Birthday Boy: Roger Federer

Roger Federer turns the big 3-0 today and in tennis terms, he's practically decrepit! With all that he has accomplished already, the former world no. 1 will have some work to do to regain his top position from current top dogs Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

Federer started the year off well winning in Doha, but sadly that has been his one and only title for the year. He lost to Djokovic at the semifinals of the Australian Open and to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Wimbledon quarterfinals. He did manage to reach the French Open final (losing to Nadal) by beating Djokovic in the semifinals, the only player to do so this year. So over the hill he is not.

Possible good news for him though is that he finds himself in a very similar place he was in last year and he still managed a great 35-4 run upon turning 29 winning four titles including the year-end championships beating Nadal, Djokovic, and Andy Murray and ending the year at #2.

But tournaments, head-to-heads, rankings, Grand Slams... whatever. A legendary player is a legendary player. And here he is delivering a message to his fans today:

Rogers Cup Preview

Like every year, the top players usually take a few weeks hiatus after Wimbledon to get ready for the North American summer hard-court season. Of course this allowed a bevy of players to snatch up titles in their absence including John Isner, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Robin Soderling, Gilles Simon, Mardy Fish, Marcel Granollers, Ernests Gulbis, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Robin Haase, and Radek Stepanek. But the big boys are back in town, more specifically Montreal, for the Rogers Cup, which begins tomorrow.


This is the first tournament where Novak Djokovic will be seeded first based on his #1 world ranking and his first non-Davis Cup tournament since winning his first Wimbledon title. Djokovic is set to meet 2009 finalist Juan Martin Del Potro early on and could meet 2-time champion and last year's finalist Roger Federer in the semifinals. 3rd seed Federer can meet 2006 finalist Richard Gasquet and 2009 semifinalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

On the other side of the draw, 2-time champion Rafael Nadal is playing in his first tournament since losing to Djokovic at finals of Wimbledon. Tomas Berdych and Fernando Verdasco are in Nadal's quarter, but it's 2009 and 2010 champion Andy Murray who Nadal can meet in the semifinals. Murray will need to get through Mikhail Youzhny, Stan Wawrinka, or Mardy Fish though those three have mediocre records at this tournament.

Can someone other than the top four seeds win the tournament? Unfortunately for the other players, history is against them as the top four of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Murray have won the tournament every year since 2004.

2011 TCA Awards

Last night, the Television Critics Association (TCA) handed out their annual honors in the midst of their Summer Press Tour (click for the nominees). Will any of the winners repeat at the Emmys?

Program of the Year: Friday Night Lights
Outstanding New Program: Game of Thrones
Outstanding Achievement in Drama: Mad Men
Outstanding Achievement in Comedy: Modern Family
Individual Achievement in Drama: Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Individual Achievement in Comedy: Ty Burrell, Modern Family and Nick Offerman, Parks & Recreation
Outstanding Achievement in Movies and Miniseries: Masterpiece: Sherlock
Outstanding Achievement in News and Information: Restrepo
Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming: Sesame Street
Career Achievement Award: Oprah Winfrey
Heritage Award: The Dick Van Dyke Show

The night's top winner is Friday Night Lights taking the Program of the Year for its final season similar to 2009 winner, Battlestar Galactica. Suffice to say both shows are not Emmy staples, but Friday Night Lights made a breakthrough last year getting its two leads nominated and repeated the feat this year as well as getting the show nominated for Outstanding Drama Series.

Unfortunately for that show, its Emmy chances aren't high especially since it will be up against Game of Thrones and Mad Men nabbing awards last night as well, New Program and Drama Series respectively. Mad Men also scored when Jon Hamm beat out fellow Emmy-nominees Steve Buscemi, Peter Dinklage, Julianna Margulies, Margo Martindale, and Tim Olyphant in Individual Achievement in Drama. Note that last year's winner Margulies shockingly did not repeat her win at the Emmys.

Last year's big winner Glee was snubbed this year even during the nomination phase, which opened the way for Modern Family to repeat its Comedy Series triumph last year. Meanwhile Ty Burrell and Emmy-snubbed Nick Offerman shared the honor for Individual Achievement in Drama besting Louis C.K., Amy Poehler, Danny Pudi, and Jon Stewart. As happy as I am about Offerman's win, I honestly expected a lot more Parks & Recreation love (for example, winning over Modern Family). Jane Lynch did repeat her win here last year at the Emmys and Burrell could do the same if vote-splitting amongst his three other co-stars isn't a factor.

In a bit of an upset, though not to me, Sherlock was able to win the miniseries category beating Downton Abbey and presumed Emmy-favorite Mildred Pierce. Sherlock, however, was not nominated in the counterpart category at the Emmys. The Amazing Race, of course, gets the first reality award the TCA has given out while Oprah Winfrey expectantly gets the Career Achievement Award. They really couldn't give it to anyone else this year.

Centennial: Lucille Ball

Even though it's already a couple of hours past midnight, I would be remiss in not posting about the centennial of the inimitable and supremely talented Lucille Ball. And after all, while she was born in Jamestown, New York, she spent most of her adult life and saw most of her professional success in sunny California and it's still yesterday over there!

Ball was of course more famously known the world over as Lucy Ricardo, her character in one of the greatest television series of all time, I Love Lucy, but she's done it all. For five decades, she appeared in tons of films and TV shows as well as done some radio and Broadway work early in her career. With that said, I've sadly never seen any of them with the exception of I Love Lucy. Still, with that show and her co-founding Desilu Productions with her then husband Desi Arnaz, she has more than made her mark in the world of entertainment.

Last year, I posted about the Vitameatavegamin episode of I Love Lucy saying that it probably contained "the funniest sketch in the history of television" and I stand by that assertion. Google very recently honored her by devoting a doodle to celebrate her centennial.

The Art of Disguise

This post is part of Andrew's "Episode Blogathon" in which the participants must pick their favorite TV episode during the past season.

To say I had a myriad of choices for this blog-a-thon would be underselling it. That's what happens when one watches approximately 25+ TV shows regularly with episode counts ranging from 3 to 24. What I quickly realized though was I was going to pick something British. I'm not saying American TV had nothing to offer because that's far from the truth. I could've just as easily picked and talked about an episode from Fringe, Parks & Recreation, Community, or The Good Wife, but for some reason I knew I wanted to satisfy the Anglophile in me. And yet even with this self-imposed limitation, it was still quite daunting. After all how could I possibly choose between such diverse and brilliant shows such as Downton Abbey, Misfits, Being Human, Doctor Who, and Sherlock?


Last week I narrowed it down to the heart-wrenching third season finale of Being Human "The Wolf-Shaped Bullet," the Neil Gaiman-penned and supremely elegant Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Wife," and the thrillingly intense Sherlock finale "The Great Game." All three episodes I could probably watch ad nauseum with the production, the acting, the writing, the direction all just top-notch. But I had to pick one and so I picked Sherlock Holmes*.

Weeds Improves, Dance Nears Finale, and Other TV Thoughts

Is it just me or were the last two episodes of Weeds really quite good? This week's episode was probably the best of the season so far especially with some S1 goodness in the form of Heylia (and Dean). Yes, it was great seeing her again and she didn't disappointment, but I love more the way she indirectly helped Silas and Nancy to confront one another about the whole Lars business. The decision for Silas to stay with Heylia might do both of them good, but they're slowly getting back to one another. I'm also loving that Andy and Shane's side plots are colliding with Nancy's what with Shane helping Andy out with one of his crazy ideas by investing in a start-up business that could be use as a front for Nancy's dealings. In terms of plot contrivance, this is actually pretty tame compared to the past few seasons so bravo. Finally, it's been far too long since I've felt Nancy was an actual person, but her last "story" on the plane with the montage of the people she loved, made me remember why I rooted for her in the first place a long time ago. Hope the show keeps this up.

Four episodes in and I do have to say that I expected a bit more from Torchwood. At the moment it's feeling like last season's failure FlashForward --great concept, poor execution. Now Torchwood isn't THAT bad, but I'm an eternal optimist. I hardly care about the drama with Rex's and Esther's families maybe because I've just haven't connected with them more, though I did have a lump in my throat when Gwen's father was taken in the end. Speaking of Gwen, she continues to kick ass and take names this season. Her attempting an American accent was amazing in its awfulness. I admit, the scene with the assassin, Jack, and Gwen was intense and the storyline of the Tea Partier vs. Oswald was entertaining in its realistic absurdity. Okay, this season hasn't impressed me much, but I'm looking forward for more.


If you watched this week's Breaking Bad, you could be forgiven into thinking that Walt was just a supporting character because he pretty much stayed in the background most of the episode. Instead focus was shifted to Jesse, Skyler, and refreshingly different Marie. First, Jesse is still recovering and his never-ending party has turned into his personal hell. When he invited Walt to go go-karting, it's such a cry for help and it breaks my heart. With this said, I hope this doesn't last too long since I like it when Jesse is reacting rather than wallowing. Skyler was the MVP of this episode though as she is slowly breaking bad herself by flawlessly going through with her plan to buy the car wash, at a lower price she wanted to buy, and without doing anything too illegal. Sure, Walt is still keeping secrets from her, but the fact that Skyler is now privy to his part of Walt's life is so great. Finally, it was wonderful to finally see Marie dealing with her continuing struggles with Hank. Bringing back her kleptomania was a stroke of genius and seeing as Hank has perked up by the end of the episode, methinks things will get back to normal (unfortunately for Walt).

Not sure where I read it, but someone called this past week's True Blood Shakespearean and I think it was quite apt with the residents hanging out in the woods and being affected by the full moon. My favorite scene include Jessica keeping Jason company as he fears being turned into a werepanther (he doesn't). I was really impressed with Deborah Ann Woll and her chemistry with Ryan Kwanten which was a nice respite from her drama with Hoyt. Two more performances that deserve kudos is Kristin Bauer as a pathetically rotting Pam trying to do anything and everything to snap Eric out of his fugue state and Sam Trammell as he channeled his inner Tommy who can now turn into other people by virtue of him killing his parents. The rest of the episode contained Werewolves, brujos, lesbians, witches, demon babies, and a long-awaited meeting of flesh between Sookie and Eric. So... a typical episode.


Finally, the final four who will compete for the title of America's Favorite Dancer this season on So You Think You Can Dance has been chosen and it's the four who I thought all along would make it namely Melanie, Marko, Sasha, and Tadd. They all deserve to win, but I'm thinking it'll be one of the first three. It is fantastic seeing two Asian guys in the final with one of them being Filipino. I'm not rooting for any one person to win since I like them all, so I'm just going to enjoy the finale and hope we see some amazing routines. Guest judge Christina Applegate was quite good.

Looking Forward To...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Release: August 5, 2011
Distributor: Fox
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Starring: James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Tom Felton, Jamie Harris, Tyler Labine, Brian Cox, and Andy Serkis

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (2011)

There's not much I could add amidst the chorus of people who have already chimed in with their thoughts on the final Harry Potter film. as a culmination of the world J.K. Rowling conceived more than two decades ago, it's impossible to go into this film without prior baggage. In general, if you've been a fan of the last seven films, this eight installment should be plenty satisfying. If you were pretty ambivalent with the series so far, this film probably won't change your mind. With that said, what did I think?

It was a gorgeous film and I doubt anyone would say any different. From the war torn halls of Hogwarts to the fields that lay in Snape's memories, some of the set pieces were just magnificent. The visual effects, too, where something to behold. The dragon, the wand fights, the stone soldiers, all of it rendered perfectly so as to feel almost natural and organic, never distracting.


I'll get to the star of the film in a few, but I just want to say that Maggie Smith and Alan Rickman were two of the stand outs for me. Due to health reasons, Smith wasn't able to be in more of the latter films as she probably should've been, but she was front and center in this last one giving me my first tearjerker moment when she greeted Harry after fighting off Snape. And even though I wished Snape's narrative had been written more deliberately in previous films, Rickman expertly handled all of the emotions required from the character. And it was heartbreaking, every single moment. (Random confession: I totally thought the big twist would be that Snape was actually Harry's father!)

Speaking of the boy wizard, I personally think that Daniel Radcliffe has never been better than in this film. I'm not calling for him to be suddenly Oscar-nominated, but inasmuch as this was Harry's greatest moment, it was also his and he owned every single scene. The whole sequence after he learns everything about Snape and makes his way to the woods to confront Voldemort and essentially his destiny is such a beautiful moment because Radcliffe had to somehow express anger, disappointment, resignation, courage, fear, resolved, and sadness all at once and he does so wonderfully.

Of course the film wasn't flawless. The story of the Malfoys felt a bit undercooked to me and perhaps it's the same way in the books, but the way that family teetered on the edge of this war with only having one another for real support is so fascinating to me and I just wished they were given a lot more to do. The epilogue was absolutely distracting and in my opinion, utterly unnecessary. After all of the growing up the series had to do, why did we need a childlike "happily ever after" ending? Maybe I was just annoyed at the horrendous and uneven aging makeup the cast was given or the fact that Harry inexplicably ended up with Ginny in the end. Seriously? Did you see their kiss in this film? I'd probably have more chemistry kissing some stranger off the street. But neither here nor there since I know it's part of the books, but the film series has been quite liberal at how they adapt the novels, why not man up and end the film in its own unique way rather than going by the book? B/B+

If you want to read my conversation with my friend Aki on Deathly Hallows, click here.

Selling Sex

Two highly acclaimed dramas, a TV show and a film, are hoping that one of marketing's most prevalent beliefs, that sex sells, is true.


First up, the Emmy-winning drama The Good Wife decided to feature the gorgeous Julianna Margulies wearing nothing but black lingerie and a satisfied look on her face in a new ad to promote the new season. Guess they thought they needed to catch people's attention, because the ratings-starved show is not only moving to a new time, but to a whole new day as well. One can say this stinks of desperation, but maybe they're also fighting fire with fire as their main competition is the sexy and sudsy Desperate Housewives. No matter what, this ad is getting a lot of attention and by that barometer alone, it's a success.


Then there's this first official one sheet for the Cannes-winning film Drive and they are obviously putting forth the hunky Ryan Gosling as the main selling point. Many people have already made this comparison, but it all screams Tiger Beat to me from the sexy Photoshopped image of a guy to the bold pink font of the title. To be honest, while I like the risky design (and looking at Gosling), I'm not sure if I like it so much as a piece of marketing for the film. It clashes a bit with the mood of the synopsis and the trailer of the film. I much preferred the darker, more foreboding, poster that was used in Cannes.

But hey, am I really complaining that we're being forced to look at Margulies and Gosling being their hot self? What is wrong with me?

Box Office: Potter Billions and Smurfed Cowboys

As everyone predicted, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2) became the 9th film in history to gross over a billion dollars worldwide and it did so in record pace of 19 days, tying mega-blockbuster Avatar. Its $1.008 billion tally consists of series-high grosses both domestically ($318.5 mil) and internationally ($690.4 mil). And the sky is the limit for the film which looks to become the highest-grossing non-James Cameron film worldwide. And yes, it is the only Harry Potter film to reach this amazing milestone (without adjusting for inflation).

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is only a few days away from becoming the 10th billion-dollar movie worldwide and the third film this year to achieve this feat.


On the domestic front, it was a tight race between Cowboys & Aliens and The Smurfs with the Western sci-fi mash-up taking the top spot with $36.4 mil (vs. Smurfs' $35.6 mil). Though they lost the first battle, based on budget and historical patterns, the blue-tinted critters will most likely win the war and out-gross its rival in the end. The only other new entry this past weekend was the star-studded romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love which took in a solid $19.1 mil.

Last week's top grosser Captain America took a huge dip in its second weekend with a total of $117.4 mil falling behind Thor ($119.5 mil) at the same point, but keeping ahead of X-Men: First Class ($98 mil) and Green Lantern ($89 mil).