Did any of you catch "Pushing Daisies" yesterday? It was definitely one of the new shows that I was curious to try out. The ads looked cute and the premise - a man who could bring the dead to life by touching them and then dead again after a second touch - was interesting.

So I watched it, AND LOVED IT! It's definitely on my list of favorite shows now. I could use so many words to describe the show - whimsical, funny, quirky, colorful, imaginative, adorable, and enchanting. The lead, Ned, is charming and sweet. His partner in crime (solving crime, that is), Emerson, is gruff, but lovable (played by the huggable Chi McBride). And Ned's childhood sweetheart, the un-dead Chuck, is the most alive person on screen.

The show is a joy to watch. The colors just pop off the screen, and it feels like you're watching a fairytale, thanks to a play by play by the narrator. "Daisies" reminds me a lot of movies like "Edward Scissorhands" and "Stardust". I've read that it's a lot like "Wonderfalls", an awesome show that was canceled before I ever got to watch an episode (that I also had on my Blockbuster online queue but canceled before I could watch a show).

So, if you didn't catch it yesterday, it'll be on again tomorrow night. I know it may not be something that interests everyone, but it was a perfect fit for me!

...and if I still haven't convinced you, check out the extended preview.

Anyone catch yesterday's Heroes premiere?

I realized yesterday that I totally love the show, and that I never want it to end. I found myself checking my watch often, not because I was waiting for 9pm to roll around, as a way to torture myself and think, "Dammit! There's only 15 minutes left!"

---SPOILERS---

There were a lot of surprises, and the last 5-10 minutes left me thinking "Whaaaa-?!?!" several times. Things that left me wondering were...

- WTF is up with that craziness that Nathan saw in the mirror? Is that what he REALLY looks like now? You'd think so, since he went up into the atmosphere with Peter before he blew up - Nathan doesn't have the healing power so it's understandable that his face would be all fucked up like that.

- Peter in a box? ...and looking 10 times hotter than last season? Also, it looks like he's got a new power...

- Kensei is a white English guy?!?

- What's up with the two Mexicans? What does she do? Why does she kill people? Why is are her brother's eyebrows so bushy?

- Love the whole "My Two Dads" thing going on with Matt, Mohinder and Molly, but do they actually allow those arrangements to happen?

Next week can't come soon enough!

I admit it, I was almost hoping that Britney Spears' performance at the VMA's yesterday would bomb. Maybe a slip, maybe a breakdown, maybe just standing there like a deer in headlights.

What I saw yesterday could only be described as sad. I felt bad for her. The girl who was so outgoing and had "it" in terms of being able to hold the crowd in her performance was gone. She was nervous, tentative, and looked like she just wanted to get the thing over with. She was just going through the motions and the confidence she had, that fire in her eye that made her performances so exciting, was gone. MTV should never had asked her to perform, to put herself out there before she was ready.

Now for a moment of cattiness - she should NOT have worn that outfit. I'm not saying she's fat because she looks great for someone who's had two kids, but her body isn't ready for a bikini like that. Learn a lesson from Beyonce, whose dress highlighted her assets and kept her extra baggage hidden under flowy layers.

Other quick comments (I didn't watch the whole show because bath-time takes precedence!)

- Is it me, or did Dr. Dre look like he was wearing Incredible Hulk padding under his shirt? Has he always been that huge?

- Best performance of the night? Chris Brown, hands down. (hey, I'm a poet and didn't know it!) He had that spark that has been missing for so long. The kid can dance, he's entertaining, and he knows he's awesome. Extra points for the Billie Jean impersonation. 25 years later and kids are STILL doing it. Also, props to Rihanna for NOT lipsynching, and for just being as cute as a button.

- Second place? Alicia "Hips" Keys. The girl's beautiful, she can sing, and I loved the part when she was singing on the table and the dude sitting there was trying to get a picture of her at just the right angle, trying to be all sneaky. Dude, you're on national television, we're going to see you. Back to Alicia - she always manages to have entertaining, meaningful performances. I heart her.

- I kinda liked the idea of the performances being in different locations. No big show, setups or lights for most of the performances...they were low-key and felt like they were concentrating on the music rather than hiding behind backup dancers and lipsynching.

- Bravo to Justin Timberlake for telling MTV to show more videos. Then again, who am I to complain? I watch videos on MTV all the time. Why? Because I'm up at 4 in the morning working, that's why!

- Did they give out awards? I must have missed them

Update: Now with pictures from Lost-Media.com

My favorite show on television right now is "Lost". Admittedly, I'm not as obsessed with it as i had been in previous seasons. This season seemed to have lost a lot of steam. The first several episodes of the season were just OK. There weren't many "Oh shit!" moments like when we first found out that Locke used to be in a wheelchair. It seemed like Lost had lost it's luster. I didn't even care too much when I had to miss episodes because of work. I was able to watch them online, but still, before I had LOVED watching Lost on Wednesday nights.

Then came "Par Avion", the episode where we find out that Claire is Jack's half sister. A good episode that ended with the first "Oh shit!" moment that I'd had in a long time with the show - Sayid, Kate and Locke go to save Jack from the Others, only to find him running away....then turning around to catch a football from Mr. Friendly. All I remember thinking was, "Whhaaaaaaaaat?!?"

Next came the episode that we'd all been waiting for - the one where we find out how Locke ended up in his wheelchair. The explanation was ok, but the execution of it was pretty cool. Then came one of the most emotional moments of Lost - the first time that Locke is put into his wheelchair. It was gutwrenching to see the wide array of emotions that he goes through as he realizes he'll be spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Then was the filler episode that everyone wanted to happen - the death of Paolo and Nikki. Dave's a little bummed because she went to his highschool. I'm sad to see them go...even though they were thrown awkwardly into the cast mix, they had potential. Now they're dead. But dangit, they went out with style! Even though it was a filler episode, I still loved it because it wove the story of Nikki and Paolo through old scenes of the show, bringing back characters like Arzt and Ethan.

But after that, there was episode after episode of kick ass Lost...some of my favorite moments from the eps before the season finale: (spoiler alert!)

Girlfight between Kate and Juliet

Sawyer kissing up to the other Losties to avoid banishment

We find out that Juliet is spying on the Losties for Ben

Charlie almost dies...4 times

"Want me to make you a mix tape?" - cutest line ever said by Sawyer, after trying to get Kate to do another round in the sack

Frickin' Mikhail COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD!

Bittersweet - Sun finds out that her baby is Jin's, but knows that since her baby was conceived on the island, she's going to die

Naomi tells the guys that flight 815 had crashed, and there were no survivors

We find out something we knew all along - Locke's dad is the original Sawyer

The Others seem to be this creepy cult, and for some reason, it looks like Locke might end up being their Messiah

Uncle Rico plays Ben's dad

WTF was up with that scene in Jacob's shack? At first, it seemed like Ben was crazy and talking to himself, but the "Help me" whispered in Locke's ear and screencaps of someone actually sitting there make me wonder...

The return of Bernard and Rose....where the hell have you been, my favorite interracial couple?

"#1. The night I met you..." - the last words in Charlie's goodbye to Claire, listing the most important moments of his life

All of these moments had made me SO excited for the season finale. However, there have been other season finales for Lost when I've felt cheated (like the one where they never mentioned what was in the hatch). Could the season finale match the awesomeness of the episodes before it? Would it answer questions?

Well, it turned out that the season finale was everything that I wanted, and more. There were several, "OH SHIT!" moments, and even a couple, "What the fuck?!?!" times thrown in there as well. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the episode (ok, lying on the couch with Ben sleeping on my chest, but I was near the edge of the couch!). This, to me, was one of the best episodes of Lost ever. Some questions answered, more questions asked, and an ending that left me sitting there, thinking, "HUH!?!?"

Here's my thoughts...definitely spoilers in here:

I have to say - when I saw Jack on the plane with a beard, I thought to myself, "When was this? Is this the future?" but then I said, "Nah..."

I love Rose...she is my favorite Lostie next to Hurley.

Jin's farewell to Sun made me teary-eyed, especially when he said, "We have to go home" in English. *wah*

Dude, "Bonnie" in the Looking Glass played Carrie in Days of Our Lives for, like, 4 months

I can't help but stare at the fleshy area where Mikhail's eye used to be. Remember this guy from "Toy Soldiers"? One of my favorite movies just because the guys walk around in their underwear for half the movie.

I couldn't believe that they shot Sayid, Bernard and Jin. I was so worried about Rose and Jin. I was so relieved to find out that they were still alive.

Juliet kisses Jack. Yano growls and grinds her teeth. Grrrrrr......

I love to read "The Lost Diary", which originally started on TMZ. Daniel over there has the best little quote about the exchange between Mikhail and Ben in the Looking Glass: "Mikhail is pissed and now Henry wants him to kill everyone. It's like, "Hey, sorry I lied on all these years, but can you do me a favor and kill a bunch of people for me? Thanks, you're the best." Only Henry Gale could pull that off."

Why is everyone always so mean to Hurley? He's only trying to help. I was so happy when he came to save the day in his VW van, and kept on mentioning to Jack on the walkie talkie - "Yeah, I saved them all!"

John Locke is paralyzed again, in a pit with a bunch of rotting bodies. Will he live? Ohh....we hear a voice. Who is it? It's Walt! Walt's back! He left the island an 8 year old, he comes back...25 years old! Well, that's how old he looks now...

Jack tells Kate he loves her. *sigh* That means that they'll never be together. Oh well. Sawyer's going to need a booty call when he gets back.

Speaking of Sawyer, he shot Mr. Friendly! I actually liked Tom. He seemed like an OK guy. I think Sawyer's in a dark place right now, we might see jerk-ass Sawyer come back next season, which means a lot of tears for Kate. Poor Kate, tears for Jack, who will inevitably hook up with Juliet, and tears for Sawyer who's going to be an ass to her.

I think that Ben is right - I think Naomi's people are going to be baaaaad news.

I'm so happy that Alex finally got reunited with her mom, Rousseau. What a touching moment. Especially the part where Rousseau says, "Want to help me tie him up?"

"Who is Naomi?" - Penny. Uh oh, that means trouble! Too bad that Desmond didn't get to see Penny on screen!

Dammit, MIKHAIL JUST WON'T DIE, will he?

In the past, if you asked me who was expendable on Lost, the first person I'd say was Charlie. But as I said, over the last few episodes, he's redeemed himself. He was awesome in this episode. He went out like a hero, closing the door of the room when he could have very well escaped. Why didn't he? Because he wanted to make sure that Desmond's vision came true - that Claire was saved. He had one more act of heroism - with his last moments he warned Desmond that it wasn't Penny's ship. Bye Bye Charlie!

I admit, I sniffled a bit when Aaron, aka Turniphead, was crying at the moment when Charlie died. *wahhhhh*

Jack makes a call to meet someone. Shadowy figure comes out of a car. It's Kate. She looks awesome - just a touch of makeup does her good. So now I'm SURE that this is a future flash. My head is spinning, it's hard to concentrate on the show because my head is thinking a thousand things. Jack says that they should never had gotten off the island. Kate says she has to go back to "him", I'm assuming Sawyer. Or maybe she hooked up with Hurley...but the main thing is THIS IS IN THE FUCKING FUTURE. *brain explodes*

So who was in the coffin that Jack went to see? My guess is Locke or Ben...at first I thought Sawyer, but the scene with Kate changed my mind.

So what happens now?!?! It's obvious that the Losties are saved, and brought back to the real world. Maybe next season of Lost isn't even going to take place on the island. Maybe we'll see what their lives are like once they're saved. Looks like Jack-o isn't having much of a life. Maybe the reason he wants to go back is because on the island, he was the leader, he had some purpose, he was the hero. Back in reality, he's just falling into the same traps as his father.

My head is still exploding...

Hot damn, that was a good episode. Sorry for babbling on so long...I'm just so excited that the show is BACK. Well, it's back, but then it's gone again. Friggin show doesn't come back until 2008. 2008!!!!!! What am I going to do with myself until then!?!?!?

I was going to do a play by play of the academy awards like I usually do, but several factors prevented me from doing so this year:

1) We just got to our hotel room before the show started
2) I'm incredibly sore and all I want to do is lie in bed
3) This year's Oscars were incredibly boring

I was hoping that Ellen would be a great host, but she was only so-so. Anyway, here's my show best and worst:

Best - All the love that everyone was giving Al Gore, and how humbly he soaked it up

Worst - Those dancer/tumbler/circus acts that made objects behind the screen

Best - Melissa Ethridge being the first woman in my memory to thank her wife for an award

Worst - Having presenters present an award that their movie is nominated for - Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt for the Costumes and Jack Nicholson for Best movie. Poor Anne and Emily had to fake happiness for Marie Antoinette's win

Best - How much the winners from Pan's Labyrinth love and respect their director, Guillermo del Toro. It seemed like every time they spoke his name he cried. I only wish he won Best Foreign Language!

Worst - Showing all the nominees faces right as they lose the award. I know they always do it, but it still hurts!

Best - Jack Black and Wil Ferrell's duet about how comedians are the saddest people at the Oscars

Worst - The movie montages that they made - BOOOOOORING!

Best - Having Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola on the same stage. They had great chemistry. Even better? Having them present the Best Director award to their peer, Martin Scorcese

Best (because I want to end on a best) - Forest Whitaker's speech was a highlight for me. He first talked about watching movies from the backseat of his family car, and moved on to talk about why he acts, to feel that emotion come out of him. You could see that it affected everyone in the room as his fellow actors all reflected to themselves why they were there.

All in all, it was an OK awards show. There were a couple surprises (poor Eddie!) but it was just average to me.

It could be that I'm just in a lot of pain and I'm not easily amused right now.

:-P

I was watching, but due to a lot of people around and having to chase Ben, I couldn't do a play by play...

Any of you watch it? I caught bits and pieces of it...here's a couple thoughts:

- The whole "Police Reunion" was ok, wasn't as cool as I thought it would be

- I've seen better performances from Gnarles Barkley, though I did like their outfits

- When Justin Timberlake started performing "What Goes Around" I was thinking to myself, "Justin always has such awesome live performances!" Then halfway through he brought out a video camera and started singing to it which was just weird.

- I'm glad that the Dixie Chicks won, and Natalie Maines looks terrific...her husband, Adrian Pasdar from "Heroes" was looking pretty fine as well. Although I'm happy they won, I think that at times Natalie acted a little smug about it.

- Is it just me, or is Mary J. Blige everywhere? She looked gorgeous during her song with Ludacris, though...

- Corinne Bailey Ray is the cutest thing...

- Did anyone see Smokey Robinson's green eyes? FREAKY!!!

- I never realized Mandy Moore was so tall

- I really enjoyed Chris Brown's step routine...it takes me back to college

- The James Brown tribute they did was nice, with a man (the one who's held it for all these years) bringing his cloak out to the stage, hanging it on the microphone and leaving the spotlight on just the cloak covered microphone.

- I wish that the Red Hot Chili Peppers sang a different song at the end of the show.

What did you think?

I'm so excited, tonight there's a new season of Lost on! It feels like years since we left those crazy castaways on that island...

OK, gotta go back to work.

Well, I had a nice 2 hour drive to Milwaukee today for a client visit, and I was able to grieve over the Bear loss, so I'm now ready to give my play by play of the game.

We decided to have a last minute Superbowl party, since Dave didn't want to leave the house in fear he might jinx the Bears, and also because of his 100 inch screen in the basement. Two years ago we went to a party when the Illini made it to the NCAA championship, and they lost, and of course it was Dave's fault because he left the house to watch somewhere else. Anyway, it turned out that everyone already had plans to go to other parties, so just the family came over to watch.

So we all had our jerseys on, the grandparents took pictures with Ben, I was taping the game, and everything was set. We were in the basement all giddy with excitement, knowing that all the naysayers would be wrong once again - the Bears would win the Superbowl.

Billy Joel did the national anthem. I have to admit, I don't remember it at all, I was so jittery. We were annoyed with the 30 commercials that were aired in the first 10 minutes before the actual game (FYI, Jessica Simpson's commercial SUCKED.)

Finally, the kickoff. It was so exhilarating to see all of the flashbulbs going off as the Colts kicked it straight to Devin Hester, the Windy City Flyer. Then, lo and behold, he dodged a couple tackles, found a hole, and off he went, down the field. We were screaming, Dave and his brother were jumping around, we saw Devin going, going going all the way to the goal. TOUCHDOWN! We were going bananas. Dave and his brother were screaming like little girls. My father and father in law were cheering and laughing. My sister and I looked at each other like something amazing happened, which it did. Ben just looked at all of us like we were crazy. We scored a touchdown on the very first play of the game! Devin Hester makes history as the first kickoff touchdown in a Superbowl.

...and then the rest of the game happened.

Yup. That's my play by play. The Colts won. I'm tempted to point fingers as to whose fault it was and you'll hear grumblings all over Chicago about who the blame will lay on. But we got outplayed, as a team. Mistakes were made everywhere and it was a painful game to watch, and it tore my heart out to think of how Rex felt afterwards, how disappointed our defense was and how much they would blame themselves. But if I know Lovie, he'll make this a lesson for all of them, and make them stronger next year. We've got experience now, we've been at the big game and we'll know how to handle the pressure.

So in the words of the Cubs fan in me...

"There's always next year..."

:cries:

Today I was invited to the Minneapolis area team get together. My company is big enough that they can actually have get togethers at different cities where remote employees work.

It was cool to meet fellow coworkers, I'm still getting used to the fact that I may never meet someone of the people I work with, they're just all over the US and it's hard to get everyone together. It's very different from the days of having 25 total people work at X-Systems.

We met up at a place called Azia in downtown Minneapolis, and let me tell you, the place was great! It's one of those Asian fusion places that have become popular, serving traditional Asian dishes with a twist. I had lemongrass monkfish bow Thai pasta, which was delicious, and everyone around me had no complaints at all about their meals. I missed out on the appetizers, since I got there late, but everyone else raved about the cranberry cream cheese puffs.

The restaurant itself is dimly lit, like most cool/hip restaurants like to be. The bathrooms are a unique experience - the sinks are outside the bathrooms and are shared. From the dining area you can see the bathroom sink area and then the doors for the bathrooms are on the sides. I'm sure it's a fun game to play for the diners to see who doesn't wash their hands as they come out of the bathroom!

The highlight of the night for me was the dessert. There were many tasty desserts to choose from, from a lemon tart to exotic ice creams to banana rolls. What I decided on was the sweet rice with coconut ice cream. The words "sweet rice" caught my eye, because it made me think of one of my favorite childhood Filipino desserts, bibingka - not the weird yellow kind, but the one made with sweet sticky rice with cocoa jam on the top.

After I put the first spoonful in my mouth, I was immediately brought back to my childhood - watching my mom and dad cook the rice, then scoop it out onto a pan, smoothing it out and giving me any extra that didn't fit. It was delicious, just the right amount of sweetness, complimented so well by the coconut ice cream and sauce. It's been a long time since I've had a reaction to food like that. It made me so nostalgic - I missed my childhood, I missed my mom. Memories came back that were a bit forgotten, a little bittersweet, but so beloved. It's incredible how a smell or taste can bring you back in time. I sat there and silently reveled in the dish before me, savoring every bite.

At one point, I wanted to jump up and exclaim to everyone at the table, "THIS IS THE BEST DESSERT EVER!!!" Which would be unusual, because most of my favorite desserts have chocolate involved in some way. But it was a great experience, definitely something I will remember the next time I'm in town.

So if you're ever in Minneapolis, check out Azia. It's a little on the pricier side (about $25-$40 total for a meal) but well worth it. Check out the sweet rice - it may not bring you back to your childhood, but it will definitely give you a taste of what mine was like.

I don't have much time to write, but this had to be said...

I'M ANGRY AT YOU DAMON LINDELOF, WRITER FOR LOST!

(spoilers below)

They killed off the second-most kickass character of the show, next to Hurley...my beloved Mr. Eko. Boo! Boo on you, LOST! I was ok with Ana Lucia, ok with Libby, but Eko? Why Eko? He had so much potential! He didn't even get to finish building his church. Damn you, LOST Island, damn you and your need for sacrifices! Boo!

I'm sad.

Did anyone watch Monday Night Football? The undefeated Bears played against the Arizona Cardinals.

My heart is still beating a thousand beats a minute - it was a crazy game!

We were getting our asses handing back to us on a plate. For a while it was 0-14 in favor of the Cardinals, and I wanted to smash the TV in the hotel (i'm in Baltimore right now) because the announcers were totally trash talking the Bears.

Then at a point we were down 3-23.

After that, channeling the 2005 team, our defense made things happen. A pick here, a recovered fumble there, and a great punt return with a little help from a 40 yard miss from the Cardinal field goal kicker, and the Bears came back.

We shouldn't have won. The Cards were spanking us. They dominated every stat of the game. Leinart was on fire. He was hyped. The Arizona crowd was super loud. The Chicago defense was weak. The offense was non-existent.

Yet we got lucky. We found a couple weaknesses and we had an incredible game.

Truthfully, I think Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton accidentally switched bodies, because that's the only way I can explain the 4 interceptions, fumbles and throws to the middle of nowhere.

However, I feel a little bad that Leinart didn't win because this little kid on the sidelines came to watch his idol Matt play in Monday Night Football. But just a little. Very little.

*whew*

6 and 0, baby!!!

This is a little add-on to my list from yesterday...Just wanted to talk about my little guilty pleasures...

Project Runway

I love this show. When I was younger, I wanted to be a fashion designer. I would look at my aunt's pattern books and trace the model's bodies and sketch them completely new outfits. I had a notebook where I kept all my sketches, though I don't know where that book is now. That's why I adore this show, the desginers have such amazing imaginations and the challenges they get really bring out some amazing designs! Here's my thoughts on the remaining designers:

- Kayne : His style is so extravagant. He can be a little too much, and sometimes I'm surprised he's pulled some of this stuff off. However, I love his personality. He makes me laugh. Also, wasn't it the cutest thing when Michael was trying to teach Kayne how to walk the catwalk?

- Michael : To tell the truth, when I first saw his sketches on the pre-show I thought his designs were a bit too bootylicious and skin tight to make it far in the show. But he's definitely proved me wrong! He's got an eye for what fits well on a woman, and he's great with his execution - I have yet to see something he's made that doesn't fit his model well. He knows what works! He's definitely a favorite of mine for the finale.

- Jeffrey : I have mixed feelings about Jeffrey. Sometimes I feel for him, like when his eyes lit up with affection when his mom walked the runway or when he felt so much emotion after Robert Best left. Most of the time, though, I find Jeffrey to be a complete jerkoff. He was horrid to Angela's mother, and this week he was so mean to poor Angela! She's not the best designer, and can get really annoying sometimes, but she didn't deserve to get treated like that. I was hoping one of the other designers would ask him to stop harassing her, but they didn't. He's an ass - he's brilliant with his designs, but I can't wait til he's kicked out.

- Laura : I cannot believe that this woman has five kids (working on her 6th) and has such impeccable style. It's so clean and sophisticated. I wonder what she's like with her kids, though...when they had the dog challenge it almost seemed like she was repulsed by it. Laura has been gliding under the radar so far, making nothing spectacular, yet nothing that would make me want to vomit, much like Angela did.

- Uli : I love Uli, and I love her style. I don't know if she'll make it to the finals, though, because sometimes she gets stuck in a design rut - her designs are all starting to look alike. There's one thing about having your own special "look" and another when you're doing the same thing over and over again, but with different patterns.

- Vincent : He's CRAZY! Not crazy like he's going to crack and shoot all the other contestants, but crazy like "crazy Uncle Bob". He's like a mad scientist of fashion, working in his corner mumbling to himself and laughing like a maniac when he comes up with a crazy, off the wall design. I don't see him in the finals but who knows...Santino was crazy and he made it last year!

Celebrity Duets

Jai Rodriguez owns this show! He has amazing stage presence, a beautiful voice, and great chemistry with whoever is on the stage with him. I really enjoyed seeing Lucy Lawless sing, and she looks incredible. I never realized she was that tall! Michelle Williams, from Destiny Child, shocked me. Not with her performance, but with how skinny she is! Her head looks too big for her body, I was afraid she was going to topple over because she looked like she was standing on toothpicks. Then I realized it was her legs. And what's up with Little Richard? Half the time I couldn't understand what he was saying, he was so loopy and weird! Marie Osmond would just not shut up with all of her advice that poor David Foster never had time to talk. I'll probably watch this again...depending on if there's anything on television that's better that night!

Real World Road Rules Challenge

I haven't been keeping up with the show for the last few weeks, but I saw the latest episode the other night. I'm pretty happy to see Wes and Casey in the finals, because everyone was shitting on them for the whole season. I only hope that Wes isn't a dick to Casey and yell at her like he's been doing. It's because of her that they got that far! I wish that Diem was still on the show, I know that she could have used money she could have won for her hospital bills.

I'm totally a TV junkie, and I just love this time of the year - the new television season is starting! There's some great returning shows as well as some new ones that I'm really interested in checking out. Here's my rundown of what's going on in my television life.

New Shows

- Sunday Night Football : Sure, football on Sunday nights isn't new, but I really hate the fact that Monday Night Football has moved to ESPN. People have to subscribe to cable to watch the Monday Night games. Sure, that's fine if someone wants to watch the Sopranos, but everyone should be able to watch MNF! I'm happy that NBC created its own version.

- Heroes : A television show based on people with superpowers? You know I'm there! I only hope that people outside of the geek population watch this show so it has a chance of surviving.

- Six Degrees : I admit to being lured in by the commercials, and the pretty face of Jay Hernandez. Plus, I'm really curious to see how they use this "six degrees" thing.

- The Black Donnellys : I really enjoyed Paul Haggis' Crash, I'd like to see what he can do on the small screen. That, and Walter's been pimping it out.

Oldies but Goodies

- LOST : I still weep that they didn't get an Emmy nomination. Anyway, I'm really interested to see where this show goes with the cool kids being kidnapped by "the others" and what other connections they are going to weave into the back stories of the survivors. More Hurley!

- Prison Break : Two words - Wentworth Miller.

- The Office : I missed the season finale, but I've heard about what happened. Can't wait to see if something will come of it. I hope so! This is a great show, it reminds me of the good ol' days at X-Systems.

- What About Brian : There were only several episodes last season, but it was enough to get me hooked on this cast. I see it as the thirtysomething of our generation.

- Gray's Anatomy : I admit, I love this show. Dave hates the doctor cheesiness of it all, but I love it!

- House : What a way to end a season - House shot and asking for an operation that might heal his leg. Will it work? For how long? Will he be the same abrasive, rude, loveable House?

The Best Shows You've Just Missed (shows that just had their season finales last week)

- Kyle XY : Any of you remember the show "John Doe"? Same concept - guy wakes up in the middle of nowhere, not knowing who he is or how he got there, but shows amazing abilities. In Kyle's case, he wakes up a blank slate. He has to learn how to interact with people and why he has no memories. He ends up being taken under the wing of his therapists family and learning how the human race things. For some reason, Alex Kryczek from the X-Files has been following him - does Alex know why Kyle has a super high IQ and no belly button? Great show, really addictive! I got teary during the season finale.

- Psych : An unemployed misfit with incredible deductive powers figures out a way to use his gift to his advantage - he pretends to be a psychic, and helps the local law enforcement solve crimes. The show is smart and funny, and the lead James Roday and sidekick Dule Hill make a great team and have perfect chemistry.

7pm - Conan does a LOST spoof! I love it! I freakin' love it! Too bad LOST was shut out of the Emmy Awards. Oh! I love it when Hurley says, "We weren't exactly invited." I'm actually typing this as the intro goes on, so you're getting my reactions. Conan has just fallen through the Office ceiling. Oh how I love Conan. Now he's on 24. Now he's on House. Great show...Hugh Laurie just said that Conan looks like an Albino. Ha! Conan on South Park! Oh yeah, I saw that Tom Cruise spoof coming a mile away, but it was pretty funny. Now conebone69 is an internet predator on Dateline. Whoo! I think this is one of the best Emmy openings ever. Very clever!

7:10 - Conan's opening monologue started out slow, but ended on a high note. His rules of acceptance speeches were pretty good "Don't say that the statue is heavy when you get it, of course it's heavy, it contains the shattered dreams of four other people." He's got a lot of balls talking about how badly NBC is doing!

7:17 - Yay, Megan Mullally won! Nice heartfelt speech.

7:27 - Wow...Blythe Danner wins! If you see the movie 1776, which Blythe was in when she was a young lady, you'll see that she looks exactly like her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow. So if Gwyn takes care of herself, she'll be as beautiful and radiant as her mother. Is it just me, or do the winners have almost no time to make their speeches?

7:30 - Poor Jason Lee, no nomination. What a great sport to show up and present. And WOW! Jeremy Piven wins!!! Let's all hug it out, BITCHES! Aww..Jeremy almost cried. *sniff* I don't care if people say he's a jerk, be brought his mommy to the awards!

7:50 - My Name Is Earl just won two awards, and both had awesome speeches, especially the writer, who didn't thank God because he took his hair away, and "that's just not cool, man."

8:00 - Aww, the tribute to Dick Clark just touched my heart. Man, I remember watching American Bandstand when I was a kid. And I'm such a sucker for standing ovations, now I'm all teary eyed. He is such an amazing man...he has changed so much in years since his stroke. The man who never aged came in front of the nation as an old man. It was touching to see all the eyes in the audience watching Dick with their eyes shining in adoration and respect. It was obvious that most of the people in the audience have the same fond memories of Dick Clark that I do. How I love that man! Then they kill the moment and bring out Barry Manilow. I love Barry and all, but it just felt weird. But that's OK, Dick enjoyed it!

8:14 - Conan puts an awesome spin to announcing the accounting team by doing it NBA style, with flashing lights and the loud booming voice. Kareem Abdul Jabar looked gigantic next to the accountants!

8:15 - Ohh, Wentworth Miller. So yummy! A little shiney, but still tasty.

8:27 - The Deal or No Deal spoof was pretty lame. Why is his show so popular? He's annoying!

8:45 - Tony Shaloub wins best actor in a comedy. Although I love Monk, I really think that Steve Carell should have won. :(

9:15 - (after a break to feed Ben) The tribute to Aaron Spelling was touching. It's incredible how many shows he's created, what a fantastic imagination! It was nice to see the Charlie's Angels back together again. I was praying that Farrah Fawcett wouldn't have a drug induced meltdown like she usually does on live TV. Jaclyn Smith has aged gracefully. Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart had an awesome dialog before presenting the Best Reality Show. "Bow down to your golden god!"

9:21 - James Gandolfini presented the award for best miniseries like he was being forced to do it. It made me laugh when he quickly said, "Elizabeth the first" so quickly, it seemed like he wanted to get out of there fast!

9:25 - In Memoriam - I forgot thatDon Adams of "Get Smart" fame passed away. That was one of my favorite shows as a kid. They're doing a movie based on the show, staring Steve Carell...I know he'll do a great job. I'll also miss Pat Morita, Richard Pryor, Grandpa Munster, John Spencer, Don Knots and many of the others that were honored.

9:35 - Yay! Mariska Hargitay won. I love her...and I loved her speech.

9:40 - Has anyone seen Julia Louis-Dreyfus' new show? Is it good? I'm just curious. I really wish that Jane Kaczmarek won, but I thought that Julia's speech was adorable when she had stood there trying to remember a name to thank saying, "This is going to haunt me later", and later someone yelling from the crowd to thank her husband.

9:55 - Yay, The Office won! Great speech...I love the show because it totally feels like what it was like to work for X-Systems way beck when. Nice to see 24 win, too.

All in all, an OK show. Conan did a great job hosting, and the it moved quickly and didn't feel like it was dragging at all. Probably because no one wanted Bob Newhart to die. As Redpac said, he's a national treasure!

The Emmy's are taking place in a couple minutes and I wanted to put in my predictions before it starts. Here goes:

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Who Will Win: Steve Carell - The Office
Who I Want to Win: Steve Carell - The Office : He is pure comedy gold!
Who Should Have Been Nominated: Jason Lee - My Name is Earl : He's awesome in the show, he was cheated out of a nomination

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Who Will Win: Martin Sheen - The West Wing : They always give awards to people who's shows are cancelled
Who I Want to Win: Denis Leary - Rescue Me : Hard to believe he has such dramatic range
Who Should Have Been Nominated: Hugh Laurie - House : How could this guy not have gotten nominated. Has anyone at the academy SEEN this show?

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
Who Will Win: Debra Messing - Will & Grace : She actually had a big part this last season
Who I Want to Win: Jane Kaczmarek - Malcolm in the Middle : It's her seventh nomination with no win

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Who Will Win: Allison Janney - The West Wing
Who I Want to Win: Mariska Hargitay - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit : One of my favorite shows

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
Who Will Win: Sean Hayes - Will & Grace : One last time for Sean
Who I Want to Win: Jeremy Piven - Entourage : "Hug it out, Bitch!" is one of my favorite lines
Who Should Have Been Nominated: Kevin Dillon - Entourage : He has one of the funniest characters on television

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Who Will Win: William Shatner - Boston Legal
Who I Want to Win: I really don't know enough about the people in this group...can't choose.

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
Who Will Win: Megan Mullally - Will & Grace
Who I Want to Win: Jaime Pressly - My Name Is Earl : I'd love for her to win because she starred in "Poison Ivy III"

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
Who Will Win: Sandra Oh - Grey's Anatomy : She wins EVERYTHING
Who I Want to Win: Sandra Oh - Grey's Anatomy : Because she really deserves to win everything

Outstanding Comedy Series
Who Will Win: The Office
Who I Want to Win: Arrested Development - It would be a nice goodbye
Who Should Have Been Nominated: Will and Grace - What, everyone in the cast was nominated, but not the show?

Outstanding Drama Series
Who Will Win: 24
Who I Want to Win: House
Who Should Have Been Nominated: LOST LOST LOST LOST. Why wasn't last year's winner nominated?!?! I weep for the television academy!

I know I'm no beauty queen so I really shouldn't criticize, but is it just me or are the contestants for the Miss USA pageant not that pretty? The pickings were really slim for the top 16. Some looked too old, some looked like they had too much makeup on. Maybe I have fond memories of gorgeous women from my youth, or maybe the US is getting uglier. Last years winner, Chelsea Cooley, is gorgeous and obviously a natural beauty. It's hard for me to tell if any of the top 10 are that pretty naturally.

I feel a little bad for Drew Lachey, because all the women are taller than him. I can't get Fatima's voice out of my head - "He looks like a teletubby!"

We're at the top ten right now...I'll come back when they narrow them down a bit more.

Oh, and am I the only one watching this?

----------------------

Miss Georgia totally has fake boobs. I thought they didn't allow that at these pageants?

Anyway, I'm happy that Miss Kentucky won....she was definitely the prettiest of them all!

....but Britney Spears is an awful actress.

I'm watching "Will and Grace" right now where she's guest starring, and I swear, her acting is over the top and her facial gestures are making me uncomfortable for her. I know she's supposed to be hamming it up, but there's a difference between hamming up and just being plain awful.

Hmm, stick to singing, girl.

Ahh, better yet, stick to driving your kid around on your lap as you're taking away your husband's allowance because he's spending it on his flopping rap career and strippers....

George Takei, on the other hand, better known as "Mr. Sulu" was awesome. It's great to see him on screen again. Big props to him for coming out, being on the show, and even better, providing some great comedy in an episode that could have been ruined by Spears.

...unless you're the #1 and #2 players in the NCAA and you get beat in the sweet 16...

Sorry Adam Morrison and J.J. Redick...I know you guys were the favorites, but hey, you got outplayed yesterday. There was so much passion and intensity with these guys, it's a shame they didn't go forward (Duke screwed up Dave's NCAA pool by losing, though he was cheering for LSU...) But that's why they call it March Madness, baby! Adam, I'll miss that 70's porn 'stache and hairdo you've got...I obsess about it every time I see you play!

Honorable mention goes to UCLA's Arron Afflalo - when most others would be rejoicing their win with their teammates, he went up to the poor guy from the other team who was on the middle of the court, devastated, and tried to help him up.

"That's just a sign of obviously a great program," Morrison said. "They had enough guts as a man to come over in their moment of victory, pick somebody off the floor. If I could thank them, I would."

Man, too bad Bradley didn't win...that would have made it even crazier!

Here's my annual Academy Award play-by-play...

I'm really excited to see Jon Stewart host....he should make it a really interesting show. I liked his opening monologue...it moved nicely and had some great jokes.

7:20 - George Clooney gets his first Academy award. Wow...this guy has been EVERYWHERE. He also had an incredible speech. Big points for bringing up Hattie McDaniel...

7:34 - Aww, aren't the Wallace and Gromit guys the cutest, bringing a matching bow-tie for their Oscar? They look like some really fun guys...

7:38 - Wow...Dolly Parton has got the smallest waist I've ever seen! The thing I love about Dolly is that she doesn't keep the secret of her seemingly eternal youth a secret - she has plastic surgery whenever she needs it and isn't shy to talk about it. Kudos for singing live, too!

7:46 - Ahh...the old "the audience looks at presenters that are not there" featuring the stars of "Chicken Little". You'd think that they'd get the hint that this is kinda silly...

8:09 - Let's hear it for pregnant women! Rachel Wiesz wins an Academy award...it's unfortunate that they announce her movie resume with "The Mummy I and II"

8:22 - Charlize's dress looks very frumpy. I love it that the winners for best documentary brought up their own stuffed penguins. Very cute comment about seeing people in tuxedos reminding them of making the movie....

8:29 - This sing from the movie "Crash" is kinda weird. I feel like I'm watching some sort of urban Cirque du Soleil without acrobats....

8:37 - Is it just me, or have these awards been REALLY boring?

8:44 - Salma Hayek never fails to look amazingly stunning when going to these awards. She looks amazing in a sapphire blue dress. Except one of her boobs looks like it's trying to fight the straps of her dress...."Let me out! Let me out!"

9:05 - Ahh, Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin give a refreshing improv break to the ceremony...these ladies know how to work a room!

9:20 - There's just something wonderful about a rap group singing "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" at the Academy Awards...it's just magical! *grins*

9:25 - ...and the song wins!!! Wowza! This opens a whole bunch of fun jokes for Stewart....

9:33 - Ahh...."In Memoriam", always a sad set of clips. For some reason I din't know Anne Bancroft died. The thing I kinda hate about this is the clapping popularity contest. You can hear the clapping, and know who the big stars are, but I feel bad for the people behind the scenes who people don't know that well, but their contributions to the movie industry have been just as big as the ones we all know and love...

9:40 - OK Academy, instead of having 1,001 video montages of movies we've seen over and over again, give more time for acceptance speeches...I'd sit through 20 boring big Hollywood names thanking their agents for the chance that there would be one winner so excited and so happy and proud of his home country like the winner of the Foreign Language film, expressing his love for this country and pointing out his young stars. It was a sweet moment.

9:48 - I'm so happy that Phillip Seymour Hoffman won the award. He has always played such interesting characters, but has always been overlooked for his importance to a movie. I always have a lot respect for winners that compliment their fellow nominees. However, Dave and I had to laugh a little, because we always quote PSH's character from "Boogie Nights", like "Like my car?"....

10:00 - I was waiting for Reese to thank her husband during her acceptance speech. I could tell that he was waiting.

10:13 - Wow...Uma Thurman kinda looks freaky. Dave says she looks like a raccoon.

10:26 - Wow...."Crash" won! I was thinking that "Brokeback Mountain" would win...I see this is a nice upset, though not a HUGE upset, since Crash won the ensemble at the SAG awards last month...Nice to see Crash win, though, since it was such a huge cast. Though it would have been great to see Brokeback win, just because...

All in all...pretty boring. But I think Jon Stewart did a great job, even though he didn't have much opportunity to be funny...

Now its time to pick up all those movies on DVD when the come out....

The Academy Awards are on tomorrow...here's my predictions:

Performance by an actor in a leading role
x	Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Capote” (UA/Sony Pictures Classics)
	Terrence Howard in “Hustle & Flow” (Paramount Classics, MTV Films and New Deal Entertainment)
	Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features)
	Joaquin Phoenix in “Walk the Line” (20th Century Fox)
	David Strathairn in “Good Night, and Good Luck.” (Warner Independent Pictures)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
x	George Clooney in “Syriana” (Warner Bros.)
	Matt Dillon in “Crash” (Lions Gate)
	Paul Giamatti in “Cinderella Man” (Universal and Miramax)
	Jake Gyllenhaal in “Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features)
	William Hurt in “A History of Violence” (New Line)
Performance by an actress in a leading role
	Judi Dench in “Mrs. Henderson Presents” (The Weinstein Company)
	Felicity Huffman in “Transamerica” (The Weinstein Company and IFC Films)
	Keira Knightley in “Pride & Prejudice” (Focus Features)
	Charlize Theron in “North Country” (Warner Bros.)
x	Reese Witherspoon in “Walk the Line” (20th Century Fox)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
	Amy Adams in “Junebug” (Sony Pictures Classics)
	Catherine Keener in “Capote” (UA/Sony Pictures Classics)
	Frances McDormand in “North Country” (Warner Bros.)
	Rachel Weisz in “The Constant Gardener” (Focus Features)
x	Michelle Williams in “Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features)
Best animated feature film of the year
x	“Howl’s Moving Castle” (Buena Vista) Hayao Miyazaki
	“Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride” (Warner Bros.) Mike Johnson and Tim Burton
	“Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit” (DreamWorks Animation SKG) Nick Park and Steve Box
Achievement in costume design
	“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (Warner Bros.) Gabriella Pescucci
x	“Memoirs of a Geisha” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Colleen Atwood
	“Mrs. Henderson Presents” (The Weinstein Company) Sandy Powell
	“Pride & Prejudice” (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran
	“Walk the Line” (20th Century Fox) Arianne Phillips
Achievement in directing
x	“Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features) Ang Lee
	“Capote” (UA/Sony Pictures Classics) Bennett Miller
	“Crash” (Lions Gate) Paul Haggis
	“Good Night, and Good Luck.” (Warner Independent Pictures) George Clooney
	“Munich” (Universal and DreamWorks) Steven Spielberg
Best documentary feature
	“Darwin’s Nightmare” (International Film Circuit) A Mille et Une Production Hubert Sauper
	“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” (Magnolia Pictures) An HDNet Films Production Alex Gibney and Jason Kliot
x	“March of the Penguins” (Warner Independent Pictures) A Bonne Pioche Production Luc Jacquet and Yves Darondeau
	“Murderball” (THINKFilm) An Eat Films Production Henry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro
	“Street Fight” A Marshall Curry Production Marshall Curry
Best documentary short subject
	“The Death of Kevin Carter: Casualty of the Bang Bang Club” A Dan Krauss Production Dan Krauss
x	“God Sleeps in Rwanda” An Acquaro/Sherman Production Kimberlee Acquaro and Stacy Sherman
	“The Mushroom Club” A Farallon Films Production Steven Okazaki
	“A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin” A NomaFilms Production Corinne Marrinan and Eric Simonson
Best foreign language film of the year
	“Don’t Tell” A Cattleya/Rai Cinema Production Italy
	“Joyeux Noël” A Nord-Ouest Production France
	“Paradise Now” An Augustus Film Production Palestine
	“Sophie Scholl - The Final Days” A Goldkind Filmproduktion and Broth Film Production Germany
x	“Tsotsi” A Moviworld Production South Africa
Achievement in makeup
x	“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (Buena Vista) Howard Berger and Tami Lane
	“Cinderella Man” (Universal and Miramax) David Leroy Anderson and Lance Anderson
	“Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith” (20th Century Fox) Dave Elsey and Nikki Gooley
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
	“Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features) Gustavo Santaolalla
	“The Constant Gardener” (Focus Features) Alberto Iglesias
x	“Memoirs of a Geisha” (Sony Pictures Releasing) John Williams
	“Munich” (Universal and DreamWorks) John Williams
	“Pride & Prejudice” (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
x	“In the Deep” from “Crash” (Lions Gate) Music by Kathleen “Bird” York and Michael Becker Lyric by Kathleen “Bird” York
	“It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from“Hustle & Flow” (Paramount Classics, MTV Films and New Deal Entertainment) Music and Lyric by Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard
	“Travelin’ Thru” from “Transamerica” (The Weinstein Company and IFC Films) Music and Lyric by Dolly Parton
Best motion picture of the year
	“Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features) A River Road Entertainment Production Diana Ossana and James Schamus, Producers
	“Capote” (UA/Sony Pictures Classics) An A-Line Pictures/Cooper’s Town/ Infinity Media Production Caroline Baron, William Vince and Michael Ohoven, Producers
x	“Crash” (Lions Gate) A Bob Yari/DEJ/Blackfriar’s Bridge/ Harris Company/ApolloProscreen GmbH & Co./Bull’s Eye Entertainment Production Paul Haggis and Cathy Schulman, Producers
	“Good Night, and Good Luck.” (Warner Independent Pictures) A Good Night Good Luck LLC Production Grant Heslov, Producer
	“Munich” (Universal and DreamWorks) A Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures Production Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg and Barry Mendel, Producers
Best animated short film
	“Badgered” A National Film and Television School Production Sharon Colman
	“The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation” A John Canemaker Production John Canemaker and Peggy Stern
	“The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello” (Monster Distributes) A 3D Films Production Anthony Lucas
	“9” A Shane Acker Production Shane Acker
x	“One Man Band” A Pixar Animation Studios Production Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews
Adapted screenplay
	“Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features) Screenplay by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana
x	“Capote” (UA/Sony Pictures Classics) Screenplay by Dan Futterman
	“The Constant Gardener” (Focus Features) Screenplay by Jeffrey Caine
	“A History of Violence” (New Line) Screenplay by Josh Olson
	“Munich” (Universal and DreamWorks) Screenplay by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth
Original screenplay
x	“Crash” (Lions Gate) Screenplay by Paul Haggis & Bobby Moresco Story by Paul Haggis
	“Good Night, and Good Luck.” (Warner Independent Pictures) Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov
	“Match Point” (DreamWorks) Written by Woody Allen
	“The Squid and the Whale” (Samuel Goldwyn Films and Sony Pictures Releasing) Written by Noah Baumbach
	“Syriana” (Warner Bros.) Written by Stephen Gaghan

Truthfully, I haven't seen any of the major contenders this year - been too busy. But based on the buzz and my "feeling", that's how I chose my winners!

What are your choices? Let's make it into a little contest for my trivia people - whoever gets the best guess from my trivia people gets to choose the trivia topic for 4 days this month! The best guess out of everyone gets a little prize! Bring it on!

So I had started watching Rudy about 10 years ago...but only got through the first half hour or so. I've always been meaning to finish it but never got the chance, til today.

What a great movie! People have always told me its a classic and definitely a tearjerker, but I never realized how great it was!

I'm currently crying like a little baby....and the movie isn't even over yet!

*wails*

If you've never watched this movie, definitely go out to your local video store and pick it up...it will make your heart sing...

Oh Rudy!

I dropped off Dave at the airport early this morning. He's spending the week in Vail, CO for a "conference", that is, getting his notes from his friends and snowboarding all week. I'm so jealous - we were supposed to do this trip together, before we found out about the pregnancy. But oh well, life changes when you have kids, right?

I haven't been able to go back to sleep so I've been channel surfing since 6am. I caught "Glory" on, which I just now realized is one of my favorite movies. "Glory" is based on the the true story of the Civil War's first all black regiment, and all the prejudices that they faced from both sides of the war. It features stunning performances by Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington (who won an Academy Award for this movie), Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher and Cary Elwes. One of the best war films ever made!

Every time I see this movie I end up crying like a little baby throughout the movie. It's so powerful and so emotional! The last ten minutes of the movie just make me hold my breath and send chills up my spine. If you ever have a chance to see this movie, see it, it will definitely be worth your time.

*sniff*

Wow, yesterday was another interesting day for long track speedskating at the Olympics...

Beware, this is a pretty biased post...

As I said in an earlier post, I was getting really tired of the Chad Hedrick & media created rivalry between Chad and Shani. Chad is the kind of athlete that the media loves - he talks a lot, he says whatever is on his mind, he wants everyone to love him, and he adores the spotlight on him. Shani just wants to go out there and do his best - he's been burned by the media before so he's wary of them, and he knows that reports have been painting him as the bad guy - but the only way to win this fight is on the ice.

It seems like everyone is talking about it. As much as I've said I'm sick of it, I just wanted to get a couple things off my chest and just let it go after today (of course, after replying to any comments that I disagree with).

It all comes down to this: Should Shani have skated the team pursuit? Before I said I was on the fence about it. However, I've seen interviews and read up on it a little more and agree with Shani. Chad says that any good teammate would be on the team to help the US win a gold, it's the patriotic thing to do, rather than think about your own race and yourself. He felt betrayed that Shani didn't speak to him about not skating, and has said that being on the relay would be a sure win for the US. Come on now, is ANYTHING a sure win in the Olympics? We know the answer to that.

Chad had some pretty good points....if speedskating was a team sport.

Something that the media has frequently failed to mention are these points:

- Shani has NEVER skated the team pursuit before

- the US brought people to skate the relay. Shani was part of the 2002 short track team as an alternate, but never got to skate. He swore after that he would never take anyone's chance away to skate at the Olympics

- Shani's best race was the 1000m, two days after the team pursuit. He wanted to concentrate on his best race - that's what he really came to the Olympics for. Sure, Chad was in the 1000m, also, but it's Chad's weakest race, he wasn't expected to medal. As Shani has said, "Would it have been the same if the 5,000 (Chad's best distance) was right after the team pursuit? We'll never know."

- If Shani lost the 1000m, he would have gotten a lot of flack for it, since he has consistently won it in competitions. As Dan Jansen said, either way - skating the TP and maybe not winning the 1000m or not skating the TP and winning the 1000m, he'd get criticized. It's a lose lose situation.

- The press has hinted that Chad was really angry at Shani for not skating the team pursuit because that meant that Chad's quest for 5 golds was jeopardized. Hey, what was Shani skating for? Just a silver? Because if Chad DID get 5 golds, that's all Shani could have hoped for in his races. Speedskating isn't a team sport - they ALL want the gold.

However, I think Shani's post interview after the 1000m was weird. He was cold, distant, guarded and barely spoke more than 5 words to answer a question. This was not the Shani I know! Then the reporter asked, "Are you angry?" (what the hell kind of leading question is that?) he said no, then turned away and smiled. Bizarre! Of course, it was hardly mentioned on NBC that Chad had congratulated silver medalist Joey Cheek, but did not say anything to Shani, which probably made Shani upset.

It was more refreshing to see him interviewed for our local news, smiling, ecstatic, friendly and eager to talk. This is the Shani I'm used to! He had a much better interview with NBC after the medal ceremony, where he talked about hoping to show kids that they could stick with something and make their dreams come true.

As for the feelings after the 1000m, here's a couple quotes from the guys after the 1000m:

Like all good catfights, he neither congratulated Davis for beating him in the race (Hedrick finished sixth) nor had much praise for him. Are you happy for Shani, he was asked.

"I'm happy for Joey," he said. "Joey has been skating real well."

Davis laughed at it.

"At least he said I skated fast. That was nice."

Davis isn't even surprised. He said he has "a lot of respect for Chad" and said it was natural for them to butt heads.

Then came the 1500m race, the distance that both these guys have held world records in. It was the showdown of the century, well, for speedskating anyway. NBC hyped up the tension between Shani and Chad, so much that outspoken Chad didn't even want to talk about it anymore. Who would win the showdown? Who would get bragging rights?

Enrico Fabris has 'em!

Yes, the home team gets a winner when drama-free Enrico Fabris had an amazing last lap that Chad and Shani had to beat, which they didn't. The two golden boys had to settle for lower spots on the podium - Shani with the Silver and Chad with the bronze. Chad was visibly upset after his race, taking a lap with his hands on his lap to cool down. After his race, Shani smiled, shrugged in an "Oh well!" sort of way, and congratulated Fabris after Chad did. What you didn't see on TV (if you were in the US) was Chad going to take off his skates an d sulk while Shani stayed on the ice and waved to fans and talk to other skaters.

The home crowd was going crazy! As much as I wanted the US to win, it was great to see an Italian win...they are such a great crowd.

Of course, Chad and Shani didn't touch each other, although I've seen news reports that they congratulated each other.

I was relieved that the drama was over. The post interviews were ok, Shani's was much better than his post gold one. It seemed like the speedskating world would be OK. Also, Shani and Chad wouldn't have to touch each other since they were on opposite sides of the podium. Chad had a nice

But then NBC televised footage from the post-race press conference. All I could say was WOW. Even Dave shushed me when we were watching it.

"I'll be honest with you," said Davis, the first black athlete in Winter Olympic history to win an individual gold medal. "Sure, Chad and I are fighting for the same thing. But it would have been kind of nice after I won the 1,000 if he would have been a good teammate and shook my hand, just like I shook his hand -- or hugged him -- after he won the 5,000."

After he said that, all the reporters turned to Chad for his rebuttal. Shani got up and walked out. Chad was left there, drinking a glass of water, smiling, much like Bush did after he was told about 9/11, trying to formulate what to say. The pause was so uncomfortable that people actually started laughing. Then he came back with this:

"We're all part of Team USA," Hedrick said. "We had a great opportunity to win the team pursuit. I felt betrayed in a way. Not only did he not participate, he wouldn't even discuss it with me as a leader of the team. I thought we passed up a medal."

Waa waa waa...stop bringing it up! Shani won a 1000m gold for team USA. Shani didn't do every interview possible to make another teammate look bad. Shani is there to win, but he's happy with his results when he tries his best, he doesn't say things like, "I didn't come here to finish third,'' Chad said. "I'm not happy with what I did. This is not what I sacrificed my whole life to do.''

Chad always talks about being part of the team, being a good teammate. Shani had a good point - a good teammate would have shook hands after losing...a good teammate would have been happy for a fellow teammate to win. For as much as Chad cries about Shani being a bad teammate, Chad was not only a bad teammate, but also a bad sport after the 1000m. His argument would have been much stronger if he just sucked it up and congratulated Shani rather than going to the "I didn't congratulate him because I felt betrayed" deal.

I wish this whole thing would go away. Shani's a great guy that has a lot of love for speedskating, he doesn't deserve to be involved with this big mess...his experience here should have been something more positive, something kids could really look up to. But now, in a way, it's a little bit tainted with all the drama. Truthfully, I don't know much about Chad. Never met him, don't know much about his backstory, but he came across to me before the Olympics as charming, confident, and a little cocky.

Gladly, they don't have to race anymore.

So the scoreboard reads: Shani - gold and silver, Chad - gold and bronze.

Hee hee.

I just wanted to get that off my chest.

Feel free to debate.

Articles used:
Fabris tops Americans for 1500m gold
Speedskating smackdown

Best New Sport - Snowboard Cross. I know it's the only new sport, but still, it's SO cool to watch. It's one of the sports that I look at and think, "Hey, I can do that..." Of course, like short track, there's a lot of strategy involved - it's not just the fastest that wins. You have to be the fastest AND not fall or get knocked out by someone else falling.

Best Cheering Section - Toby Dawson. I would laugh every time they showed his cheering section in the

Worst Behavior on the Medal Stand - I know I sound like an old lady in saying this, but as much as I like Hannah Teeter and her happy go lucky attitude, she just seemed so disrespectful on the medal stand as they were playing the National Anthem. I know she's just 19 but she acted very much like a high school kid watching the national anthem being sung at a football game. I think she realized later that people were watching, so she calmed down a bit.

Best Use of Gold Medal Fame - Shawn White. In his plan to woo figure skater Sasha Cohen, he pretended to talk to Sasha, saying, "Oh yeah, this, I just got it. How's it going?"

Worst Rivalry - Chad Hedrick vs. Shani Davis. I'm still on the fence about how I feel about Shani not skating the team pursuit. The press makes it seem like he's selfish and not thinking "team" and only concentrating on himself. During his press conferences, Chad has said similar things. But if you had a good chance to medal at the Olympics (which Shani does at the 1000m), would you risk it to do a relay where you could get injured, lose your focus or get too tired before your big race? I don't think I would. The press also seems to forget the fact that Shani has never skated the team pursuit. The press is making this a bigger deal than it really is. A better idea for everyone would have been to have the team pursuit at the end of the games.

Best Medal Stand Moment - Seth Weston, gold medalist for snowboard cross, inviting the bronze and silver medalists to stand up with him on the top of the podium before the flags were raised. He stood there, smiling, with his arms around his fellow winners, savoring the moment.

Worst Injury - France's Carole Montillet-Carles crashed during a practice run for women's downhill skiing. She landed on her face, and with the swelling and bruising, it doesn't paint a pretty picture. Then again, I don't know what she looked like before.

Best Performance that Didn't Win Gold - Kelly Clark. She needed an amazing run to win the gold. She went down the halfpipe and came up with the biggest air that I've ever seen a woman have, she was WAY above the pipe. She had a run good enough for a silver or bronze, but she threw in one more trick to go for gold - a frontside 900 - and didn't land it, pushing her to 4th place. But what she accomplished during her run was amazing, having a run and achieving the heights that many of the guys could only wish they had.

Worst Marketing - NBC. For touting this year's Olympic team as THE BEST TEAM EVER, and adding so much pressure on these athletes in addition to the huge amount of pressure that the Olympics already puts on these athlete's backs. These ads that they had then give the viewers expectations of these athletes, so when they get beat we actually get upset WITH the athletes for letting us down. It's horrible. We go from a country of champions before the Olympics to a group of chokers, let-downs, and people who couldn't deliver. It's the wrong frame of mind to put the audience in.

Best Comeback - Chinese pairs skaters Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang. After being thrown by her partner into a quadruple spin, she fell at an awkward angle on her knees. She was led to the side of the ice by her concerned partner, and her coach asked her of she wanted to stop. After some tears, she said she wanted to continue. Her partner led her out on the ice and the continued their performance, her partner casting worried glancing and murmuring words of encouragement to her as they finished their routine. She reached inside her and had a great routine, so great that they got the silver medal. As they got their scores which revealed that they got the medal, her partner carried her in his arms as they celebrated. Everyone cries. Ahh, I love the Olympics!

Worst Torture for Athletes - The moguls winners seats. There are three seats at the bottom of the moguls hill, one for gold, silver and bronze. The top three sit in those seats, watching the competitors. If someone gets a high score, the guys get up, move over one seat, the guy in third place has to exit, and the new guy sits in the #1 seat. I think it's torture being in that 3rd seat! That, and if you have a crappy run, you actually have to PASS the guys who are in the top 3. Tough.

Best Use of a Media Press Conference - Joey Cheek, for saying that he's going to donate his $25,000 bonus for getting a gold medal to A Right to Play, an organization that brings sports to disadvantaged areas of the world. He spoke about Sudan and how he wanted his money to go there, stating that he had help getting to where he is today and he wanted to give that chance to someone who otherwise wouldn't have it. What a guy!

Go Joey!!!

More later...

Posted by Yano at 11:38 AM | Comments (9)

I was going to post this a while ago, but since Dave got into a "let's clean out your crap from the closets" mood, I didn't have time to type it up this weekend.

I loved the opening ceremonies, I think Italy did a great job. I taped it, of course, since that's my family tradition - tape it, and never watch it again. Here's a couple things that stuck out at me:

- The whole thing had a Cirque de Soleil feel to it. But after some reflection, I realized that all opening ceremonies have the weird, otherworldly music and abstract acrobats doing weird things.

- I loved that they had people pulling around statues of cows. Reminds me of the Cows on Parade sculptures in Chicago a while ago. To make it even better, they had dancers come out dressed in cow-printed clothes. If they had udders on the women it would have been perfect, but then I realized that the pink crinoline under the women's skirts were representing udders. They don't miss a beat, do they?

- Carla Bruni looked beautiful, and her dress had a really futuristic shine to it. For some reason, her name sounds really familiar, but I can't place it.

- I felt bad for the little girl who sang, she looked a bit terrified. I always wonder if they have a spare kid in the back or something to take the place of the original kid if he/she freaks out before the ceremonies.

- There was a point in the ceremony where the dancers formed an "XX". For some reason, the placement of the XX and the lower and upper lights of the stage made it look a little satanic.

- The chicks who led out each country with they country's name on it had white, peaked dresses that were supposed to represent the Alps. To me, it resembled tufts of cool whip and made me very hungry.

- I'm happy that NBC made it a point not to skip televising any nations during the parade of nations. I remember watching the 1996 Olympics with my family, eagerly anticipating seeing the Philippines come up, and then as soon as we saw the sign for the Philippines, NBC cut to a commercial. We were pissed. What NBC failed to realize was that Filipinos are the second biggest Asian minority in the US, and they got a lot of flack for it. Sure, we're not an Olympic powerhouse, but give us a couple brief moments to be proud of our countrymen! It's a big deal for any immigrant community to see their home country being represented in the Olympics. Glad NBC realized that.

- We need to have an Olympics in Brazil. That would be CRAZY, but it would be such a great time for the athletes!

- I feel bad for Bob Costas and Brian Williams, having to spout off witty trivia to entertain us. However, I was a little annoyed when Bob said that Costa Rica had "no realistic shot for a medal". Hmph! Why say that? You could say something positive about the country or how it's incredible that they're even there.

- My favorite Costas story during the parade of ceremonies? The story of how a cross country skier from Kenya finished in twice the time that the gold medal winner finished, but when he arrived at the finish line, the gold medal winner was there, waiting for everyone to finish the race and congratulate them. He was so touched by that gesture that he named his firstborn son after the winner. *sniff* THAT'S the Olympics, folks!

- I loved the music they played during the parade of nations, as cheesey as it was. It was a weird blend of techno, 80's, disco and light metal.

- It was hard to find the athletes from each country that I was familiar with, everything went by so fast. It was great that they concentrated a lot on the US, I saw a lot of my favorite athletes. The snowboarders were so cute and goofy, mugging it up for the camera. Everyone looked so happy to be there, even Mr. Grumpypants Bode Miller, being a rebel and not wearing the beret.

- It must be the biggest rush to be walking into the Olympic stadium, as the home team, having the whole stadium cheer and sing when your team walks in. Italy got an amazing reception from the home crowd! For some reason, I was expecting there to be a lot of hot young Italian men on the team, but all I could see of the Italian team were hot young women and old men.

- Weirdest segment of the ceremonies - the Ferrari. It just didn't fit with the rest of the theme and seemed a bit out of place. But the guys in the audience sure seemed to like it!

- Am I the only one who misses Juan Antonio Samaranch, the old head Olympic Guy?

- When I'm 71 years old, I hope that I am as hot and sophisticated as Sophia Loren. She looked AMAZING! The choice of Susan Sarandon to carry in the Olympic flag was a little random to me, but oh well, I'm not the one picking the people.

- At some angles, Peter Gabriel looked like Boy George without makeup. I don't know why he was chosen to sing "Imagine", but he only did a so-so job of it. Don't get me wrong, I love his songs, but I just don't think he was the person to sing this particular song.

- I missed the lighting of the torch because Dave called and I was distracted. Hmph! I did see replays of it, though, and it looked really cool. However, my favorite lighting of the torch was when they had the archer light it, almost a decade ago. THAT was really cool.

- Ahh....having Pavoratti sing for the finale was awesome. I loved the backdrop with the chandelier, curtains and orchestra, and he picked the perfect song. So beautiful! However, I was distracted by how black his hair was, wondering the whole time if he colors it.

All in all, Italy put on a great show. Can't wait to see what they have in store for the closing ceremonies, now THAT will be fun!!!

I watched a bit of the Grammy awards yesterday, but not the whole thing, since "LOST" was on during the telecast. All in all, it was an OK show, with a couple great performances and it seemed to move pretty quickly (though I wouldn't know since I was switching channels through the whole thing...) Here's a couple of my highlights:

- I was really looking forward to the Gorillaz/Madonna opening performance. The Gorillaz looked cool in their 3D incarnations, and I just can't get that Madonna song outta my head. But I wish they had more interaction, but I don't know how open Madonna would be to actually performing with someone who wasn't there.

- I think my favorite performance of the night was the Kanye West performance. He definitely didn't disappoint, and as long as you have a marching band and a drumline in your performance, you'll be my #1 performance of the night. Kanye entertained me all night long, with his Michael Jackson-like gloves and shirt unbuttoned down-to-there.

- There didn't seem to be any huge winners last night, everything seemed pretty spread out. I was waiting for Kanye to throw a hissy-fit when he lost for Album of the Year to U2, but Bono did a stand up thing and actually went up to Kanye and shook his hand before coming up on stage to accept their award. Kanye surprised me by actually looking happy for Bono when he won. I dunno, we'll see in the papers today if Kanye has anything to say about it! I hope he just keeps his mouth shut for this one time. But Kanye, if you're reading this, let me tell ya - I think your album was better. But I don't vote for the Grammy's so that means pretty much nothing!

- I'm really liking John Legend. He has a kind face and he sounds like a good guy.

- I was switching channels from the Grammys and switched back to this young, tall woman singing with Adam and Maroon Five. I was wondering, "Did they pick up a new female singer? She's gorgeous! She has awesome legs!!!" Then I realized it was rnb singer Ciara. Damn, that girl looks good! I think she looks much better with black hair than as a lighter brunette. Thing is, you could tell that she felt her skirt was too short because she could hardly move up there. But hey, her legs went on for miles and miles!

- 10 years ago, if you asked Paul McCartney if he'd be singing "Yesterday" on stage with a rapper in his ear going "UH! UH!" and a rock group who had a hit with the line, "Shut up with I'm talking to you!" he'd probably call you crazy and kick you in the balls. But yesterday he sang his old tune with Linkin Park and Jay-Z and I have to say....it was pretty good. Really weird, but pretty good.

- Kelly Clarkson is such a cutie. Unfortunately, this means 10 more years of American Idol.

- Second best performance of the night? U2 and Mary J. Blige. Man, when Mary's feeling it, she's FEELING it. She blows my mind with her powerful performances.

- I would never have said this 4 years ago, but lately Christina Aguilera has really been outclassing Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson. She looked fabulous out there in her white dress, red lipstick and platinum blonde hair. Her voice is still amazing, too. Yesterday she transcended being just a singer to having her voice be a musical instrument, merging so wonderfully with Herbie Hancock's (where have you been, Herbie?!?!) piano.

- I didn't catch much of Mariah's performance, but is it me, or was she totally lip-synching?

- Gwen Stefani looks amazing for being so pregnant. Bitch. :-P

Hmm...that's about all I remember from the Grammys. Do you guys have any memorable moments?

I Do My Olympic Wave with My Bronze Medal

The Torino Olympics are only 3 days away! I'm pretty excited for them. Ever since I was a little kid, the Olympics was always a big thing in my house. The family would sit together in the basement and watch the parade of nations during the opening ceremonies, as my dad would tape it on the VCR to be saved for the ages. Whenever the Philippines would come on we'd give a big cheer (though that never really happened during the Winter Olympics) and we'd love hearing the stories of various special athletes the network chose to focus on.

This year is extra special to me since I actually KNOW people who are competing, and I've been following one of the sports for 4 years now so I actually know what's going on.

So here I'll give my predictions, well wishes and suggestions on who to keep an eye out for...doubt I'll be right about any of them, because during the Olympics, anything can happen!

Short Track
Ahh, my favorite winter sport to watch! Four years ago a kid named Apolo Anton Ohno captured my eye and opened me to a whole new world of crazy fans, cool athletes, and friends that I still keep in touch with today. I predict that we're going to see a lot of South Koreans on the podium for the men and women, especially that sneaky little Ahn Hyun Soo. He's a quick one and he's got some great technique. If anyone's gonna break the Korean barrier, you can bet on Apolo, who's gonna win his share of medals. I doubt all of them will be gold, but you can count on at least one in there. But I can see him in the finals for all the races. The Koreans aren't as strong in the 500m, so you'll see Apolo and some of the Canadians shine in this one. For the men's relay, I predict Canada, Korea, and the US, in that order. If we're lucky, we'll get a silver - we've got a strong men's team out there as long as we keep JP Kepka on the relay team. He's got the experience and with his skating and power, we can definitely pull it off. The US women have a chance with the relay as well, with Allison Baver and cutie pie Hyo-Jung Kim having a really strong competitive season, with the added help of three time Olympian Caroline Hallisey.

Who to watch out for? Never count out Li Jiajun from China - he's a veteran and he's still winning races. Also, Matt-Damon-Look-a-like (but better looking) Mathieu Turcotte will be in the mix, as well. On the women's side, both the Korean and Chinese women are strong, but if there's someone to break that wall, it'll be Bulgaria's Evgenia Radanova.

My personal favorite is my friend Rusty Smith, who currently holds the 1000m US record and if he keeps his head on, could very well medal in it. I offered him $10 to promote yanowhatimean.com somewhere on his body during the Opening Ceremonies. I doubt it'll happen, but if it does, you heard it here first, folks! This is his third time out at the Olympics and we're all proud of him for sticking with the sport and making the team. Hopefully he's not eating too much out there right now because he LOVES that food out there in Italy!

My other favorites are Alex Izykowski, who worked so hard to make the team, and his family went through many fundraisers to raise money to go out to Italy to go out and see him. He's a great guy, and his family is so wonderful and supportive. I hope he does well! Fabio Carta from Italy will definitely be a hometown favorite, and for as much bad press as he got last Olympics (for saying Apolo should be shot with a gun - but it's some weird Italian saying that everyone misinterpreted) he is the nicest, most generous guy you'll ever meet. I also adore Canadian women Alana Kraus and Amanda Overland, who has really done well in the last few years.

As you remember, anything can happen in short track, so it will be interesting to watch this year!

Here's a desktop background I made for Rusty's site from the Sports Illustrated feature on some of the members of the US team (click for the larger picture):

Long Track
I must admit that I don't know too much about Long Track, but my ultimate favorite is Shani Davis, a fan of yanowhatimean. A friend and fellow Chicagoan, Shani has worked hard to get where he is today, and despite all the obstacles he's faced, he's made it to the top of his sport. Forget all the reports about how he failed to make both the short track and long track team - NO ONE has done that feat, so to fail in doing both isn't as big of a deal as the press makes it out to be. If he wins here, he'll be the first African American man to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. He's the idol of every kid that meets him and he's a good guy. He'll definitely win his share of medals!

Also watch out for Chad Hedrick, the charming Texan with a megawatt smile - his teeth are bigger than mine!

I'm also cheering for Joey Cheek, who's a strong contender, who once got me into a bar in Salt Lake City. They have weird laws out there.

Snowboarding
I haven't really been watching as much of this as I'd like to, but it's usually on at the same time as basketball on the weekends so Dave's usually at the TV. But I DO know that