A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

I'LL GO TALLY THE VOTES: We haven't said word one about the new Survivor yet, but it's starting off pretty interestingly, so these thoughts:

• Castaways I like: Angie, the Tattooed Indie Chick with the Perpetually Blurred Nipple; The Guy Who Looks Like Ed Bradley; The Guy Who Looks And Sounds Like Spike Jonze in Three Kings; and Tom and Ian, The Guys Who'll Probably Win.
• I really liked both of tonight's challenges -- a nautical game of Steal the Bacon and the death march from hell.
• It's interesting -- just as The Race has moved away from model-types, Survivor has embraced them again. But that's fine.

No one's really playing the alliance game yet, and nothing fundamental has changed about the structure of the game. But so far, it's working. Go figure.