The Amazing Race 9 - Here We Go, Baby, Off to Win a Million Dollars

Thank goodness, Phil Keoghan, you're back and you left the kids at home (even though I still maintain that Rolly was cool despite having insane relatives)! We're back to teams of 2 and we are back to travelling the world again! Bring IT!

We start and leave Red Rock (Colorado, man. I would LOVE to see a concert there) and right off the bat, we are heading to the airport to get to Brazil! WOO!!! (THANK GOD WE ARE BACK TO ORIGINAL AMAZING RACE!).
First impressions? Did the "We like Boys" Girls already complain about being tired before even reaching the PARKING LOT AT RED ROCK? Oh boy, they are going to be fun. Are we going to hate Eric and Jeremy already, despite/because of their abs? Is one of the hippies Kate Hudson's husband from The Black Crowes? Of course the Glamazons and the Gay "Friends" hit it off right off the bat. Must say, Scarlett Southern Belle and her In-Charge husband (she's his wife AND his dental assistant?) thought they were clever by reserving over the phone... only to realise that it says right on the clue, that THEY MAY NOT RESERVE SEATS BY PHONE. Oops. Not sure how I feel since I thought I would hate them but I actually don't so much yet. Man. Mandisa is just AWESOME and kicks all the other girl's little be-hinds... oops. wrong show. Sorry. Commercial break...

Back at te Denver Airport, Abs team seems to take charge with a few followers behind, but had chosen to ask the wrong airline, and miss the first flight but make it onto the second. Hippie and Old Couple takes the last seats on the first flight, right after Double D (how'd they get there so fast?), while Ken and crying Barbie don't. Glamazon book their flights, and THEN ask for the arrival times. I guess bleach does affect the brain. Salsa Girls, Nerd Herd and Gay "Friends" get onto the second flight along with Abs. , and everyone else rushes to the last flight. "Lake like the Ocean, Ray like the sun" All follow along in the last flight, along with Ken and Barbie and somebody else but I've already forgotten.

"I thought Spanish was the universal language of the world". Seriously. People. Stay away from Bleach.

Sao Paolo, Brazil:
Unique Hotel is the first pit stop. Having studied architeture, I feel I should know this building. Guess I'm watching too much TV huh? Then off to a bridge with a complicated name. Salsa Mother and Daughter make it first.

Detour: Motor Head or Rotor Head. Build a motorbike or Fly by helicopter to find a building that holds the next clue? Did the Old couple just walk RIGHT by the cluebox on the bridge? I'm still trying to figure out how hard building a motorbike might be? Fly my pretties. FLY.

Meanwhile, Bleach bums are last, with Yolanda and Ray just ahead, but I like Yolanda already so hopefully they won't be last. Did the old couple just walk Right by the cluebox AGAIN AGAIN?

Does Abs team look like leftovers from LFO?

Somehow Nerd Herd pass Salsa , Abs and Hippies to the Helicopter, but Hippies figure out which building to fly to first, but Abs shows it to the dispatcher first. Confused? Salsa somehow lost first place, despite speaking the language. Is it me or is the daughter narating everything they are doing? Is she auditioning for an HGTV or a FoodNetwork show?

Double D's decide to put the motorcycle together and the stranger- man they put their hopes on to help them, leaves. HA!

Is old Couple STILL looking for the clue on the bridge?

Someone just called Rhett "Lake like the Ocean", "Scott Peterson". Oh SNAP...

Gay "friends" are still looking for the bridge, and get out of the lost cab they are in to ask around. HOW MUCH STUFF DID THEY BRING? Not only are they carrying backpacks, they are holding LARGE shopping bags in their ARMS. Not holding onto the bags in their hands. The bags are held in their ARMS. The bags are THAT FULL. I love how this show enforces stereotypes... (Seriously? She's his DENTAL assistant TOO?).

Bleach bums are having their revelatory moment when they realise the world doesnt live as rich as they do. Right before they note that "those people" wouldn't fit into their culture either. God love the crass suburbanites.

Damnit, Abs find the building first, followed by the Hippies having their "James Bond" moment flying off in the helicopter. Meanwhile, the cute Nerds look like this is the first time they've left their house since the Atari came into being.

How cute is that daughter? Ken and Barbie have the bad luck of a bad taxi driver. I don't even know at what point in the race they are in.

Old Couple join Double D making the motorbikes. Double D finally figure it out. Yolanda and Ray join them, and she get's some special attention from the male voyeurs.

Old Couple decides to change to RotorHead because the motorcycle building is harder than they thought. Duh. They meet up with Bleach Bums after passing Ken and Barbie on the way there. Bleach are yelling WAY too loudly when they identify the correct building on the map/book. Gay "Friends" are there as well and still looking, and fall behind Old and Bleach. Let the gay bitchiness begin, as time clicks away. Fear-of-flying boy gets into the helicopter while Abs and Hippie run through the streets of Sao Paolo to find a party where they are given a clue to go to the Esatdio Soccer Stadium for the final pit stop. Do you think those dancers in the party dance the whole time waiting for all the teams to arrive? Or only when the cameras are around?

Oh god. Yolanda and SunRay are still building the motorbike. Oh Jesus, Bleach just prayed for Jesus to help them out. Like the dude has time for you ladies... he's over on Fox helping out all the wannabe pop stars.

Isn't that "Joey Caruso" texting with Catherine Zeta-Jones?

Back to the race, PHIL!... ooooh.. booo... ABS makes it to the mat First and win 10k EACH. WHAT? LAZY ASSES WIN 20k? Damnit. Iv'e been doing it all wrong. See you all at the beach.

Hippies make it second, Mother Daughter Salsa girls make it third, Nerds fourth.

Double D are stuck in traffic, The Olds make it to the party, Phil again! WE can never have enough of Phil! Rhett and Scarlett make it fifth , Ken and Barbie sixth, SunRay and Yolanda seventh, The Olds eighth, Doubel D ninth.

And finally Bleach in tenth leaving the Gay "friends" Last. And the first team eliminated in the race. Too bad, Scott seemed nice though did he say much in this show? It was mostly John dealing with his fears. Oh well, Guess Team Cha Cha Cha will continue their reign as the best gay team on The Amazing Race (Sorry Reichen).

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Countdown to the Oscars – 4 - Best Actor

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Capote” (UA/Sony Pictures Classics)
Terrence Howard in “Hustle & Flow” (Paramount Classics, MTV Films and New Deal Entertainment)
Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features)
Joaquin Phoenix in “Walk the Line” (20th Century Fox)
David Strathairn in “Good Night, and Good Luck.” (Warner Independent Pictures)

Okay, let’s just get this out of the way first, “Nice of you to show up Terrence, Joaquin and David, have a drink”, because the showdown is really between Philip Seymour Hoffman and Heath Ledger, and incidentally, both for playing gay roles.
This was Terrence Howard’s year, who came from “that black dude in that black movie, you know? That guy” to become an AC-T-TOR, with the double whammy of Crash and Hustle & Flow. It’s too bad he wasn’t nominated for Supporting Actor in Crash (as I thought he would), because he would have actually had a reasonable chance this year, but in a year where all five of these nominees could have won in a weaker year, the nomination for Terrence was just a welcome card to the Academy Club.
And speaking of bad timing, poor Joaquin could have been a front runner, too bad Johnny Cash wasn’t gay. I never think I’m a fan of Joaquin Phoenix’s until I see him in a film again and am reminded that he’s actually quite good. He was terrific in this movie, and I actually didn’t think he was as much of a caricature as “Ray” or “Capote”.
David Strathairn, what can I say? He’s a great actor and he finally gets top billing and finally noticed, and he spews some great lines out of Good Night, and Good Luck. If only it came out in another year.
So, Heath or Philip? Philip has his amazing resume behind him, and its wonders he hasn’t won before, but while at times I was totally engrossed into Capote, there were more times that I KNEW it was Philip ACTING as Capote. It was a more flamboyant role and showy usually wins (as Kate Winslet says, play a cripple or a nun and you’ll definitely win an Oscar) which is too bad because:
Heath Ledger plays Enis Del Mar with such a quiet intensity that I completely forgot who the actor was, but too bad subtle performances get lost in people’s judgement over “better” acting. Plus, while we saw hints of Heath’s acting ability in Monster’s Ball and 10 Things I Hate About You, this was still a performance that was a complete surprise to me, and has me totally re-evaluating Heath’s ability as an actor (though I never saw Casanova!). The fact that he could convey that much emotion and feeling from so little dialogue is something often underappreciated.
So, Heath should win, Philip will (unless enough people are annoyed at him since apparently he’s extremely pompous).

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[24] The Following Takes Place Between 4:00PM and 5:00PM

Bierko tells his men to set up as there's only 40 mins until the ambush on the Suvarovs.

Novick was smart enough to get the Secret Service to figure out where the likeliest location for an ambush would take place. He gets the call informing him of the First Crazy's location and relays it to Pres. Wienie who begins to freak out, but not really enough considering his wife may be blown to smithereens at any moment. He calls the limo and tries to convince Martha (I didn't actually know her name until this episode) to get out of the car but she refuses. If he can't "control" his own wife, how does he expect to control the country?! "What do I do, Mike?" I wonder if Novick wants her to sleep with Walt's fishes because while he doesn't actually suggest it, he does play devil's advocate. Sneaky bastard!

Lynn's still outta control. He insists every action go thru this screen so he knows what everyone is doing at all times. Audrey gets Edgar to cover for Chloe who's helping Jack and briefing Audrey on the Omerchron development. Audrey calls Jack and we find out that Christopher Henderson used to work for CTU and is the man who recruited Jack. Henderson was fired for selling intelligence and Jack was a part of that investigation. In other words, this impending meeting will not go well.

Pres. Wienie still cannot make up his mind about Martha. Should he sacrifice her for the greater good of the country? If he saves her, he saves the Suvarovs, terrorists find out and release the Centox gas on American. "It's that simple." Wow! What a great husband! He's no Pres. Jed Bartlett, who temporarily stepped down from office so that his feelings for his abducted daughter would not obscure his presidential judgement, I tell ya! Novick points out that Martha's a wild card, and if the President does nothing she may tell the Suvarovs herself. Wily coyote!

Lynn freaks and a techie is fired. So is Edgar, almost, when he tries to stand up for her. Lynn notices Chloe is not at her desk and goes a huntin'. Chloe is in the middle of getting Jack into Omerchron's system as a legit visitor when Lynn finds them. Audrey, stalling for time, shows a side of herself we have not seen before! She is woman, hear her roar! It's the first time I've been able to respect her as a person of authority, instead of see her as the result of nepotism.

Jack's in and with guns up walks into Hendersons office. He gets tasered for his trouble. "Just for the record, I never believed you were dead." Henderson may work for the private sector now, but he hasn't forgotten his training. He pleads ignorance about the gas and insists he's being framed, just like he was at CTU. Jack's not going to take his word for it and insists on getting all the files on the gas and seeing the bunker where it was stored.

Edgar tells Chloe he's picked up NSA chatter about the possible ambush on the Suvarovs motorcade. She tells Lynn but he says he's not going to take some techie's word on it and refuses to act on the matter, "I've been embarrassed enough for one day." Curtis, the robot, steps up and suggests they look into the possible threat and is shot down. New & improved Audrey steps up to the plate and it's strike 3 you're all out! She points out that this could all be related to the gas considering it's the Russian President's motorcade, but Lynn's all "I can't heeeear you." Audrey confronts Robot Curtis and tries to convince him, as the senior officer, to invoke Section 112, name Lynn as mentally unfit to remain in his post and declare mutiny! But is the Robot programmed to take such drastic action? Only "real time" will tell....

Martha's in the limo starting to freak out a little. She's gonna be majorly pissed when she comes out of this unscathed! Pres. Wienie better hope she dies by the end of the hour! President asks for Novick's help AGAIN. "I don't have answers, but..." Always with the "but...". President chooses the terrorists over his wife! "You brought it on yourself." What a super ARSE! You can just see the disgust in Novick's eyes. This is not a President he, nor anyone else, can respect. He wants Novick to pray with him and Novick's like, I don't want God to think anything to do with you on this one!

Lynn marches in with the MPs who look all gestapo in their red uniforms and orders them to arrest Edgar for forging his email to the Secret Service about the possible threat (Audrey's idea), then Chloe, then Curtis, then tells them to escort Audrey out of the building. The Robot's ethics turn out to be stronger than his need to follow the rules and he invokes Sect. 112, orders the MPs to take Lynn to holding and release Bill. It's off to Mordor with you Sam Gamgee! Bill is filled in on the ambush and on Omerchron. He calls the President to "inform" him of the ambush and that they have already contacted the Secret Service. The motorcade turns around right at the point of the ambush and the Russians attack. The Suvarovs, Martha and agent Aaron come out alive. President worries about terrorist retaliation when he should be worried about Martha's retaliation!

Henderson leads Jack into the bunker where the Centox gas was kept. "Nothing gets in or out," which should tell Jack that he should not get in! Henderson pulls up the files on the scientists who worked on the gas and they find out they all died suspiciously. Henderson leaves to make a call, but really locks Jack inside with a bomb. He calls a woman to brief her of the situation, holds a detonator in his hand and exposes himself as the traitor he always was. But Jack finds the bomb, calls Henderson stupid and uses it to blow open the door.

As Novick tries to spin the ambush away from the President's involvement, Bierko calls and tells Wienie that he's going to use the gas on the US. Dun Dun DUNNNNNNN!

Originally Posted by Highbrow

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[How I Met Your Mother] Marshallgammon!

This week, "Future Ted" (a.k.a. Bob Saget) tells his kids about embarrassing moments.

Apparently Marshall is the king of all games, so in order to make the games more fun for everyone else they appoint him Game Master. He takes this to mean that he gets to make up a game and name it after himself - Marshallgammon. It's a hodgepodge of all the popular games, Candy Land, I Never..., etc., except for Backgammon. He took the best of Backgammon, the gammon, and threw the rest in the trash where it belongs. No one understands the rules, except for the part where if anyone asks "What?" Marshall hits the buzzer and they have to take a drink which they do throughout the show and is very funny. During the game, Lilly tells Barney that she ran into an old friend of his, Shannon, and she gave Lilly a tape to give to him. "Where's the tape?!" So she hands it over and he proceeds to destroy it. They want to know what was on the tape and Barney's, like, too bad you'll never know. But Lilly is a sneaky one, "Too bad I didn't give you a fake tape and hide the real tape in my purse." She sticks it into the VCR and we he a ponytailed, goateed, Mexican hoodied Barney crying and singing his soul out to a girl who's obviously dumped him. Barney walks out. Later at the bar, Barney shows up and begins to tell his story. Before he was present Barney, he was a hippie working in a coffee shop and in love with this Shannon, they were going to join the Peace Corps together. One day a guy (Bonnie Hunt's "husband"), who is the future Barney, walks in and tells him that to keep the girl it's all about money. Barney's like, it's not like that between me and Shannon, until she stands him up on the day they were supposed to join the PC. In order to continue the story he forces each of his friends to tell their most embarassing moments: Marshall and his "funnybutt," Lilly not ending a call with Marhsall's mother who listens to them having sex, Robin who's story is dissed b/c they already knew it and then is shown up by Ted's new girlfriend Victoria who's story is so dirty they fade to black, and Ted who admits the night he told Robin he loved her he went back to her apartment after getting really loaded and ralphed on her custom Sherbatsky doormat and then ran away. He "re-returned" and is not "vomit free since '93" which Marshall finds very disappointing. Anyway, Barney finds out he's been stood up b/c she's been cheating on him with the future Barney. Leaving the coffee house he is handed a flyer that says "SUIT UP!" and we see the montage of Barney transforming into the man we know today. He continues the story to that night. When he left Ted's apt, he went to see Shannon and "nailed her." They don't believe it but he recorded the whole thing on his phone!! He thinks he's dodged a bullet and his current life is awesome. And so we finally find out some background into our favourite, yet most 2-D character on the show.

I like this show. It's not nearly as good as "Friends" but it has somewhat filled the void that "Friends" left when it ended. However, I've found that in order to become the next "Friends," they are stealing directly from "Friends"! Thus far, we have seen the Ted and Robin double-reverse-unrequited-love storyline of "he likes her but gets a girlfriend to get over her and that's when she likes him" that Ross and Rachel had at the end of season 1 into season 2. We've seen people caught in a small room to as not to disturb what's taking place in the living room. There was also the fear of "nothing new" in a long-term relationship. And in this episode, we watch as they play a game that makes no sense but is awesome - Let's play Bamboozled! As well as the development of the "one-liner" character who's job is a mystery to us - Chandler anyone? Like I said, I like this show. But I also think it can, and should, stand on its own two feet. It's funny, already filled with catch phrases and has an engaging cast who seem to genuinely enjoy spending time with eachother which makes it more enjoyable for us to watch a sitcom. Although, as I mentioned previously, there's that one character I can't stand in an ensemble. Here it's Robin. She has no comedic timing whatsoever and we've known since the 1st ep that the will-they-won't-they ends in won't so I don't care for this crush she has on Ted. However, I do have a prediction: she's going to end up with Barney! Anyway, the concept for the show is right there in the title: "How I Met Your Mother." They were doing great with that premise in the early episodes, but seem to be succumbing under the pressure of becoming the next "Friends". They need to re-focus on becoming themselves. I know, that's way cheezy!

Originally Posted by Highbrow

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He grew his hair for her dammit!

See, I wasn't making that part up about falling in love on a window sill.

Originally Posted by Highbrow

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Countdown to the Oscars – 5 - Best Supporting Actress

Alright, so we are finally to the categories people seem to really care about at the Oscars:

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Amy Adams in “Junebug” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Catherine Keener in “Capote” (UA/Sony Pictures Classics)
Frances McDormand in “North Country” (Warner Bros.)
Rachel Weisz in “The Constant Gardener” (Focus Features)
Michelle Williams in “Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features)

Alright, have any of you guys (and by guys I mean the non-gendered terms like yo’ or Richard Simmons) even seen any of these movies? Have you even heard about Junebug? Too bad because you should, because Amy Adams makes a revelatory performance that’s both funny, humane and heartbreaking in a quiet movie about family and our duties to them. Where did this girl come from? Was she the same person from Drop Dead Gorgeous? Is she the same sexy woman that Jim dumps on the Booze Cruise right before telling Michael of his crush on Pam? If there is any justice at the Oscars, Amy Adams deserves to win the Oscar. She won’t.
Which doesn’t mean I’m going to be pissed off after this category is announced. In fact, pretty much any of the other 4 actresses could win and I would be content. Michelle Williams makes us forget she was ever on Dawson’s Creek and pulls out the ultimate performance of quiet desperation and tolerability. Rachel Weisz is luminous as the activist who squarish-Ralph Fiennes falls in love with. Frances McDormand and Catherine Keener show enough restraint in roles that could have easily been cartoonish. Still, Rachel Weisz will win more for her career roles as opposed to this particular role in The Constant Gardener. I lean slightly more for Michelle Williams because her performance was slightly more controlled, while Rachel’s was just partly based on her charm alone, but I won’t be disappointed when Rachel wins nonetheless. Still, if you are unconvinced about Michelle Williams, watch “Dick” and “The Station Agent”.
As for Frances McDormand and Catherine Keener, Frances has already won, while Catherine, who pretty much deserves an award for any role she takes, should have… and stay here with me on this… probably gotten the nomination in this category, but for The 40-Year Old Virgin. Think about it. She was completely real in a movie that could have easily gone slapstick, clichéd and easily gotten by with 2-dimensional acting. (Hmm… that’s TWO actresses in this category that worked with Steve Carrell in the past year).
So, for Amy, its an honour just to be noticed and nominated, and Rachel will probably take it (let’s hope she has a better makeup artist than when she went to the Globes), with a possible dark horse win for Michelle Williams.

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[Grey’s Anatomy] Damn You Earl Hickey!

First off, something about Georgie’s voice that makes it unsuitable for a voiceover. When Meredith does the voiceover, you know it’s the narration. There’s something in the way she reads it which instantly informs us that we are not listening to casual dialogue. But when Georgie narrated, I was occasionally confused, wondering who he was talking to and why he was offscreen. Maybe it was just me, maybe they’ve just programmed me to listen for Meredith’s voice, but whatever the case I think they need to go back to a single narrator. Yeah, I get it. It’s Georgie’s show. Georgie’s the one that gets bit in the ass by Karma (this week’s theme), but I still di’int like it.

So we know they did the deed. And we know they both regret it. And as alarms go off we also get that they would like nothing more than to avoid each other. But we can’t let that happen, so they come face to face in the hallway and as the awkward moment lingers Alex comes rushing out of Izzy’s room pulling on his pants – like her husband’s come home early or some other bizarre reason for not putting on his pants in her bedroom and coming out at a normal 7:00AM pace – with Izzy leisurely leaning against her door jam with a smile that would put the Cheshire Cat to shame. Elsewhere, in the middle of the Washington woods, sits a lonely trailer with even lonelier occupants. Doc (the dog) needs to be walked and it’s Derek’s turn but he’d rather sleep so Addison offers, that is unless he’d rather talk about what happened with Mark yesterday. She can’t stand his silence anymore and if he doesn’t want to talk then at least yell at her. Arrgh! I’m a woman and even I’d find that utterly annoying first thing in the morning! Obviously Derek agrees, “It’s too early in the morning to interpret girl flip out into normal conversation.” Heh. So torn between forcing him to continue a conversation he doesn’t want to have (he’s now covered his head with his pillow) and a dog about to piddle, Addison reluctantly attends to the latter.

At work in the locker room things are still painfully awkward between Mere and Georgie, so the other three try and figure out what’s going on. Alex immediately jumps to the conclusion that Meredith has slept with someone: Mark or “Did I just call that dude McDreamy?” LOL! The women roll their eyes, but they don’t know just how close he is to the truth. But they are at a hospital for a reason other than sleeping with one another, so they go do rounds. Patient #1 is a man with a heart aneurysm which may blow at any moment including on the operating table. His new perky (not in a good way) fiancée (Amy Cusack) can’t seem to digest this information. You know this is not going to go well. Patient #2 is a young boy with a nervous nelly of a father who seems to be the only one freaking out by the fact that this child has a bleeding blood vessel in his brain. The boy and his other father take it in stride, but I wonder if they are underreacting and “nelly” is experiencing the appropriate reaction to the news. After rounds, Georgie asks Cristina if Meredith has told her anything, she says no and if he’s not either to get out of her way. He blocks her path with his arm and says, “I’m just saying,” and Cristina is like, WTF?! I know you didn’t need that little detail but I found his hard block really funny. Oh, and Addison tracks down Bailey, who is on mat leave and just at the hospital to pick up her husband, to consult on a private matter. Addy’s got poison oak “Down There” which she picked up peeing in the great outdoors while walking her husband’s DM’s dog. Karma.

While confirming that the mass around #1’s heart is indeed an aneurysm, Georgie looks like he wants to talk to Cristina and she tells him to quit it. Burke tells her to behave. I like that he’s starting to become interested in the personal lives of his interns because he’s trying to be friendly with her friends. She’s like, he’s annoying me while I’m trying to work so I don’t have to be nice. After they tell the couple about his condition, George starts going off on how it’s not fair and how they seem like such nice people and how they don’t deserve this and how Karma’s gonna bite you in the ass everytime. “Good God, O’Malley, what did Grey do to you?” I’m starting to really LUFF Burke! Meredith and Alex are taking the kid to get an MRI and he starts hounding her about what she did to Georgie. She wants to know what makes him think she did anything. “Because Bambi looks pissed, and you look guilty.” Bambi! A HAHAHA!

Patient #3 arrives while Alex is trying to sneak in a snog with Izzy. It’s Denny, the charming fellow who waiting for a heart transplant and stole Izzy’s heart the last time he was there. Izzy takes off with the gurney and stays by his side for the rest of the episode. We knew it would not last Alex, you’re living in a dream world if you thought things could go back to the way they were before you had to prove your manliness by sleeping with another woman. Karma! Alex is necessarily jealous of Izzy’s apparent concern for Denny, so when they need to zap him with electricity to slow his heart rate, Alex asks Burke, “Mind if I handle the paddles?” ZAP! And then once more for good measure, ZAP! But even through that crazy amount of pain, Denny manages to be as charming as ever. C’mon Alex, give him one more! I know you wanna….Izzy basically gives Burke the same speech about how he doesn’t deserve this, and Burke is like, maybe I don’t want to be friends with Cristina’s friends. They’re all so messed up.

Meredith runs away from Georgie when it looks like he’s wants to talk. Alex finds her and wants to know why she’s hiding. Being flip, he says so what if they slept together, move on already. She’s like, he told you? And he’s like, no, “I was just kidding. It’s not like I should be surprised.” “Why not?” “Because when your life is sucking, you get drunk and sleep with inappropriate men. Whatever. I find it charming.” I like when these two have these hidden conversations. They do not appear to have anything in common, but when they look at each other they see a little bit of themselves. They have a mutual understanding because, frankly, they are both pretty major screw-ups. She accuses him of sleeping with inappropriate women and they argue as to who’s deserving of being forgiven for their fatal act when Georgie walks in on the conversation and flips out! Izzy and Cristina walk in on the flip out and Alex is all, “Fetus” and “Baby Boy” is flipping out. HA! So mean, but so appropriate! They all follow a screaming Georgie to the stairwell when he accuses Mere of telling everyone they slept together and Izzy and Cristina are like, WHAAAAA?! Georgie realizes what he’s done and falls down the stairs and dislocates his shoulder. While waiting to get it patched up, Izzy lays it out for Mere, if it comes down to choosing sides, she’s with Georgie. Cristina is less emphatic but points out that this was Mere’s fault and not even she beats on the “weaker kids.” But in the end, we know that Cristina will probably side with Mere as she tells her what she needs to hear: “We all do terrible things.” Karma. The female doctor who looks like a pro wrestler attending to Georgie blatantly hits on him. She seems to enjoy popping his arm back into it’s socket a little too much. You do need to move on Georgie, but this one might be a little out of your league too, in a very different way.

Mer/Der have another McDreamy moment in the elevator. She tells him she did a terrible thing. He says what she needs to hear, we all do terrible things. But she says this is too terrible, she’s lose all her friends over this. He says she’s never lose him. Humina, humina. She points out that he is not her friend and never could be. He doesn’t see why not, they could walk the dog together, drink coffee and “discuss the complex nature of our existence.” LOL! But she’s not convinced and leaves a saddened puppydog McDreamy on the elevator. Awwwww. I want some McDreamy elevator moments!!! Then Derek goes to check up on whatever Bailey and Addison have been secretly up to all day. He finds out about the poison oak and where she got it and they have a good laugh together. You get to see what they once had, and Bailey gives us a look like she thinks they are on the road to recovery, but really, is a case of poison oak enough to repair the damage to their marriage? I think not.

To the disbelief of Georgie and Cristina, #1’s fiancée realizes that she’s not strong enough to face the possibility of his death and take the cowards way out by leaving him before the surgery. While watching the surgery with his bum arm, Nurse Syph – a.k.a Olivia – points out that #1 dodged a bullet b/c if she wasn’t able to love him back the way he loved her then she didn’t deserve him in the first place. Ooooh, double meaning! Georgie apologizes to Nurse Syph for making her feel as bad as he does now.

George decides to move out, and here we finally get to see a flashback to what took place the day before. The utter joy in Georgie’s face and voice and need to please Meredith pains me. It pains her as well, because she realizes much too late that this was a mistake and begins to cry. She tries to brush it off, but the crying only gets more intense and George mistakes the regret she feels for inadequacy and storms out. Mere walks in and before he leaves, Georgie needs to know why. Why did she go thru with it if she knew she didn’t want to. She explains that she didn’t know until she did. He said all the perfect things she needed to hear and thought maybe what I’m looking for has been in front of me the whole time. And it wasn’t until it was too late that she realized it was a mistake and she’s sorry and wants things to go back to the way they were. I get it. I think it’s a good explanation. But honey, it’s no excuse for what you did. She’s got to own up for her mistake and she doesn’t really here. Georgie tells her he doesn’t even know how he could ever go back to the way things were and leaves. “I’m done. We’re done.” He’s sittin’ on the ledge of a hospital window, a place where he first fell in love with Meredith, when Burke sees him. Cut to Burke’s apt: “He’s your friend. he needed our help.” “Are his problems surgical?” “No.” “Then technically he doesn’t need our help.” “You’re a good person.” “I am not.” Tee!Hee! Cristina is me! And as Cristina and Burke say goodnight, Georgie says it back from the couch he’s crashing on. It's kinda your fault he's there, Cristina, since you're the one who told him to stop taking crap from others. Say it with me people: Karma!

The next morning, McDreamy is out walking his dog and guess who's there waiting. Karma.

Originally Posted by Highbrow

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New Eps for this Week

Monday
Corner Gas – CTV 8pm
Degrassi TNG – CTV 8:30pm
How I Met Your Mother – CBS 8:30pm
24 – Fox/Global 9pm

Tuesday
Supernatural – City 8pm, The WB 9pm
American Idol – Fox/CTV 8pm (1.5hrs)
Scrubs – NBC 9pm
The Amazing Race 9 - Season Premiere – CBS 9pm, CTV 9:30pm (2hrs)
Boston Legal – ABC/CH 10pm
MURDERBALL - A&E 10pm (repeats at 2am)
Gilmore Girls - Global 10pm/The WB 8pm

Wednesday
Lost – CTV 7pm, ABC 9pm
American Idol – Fox/CTV 8pm (1.5hrs)
My Name is Earl – Global 8pm
The Office – Global 8:30pm
Freddie – ABC/SunTV 8:30pm
Free Ride - Series Premiere- Fox 9:30pm

Thursday
Survivor: Exile Island – CBS/Global 8pm
American Idol Results – Fox/CTV 8pm
My Name is Earl – NBC 9pm
The Office – NBC 9:30pm
Without a Trace – CBS/Global 10pm
ER – NBC/CTV 10pm
Everybody Hates Chris – City 10pm, UPN ?

Friday
Ghost Whisperer – CBS 8pm
Numb3rs – CBS 9pm
Conviction - Series Premiere – NBC 10pm

Sunday
The Academy Awards

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Rest of the Week

Boston Legal – David E. Kelley writes again! And casts two former Chicago Hope members AND we get a pairing of Magnum P.I with Murphy Brown! Plus Rene Auberjois gets a storyline for once!

Survivor: Panama Exile Island – TERRY finds the immunity idol? Boring.

Freddie – Seriously? When did Brian Austin Green become so funny? I can’t believe Freddie didn’t choose Rose.

Olympics – Were they still on? Go team Canada! Congrats on their best showing ever! Is Avril Lavigne the best we can do to represent us? I mean. I love her, but STILL. Will she even be around in 4 years when we have the Vancouver 2010 Olympics? (Granted, her careful move to film and spokesperson for Gucci is a brilliant career move).

Dancing with the Stars – Season 2 Finale – How is Stacy not in the Top 2? I can’t believe my heart was actually beating before the final announcement for fear that Jerry would actually win that ugly looking trophy. I mean, Jerry seems like a great person but come ON, we have some honour to uphold! This is the Dancing with the Stars trophy! It deserves some RESPECT! As Ugly as it may be. So thankfully, Drew “98 Degrees” Lachey wins the trophy and restores the Lachey name no thanks to Nick. But before I leave this season, did he say that Cheryl was like his SISTER? Eww, cause those two were so HOT together I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulls a Billy Crudup and leaves his pregnant wife for another woman.

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Countdown to the Oscars - 6

Best animated feature film of the year

“Howl’s Moving Castle” (Buena Vista)Hayao Miyazaki
“Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride” (Warner Bros.)Mike Johnson and Tim Burton
“Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit” (DreamWorks Animation SKG) Nick Park and Steve Box

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride was a great movie and I haven’t seen Howl’s Moving Castle, but I know those Japanese animated movies are usually well respected and quite imaginative, but hands down, Wallace & Gromit was the funniest, wholesome and cheeky movie of the year, animated or not. It was just damn gouda and deserves and will win Best Animated.

Achievement in art direction

“Good Night, and Good Luck.” (Warner Independent Pictures)Art Direction: Jim BissellSet Decoration: Jan Pascale
“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (Warner Bros.)Art Direction: Stuart CraigSet Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“King Kong” (Universal)Art Direction: Grant MajorSet Decoration: Dan Hennah and Simon Bright
“Memoirs of a Geisha” (Sony Pictures Releasing)Art Direction: John MyhreSet Decoration: Gretchen Rau
“Pride & Prejudice” (Focus Features)Art Direction: Sarah GreenwoodSet Decoration: Katie Spencer

Do you award historical accuracy or most imagination in this category? Pride & Prejudice should be out, since there’s nothing different, Memoirs was a recreation and had some visually brilliant moments, but either King Kong or Harry Potter should take this one. However, both blend visual effects with the Art Direction so I’m not sure where one ends and the other begins, which is probably a good thing, but do we award the Art Direction team for that? I remember more of the camera and lighting visuals than I do the sets in Good Night, and Good Luck., so I think I lean towards Harry Potter just for a brilliant imagining of J.K. Rowling’s world (though, mostly imagined from previous Harry Potter films, so is this more of a consolation for missing Stuart Craig in previous years?).

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Countdown to Oscars - 7

Adapted screenplay

“Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features)Screenplay by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana
“Capote” (UA/Sony Pictures Classics) Screenplay by Dan Futterman
“The Constant Gardener” (Focus Features) Screenplay by Jeffrey Caine
“A History of Violence” (New Line) Screenplay by Josh Olson
“Munich” (Universal and DreamWorks)Screenplay by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth

Original screenplay

“Crash” (Lions Gate)Screenplay by Paul Haggis & Bobby MorescoStory by Paul Haggis
“Good Night, and Good Luck.” (Warner Independent Pictures) Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov
“Match Point” (DreamWorks) Written by Woody Allen
“The Squid and the Whale” (Samuel Goldwyn Films and Sony Pictures Releasing)Written by Noah Baumbach
“Syriana” (Warner Bros.)Written by Stephen Gaghan

So, Syriana is the only movie here I haven’t seen, so just because of that, I’m going to rule it out. It ain’t gonna win just cause lil’ ol me hasn’t seen it yet (and really not sure if I plan to). In the Original Screenplay, Crash will win since it seems to be on the upswing, but not sure who really deserves it more.
Good Night, and Good Luck. would probably have my vote, but the most interesting parts of the movie for me were the old footage of the actual trials held by McCarthy. So does that count? Since those weren’t actually written? Hollywood loves actors and they LOVE George Clooney so this might be a dark horse winner.
Match Point would probably be my second choice because again, Crash to me was a little too derivative and had many imperfections and convenient coincidences, whereas Match Point was a glorious mesh of a few genres where we ended up rooting for the good/bad guy. Crash was extremely manipulative to the point we saw them manipulate us (a good movie won’t).
Meanwhile, the other over-hyped movie of the year was The Squid and the Whale. Personally, I thought it was a best-of-indie-movies film because it took every cliché in an independent movie and stuffed it all in. Divorce? Check. Bitterness with witty quips? Check. Kid with some taboo habit? Check. Stylist? None to be seen. Quirky music? Check. Even with the great Laura Linney, I found it boring and had been so done before. So, it probably goes back to Good Night, and Good Luck. for my choice.

In Adapted, Brokeback Mountain will probably win and deservedly so, for taking a short story and fleshing out a fully emotional film out of it. A great script doesn’t just mean an overabundance of fancy words, it’s the quality of the few words that can completely illustrate characters, time and situations that make Brokeback Mountain’s script great. Still, I know a few will argue me on that one.
Capote wasn’t the best picture of the year but it did have one of the best screenplays. Give it to Dan Futterman! Who knew someone on Judging Amy had it in them!
The Constant Gardener probably impressed me the most of the rest, and if this wins, it does so deservedly. I watched it and when I realized it was a John Le Carre book, I was even more impressed with the resultant movie.
The History of Violence almost equals in impressiveness with The Constant Gardener, with its well paced dialogue and story, though the final scenes with William Hurt seemed a tad too purposely comical, which I know was sort of the point, but felt somehow off from the rest of the movie.
Finally Munich, which was great for all the lines Tony Kushner put in, but felt WAY TOO slanted in my view to make it a GREAT script.

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Reality Overload

The Olympics vs. Survivor vs. Dancing with the Stars vs. American Idol

The Japanese won their first medal this year in the biggest night of Winter Olympic sports, the Women’s Figure Skating. Too bad cause I’m sure it got clobbered by everything else. First off, Survivor – Terry was exiled and Ruthie was booted off. Good going gang, send the oldest female back because it’s the easiest play. Boring.
American Idol – Well, people spoke and they said that they would rather keep a crazy person who could not sing rather than keeping a beauty who could not sing. Brenna’s still in, Maxim’s Becky is out. I was a little surprised actually. Thankfully, I wasn’t shocked that Bobby got booted, though the abrupt and new harsher tone Ryan Seacrest gives the boot was probably a bigger shock than anything else in the whole show. Opera girl Stevie was voted off next, and then finally bland but decent white boy Patrick Hall (don’t remember him? I told you he’s forgettable and that while not a bad singer, will probably not garner enough votes to save him) was the last to leave. And now there are 20.
Finally, Dancing with the Stars. Simply put. I LOVE THIS SHOW. Shall I put the effort to explain the greatness of this show or just relegate that my tastes have possibly lowered? Still, even after an hour of clips which I enjoyably watched, Jerry, Stacy and Drew danced off two more final times with Drew finishing off the Freestyle with a cowboy bang. Drew scored a perfect 60/60 and Stacy only really disappointed with a great freestyle but poor for our expectations of her. Still, I actually didn’t know who to vote for. Drew or Stacy?

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Countdown to the Oscars – 8

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

“Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features) Gustavo Santaolalla
“The Constant Gardener” (Focus Features) Alberto Iglesias
“Memoirs of a Geisha” (Sony Pictures Releasing) John Williams
“Munich” (Universal and DreamWorks) John Williams
“Pride & Prejudice” (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli

It’s down to John Williams or Focus Features. Too bad since Brokeback Mountain and The Constant Gardener had beautiful scores that complimented and enhanced the film. John Williams would win for Memoirs though because it WAS the film, but since he’s competing against himself, he might split the vote, since Munich seems to be the “serious” film of choice.

Achievement in cinematography

“Batman Begins” (Warner Bros.) Wally Pfister
“Brokeback Mountain” (Focus Features)Rodrigo Prieto
“Good Night, and Good Luck.” (Warner Independent Pictures)Robert Elswit
“Memoirs of a Geisha” (Sony Pictures Releasing)Dion Beebe
“The New World” (New Line)Emmanuel Lubezki

I don’t understand why Batman Begins is in this category since it was the most frenetically shot movie this side of Blair Witch. Yes, the lighting was dark and moody but I couldn't see anything because it was dark and moody.
You know I LOVE Brokeback Mountain (My full Best of List is to come next week, and yes, I actually do believe it is worth the hype so you can stick your backlash up your $#%) and the scenery shots are beautiful, but it deserves to be nominated for its indoor scenes in the barren town, creating artful shots out of an old broken-down town.
However, beautiful scenery shots are too easy, whereas Good Night and Good Luck took place completely indoors and yet visually was one of the most stunning movies of the year. Yes, it cheated by making it black and white, which makes it look "artier", but my vote is for Good Night, and Good Luck. Who will win? Probably Brokeback.

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American Idol – Boys Night – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Well, I’m not sure how much better the boys were but they sure are a more diverse group than the girls are. Many are terrific in certain styles, too bad many chose the brave route of showing diversity in a different singing style, only to fail miserably. Luckily for kids like David Radford and Will Makar, they’re cute and will probably charm their way to a few more weeks.
I will give this year’s contestants this, with the exception of Brenna, everyone has seemed to learn to take their criticisms well without resorting to obnoxious objections (Yes, Jennifer Hudson, this means you). Yes, it may show feistiness but when contestants fight back (in previous years), it just looks cheap. This years’ class all seemed to have gone through charm school or something and perfected the grinning smile at the end of their performance. It’s endearing. (oh god, where has my bitterness and irony gone?)

So, The Good? I thought Chris Daughtry and Elliott Yamin were the same bouncer at a nightclub but each proved they could sing amazingly and deserve to be on the stage in the club. Stage presence still need a bit of work, but Elliot’s silly looking grin has me picking him for the leader of the pack by a teeny tiny margin. Though I keep flip flopping on that one.
Ace Young never sold me over before, (is he really that hot?) but after watching his performance again on repeat, I have to say he seems to have the whole package, boysish but manly charms all at the same time, humility but a sexy enough presence to stand out in a crowd, and a voice that, though not perfect, was still pretty darn good. Still, we said that about Justin Guarini when we first met him.
Love child of Matthew Perry and Jay Leno Taylor Hicks is one dogarn likable person, and he can sing darn well too, but I just didn’t love his performance last night like the judges did. It was good, but it wasn’t great.
Gedeon and his huge ass smile sang “Shout”. I didn’t realize someone was having a wedding last night. Great singer, bad song. I almost had to laugh because I thought they were showing us a clip from the new “The Wedding Singer – The Musical” that opens on Broadway soon. Let’s hope he does better song choice next week.

The BAD
Or actually: The Horrifically Bad. Copacobana? Seriously? Talk about bad song choices. Bobby Bennett. Nice to meet you, have a good life.
Jose “Sway” Penala. His name is “Sway”. Enough said. Singing the whole song in Falsetto doesn’t constitute good singing to me. It just tells me that someone kicked you in the balls right before the show.

The Ugly
Copacobana? Seriously? Talk about an UGLY song choice. Bobby Bennett. Nice to meet you, have a good life.
It’s an ugly fact that even though David Radford and Will Makar put in laughable performances, America will still vote them through because they are cute and charming. I will also admit, that I was partly seduced myself. David was like the geek trying to be the cool kid, while Will seemed to be the White boy who actually has some charisma but still hadn’t been taught what to do with it. Will is way too young, but because he reminds me of John Mayer (see below), I’ll let it go. For Now.
Kevin “Chicken Little” Covais. What can I say about the poor kid? He looked like he was constipating the whole time but if I didn’t watch him, he actually sounded half decent. Key word being HALF.
It’s another ugly fact that even though Patrick Hall and Bucky Covington were not the worst of the night, they were highly forgettable and probably have a smaller crazed fan base than that of Sway, Bobby or Kevin so I’m betting one of these guys will be gone by tonight. (Speaking of Ugly, what was with those lips on “Patrick’s Friends”?)

So overall, whose starting to lead out of the pack? I can only remember Mandisa and Katharine (I remember Becky but for all the wrong reasons) from the girls night, and Dance-White-Boy-Will, Elliot, Chris, and Ace.
Gedeon, Taylor, Paris, Stevie, Patrick, Kinnik, Becky, Kellie and David will all have do some serious damage control with good song choices next week but if they make it through tonight (and I have a feeling some won’t because it’s usually the memorable BAD ones that make it through as opposed to the decent but undramatic contestants that leave), they all still have the chance to break through the pack.

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[The Daily Show] Giant Dick

I just watched all of last week's Daily Show eps back to back, and I have to say they were the funniest shows I have seen in weeks! Not since the "Indecision 2000" presidential election episodes has The Daily Show extracted "the funny" so well from a serious current event. The Daily Shows coverage of Dick Cheney's (wah wah wah) "faux pas" made me lol and then lol some more. John Stewart's prayer of thanks summed it all up! Thank you (whoever "you" are) for causing the Vice President of the United States to mistake his 78 year old friend for game fowl!! Not that they aren't always entertaining, but this event seems to have put the spring back in the writers' step.

Oh, and the "Trendspotting" segment by Demetri Martin about Social Networking was also hilarious! Oh, and I luff the Cordry Bros! Oh, and I luff Samantha Bee even though she was on mat leave last week just for being Canadian! Oh, and I just LUFF the whole damn show!

Originally Posted by Highbrow

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Are These Guys Brothers?

Will Makar (American Idol), John Mayer, Teddy Geiger
What havoc hath we wroth with thy slightly shaggy haired male singers?

Download Teddy Geiger's "Love is a Marathon" and "For You I Will", both seen on the already missed Love Monkey.

Also check out Ne-Yo's "So Sick".

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Countdown to the Oscars - 9

Before I get started, did I tell you that I have a horrible track record for guessing the winners? But I’m still going to give you my predictions because I write these as if it actually mattered (I like to stay in my own delusions). I'm also skipping any category where I haven't seen/heard of a single film.

Achievement in sound editing

“King Kong” (Universal) Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn
“Memoirs of a Geisha” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Wylie Stateman
“War of the Worlds” (Paramount and DreamWorks) Richard King

Achievement in sound mixing

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (Buena Vista)Terry Porter, Dean A. Zupancic and Tony Johnson
“King Kong” (Universal) Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek
“Memoirs of a Geisha” (Sony Pictures Releasing)Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell, Rick Kline and John Pritchett
“Walk the Line” (20th Century Fox)Paul Massey, D.M. Hemphill and Peter F. Kurland
“War of the Worlds” (Paramount and DreamWorks)Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ronald Judkins

Does anybody in the Academy really understand the difference? Is War of the Worlds going to be the change given to Speilberg because it won’t win anything for Munich? Will it go to the mighty King Kong or will Memoirs of a Geisha and Walk the Line be given it as a consolation prize? Or will it be a Narnia sweep in the technical categories? My vote is for King Kong and Narnia again. Who deserves it? Probably King Kong.

Achievement in film editing

“Cinderella Man” (Universal and Miramax)Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
“The Constant Gardener” (Focus Features) Claire Simpson
“Crash” (Lions Gate) Hughes Winborne
“Munich” (Universal and DreamWorks) Michael Kahn
“Walk the Line” (20th Century Fox)Michael McCusker

The Constant Gardener probably deserves it the most, but Crash will probably win because of the multiple storylines and the fact its up for an Oscar. Munich was slightly too confusing to people will probably not win.

Best documentary feature

“Darwin’s Nightmare” (International Film Circuit) A Mille et Une Production, Hubert Sauper
“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” (Magnolia Pictures)An HDNet Films ProductionAlex Gibney and Jason Kliot
“March of the Penguins” (Warner Independent Pictures) A Bonne Pioche ProductionLuc Jacquet and Yves Darondeau
“Murderball” (THINKFilm)An Eat Films ProductionHenry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro
“Street Fight”A Marshall Curry ProductionMarshall Curry

The fact that one of the films in this category made millions and millions of dollars is weird enough, the fact that it wasn’t a Michael Moore film even more so. March of the Penguins will win, just because everyone actually saw this film, but there’s good competition from Enron and Murderball. I haven’t seen those too but heard they were very good. The Penguins movie kinda bored me actually but I if those guys get an Oscar for sitting out in the cold harsh snow of Antartica for over a year, I won’t complain.

Achievement in costume design

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (Warner Bros.)Gabriella Pescucci
“Memoirs of a Geisha” (Sony Pictures Releasing)Colleen Atwood
“Mrs. Henderson Presents” (The Weinstein Company)Sandy Powell
“Pride & Prejudice” (Focus Features)Jacqueline Durran
“Walk the Line” (20th Century Fox) Arianne Phillips

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory all the way! The most inventive of the bunch. The rest were all just historical copies (and with Geisha, inaccurate historical copies apparently). Geisha might just win it for its exoticness but its critical panning might cost them.

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American Idol - Girls night

Is it me or is this years top 24 a better looking bunch than previous years? I noticed that last week when they dropped most of the "uglier" people. All the judges have really been pushing the "package" part of the Idol as oppose to just the singing abilities like Simon usually does.

Well, Mandisa started off things with a Heart song and tore the song apart! She's classy, she can belt it out and she played her cards perfectly by singing a rock song, and not being pidgeonholed into the R&B sector which I still think failed Jennifer Hudson, LaToya Jacskson and Fantasia (yes, she won, but where is she now? She even lost out the Dreamgirls role to Ms. Hudson). Still, Mandisa may be too good for her own good and have peaked too early.

Kelly the poor country girl took to the stage next, and man, she's pretty, she's cute, she's down to earth and humble, but eh, her singing was only okay. Judges were right, we will keep voting for her as long as she keeps her aw-shucksness to the midway point but unless she improves her nerves, she won't make final four.

The next two girls, Ayla and Becky were more of the same, pretty girls that could barely sing (at least relatively speaking by this point in the competition). Totally forgetable and interchangable but still might slip through depending on how the next few girls sing.

I thought Paris was going to bop her head off singing that song, but personally thought the judges were a little too generous.

I didn't think Opera singer Stevie Scott was that great either but there's something about her I totally love and I would build a WB show (oh, sorry. The CW?!) around her. An opera singer who was secretly a spy detective operating around the world while on tour, with her drama theatre group of friends.

Oh god. Now Brenna. I HATE HER. Her singing? I'm cringing just thinking about it. HORRIBLE (and that's totally unbiased!).
Heather Cox. More pretty, less singing. Please for the love of my ears.
Melissa McGhee. Who again?
Lisa Tucker. She's 16??? Pretty good but I have a thing against the young ones. They might be able to sing but can they handle the pressure? Can they survive the fame?
Kinnik, eh, she was kinda boring. Cool name though. Reminds me of Kenickie from Grease.

And finally the gambler's choice Katharine McPhee sang last. She's cute but not overly done up. She can sing, not perfect, but enough to last for a long while. Maybe. Mandisa was better but Katharine has the perfect bland middle of the road likeablity that could lead to success!

So, did we just see The American Idol? I think Randy was right, it's going to the boys year this time. At least I hope so since only Mandisa or Katharine might have the right stuff for Idol but still didn't give me any of the chills like when we first took notice of Kelly.

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Countdown to the Oscars - 10

So here’s my take on this years Oscars, category by category. I’ll present a few each day counting down to the important day of March 5th 2006 (important for more than one reason). I’m starting with the categories no one seems to care about but dogarnit, they’re still important!

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“In the Deep” from “Crash” (Lions Gate)Music by Kathleen “Bird” York and Michael BeckerLyric by Kathleen “Bird” York
“It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from“Hustle & Flow” (Paramount Classics, MTV Films and New Deal Entertainment) Music and Lyric by Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard
“Travelin’ Thru” from “Transamerica” (The Weinstein Company and IFC Films)Music and Lyric by Dolly Parton

Well, there’s no Disney song or anything from Randy Newman so there’s no clear winner this year. With only three nominees, apparently there weren’t any winners at all (because its an honour to be nominated right? Well. Only three got through suckers!). Brokeback Mountain didn’t really get shut out of this category mainly because the song was deemed ineligible.
So, of the songs we have left, I cannot for the life of me remember the Crash song so it’s out. And even though the Academy picked Eminem’s Lose Yourself (deservedly though shockingly), I would guess that they will not choose a song with the word “pimp” in it for an Oscar. Anyways, it’s an irritatingly catchy song but it’s still no Lose Yourself. So this leaves Travelin’ Thru from Dolly Parton which will win and deserves to win because it hauntingly fits into the film Transamerica, and like Champagne to Strawberries (according to Richard Gere), it brings out the flavours of the movie so that you can appreciate the fullness of the fruit.

Achievement in visual effects

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (Buena Vista)Dean Wright, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney and Scott Farrar
“King Kong” (Universal)Joe Letteri, Brian Van’t Hul, Christian Rivers and Richard Taylor
“War of the Worlds” (Paramount and DreamWorks) Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Randal M. Dutra and Daniel Sudick

Will they give it to the popcorn movie, the popcorn movie? Or the Christian popcorn movie? My pick was King Kong but as Narnia rules the box office, I think they will give it to Narnia now.

Achievement in makeup

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (Buena Vista)Howard Berger and Tami Lane
“Cinderella Man”(Universal and Miramax)David Leroy Anderson and Lance Anderson
“Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith” (20th Century Fox)Dave Elsey and Nikki Gooley

Since Cinderella Man basically tanked, and the fact that there was no dramatic makeup, it’s out unless they use this as the pity vote for Ron Howard. It’s down to Narnia or Star Wars and since Star Wars basically sucked, my vote and my guess is Narnia will win again.

Best foreign language film of the year

“Don’t Tell” A Cattleya/Rai Cinema Production, Italy
“Joyeux Noël” A Nord-Ouest Production, France
“Paradise Now” An Augustus Film Production, Palestine
“Sophie Scholl - The Final Days” A Goldkind Filmproduktion and Broth Film Production, Germany
“Tsotsi” A Moviworld Production, South Africa

Since this is the first year I have actually not seen ANY of the foreign language pics and that only one was actually released widely in America, I basically have no idea. However, if Tsotsi winning the Audience Award at the Toronto international Film Festival is any indication, it will win this category over the Palestinian movie. Heartwarming African Struggling Tale vs. Powerful Palestinian Controversial Film, my bets on Tsotsi. Though I hear Paradise Now is terrific, it might be too much for the Academy.

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[24] The Following Takes Place Between 3:00 and 4:00PM

I cannot believe how much action this show can pack in 5 mins! The head Irissian, Erwich, is killed by the real mastermind Bierko! And they aren’t Irissian, they’re Englissian! Bierko makes it clear that the nerve gas was acquired for the sole purpose of attacking Mother Russia. Erwich is punished for wasting it on a handful of people in an American mall. Bierko wants his people to track down Nathanson, who is the sole surviving double-crosser, and kill him. But Nathanson is one step ahead and is already on the move. TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK.

Lynn is on the phone pleading with his junkie sister to return his key card, which, yeah, I thought was a strange place to keep a security pass. Shouldn’t it be on one of those geeky retractable belt clip thingys or on a string around his neck?? But this show relies on “convenience,” so junkie pleads with her junkie boyfriend to give it back but he seems to have other plans. Lynn gets a phone call, thinking it’s his sister, but it’s really Pres. Wienie chewing him out for making him make a decision and then not sticking to said decision, even though it was a bad one. Passing the buck and needing someone to blame, Lynn orders that Jack be brought in and detained for disobeying a direct order. Audrey jumps to Jack’s defense and Lynn finally realizes that she’s been doing that a lot in the last few hours. Me thinks the hobbit is suspicious….

Curtis is reluctant, but he’s no renegade like Jack, so he’s in the process of taking Jack back to CTU like the good robot soldier he is when Audrey gets a call from Nathanson. He wants to be patched thru only to Jack and is using Audrey b/c he knows about their relationship. She doesn’t want to screw up the lead so she puts him thru. Pretending it was a personal call from Audrey, Curtis lets him take the call. Nathanson wants protection and doesn’t trust anyone but Jack to actually keep their word. In exchange he has information that may lead Jack to the gas. They arrange to meet at an abandoned building. On the way to CTU, Jack sucker punches Curtis and then puts him in a sleeper hold, “Don’t fight it.” Easy for you to say! He pulls Curtis out of the car and takes off. Lynn finds out about the escape and officially begins his meltdown. He grills Audrey who claims no knowledge, but he doesn’t believe her and decides to check-up on her actions. Audrey surreptitiously calls Chloe, who is literally 5’ away, and asks her to dump her call log. She does, for Jack’s sake b/c this show could just as well be called “Bauer,” but not before Lynn sees it disappear on his screen.

Bierko calls Pres. Wienie on Walt’s phone. Bierko makes it clear that the gas is meant for Russia alone, however, b/c he’s been stopped from transporting the gas back to Russia he wants the President to give him the visiting Russian President’s cavalcade route. Novick want to know if he’s crazy or cowardly enough to give into those demands, and Wienie answers with a resounding YES!

Lynn forces Bill to tell him about Audrey’s personal relationship with Jack. He tells him that he knows Audrey’s covering for him, but he doesn’t know they are covering up. Meanwhile, Jack is on his way into the building when he sees hostiles storming the building. He warns Nathanson and tells him to meet Jack on the roof. Audrey tells Bill what’s going on, Lynn sees them whispering, and now he’s suspicious of everyone. Meltdown in T minus a shoot-out and 6 commercials….

Nathanson makes it to the roof and just as he’s about to be executed guess who saves his life? But all is not safe, because a helicopter is raining bullets down on them. But a mere heli and machine gun is no match for Jack and a semi-automatic hand pistol. He shoots down the helicopter! Nathanson manages to squeak out, “In my pocket,” before he takes his last breath and Jack finds a chip. The hostiles call Bierko to tell him about Jack’s superpowers. Jack calls Audrey, who’s being monitored by Lynn, so she patches him thru to Chloe. Quiet on the set. Cue “hobbit suspicious face.” Jack sends the information to Chloe and tells her to call him back when she’s decoded the chip. Chloe realizes she needs Audrey’s security level clearance and asks Bill to distract Lynn. He tries to, but Kaboom! Nuclear. Meltdown. Lynn spits out that he can’t do anything to Audrey b/c Daddy’s Secretary of Defense (nana nana nana!) but he can put Bill in the brig! Chloe is too weird for Lynn to deal with, so she’s left free to call Jack back and tell him that the gas is made by Terrodyne – a subsidiary of Omarchron. Jack recognizes the name and asks Chloe to confirm that Christopher Henderson works there. Turns out he’s the VP of R&D and Jack knows him.

The First Crazy finds out what Pres. Wienie wants to do and freaks out. He convinces her it’s the only course of action while Novick rolls his eyes and daydreams about how he’d make such a kick-ass President if he were so damn weird looking. Pres. Wienie and the First Crazy make their goodbyes to the Russian President and his wife. They are the nicest people, making the Americans look absolutely detestable as Wienie gives Novick the nod to give Bierko the route. As a last ditch attempt, the First Crazy decides to ride with the Russians to the airport in their Limo, and sweet luffable Aaron if he weren’t such a cool secret service agent who always looks like he knows what’s really going on even if he doesn’t mean to, gets in after her. They leave word for Wienie who doesn’t even have the guts to stick around and wave the limo off. TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK.

Originally Posted by Highbrow

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[House] Vicodin Chic

“Wake up in the morning, feelin’ kinda lonely. Gee I gotta go to”...work. That’s what should have been playing in the background as House’s alarm goes off and he gets out of bed, instead of that cheezy “Desire.” His leg is obviously bothering him this day, and as he tries to walk he almost falls over with excruciating pain flashing across his face. Cut to him hobbling through the hospital’s front doors where Wilson just happens to be hanging out, waiting to walk House to his office. They blatantly ignore Cutty who’s on the phone but trying to flag them down. Wilson notes that the leg is worse off than usual and suggests hopefully that the nerves are regenerating causing the additional pain. Cutty catches up to them and hand House a file. A 15 year old supermodel bitch-slapped another model on the catwalk before she passes out on the runway has been admitted. He takes the file and gets onto the elevator without a complaint, Cutty is surprised, and he explains as the doors close, “You had me at supermodel.”

Shocker! House goes to the see the patient (who looks like a poor man’s Abby Morgan ) voluntarily within the first 10 mins?! He’s supposed to be taking her history, but gets as far as ogling the jailbait and figuring out what brought her to the hospital, “Cataplexy and catfight on the catwalk. Cool.” Cameron, in her luff/hate way, berates House for lusting after a child. The costume designer has put her in this high collared Victorian blouse for this episode which I think is hilarious! The ducklings try and come up with a viable diagnosis in the office while House sits off to the side ogling the model in a magazine spread. Tox screen shows she’s on smack, “Shocker” as Chase eloquently puts it. House shakes his head disappointedly, “Heroin Chic is so five years ago.” But the two of them move on to discuss her positive attributes and an age-old question – her breasts: real or fake? House: “Two clinic hours says those love apples (Har!) are hand crafted by God.” Foreman: “I thought you didn’t believe in God.” House: “I do now.” Cameron gets them back on track luffing and hating all of three of them at the same time. They can’t determine what course of action to take until the heroin is out of her system, so House tells them to induce coma and super detox her by pumping her with “good drugs” which will have her clean and sober in 24 hours. During the detox she has a heart attack and de-fibs but is revived and House goes on with the detox despite Manager/Dad’s objections.

Once the model is brought out of the coma, she’s got short-term memory loss. Foreman blames it on the few seconds without oxygen during the heart attack while House blames all of the symptoms on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. His initial diagnosis is based in the assumption that daddy’s been diddling his little girl. The ducklings think he’s nuts, but we know House is a lil’ psychic. Foreman questions House in the hallway; he thinks that the leg pain is effecting his decisions. House whips around and gives Foreman a bit o’ hairy eye and says, “You got a problem with the call I make, question the call. Don’t make it personal.” Foreman admirably stands his ground – unlike the folds-like-a-house-of-cards-Chase or the oh-so-sensitive-she-feels-the-pain-of-all-the-patients-Cameron – and tells House that he’s just concerned that the pain is causing him to rush the diagnosis. House thanks him for his concern and then turns around and yells down the hall to ManaDad, “Are you doing your daughter?” He gets ManaDad to admit to sleeping with his daughter one time and when House enters his office all righteous he’s hit with a new test result: elevated protein levels in her CSF. That almost sounds like I know what I’m talking about, right? This means it’s physical, not psychological, and they’re back to square one. Square one? That must mean we’re about ½ way thru the show. Cameron’s hung up on the whole sexual abuse and won’t let it go. She blames House’s indifference to the matter on his leg pain. House smacks his cane against the bookcase b/c he’s sick and tired of everyone questioning his methods. He tells them to go away and perform a brain biopsy. Surprise, surprise, Cameron tattles to Cutty.

Wilson wants to know how many patients House is going to kill before he admits the leg thing is a problem. “Three.” (Heh!) Wilson gives House an MRI to see if there is nerve activity in the brain. While he’s in the machine, Wilson says into the mic, “House, this is God.” He jokes God wants to schedule an appointment, so House tells him to check with Cameron (who keeps his schedule – she’s a glorified secretary! The other two wouldn’t put up with that kind of crap.), but God says, Not Cameron! She always wants to know why there’s so many things wrong with the world and he’s running out of excuses. But the joke gets swallowed up by the presence of Cutty who marches into the room and (finally!) reprimands House for not reporting the abuse and that she’s called the police and he’d better go along with the investigation or she’ll fire him. Cutty has a breaking point! Unbelievable! The MRI shows the nerves are not regenerating which leads Wilson to the conclusion that it’s all psychological. Heeeeey, isn’t that what House is saying about the model? Coincidence? I think not. Wilson says that House is manifesting his loss of Stacey as physical pain, so House whacks Wilson in the leg with his cane (which is getting a lot of non-walking-assistance use in this episode) and asks him if that hurts b/c Stacey’s gone. He is still in excruciating pain, and would prefer no more lectures from Wilson, so he asks Cutty for her help. He wants her to give him a shot of morphine in his spine. At first she refuses, but he shows her, and us for the first time, his leg and it is not pretty. His desperation is evident so she acquiesces.

House, in a better mood, has come up with a new diagnosis based on the model’s twitching when she’s off a particular IV. He determines it’s a cancer and to demonstrate he starts and stops her IV making her twitch and still at his command. “Let’s see if I can make her dance.” Wilson takes over from here and runs every test in order to find the tumor. He doesn’t find it. House double checks the results – looking at the mammogram, “Knew the twins were real. Chase owes me.” So he’s back to PTSD. That is until he’s paged to check on his clinic patient. Yea! Now that the Stacey scenes are gone it means we get to see House fill his clinic hours! These are some of the best scenes in the show. His patient is a man experiencing sympathetic pregnancy in a BIG way! He tells the wife, who’s in labour, to shut up and be thankful that she has the perfect husband, a woman. Then it clicks. He has Cameron do a last MRI and there it is as plain as day: the supermodel is a BOY! Those ain’t small ovaries, they be testes!! And the left one has a tumor on it. The boy thing explains the aggression and the tumor everything else. The model freaks out because as s/he admitted to Cameron about why s/he lied to the social worker about the abuse, s/he’s been seducing all the men in her/his life, including ManaDad who looks thoroughly disgusted, in order to get what s/he wants. “I am not that smart. I am that beautiful.” But I don’t think the menz are gonna want what you got no more, honay!
House needs another shot. He seeks out Cutty who is more than willing to oblige because, oh SNAP!, she gave him a placebo! It was all psychological after all. His new prescription? A piano with Vicodin on top. We end on the tortured soul playing a beautiful classical piece on his baby grand. (Sigh!)

Originally Posted by Highbrow

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[Grey's Anatomy] Children Do Not Act Like Horny Toads

In this week's narration, Meredith compares her "friends" to children, or more specifically how even as adults we tend to continue to act like children. I think it's the show's way of diverting your attention to what every episode of GA is about: SEX. Now we start off this week with Cristina doing something we can all relate to: dancing with reckless abandon when no one is around to judge. But this being a tv show, and a fairly formulaic one at that, she is inevitably caught in the act by her boyfriend. There's a moment of awkwardness before she decides to go with it and shimmies up to him and tries to get him to join her. But this is the great Dr. Preston Burke who possesses too much decorum for such silliness, right? Nope! It's fabulous to see Burke cut a rug and preform some well worn dance moves short of the running man! It's all fun and games until Cristina's other landlord calls to inform her that there's been a small flood in her other apartment. Oops....

Meanwhile, at the nursing home, the great Dr. Ellis Grey is indulging in a little silliness of her own. She's still under the delusion that she's still a resident at the hospital and coyly divulges to her daughter that she's having an affair with a co-worker and she wishes her husband had the backbone to leave her but that she'd have to do the deed herself and kick him out. Meredith is shocked. She obviously knew her father had left them after asked to do so by her mother, but she never knew why. Back at the hospital, Cristina's defending her actions to Meredith when she's cut off. "What's your problem?" "My Mother's a dirty whore."

Segue to Izzy lustfully looking at Alex who's looking right back at her. She tells him it was a one-time thing and won't happen again. He points out it was a four-time thing and everyone knows this ain't over by a long shot! And sorry to skip way ahead but this storyline just isn't worth going back to. Horny Izzy "tames the beast" by making it a two-more-time thing by episode's end. The show pretends that this is Izzy's main storyline, but it is obvious that the only reason she's around this ep is to be a sounding board for George's still unrequited luff for Mere. George has decided the time has come to take action and Izzy is there to support him. She's his liquid courage, which is apt since she herself is feeling a little heady from all the lust. So while we all shake our heads (Georgie! Meredith is too screwed up for a sweet guy like you! Besides, it's never gonna happen!!), Izzy, who's happy her own love life is finally headed in the right direction, doles out some ill-advice.

So there's Meredith at the nurses station. She is approached by the hhhhhhhhHOTEST male specimen ever to walk the floors of Seattle Grace Hospital and is subsequently hit on as the entire cast looks on. And funny I should say "hit," because that's exactly what McDreamy does to McHotty(?)! Can anyone give me a K-Ohhh! Mere is like, whatthebleep? And McDreamy simply says, "That was Mark." Chief is pissed that McDreamy would dare subject his $2mil/year hand on such uncouth behaviour in his hospital til he finds out who Mark is. Addison explains that the three of them were co-workers and friends back in NYC, that is until McDreamy found Addison and Mark doin' the horizontal mambo. Chief asks McDreamy if he put his weight behind the punch. "Yes." "Alright then."

Meredith is cleaning the cut on Mark's face. While doing so, he confronts her about being McDreamy's "Dirty Mistress" intern and that he's heard about her all the way back in NYC making her famous. She returns the "compliment" and is about to suture it up when he's all, you're kidding, right? Turns out hotstuff is the best plastic surgeon on the east coast and makes Mere hold up a mirror while he sews himself up. The other 4 interns are in the hallway watching the action thru the window. George wants to know why he'd suturing himself. "To turn me on," Cristina purrs. (heh) Then Meredith comes out and the girls try and figure out a good nickname for Mark. McSexy? McYummy? "No, I got it. McSteamy." Yesssss! Can I just point out here that this may be the best looking tv love triangle - actually quadruple including Meredith - since, well in my opinion they are the best looking quad ever according to this list. (It wasn't until 1/2 way through the show that I realized that McSteamy rhymed with McDreamy. Duh! Cut me some slack, I'd just come home from a weekend in NYC at it was midnight! In fact, if some of this stuff is out of order, the sleepiness I feel may have slightly warped my memory. I appolgize.) McSteamy tells Meredith that McDreamy must really like Meredith because when he came home and found his wife having sex with his best friend he just turned around and walked out. But a couple of words with Meredith turned Derek into a "contendah."

Mark finally catches Addison alone. We find out it wasn't just a one night stand, McSteamy is in love with Mrs. McDreamy! He says he's there to bring her home with him, but she tells him that she's not going to go anywhere b/c she's in love with her husband. "He's not in love with you. Why would you stick around for that?" Ouch! That's some tough lovin'! On the other hand, we all know he's just saying the words we've been screaming at the tv for the last season! Later in the episode we see a very familiar scenario: McSteamy tells Addison that he's going to the bar across the street and he'll be waiting for her if she chooses to come. McSteamy runs into Meredith who tells him that she never going to come. "You just don't give a guy like him up." But McSteamy says maybe this one time the "Dirty Mistresses" will be victorious. Then again maybe not....

There are a lot of other parallel stories in this episode. Meredith and McSteamy are not the only "Dirty Mistresses" in the show, so are the Chief and the dirtiest of them all, Cristina's old apartment. McDreamy and Thatcher (Mere's dad) are not the only men who run off when confronted with a DM, they are joined by Burke. Confrontations about the DMs abound. Realizing that McDreamy did the same thing that her father did, leave with no notice, she asks him if it would have been different if they'd had kids. He admits he wasn't sure if that would have changed his actions. Meredith goes to see the father she hasn't seen in over 20 years, but he seems to be the wimp Ellis is always complaining about. He has no excuse for not fighting harder to keep the family together, and when awkwardly he asks if she needs anything, she says not from him. McSteamy confronts the McDreamys and wonders why they can't all get along? McDreamy says that he has not forgiven Addison and there's no need to forgive Mark. Burke confronts Cristina and finally someone says while the other is awake, "I love you." And a bewildered Cristina replies with a "I gave up my apartment 20 mins ago." Well, actions do speak louder than words I suppose, and Burke seems to agree with me b/c he lets the matter go. The Chief thinks Meredith is confronting him about his affair with her mother, when in fact she doesn't know he's the one, and confronts Ellis about the matter. Finally, George tries to ask Meredith out to tell her about his luff for her, but, per usual, she doesn't hear him.

Other notes:
-Bailey's baby is the cutest thing EV-ER!
-The patients (what? there are actual medical cases on this show???) include a woman experiencing multiple spontaneous orgasms; a teenaged boy with lionitis that may make the medical books by letting McSteamy re-structure his face to appear more "normal" and brings out a softer side in Cristina but dies on the table while McDreamy - who can't stand that McSteamy will be operating with him - is trying to remove a tumor encroaching on his brain; and a man with a malignant heart tumor with a 25% chance of survival who makes tapes saying his peace to those who have wronged him in the past.
-Oh, and at the very end, George confronts a mixed-up Meredith for the 2nd time, at home in her bedroom, and gives a speech about how he loves her and how he would never leave her. In her self-destructive way, Meredith turns to George and begins to undress him while I yell, "Don't do it! You'll regret it later!" And a part of me believes this is a tease, that she will snap out if it before it's too late. My hopes are dashed shortly thereafter, for next week's teasers tell us that they have done the electric boogaloo and must face the consequences. Meredith, I hope he gave you syphilis, you "dirty whore"!!!

Originally Posted by Highbrow

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What to Watch This Week

New Eps this week: (apparently everyone else got out of the way of the showdown of Olympics vs. American Idol because most things are back on repeat this week)

Monday Feb 20th
House - Fox/Global - 8pm
24 - Fox/Global - 9pm

Tuesday Feb 21st
American Idol - Fox/CTV 8pm (2hrs)
Boston Legal - ABC/CH 10pm

Wednesday Feb 22nd
American Idol - Fox/CTV 8pm (2hrs)

Thursday Feb 23rd
Survivor: Exile Island - CBS/Global 8pm
American Idol Results - Fox/CTV 8pm
Dancing with the Stars - ABC 8pm (2hrs)

Sunday Feb 26th
Dancing with the Stars Finale - ABC/CTV 8pm (2hrs)
How I Met Your Mother - CH 9:30pm
Grey's Anatomy - ABC/CTV 10pm

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Desperate Housewives - Thank you So Much

Just as I was about to say that this show has picked itself up again since the new year, with 3 great episodes airing since January after a boring fall season, we go back to another boring episode. Mrs. Betty Applewhite, just as she was finally getting interesting, was nowhere to be seen, and even though we got an appearance from Harriet Samson Harris watching over sneaky grandpa, most of the episode brought little to further any major plotlines.
We had more of Susan’s fake marriage which led Edie to believe she was about to get engaged by accidentally finding a wedding ring and pre-nup in Karl’s briefcase. We had Brie babysitting Lynette’s kids and falling asleep drunk leading Lynette to write an accusatory note in all the empty wine bottles Brie drank, on Brie’s doorstep. We had Plumber Mike inform Paul Young of Zach’s grandfathers intention of keeping his claws on the boy, thus letting eavesdropping-Zach that Mike is his real father, and also uniting enemies Mike and Paul together to protect Zach.
Finally, there was the whole creepy story of Gabrielle’s mom visiting and volunteering to be a surrogate mother for Gabrielle, who had just found out that she cannot have a baby herself due to the complications from the fall when Caleb broke into their house. Now, this whole season has basically been about trying to get Eva Longoria an Emmy nom, since she has had the best lines, and the most range of emotional work to do, and Eva has pulled it off spectacularly, but this storyline was just too yucky to stomach, even though it was to get Carlos to realize Gabrielle’s true past and her how evil her mother really is. It also allowed Carlos to concede to adopting a baby. The big question this episode brought to light though was: When did Maria Conchita Alonso start looking like Charo?

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The Rest of this Week

Supernatural - The Benders - Hardy Boys Sam and Dean fight off the scariest of creatures this week. Not monsters, vengeful ghosts or untamed beasts but the motherlode of scary: The Human Psycho Redneck Hunter. This week, as the boys follow a lead of a disappearing man outside a bar, Sam himself gets caught and locked into a cage, only to figure out that they are "released" to become prey for a killer-happy family. Dean and unconvinced girlcop search, girlcop gets caught as well, and then after a few scenes of me hiding behind my hand, all survive and the rednecks are dead.

Boston Legal - Smile -
The Crazy Story of the Week - Brad (Mark "Jack Devereaux replacement" Valley) is blackmailed to help out "Denny Crane"'s fiance to save her cat Barry Manilow (do they think we don't watch Gilmore Girls and the dog Paul Anka?) from having the plug pulled off the resuscitator due to her ex-husbands' request.
Mildly Crazy but somewhat plausible Story of the Week - Alan Shore (James Spader) fights for a girl to be accepted into a private school because her mother believes she was turned away because the girl does not smile (due to the lost of muscles in her face after an accident). This is James Spader at his best, when he is dealing with a kooky case that is still heartfelt letting him show some dramatic range and not the surreal foolishness that begat the first half of this second season.
Important Story of the Week - Shirley Schmidt (the great Candice Bergen) teams up girl power style with Denise Bauer (Julie Bowen of "Ed" fame. Remember how I follow all "Ed" alum? watch Julie Bowen in Boston Legal or Lost and you will see why) to defend a pregnant-from-a-rape girl whose request for the Morning-After Pill was rejected at a Catholic hospital. We are finally getting to see more action with the female leads after a men-heavy first half of the season, and with Candice Bergen and Julie Bowen as counterpart for James Spader and William Shatner, including the end of show bonding session over drinks (and cigars for the boys), this show has finally seemed to find the right balance amongst their heavyweight actors which is the greatest part of this show. Still, no idea why Ryan Michelle Bathe is in the credits since we haven't really seen her since her introduction in the fall. Justin Mentell seems to have been sidelined off as well and only kept for some wallpaper* material (something nice to look at but kinda useless).

Freddie - Two Times a Lady - When did Brian Austin Green become funny? I mean intentionally funny?

Survivor: Exile Island - I can't remember anything in this episode anymore because I'm still traumatized/turned on(?) from the all-out wrestling in the immunity competition and trying to erase/remember it from my head. Misty gets the boot in the end, who was one of my picks for final four. So much for what I know.

Everybody Hates Chris - Everybody Hates the Lottery - I really like this show but I never really have anything to say about it. Although, Tichina Arnold deserves an Emmy just for her scenes where she is chewing her beloved Turtles.

Dancing with the Stars - Results Show - So did Michael Buble lower his ratings points by appearing on this show? or did the show just boost its points for snagging Michael Buble? I can't tell but I love the fact that this show can accommodate Buble, the Pussycat Dolls AND Barry Manilow (the real singer, not the cat). What demographics DOES this show have? So Jerry Rice's football fanbase apparently DO watch this show because he is safe but Lisa Rinna's soap opera fan base does not. What's happening to this world?

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