French Open: First Round Report

For the French Open, the first round stretched out for three whole days. The weather for the first two days was hot and dry making the courts play faster. On the third day, it was cloudy and wetter slowing up the courts. Fortunately the rain stayed away until the very end of the day making it possible to complete all of the matches except for one.

Recent finalists Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Robin Soderling easily moved on as well as other top seeds who have played generally well this past clay season. Three of the top eight seeds, however, had to go the distance to move forward. 4th seed Andy Murray was actually predicted to lose to unseeded Richard Gasquet based on the latter's recent clay results and Murray's lackluster showing on the surface. Unfortunately, Gasquet ran out of steam after winning the first two sets giving Murray the win. 6th seed Andy Roddick and 8th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had to rally from 2-1 sets down to move through.

Only five seeds fell most notably 23rd seed Ernests Gulbis who recently defeated Federer on clay and was one of only two men to take a set off Nadal on clay this year. Gulbis retired at the beginning of the third set after losing the first two. Other seeds who fell were Tommy Robredo (21), Juan Monaco (26), Feliciano Lopez (27), and a dispirited Sam Querrey (18) who also ended up withdrawing from doubles.

The seeds held a bit stronger in the women's draw than in the men's with only three seeds going out. The results, however, were far more shocking than what the men delivered.

The biggest shocker of all was 9th seed and last year's finalist Dinara Safina going out to 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm who has not won a Grand Slam match in years! As depressing as this is for Safina, it is just as inspirational for one Date Krumm. The other two seeds that fell were 10th seed Victoria Azarenka who has been injured for awhile and 20th seed and recent Rome Masters champion Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Most of the top seeds and contenders including former champions Justine Henin, Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Ana Ivanovic got through in straight sets.

Thoughts on Idol's Top 2

It's all been leading up to this all season. This year's American Idol will either be Lee DeWyze or Crystal Bowersox. Both of these guitar-playing rockers have stepped it up all season long and they were CLEARLY the cream of the crop. No matter the outcome, they both deserve to be in the finale and all of the fame and fortunes that comes with it.


With that said, the winner hasn't been declared yet and both Lee and Crystal had to still perform to coax the few people who have not made up their minds yet on who to vote for. They had to perform three songs: their favorite song they sang during previous weeks, a song from the Idol producer, and their winning Idol single.

Round One: Favorite Song
Lee's "The Boxer" vs. Crystal's "Me and Bobby McGee"

I think both of them picked good songs, but one could've done better. If I was picking for Crystal that's exactly the song I wanted her to sing again. It's very HER and the up tempo second half of the song shows off her versatility and accessibility. For Lee, unfortunately, this song was tough especially with the nerves he was obviously feeling tonight. If he had performed it as well as he did last month, it would've worked, but he didn't so it fell short just a tad.

Round Two: Producer's Choice
Lee's "Everybody Hurts" vs. Crystal's "Black Velvet"

This was already unfair as soon as the song choices were made! With that said, arrangement goes a long way. Unfortunately for Lee he was saddled with a weepy song that felt just a bit self-indulgent while Crystal was able to show off her rocker voice with her song. And did she ever! Plus you have to think about how it complements your first performance. While Crystal went from energetic to high octane, Lee went from reflective to somber. Is that really what you want people to be thinking?

Round Three: Idol Single
Lee's "Beautiful Day" vs. Crystal's "Up to the Mountain"

As much as I hate the Idol single, I'm even less of a fan of having contestants sing different songs... and not even original songs! This reeks of the better-to-forget-it Season Two so I was not pleased. PLUS the two songs that were picked just don't sound like they'd be very good singles. I see why "Beautiful Day" was chosen for Lee especially to cap off the night, but it's a BIG song and he was overwhelmed by it, the big stage, the audience, the moment, whatever. I can just imagine how amazing it sounds in the studio, but tonight it was missing the IT FACTOR. Now I thought Crystal's song was a little too cerebral, too weighty. I remember Kelly Clarkson belting this song during one of the Idol Gives Back shows a few years ago and yeah, it's an amazing song. So while it's not really "single" worthy for me, Crystal still sang the HELL out of it and had herself a bit of a moment.

Crystal was by far the better performer tonight and the judges agreed giving Lee faint praise while giving Crystal standing ovations. In addition, Lee just looked nervous while Crystal was personable and talkative! She even took the mic from Ryan and did a mini-tribute to Simon! That takes some balls. With that said, there are precious few who actually make up their mind at this time. It's been weeks/months and both of their fanbases have already formed. Crystal has been the early favorite/front runner while Lee took up the mantle of dark horse/underdog and grew every single week. His upward trajectory vs. her great consistency.

I love them both actually and called each of their lines once just to throw my token support. I'm quite satisfied with whatever the outcome will be tomorrow. And honestly, I'm just looking forward to seeing Kris Allen perform tomorrow. You know me.

Lost Series Finale: The End

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for the series finale of LOST.

It'd probably be a better idea if I slept on it, but I'm sure I'll be busy with actual work and other stuff come Monday morning so why not just dive right into it now?

First and foremost, I loved it. It was touching, epic, and provided a satisfying-enough ending. At least for me. All of the character stuff was nicely done and all of the reunions and realizations had me in tears. I nearly emptied out a tissue box! The one scene I needed to happen in the finale was Juliet and Sawyer making their coffee date so when that happened, I was good (and gone). The most unexpected emotional moment was when Vincent came back in the end and laid down next to a dying Jack. Cue the waterworks.

But those LOST producers, they are tricky aren't they?

Ever since the show started, fans have been theorizing that the island is heaven/hell/purgatory. The producers have always said NO. And, well, they certainly had their cake and ate it, too, during the finale.

So no, the island is *NOT* the after-life, but the alternate universe we've been watching this last season *IS* a form of limbo/purgatory. How they could all be there was given a simple explanation by Christian Shepard by saying there is no "now" in this place. This place was "created" by all of them so they could all find each other before they all could move on. It's totally reminiscent of Rose/Jack and Titanic, but I'll take it.

Which means the non-limbo storyline (i.e. the island/real world/etc.) was left pretty open ended. Sure Jack is dead, but Hurley is the new Jacob and Ben is the new Richard. Desmond eventually finds himself back to Penny and baby Charlie with the help of Hurley/Ben while Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Miles, Frank, and Richard all get off the island to lead whatever lives they'll lead. For myself, I'd like to think Miles and Sawyer get into some sort of partnership while keeping in touch with Kate who's helping out with Claire and Aaron. Frank? Still flying. Richard? LIVING. IT. UP.

With that said, the ending probably disappointed some fans who wanted a little bit more closure on the island mythology and/or a connection between the island and the flash sideways. Unfortunately, it turns out the flash sideways had nothing to do with the island except for the fact that the relationships forged there were special enough that they all had to create this limbo to move on together.

And if you think about it, the end is quite fitting considering Jack's oft-repeated "live together, die alone" speech in the first season, because in the end, they all lived together, but died "together" as well.

Cue Michael Giacchino's haunting LOST theme. And we're out.

French Open: Women's Preview

Last year's champion and this year's 6th seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova will try to reverse her current fortune's and go far in this competition. She should be okay until the fourth round when she faces stiff competition with either 11th seed Na Li or, more likely, 17th seed Francesca Schiavone. In the same quarter as Kuznetsova is the 3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki. She should be the favorite, but with recent injuries, she's a bit uncertain. Wozniacki can either face 14th seed Flavia Pennetta or Lucie Safarova.

Second seed and former finalist Venus Williams anchors this half of the draw, but gets a potentially tricky first round match with former top ten player, Patty Schnyder. Fourth round may see her face off against 15th seed Aravane Rezai or 19th seed Nadia Petrova with possibly dangerous floaters Agnes Szavay and Anna Chakvetadze lurking as well. If the older Williams sister makes it this far, 5th seed Elena Dementieva, 10th seed Victoria Azarenka, or Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez would be her most likely quarterfinal opponents.

Jelena Jankovic, the 4th seed, will yet again try and get her maiden slam. Her early rounds are full of tricky players, but she should be able to reach at least the fourth round where she could face 16th seed Yanina Wickmayer or Daniela Hantuchova. There is also Carla Suarez Navarro acting as potential spoiler. Her quarterfinal challenges include last year's finalist Dinara Safina, former champion Ana Ivanovic, and 8th seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

Finally, but top seed and former champion Serena Williams will look to add more hardware to her already full shelf. Despite only playing one tournament since winning the Australian Open, it's foolish to underestimate her. She looks likely to reach the fourth round where 13th seed Marion Bartoli or 18th seed Shahar Peer awaits her. Four-time champion and currently 22nd seed Justine Henin could face Serena in the quarterfinals but must first get through a struggling Maria Sharapova, the 12th seed. That section also contains 7th seed workhorse Samantha Stosur and Jie Zheng.

Semifinals:
Justine Henin d. Jelena Jankovic
Flavia Pennetta d. Elena Dementieva

Finals:
Justine Henin d. Elena Dementieva

French Open: Men's Preview

World no. 1 Roger Federer will try to keep his hopes of a calendar year Grand Slam hopes alive by defending his French Open title. The road will not be easy for him with a possible second round match with Janko Tipsarevic and third round match with Feliciano Lopez. It gets harder still in the fourth round where he might face fellow compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka or 13th seed hometown boy Gael Monfils. The quarterfinal is full of threats with two players who have beaten Federer on clay recently, Ernest Gulbis and Albert Montanes, lurking as well as top ten seeds Marin Cilic and Robin Soderling. The latter would be a rematch of last year's finals.

Struggling 4th seed Andy Murray is on the same side as the Swiss Maestro and might have the easiest draw out of the top four seeds. Unfortunately, Murray is also the most vulnerable on this surface and must contend with a red-hot Richard Gasquet in the first round with the Frenchman recently winning a title in France, on clay. In terms of clay-court specialists, this quarter doesn't have much, although one could never count out any Spanish players especially seeded Tommy Robredo and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The player that might get out of this quarterfinal may just be 8th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or a complete surprise. What do we think of 17th seed John Isner's chances?

On the other end of the draw, former semifinalist and 3rd seed Novak Djokovic is in the same quarter as 6th seed Andy Roddick. Roddick hasn't played a single clay-court tournament and probably has zero expectations for this slam event, while Djokovic will be hungry to disturb the Nadal-Federer dominance. If healthy, Djokovic should cruise to the fourth round where he'll likely meet 16th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero. His potential quarterfinal opponent is 9th seed David Ferrer.

Four-time champion and undisputed clay court king Rafael Nadal will try to dust off his shocking early exit the year before en route to re-claiming this title. Based on current form and known skills, no one looks to bother him all the way through the quarterfinals even with the possibility of going head-to-head with Lleyton Hewitt and 14th seed Ivan Ljubicic. Things get less easy after that with potential match-ups with 7th seed Fernando Verdasco, 12th seed Fernando Gonzalez, or 19th seed Nicolas Almagro in the quarterfinals.

Semifinals:
Roger Federer d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Rafael Nadal d. David Ferrer

Finals:
Rafael Nadal d. Roger Federer

Lost Finale Event

Lost Series Finale Countdown: 1 day


Tonight, 5/22

@8PM EST - Two-hour Enhanced Pilot

Tomorrow, 5/23

@7PM EST - Lost: The Final Journey - Two-hour Retrospective

@9PM EST - The End - Lost Series Finale

Sunday, 5/24

@12AM EST - Jimmy Kimmel Live - Aloha to Lost

Storylines at the French Open

The summer slam season is upon us. On Sunday, tennis fans are all focused on Roland Garros for the official start of the second Grand Slam event of the season, the French Open. And like every tournament, there are story lines afoot...

- Can anyone beat Rafael Nadal? Oh sure, he lost in the fourth round last year and has been hampered with injuries, but you wouldn't know it if you've been paying attention to the clay season so far. This year he went undefeated winning three Masters titles. He also has a dominant 31-1 record in Roland Garros including four championship titles. Based on form and logic, he's the man to beat. Then again, we said this last year, too, didn't we?

- Who will be number 1? Three men have a chance to be number one in the rankings after the tournament. Defending champion, Roger Federer has to reach his 24th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal if he wants to retain his current top ranking. If he does, he will also surpass Pete Sampras' record of total weeks at number one. If Nadal wins the entire tournament and Federer loses before the semifinals, he's the new number one. World no. 3 Novak Djokovic could jump to number one only if he wins the tournament and Federer falls before the quarterfinals.

- Which lady baller will win? Based on current clay form, no one knows. The WTA tour has been more erratic than not the past few weeks with no one player looking dominant. Top ranked Serena Williams has played one tournament since winning the Australian Open while her second ranked sister, Venus Williams, is not known for her clay results. Recent champions, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ana Ivanovic, are not in-form while four-time champion Justine Henin could be a threat, but only time will tell. With all the craziness, however, I'd look to a surprise (and maybe first-time) winner. Watch out for top ten players such as Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki, Samantha Stosur, and Agnieska Radwanska. Dinara Safina, last year's finalist, has struggled, but why not her as well, right?

- What is up with all of the withdrawals and injuries? Last year's US Open champions, Kim Clijsters and Juan Martin Del Potro, are out with injuries. The latter expected to be out until after the US Open! Among the wounded and have also withdrawn are Gilles Simon, James Blake, Nikolay Davydenko, David Nalbandian, Sania Mirza, Carlos Moya, Ivo Karlovic, Urszula Radwanska, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Sabine Lisicki, Igor Andreev, and Tommy Haas. And we're not even halfway to the tennis season! Yikes.

A look into the men's and women's draws later this weekend.

Thursday Night

Lost Series Finale Countdown: 2 days

It was all about making choices Thursday night in all of the shows that I watched. In Community, Jeff had to choose between Britta and Slater only to make every fan watching gasp when he kissed Annie in the end. That was the big shocked of the episode, but the episode also contained appearances from most of the recurring characters as well as the usual merriment that persists with these group of friends. Going to miss them through the summer. Meanwhile in 30 Rock, Jack had to finally choose between Avery and Nancy. Unfortunately, he didn't really choose as Avery's pregnancy and Nancy's self-sacrifice pretty much made his choice a no-brainer in the end. Matt Damon's guest star role was a bit overhyped. Is it just me or is this show not as funny anymore?

In Fringe, Peter had to decide whether to go back to our world vs. staying in the alt-universe with his biological parents. While I liked the episode as a whole, I wished Peter did a bit more soul searching with his decision. Yes, his biological father seems to be some mad genius, but what about his biological mother? It was nice to see Olivia finally confess her feelings for Peter. Though alt-Olivia going back to our world while our Olivia is imprisoned by Walternate was a nice twist from the writers and a development that would surely keep fans busy during the long summer months.

The choices pretty much stop in my final Thursday show as it was just chaos, death, and fear in the harrowing two-hour season finale of Grey's Anatomy. I admit, I've grown increasingly weary of the show and it's been much easier to poke fun at it than praise it, but I've got to given everyone props for this finale. I was breathless and physically distressed throughout as doctors, nurses, everyone was getting shot by a gunmen. After the episode, I felt as if I aged 20 years or so.

Wednesday Night

Lost Series Finale Countdown: 3 days

Three became two on American Idol last night as Ryan Seacrest sent golden-haired Casey James packing which means Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze will go head to head in the finale. It wasn't the most shocking result of the season, but it was definitely the most anticipated. Before the results however, we had to endure performances from someone who was discovered by Perez Hilton and someone who was discovered on Youtube. God help us all. We also got to see the three remaining contestants go back home and be treated like rock stars. Gotta admit, those montages always get me just a bit teary. After it was all said and done though, it's Lee vs. Crystral. To be honest, this final two reminds me a lot of last year's: the early fan-favorite vs. the dark horse with serious momentum. Great news for me? I love them both and thus finale night, it's ALL good.

What else is ALL good? ABC comedies.


Now I don't watch The Middle, but I think I may just check out the encore showings during the summer, because it frankly looked downright charming. Meanwhile Modern Family ended its phenomenal freshman season by giving us a tightly-written and hilarious episode. So you know, the usual. The whole episode was worthy of mention, but I have to highlight Phil's reactions to thinking he was in trouble with Claire. The mud fight pre-family photo was icing to the cake to an already very sweet season. Finally, Cougar Town delivered another wonderful ensemble showcase as the gang try to spare Bobby's feeling. The getting-to-the-beach and beach scenes were my favorites. It's going to be a long summer with me missing these shows.

Tuesday Night

Lost Series Finale Countdown: 4 Days

Tuesday was another jam-packed night of TV awesomeness mostly due to the epic episodes delivered by Lost and Glee. But before I get to talking about those two, just want to briefly touch on the other shows I watched.

First, there was American Idol where the road was paved for a Lee Dewyze/Crystal Bowersox finale. Click here to read my thoughts on last night's episode. In The Good Wife, Dylan Baker returns as the diabolical Colin Sweeney and the twists and turns of his case was enough to sing praises for the episode, but we also got to see the start of the Carey/Childs alliance as well as the end of Peter's legal troubles. All of this as Julianna Margulies command every scene she's in.


In V's wonderful finale, Elizabeth Mitchell and Morena Baccarin continue to shine as Erica and Anna continue their stand-off. While Anna's duaghter Lisa is quickly becoming one of my more favorite character on the show. Her sly smile in reaction to her mother's agonizing cries (human emotion!) was pitch perfect and made that magnificent moment even better. I was saddened to see Joshua die, only to feel relieved when they brought him back. The episode had it all from the birth of the hybrid to Chad finding out the Visitors' real intentions. The images from around the world with the red clouds in the end were a perfect way to end the season.

And thus we get to the epically epic episodes...


Joss Whedon directing and Neil Patrick guest starring *and* singing. With those alone, I was already looking forward to this episode more than any other Glee episodes. And wouldn't you know it but not only did it deliver, but it gave us MORE. I especially enjoyed the focus on Tina/Artie and was caught off-guard at the poignancy of Artie's dream to be a dancer. That dream sequence flash mob scene with Artie leading the entire mall to "Safety Dance" was one of the more amazing numbers put on by this show. Can't forget the big reveal that Shelby is Rachel's mom. I still have issues with this whole Jesse "befriending" Rachel, but neither here nor there. But finally, Neil Patrick Harris was fabulous. I almost want HIMYM to get cancelled and for him to replace Will Shuester.


The penultimate episode of Lost was the perfect setup for what is sure to be a series finale no one will ever forget. Excuse the hyperbole a bit, but this is pretty much the show of the decade for me and it's SO CLOSE to being done. I can't take it! So in this episode, we get Jacob chanting in Latin, Kate actually asking the right questions, Desmond kicking ass and taking names, Jack choosing his fate, Ben alternately being evil and heartbreaking, Miles cracking jokes, Widmore dying, Ana Lucia making an appearance, Rousseau not being crazy, and... I'm out of breath. Only thing missing was Sun/Jin. Moment of silence. As you can see coherent thoughts on this show is just asking too much this close to The End. And The End will be on this Sunday starting at 7pm for a 2-hr recap special followed by the two and a half hour series finale. SO EXCITED!