Author Topic: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY  (Read 70830 times)

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Offline apskip

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AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« on: June 04, 2007, 12:25:14 PM »
Since the concensus appears to be to adopt Amazing Race Asia as the gap-filler, I am proposing a one-episode-a-week schedule starting right now. puddin has provided wonderful downloads of the first 3 episodes on the "Future of TAR thread" for you to watch those episodes. If anyone wants to do a summary of each episode just like mswood does for regular TAR epsidoes, that will add value.
I propose to roll from episode to episode each Monday morning on this thread rather than starting new threads every week(but if are fortunate to have lengthy commentaries each week then we can always go to separate threads).

EPISODE 1
The first episode of all TAR races is usually jam-packed action because there is a lot of teams jockeying for position; ARA1 is no exception. The level of the tasks was, as noted by GeorgiaPeach in the "Future of TAR thread", superior to that of recent TAR races. Also, most of the tasks were highly physical. Although you might have expected that to put Mardy and Marsio, the least fit team, at a disadvantage they actually managed to finish first on this episode. Bad luck getting their first cab put Sandy and Francesca way behind and they never caught up, finishing last and getting a huge break when it turned out to be a non-elimination leg.

Some of my observations of things I did not like to see were:
1. Multiple teams used the "follow the hired taxi" routine, copied no doubt from AR9 or earlier since AR10 was being filmed at about the same time as ARA1.
2. It wouldn't be an Amazing Race if we didn't see at least one fender bender; Ernie caused this one.
3. Taxi stealing is a fine art and you saw Andy and Laura execute it to make sure Sandy and Francesca did not catch up with them. Remember that scene.

Doubtless you have some interesting on episode 1 of ARA1.

« Last Edit: June 05, 2007, 08:00:58 AM by apskip »

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2007, 05:43:21 PM »
Who out there:

would love to watch but doesn't have access to episodes except these first three?

already saw it thanks!

doesn't want to watch at all?

might be willing to stick the rest of the episodes up somewhere for us?

(Just trying to figure out if/how we can do this so everybody who wants can join in)

And would you believe I'm unspoiled except for the make-up of the winning team? Hard to believe, huh? :lol3:
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Offline mswood

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2007, 07:48:33 PM »
Hell Peach, I just downloaded (opps illegal, forget I mentioned that) this season.  And I have no knowledge at all who wins.

Really the only real complaints I have about this season (up to about episode 7) is that no Phil.  I mean sure the host is very nice eye candy (Yummmmmm, my god look at those arms, drool), but he almost sounds robotic on his delivery of dialogue.  I really miss Phil.

The first episode reminded me just a little too much of an episode of the Family Edition.

And on a more personal level, it took me longer to remember names to faces than any other season (except for the 40 members in the Family Edition), and that while everyone speaks english, it took me a while to get used to accents.

But after the thrid episode all the issues (except Phil) were pretty much gone. issues.


Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2007, 08:01:46 PM »
Quote
I just downloaded this season.....

Is it from bittorrents--or from somewhere we can all get to?

I just hate to have a thread that not everyone can join in on. Someone is making me a DVD but so far we only have the first 3 eps to share--any ideas how we can get this out there for everybody to see?


Quote
sure the host is very nice eye candy

And I luuuve his dimples! :luvu:
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Offline mswood

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2007, 10:58:04 PM »
Its a torrent.

And yeah, he is hot.

But I wish he would just relax a little.

I do wonder if this is perhaps just because he is trying to make sure his englih is is easily understood (doesn't seem to be a problem at all).  And his deliver does get a little less wooden (I said wooden, he, he) as the episodes go.


Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2007, 11:01:40 PM »
He sounded to me like someone had told him "Phil does it like this--and we want you to do it EXACTLY the same way".

Maybe his own personality will come out more in the new season.

Totally based on the first 3 episodes because that is all I have! :-\
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Offline Neobie

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2007, 06:03:46 AM »
Hmm... Really? Heh, I thought TAR:A sucked when it came out and never took it seriously. Come on, rappelling down Berjaya Times Square has... nothing to do with Malaysia actually. Does it?

Offline apskip

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2007, 07:14:54 AM »
The juxtaposition of the modern shopping tower with the ancient arts of batik and pottery making is what modern Malaysia is all about.
« Last Edit: June 05, 2007, 08:01:24 AM by apskip »

Offline apskip

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2007, 10:19:01 PM »
For any of you who might be having difficulty playing the Veoh link provided by puddin in post #498 in the "Future of the Amazing Race" thread like I did(I only got a 5 minute 00 second segment instead of the listed 47 minutes and some seconds for ARA1 Ep.2), I found a way to solve this. If you want to know so thast you can view Episode 2, please send me a Private Message. Hopefully, this problem was unique to me, but you never know.

Offline apskip

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2007, 08:00:56 AM »
EPISODE 2

The first thing you learn is that every one of these teams provided financial help to the #10 team, Sandy/Francesca, who were given no money as a result of last week's last place finish in non-elimination. Sandy/Francesca were later shown augmenting that with some begging in the airport.The drama of teams getting to the airport and jockeying for position in the line at Air Asia is somewhat undercut by the standard BUNCHING. I am going to speculate that the route for Amazing Race Asia 1 was primarily developed based on where Air Asia flies and that it doesn't go many places where Air Asia doesn't fly.

Arrival in Jakarta means a mad cab ride to Ragunan Zoo. It is obvious that there are none of the controls imposed on regular Amazing Race, as the taxi drivers as routinely driving on the shoulder as motivated by the teams. The first task is a ROADBLOCK where the selected individual has 2 minutes to navigate inside a python cage to get a clue from a clue box. There is no real danger here, as the keepers have fed the pythons before letting anyone in the cage and are not going to let anyone get hurt. The FAST FORWARD clue is now available to teams that want to try for it. Ernie/Jeena and Prasant/Sahil go for it. Ernie/Jeena have a poor taxi that lets them off somewhere in the neighborhood of the school that is their destination. By the time they reach the school, Sahil/Prasant have already tested about half of the 50 Walkmans that children have and have found the right one that generates the clue to thte pitstop. Ernie/Jeena are now trying to play catchup on the regular tasks.

The next task was the Sumatran Plate Dance. All teams seemed to breeze through this one, although it could have held them up for a long while. Next is a DETOUR, choice of PUSH or SELL. Everyone chooses PUSH except Jacqueline/Aubrey, who have to sell 15 bowls of baso(meatball) soup. They do a decent job and the onlookers seem eager to buy. PUSH means pushing a cart with all of the ingredients of the soup plus stacks of bowls plus a bowl of sloshing soy auce. Spilling the soy sauce means you have to repeat the path. You must sing the cart vendor's song in Indonesian while you are pushing. Slow and steady is the key to this. All teams seem to realize this. the one team that realizes it but is playing catchup and has to take major risks is Ernie/Jeena. They were speeding through it and were the only ones to have major soy sauce spills. They had to do it again, which basically cemented their last place finish(although I think they were going to be there no matter what they did on PUSH because of their late start).

The arrival at the MONAS International Monument pitstop was predictable. Sahil/Prasant finished first. Mardy/Marsio who are Indonesian and know the language and probably a lot about Jakarta finished second. The producers tried to simulate an exciting finish between Sandy/Francesca and Ernie/Jeena. However, the time lost on the Fast Forward was too significant to make up and Ernie/Jeena had to redo the pushcast path. I am guessing that they finished at least 30 minutes behind Sandy/Francesca in spite of what the editing was attempting to sell(a close finish).


Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2007, 05:21:44 PM »
Thanks apskip! I'm really enjoying this --it reminds me of when our TAR was young and fresh.

Highlights for me this week:

Very full days--that looked exhausting. Having less travel time=more time for fun tasks.

I loved the option of selling soup and then if you don't sell it all you can eat what is left! Lets you choose how long to mess with the selling.

Loved how well the teams did with the plate dance--if that had been me there would have been piles of broken dishes all around my feet for sure. :rotf:

My episode hung up right at the end but was able to figure it out from next week's summary.

But now I'm sad cause I don't have more all ready--looks like bittorrents are in my future if i want to see the rest.
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Offline apskip

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #11 on: June 11, 2007, 06:20:38 PM »
PEACH, I think you are right about bit torrents in your future, but your future does not need to be next week as puddin has provided a link to episode 3 in Post #498 on "The Future of the Amazing Race" thread. Thanks again, puddin.

However, when I tried to play it I had the same problem as the prior week. Here is what you need to do to be able to get episodes 2 and 3:

1. Download the Veoh player from www.veoh.com.
2. Once downloaded, go back and browse www.veoh.com for files in the Advanced Search mode, which you find by clicking on the box in the upper right.
3. Enter the string "Amazing Race" in the top box and submit.
4. You will get many results, including the Amazing Race Asia 1 episodes 1, 2 and 3. Click on those that you want and download them (this took me about 1.5 hours each).
5. After they are downloaded, click on them to start playing. If you get audio but no video(this happened to me), your operating system should tell you what extra software needs to be downloaded. I had to download a free package from www.divx.com before I got the picture.

None of this will do you any good beyond episode 3 because there are no Veoh files for episodes 4 through 13 of Amazing Race Asia 1. You will have to go to torrents for that. I am downloading a torrent package right now. If successful, I will put instructions for it onto this thread.
« Last Edit: June 16, 2007, 12:07:09 PM by apskip »

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #12 on: June 11, 2007, 06:49:54 PM »
I already watched #3... :(
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Offline apskip

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #13 on: June 18, 2007, 10:35:58 AM »
EPISODE 3

Sahil/Prasant received only a 28 minute head start for their Fast Forward victory in episode 2. Second out of the pitsop was Mardy and Marsio. The following 6 teams  were bunched within 19 minutes of each other. Finally, Sandyand Francesca were the last team to leave the pitstop. Of course it made absolutely no difference because the departure time for the first Air Asia flight was many hours later, so all teams had to wait at the Jakarta airport for their flight to Bali. On arrival, they are directed to the famous Kuta beach for digging in the sand. This is that proverbial "needle in the haystack roadblock".
Buried 18 inches down is something(it turns out to be a miniature surfboard) and the digging pit is quite large. A small spade is provided initially. All teams struggle. After about one hour Andy/Laura decide to take a 4 hour penalty similar to what Rob did avoiding eating meat in Mendoza Argentina in AR7. Mardy and Marsio go out with them. At some point between 2 and 3 hours, umbrellas are brought to shade the remaining diggers and drinks are allowed. Sahil/Prasant(I can't remember who was digging for most teams) find the surfboard first. Howard/Sahran find it second. There is only about half an hour left before the digging time limit. Aubrey/Jacqueline decide to take the penalty. So does Syeon, who should not have been doing this roadblock. With her hands getting bloody, she and Andrew pack it in and take the penalty. Shovels are now allowed. Sandy, who has moved a mountain of sand and makes good use of the shovel, finds it. Sharon/Melody get lucky just before the time limit expires and find it. Zabrina and Joe-Jer have to take the 4 hour penalty.
All teams have to go to an Internet cafe to find their next clue. It directs them to a DETOUR, Elephant Walk or WhiteWater Rafting.   
Next is the Monkey Forest, where there are 200 clues on trees, at least before the monkeys stole some. 5%, meaning 10 (one more than the number of teams) have actual instructions. Coming out of the Monkey Forest, the team order and nationality(not including the penalties) is:
Andy/Laura        Thailand(but really from the United Kingdom)
Sahil/Prasant      India
Howard/Sahran  Sri Lanka
Mardy/Marsio      Indonesia
Andrew/Syeon   Malaysia
Sandy/Francesca HongKong(but he is really from new Zealand)
Zabrina/JoeJer    Malaysia
Sharon/Melody   Singapore
Jacqueline/Aubrey Philippines (and so were Ernie/Jeena who were eliminated in episode 2)

It looks like with their penalties it will be a fight between Andrew/Syeon, Zabrina/JoeJer, and Jacqueline/Aubrey for elimination. Teams are now directed to Uuluwatu Caves, which only is a transfer point to send them on to the pitstop at Tanahlot Temple.

Zabrina/JoeJer manage to make up an incredible amount of ground and get their first, which guarantees them a 5th place finish. Howard/Sahran hustle and slide into second place arrival, getting first place and actual prizes(SONY videocams). Sandy/Francesca comes in next. Mardy/Marsio, Andy/Laura, and Andrew/Syeon take the next 3 spots and with their penalties get 6th, 7th and 8th. Sharon/Melody are next and finish 3rd. Sahil/Prasant allowed Andrew/Syeon to take their cab and avoid what might have been a last place finish. They finish next-to-last and place 4th. Jacqueline and Aubrey come in last and are eliminated. They had a constituency of Asian men rooting for them, but I think the race will be better off without them.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2007, 08:50:23 PM by apskip »

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2007, 05:50:22 PM »
Thank you apskip for another really excellent TARA episode summary!

I haven't felt so bad for a team since the whole Hay Bale thing--did you think any of them would ever find it? I thought Sandy might strike oil first! :lol:

I have no more episodes to see right now  :'( but have some hope for maybe later!

I loved the first three episodes and I hear it just gets better so we have lots to look forward to!
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Offline apskip

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #15 on: June 21, 2007, 03:16:56 PM »
Let's suppose that someone had been hearing about torrents and wanted to know how to use them to see a certain season. How could they do it?

First, they should download www.utorrent.com to get version 1.6.1.
Next, they should take a look at http://www.poromenos.org/tutorials/bittorrent/download to learn what to do with it.
The trickiest part is configuring ports. I decided based on some article to try port 53517 for my DSL connection and that works for it, but it would be different for other connections. Experiment to find the right one for you! You may need help here from your ISP.
The next piece of the puzzle is to find the material to download. If you were to look in the upper right-hand box labeled <Search here> on uTorrent 1.6.1, click on the Looking Glass and the list box that opens will give you several choice. Try a few and use the name of your favorite season once you get as the search string. You should soon find at least one complete season in torrents.
Once you find the desired material, just click to start downloading it. The DHT (dynamic hash table) will show up the the bottom of the screen and download and upload statistics will appear there. Seeds and peers (different level of material providers) will start sending you segments, which will be pieced together into whole units. Once you having any whole units, then you will become a seed or peer for other people and uploading from your site will start. It took me 4 whole days to download a set of units slightly less than 4 Gigabytes.
Once your download has finished, your upload should by courtesy be allowed to continue but you can start to play your material. Go to the files tab lower left. Click on the line you want to open and it will start playing. When finished just click on another line and it will play. You can save this material under any folder and name you want.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2007, 05:22:37 PM by apskip »

Offline patlini

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #16 on: June 21, 2007, 09:14:17 PM »
first time post ....

I have just successfully watched the full season from this below link

http://onlinetvshowsandmore.googlepages.com/theamazingraceasiaseasonone

from episode 4 onwards the site hosting it changes - and the download time is a lot slower than veoh, (the site that's hosting is in Taiwan) but if you're patient it works

enjoy!

p.s. hope its ok to post the link directly up here

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #17 on: June 21, 2007, 09:30:42 PM »
 :welcome2: to patlini!

 :hearts: Oh thank you! I am going to try that right out because I haven't tried bitty torrents yet--I'm letting apskip figure it out first! ;)

But I LOVED the first three episodes and wanted some more!

So if I'm up all night tonight--it will be all your fault! :lol:

We are very glad you joined us!
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Offline patlini

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #18 on: June 21, 2007, 09:48:27 PM »
Thanks!!!  ;D

not sure if bitty torrents quality would be better, sound is in english but has Taiwanese? subtitles and i found the picture to be just OK.  But I could live with it to watch the full series.

And like TAR it is addictive so if you start you can't finish...

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #19 on: June 21, 2007, 11:00:13 PM »
Well it loaded up really quickly, but it keeps hanging up (pausing) every few seconds--I'll give it another go tomorrow! Thanks again! :kuss:
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Offline patlini

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #20 on: June 22, 2007, 07:37:31 PM »
GeorgiaPeach - hope you have better luck today with the site, i checked today from work (oops) and it worked like a champ - how embarrassing to post a duff link on my first post.  :-[

I am eager to discuss episodes 4 - 13 and don't want to spoil anything.

thoughts so far, Wow - they do a lot!!!
I like how Andy  instigated a Boston Rob (a la meat eating) at the dig roadblock.  Was it me or did that seem like a brutal roadblock compared to TAR.  Also the penalty didn't start until they hit the mat in TAR7 it started at the roadblock here.
I also liked the fast forward, using a sponsors' products but not so in your face as they have been on TAR (grrr - gnomes).


Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #21 on: June 22, 2007, 07:49:53 PM »
Oh don't worry--even some of the CBS ones give me trouble here and there!

And I'm really looking forward to watching--it is going to be my weekend treat so thank you again! Even if it is hangy uppy it will be better than none at all! :wohoo:

And for a spoiler queen--I'm really pretty unspoiled so don't y'all tell me till Monday who goes out next! :lol3:
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Offline apskip

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #22 on: June 23, 2007, 08:28:01 AM »
patlini, WELCOME. We are pleased to have more participants eager to discuss ARA1 and active in this dialogue.

The issue of when penalties are applied is a very contentious one in ARA1. In this episode 3, they actually get it right (watch out for later). You should take another look, patlini. The penalty is not applied until they get to the pitstop. At that time, since Jacqueline and Aubrey are the last of all the finshers and have the same penalty as 5 others, they automatically become team #9. with the penalty applied, the other teams with penalties become #5 through #8. If they had applied the penalty immediately, it would have washed out overnight with the hours of operation and been meaningless.
« Last Edit: June 24, 2007, 11:38:49 AM by apskip »

Offline georgiapeach

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #23 on: June 23, 2007, 10:12:37 PM »
Finally got to see Ep 4  :wohoo:

I think it took about 2 hours because of the tape pauses but still! Thanks patlini!
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Offline Slowhatch

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Re: AMAZING RACE ASIA COMMENTARY
« Reply #24 on: June 24, 2007, 12:15:34 AM »
Quote from: Apskip
The issue of when penalties are applied is a very contentious one in ARA1
Ain't that the truth. I downloaded the series and am now about 2/3 of the way through. I don't want to say too much and spoil it for Peach, but the way in which one penalty is applied (for speeding) is so suspicious  ???  it stinks up the place.