We cannot believe we are at this point in the game. Three remaining
players, an excruciatingly tough challenge, and thousands of fans
waiting anxiously to see the results...

WHO IS THE MVP?

This round's prompt forces the players to boast about their ruthless
cunning, their spectacular betrayals, and their masterful strategy
throughout the game.

MIMI

Mimi posted first, giving us the play-by-play for each challenge round.
She confirmed she joined the mega-alliance early on, and though she
might not, by her own assessment, be a "a visual arts expert like
James, or a sexy Russian God with an obvious boner, or a cute,
versatile bubbly Portlander, or a cute, versatile, funny Portlander,"
she is a writer, by profession, and it stood her through till the end.
Nearly the end, anyway.

Her post was a little rambling, but it was honest and fun to read. One
thing we noticed, though, is that this entry had a different attitude
than her entries usually do. It seems like Mimi has already anticipated
her face going through the shredder and no longer thinks she can win.
She's lost a little bit of her fire. (Then again, it might just be that
reality is getting in the way of reality blogging a little bit.)

Here are some choice quotes from her post:

"I voted for Lois because she seemed disapproving of me. I dislike
disapproval and try and thwart goodness and sense whenever possible."
"I sense that James is a gentlemen, and aligned strongly with Willow,
who scares me because she is nice."
"Our desire to crush Willow grows. It becomes an obsession with Ritchie
and I. We plan her demise deep into the night, relishing the
destruction of one so nice."
"At first it was indiscriminate slaughter, then ruthless assassination,
and now fortune and betrayal."

JAMES

James posted next, with a long, nonlinear account of his supposed
alliance with Willow (the famed Merit Badgers) masking his higher
STALIN alliance. (more info: http://www.hiho.org/STALIN.php) He talks
about how his personal conviction in pacifism came into conflict with
the knowledge that playing dirty would bring him closer to winning.

James says that while he was working as a double agent he was afraid
that he "would have to one day make that fateful decision between the
two; the pact built on love, or the pact built on fear and deceit."
Luckily for him his STALIN alliance never forced him into casting a
vote for his other alliance mate. Lyova wasn't so lucky...

LYOVA

We cannot truly describe to you the depth of the wickedness and
strategy that Lyova has successfully exercised up until this point.
Ritchey made this illustrative comment to Lyova: there is nothing that
can be said to fully express how amazingly brilliant you are. You have
played us all like violins. My mind is absolutely blown and I am left
an empty husk.

What else is there to say...
We can at least point out that though Lyova has never watched reality
tv, he has studied history. This knowledge has been the basis for his
rich and brilliant strategy. In his own words, "These men that I hate
but which I must emulate in order to become primo."

watch this great video: http://www.hiho.org/news-desk.php

The details of the deceptive alliance structure are complex, but the
fundamental concept was that "instead of uniting together to create a
simple alliance, it would be more profitable to operate independently
within two separate alliances, thus controlling both sides of the
front, the votes of two groups and, obviously, its own security. In
this sense, it is of course secret and meta; it is the true Politbyuro,
of which RM39 and the Merit Badgers are only the reflection."

In order to effect the final step in crushing all alliances in favor of
the secret STALIN alliance, Lyova was forced to vote off his comrade
Ritchey. It is clear he feels sorrow, and offers her this tribute
video:
http://www.urbanhonking.com/ultimateblogger/den/lyova/atribute.html

Lyova, your masterful cunning and ruthless strategizing (not to mention
your ceaselessly fantastic blogging) has truly made you mega master of
this game. You may have even overcome what Adorno (or was it Thomas
Bartz?) called, "the hardest thing about any political campaign," --
"how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning."
(We truly can't imagine what this game would have been like without
you.)

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

Lyova will win immunity. That much seems clear. And it sure doesn't
seem like James is very concerned about that. Presumably Lyova has
committed to bring James into the final 2 with him (though if we were
James we would want to hold some collateral to guarantee that turn of
events...) One thing to keep in mind is that we still do not know how
the game will progress once we reach the final 2. What do Game Hosts
have planned?

We've learned a lot of new information today, but something still seems
not right. One commenter asked James what his final plans were and
James replied with this:  "i was just sorta hoping this next challenge
would be the sort where the best man/woman won. i gather we won't have
to vote, so.. well.. i really have no idea what's going to happen if i
make it."

We don't believe that for one single second, James!!! Who are you
trying to fool?
There are DEFINITELY secrets yet to be revealed.

We have some material we're working on in the research lab, but it's
not quite ready to be shared. We'll take any other insider info or
crackpot theories you readers want to send us, and if we find out
anything conclusive you'll be the first to hear about it.

We're exhausted from all this excitement.
Time for bed.

-- the UHUHUGGGBGUBUHUG