It's an Amazing World!

Thanks to the wonders of television on demand with a huge assist from my mom, I just watched the season finale of The Amazing Race. It is unquestionably my favorite television show on the air right now. The concept is brilliant and the editing is very well done, but what I like the most about the show is the travelogue aspect. On more than one occasion, I have planned a trip around a location I was first exposed to on TAR, and at least once a season, I can count on seeing somewhere I've already visited selected as a destination on the show. In addition to stirring up some wonderful memories, showing such destinations usually gets me shouting at the TV, occasionally even in the native language, telling the contestants or the taxi driver where to go.

I was thrilled that B.J. and Tyler won the race this season. Aside from shameless nerds Dave and Lori (and perhaps the adorable Desiree and her mother Wanda), I was rooting for the hippies the most. Part of it was Harvard solidarity with B.J. (a 2002 grad), but most of it was grounded on the fact that B.J. and Tyler genuinely showed respect for the foreign cultures they were visiting. Unlike most other contestants, who whine about nobody being able to speak English or stick the letter "o" onto English words to make them into Spanish, B.J. and Tyler took the effort to learn the native language and customs. As someone on a single-person mission to counteract the stereotype of the Ugly American, I have great respect for others who share my mindset. Yes, the hippies were consistently goofy and occasionally annoying, but I wholeheartedly believe B.J. when he said they act the way they do not for the attention they bring to themselves but for the good cheer they bring to others.

And what a pleasure to see the final roadblock favor the team with the best brains rather than the team with the best nipple piercings or the sleaziest tactics for finding their way into girls' pants.