The Pick (Ep. 413)

Jerry is dating the supermodel, Tia, that he met on the airplane and things are going well until Kramer comes into the apartment and smells her perfume that she's modeling for Calvin Klein. It's a scent called "The Ocean." This upsets Kramer since he pitched an idea for a cologne called "The Beach" and was laughed out of the building. Also, Tia catches Jerry scratching his nose, but thinks that he was picking it.

Elaine gets an idea to take a picture and put it on her Christmas cards she's sending out. Kramer offers to take the picture and put together the cards for her. The cards get sent out and Jerry notices something unusual about the picture...Elaine's nipple is showing. She's mortified and upset because everyone she knows, including her "religious" boyfriend Fred, received one. The people in the office start calling her Nip and Fred breaks up with her.

George starts regreting breaking up with Susan and is depressed over it. He goes to see a shrink, but can't even talk to her because his zipper is stuck on his jacket and it's frustrating him. He ends up, even though everyone told him not to, getting back with her. He immediately regrets his decision and looks for a way out. He decides to pick his nose in front of her to gross her out.

Jerry and Kramer go down to Calvin Klein, Jerry to approach Tia and Kramer to talk to Calvin Klein himself. Kramer ends up catching the eye of CK and asks him to be an underwear model. Tia won't talk to Jerry and swears that she knows what she saw. As the show ends, Kramer shows his new underwear ad for CK and the group thinks Kramer might have made a slip of his own in the picture.

Interesting quote: "When she came out of the bathroom, I was in up to my wrist." - George, on picking his nose

Grade: A- (Elaine rubbing George's face in her breast when he asked why he didn't get a Christmas card was priceless!)

The Airport (Ep. 412)

Jerry and Elaine are coming back from a trip to St. Louis. He had a gig and she visited her sister since he received an extra ticket from the people who booked him. George is had made a bet for $50 that he could jump and touch the awning at Jerry's building. He wasn't even close, but Jerry said he could make it up by picking them up at the airport. Their flight is cancelled, but they get two tickets on a flight into La Guardia. Unfortunately, one is in first class and the other in coach. Jerry takes the first class because Elaine has never sat in first class and wouldn't know how to handle herself (according to him).

George and Kramer get to JFK and as they are trying to find their flight they have encounters. Kramer bumps into a guy who owed him money from 20 years back and George takes the last issue of Time from a convicted criminal who is being transported. They find out the flight change and head to La Guardia. When they get there, they discover the flight has been rerouted back to JFK.

Jerry and Elaine are having total opposite experiences on the plane. Jerry sits with a supermodel and enjoys lavish treats in first class, while Elaine is cramped, starved, and miserable in coach. When Kramer and George get back to JFK Kramer convinces George to buy a ticket so that he can go on the plane and confront the man who owe's him money. He tells George that he can refund it and George tells him to buy a second one so he can get more flyer miles. They go on the plane, but Kramer gets kicked off and George is attacked in the bathroom by the convict he made mad earlier.

Interesting quote: "And the car smells like a cheap hooker, or is that you?" - Jerry

Grade: B+ (Another solid effort)

Facts about Morocco: Part II

I started this a while back with the promise of continuing to give more information about Jordan and Morocco (the two places I could possibly be living for the next couple of years). I admit I kind of slacked off. Okay, I just didn't do it. However, Kimberly and I have now found out that we are about 95% sure we are going to Morocco. This is good news since this is the one we preferred.

We have a book checked out from the library about travel in Morocco and right now I am scanning through the history to learn a little more about the background of the country. I haven't gotten very far, but here's what I've learned already. The term Berber, by which most of the locals are known, comes from the word barbarians and was given to them by the Romans. This I find odd since the Romans were a pretty barbaric bunch themselves. So either the Romans were idiots or the native Moroccans were really, really barbaric.

Speaking of the Romans, they ruled in Morocco during the height of their empire; probably a couple hundred years after Christ. They slowly began to lose grip of the kingdom because they were essentially being chased out by the local factions. Finally, they resulted to just supporting a Berber king of their choosing. He was elected, but then that fell apart too and eventually they lost complete control of the country and surrounding areas.

For the previous post on Morocco, it was posted on May 30th.

The Contest (Ep. 411)

After George tells the group that he was "caught" by his mother, causing her to fall and hurt her back, they all make a bet to see who can go the longest without.

Very shortly after they make the bet, Kramer storms into Jerry's apartment, slams his money down on the counter, and declares, "I'm out!" There is a beautiful woman walking around nude with her blinds up in the apartment building over from Kramer and Jerry and Kramer can't take it anymore. Jerry is dating Marla, the Virgin, and can't get any from her and therefore can't get any sleep. George goes to visit his mother at the hospital only to stumble upon a beautiful nurse giving a beautiful patient a sponge bath in the bed next to his mother's. Elaine goes to an aerobics class and ends up talking to JFK Jr. who she is very attracted to. Soon after, this takes a toll on her and she backs out of the bet.

Jerry is about to finally make it with Marla when he, for some reason, tells her about the bet. This makes her mad and she leaves the apartment. While leaving the apartment, she bumps into Elaine who's waiting for JFK Jr. to pick her up outside of Jerry's apartment. She tells Elaine that she thinks they are all disgusting and never wants to talk to any of them. In the end, Elaine misses Jr. and Marla ends up leaving with him after he consoles her. As the show ends, Jerry, Elaine, and George spot Kramer in the nudist's apartment.

Interesting fact: This is the first actual appearance of George's mom, Estelle. It is not said who won the bet between Jerry and George, but in the final episode, George confesses to Jerry that he cheated. So it's assumed that George "won" initially.

Interesting quote:
Jerry: "But are you still master of your domain?"
George: "I am King of the county, you?"
Jerry: "Lord of the manor."

Jerry: "The question is, 'Are you still master of your domain?'"
Elaine: "I'm Queen of the castle."

Grade: A+ (Genius episode, excellent. Nothing bad to say about it.)

The Virgin (Ep. 410)

While Jerry and George are at the comedy club they bump into a woman who he once met and strikes up a relationship with her again. Later on, he finds out she is a virgin. After Elaine goes on and on about her diaphragm in front of her, he tells Elaine, who feels bad and goes to apologize. While doing so, she educates her about how men act after they have sex. This terrifies her and she refuses to have sex with Jerry either.

George finds that telling women that he's a writer for television is a great pick-up line. Unfortunately, he's dating Susan. He wants to break up with her, but Jerry says he can't because it would risk the television show. Later when they go in to finally pitch their idea for the pilot episode to NBC, George kisses Susan and this gets her fired. George is overjoyed, but then Jerry lets him know that he can't break up with her now because she just lost her job.

Interesting quote:
Elaine: "I was just giving her the straight dope."
Jerry: "More like the dope was giving it to her straight."

Grade: C+ (Not one of the more interesting episodes)

The Opera (Ep. 409)

The opera Pagliacci starring Pavarotti is coming to town and Kramer gets 6 tickets for him, Jerry, George, Susan, Elaine, and her new boyfriend Joey. Joey happens to be Crazy Joe Davola who at this moment is out to get Jerry because he thinks that Jerry sabotaged a deal that he had with NBC. Unfortunately, Jerry doesn't know Elaine is dating Joe Davola and Elaine doesn't know that Joe Davola is out to get Jerry.

Elaine pops in on her boyfriend Joey to find that he's been taking pictures of her secretely and has a little bit of a shrine to her in his apartment. She starts getting freaked out and tells him that her friend wasn't able to get tickets to see Pagliacci. This upsets him since Pagliacci is his favorite opera. He begins to tell her that it's about this clown Pagliacci who has a wife named Nedda who cheats on him. He begins to suspect that Elaine is cheating on him and freaks out and won't let her go, so she sprays him in the face with Cherry Binaca to get away.

Susan can't go either, so now there are 2 extra tickets to the show. Kramer and George get the bright idea to scalp them, so they stand out on the corner away from the theater offering them to anyone who comes by. They have a disagreement over how much to sell the tickets for so they seperate. Kramer is approached by Crazy Joe Davola, who is dressed like Pagliacci, and is frightened (Kramer is terrified of clowns) into selling him the tickets. George finds someone to buy his ticket and is closing the deal, but then Susan shows up and says that she was able to make it. George sells the ticket anyway and gives Susan his ticket.

Interesting quote: "It is so sad. All of your knowledge of high culture comes from Bugs Bunny cartoons." - Elaine

Grade: B- (Kind of dull, but seeing Kramer squirm while talking to Crazy Joe Davola/Pagliacci is great!)

College football is here...

But just to clarify, it's still baseball season. With that being said, in the spirit of the start of the gloriousness that is college football, lets make some opening weekend picks.

#1Georgia vs. Georgia Southern - Georgia
#2Ohio St. vs. Youngstown St. - Ohio St.
Virginia vs. #3USC - USC
#4Oklahoma vs. UT-Chattanooga - Oklahoma
#5Florida vs. Hawaii - Florida
#6Missouri vs. #20Illinois - Illinois
#7LSU vs. App. St. - Tempting, but I'll go with LSU
#8W. Virginia vs. Villanova - W. Virginia
#9Clemson vs. #24Alabama - No way I'm not picking Alabama
#10Auburn vs. LA-Monroe - Auburn
#11Texas vs. Florida Atlantic - Texas
#12Texas Tech vs. E. Washington - Texas Tech
#13Wisconsin vs. Akron - Wisconsin
#14Kansas vs. Florida International - Kansas
#15Arizona St. vs. N. Arizona - Arizona St.
#16BYU vs. N. Iowa - BYU
ECU vs. #17Va Tech - ECU
#18Tennessee vs. UCLA - Tennessee
#19Oregon vs. Washington - Washington
#21Penn St. vs. Coastal Carolina - Penn St.
Baylor vs. #22Wake Forest - Wake Forest
#25Pitt vs. Bowling Green - Bowling Green

Can you do better?