The goal is to win, and everyone wants to win. So many of the people act so insulted all the time without the excuse of being physically drained. I don't understand it.

Underrated - TV Shows - Freaks and Geeks

Freaks and Geeks was on sporadically for one season from 1999-2000. Because of this, I ended up watching it on DVD. It's one of the sweetest, silliest, funniest shows I've ever seen.  There are 18 episodes, and each one is well thought out thematically and acted perfectly.

It takes place in the early 1980s and follows two groups of teens: the "Freaks" (comprised of disenchanted stoners and school-skippers) and the "Geeks" (awkward Freshman who love Star Wars and can't figure out how to fit in).  The show had Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) as a writer and director for many episodes, and a lot of the actors in the show are in his later movies, like James Franco, Seth Rogen, and Jason Segel.  There are countless actors you will recognize. Two of my favorites are Biff from Back to the Future (aka Thomas F. Wilson) who plays the gym teacher (!!!) and a teeny-tiny Shia LaBeouf who plays the school's mascot.

One of the things I love about this show is that it takes characters that should be stereotypes and gives them a twist - even the supporting roles. For example, the gym teacher, the bully, and the religious girl  are all presented at first exactly how you would think, but then they are eventually given moments that are surprising and show depth of character. To use the tried and true words from English class - these are round, dynamic characters. This isn't to say that the characters have dramatic changes of heart or do anything that crosses the threshold of believability. There are no sappy lessons learned, or ridiculous epiphanies in the last 3 minutes of each episode. Freaks and Geeks is a great show.

Overrated - Young Adult Novel

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. What a great name for a novel. This is a book I just never connected with, though. It's a beloved children's book that I hated as a child.  I remember it being read aloud to my 5th grade class, and I remember watching the cartoon version in school, wishing it were shorter. 

As an adult I can look at the story and pinpoint the allusions and religious symbolism, but as a kid that wasn't interesting to me and just went over my head. Also, lots of the plot points don't logically make sense unless you are connecting it to religion (like Aslan dying and then coming back to life), which didn't happen in my public elementary school.

I think the biggest reason this book was so disappointing to read as a child is because the characters just aren't that developed. Aside from Edmund being bratty and Lucy being the youngest, I can't really describe them. They just aren't memorable, and so that makes it hard to get really into the adventures they have. Whereas in The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, I could tell you all about Claudia and Jamie's personalities and motivation behind their actions, In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, all four kids seemed like one collective unit that acted very similar and had similar motivations.

 

In this instance, I think the movie is preferable to the book.

Also, it ended up taking me a long time to figure out what the heck a Turkish Delight was.

Underrated - Young Adult Novel

I read a lot when I was young. My fear of the dark lasted way longer than necessary because my parents let me keep a giant "night light" in my bunk bed that I used as a reading lamp.  I think I was in 5th grade when I read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L.Konigsburg. What a great book. This is one of those books where I can still vividly picture most of the scenes. Unlike the book I'm writing about for the overrated post, this is a book I connected with. A young girl who is tired of her family, bored with her life, and wants an adventure. 

The main character of the book is Claudia, a girl who wants to run away. She decides the perfect place to run away to is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She realizes she doesn't have enough money to do it, so she convinces her only sibling that saves his money, her younger brother, Jamie, to come along with her. Claudia is methodical and plans their escape in great detail. To an adult it seems far-fetched, but to a 5th grader it makes perfect sense. They manage to make it an entire week in the museum, bathing in a fountain, sleeping in antique beds, and hiding in the bathrooms around closing time. They even manage to solve a mystery about a sculpture that may or may not have been sculpted by Michelangelo.

I love this book. There is fantasy surrounding Claudia's scheme to run away, but there is enough reality to make it relatable. I don't think it would ever make a child actually run away, it just makes the fantasy of imagining "what if?" fun and entertaining.

Underrated - Coffee Dripper

A woman I used to work with gave me a coffee dripper she didn't use that was given to her by someone who also didn't use it. It was still in its package, bright pink, and I didn't have high hopes for it. The thing is incredible though. It makes delicious coffee, is easy to use, and while the cleanup isn't as easy as a Keurig, it's still easier and quicker than a french press. Also, I can use whatever coffee I want.




Here is my coffee dripper. It sits on top of your mug, you just boil the water (I have an electric kettle, so it's quick), put a filter in it with your coffee grinds, and pour the water over the grinds. The coffee "drips" into your cup. It's also easy to make two cups at a time, you just switch the dripper between two cups with double the coffee. To clean up you just throw out the filter and wash. It also goes in the dishwasher.

I love it. It doesn't take up a lot of space and is easy and quick. You can also put the dripper on top of a travel mug and make exactly what you need (which is something that you can't do in a Keurig, since a travel mug won't fit).

Overrated - Keurig Coffee

I received a Keurig single serve coffee maker as a gift a few years ago. I loved it. It's easy and it's fast. Insert coffee pod and water and just push a button. Coffee is ready in minutes. Cleaning up is simple too, you just throw out a coffee pod.

Why the overrated tag then? There are three critiques I have, but they are pretty important when it comes to coffee.

1. The taste - Coffee that comes from a k-cup isn't that great. There are tons of different brands to try, but the ones that I tried were slightly bitter. This is easy to mask with lots of cream and/or sugar, but if you drink it black, it's hard.

2. Using different brands - If you want to use a brand that doesn't come in a k-cup, it's not worth it. The whole point of the machine is to use the prepackaged k-cups. Around the holidays I was given four (!!!!!) bags of White Russian flavored coffee, but since it didn't come in a k-cup, I had to try a bunch of different methods to brew it in the Keurig. I tried the special basket you can buy (which defeats the purpose of a quick and easy cup of coffee, it's messy!). I tried hacks I found online whereI emptied old k-cups and washed them and covered them with tinfoil. Both ways produced weak, sad cups of coffee.

Pods

3. Price - Tons of stores sell k-cups now, but they all have different prices and it's hard to get the best deal. When it's not on sale, each k-cup comes out to around $0.50-$0.55. That's better than buying a cup at Starbucks, but it's not as good as buying a bag at the store.

So, I definitely understand why people love Keurig coffee makers, but for me they are slightly overrated. I still have my Keurig, it's just on a shelf right now, waiting for more delicious, slightly less expensive options.

Overrated Game - Monopoly

Once I heard someone refer to the game Monopoly as Monotony. It's a perfect description. Monopoly is boring. I thought maybe when I was younger that it was something I would like when I was older, but, nope, Monopoly is Monotony.

Have you ever played an entire game of Monopoly all the way through? I've never been able to.

Even with all the different themed boards - Disney, Dinosaurs, Football teams, TV shows, etc. the game never changes.

Monopoly is boring.