Clijsters Wins Doha, Player of the Year?

Kim Clijsters continued reshaping her legacy during her second tennis career after her comeback to the game last year as she defeated world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki at the WTA Championships in Doha. She becomes only the fifth player in WTA history to win the year-end event three or more times tying Monica Seles with three wins. Only Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and Chris Evert have won more. With her win in Doha, Clijsters has compiled an amazing 6-0 record in finals since her comeback. Her other five titles include two Grand Slam wins at the US Open as well as titles from Brisbane, Miami, and Cincinnati.

Wozniacki ended her year bitter-sweetly, clearly happy for clinching that year-end #1 ranking and winning the most titles on the tour and yet obviously disappointed for not winning any of the major titles, hearkening back to the slam-less #1 reigns of Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic.

The match itself was worthy of a final between two top-tier players. Clijsters cruised to a 6-3 4-1 lead with Wozniacki digging deep to even the second set at 5-5. Clijsters' concentration and level of play dipped and suddenly it was the third set with Wozniacki up an early break. Clijsters finally came alive again, breaking the Dane right back and rushing to a 5-2 lead. Two games later, Clijsters was able to serve it out winning 6-3 5-7 6-3.

The question to ask now is who is the Player of the Year?

As I wrote above, Wozniacki ends the year as the top ranked player in the world amassing more titles than anyone, but her lack of success in majors is suspect. Serena Williams won the most majors out of anyone, 2, one at the Australian Open and another in Wimbledon. Those would be her only titles of the year, however, and she was largely absent during the second half of the year. Francesca Schiavone and Clijsters grabbed the other two majors with Clijsters also winning Doha and three other titles. Plus there are those who have made career breakthroughs this year such as Samantha Stosur and Vera Zvonareva who both reached their first Grand Slam finals as well as their highest rankings. If I had to pick someone, it would be Clijsters. She won a Grand Slam as well as multiple titles both in the first and second halves of the year. Coincidentally, she does top the tour on one thing, prize money won.

Top 10 Films to Watch on Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

For today, I'd like to share my top 10 (really 12, but whatever) films to watch on Halloween. Not all of them take place on Halloween and/or scary. In fact I'm actually not a huge scary movie fan and even if I really like a scary/horror film, it still doesn't mean I would want to watch it on Halloween. I tend to lean toward fun/nostalgic films that I can watch with friends and have a good ol' time.

And so without further a due:

1. Shaun of the Dead (2004) - Not only is this my favorite zombie film, but it's also one of my favorite films of all time. I'm already Anglophilic, but this movie made me a Simon Pegg-Edgar Wright fanboy for life. I literally will watch this whenever I can.

2. The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993) - I find it almost a necessity to watch this kooky, spooky, ooky family during Halloween/Thanksgiving. Everyone is, of course, great, but Christina Ricci's Wednesday is effin' Oscar-worthy. If only for her performance in that Thanksgiving play alone.

3. Hocus Pocus (1993) - This is probably the one and only film on my list that's actually Halloween-centric and damn right it is since it's pretty much a childhood classic. I don't know anyone my age group that doesn't love this film.

4. Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - Great to watch at home by yourself or with friends, but AMAZING to see with a theater full of people. I also think this is the best role Tim Curry has ever done. Just brilliant throughout.

5. Clue (1985) - Probably the least "Halloween-y" movie in the list, but one can always find a reason to see this gem of a film. I mean we have a "scary" mansion with a bunch of people in "costume." There. Also, Tim Curry's 2nd best role.

6. Ghost Busters (1984) and Ghostbusters II (1989) - Who else are you going to call when ghosts and goblins are running amok Manhattan? [cue song]. And other than enabling everyone to mock all of the 80s hair/fashion, it's still really fun.

7. Scream (1996) - Bringing the "slasher flick" back to modern audiences, the original and still the best is a modern classic in its own right. That plus great iconic mask!

8. Zombieland (2009) - Surprisingly entertaining and hilarious to boot. The energy of the film is quite addicting and wholly engrossing.

9. Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Equal parts terrifying and funny, a wonderful film to either see with friends or by yourself. It's a film that will give you zombie nightmares!

10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) - Even though it's totally cheesy (and kind of bad), it still the movie that begat my favorite show of all time. Plus Luke Perry! And one of the best vampire death scenes on film!

Honorable Mentions: Donnie Darko, 28 Days Later, Beetle Juice, Witches of Eastwick, Alien, The Craft, and Twilight. Only see the latter with friends, preferably while everyone is intoxicated.

WTA YEC: Wozniacki & Clijsters Win, To Meet in Finals

Though higher seeded than their opponents, both Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters were actually seen as slight underdogs against their opponents who both had impressive weeks. Wozniacki's opponent, Vera Zvonareva went undefeated in the round-robin matches while Samantha Stosur took the top spot in her group losing only two sets in three matches. But in the end, the higher seeds prevailed in shockingly similar fashion during the semifinals.


Both Wozniacki and Clijsters lost three straight games in the first set (Wozniacki actually lost four straight) and both had to save set points. Once they won the tight first set, however, it was cruise control for both of them, dominantly losing only one game between themselves. Wozniacki and Clijsters have only played once before, during the 2009 US Open finals where Wozniacki reached her very first Grand Slam finals and Clijsters put an exclamation on her comeback by winning her second Grand Slam title.

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

The picture says it all really. The accompanying article has a little bit more detail.

Totally jealous of everyone who actually made the trek to Washington, D.C. this weekend for this event. One can only hope that this has energized people to vote on Tuesday. I mean I know it's Halloween and all right now but things can get really fucking scary Wednesday morning when all is said and done.

Depp in Costume

Has there been an actor who has put on more memorable costumes for a film role than Johnny Depp? Probably, but when I saw this image (forgot where it's from! if it's yours let me know so I can credit and/or remove it) I really was astounded. You have Edward Scissorhands, Captain Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, the Mad Hatter, Sweeney Todd, John Dillinger, Don Juan, etc.

So of course news broke out just a few days ago that he's in talks to play the lead in Snow White and The Huntsman which will allegedly also star Charlize Theron. Now I'm sure they'll update the hunstman costume to make it cool and probably iconic, but if you want Johnny in "normal" clothes, maybe check out his next film, The Tourist, with Angelina Jolie. Wait, scratch that. Did I just say if you want to see Johnny Depp IN clothes? Silly me.

WTA: YEC Semifinals Set; Dementieva Retires

After twelve round-robin matches, four ladies moved through to the semifinal stages at the WTA Championships. Along the way a player clinched the year-end #1 ranking while another said goodbye to professional tennis.


By winning at least two matches, top seed Caroline Wozniacki secured her first ever year-end #1 ranking. The only round-robin match she lost was against Samantha Stosur who took the top spot in the Maroon Group heading into the semifinals. In the White Group, Vera Zvonerava went undefeated taking the top spot while Kim Clijsters, only losing to Zvonareva, took the last semis berth. Zvonareva will now face Wozniacki while Stosur will take on Clijsters. The winners will face each other in the finals for the last big title of the year.

Among those left behind, only Jelena Jankovic was unable to win a match. In fact she failed to even win a set in three matches! Victoria Azarenka and Francesca Schiavone managed to get a win on the last day of the round-robin matches.


Finally, veteran Elena Dementieva announced her retirement from competitive tennis after losing to Schiavone earlier today. The 29-year-old Olympic gold medalist made the semifinals or better in all the Grand Slam tournaments including two finals. She was the epitome of hard work and class as she stayed in the upper echelons of tennis for the better part of the decade (top 20 for 524 of last 529 weeks). It was so easy to root for her and unfortunately part of her legacy will consist of the title "Best Player to Never Have Won a Grand Slam Title," but I hope that's not all she would be remembered for. In any case, she will be greatly missed and hope we see her in some tennis capacity in the very near future.

Tuesday/Wednesday TV Report

Most of the shows brought out their best (or tried to) Halloween-inspired episodes. For the most part, they all succeeded.

Tuesday, 10/26

Glee - I kept my expectations in check for this special episode where the show pays homage to ultimate cult hit Rocky Horror Picture Show. First thing first, the cast did a phoenomenal job on the songs. Special kudos to Curt, Mercedes, Finn, and Emma. But man I never clicked with Will Shuester in the first season, but I just can't stand him now. Poor Morrison. He probably deserves better. I'm still not a HUGE fan of theme episodes, but this was definitely better than the earlier Britney fail of an episode. Plus lots of shirtless guys here. I approve.

Raising Hope - Don't know when it happened, but I suddenly love this show. It helped that the two episodes they aired this week were the best so far this season. Love the little touch of sentimentality with Burt wanting Jimmy to hug him. And too bad Hope's mom is dead, because her videos were HIGHlarious.

The Good Wife - Could this show get any better? I mean the episode was about four hours and took place in two locations and it was so riveting. Can't even really talk about it as it's leaving me speechless still. The pacing, the case, the characters... why aren't more people watching this show?

I usually watch No Ordinary Family live, but I had to see Glee's RHPS episode along with everyone else. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to watch the former show but I'm hoping it's better than the first few episodes.

Wednesday, 10/27

Modern Family - If you were to ask me to tell you my favorite line or moment or scene, I'd probably just tell you to watch the whole damn episode, because the show was firing on all cylinders. Mitchell hiding his Spidey suit? Funny. Gloria speaking "proper" English. Funny. Claire treating Halloween the same way Phil treats iPad's debut? Priceless.

Cougar Town - Good emotional episode for Jules (dealing with her father) and Bobby (dealing with being Stan's guardian). Love the costumes (Ellie and Laurie dressing as the other one with Travis playing an assist as Andy, Grayson as Prince, Bobby as Windy). Really happy to see the show finding its footing.

Undercovers - Sigh. More of the same and that's not good. Again, this show seems to be just doing things I've seen better executed elsewhere. The leads are great and I do hope they get snatched up quickly by another show when (not if) this show gets canceled.

The Whole Truth - Another solid episode. Too bad the show has been canceled. Not sure if I'll continue watching the rest of the produced episodes, but kudos to the cast who couldn't really have done anything differently.

Looking Forward To...

127 Hours
Release: November 5, 2010
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Burton, Treat Williams, Clémence Poésy, and Lizzy Caplan

TV Report Catching Up

Birthday festivities got in the way on my regular TV postings (and frankly) watching. Still catching up so here's a few quick thoughts on TV shows from 10/21 - 10/25

Thursday, 10/21

Community - So yet another comedy series does a religion episode. I rolled my eyes, but with this cast, they made it work. The non-religious end tag was frickin' hilarious.

30 Rock - Didn't think much about this episode. In fact I can barely remember what happened. Something about Liz being a prude and Jack on a hot streak. Suffice it to say, I just thought it was... whatever.

Big Bang Theory - It's sad knowing that Penny will be MIA for a few episode due to injury, but the cast (aka Sheldon) seem to be doing just fine picking up the slack. His relationship with Amy is still comedy gold.

Grey's Anatomy - I liked it. I find myself saying that more and more often about this show. That's good. I thought the Chief picked the right guy to "win" the $1 million (aka Owen) but Derek's plea re: Meredith's possible Alzheimer's future is intriguing. Wonder if the show has the balls to go there. Also Owen making Christina smile finally is one of the best moments of the season.

Fringe was not shown because of baseball. Damn you baseball.

Friday, 10/22

Supernatural - Even though Castiel was nowhere to be found, I actually enjoyed the episode. We don't get much in terms of new answers, but seeing Sam slyly smike as he looks on at his brother getting turned into a vampire was chilling. Also anything to mock Twilight is A-OK by me.

Saturday, 10/23

Saturday Night Live - Was hoping to get tickets for this on my birthday because I LOVE Emma Stone. I thought she did a great job for what she was asked to do... which unfortunately wasn't a lot. What is UP with SNL squandering perfectly great hosts with craptastic material this season?

Sunday, 10/24

Sherlock - This modern re-telling of Sherlock Holmes is just as brilliant as its title character. A few sentences can't possibly do this show justice, but I love the chemistry between Sherlock and Watson and adapting this old school tale to the modern world has never looked better.

The Amazing Race - Volleyball teammates Katie/Rachel just couldn't catch up from the previous leg while Nat/Kat took the fast forward and increased their lead. All my favorites are still around and the locations/challenges have been top-notch as per usual. LOVE this show.

Brothers & Sisters - I've decided I only really care about what's happening with Kevin/Scotty and so OF COURSE they begin the episode with Kevin neglecting Scotty only to end the episode with Scotty confessing about having an affair recently. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, 10/25

The Event - Finally some backstory for hottie Simon who is one of the more intriguing characters in this show for me. His scene with his long lost loved was heartbreaking. Looking forward to seeing the kind of division these aliens have within their ranks and WHY ARE THEY HERE?

How I Met Your Mother - Really enjoyed last night's episode with Marshall and Lily trying to deal with names and gender of their babies while we get a touch of Barney/Robin which is always ALWAYS welcome.

Chuck - Don't get me wrong, loved that we (and the characters) finally get to meet Chuck's mom, but it all felt inorganic to me. The Halloween bent was nice though especially with Freddy Krueger on their midst. Poor, poor Ellie.

Castle - Not Halloween-centric, but it certainly kept me on the edge of my seat and creeped me out sufficiently. The last ten minutes were harrowing as I actually thought they were going to kill Ryan. The whole case kept me guessing until the end as well. This show is just on fire.

Still have not caught up with last week's Hawaii Five-0 so had to skip last night's episode because I'm OCD like that.

WTA: Year-End Championships

Seven of the eight players entered into the WTA Championships
pose in Doha alongside the brand-new logo for the WTA.

Even though there are three former (and current) no. 1s and two 2010 Grand Slam winners in the mix, the field at the WTA Championships still seems to be somewhat lacking star power especially with the absences of Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Justine Henin. Also not in the mix are fan-favorites such as Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In any case, the following top-10 women who make up the elite eight are not too shabby in their own right and deserve the spot for a chance to win the final tournament of the year. And they are...

1. Caroline Wozniacki - While she didn't reach a Grand Slam final this year, she topped the tour in number of titles and became the 20th woman to be ranked #1.

Grand Slam Results: 4r, QF, 4r, SF
Titles: Tokyo, Beijing, Montreal, New Haven, Ponte Vedra Beach, Copenhagen
Runner-Up: Indian Wells

2. Vera Zvonareva - Now at career-high ranking of #2, she reached her first and second Grand Slam finals this year, but was unable to close the deal both times.

Grand Slam Results: 4r, 2r, F, F
Titles: Pattaya City
Runner-Up: Wimbledon, US Open, Montreal, Beijing, Charleston

3. Kim Clijsters - Made lots of noise in her first full year of her comeback by getting some nice hardcourt titles including her third US Open title.

Grand Slam Results: 3r, -, QF, W
Titles: US Open, Miami, Cincinnati, Brisbane
Runner-Up: N/A

4. Francesca Schiavone - Oldest player in the draw won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open, but took awhile to recover from win.

Grand Slam Results: 4r, W, 1r, QF
Titles: Roland Garros, Barcelona
Runner-Up: N/A

5. Samantha Stosur - Strong year for the Australian, who dominated at the French Open until losing in her very first Grand Slam final.

Grand Slam Results: 4r, F, 1r, QF
Titles: Charleston
Runner-Up: Roland Garros, Stuttgart

6. Jelena Jankovic - Relatively quiet and subdued year for the former no. 1, though posted good enough results to make her fourth consecutive year-end appearance.

Grand Slam Results: 3r, SF, 4r, 3r
Titles: Indian Wells
Runner-Up: Rome

7. Elena Dementieva - Veteran whose best years may be behind her, but with solid results, made her 10th showing at the year-end tournament, more than any player in the draw.

Grand Slam Results: 2r, SF, -, 4r
Titles: Paris, Sydney
Runner-Up: Tokyo, Kuala Lampur

8. Victoria Azarenka - Recovered fully from the freak concussion incident at this year's US Open, she became the last player entered after winning in Moscow.

Grand Slam Results: QF, 1r, 3r, 2r
Titles: Moscow, Stanford
Runner-Up: Dubai, Eastbourne

Injuries have plagued the tour for the whole year and it was even more troubling the second half of the year sidelining many top players. Even heading into this tournament, at least half of the eight players entered are nursing recent injuries which is why Li Na and Shahar Peer, who are both in Doha as alternates, shouldn't be too surprised if they're called to play this week.

Fun Fact #1: Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva both have a chance to end the year as the #1 ranked player in the world.

Fun Fact #2: Kim Clijsters is the only player to have a winning record against the rest of the field.

Fun Fact #3: Victoria Azarenka is the only player to not reach a Grand Slam final in her career. She is also the only player this year to not reach a SF or better at a Grand Slam tournament.