Amazing Race 16: Final Three

With only the finale to go, we are down to the last three teams on Amazing Race. I realized I haven't blogged about this season at all, but for the most part, I'm happy with how it all shook out with one exception which should be obvious if you've been watching the show. I'll get to that later, but for now here are the three teams racing to win.

Jet & Cord

They are certainly my favorite team and have been since the beginning. They are cordial to each other and to other races and more importantly never get ruffled from setbacks the race had to offer. Of course for them, there were that many setbacks since other than that one leg where they ended up last (and saved), they checked in 4th place of better. In fact they came in first the most of any team this season (4). Unless the other two team luck out big and/or these two have a gigantic mistake, it's easy to see these two come out on top.

Dan & Jordan

My second favorite team took awhile to grow on me. Like the cowboys, they don't really get into inter-team drama. Of course they both fight like brothers, but they also love and support each other like only family can. It's wonderful how well Dan can easily diffuse his more high-strung brother. They've come in first before, using the Fast Forward, and they tend to hover in the middle of the pack. If they hope to win they have to work together better than before and believe they can come in first.

Brent & Caite

Here's the exception to my giddiness over the finale. First, I really do have to give them props for surviving this long and in fact they checked-in first for the first time during the most recent leg. But man I have no idea how they are still here. I'd say luck, but that's probably not giving them enough credit. I guess it's just hard for me to fathom how a team that has displayed utter stupidity and awful teamwork over and over again can be here. The one good thing they did was get rid of Carol/Brandy. I hope hope hope they do not win. Please make it so!

SO in summary I'm hoping a pair of brothers win next Sunday. I don't care which one. They can be wearing cowboy hats or look exactly alike, but as long as one of those two teams win, I'll be happy. If another team wins, well, if would be like such as the Iraq and South Africa and the Asian countries and what was the question again?

King and Queen of Clay Win

With four French Open trophies each, Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal continue their clay domination by winning important tournaments this weekend. For Justine, third time was the charm as she won her first title in her third final since coming back from retirement. She did so by defeating three top 12 players including an in-form Samantha Stosur in the final of Stuttgart.

In the meantime in Rome, Nadal showed the rest of the ATP tour how it's done as he lost only one set the whole tournament to capture his 17th Masters trophy tying him with Andre Agassi for the record. Nadal will look to sweep the clay court Master tournaments and do one better than Agassi in Madrid next. Last year in Madrid, Nadal lost to Roger Federer, who then went on to win the French Open. Federer was ousted in Rome this year by Ernest Gulbis in the second round. Gulbis made good in his upset victory by reaching the semifinals and being the only player to take a set off Nadal.

It's difficult to see other contenders for the French Open crown this year when these two champions are playing. Can the defending champions Federer and Svetlana Kuznetsova reach the same pinnacle? What about former champions and finalists such as Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Robin Soderling, Ana Ivanovic, and Dinara Safina? How about in-form players such as Stosur, Flavia Pennetta, David Ferrer, Francesca Schiavone, Fernando Verdasco, and Novak Djokovic? The French Open begins in less than three weeks.

Roman Letdown

Another Masters tournament and another early loss for the two Australian Open finalists this year. In Rome, Roger Federer started off his 2010 clay court campaign with a bewildering lost to 40ish ranked Ernest Gulbis while Andy Murray's slump continues with a not-too-shocking lost to David Ferrer. Murray's quarterfinal finish in Indian Wells was the best result of either player.

The losses this week are worrying for both. Murray must be disheartened to see others pass him by especially with guys his age like Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro winning slams while he loses in straight sets. It's especially jarring for him since he was so close to the top hitting a career high ranking of #2 last summer. He's still young and he has huge potential for improvement, but his trend is going down, not up.

For Federer, the losses might hurt just a bit less especially considering what he has already achieved. But he has A TON of ranking points to defend starting next week. Will he be able to defend the four tournaments he won (Madrid, French Open, Wimbledon, Cincinnati) and his final showing at the US Open? Good news for him is that he IS a different player now in Grand Slam play, but he needs to improve his results in the regular tour. At the very least so people still thinks he cares. Good on him for sticking with doubles though. He's in the quarterfinals in Rome.

Their vanquishers, Ferrer and Gulbis, are both through to the quarterfinals as are last year's finalists, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, as well as Stanislas Wawrinka, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco, and Feliciano Lopez.

Reality Show Rundown

It's coming to the end of April which means lots of shows are winding down. This also means that for most reality shows, it's getting down to the wire and final contestants. This week there were a lot of great eliminations that I just wanted to highlight.

Even though I do not watch Dancing With the Stars, it's hard to avoid Kate Gosselin's reign of terror both in the tabloids/media and in the show itself. From what I hear, she was just a pain in the ass and couldn't dance to save herself, but kept getting through despite the judges scoring her low. So it was a bit joyous to hear she finally got the boot Tuesday night. Hope she stays home and, oh I don't know, be a mom.

Wednesday night brought another much needed elimination to another highly-rated reality show. This time it was the ouster of the much maligned Tim Urban on American Idol. Vote For the Worst's horse in the race finally came in last. It's a wonder he lasted this long with barely making it in the top 24 and getting awful reviews from the judges early on.

We move on to Thursday night when Seth Aaron was rightfully declared the winner of this season's Project Runway. I was exactly rooting for him, but I was definitely rooting against his competitors who were probably my two least favorite designers this season. In fact I didn't like them so much I didn't even feel the need to watch the finale so god knows what kind of crap they sent down the runway.

Speaking of not watching, I don't pay attention to Survivor. I have a few friends who watch it and I know this season it's all about Heroes vs. Villains. Apparently this week was the merge and some people really started playing. I heard some player made some big and risky moves during tribal council and yadda yadda. Wish I could appreciate it more.

Finally, tonight we get the Amazing Race. I guess I should've been paying more attention, but if I was I would've probably guessed that this week was a non-elimination leg. Too bad because I would've given anything to have those two cops Philiminated. My favorite team, the Cowboys, ended up in first place. Here's hoping to two more first place finishes for them! It's insane that Caite is the last female left in the race. Some things are just too mind boggling. And of course there's the other brother, Dan/Jordan, who are so sweet to one another. I do hope they make it to the final three along with Jet/Cord. Two more episodes left! I think...

Verdasco Wins Barcelona, Rome Next

The clay season continues as Fernando Verdasco defeats French Open finalist Robin Soderling in the finals of the Barcelona Open. Great showing for both, Verdasco doing one better than his results in Monte Carlo the prior week and Soderling showing the world that he's no one-clay-tournament wonder.

But now things get real as the reigning French Open champion Roger Federer plays his first clay court tournament since winning in Roland Garros. Federer has never won in Rome, coming tantalizingly close in 2006 losing in five sets to Rafael Nadal in the finals. If Nadal wishes to solidify his clay dominance, he will have to get through to both French Open finalists. He is seeded to meet Federer in the semifinals for the first time in five years while Soderling, the only player to have defeated him in Roland Garros, is seeded to face him in the quarterfinals.

And after all that, if he makes the finals, he might have to contend against Novak Djokovic who gave him a real test last year and their brutal clay matches last year probably contributed to his knee troubles that continues to plague him.

Other tennis happenings:

- Fed Cup is underway with Italy and the United States moving on to the finals. Venus Williams withdrew like her sister. Justin Henin pulled out due to injury, but then played when her compatriot Kim Clijsters suffered a foot tear to keep her out for six weeks.

- Federer graces the cover of ESPN Magazine with the headline "Who's the World's Greatest Athlete? Roger Federer Looks the Part."

- Nadal took a rest from Barcelona and instead served as a pall bearer for former president of the International Olympic Committee Juan Antonio Samaranch.

The Power of Glee

Image re-blogged from fujiidom.

The Madonna episode of Glee this past Tuesday was surely over-hyped, but I think the show, the cast, and the episode really held their own. Jam packed with Madonna's hits and more than a few shout-outs to the Material Girl, it was one of the more entertaining hours of TV you'll probably see this season.

It's difficult to pick a favorite performance. "Like A Prayer" was the rousing ensemble song that capped the episode while "Vogue" was Jane Lynch's pièce de résistance and an instant viral hit. But for some reason, I can't get the "4 Minute" song and performance out of my head. The song itself is quite catchy enough, but Mercedes and Kurt taking ownership of the stage was something to see. It's been on constant replay since I've seen the episode.

"She's black. I'm gay. We make culture." - Kurt

Idol Gives Back And Then Some

This year's Idol Gives Back show contained about 10% results show, 30% performances, 30% call to action/charity, and 45% stupid crap. That doesn't add up to 100% you say? Well the show ran over like 22 minutes, so it works.

As easy as it is to rag on American Idol, it's also just as easy to give them credit for these Idol Gives Back shows. If you can donate to their cause, please do so.

The elimination was a bit of a gift in itself with Tim Urban finally getting the boot. With his now much-talked about smile, good looks, and modicum amount of singing talent, he's bound to milk his stint on American Idol quite well. More power to him. I mean, looked at what he accomplished! He went from being cut during Hollywood Week to finishing 7th securing himself a juicy spot at the Idol Summer Tour.

So now with six contestants left, we can easily divide them into two groups of three. Those that have had mid to high buzz since the beginning of the competition and have NEVER been to the bottom three (Crystal, Lee, and Siobhan) to the others (Casey, Michael, and Aaron). And of course, I'm still rooting for a Bowersox-Dewyze finale.

Lost Loves Reunite

Lots of things happened in last night's episode of Lost, but nothing more satisfying than to see Sun and Jin finally reuniting. Last time they saw one another was at the end of S4 (not counting any flashbacks or flash sideways of course). In "real" time though, the couple had been separated for three years (and some change). In that time, Jin worked for the Dharma Initiative and perfected his English while Sun raised their daughter off the Island only to go back to look for Jin.

I have to admit that I thought we'd never see this happen. The show did everything they could to keep these two apart, but with six hours of the show to go, the reunion was inevitable. Of course as soon as they both saw one another, I thought one or both would get shot or get electrocuted or SOMETHING. I'm glad nothing like that happened. Not yet anyways. At the very least, Jin needs to hold his daughter!

In other Island news, things are heating up with Widmore declaring war because UnLocke took Desmond. It was left open-ended whether or not Sayid killed Desmond, but I doubt they'd actually let such an iconic part of the show die off-screen. Sawyer was able to get himself, Kate, Hurley, Miles, Lapidus, Sun, Claire, and Jack away from UnLocke only for Jack to take "a leap of faith" and go back to UnLocke. As for alternate sideways reality, everyone seems to be converging either in the hospital where Jack works or the police station with Sawyer.

Next week is not a new episode, but the week after that we should find out who the candidate is for Jacob. Methinks it's Jack since he's the only one to show ANY interest in the job.

Thoughts on Idol's Top 7

With the much needed double-eliminations of a few dead weights, I feel we're finally getting somewhere this season. Granted there's still a few loose ends here and there, but for the most part I'm feeling just a tiny bit more optimistic for this much maligned season.

This week it's Inspirational Song Week and yes I just rolled my eyes. But really it makes sense since tomorrow's result show will also serve as Idol's sort of annual Idol Gives Back concert. Unfortunately, most of the contestants this week sang through the motions or completely faltered. There were two exceptions and both of them are no surprise to anyone who's been watching this season. In fact they're the two singers getting ME through this season.

Casey James - He delivered another good, but forgettable performance. He's still a threat to win because he's consistent, likable, and charming. But he needs to do something far more exciting than what he delivered tonight.

Lee Dewyze - He's one of the two singers I talked about above. Every week he's just gaining confidence and delivering one strong performance after another. He can still grow a lot and if he does, everyone should really fear him.

Tim Urban - I will give him credit for his performances the past two weeks i.e. he didn't suck. But the longer he stays, the longer the agony. He's a fine singer, but so so SO limited. He needs to go now.

Aaron Kelly - While he performed well enough, the song was too much for him. The song was overly cheesy and difficult already, but the messy arrangement made it that much more overwhelming for the boy. Oddly enough I've sort of started rooting for him.

Siobhan Magnus - Is this really the girl who's supposed to be one-one-one with Crystal, because I don't really recognize her anymore. Maybe it was all the butterflies, figuratively and literally.

Michael Lynche - To be honest, it was just an okay performance for me. It sort of reminded me of Casey's performance in that it was good, but a bit lazy and a little too auto-pilot for me.

Crystal Bowersox - She easily delivered the best performance of the night. It wasn't even a competition. THIS was her Moment and it was beautiful. Odder things have happened and there's still a chance she won't win, but who the hell is predicting that? Not me. Instead, I will just be voting.

So there you go. Lee was good, Crystal was the best, and everyone else were blah. Though hasn't this been the case for most of the season? The more things change...

Clay King Returns in Monte Carlo

Rafael Nadal has finally won his first title since winning in Rome last May. His win in the Monte Carlo Masters has got to be so satisfying for the Spaniard who endured a tough 11-month title drought which included a heartbreaking fourth round loss at the French Open, a withdrawal from Wimbledon, a dismal showing at the World Tour finals, and a smattering of semifinal appearances. With his win here, he also becomes the first player to win six consecutive time in the same event AND pulls himself into a tie with Roger Federer with 16 Masters titles, both just one shy away from record holder Andre Agassi's tally.

All of that and he did it in style routing Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 6-1. For the entire tournament, Nadal only lost 14 games dishing out a bagel in three of his five matches. While it's been a tough road for Nadal, there's no denying that he is still THE player to beat in red clay. He will no doubt be particularly hungry to defend the rest of his clay titles from last year AND regain his French Open crown.

The question mark, of course, is Roger Federer, the man who last defeated Nadal at a Masters tournament and who is the defending French Open champion. His first clay tournament is not until Rome. His non-Slam results for the past few months have been less than desired, but he is undoubtedly the second best clay-court player the past few years.

Other players to look out for would be Novak Djokovic who lost in the semifinals in Monte Carlo to Verdasco and Robin Soderling, the only man so far to defeat Nadal in the red clay of Roland Garros.