Thoughts on Idol's Top 3

Next week is the American Idol finale when the final two will face off to become the next American idol. But first one of the three remaining contestants will have to be voted off. Based on tonight's performances and how they rest of the season has been going, that person should be Casey James giving us a Crystal Bowersox/Lee Dewyze final two.


All three had to perform two songs, one of their own choice and another from a judge. Casey and Crystal's song choices were great especially Crystal's brilliant decision to sing a Melissa Etheridge track, but both didn't exactly wow the judges. Lee, in the meantime, dazzled with a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover making the judges declare him the outright winner of Round One. The praises would continue to Round Two.

Already the underdog, Kara and Randy did Casey no favors by saddling him with the absolutely saccharine and vile "Daughters" by John Mayer. That song is playing in my own personal hell. Ellen, the one judge who doesn't have a music industry background, actually gave the most thoughtful and challenging song choice out of the judges giving Crystal Paul McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed." It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough. Front-runner Lee fortunately gets Simon Cowell and in turn the everybody's favorite judge gave Lee a showstopper with "Hallelujah." While the lighting and the gospel choir was just a bit too much, it definitely create A Moment for Lee as all of the judges tell him he just crushed the other two.

With that said, barring some crazy shit happening, which again is KNOWN TO HAPPEN on this show, it should be Lee and Crystal to go head-to-head. Crystal (Adam Lambert, David Archuleta) was the early favorite and was consistently fantastic throughout the competition, but Lee (Kris Allen, David Cook) came from seemingly nowhere and grew week after week after week and has some serious momentum right now. Should make an exciting finale nonetheless! Please Casey, don't ruin it!

Sunday & Monday Nights

Lost Series Finale Countdown: 5 days

As the networks are busy with upfronts this week and with finales, both season and series, around the corner for most shows, everyone seem to be bringing their A game...

Sunday Night

The only thing I watched that night was the finale of Brothers & Sisters and with the exception of the last 5-10 minutes or so, the episode was a bit of a disappointment. It was more whiny and doom-and-gloom from the family as they all still reel from saying goodbye to their precious Ojai company. Saul's out-of-left-field HIV storyline shows potential, but we'll probably get more next season. The big cliffhanger ending included the death of Rob Lowe. Even though it was the worst kept secret ever, they handled that moment surprisingly well. Plus seeing most of the characters injured and shocked was pretty much the extra boost the episode needed.

Monday Night


It was pretty much a TV overload as I saw my usual five shows. The CBS comedies delivered May-Sweeps-worthy episodes. Not only did How I Met Your Mother show us the movie version of Ted's breakup with Stella, but they also kept playing the wonderful Glascow Love Theme from Love, Actually. The climactic scene with Ted in front of the big screen could've been extremely hokey, but I thought it worked. Meanwhile Big Bang Theory gave us an insta-classic episode of how Leonard and Sheldon first met. That event was big enough, but they also managed to get in the creation of The Roommate Agreement, the explanation of their perpetually broken elevator, the first time they met Raj and Howard, and the advents of the show's more notable recurring jokes--Sheldon's multiple knocking and his "spot" on the couch.

The other three shows came from three other different networks. NBC's Chuck seemingly brought back a faceless Shaw as well as Chuck and Ellie's father. Speaking of Ellie, she's in the thick of things now and it's only a matter of time before she finds out about Chuck and his spy-ness. Can I get an AMEN! With one episode remaining, 24 on FOX delivered one of the most harrowing episodes the series has ever done. In fact, this was probably the first episode of this show where I was sincerely terrified of Jack Bauer as he put on a mask and killed everyone and anyone on his way. Next week's two hour series finale is sure to thrill. Finally, the season finale of ABC's Castle involved its usual fun and heartbreak. Fun in the form of the cool spy case and heartbreak in the form of Castle and Beckett trying out the "Ross/Rachel" thing and keeping their feelings to themselves. It's going to be a loooong summer for both of them as well as the fans.

Rafael Nadal Wins Again

Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer for the 14th time in the 21 times they have played one another over the weekend in Madrid. Nadal captured his third straight Masters title this year, which also gave him his record-breaking 18th Master title overall one more than Andre Agassi and two more than Federer.

No one should really be surprised at the end result. Even discounting the history between the two, Nadal's clay court form this year has been perfect while Federer has struggled. It's a testament to Federer that despite his difficulties on clay this season, he was able to reach the finals and put up a fight against the King of Clay. Though losing in straight sets 4-6 (5)6-7, Federer was able to play aggressively and mix it up breaking the unbreakable Nadal more than once.

Heading into the second Grand Slam of the year in Roland Garros, which begins next week, four-time champion Nadal is the hot favorite to recapture the title. Defending champion Federer is the next best bet especially in light of his results in Madrid. Plus with Nadal going back to #2 in the rankings, the only time both of them would meet would be in the finals.

For the women, this clay season has given us chock full of surprising winners and champions unable to go the distance. The end result this weekend pretty much encapsulated that with unseeded Aravane Rezai defeated Venus Williams in the final. Venus partnered with her sister Serena Williams to capture the doubles title. Another American sibling duo capture the men's doubles title as Bob and Mike Bryan defeated their rivals Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic.

A Fedal Final Finally!

Who knew it would take one whole year for the world to see Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal play against one another? Their last meeting was exactly one year ago in the Madrid finals with then world no. 1 Nadal in a tear winning the first Grand Slam of the year and dominating the other Master events leading up to Madrid. Federer in the meantime, reached finals and semifinals but was unable to capture any titles. Of course Federer won in straight sets against Nadal that year using the event as a springboard to a historic summer capturing his first French Open title and getting a record 15th Grand Slam in Wimbledon. Nadal, on the other hand, unceremoniously lost in the fourth round of the French Open and withdrew from Wimbledon.


A year later, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Federer continued his phenomenal Grand Slam record by winning the Australian Open while Nadal has so far gone 14-0 during the clay season grabbing titles in Monte Carlo and Rome. Based on clay season form, Federer will be hard-pressed to repeat his win against the Mallorcan. I'm just hoping it's not one-sided and that both of these champions put on a good show for both of their fans. Tomorrow's clash will be their 21st match. Nadal leads their head-to-head at 13-7 including a dominating 9-2 record on clay.


With his recent wins and the lack of form from other contenders, Nadal will re-take the #2 ranking just in time for the French Open. With a win in Madrid, he would have a record-breaking 18 Master Series titles breaking his tie with Andre Agassi. If Federer wins, he will tie with both Nadal and Agassi with 17 titles. Not sure about the math on this one, but I think no matter what happens in Madrid and at the French Open, Federer should still be able to break Pete Sampras record of weeks at #1 on June 14 where he will be ranked #1 for 287 weeks.

Update: If Nadal wins, Federer has to reach the quarterfinals at the French Open to retain his #1 ranking. If Federer wins, he retains his #1 ranking through the French Open regardless of results (i.e. even if he loses in the first round and Nadal wins the whole thing).

Looking Forward To... SUMMER

Iron Man 2 opened this past weekend racking up $128 million, good for the fifth highest-grossing weekend of all time. And thus begins summer movie season.

Looking over the list of movies coming out between now and the end of August, I'm not really finding much to feel excited about. Take for instance Iron Man 2. I very much was looking forward to this until the reviews came in. They all pretty much stated that the film was just okay and definitely not as good as the first. I'll probably still end up seeing it, but then what else?

This weekend is the opening of Ridley Scott's Robin Hood starring his Gladiator muse Russell Crowe and to be honest I'm not exactly rushing out in theaters for this one. The rest of May is actually worse as my picks ranged from the stupid (MacGruber and Shrek Forever After) to the oh GOD WHY (Prince of Persia and Sex and the City). No thanks!

June is a veritable wasteland full of lame ass comedies with more lame ass comedies. Only Pixar's Toy Story 3 seems to be worthy of anyone's time. And who amongst you didn't watch the trailer and teared up a bit? The A-Team could be fun and the cast looks good so it's piquing my interests a bit. Maybe if enough of my friends want to see it (so far no one is saying anything), I may see it with them. And I almost forgot, in most likely very limited release, I Am Love with the lovely and superbly talented Tilda Swinton also opens this month.

July has some potential, but for the most part I'll probably wait until I can see a few of them on Netflix. One definite exception to that is Christopher Nolan's Inception starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Marion Cotillard. I've done my best to not read any synopsis or even see any trailers. But how wicked cool is the cast and the poster? Other possibilities include Salt (because Angelina Jolie does summer blockbusters well) and, in limited release and possible Oscar contender, The Kids Are All Right from Focus Features starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, and Mark Ruffalo.

August is usually where movies go to die. Or is that September? Not sure. In any case, it's not too bad this year since as pumped as I am in seeing Inception, I'm equally as excited to see Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I'm a bit (okay a lot) of a Wright fanboy ever since Shaun of the Dead, so I'm just disappointed that I don't already OWN this movie. Then there's Eat Pray Love with Julia Roberts and James Franco which looks okay as well as Sundance favorite HappyThankYouMorePlease from director Josh Radnor, also the star of one of my favorite shows How I Met Your Mother. Haven't heard much about the film other than it's a crowd pleaser. Can't think of a better way to end summer than with one of those.

So looking back at my post, the number of films I want to see is higher than expected with eleven possible choices. Last summer I saw five films that eventually made their way to my top ten movies of the year. So I'll hope for the best. What about you?

Weekend Update

- Eighty-eight year old Betty White hosted Saturday Night Live accompanied by some of SNL's more recent female alums: Ana Gesteyer, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudoplh, and Molly Shannon. Most of the jokes were of the "granny says dirty jokes" variety, but it mostly worked in no small part due to White's still pitch perfect comedic timing. Jay-Z was the musical guest and it was touching he dedicated his performance of "Forever Young" to Betty White.

- Another clay court tournament, another uncharacteristic loss from French Open champion Roger Federer as he crashed out of the Estorial semifinals to eventual champion Albert Montanes. Maria Jose Martinez grabbed the Rome title from Jelena Jankovic who managed to defeat both Williams sisters en route to the final. Sam Querrey and John Isner contested the first all-American final in a European clay court tournament in nearly two decades with Querrey taking the title in Serbia. Defending champion Novak Djokovic retired with breathing problems.

Outlook: Give Rafael Nadal his fifth French Open win because none of the other contenders have done anything worthwhile this clay season. Hell if I know who to predict on the woman's side.

- A pair of brothers won The Amazing Race, but it wasn't the one a lot of people wanted to win. Fan favorite cowboy brothers Jet/Cord came in second place to twin brothers Dan/Jordan who ran a strategic and confident final leg. Helped by being upgraded to first class in their international flight, they stayed in front the whole time navigating the streets of San Francisco and finally to Candlestick Park where Phil declared them winners. I'd be lying to say I wasn't disappointed that Jet/Cord didn't win, but I was also very pleased to see Brent/Caite check in a distant third. Here's to hoping for an All-Stars season starring those gentle cowboys.

Happy Mother's Day!

I've recently started watching Big Love on DVD. With two episodes left, I'm almost done with the first season. I should be finishing it today and it's only fitting since today is Mother's Day. Why? Because the kids on the show don't just have one mom, but three moms as a result of their family's polygamist ways.

To be honest, I haven't been "into" this first season, but I have heard from many people that it gets better. So I'm going to forge ahead. This is not to say the show doesn't have many good qualities. In fact, among them are the three actresses that play the three wives of Bill Hendrickson as played by Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny, and Ginnifer Goodwin. My favorite scenes are when all three of them are in the same room.

So to all moms and maternal figures out there, Happy Mother's Day!

Tuesday Night

(Flickr)

Yesterday was a bit of an epic day of TV. It started with going to the Paley Center here in New York City to see Jim Parsons of Big Bang Theory fame be interviewed. It was my first time doing anything like this so I was a tad excited and also had no expectations. I was thrilled they aired next week's episode of the show, but it really was fantastic seeing Jim Parsons in person. I think the best word to describe him would be adorable.

Some of my favorite parts of the interview was when he...

• Got a little emotional when talking about bringing his 4yo nephew to Sesame Street
• Expressed his desire to see Betty White and Lisa Kudrow to guest star as Mee-Maw and a relative of Penny's respectively
• Admitted to never watching a Star Trek movie and the audience audibly gasping

Apparently afterward he signed a few autographs. Too bad I had already left to get some dinner, but it was still quite an awesome time. When I got home around 11pm, I decided to play catch up on American Idol and Glee. Not much to say about Idol except to say that Lee Dewyze kicked ass and while she faltered a bit musically, Crystal Bowersox is still an effin' star.

In Glee, it was all about cheesy songs, cheesy choreography, and cheesy music videos. Having just one thing cheesy could've ruined this episode, but the fact that they piled on the cheese and then some kind of made this episode really stand out, not to mention the appearance of Olivia Newton John looking as fierce as ever. Sadly, at this point, I had no choice but to sleep even though all I wanted to do was watch some Lost.


Instead I managed to avoid spoilers this morning even though I knew something "bad" happened based on a few tweets on twitter. At lunch, however, I watched the episode and promptly bawled my eyes out as three of my favorite characters EVER on the show seemingly died. Sayid dying wasn't so much a surprise and I was glad he died a hero and not the zombified creature he'd been for most of the season. But to see both Jin and Sun die as well was just too much. With that said, their death scene was as heartbreaking as I imagined it would be. I completely lost it twice, when Jin told Sun he'd never leave her in Korean and when Hurley started crying on the beach. I mean my goodness who didn't cry with the castaways when they were all in the beach? Lapidus also saw his untimely end. "The End" is definitely nigh.

Whew. Bring on Wednesday.

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.