Kennedy Center Honors

Mr. Y and I were watching the Kennedy Center Honors last night. They were honoring Meryl Streep, Barbara Cook, Neil Diamond, Sonny Rollins, and Yo Yo Ma. Overall it's a good show - very typical of the Kennedy Center Honors. Understated at parts, and definitely more conservative. But very entertaining nevertheless.

There was this one background dancer who looked so familiar. He was in the Meryl Streep and Barbara Cook tributes. I finally figured out that it was Spencer Liff, who choreographed mostly Broadway routines for So You Think You Can Dance (the good ones, unlike the ones choreographed by Tyce). Nice to see him perform.

The Hobbit Trailer

Finally saw the trailer for the first of two The Hobbit movies today. Looks great, and definitely very similar to Lord of the Rings. Although I like Guillermo del Toro, I am glad Peter Jackson is directing The Hobbit. The trailer showed a nice mix of fun, adventure, and danger. I haven't read the book in awhile, but planning on doing so before the movie comes out next December. There are a few changes between the movie and the book, since they've already announced that several characters in the movie are not in the book, like Frodo, Legolas, and Galadriel. Of course it's a good excuse to have Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, and Cate Blanchett back. :)

I can't wait for this movie!

Mission:Impossible Ghost Protocol

Just saw the fourth Mission:Impossible movie. It was very good. The action sequences were amazing, especially the ones set in Dubai at the world's tallest building, the Burj. I would love to know how they did some of the shots.

The director is Brad Bird, making his live action debut. He was previously best known for The Incredibles. His style is definitely apparent here. Mr. Y pointed out that the opening sequence is very reminiscent of The Incredibles.

I was a little disappointed that Josh Holloway's role isn't bigger. Would have loved to see more of him. Paula Patton was incredible - totally believable as a sexy, tough agent. Jeremy Renner was also well-cast as an analyst with a secret. Simon Pegg provides the comic relief, although he had his badass moments.

Overall definitely the best movie of the series. I highly recommend it.

NBA Season Starts

Stupid Lakers. That is all.

The Dark Knight Rises

Just watched the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, the last film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.  It looks so amazing.  You can see it here:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/19/the-dark-knight-rises-trailer-explosive-scary-political/

So many different disturbing images, from an exploding football field to an army of prisoners armed with machine guns.  The line that gave me the biggest shudder, though, was when Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman), whispered into Bruce Wayne's ear, “You think this is going to last. There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches because when it hits, you’re all going to wonder how you ever thought how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”

Mr. Y commented that a lot of Inception actors are also in this movie - Marion Cottilard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Tom Hardy.  We're just missing Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page.

What Christopher Nolan has always done brilliantly is to make movies that are both timely and timeless. Selina's words clearly invoked the current Occupy movements, but the struggle of the lower class and the acceptable use of violence in rebellions without crossing into terrorism are thorny, age-old issues.

The superhero genre originally became popular because it provides an escape into a world where good and evil are clearly delineated and a few individuals, albeit with amazing powers and/or gadgets, can fight the evil. However, as the genre evolved, it became popular to give the heroes some sort of complexes. Hence the rise of the dark, human Batman as a counter to the relentlessly good, alien Superman.

I think Nolan's biggest achievement is not highlighting Batman's dark side, but keeping hope alive in these movies. It would be very easy to slide into total darkness, but Nolan know that you have to allow for some light at the end of the tunnel. That is what makes a great superhero movie.

Can't wait for The Dark Knight Rises!

The Hobbit, LOTR, and Legos

LEGO announced a deal to bring characters from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings to the Lego Universe.  This is super cool.  See a preview here:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/12/17/lego-the-hobbit-universe/

Mr. Y had played Indiana Jones and Star Wars Legos video games.  I thought the characters were so cute!  I'm excited about the LOTR and Hobbit LEGOS.  I bet even the Balrog looks cute in LEGOs.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride is easily one of my favorite movies ever.  I love how unabashedly romantic it is, but it's also an adventure and a fantasy film.

Jason Reitman, director of Juno and Up In The Air, is staging the Princess Bride as a live reading.  He just announced the cast, and I think it's perfect.  Mindy Kaling is Princess Buttercup and Paul Rudd is Westley.  I think those two have a great chemistry, and they will their own brand of humor and quirkiness to the roles.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/12/14/jason-reitman-princess-bride-live-read-cast-announcement/#more-172399

I wish I can actually watch this reading.  Too bad it's one-night-only event.

The Great Gatsby

EW.com had a couple of pictures from Baz Luhrmann's upcoming adaptation of the Great Gatsby.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/13/great-gatsby-leonardo-dicaprio-carey-mulligan/

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Gatsby, Carey Mulligan is Daisy, Joel Edgerton is Tom Buchanan, and Tobey Maguire is Nick Carraway.

I first read the Great Gatsby in high school, as part of the required reading.  I didn't like it that much back then, but when I re-read it again years later as an adult, it left a much better impression.  It's a very unsettling book, which I believe is the point, and any good adaptation of it has to capture that uneasiness and underlying tension.  I have high hopes for this cast, although with Baz Luhrmann, there's always the danger that the environment will overpower the acting.  Let's hope that it's more like Strictly Ballroom than Moulin Rouge (Mr. Y's least favorite movie ever).

Geico Ad Guy

Mr. Y and I were watching Person of Interest, the episode called Witness.  There was a detective played by someone familiar, and I finally figured it out.  It's the guy from the Geico ad.  A Google search revealed his name to be Mike McGlone.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0569458/

I feel like actors who are so recognizable from commercials risk getting stuck with just these roles, but then again, if they don't take the commercials, they may not have any jobs.  I hope they will break out, because some of them are really good.  Like the woman who plays Flo in the Progressive commercial, or the guy who plays Mayhem in the Allstate commercials.

Angry Birds Dress

Teija Vesterbacka, the wife of Peter Vesterbacka, Chief Marketing Officer of Rovio, wore an Angry Birds dress to a formal event at the Finnish Palace.  Rovio is the company behind the Angry Birds game.

You can see the picture here:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/12/wife-of-rovio-executive-dons-formal-angry-birds-gown-at-fancy-finnish-ball.html

I personally think the dress is awesome.  Totally appropriate for the occasion because it's still a formal dress, but with the great design.  I think she looks great!

Harry Potter Theme Park Coming to LA

I read about this today on EW.com, and was totally excited.  Harry Potter theme park is coming to LA!  Universal Studios Hollywood, to be exact.  Universal Studios already has the Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, and now they're doing one on the west coast.  I'm very excited about this.  Mr. Y and I are big Harry Potter fans, but we don't know if we'll ever make it to the Orlando one.  If we go to Orlando we'll be going to Disney World.  But we do go to LA quite a bit to see family, so it will be easier to go to the LA Harry Potter.

I know kdipity will be excited about this news, too.  She has been plotting to go to the Orlando one for awhile.  Now that she lives in CA as well, she can make the shorter trip to LA.

More news about it:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/12/06/harry-potter-theme-park-los-angeles/

Property Brothers

Ever since we bought our new house, Mr. Y is obsessed with this show on HGTV called Property Brothers, and he has gotten me hooked, too.  It stars these two twin brothers from Vancouver, Jonathan and Drew Scott.  Drew is the real estate agent who helps the clients find houses, and Jonathan is the contractor who helps them renovate it.  

I Googled the brothers, and found out some interesting facts.  Turns out both of them are also actors, and own a production company.  The most fascinating thing is that Jonathan is also an illusionist who performs in Vegas.  Plus the two of them were voted as two of Entertainment Tonight's 2011 Hottest Canadian TV Bachelors.

Their show is fascinating because they use pretty cool 3-D technology to model what the rooms could look like after the renovations, and they do comparisons in the end to see how close the final product was.  The end results usually look pretty good.  Can we get them to do our house?  :)

Yao Ming's Wine

Mr. Y found this article about basketball star Yao Ming and his foray into wine-making.

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/chompions/201111/better-age-yao-ming-enters-world-wine

I'm really curious to try this wine, but it's pretty expensive.  I don't know if the curiosity factor is worth the money.

I thought it was funny that Dikembe Mutombo was the one who introduced Yao to wine.  If you don't know who Dikembe Mutombo is, he's a 7'2 former NBA player from the Congo.  He's a great humanitarian and a pretty decent player, but who knew that he was actually into wine?

Star Wars

Spike is airing the Star Wars movies marathon this Thanksgiving weekend, and we caught the end of Star Wars IV: A New Hope.  Awesome movie.  Mr. Y saw the movie in the theaters when he was 5, and it certainly left an impression on him.  I didn't see it until I was a freshman in college when it was re-released.  To this day I remember the date: Valentine's Day 1997.  It was 14 guys and me who went to see it together.  None of the other girls wanted to come with us.    I honestly didn't know much about it until all my guy friends educated me about it.  It turns out that I'm a lot of geekier than I thought, especially after dating Mr. Y.  I saw Galaxy Quest in college and thought it was a stupid movie, but after dating Mr. Y for a few years and watching it again, I laughed so hard.  So I credit Mr. Y for making me geekier.

Evan Kasprzak in Newsies

Mr. Y and I were watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade today, and spotted Evan Kasprzak as part of the cast of Newsies.  Newsies is coming to Broadway in March for a limited run.  I've always had a soft spot for Evan.  He won third place on So You Think You Can Dance season 5.  He was such a nice guy, but got totally beaten up by the judges.  The judges clearly thought he was not good enough to make it that far, but he was super popular so he never ended up in the bottom two.  He always accepted all the negative comments with grace and humility, and he was a great Broadway dancer.  So it's great to see him end up on Broadway.  Good luck, Evan!

Hugh Jackman on Broadway

I have mentioned before how I love Hugh Jackman.  He is currently doing a one-man show on Broadway, but only for 10 weeks.  According to news articles, he sings a few songs, especially from his last Broadway show, the Boy from Oz, tells stories, and interacts with the audience.  Front row tickets have been re-selling for as high as $1500 a ticket.

I tried checking for tickets, but the only tickets available are over $300 each, which is a bit steep.  Sigh.   Too bad - it would have been fun to see him.  :)

Dancing with the Stars - Winner!

Dancing with the Stars crowned its Season 13 winner tonight.  I was happy when Ricki and Derek were eliminated early on - I never really warmed to her, and I don't like Derek.  Plus he resurrected the awful crotch move with Ricki yesterday.  It wasn't good the first time around and it continues to suck.

SPOILER ALERT!

J.R. and Karina won!  I'm very happy with this result - I think J.R. deserves it, and Karina has been more likeable since last season, when she danced with Ralph Macchio.  J.R. has a great attitude, and his mom is so adorable.

Rob and Cheryl did not look too crushed.  They were certainly the dark horse of this competition - who would have thought that a Kardashian family member would do well and would get people to root for him?  He certainly did his part to redeem the family name after the whole Kim fiasco.

The best parts of the finale were actually Carson Kressley's dance to Vogue and Chynna Phillips redoing the Mission:Impossible dance.  Good for Chynna for doing it again, and Carson's dance was just hilarious.

How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother delivered quite a whopper last night.  SPOILER ALERT!

Robin is pregnant!  She was acting weird all episode about Lily and Marshall moving to the suburbs, and in the end we found out why.  She ended up telling Barney when he climbed through the window to join her in the bathroom.  Is Barney the father?  Or is it Kevin, her current boyfriend?

We know that Future Robin have kids.  Future Ted has mentioned it before.  However, is this one of the kids that he was talking about?

Sigh.  This show really is the Lost of sitcoms.

Hawaii Five-O - Another Recognition

Mr. Y and I were watching Hawaii Five-O tonight and there was this actor playing a guy named Billy Murphy.  Both Mr. Y and I thought we've seen him before, but we didn't know where for sure.  Then I realize that he was in an episode of Warehouse 13, playing a store clerk who thought Myka and Pete were kidnapping Hugo Miller, and had a hilarious bit with him, the shotgun, and a can of soda.  We confirmed it on IMDB.

This episode also has Courtney Ford, who has shown up in a few random shows.  She was in an episode of Big Bang Theory playing a hot girl who was interested in Leonard, and she was also in an episode of Human Target last season playing a murderous flight attendant.  She's also married to Brandon Routh, aka Superman himself.

Glee - Third Season Musings

I've had mixed feelings about this season's Glee.  Some of the musical numbers have been amazing, but the stories are getting more and more ridiculous.  I especially dislike the whole Quinn trying to get her baby back and Puck and Shelby hooking up.  The most disturbing thing about Puck and Shelby is that it does not look as wrong as it should have been, because Mark Salling really looks 30, not 18.  I haven't been compelled to get any of the music, yet.

On the other hand, there are episodes like "Asian F" and "The First Time" that redeems the show a bit more.  I thought "The First Time" did a great and realistic job on handling the subject of teenage sex, although I wish we had seen the entire West Side Story performance, and I was happy to see Harry Shum, Jr. got the spotlight in "Asian F."

This week's episode has some amazing musical numbers, especially the ending Adele mash-up.  I really hope the group will get together again soon.  Having them split up feels very disjointed, which I guess is the intent, but Glee is always strongest when all of them are together.

Dancing with the Stars - Semifinals Performance Show

Sorry I haven't blogged for awhile.  Things have been very busy, plus my hands start hurting again.  But I'd like to blog tonight about the semifinals of Dancing with the Stars.  Only four contestants are left: Hope Solo, J.R. Martinez, Ricki Lake, and Rob Kardashian.

Based on tonight's performances, I expect J.R., Ricki, and Rob to make it to the finals, but let's see if the viewers agree.  J.R. wasn't his best tonight because he had hurt his ankle, but I thought he was still the most compelling performer out there.  Each star also had videos talking about their backgrounds, and a lot of them are heartbreaking.

Hope Solo is from Richland, Washington, just like kdipity!  She had a sad childhood, with divorce and her dad going to jail for kidnapping Hope and her brother.  He eventually became homeless, but they reconnected later before he passed away.  I still don't connect with her as a dancer, and I think her time is up after this week.

J.R.'s story is obviously defined by his injuries in Iraq.  Hearing his mom talk was so sad but awesome at the same time - it was very touching.  She was a single mom, so he didn't have an easy childhood.  But his smile and enthusiasm are just infectious.  He's still my pick to win, if his ankles hold up.

Rob's baby video was so adorable.  The poor guy also had his sisters put dresses and make up on him when he was a child.  His dad's death clearly had a major effect on him, and it must have been really shocking to have him diagnosed and died within 8 weeks.   I admit I was kinda skeptical of Rob in the beginning because he's a Kardashian, but he turns out to be a great dancer, and actually seems like a nice guy.  It's easy to root for him now, especially since you can see him gaining confidence every week, and he did really well tonight.

Ricki was molested as a child and kept yo-yoing in her weight.  She has certainly gone through a lot as well, although I find it a bit harder to relate to her.  Something about her just puts me off, but I can't really explain it.  Maybe it's also because I don't really like Derek, either.  Her kids are cute, though.

Update on Battle of the Blades

I've written on Battle of the Blades before - the TV show in Canada where former hockey players team up with figure skaters to do figure skating routines.  It's basically Dancing with the Stars on ice.

I have been looking up past performances on Youtube, and they're pretty funny.  The hockey players tend to be really stiff, while the female figure skaters dance around them.  I would totally love this show if it airs in the U.S.

Mr. Y found out that one of the bloggers on Yahoo!'s Puck Daddy blog is actually covering the show.  He does not hide his disdain for the show, and his writing is pretty funny.  Check out the first two entries:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Battle-of-the-Blades-III-review-Recapping-Week-?urn=nhl-wp13406

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Battle-of-the-Blades-III-review-Week-1-8242-s-?urn=nhl-wp13504

The judges sound pretty bad, too.  Jeremy Roenick was just hitting on the female figure skaters, and Sandra Bezic spouts off crazy sayings.  She was already the Paula Abdul of the figure skating commentators, and now she sounds even worse.  Total train wreck.

I really, really wish this show airs here.  :)

Radio City Christmas Spectacular

So Mr. Y and I decided to take our three-year-old to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular this year.  We're going the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  Crossing our fingers that this will work out.  We got special deals for the 9 a.m. show, so that's the one we chose.  We think the morning will work out better anyway because he'll be more awake.  The biggest question is whether he can sit through a 90-minute show.

I've seen the show twice, and both times were cheesy, but definitely fun.  It's definitely one of those classic New York Christmas things that everyone should try to do at least once.   We really hope the little one will enjoy it, and will be so entranced by all the spectacle that he forgets to misbehave.

The X Factor - America's Vote

I finally got a chance to watch this week's X-Factor, and the performances were all over the place.  I feel like the biggest problem with a lot of the performances was the song choice.  I don't know how much input the contestants have into the songs, but a lot of them seem to be the judges' choices, and some of the judges really misfired.  Case in point, Nicole choosing Lonestar's "I'm Already There" for Leroy Bell, Simon Cowell choosing an odd arrangement and changing the lyrics to "Walking On Sunshine" for Rachel Crow, and Paula putting Lakoda Rayne in a multi-colored dresses to represent the seasons and singing "Landslide."

My favorites were Melanie Amaro singing "Desperado" and Josh Krajcik singing "Jar of Hearts."  Both really made the songs their own, and their voices were amazing without the need of much backup.  Astro, as much as I hate to admit it, also did a great job.  His skills are getting better and better to match that ego.  Surprisingly, he wasn't as arrogant this time around.

In the end, the kids group InTENsity was kicked off.  The two lowest vote-getters were Stereo Hoggz and InTENsity, and they had to sing one more song before the judges decide who to kick off.  Poor Paula - both were her babies, and she was really upset.  But she does have the weakest contestants among all of them, so not surprising.

Steve Jones has improved slightly, but still stiff and not much humor.  After seeing him, I am actually appreciating Ryan Seacrest more.  Even though he tends to be on the smarmy side and likes to insert himself into the show, he makes it looks so easy.

Dancing with the Stars - Update

Well, my pick for the DWTS winner this season, David Arquette, was just kicked off.  Turned out I really overestimated his dancing abilities.  Although it was great o see him try so hard, and his daughter Coco is so cute.

My new pick: J.R. Martinez.  He stumbled last night, but I think he'll pull it together and will win the trophy.

Celebrity Splits

Unless you've been living under a rock, the big news in the celebrity world is the divorce of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries after only 72 days of marriage.  Not a surprise, although perhaps earlier than people had thought.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20541325,00.html

According to Kim, she got caught up in the hoopla of the televised wedding and did not know how to get off.  I do actually feel sorry for the two of them - although they did invite cameras into their lives, it still can't be easy to have your breakup splashed all over the tabloids.

Another divorce news is that Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie are also separating.  This news makes me sad, too.  They seem like such a cute couple, and a match made in indie heaven.  They did interviews recently related to her new show, New Girl, and they seemed happy.

In Living Color

There is news that Fox is bringing back In Living Color for two half-hour specials midseason, and if it does well there's an option for a series pickup.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/10/28/in-living-color/

I used to love In Living Color, although to be honest at the time I didn't understand a lot of their raunchier humor.  But the Fly Girls were cool and most of their sketches, especially in the early days, were hilarious.  When you think about it, In Living Color has really launched the careers of a lot of people, like Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx, Damon Wayans, etc.  Jennifer Lopez and Carrie Ann Inaba were part of the Fly Girls.

Keenan Ivory Wayans is the executive producer of this one, too, which is promising since the show was not the same when he left.  Hopefully this new incarnation will still push the envelope and will launch the careers of the next generation of funny men and women.  Bring back the famous cameos, too!

The X Factor Live Show

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Tonight was the first live show of the X-Factor.  The judges are supposed to eliminate one act from their group , with Simon eliminating two because he has a total of five.   Next week is the start of America's vote.

Simon Cowell finally did something right and eliminated Tiah Tolliver and Simone Battle!  He is left with Drew, Rachel, and Melanie, who did totally awesome.  So yay! 

Nicole eliminated Dexter, which should have happened last week anyway.  I'm convinced Nicole put him through so that she would have an easy choice this week.  L.A. Reid eliminated Philip Lomax, who was terrible.  It didn't help that he got stuck with a song that sounds all wrong to him.  

Paula eliminated the Brewer Boys, which I thought was totally the wrong decision.  Lakoda Rayne or Intensity should have gone.  But the judges are probably trying to justify putting the groups together.  Eh, none of the groups will probably win this competition anyway.  

Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth performed Maybe This Time from Cabaret and I Could've Danced All Night from The King and I on Dancing with the Stars tonight.  It was such a fun performance, accompanied by the DWTS pros.  It still amazes me how such a big voice came come from such a small person.  They had this bit where Kristin was walking on chairs with the male pros on both sides of her, and she was only less than a head taller than them, even standing on chairs and wearing heels!

She'll be back tomorrow night with a song from her current country album - it would be interesting to see how she does with country, because her voice seems so Broadway to me.

The Cutting Edge Comes to Life

In Canada there's a reality show called the Battle of the Blades where former professional hockey players team up with Olympic-level figure skaters to compete in a figure skating reality show - just like the movie the Cutting Edge!  Here's more information on the third season of this show:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=Atlmmf9d_fF_Lb3e9Nnd6q97vLYF?slug=cbc-arts_battle_ofthe_blades-2000452366

This can only happen in Canada.  American televisions have twice tried to do figure skating-type show (Skating with Celebrities and Skating with the Stars), but both failed spectacularly.  The winner in the first season is Craig Simpson, a retired NHL player who played for 10 seasons in the NHL.  He was paired with Olympic gold medalist Jamie Sale, who won the gold medal in pairs with her partner, David Pelletier, in 2002 Winter Olympics after the scoring scandal involving the French judge.  In the second season, the winner was Valerie Bure, another 10-year veteran of the NHL and husband of former Full House star Candace Cameron Bure.  His partner was Ekaterina Gordeeva, who won gold in 1988 and 1994 with her husband and pairs partner, Sergei Grinkov.  Grinkov passed away suddenly at the age of 28 in 1995, and Ekaterina continued to skate as a singles skater.  She's currently married to another Olympic gold medalist in singles, Ilya Kulik.

What amuses me the most about the Battle of the Blades is that Jeremy Roenick is a judge.  He's an American hockey player who played for 18 years in the NHL before retiring in 2009.  He's one of Mr. Y's favorite players.  I'll let him explain why Roenick is one of his favorites:  "I got interested in hockey in the late 80s/early 90s when Roenick was in his prime.  He was one of the premier American-born players (which was  a big deal to me at the time) and represented to me the perfect hockey player.  He could both shoot and pass (being one of the few 100-point scorers that was evenly split between goals and assists) and was absolutely tough as nails.  The classic Roenick story was in his rookie year, he got cross-checked in the mouth.  The player that cross-checked him (Glen Featherstone) was originally only given a 2-minute minor by the referee.  Roenick skated up to the referee to complain why Featherstone wasn't given a more severe penalty and the referee replied that there was no injury from the play.  In rebuttal, Roenick opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue showing that his front two teeth were knocked out and now lying on his tongue.  The ref upgraded the penalty to a 5-minute major."

Roenick is also extremely opinionated and his mouth has gotten him into trouble many times.  I don't know if he knows anything about figure skating, but he is probably entertaining as a judge.  I wish I can watch this show in the United States.  Why isn't there a CBC America channel?  :)

The Next Iron Chef

Mr. Y and I haven't watched The Next Iron Chef since the first season when Michael Symon won, but this season looks pretty intriguing because the cast consists of mostly familiar Food Network and Top Chef chefs.  (Note: Mr. Y provided a lot of the content below.)

Anne Burrell - former sous chef of Mario Batali and therefore familiar with the Iron Chef kitchen.  She has been hosting a few shows on the Food Network, including the competition show The Worst Cooks in America where she is undefeated, beating fellow The Next Iron Chef contestants Robert Irvine and Beau MacMillan.  She has also competed in Chopped All-Stars (beating Irvine again!), but getting knocked out in the Finals.
Michael Chiarello - former Food Network chef of Easy Entertaining, before returning back to Napa Valley and being a restaurant chef.  He competed in the first season of Top Chef Masters, placing 2nd (behind winner Rick Bayless).
Elizabeth Falkner - mainly known as a pastry chef, but did compete in the first season of Top Chef Masters, but never made it past the preliminary round. Mr. Y and I remember her best as the chef on Top Chef Masters that spontaneously whipped up chocolate chip cookies from scratch while waiting for the judges' decision.  She might be the dark horse.
Alex Guarnaschelli - judge on Chopped and Food Network Challenge, as well as host of a couple of Food Network shows.  She's also competed on Iron Chef America, but lost to Cat Cora.  Her restaurant Butter, in NYC, is awesome.
Chuck Hughes - Montreal-based chef and host of a show on Food Network Canada (that was then later ported to the Cooking Channel).  He's also competed on Iron Chef America and beat Bobby Flay.  His food looks pretty good, but never tried any of his recipes.
Robert Irvine - the infamous Dinner: Impossible chef who was fired for lying about his resume, then brought back because he was so popular on the show.  Totally abrasive, but used to working under time pressures.  He competed (and lost) on a special Iron Chef America where he was partnered with Tyler Florence against Paula Deen and Cat Cora.  He's also winless against fellow cheftestant Anne Burrell in both Chopped and The Worst Cooks in America.
Beau MacMillan - Don't know too much about him other than he owns a highly-regarded restaurant in Arizona and was the original co-host of The Worst Cooks in America (losing to co-host Anne Burrell).
Spike Mendelsohn - the infamous chef from Top Chef.  Seems a bit young for this group of chefs, but he's certainly a personality.  Plus, since he's now been through both Top Chef (Season 4) and Top Chef All-Stars, he's got as much as experience as anyone competing in a season-long cooking competition.
Marcus Samuelsson - won the second season of Top Chef Masters and is highly talented.  He's competed twice on Iron Chef (once on the very short-lived Iron Chef USA, where he lost to Alessandro Stratta and once on Iron Chef America, where he lost to Bobby Flay).  He has also been a judge on Chopped.
Geoffrey Zakarian - another Chopped judge.  I don't know if he's still cooking full time because my impression was that he's more of a businessman nowadays, but he can certainly cook as he did compete in Chopped All-Stars, losing to Aaron Sanchez in their preliminary round.

My early pick to win is Marcus Samuelsson.  He's very competitive, talented, and experienced.  If you can win Top Chef Masters, you can certainly win this competition.

Very Funny Picture

I found this on the website Etiquette Hell today.  It is very funny.

http://www.etiquettehell.com/?p=2827

More Lost Connections

Two more Lost connections showed up this week.

This week's Hawaii-Five-O episode has Tania Raymonde as a guest star.  She played Alex, Ben Linus's daughter on Lost.  She showed up briefly in the Hawaii-Five-O episode as a volleyball player and student at the University of Hawaii, who was a suspect in a murder investigation of her coach.  Unfortunately she only showed up in one scene, which was kinda odd considering that they really hyped her guest starring role.  Plus she had no interaction with Daniel Dae Kim or Terry O'Quinn, so it was not a true Lost reunion.

The other Lost reunion occurred on Person of Interest.  We were catching up on the second episode, Ghosts.  Brett Cullen, who played Goodwin on Lost.  He played Finch's partner in creating the machine.  Ben Linus and Goodwin together again!  I hope we will see more interactions between them.

The Raiders

I'm a Raiders fan.  Sometimes it's tough to admit that, especially in recent years, but yes, I love my black and silver.  

Al Davis, the owner of the Raiders, passed away recently.  Al Davis is a true eccentric - he does what he wants and heck to everyone else.  His personality really looms large over the Raiders and over the league.  Now that he is gone, it's an open question how his son, Mark Davis, will manage the team.

Here's an interesting article I found on Mark Davis:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/13/SPAG1LH01V.DTL

The article said that Mark Davis appears to be very different from his dad, and will probably hire someone to manage the team.  I think this might be a good change for the Raiders, although of course it's sad that it happened because of Al Davis's death.  Then again, it might not be that big of a change.  The first move the Raiders made after Al Davis's death was classic Al Davis - trading two first round picks (pretty hefty price) for a 32-year-old quarterback who may or may not be able to play at an elite level anymore.  But since Jason Campbell is out for the season, and Kyle Boller is definitely not the answer, I am hoping Carson Palmer will work out better.  The Raiders have the pieces to make the playoffs this year, especially considering the sorry state of the AFC West, and hopefully Carson will take them them. 

Harry Potter Tribute on Scream Awards

The Scream Awards aired on Spike TV last night.  It is as you would expect - a lot of screaming, oddly-dressed people and tons of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, adventure stars.

I only DVRed the show because there was a tribute to Harry Potter, which was pretty fun.  It consisted of clips from all the Harry Potter movies, an introduction by Samuel L. Jackson in front of screaming fans at Lincoln Center, and Daniel Radcliffe accepting the awards.

Here's part of the tribute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgxA8E_eH68

I haven't seen the second Harry Potter movie, but I'm really looking forward to it.  Everyone really likes it.  It's sad that the series are ending, but it's awesome that the series had gone so well and all three leads seem well-adjusted and have bright careers ahead of them.

The X-Factor Top 16

The X-Factor revealed its top 16 tonight.  These are the people who will be performing at the live show.

SPOILER ALERT!

I agreed with some of the picks, but I was ready to throw things at the TV when Simon did not originally put Melanie through.  But he righted the wrong and flew to her house to invite her back.  Now I am cynical enough to believe that this was totally planned, but whatever got Melanie back into the competition is OK with me.

GIRLS

Simone Battle - really, Simon?  I think he was more dazzled by the way she looks than her actual talent.  Especially over Caitlin Koch.
Drew Ryniewicz - I really like her, so this is a good choice for me.
Tiah Tolliver - I knew she was going to go through.  Simon really likes her, although I don't understand why.
Rachel Crow - she's OK.  Young, but she's not as annoying as Simone or Tiah.
Melanie Amaro - awesome.

BOYS

Brian Bradley - I think the kid has talent, but he's so arrogant and annoying that I can't like him.
Chris Rene - this was a given.  TV loves redemption stories.  I do like the guy, even though his voice isn't the best.  I hope he does well.
Phillip Lomax - didn't understand this one.  He's a poor man's Bruno Mars to me.
Marcus Canty - this was a good choice.  He killed it at the Judges' House performance.

OVER 30s

This category has two of my favorite singers: Josh and Leroy.

Josh Krajcik - love him.  Glad he went through.
Dexter Haygood - I don't understand this pick.  He wasn't very good.  I would've preferred James or Elaine over Dexter.
Leroy Bell - he's totally awesome.  I can't wait to see how he does live.
Stacey Francis - pretty much a given considering how much they've pimped her out.

GROUPS

The Brewer Boys - I like these brothers, so I'm glad they went through.
Lakota Rayne - I don't understand why Paula put them through.  They weren't very good, and they were boring.  Maybe to justify putting the groups together?
Intensity - this was the one I thought was more likely to go through than Lakota Rayne.
Stereo Hogzz - the best among the seemingly interchangeable all-boys groups.  Plus one of the singers has the cutest baby.

We'll see what happens at the live shows!  I'll be cheering for Melanie, Josh, and Leroy the most.

History Detectives HDlab

While watching the latest episode of History Detectives, we saw a promotion for a new classroom game from the History Detectives called HDlab.  The idea is to log on, select a mystery, search archives for missing evidence, interview witnesses, and solve the investigation.  One example they provided was a teenage guy who was investigating a letter about the San Francisco Giants signing Willie Mays.  The clip showed that he got to meet Willie Mays himself and asked him questions about signing for the Giants and his experiences.

Now the geek in me thinks this is very cool.  I would've loved to do something like this when I was a teenager.  Heck, I would love to do it now.  It's my liberal arts education rearing up again.

Bert Kreischer and the Russian Mob

We first heard of Bert Kreischer as the host of the show Bert the Conqueror on the Travel Channel.  On that show, he travels across the United States to do crazy amusement park rides or unusual sports.  He's a comedian by trade, and very boisterous.  He was featured in a Rolling Stone magazine article in 1997 as the top partier in Florida State, which was the top party school, and this article became the basis for Van Wilder.  So it's safe to say that this guy is insane.

One of the craziest experiences he ever did was when he ran with the Russian mob.  The following link has him talking about it on the Joe Rogan podcast, with South Park-style animation.  It is crazy and hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PAtFsJY5q0

As Mr. Y said, and I concurred, Bert is the most unintentionally smart and lucky, dumb frat boy in the world.  Seriously... anyone else that gets into half the stuff he's been through would be dead by now (let alone wealthy, having a movie based on his life and having his own TV show).

The Avengers Trailer

The new trailer for the movie the Avengers came out a couple of days ago, and it's totally awesome.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/10/11/the-avengers-trailer/

As a quick background, the Avengers in this movie consist of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk.  There are other characters involve in the Avengers in the comic books and TV shows, but I'm guessing it would be too much to include all of them.  That is a lot of beefcake in one movie: Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey, Jr., and Mark Ruffalo, plus Scarlett Johanssen.

I don't know how the actual movie is going to be, but based on the trailer, it looks really good.  Robert Downey, Jr. gets all the funny lines, and it's nice to see that they aren't going to be all buddy-buddy.  Best exchange from the trailer:

Captain America (Chris Evans): "Big man in a suit of armor, take that away – what are you?"
Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.): "Uh... genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

The director is Joss Whedon, and I usually like his work, so I do have high expectations.  I hope it will be good!

The Wedding of King of Bhutan

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, the Kong of Bhutan got married today.

You can see pictures and more details here:

http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/201110136319/bhutan-purification-marriage-ceremony/

The outfits were so beautiful, and they look very happy.  She looks more nervous than he does, which is definitely understandable.  I love all the colors - so bright and vibrant.  The party is supposed to last three days, which is awesome.

Philly Fans Booed Anti-Cancer PSA

Apparently fans of the Philadelphia Flyers booed an anti-cancer PSA that featured rival players such as Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, and Ryan Miller.  Now they're most likely booing the players and not the cause, but what bad timing.

http://www.yardbarker.com/nhl/articles/msn/philadelphia_flyers_fans_boo_anti_cancer_ad_featuring_rival_players_during_game/7391497?GT1=39002%27%20rel=%27nofollow

Philly fans already have a reputation for being the worst fans in sports, because of incidents like throwing snowballs at Santa Claus, cheering injured players, and intentionally vomiting on an 11-year-old girl.

This newest incident doesn't help.  For kicks, here's a gallery of more bad moments from Philly fans.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/galleries/philly_sports_fans_worst_moments/philly_sports_fans_worst_moments.html

King of Bhutan Gets Married

The King of Bhutan is getting married on Thursday.  Did you know Bhutan has a king?  Did you know there's a country named Bhutan?  I only knew that it's a small country in Asia.  It turns out that it's located between China and India in the eastern end of the Himalayas.

King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is 31 years old and was crowned in 2008.  He studied abroad in the US and UK, eventually graduating from Oxford.  According to news reports, he is widely popular not just in Bhutan, but all over Asia.

He is engaged to a woman 10 years his junior, Jetsun Pema, who is a pilot's daughter.  She was educated at elite schools in India and the UK.  She is fluent in the native language of Bhutan, Hindi, and English.  She's also very beautiful.  Publish Post

See pictures here:

http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/201110116298/king-of-bhutan-wedding/

Update on Cayetana

I had written before about Cayetana, the 85-year-old Duchess of Alba, who was getting married to a man 24 years her junior, Alfonso Diez.

The wedding was today, and here are some links to the stories and pictures.

http://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/201110056255/duchess-of-alba-and-alfonso-diez-marry-in-intimate-ceremony/

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20534495,00.html

Her dress was very pretty, but her face still looks so odd.  They do look happy, though.  She even danced flamenco barefoot when she and her groom walked out of the ceremony.

Sesame Street Meets The Office, The Big Bang Theory, and More

This is hilarious:

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/09/23/elmo-cookie-monster-sesame-street/?ew_packageID=20302134

I especially love the Elmo's perfect impersonation of Jim from the office and the multiple sunglasses on Elmo's head a la David Caruso.

Celebrity Autograph

There was a crowd of people in front of the stage entrance to the David Letterman show, and when a large Escalade pulled out, suddenly a surge of people started chasing the car.  Unfortunately the light at the corner turned red, so the crowd surrounded the car and started banging on the windows demanding autographs. No one rolled down the window, and thankfully when the light turned green, the car was able to go forward without hitting anyone.  

As the crowd was dispersing, I noticed that a lot of them were young men in their teens or 20s, and a lot of them were carrying the same pictures of the celebrity.  Plus they seemed to know each other well and were complaining about the stingy celebrity and comparing notes about who the "nice" celebrities are.  It makes me think that these guys are not typical fans, but professional autograph seekers who try to get celebrities' autographs and then turn out and sell them.  Their technique was very dangerous and someone could easily have gotten hurt.  

I had asked someone who the celebrity was when I saw the crowd chasing after the car.  It turned out that the celebrity was Sting.   It must have been pretty scary for him inside the car, with this mob of guys banging on the windows and screaming at him.  

The Layover - Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain has a new show on the Travel Channel called the Layover.  The idea is that he does things around a city in 24 to 48 hours.  There's a preview here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/23/anthony-bourdain-the-layover-sneak-peek_n_978285.html

Bourdain acknowledged that he is essentially copying Samantha Brown's show, but then snarked on Twitter that his show would actually be good.  This is again my biggest problem with Bourdain and why watching his show can be so painful.  He's snarky and doesn't take BS well, but then he turns around and just be outright mean.

Was it necessary to call out Samantha Brown?  I happen to like Samantha Brown.  I'm pretty sure his biggest problem with Samantha is that she is happy and friendly with everyone, and he thinks it's fake.  You know, Bourdain, it's actually OK not to be snarky all the time.  Samantha has her place on the Travel Channel and you have yours, and believe it or not, both can be good.  Samantha gets to do a lot of amazing stuff and it's nice to see someone who is happy about it and actually appreciates it.  Bourdain takes such great pride in not doing the typical tourist thing, which is great, but there is no way he can ever be part of the local, especially with a camera crew following him around.  In his own way, his shows are just as manufactured as Samantha's.

Tom Clancy

I've been re-reading the Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games by Tom Clancy, which were the first two Clancy novels.  I stopped reading Clancy after Executive Orders because his books were getting longer and longer, and more and more boring.  Re-reading the Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games reminds me of how good he was in the beginning.  These first two novels are chock full of details, but they move at a great pace.  Plus the characters were more engaging and I actually end up caring about what happens to them.  I feel like his later novels were more him showing off all his research and knowledge, and moving from one action piece to another.

If you've never read Tom Clancy, it's worth reading the Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Red Storm Rising, and the Cardinal of the Kremlin.  But stop there if you don't want to get frustrated.

Baseball Drama

Last night was easily one of the most exciting, if not the most exciting, nights in baseball.  Four teams went into the last game of the regular season with two playoff spots on the line, and only two survived.  The two who didn't survived had huge leads in the wild card race, but completely collapsed in September.  Full disclosure: I hate the Red Sox, so last night really filled me with glee.

In the National League, the Atlanta Braves had a 10 1/2 game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals in late August, but went 9-18 in September to allow the Cards to catch up.  Last night, the Braves completed their collapse by losing 4-3 in 13 innings to the playoff-bound Phillies.  The Cards did their part by winning their game against the Astros 8-0, and they are in the playoffs.

The bigger drama was in the American League.  Boston went into September with a 9-game lead over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, but went 7-19 in September to end up tied with the Rays entering yesterday's game.  Boston was playing against the Orioles and the Rays were facing the Yankees.  Boston was up 3-2 on the Orioles when the game was called in the middle of the seventh inning because of rain.  When the game was called, the Rays were behind 7-0 to the Yankees going into the eighth inning.  But then the Rays staged a furious comeback that got them to 7-3, and then Evan Longoria hit a three-run homer to make it 7-6.  In the ninth inning, pinch hitter Dan Johnson, who was only hitting .108 (that's bad), had a two-out, two-strike solo home run that tied the game.

Boston and Baltimore restarted the game after an hour and a half rain delay when the Rays and the Yankees were tied at 7-7 heading into the tenth inning.  Right before midnight, Nolan Reimold tied the game by hitting a double against Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, which scored Kyle Hudson.  Hudson had entered the game as a pinch runner for Chris Davis, who hit a double against Papelbon.  Then Robert Andino came to the plate.  Andino had been on fire against the Red Sox in September.  Just last week, Andino hit a bases-clearing double off Papelbon to win a game against the Red Sox at Fenway.  In this game, Andino hit Papelbon's pitch into left field, and Carl Crawford, the touted left-fielder who was paid $142 million to make this play, missed.  He scrambled and threw it home, but the Orioles had already scored the winning run.

Four minutes after Boston lost to Baltimore, Evan Longoria became the hero of the game when he hit a home run shortly after midnight.  The Rays had won against the Yankees 8-7, and will be facing the Rangers in the ALDS.

It's true that the Yankees did not play their top players and their team looked more like a triple-A team.  It didn't matter.  The Red Sox choked and the Rays took advantage of it to win the playoff spot.  The Braves also choked, allowing the Cards to catch up.  The Braves are famous for choking in the playoffs, but this time they saved their fans the trouble of getting their heart broken in the playoffs.

The playoffs start tomorrow (Friday), but it's doubtful anything in the playoffs can match the drama of this last day.

One for the Money

The trailer for the movie version of One for the Money is out.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/09/26/one-for-the-money-trailer/

For the uninitiated, One for the Money is based on the first book in the Stephanie Plum series written by Janet Evanovich.  Stephanie Plum is a down-on-her-luck divorcee who ended up working as a bail bondsman for her sleazy cousin Vinny.  She has two love interests in her life: the cop Joe Morelli and the mysterious bondsman Ranger.  She also has a crazy family, especially her Grandma Mazur, and she became friends with hookers, especially Lulu.

The books themselves are pretty fun, but I stopped reading after the first few because they became really repetitive.  I did remember enjoying the first one, though, so I hope I will like this movie.  So far the cast doesn't really match my expectations.  Katherine Heigl seems miscast as Stephanie, and Jason O'Mara doesn't look Italian enough to be Joe Morelli.  I like Debbie Reynolds, but I always imagine Grandma Mazur to be more like Grandma Yetta from the Nanny.  I definitely won't see it in the theaters, but perhaps it'll be worth a look on DVD depending on the reviews when it comes out.

iPhone Apps

So I broke down and got an iPhone.  I've been downloading and playing with various apps since I got the phone, and it's amazing how many of them there are.  The best part is that there are tons of free ones, too.  

I downloaded a bunch of Sesame Street apps for my son, and he is hooked on it.  It's amazing how well he can navigate the iPhone and find his apps, and he's only a toddler!  

So far I've been playing a lot of Words with Friends with kdipity and Mr. Y, and also using the Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline fantasy football apps to check my fantasy teams and my scores.  ESPN's Scorecenter is also helpful in keeping track of my favorite teams.  

If anyone is reading this blog and has any suggestions for apps, please let me know! 

New Fall 2011 TV Season - New Shows

Mr. Y and I are only DVR-ing three new shows: New Girl, Person of Interest, and the X-Factor (although Mr. Y wants me to make it clear that he is not watching the X-Factor).  We would probably like to watch Terra Nova, but it's on Monday and our DVR is already full on Mondays.  Plus I'm not convinced it's going to last very long.  If it lasts a full season we can watch the DVD.

New Girl: If you like Zooey Deschanel, you will like this show.  I happen to like her, so I like this show.  Her character Jess is quirky, dorky, and sweet. The three guys are not fully fleshed out, but I can see potential.  Schmidt is the douchebag of the group, who even has to pay into a douchebag jar every time he says or does something douche-y.  Nick is the bartender who broke up with his girlfriend six months ago but still drunk dialed her.  He seemed to be set up as the future love interest for Jess.  The third was originally Coach, played by Damon Wayans, Jr., but since Wayans's show Happy Endings got picked up, the show has been recast with Lamorne Morris as Winston Bishop.  Coach was the least interesting of the three guys, so hopefully the new one will be better.  The scene when all three of them serenaded Jess with "Time of My Life" was really heartfelt and funny.

Person of Interest: We DVRed this show because we love Michael Emerson (another Lost alum), and Jim Caviezel is certainly an interesting actor.  The first show is a little disjointed and a weird mix of procedural, superhero, and character drama.  Michael Emerson plays Mr. Finch, a rich dude who has access to a super machine by which the government keeps track of everyone.  However, he only gets access to the social security numbers, so he needs John Reese (Jim Caviezel) to help him figure it out.  Michael Emerson's character is definitely very similar to Ben Linus - mysterious and likes to talk in riddles, but Mr. Finch walks with a limp.  Jim Caviezel is a bit of a cypher right now with some hint of a backstory involving the army and a blonde girlfriend who died.  Taraji P. Henson also shows up as a detective, but she doesn't much to do, yet.  We'll continue to watch this show for now and see what it turns into.

The X-Factor: Certainly the immediate comparison for this show is American Idol.  It's different enough so far that I think both shows can survive.  I don't know why Cheryl Cole was fired - she was perfectly understandable and is actually less annoying than Nicole Scherzinger.  But the fun was seeing Simon and Paula back together - they went right back to the weird relationship that they have.  L.A. Reid was actually more mean than Simon so far - he does not suffer fools gladly.  Having the audience there from the first auditions really makes a difference, as well as having backing music rather than a capella.  Again I'll keep watching this and see what happens.

New Fall 2011 TV Season - Returning Shows

The new Fall 2011 TV season started this past week for the most part.  Lots of old and new shows to watch.

I thought the returning shows that we watch came back fairly strong.  SPOILER ALERT!

How I Met Your Mother: Victoria is back!  She's by far my favorite of Ted's ex-girlfriends.  Plus Ashley Williams just got killed off Warehouse 13, so it was great to see her again.  Can't wait for the story about the rubber ducky tie, Marshall's Steph T-Shirt (name of his daughter?), and who Barney is marrying.  My money is on Robin - why would the bride ask for Ted if it's Nora?

The Big Bang Theory: The Priya-Leonard long-distance relationship is just painful, but definitely good for a few zingers from Sheldon.  Mayim Bialik is such a great addition to the cast.  They resolved the Penny-Raj situation nicely, and definitely setting up for more tension between Penny and Leonard.

Castle: Castle and Beckett are still not together, but their relationship was brought to a different level with new secrets.  I don't know how long they can keep doing it, but I'm still buying it for now.  The best relationship is still between Ryan and Esposito, and between Castle and his daughter, Alexis.  Apparently there's a third book out, Heat Rises.  I read the first two, and they were not bad.  If you like the show you will like the books.

Hawaii Five-O: Suspension of disbelief is required with this show, but whatever gets the gang back together is  OK with me.  Love the addition of Terry O'Quinn as McGarrett's former mentor, and the scene when he and DDK met is totally awesome, especially for Lost fans.  Huge twist at the end with Jenna driving the car for Wo Fat.  Has she worked for him all along?  

Dancing with the Stars: Two people who flew under the radar before the season started ended up on top: Chynna Phillips and J.R. Martinez.  So far I like most of the cast.  Elisabetta Canalis and Kristin Cavallari are beautiful, but they can't really dance.  Chaz Bono was so light on his feet - I hope he goes far.  Nancy Grace was a disaster, but she's trying.  It was so cute to see David Arquette's daughter, Coco, in the audience with her mom, Courteney Cox.  I've already forgotten about the rest of them, and Ron Artest (now Metta World Peace) was deservedly kicked off first.  He was terrible, and wasn't even that entertaining.  Too bad for his partner Peta, who was a first-time pro. Side note: Peta is dating another former DWTS pro, Damian Whitewood, who danced with Pamela Anderson.

Glee: Not as many memorable musical numbers that I would go back and repeat, but overall a solid first show back.  Random note: Courtney Galliano from So You Think You Can Dance played one of the Skanks.  Lindsay Pearce from the Glee Project also showed up as Harmony, an ambitious student at the performing arts reception who sang "Anything Goes" from Anything Goes and "Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun.  Ryan Murphy definitely didn't stray too far from her real self when coming up with this character.  I like it better when Kurt and Rachel are friends instead of enemies, so it's nice to see that dynamic.  Finn and Puck didn't have much to do, but they are setting up for some sort of tension between them and Blaine, who decided to transfer to join New Directions.  Kurt and Blaine are still a very cute couple together.

Real Steel

Hugh Jackman has a new movie coming out called Real Steel.  In the movie, robots have replaced humans in boxing, and Hugh Jackman's character built a robot with his son that would hopefully win a championship.  The robots are massive and controlled by humans from the side.  The trailer is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei5l3r1dV4I

Mr. Y keeps calling it the Rock-Em, Sock-Em Robots, the Movie.  For those of us too young to remember, here is what they look like:

http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Em-Sock-ROBOTS-Game/dp/B00005BY8V

I had been telling Mr. Y that I think he's crazy and that no one else thinks of this movie that way.  But when we were riding the bus to the Giants v. Rams game last Monday, there were two guys who talked about the movie and called it the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots movie, too.  So I have to admit that Mr. Y is not the only one who thinks that way... :)

We would eventually like to see this movie - Mr. Y for the robots and me for Hugh Jackman.

Sesame Street Glee Parody

Sesame Street did this great Glee parody to talk about the letter G.  

http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/09/22/sesame-street-glee-parody/#more-158134

There were a lot of great lines and inside jokes, like puppet Mr. Schuester (called Mr. Gooster) with a chin dimple, the puppet Cheerios, and puppet Sue.  There was also a musical number called "Don't Stop G'ing," and a lot of glitter.  Awesome.  

A few good lines:

Puppet diva Rachel: "I like you Finn.  I'm looking at you longingly."

Puppet Sue: "You know enough about gel, Gooster, you use enough of it."

Puppet Gooster: "Good thing we have a big budget!"

Warehouse 13 Recap - Episode 310 - Insatiable

This is an interesting episode - a little break before the two-episode season finale two weeks from now.  I also accidentally deleted the episode before I can finish the recap, so I apologize if things are a bit out of order and if I miss anything.

This episode begins with a couple of teenagers making out.  They were getting really into it when they heard a noise in the woods.  The guy went into the woods to investigate with a flashlight.  He heard the noise again and then something jumped at him.  He ran out bleeding to the girl, and the thing attacked her, too.

At the Warehouse, Pete kept questioning Artie about his mom.  Artie said that she was protected by Regent Security, and he had no say in what they did.  He sent Pete and Myka to Ithaca to investigate the bitten humans.  Artie had given Claudia a couple of days off.  She sang again at the open mike at the coffee shop, and after she was done, she was approached by Dwayne, the lead singer for the band Dead End.  He said their guitarist had left and he wanted her to replace him.  She tried calling Jinks afterwards, but he did not pick up again.

Pete and Myka went to Ithaca and talked to the victims.  They showed Pete and Myka the bite marks that they got.  Pete was convinced it was either vampires or werewolves, and Myka was skeptical.  They went to the woods where the attack happened, and heard the same noise.  They investigated and found a guy looking like a zombie.  He flinched at the bright flashlight shone on his face (important later).  Myka Tesla-ed him and found his wallet.  His name was Kevin Monroe.  They brought him to the hospital, and he was very blue and freezing.  He also tried to tell them something, but they did not understand him.  They showed Kevin to Artie over the Farnsworth, and Artie said he was flying over.  Artie called Claudia as she was leaving to jam with the band, and told her to start researching living dead artifacts.

Artie had told Pete and Myka to go to Kevin's house, and when they got there, they found Kevin's son, Danny, hiding in the closet. They figured out that Kevin had tried to tell them to help his son.  They brought Danny back to the hospital and met Artie, and told Artie that Danny hadn't said a word.  They got word of another zombie attack at a frat house.  Myka and Pete went to investigate while Artie reluctantly stayed behind with Danny.

When Myka and Pete got to the frat house, they talked to the victim and the other frat brothers who told them that the guy started complaining of being cold and hungry, and then he started attacking him.  Myka and Pete went into the house and there was a bit of bickering about the lack of light bulbs in the hallway.  Pete also noted all of the taco wrappers on the floor (important later).  They ran into the zombie frat brother, who was eating everything in sight.  The zombie attacked them and ended up biting Pete, who freaked out.  Eventually they Tesla-ed him but he got back up.  Pete had to pull his gun on the frat brother, who eventually collapsed again.  When they went back outside, Pete was freaking out about being bitten, but then he got distracted by how hungry he was.  He spotted a taco truck and went to buy some tacos.  Myka had to spot him and paid for his food.  The zombie frat brother was eventually brought to the hospital.

At the hospital Artie was attempting to talk to Danny, but did not get anywhere.  Kevin's body temperature kept falling, and the nurse was worried that pretty soon his organs were going to fail.  When the nurse left to get the doctor, Artie pulled the curtains around Kevin's bed and pulled out a pair of glasses.  When he put the glasses on Kevin, Kevin's body temperature immediately went up again.  The nurse came back and was surprised at the change, and asked where the glasses came from.

After Myka and Pete got back to the hospital, Pete was obsessed about changing into a zombie.  But Artie found out that the couple from the beginning of the episode was fine and was already sent home, so it did not seem to be passed by biting.  Instead Myka started to feel really cold, just like the other victims.  Artie talked to Danny about helping out, and Danny eventually told them that Kevin started exhibiting symptoms last night after dinner.  Danny said they were going to go for burgers, but the line was too long, so they went for tacos instead.  Pete pulled out the menu from the taco truck and asked if that was where they went, and Danny said yes.  They decided something in the taco truck must be causing the symptoms, but they were not sure what since Myka did not eat anything from the truck.  Pete found through Twitter that the taco truck was now at a construction site not far from the hospital.

In the meantime, Claudia was able to reach Jinks while in the Warehouse, and Jinks told her to lose his number and to stay away from him.  Claudia was upset and spoke out loud about what was wrong with her, and a creepy coin-operated boardwalk fortune teller (like to one in Big that turns Tom Hanks into an adult) suddenly came to life and spit out a card saying that Claudia was going to die tonight.  As she walked away, a heavy statue fell and almost hit her.

Claudia was unable to find the artifact because the searches were going very slowly on the computer.  Perhaps this was because of those bugs that escaped from the Van Gogh painting?  She got her arm pulled into some sort of pneumatic tube, and only managed to get out when she cut the power.  Leena called and told Claudia that Dwayne was waiting for her at the B&B.  Claudia raced back and found Dwayne in the living room.  She started doing her spazzy Claudia thing, and there was definitely some chemistry between the two of them.  But a chandelier almost fell on the two of them, and Claudia freaked out.  She told Dwayne to stay away form her because she was marked for death.  Claudia went back to the fortune teller, who kept spitting out cards saying Claudia was going to die.  Eventually she sprayed the fortune teller with some purple goo.  When she was walking away, she noticed a puddle of water on the floor and water dripping from an artifact.  The water went up to enclose Claudia's body and she was screaming for help.  Mr. Y said that it looked like the anthropods in the movie The Abyss.  Leena saw that an artifact was active and rescued Claudia.  Claudia started freaking out about what a horrible day she was having and realized that she was also completely dry.  Leena just rolled her eyes and reminded Claudia that it was artifact.  Claudia then admitted that the fortune teller had said she was going to die.  Leena then walked over to the fortune teller and asked it what she would have for dinner later in the day.  The fortune teller spat out a card that Leena proceeded to hand over to Claudia.  Claudia read it and the card said that Leena's tumor was terminal.  Leena then told Claudia that she should not listen to the fortune teller, because he doesn't tell the future, but just creates dread.

Pete and Myka arrived at the construction site, but then Myka turned and attacked Pete.  Construction workers started pouring out of the site and attacked the car.  Pete was trying to hold off Myka, and eventually managed to kick Myka out of the car and locked the door.  But then he realized that the keys were outside the car.  He called Claudia and told her to hack into the power grid and turn the lights on because the zombies were sensitive to light.  Claudia managed to turn on all the lights, and the zombies collapsed.  Pete ran out of the car and to the taco truck.  The taco truck operator was inside freaking out and originally refused to let Pete in because he was afraid Pete was one of the zombies.  The lights blew and the zombies came back to life, and started chasing after Pete again.  The taco guy let Pete into his truck, and he frantically tried to find what the artifact was while the zombies were attacking them from the outside.  He eventually lit on the tip jar, and he remembered that Myka had put money in it.  He asked the taco guy where he found the tip jar, and he said that it was found in the Utah dessert.  Pete didn't have a static bag, so he just broke the tip jar.  That broke the spell and all of the zombies went back to normal.  Artie called them on the Farnsworth and showed them Kevin coming back to normal and hugging Danny on the hospital bed.

Later at the Warehouse, Artie explained that the tip jar came from the Donner Party.  The Donner Party was a group of pioneers resorted to cannibalism when they were stuck in the Sierra Nevada during the winter.  Only 48 of the original 87 survived to reach Sacramento.  The extreme situations imbued the tip jar with the power to turn humans into zombie-like creatures.  Even in the middle of tough circumstances, the pioneers were burying jars like this one to save up money in case they survived.

We ended with Jinks at a bar drinking, and he got a text from Claudia. He smiled at the text.  But then the bartender came back saying that his card had been declined.  Jinks was upset that his credit line was cut, too, in addition to being fired.  At that point Marcus showed up and offered to pay for Jinks's bill.  He said he recognized that everyone needed a friend sometimes, and called Jinks by name.  Jinks became very wary. Marcus explained who he was, and told Jinks that they wanted him to work with them, because they like that he had scruples.  At the end Jinks pulled out a chair for Marcus and we left them talking at the bar.  Mr. Y's theory is that Jinks is undercover and was sent by Mrs. Fredericks to infiltrate Walter Sykes's organization.  We'll see if he's right.

Fashion at the Emmys

There were lot of beautiful dresses on the red carpet at the Emmys, and some very weird ones.  My top ten favorites:

1) Lea Michele

http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20304925_20525309,00.html#21055509

A lot of women wore red at the Emmys, but her Marchesa gown was my favorite.  Very pretty and modern, and fits her perfectly.

2) Kate Winslet

http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20304925_20525309,00.html#21055596

Another red dress and another winner from Elie Saab.  She always looks fabulous.

3) Cat Deeley

http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20304925_20525309,00.html#21055709

Cat Deeley always looks fabulous on So You Think You Can Dance, even in the craziest outfits.  Her Monique Lhuillier was beautiful and just right.

4) Evan Rachel Wood

http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20304925_20525309,00.html#21055568

I haven't always been a fan of her looks (the weird Marilyn Manson years come to mind), but at the Emmys she look very retro in a good way in her black Elie Saab gown.

5) Sofia Vergara

http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20304925_20525309,00.html#21055565

Sofia can do no wrong on the red carpet.  This Vera Wang gown perfectly fit her curves and the color is beautiful.  I also love her crazy earrings.

6) Cobie

http://www.eonline.com/photos/gallery.jsp?id=3760#141315

Cobie's dress is so romantic and soft, and it's nice to see her all dressed up.

7) Kristen Wiig

http://www.eonline.com/photos/gallery.jsp?id=3760#141396

Kristen looked fabulous in her Zac Posen with the really low slit in the front.  It's a different look for her and it works.

8) Julia Stiles

http://www.eonline.com/photos/gallery.jsp?id=3760#141311

Julia's Georges Hobeika Couture dress fits her perfectly, and her side-swept hair was so beautiful.  

9) and 10) Favorite couple - Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt

http://www.eonline.com/photos/gallery.jsp?id=3760#141442

I love this couple and how good they always look together.  Jennifer's vintage dress is so sunny and pretty, and Jon always looks good.  

A few that didn't really work for me:

1) Gwyneth

http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20304925_20525309,00.html#21055569

I don't understand the bare midriff on her Pucci gown.  I guess she's trying to be edgy, but to me she just looks weird.  

2) Katie Holmes

http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20304925_20525309,00.html#21055562

There's nothing egregiously wrong about her Calvin Klein Collection dress, but the overall effect was just blah.  Especially that hair...

3) Heidi

http://www.eonline.com/photos/gallery.jsp?id=3760#141533

Heidi wore a Christian Soriano original (he won Project Runway's season 4).  If even a supermodel like her can't pull it off, then you know the dress is bad.  Gotta admire her for never staying safe, though.

4) Dianna Agron

http://www.eonline.com/photos/gallery.jsp?id=3760#141357

The color of her Roksanda Ilincic gown is beautiful, but the fit and the material do not look right on her.  

The 2011 Primetime Emmys : Random Impressions and Quasi-Live Blogging

Jane Lynch's opening number was OK - not as good as Jimmy Fallon's number last year.

The Emmytones were very odd, and a weird combination of people: Zachary Levi (Chuck from Chuck), Cobie Smulders (Robin from How I Met Your Mother), Taraji P. Henson (Detective Carter from the upcoming Person of Interest), Wilmer Valderrama (Fez from That 70s Show), and Joel McHale (Jeff from Community and host of Talk Soup).

COMEDY

First upset: Julie Bowen won Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.  The consensus seems to be that either Betty White or Kristen Wiig would win, and if anyone would win from Modern Family, it would be the flashier Sofia Vergara.

What is that on Julianna Marguelis's dress? It looks like some 5th grader glued some huge crystal ovals on the top of her dress.

Ty Burrell won Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.  Phil and Claire Dunphy won Emmys!  I said it was going to be one of the men from Modern Family, and I was right, although I picked Ed O'Neill just for fun.

It's impossible for Zooey Deschanel to look anything but cute.

Modern Family is cleaning up so far in the Comedy categories.  Four for four.

Charlie Sheen...awkward

Whoa - Jim Parsons won again!  Most people (including me) thought Steve Carrell was going to win in his last year.

Sofia Vergara is really, really hot.

Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series - all the actresses went up when their names were called.  They pulled it off brilliantly, too.  Totally awesome.   According to People.com, Amy Poehler and Martha Plimpton cooked up this stunt over dinner recently.

Melissa McCarthy won!!!  Total surprise.  I think she won because of Bridesmaids instead of Mike & Molly, but she deserves it.  The tiara and the flowers were a nice touch.  :)

REALITY/VARIETY

I didn't make any picks for the reality/variety categories, mainly because I don't really care about most of the categories.  I am happy that the Amazing Race won the Reality Competition again for the ninth time.  They've won every single reality competition Emmy since the category started, except for Top Chef's win last year.  Too bad Phil Keoghan didn't win for reality competition host - Jeff Probst won again this year.

The Lonely Island performance was funny, and very, very odd.

Lea Michele looked great!  Love the red dress.

DRAMA

Jason Katims won for Friday Night Lights.  I never saw the show, but I love Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, and from what I've read this show has been an underdog for a very long time, so congrats.

No surprise that Margo Martindale from Justified won.  She was the clear favorite.

Yay for Peter Dinklage!  Mr. Y is especially thrilled.

Mr. Y, who's from Jersey, cringed at the Jersey-themed 360 Report.  I, on the other hand, think it's hilarious.

Julianna Margulies won for The Good Wife.  No surprise there.

Wow, Kyle Chandler pulled off the win for Friday Night Lights.  Poor Jon Hamm.  What does that guy havto do to win?  The one year he won the Golden Globes was the year of the strike, so he didn't even get to make a speech.  But yay for Kyle Chandler!  Loved him since Early Edition.

MINISERIES/MOVIE

I didn't do any picks for these categories, either, although we would cheer for anything to do with Sherlock.  Mr. Y and I loved that series.  Too bad it was only three episodes.

LL Cool J rapping with the Emmytones...yup, still the weirdest part of the Emmys.

Best joke of the evening.  Jane Lynch: "You know, a lot of people are very curious why I'm a lesbian.  Ladies and gentlemen, the cast of Entourage."  Even Mark Wahlberg chuckled at that.

Who are these four guys singing Hallelujah during the In Memoriam segment?  According to the internet they are apparently the Canadian Tenors.  Never heard of them.

Yay for Guy Pearce for winning Outstanding Actor.  Didn't see Mildred Pierce, but Guy is one our favorite actors, ever since L.A. Confidential.  It is weird to hear him in his natural Australian accent - he rarely uses it in his movies and shows.

Kate Winslet looks amazing, as usual.  Not surprised that she won the Emmy for Outstanding Actress - everyone said her performance in Mildred Pierce was just amazing.  Originally I thought that she still needs a Grammy and a Tony for an EGOT, but Mr. Y points out that she already has a Grammy.  He remembered an interview that she did with EW where she said that she won a Grammy for Spoken Word.  Good one, Mr. Y. Good one.  So now all she needs is a Tony for an EGOT.

BEST DRAMA AND COMEDY SERIES

Mad Men won for the fourth time in a row for Best Drama.  It's interesting that the series has won so much but the actors rarely win the individual awards - it's a true ensemble show.

What is Gwyneth Paltrow wearing?  Is she going belly dancing after the show?

Modern Family won its second Emmy in the row for Best Comedy.  No surprise there.

Where did Cobie Smulders go at the end?  She wasn't with Jane and the rest of the Emmytones.

Overall, some surprises, but mostly predictable.  Jane did a pretty good job, although the Emmytones didn't really work for me.  Can't wait to peruse the fashions tomorrow.

Mass Effect

Mr. Y is a big fan of the video game Mass Effect, both 1 and 2.  Although I don't play video games anymore (the last video game I played was Knights of the Old Republic 2), I do find myself drawn to the world of Mass Effect.  The game designers did a great job with the story and with the characters that you almost believe you are watching the movie.

The story is set in the future where humans discovered series of mass relays in the galaxy, which enabled them to travel in space and encountered other species.  The game centers around Commander Shepard and his crew, who has to save the world from the threat of an advanced mechanical race called the Reapers.

The trailer for Mass Effect 3, which is scheduled to be released on March 6, 2012, looks amazing and almost lifelike.  This game will end the planned trilogy.  This is probably the only video game where I'm excited about the new edition, even though I won't be playing it.  I am invested in the story and want to know how it ends.

Scorecasting

Mr. Y and I just read the book Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports are Played and Games are Won.  It's an interesting mix of Freakonomics and sports, and also similar to the books written by Malcolm Gladwell, such as Outliers or Blink.  Scorecasting basically looks at various sports-related situations and applied economic analysis to them.  It's written by a couple of childhood friends, Tobias J. Moskowitz, a Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago and L. Jon Wertheim, senior writer for Sports Illustrated.  

The book is pretty interesting, and it debunks some of the common myths surrounding sports.  One of the most interesting discussions is about home field advantage.  I, like many other fans, tend to believe that we have a great effect on the players.  It turns out that although there is a quantifiable home field advantage, it's not due to the fans, the stadiums, the climates, or the schedules, but due to referee bias.  The data shows that referees are more inclined to be biased towards the home team because of crowd support or displeasure.  The bias is most likely unconscious, but it does account for most of the home field advantage in every sport they investigated, including basketball, soccer, football, and baseball.  So next time you're watching a sports game, direct your screaming to the refs, not the players.  :)

Hugh Jackman and Glee

Ryan Murphy, please make this happen:

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s57/glee/news/a340439/hugh-jackman-id-like-to-appear-in-glee.html

As Mr. Y would attest, I love Hugh Jackman.  If he shows up on Glee, that would be my absolute favorite episode of all time.

2011 Primetime Emmys

The 2011 Primetime Emmys show airs this Sunday on Fox.  Jane Lynch from Glee is hosting, and I think she'll be good.  She's very funny and she is good at ad-libbing, as she demonstrated in Best in Show and 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Here are my predictions on who's going to win the major categories.

Outstanding Comedy Series
Nominated: Glee (Fox), Parks and Recreation (NBC), The Office (NBC), Modern Family (ABC), 30 Rock (NBC), The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Prediction: As much as I would love it if The Big Bang Theory wins, I think Modern Family will take it for the second year in the row.

Outstanding Drama Series
Nominated: Boardwalk Empire (HBO), The Good Wife (CBS), Mad Men (AMC), Friday Night Lights (DirecTV), Dexter (Showtime), Game of Thrones (HBO)
Prediction:  I think Mad Men is going to win this one, although The Good Wife might sneak in for an upset.  Mr. Y wants Game of Thrones to win, but it might be too "genre" for the Emmys.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Nominated: Matt LeBlanc (Episodes), Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), Steve Carell (The Office), Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory) Louis CK (Louie), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Prediction: Although The Office was a bit uneven last year, Steve Carrell put in a great performance during his final year, and he has the sentimental vote.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Nominated: Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Michael C Hall (Dexter), Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Hugh Laurie (House), Timothy Olyphant (Justified)
Prediction: Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad is not eligible this year, otherwise he would probably win again.  Steve Buscemi might sneak in a win, but my money is on Jon Hamm.  He's very handsome, a great actor, and appears to be very funny and nice in real life.  Plus I have a girl-crush on his long-term girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Nominated: Laura Linney (The Big C), Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation), Melissa McCarthy (Mike & Molly), Martha Plimpton (Raising Hope), Tina Fey (30 Rock)
Prediction: This category belongs to Laura Linney.  The Emmys tend to love movie stars who come to TV to portray complicated characters (see Glenn Close).  Amy Poehler might be the dark horse here.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Nominated: Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Mireille Enos (The Killing), Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Kathy Bates (Harry's Law)
Prediction: I think this race is between Elisabeth Moss and Julianna Margulies, with the slight edge going to Margulies.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Nominated: Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), Chris Colfer (Glee), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), Ed O'Neill (Modern Family), Eric Stonestreet (Modern Family), Ty Burrell (Modern Family)
Prediction: It's going to be one of the men from Modern Family, but hard to pick who.  Just for fun, I'll pick Ed O'Neill, because Married with Children was one of my favorite shows back then.

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Nominated: John Slattery (Mad Men), Andre Braugher (Men of a Certain Age), Walton Goggins (Justified), Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Josh Charles (The Good Wife), Alan Cumming (The Good Wife)
Prediction:  If anyone is going to topple John Slattery, it would be either Peter Dinklage or Alan Cumming.  (side story: I met Alan Cumming on a plane once, and he was really nice).  Dinklage might eke this out as the breakthrough star of Game of Thrones. "Dinklage!  Dinklage!  Dinklage!" chants Mr. Y in the background.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Nominated: Jane Lynch (Glee), Betty White (Hot In Cleveland), Julie Bowen (Modern Family), Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live), Jane Krakowski (30 Rock), Sofia Vergara (Modern Family)
Prediction: I want Betty White to win just because I think her speech would be funny.  Kristen Wiig might pull an upset if people also keep her Bridesmaids movie in mind.

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Nominated: Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire), Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), Michelle Forbes (The Killing), Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife), Margo Martindale (Justified), Christine Baranski (The Good Wife)
Prediction: The word on the street is that Margo Martindale has this in the bag.  Archie Panjabi still might pull off a two-peat.

Warehouse 13 Recap - Episode 309 - Shadows

Hello, this is Mr. Y, guest blogging for my wife who is still recovering from her hand surgery and can't type any long blogs... which a recap of Warehouse 13's latest episode surely qualifies.  So, anyway, where to begin?  Lets start with a full disclosure - this will be the first time I've blogged about anything, so please bear with me :)

Like most of the previous episodes this season, this episode was again split between a pair of separate story lines, one following Myka and Claudia and the second following Pete and his mom, Jane (Kate Mulgrew!).  Both stories start at the same point, with Pete coming to terms with the fact that his absentee mom is really a Warehouse Regent (revealed at the end of the previous episode) and no one ever told him, even after he became a Warehouse Agent.  Pete is confronting his mom about this fact and Jane is just about to sit Pete down to explain why he was never told when Mrs. Fredericks does her trademark magical appearing act and suddenly shows up to interrupt them.  She notes that, with a number of Regents being recently killed, the Warehouse is at war.  She notes that Artie was able to trace Sally Stutowski (Ashley Williams' character, killed at the end of the last episode) to a company called A To Z Technologies, but hasn't been able to turn anything up on that company.  Jane immediately channels her inner Han Solo and remarks that "she has a very bad feeling about it."  This gets Pete all fired up again because he suddenly realizes that his "Spidey Sense" ability may not be some random ability that he has, but something that he may have inherited from his mother. He also realizes that if the Regents had never come under threat, he would have never learned any of this about his mother.  He then leaves in a huff after which... we learn that Mrs. Fredericks's first name is Irene!  (Jane calls her that in the quiet moment after Peter storms off.)  Mrs. Y insists that Mrs. Fredericks's first name was revealed previously, but I feel like that this is the first time they acknowledged it.  We also learn that Mrs. Fredericks has a son (who is NOT an agent).

The story then segues to Portland where we're shown a man mowing his lawn.  After a brief conversation with his wife, who is going to the store, he glows in bright flash of light, we see his skeleton (like in an x-ray) and he vanishes.  All the nearby lights blow out.  The story then comes back to the Warehouse, where Artie gets the ping about the anomaly in Portland and assigns Myka and Claudia to go investigate.  This is a pretty funny scene because Myka and Claudia spend the whole time complaining to Artie that Jinks shouldn't be fired (from the last episode) while Artie single-mindedly ignores them to give them their assignment.  At this point we get a minor spoiler from the opening credits.  Aaron Ashmore's name doesn't appear in the Guest Star list, which means Jinks won't show up in this episode so it's doubtful that there will be any resolution on his firing this week (and there wasn't, though it was teased at the very end of the episode).  On the other hand, we see that Anthony Michael Hall is in this episode and we can safely assume that if he's hired, he's going to play someone important.

On Myka's way out to go on her assignment, she stops by Pete's room to try and give him some emotional support in regards to his anger/frustration at learning his mother was a Regent and had been lying to him for almost all his life. She's not particularly successful, but it's a nice scene to show that Myka and Pete continue to have a very strong, caring (and, for once in these type of shows, a non-sexual) relationship.  From this point, the stories completely diverge and I'll recap them one at a time.

Myka and Claudia
Myka and Claudia go out to Portland to investigate the person's disappearance (a one Jason Kinser).  They learn from eyewitnesses at the scene that Jason just disappeared in a flash of light, afterwards all the nearby electrical power went out for a few seconds.  They then go to Jason's place of a work, a novelty t-shirt manufacturer and learn that he was manager there and pretty well disliked by all the workers because he "didn't respect the artists" and laid off a number of people.  As Myka and Claudia are interviewing the staff, one of the managers tells one of the designers to "add more glitter" to one of the t-shirt designs (important later!) prompting Claudia to ask whether glitter is making a comeback.  One of the female staff members responds that she finds it everywhere, including on her vijayjay.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, SyFy went there.  The look that Claudia gives is pretty funny and Myka wraps up the interview by asking the manager to give her a list of all former employees that were laid off by Jason.

We then jump to a scene where an angry young man (who we later learn is named Brandon Hill) is trying to get into an apartment building but the person inside is clearly ignoring him.  It becomes quickly obvious that he's either an ex-boyfriend or a soon-to-be ex-boyfriend as he yells from the outside of the apartment that "he's not angry" but wants to talk.  Despite his proclamations to the contrary, he gets steadily angrier as he screams up at a window that is strangely boarded up with old pizza boxes.  Someone is clearly peaking through the pizza boxes which only makes Brandon angrier.  Then, all of sudden, Brandon disappears in the same fashion as Jason (flash of light, x-ray effect, nearby light bulbs blowing out).  The only noted difference is that this time, he leaves a clear shadow outline on a bin that he was standing near before he vaporized.

Artie calls Myka and Claudia via their Farnsworth and informs them he got a second ping that coincides with Brandon's disappearance and tells them that they need to make the connection between the two victims.  Myka and Claudia call on Brandon's roommate, who had just reported his disappearance to the police.  He tells them that they were supposed to meet up at a David Lynch festival, but Brandon never showed.  He said that the last thing he knew Brandon was doing was going to go pick up his girlfriend, Megan Reese.  That name instantly rings a bell with Myka who remembers Megan being on the list of people that were laid off by Jason from the t-shirt factory.

The ladies go pay a call on Megan and, lo and behold, Megan is the girl hiding from Brandon.  They arrive at the apartment building and see the same window boarded up with pizza boxes and (surprise, surprise) she doesn't answer the outside buzzer for them either.  Instead of getting angry and yelling like Brandon, they instead case the building and Myka notices the shadow outline on the bin along with nearby blown-out light bulbs.  She tells Claudia that it reminds her of footage that she's seen of Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped... that there were shadow outlines of many of the victims that were vaporized by the blast.  This causes her to wonder aloud whether the artifact that they're dealing with is nuclear in nature.

They find the landlady of the building and get her to let them into the building and lead them to Megan's apartment and the landlady is happy to oblige.  When the landlady knocks on Megan's door, Megan tells them to leave.  After a heated exchange between Megan and the landlady, Myka shoos the landlady away.  Myka then kicks the door in and her and Claudia storm in with their Teslas armed and ready.  They find Megan sitting on the floor looking very scared.  She tells them that they're going to die and puts her head down, which causes Myka and Claudia to dive for cover.  Fortunately, nothing happens.  After picking themselves up, they quickly discover that Megan doesn't have an artifact.  Instead, they learn that Megan believes that she's personally causing the deaths and doesn't seem to have any real control over it other than whenever she gets angry at somebody, that person dies in a flash of light.  She tells them that she had accidentally killed a couple of people in her home town, which caused her to flee to Portland.  (At this point, I actually thought that this episode would turn into a crossover with Alphas, especially as Alphas has already had one Warehouse character show up in their series.  Alas, it's not the case.)

Instead, they convince Megan to leave her apartment and come with them to the t-shirt factory to see if they can find any clues for an artifact there.  As it turns out, it wasn't a great idea because as they leave the apartment building, the landlady spots them and immediately accosts Megan.  Megan gets very distraught and then suddenly, the landlady disappears in flash of light.  Megan freaks out and makes a run for it.  Fearing that they might get flashed next, Claudia and Myka let her run off.

Once Megan is gone, Claudia and Myka carefully examine the scene.  Myka notices that the shadow left by the vaporized landlady on the apartment building sign seems to indicate that the she was hit from a different direction than from where Megan was standing.  Myka realizes that the landlady must have been blasted by something or someone else standing at an angle from Megan.  She tells Claudia to go find Megan and then traces the angle of the shot to a nearby building.

Claudia goes and eventually finds Megan sitting in the middle of a cemetery.  They have a bit of a silly bonding moment.  In the meantime, Myka is standing on the roof of the building that she traced the blast to.  As she's looking around, she spots glitter on the roof.  She immediately calls Claudia and they realize that it must be someone at the t-shirt factory that has the artifact.  Also, since Megan said the incidents started at her hometown, it must be someone that she knew from back then that had then followed her to Portland and the t-shirt factory.  Myka races back to Megan's apartment and finds her old yearbook and immediately figures out who the culprit is, Jeff McMasters, the head designer at the t-shirt factory (and one of the people they interviewed about Jason Kinser's death).  It turns out that he's in Megan's yearbook, but Megan said that she barely knew him and didn't even realize that they had gone to high school together.

Myka, Claudia and Megan concoct a scheme to lure Jeff out.  Megan goes to the t-shirt factory, seemingly alone, and approaches Jeff.  Jeff is initially thrilled that Megan is talking to him and eventually reveals that he's been using a pair of binoculars to "help protect her."  However, he starts to get suspicious when Megan gets progressively nervous.  Claudia and Myka jump out with their Teslas drawn but Jeff is able to grab Megan and use her as a human shield.  He pulls her into a warehouse and shuts the door.  Claudia and Myka follow them into the warehouse and, after a bit of cat-and-mouse (where Jeff tries to use the power of the binoculars on them), they're able to get the jump on Jeff and capture him.  It's revealed that the binoculars were from one of the pilots of the Enola Gay, the WW2 bomber that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.  It has the power to absorb nuclear energy and project it forwards through the lenses as an energy beam.

Myka and Claudia's sequence ends with them saying goodbye to a much happier Megan.  Claudia then goes off to give Jinks a call.  Myka asks Claudia to say hi to him from her.

Pete and Jane
Jane and Mrs. Fredericks are still talking after Pete leaves them and Jane mentions that she wishes she can remember why A To Z Technologies seems so familiar to her.  That causes Mrs. Fredericks to think of something and she takes Jane into the Warehouse to see Artie.  Mrs. Fredericks tells Jane and Artie that there is an artifact in the Warehouse that will allow Jane to travel through her own memories. She believes that it will allow Jane to figure out why A To Z Technologies keeps reminding her of something.  Artie knows of this artifact and warns them that it can be very dangerous as the user of the artifact can be permanently lost in their own memories.  Jane states that it's a risk that she's willing to take and Mrs. Fredericks interjects that the risk can be mitigated if a second person travels along with the user to "ground them" and "pull them out if necessary."  Mrs. Fredericks says that she'll be that second person to watch over Jane when Pete suddenly steps into the room and insists that he be the one to ride shotgun.  After some quick melodrama, it is agreed that he'll go with Jane.

Artie retrieves the artifact from the Warehouse shelves and the artifact turns out to be a bronzed pair of baby shoes.  Strangely, they never state what this artifact is called as this show is generally very good about naming and providing histories to virtually all of the artifacts it features.  He tells Jane to concentrate on what she wants to discover ("A To Z Technologies") and the artifact should take her to that part of her memories.  Jane and Pete each touch one of the baby shoes and are instantly transported into Jane's memory.

As it turns out, they arrive at their house on the day that there is a wake at the house honoring Jane's husband (Pete's dad), who recently died fighting a fire.  Jane quickly realizes that Pete subverted her control of where in her memory they would go as this memory doesn't seem relevant to her solving the "A To Z Technologies" mystery.  Angry that Pete has seemingly hijacked her memory, she tries to get him to refocus on the mission, but he is insistent on revisiting this memory and steps into the midst of the wake.  As the memory unfolds around them, Mrs. Fredericks shows up to the wake to talk with the younger Jane.  Like Richard Alpert of Lost, Mrs. Fredericks seemingly has not aged at all (though she doesn't have his thick lush eyelashes).  Peter is shocked to realize that Mrs. Fredericks has effectively known him his entire life.  He also sees that his mom was a former Regent that had retired once Pete and his sister were born.  Mrs. Fredericks had come to recruit the younger Jane back to being a Regent because of a local artifact situation involving a young boy. It's clearly implied that Jane has a soft spot for children.

After some persistence, Mrs. Fredericks finally convinces the younger Jane to come out of retirement.  We then follow the younger Jane as she takes the assignment and then, later, approaches a young boy standing in his yard hitting baseballs with a baseball bat.  She engages him in idle chitchat and clearly takes note that he's wearing what appears to be a rope bracelet around his right wrist.  As they chat, the boy grows suspicious as to why Jane is talking to him.  His eyes suddenly turn all black before quickly reverting back to their original blue color.  The younger Jane seems to note this too and bids the kid farewell and walks off.

Pete and the older Jane are standing nearby watching this memory unfold.  Pete doesn't seem to understand what just happened so his mom explains it to him.  It turns out the rope bracelet that the kid was wearing was Carlo Collodi's Bracelet.  Collodi is credited with writing the original The Adventures of Pinocchio, a much darker, mean-spirited story than the modern Disney version.  The bracelet enables a person's legs to move, but gradually increases the darkness within a person's soul.  As it turns out, the boy was crippled from the waist down, but the bracelet gave him his legs back.  However, it was slowly turning the boy evil.  Thanks to Jane, Warehouse Agents (a younger Artie and MacPhearson) were able to bag the artifact.

Jane then explains to Pete that the reason why she came out of retirement wasn't because of anything Mrs. Fredericks said or did.  It was because she wanted to protect him and his sister from some of the horrors of the world.  She reveals that it was actually Pete's dad that helped convince her of that.  With that, Pete is finally able to come to a better sense of closure as to why his mom is a Regent.  Jane then holds Pete's hand and they exit out of the memory and back into reality.

Artie and Mrs. Fredericks approach them to see if they discovered anything.  Pete apologizes, thinking that he may have screwed up the mission.  However, his mom interrupts him and says that, no, she figured it out.  She remembers back to the boy that she saved from Collodi's Bracelet, Walter Sykes.  After the artifact was bagged, the boy returned to being in a wheelchair and could not longer play baseball.  However, it seems the artifact had done its damage and planted a "dark seed" within the boy's soul.  More importantly, Jane remembers the baseball hat that the boy was wearing.  It said AZTECS (which clearly is inspiring the name A To Z Technologies).

We then flash over to the mysterious man in the wheelchair that's been hinted at over the course of this season, Walter Sykes.  It turns out to be Anthony Michael Hall!  He's the major baddie of Season 3!  It's revealed that he's killed off another Regent, Lok Archer, but that before Archer died, Sykes was able to extract some important piece of information from him.  The episode ends with him telling his right-hand man, Marcus, to go and try and "turn" Jinks.  He also told Marcus that he will be meeting Jane and Pete very soon.