M.A.G.G.I.E.

"When you're designing a bridge, always remember: Make Adjustments, Go Get It Energized! Good advice for life, too."

Amazing Race Finale

Heading into the finale, Megan/Cheyne were the favorites finishing first in most of the episodes this season. But with the inevitable bunching-up in the airport to get to Las Vegas, it really was anyone's game especially with Sam/Dan's brutal competitiveness and Brian/Ericka's utter resilience.

And up until the end, it really was anyone's game as every single team ended up 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at different moments during the finale. Brian/Ericka was first to Mandalay Bay where one member of the team had to do a first-face rappel. Ericka did this since Brian is terrified of heights. Cheyne chose to do it while keeping his eyes closed while Sam blistered through as if he was Spiderman.

Next up was to go to the Mirage Hotel and take part of a Cirque du Soleil's Love show. While Brian/Ericka was first to reach the hotel, they ended up leaving last with the other two teams having a seemingly easier time working with bungee cords.

Sam/Dan reached their next destination, the Monte Carlo, first despite leaving the Mirage second to Megan/Cheyne who had no idea that the Monte Carlo was their next stop. Teams here had to calculate out $1 million in poker chips. The brothers started out way in front, but Brian/Ericka and then Megan/Cheyne eventually caught up. The brothers started to fight which enabled Megan/Cheyne to pull ahead en route to...

...the MGM Grand to get their final clue from Mr. Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton. The brothers followed them soon after. Their last pit stop was located at Wayne Newton's house. Fast forward to the editing team making it seem like the race is neck and neck and Megan/Cheyne became the official winners of The Amazing Race.

A predictable end? Probably, but the finale itself was anyone's game. Megan/Cheyne kept their collective heads cool even when they got lost and they were able to edge out two teams who lett their emotions got the best of them during crucial times. Plus as "annoying" as these three teams have been, I would've been fine if any of them won. I was slightly rooting for Brian/Ericka, because they were the slight underdog, but Megan/Cheyne still deserved to win.

Spain Defends Davis Cup Title

Rafael Nadal, without a title since May, led Spain against the Czech Republic dominating them in the Davis Cup final.

Back home in Spain and in his beloved clay surface, Nadal put the beat down on Tomas Berdych in the first match 7-5, 6-0, 6-2. David Ferrer edged out Radek Stepanek for the second live rubber in an epic 5-set comeback 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 8-6. Spain won in doubles the next day to clinch the title. They also went on to win the next day's two dead rubbers putting their tally at 5-0.

2008 Davis Cup champion Spain becomes the first country to defend their Davis Cup title since 1998 when Sweden did it. This is the fourth time Spain has won in this decade. This year they faced and defeated Serbia, Germany, Israel, and the Czech Republic. Their first round match next year will be against Switzerland and possibly Roger Federer.

Dollhouse: The Public Eye and The Left Hand

Last night's two-hour episode of Dollhouse was its first since it went on hiatus in the end of October. Since then the show has also been canceled and FOX is now burning off the rest of the episodes by airing two episodes back-to-back for the rest of its run.

Good news? The two episodes were fantastic. Probably right up there with the best this series has offered. Bad news? 7 more episodes to go.

Both episodes delved deeper into the Rossum Corporation's endgame and also gave us a glimpse of how the bigger network of Dollhouse actually work. All of that stuff is well and good, but for me I was just geeking out at seeing Alexis Denisof run around the city with Eliza Dushku giving me wonderful flashbacks of when they used to be Watcher/Slayer/archenemies on Buffy and Angel.

I also can't forget about Summer Glau who, yes, is playing essentially the same character she's been playing in other shows, but it was still fantastic seeing her interact with Fran Kranz's character Topher. Speaking of Topher though, how AMAZING (yet again) was Enver Gjokaj being Topher? If he doesn't find another show/movie/whatever after Dollhouse, it will be a great loss indeed.

Plus Adelle busted some balls, Ballard got some closure on Mellie, Bennett has a new toy in Mellie, Perrin is moving up the ranks, and Echo is gone. She'll be back next week just in time to confront big bad Alpha. I. Can't. Wait.

(Screencaps from Better Novembers)

National Board of Review Winners

The National Board of Review is the first major award that indicates how the awards season will go. In fact in the past two years, this organization awarded the eventual Best Picture winners (Slumdog Millionaire and No Country for Old Men) as their Best Film of the Year. This year that honors goes to Up in the Air.

The list itself has a few surprise inclusions, but people will be talking more about what didn't make it in i.e. Precious, Nine, The Lovely Bones, Avatar, A Single Man, The Last Station, etc. But no fret. Not getting a win here doesn't really mean those film's Oscar chances are dim, but it IS good news for those films/actors that did get the win.

For me, it just means I really need to see Up in the Air, like, right now. I'm also very pleased to see some of my favorite films on the listed below such as (500) Days of Summer, Star Trek, Up, Where the Wild Things Are, District 9, Goodbye Solo, and Julia. Will this mean Oscar love in a few months? For some, sure. For others, they'll be lucky to get some tech awards. I'll be pulling for them.

Best Film
Up In The Air

Top Ten Films
(500) Days Of Summer
An Education
A Serious Man
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
The Messenger
Star Trek
Up
Where The Wild Things Are

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Invictus

Best Actor (tie)
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
George Clooney, Up In The Air

Best Actress
Carey Mulligan, An Education

Best Supporting Actor
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

Best Supporting Actress
Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air

Best Ensemble Cast
It’s Complicated

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Best Animated Feature
Up

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut (tie)
Duncan Jones, Moon
Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Marc Webb, (500) Days of Summer

Best Original Screenplay
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award
Wes Anderson, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Top Ten Independent Films
Amreeka
District 9
Goodbye Solo
Humpday
In The Loop
Julia
Me And Orson Welles
Moon
Sugar
Two Lovers

Best Foreign Film
A Prophet

Five Best Foreign Films
The Maid
Revanche
Song Of Sparrows
Three Monkeys
The White Ribbon

Best Documentary
The Cove

Five Best Documentary Films
Burma Vj
Crude
Food, Inc.
Good Hair
The Most Dangerous Man In America

William K. Everson Film History Award
Jean Picker Firstenberg

NBR Freedom of Expression
Burma Vj
Invictus
The Most Dangerous Man In America

Adieu Amelie

Former world no. 1 Amelie Mauresmo announced today that she would be retiring from professional tennis. Suffice it to say, it wasn't totally unexpectedly, but it's still incredibly sad to lose a player with so much class and grace both on and off the court.

“I don’t want to train anymore. [...] I had to make a decision, which became evident in the last few months and weeks. When you grew older, it’s more difficult to stay at the top. [...] It’s a bit sad, but this is the right decision. I was lucky enough to have an exceptional career and to experience very strong feelings on the court. [...] I dreamt of this career, I dreamt of winning a Grand Slam title. I lifted trophies in every city in the world and I lived 10 magical and unbelievable years."

The two-time Grand Slam champion finished 2009 ranked #21. She amassed 25 titles in her career including the 2006 Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships, both over Justine Henin in the finals, to claim her two major wins. The final match of her career took place at this year's US Open when she lost in the second round to Alksandra Wozniak 4-6, 0-6. I was fortunate enough to see Mauresmo's final match win in the first round at this year's US Open. She will be sorely missed.

Kelly Clarkson Gets Grammy Nod

The Grammy Awards is like the one major award show where I don't really get crazy obsessed over. I mean it's not Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, etc. Plus the sheer amount of nominees is just plain ridiculous.

Having said that, it's quite nice when your favorites are awarded. My favorite Grammy year was back in 2006 when Kelly Clarkson won two Grammy awards for Best Female Pop Vocal and Best Pop Vocal Album. This year, she was yet again nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album for "All I Ever Wanted." That's great and all, but I had expected so much more, so color me disappointed.

Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga fared much better amassing a number of nominations including Best Record and Best Album of the Year. Click here for the entire list of nominations.

SYTYCD: The Top 10

Sometimes I can be a bit overly dramatic. Case in point, after last week's SYTYCD results show I declared on my twitter that "since the judges got rid of virtually all of my early favorites, I won't continue watching the rest of the competition." And I felt pretty strongly about it, too. In fact, I didn't watch the Top 10 performance episode yesterday. Today, however, I buckled and decided to check out my recording of it (yup, I still recorded it) and well I may have been enticed back.

Thus goes my up and down relationship with this season. I didn't agree with the judges getting rid of the tappers early on especially Bianca Revels and Peter Sabasino. Then came last week's elimination of two of my other favorites, Karen Hauer and Victor Smalley, and I just felt like the judges were out to get me especially since I wasn't especially connecting with the performers that they DID put through the Top 10.

For your reference, the Top 10 dancers are Ashleigh Di Lello, Ellenore Scott, Jakob Karr, Kathryn McCormick, Legacy Perez, Mollee Gray, Nathan Trasoras, Noelle Marsh, Russell Ferguson, and Ryan Di Lello. The show did something smart this past episode though. They got rid of the practice videos and instead replaced them with videos highlighting each of the contestants. Suffice it to say, most of them were full of inspiring stories and family members crying. Immediately, I connected to some of them. Go figure, right?

It also helped that some of the routines last night were particularly good. Ashleigh/Legacy's super-tough contemporary piece to the tune of Poison was spectacular to watch and so was the thrilling Sonya contemporary piece performed by Jakob/Ellenore that prompted a standing ovation from all the judges. It was also great to see the new partnership of Mollee/Russell and then them perform two very solid routines. The solos I enjoyed the most came from Ryan, Legacy, and Ellenore.

Anyways, I guess I'll see this through to its bitter end. Maybe by that time I'll have someone to root for to make the experience more enjoyable.

Looking Forward To...

Nine
Release: December 18, 2009
Distributor: Weinstein Company
Director: Rob Marshall
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Stacy Ferguson, and Kate Hudson.

Spirit Awards Nominations

Are you ready for the awards season to begin? Too bad if you're not because it's already here. Yesterday the Golden Satellites announced their nominations while The Gothams honored The Hurt Locker for Best Feature and Best Ensemble. And this morning indieWIRE released the nominations for the 25th Spirit Awards with Precious and The Last Station leading with 5 nominations each.

Notes: The Hurt Locker is not eligible this year, because it was nominated last year. The award for Best First Feature goes to both the producer and the director. The Robert Altman Award, this year given to A Serious Man, honors the director, the casting director, and the ensemble cast.

The rest of the nominees are:

Best Feature
(500) Days of Summer
Amreeka
Precious
Sin Nombre
The Last Station

I am glad to see 500 Days and Sin Nombre get nominated and get some love down below as well, but this will probably be Precious' award show to lose, unless they really prefer The Last Station.

Best Director
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Lee Daniels, Precious
Cary Fukanaga, Sin Nombre
James Grey, Two Lovers
Michael Hoffman, The Last Station

Best First Feature
A Single Man
Crazy Heart
Easier With Practice
The Messenger
Paranormal Activity

There's A Single Man! I've heard good things about The Messenger and who couldn't ignore the hype for Paranormal Activity? Gawd, so many films to still see.

Best Female Lead
Maria Bello, Downloading Nancy
Nisreen Faour, Amreeka
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Gwentyth Paltrow, Two Lovers
Gabby Sidibe, Precious

Best Male Lead
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Joseph Gordon Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
Souleymane Sy Savane, Goodbye Solo
Adam Scott, The Vicious Kind

I'm a bit disappointed that James McAvoy didn't make it in, but then again who WOULD I kick out from this list? I'm ecstatic to see JGL and SSS (ha!) get some love. Another interesting snub? Michael Stuhlbarg from A Serious Man. Haven't seen the film, but I thought he had buzz.

Best Supporting Female
Dina Korzun, Cold Souls
Mo’Nique, Precious
Samantha Morton, The Messenger
Nathalie Press, Fifty Dead Men Walking
Mia Wasikowska, That Evening Sun

Best Supporting Male
Jemaine Clements, Gentlemen Broncos
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Cristian McKay, Me and Orson Welles
Ramon McKinnon, That Evening Sun
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station

Still not sure I'm going to be seeing the film, but good on Cristian McKay for getting a nod here.

John Cassavetes Award (Low Budget Films)
Big Fan
Humpday
The New Year Parade
Treeless Mountain
Zero Bridge

Best Foreign Film
A Prophet
An Education
Everlasting Moments
Mother
The Maid

Best Screenplay
(500) Days of Summer
Adventureland
The Last Station
The Messenger
The Vicious Kind

I wonder which screenplay nods (both here and below for first screenplay) will transfer to Oscar. Precious has the best chance most likely (and it's probably a lock) with 500 Days and The Last Station good possibilities depending how else they do for the rest of award season.

Best First Screenplay
Amreeka
A Single Man
Cold Souls
Crazy Heart
Precious

Best Cinematography
A Serious Man
Cold Souls
Bad Lieutenant
Sin Nombre
Treeless Mountain

Best Documentary
Anvil!
Food Inc
More Than a Game
October Country
Which Way Home

Multiple Nominations Tally: 5 - The Last Station, Precious; 4 - The Messenger; 3 - (500) Days Of Summer, Amreeka, Cold Souls, Crazy Heart, A Serious Man, A Single Man, Sin Nombre; 2 - That Evening Sun, Treeless Mountain, Two Lovers, The Vicious Kind