Cody and Jessica won The Amazing Race Season 30. I would have preferred other teams to win.

A lot of things are ending. This month is ending soon and that means my holiday is finishing. The two trips for this month (one to Perth, Australia for my graduation and the recent one to Zhangjiajie, China for vacation) were over. The 15-days Chinese New Year festival is also ending when this month concludes. And ‘The Amazing Race Season 30′, the reality television show that I have been catching on recently has also ended. I suddenly felt ’empty’. There is nothing more for me to look forward to in entertainment / leisure . Now, I’m getting nervous as I’m about to welcome the next stage in my life which is getting a job. No more long holiday…

As mentioned earlier, I have just finished watching the latest season of ‘The Amazing Race’. This show has now entered the 30th season (I have been following this since several years ago on its earlier seasons). If you didn’t know about this TV show, it’s a reality game where 11 teams of two complete tasks on every episodes to move forward till the final leg to win US$ 1 million. In this Season 30, teams traveled to Iceland, Belgium, Morocco, France, Czech Republic, Zimbabwe, Bahrain, Thailand, Hong Kong and finally back to United States.

As I was not around for the past week, I covered the last 4 episodes in a row for ‘The Amazing Race Season 30’. It was fun but I was not that happy with the outcome.

Team Indy (Alex & Conor) were eliminated in the second last leg at Hong Kong. They were a great team to watch. They have been on the 1st position multiple times in the earlier legs but luck is not on their side in the 11th leg. This leaves Team Big Brother (Cody & Jessica), Team Yale (Henry & Evan) and Team Extreme (Kristi & Jane) to become the final three teams to compete in the crucial last leg (12th leg) in San Francisco, USA. I’m going to be straightforward in my words. I don’t like Jessica from Team Big Brother. She literally contributed nothing in most of the show and yet her team ended up winning the race. This is mostly due to contribution by her partner, Cody who is very physically fit and has huge advantage in most tasks that require physical strength. That is so unfair to other teams particularly Team Extreme and even Team Indy when each members are equally good and competitive. Jessica is very weak and complained a lot throughout the entire season when even she has to do nothing much. She depends mostly on Cody who is a monster and handled a lot of things pretty quickly. Luck is also on her side in the final task that requires some puzzle solving.

Team Yale came in second place. Many other teams do not like this pair. However, I find them pretty likable actually. Yes, I knew that Evan is a bit arrogant, always overpowering Henry who is soft at all times and being cold to other teams frequently. But I think that is sometime necessary as this is still a competition. Her way of doing things here are still bearable. I have to admit that Henry has to listen to her sometimes as he get to be blur and weak in certain critical moments (especially in the last task when he actually solved the puzzle first but didn’t get the examiner to check, and that has costed this team the win and the US$ 1 million). Team Extreme is nice (hard to see such competitive and strong all-female team) but they tend to get stressed easily and eventually came in third place finish. So for now, this season is over and I’m already hoping that the next season will start very soon. This reality game show is exciting most of the times.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

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Third major stop of 2017 Hollywood film awards season: Screen Actors Guild Awards 2018

The 24th Screen Actors Guild Awards was held yesterday on 21st January 2018. It is the third of the five main trophies to be won in the annual awards season for Hollywood films. There were Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice before this Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Now, there are two more major ceremonies to follow to wrap up the honouring for 2017 films and they are the BAFTA and the Oscars.

I’m putting up the full list of winners (nomination list included) for both television and film categories. I am also putting in my opinion to summarize what I felt on the awards presented in film categories.

24th Screen Actors Guild Awards’ Full List of Winners

Motion Picture Awards

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Timothee Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”

James Franco, “The Disaster Artist”

Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”

Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour” *WINNER

Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Judi Dench, “Victoria & Abdul”

Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”

Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri” *WINNER

Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”

Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Steve Carell, “Battle of the Sexes”

Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”

Woody Harrelson,”Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”

Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” *WINNER

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound”

Hong Chau, “Downsizing”

Holly Hunter, “The Big Sick”

Allison Janney, “I, Tonya” *WINNER

Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Theatrical Motion Picture

“The Big Sick”

“Get Out”

“Lady Bird”

“Mudbound”

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” *WINNER

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

“Baby Driver”

“Dunkirk”

“Logan”

“Wonder Woman” *WINNER

“War for the Planet of the Apes”

Opinion: Looks like Gary Oldman (best actor), Frances McDormand (best actress), Sam Rockwell (best supporting actor) and Allison Janney (best supporting actress) are going to make a clean sweep at all the five major awards. They have done so in Golden Globes, Critics Choice and this SAG. They are certainly the frontrunners for the remaining ones; BAFTA and Oscars. Looks like the dark horses (Timothee Chalamet in best actor, Sally Hawkins in best actress, Willem Dafoe in best supporting actor, Laurie Metcalf in best supporting actress) appeared to have no longer posing any threat at this stage. Although I did not enjoy the movie ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’, but I have to admit that this film is going to be an Oscar frontrunner for best picture. It has won best motion picture-drama at Golden Globes, and won a number of acting awards in Critics Choice and this SAG. The other movie that is considered a strong contender now is ‘The Shape of Water’ (I prefer this one). However, I think its chance is lesser than ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ because the Academy members (comprising mostly of older generation) would not enjoy a sci-fi movie about a woman falling in love with an amphibian and will only consider it as a technical excellence. I’m also very surprised that ‘The Shape of Water’ or ‘Call Me By Your Name’ didn’t even get nominated for the cast ensemble (but ‘Get Out’, ‘Mudbound’ and ‘Lady Bird’ did). Last but not least, I’m delighted for ‘Wonder Woman’ to win the action performance by a stunt ensemble. Definitely an awesome movie. 

Television Awards

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Benedict Cumberbatch, “Sherlock”

Jeff Daniels, “Godless”

Robert De Niro, “The Wizard of Lies”

Geoffrey Rush, “Genius”

Alexander Skarsgard, “Big Little Lies” *WINNER

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

Nicole Kidman, “Big Little Lies” *WINNER

Jessica Lange, “Feud: Bette & Joan”

Susan Sarandon, “Feud: Bette & Joan”

Reese Witherspoon, “Big Little Lies”

Laura Dern, “Big Little Lies”

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Bateman, “Ozark”

Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us” *WINNER

Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones”

David Harbour, “Stranger Things”

Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Millie Bobby Brown, “Stranger Things”

Claire Foy, “The Crown” *WINNER

Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale”

Robin Wright, “House of Cards”

Laura Linney, “Ozark”

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson, “Black-ish”

Aziz Ansari, “Master of None”

Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”

Sean Hayes, “Will & Grace”

William H. Macy, “Shameless” *WINNER

Marc Maron, “GLOW”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Uzo Aduba, “Orange Is the New Black”

Alison Brie, “GLOW”

Jane Fonda, “Grace and Frankie”

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep” *WINNER

Lily Tomlin, “Grace and Frankie”

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

“The Crown”

“Game of Thrones”

“The Handmaid’s Tale”

“Stranger Things”

“This Is Us” *WINNER

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

“Black-ish”

“Curb Your Enthusiasm”

“GLOW”

“Orange is the New Black”

“Veep” *WINNER

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series

“Game of Thrones” *WINNER

“GLOW”

“Homeland”

“Stranger Things”

“The Walking Dead”

The next awards is the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) to be presented on 18th February 2018.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

 

2018 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards: Winners list

Here comes the second out of the five most prestigious film awards for the annual Hollywood award season. The 2018 (23rd) Critics’ Choice Awards was held yesterday that honours the best of television and movies in year 2017. I will only post the result for the film categories as I have not watched any television series from the West for the past year.

So, without wasting any more time, here’s below is the full winners’ list for 2018 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards alongside with the list of nominees and my opinions. Do note that the number of nominees for each categories are inconsistent as they range from 4 to 7 for normal categories and 10 for best picture category:

BEST PICTURE
“The Big Sick”
“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“The Florida Project”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water” – WINNER
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Opinion: Delighted for ‘The Shape of Water’ to win. I have just watched this movie recently and it was fantastic and brilliant. Looks like the Oscar race for best picture will be now only between ‘The Shape of Water’ and ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ which had just won Golden Globes last week in Best Motion Picture – Drama. I still prefer the former. I find nothing exceptional for ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’.

BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet – “Call Me by Your Name”
James Franco – “The Disaster Artist”
Jake Gyllenhaal – “Stronger”
Tom Hanks – “The Post”
Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out”
Daniel Day-Lewis – “Phantom Thread”
Gary Oldman – “Darkest Hour” – WINNER

Opinion: Expected result. Gary Oldman is overdue for awards and this is a perfect year for him. He is now the locked favourite to pick his first Oscar for best actor later. I’m quite happy that the list is expanded to 7 nominees in this category to fit in Jake Gyllenhaal as a little recognition to him as he has been very great in his recent film works. As for the other awards that has 5 nominees only for a category, he must be the one to be left out sadly.

BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – “Molly’s Game”
Sally Hawkins – “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” – WINNER
Margot Robbie – “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan – “Lady Bird”
Meryl Streep – “The Post”

Opinion: Looks like Frances McDormand is on her way to win her second Oscar. She is now also locked for best actress win in the remaining awards including the Oscars. She is great in ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ but I find Sally Hawkins to be much more exceptional from her performance in ‘The Shape of Water’. Besides that, I am also annoyed by Frances McDormand’s strong personality and rude attitude. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe – “The Florida Project”
Armie Hammer – “Call Me By Your Name”
Richard Jenkins – “The Shape of Water”
Sam Rockwell – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” – WINNER
Patrick Stewart – “Logan”
Michael Stuhlbarg – “Call Me by Your Name”

Opinion: Willem Dafoe lost a lot of momentum by losing to Sam Rockwell again in this Critics’ Choice after being defeated too at the Golden Globes. Looks like Sam Rockwell is climbing the stair very quick to the top of the race and he is now the frontrunner to snatch the Oscar later. Well, he deserved it as I find his performance in ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ excellent. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mary J. Blige – “Mudbound”
Hong Chau – “Downsizing”
Tiffany Haddish – “Girls Trip”
Holly Hunter – “The Big Sick”
Allison Janney – “I, Tonya” – WINNER
Laurie Metcalf – “Lady Bird”
Octavia Spencer – “The Shape of Water”

Opinion: Similar case to Willem Dafoe-Sam Rockwell situation. Allison Janney continued her winning streak by taking this Critics’ Choice for best supporting actress. She now overtakes the previous favourite, Laurie Metcalf. Well, I am equally amazed by both of their performances. 

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Mckenna Grace – “Gifted”
Dafne Keen – “Logan”
Brooklynn Prince – “The Florida Project” – WINNER
Millicent Simmonds – “Wonderstruck”
Jacob Tremblay – “Wonder”

Opinion: Jacob Tremblay had won this before and so I don’t think he would be winning again. Dafne Keen is great in ‘Logan’ but performance in superhero film is usually not sought after for awards. I have not watched ‘The Florida Project’ and hence I have no comment to the winner’s selection in this category.

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
“Dunkirk”
“Lady Bird”
“Mudbound”
“The Post”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” – WINNER

Opinion: Agree with this. Although I don’t think ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ is a masterpiece, but I have to admit that all the main cast (Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and other supporting cast) did amazing jobs in this movie.

BEST DIRECTOR
Guillermo del Toro – “The Shape of Water” – WINNER
Greta Gerwig – “Lady Bird”
Martin McDonagh – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Christopher Nolan – “Dunkirk”
Luca Guadagnino – “Call Me By Your Name”
Jordan Peele – “Get Out”
Steven Spielberg – “The Post”

Opinion: Happy for Guillermo del Toro to win. His direction is brilliant in ‘The Shape of Water’. He is now the hot favourite to pick the Oscar and that puts Christopher Nolan aside. Poor Nolan. He has directed some stellar works in the past but never win big. I hope his chance will come very soon again next time.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor – “The Shape of Water”
Greta Gerwig – “Lady Bird”
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani – “The Big Sick”
Liz Hannah and Josh Singer – “The Post”
Martin McDonagh – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Jordan Peele – “Get Out” – WINNER

Opinion: ‘Lady Bird’ is tipped to win this, but ended up losing to ‘Get Out’. Looks like ‘Lady Bird’ is not getting any love from Critics’ Choice. I have to admit that ‘Get Out’ do have a standout story in a horror theme, a genre that usually has typical and repetitive plots. 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
James Ivory – “Call Me by Your Name” – WINNER
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber – “The Disaster Artist”
Dee Rees and Virgil Williams – “Mudbound”
Aaron Sorkin – “Molly’s Game”
Jack Thorne, Steve Conrad, Stephen Chbosky – “Wonder”

Opinion: ‘Call Me By Your Name’ has its only chance here and yup, it won. Competition in adapted screenplay isn’t strong this year and so it makes way for ‘Call Me By Your Name’ to sweep multiple awards in this category easily including the coming Oscars.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins – “Blade Runner 2049” – WINNER
Hoyte van Hoytema – “Dunkirk”
Dan Laustsen – “The Shape of Water”
Rachel Morrison – “Mudbound”
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom – “Call Me By Your Name”

Opinion: Didn’t watch ‘Blade Runner 2049’ but I heard a lot of good words on that movie particularly on its technical achievements. 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, Jeff Melvin – “The Shape of Water” – WINNER
Jim Clay, Rebecca Alleway – “Murder on the Orient Express”
Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis – “Dunkirk”
Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola – “Blade Runner 2049”
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer – “Beauty and the Beast”
Mark Tildesley, Véronique Melery – “Phantom Thread”

Opinion: Glad that ‘The Shape of Water’ win this one too because it clearly has amazing production design that successfully enables me as an audience to immerse myself into the movie. 

BEST EDITING
Michael Kahn, Sarah Broshar – “The Post”
Paul Machliss, Jonathan Amos – “Baby Driver” – WINNER
Lee Smith – “Dunkirk” 
Joe Walker – “Blade Runner 2049”
Sidney Wolinsky – “The Shape of Water”

Opinion: Happy for a recognition to ‘Baby Driver’. It was a great movie. The editing is brilliant in that one. However, I have a feeling that ‘Baby Driver’ will not win for the coming Academy Awards in this category as usually a film winning this award will be getting a best picture nomination in Oscars’ history. ‘Baby Driver’ certainly won’t be getting a best picture nomination.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Renée April – “Blade Runner 2049”
Mark Bridges – “Phantom Thread” – WINNER
Jacqueline Durran – “Beauty and the Beast”
Lindy Hemming – “Wonder Woman”
Luis Sequeira – “The Shape of Water”

Opinion: There has to be something for ‘Phantom Thread’. And yup, Critics’ Choice found a category for it. I would prefer ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to take this.

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP
“Beauty and the Beast”
“Darkest Hour” – WINNER
“I, Tonya”
“The Shape of Water”
“Wonder”

Opinion: Gary Oldman’s transformation as Winston Churchill in ‘Darkest Hour’ is something that many people talked about. The make-up is incredible and it makes me not even able to recognize that it was Gary Oldman. So, a win for ‘Darkest Hour’ in this category is expected.

BEST SONG
“Evermore” – “Beauty and the Beast”
“Mystery of Love” – “Call Me By Your Name”
“Remember Me” – “Coco” – WINNER
“Stand Up for Something” – “Marshall”
“This Is Me” – “The Greatest Showman”

Opinion: ‘This Is Me’ won in Golden Globes but ‘Remember Me’ won in Critics’ Choice now. So, it’s the battle between these two in the remaining awards. I’m okay with any of these two songs winning.

BEST SCORE
Alexandre Desplat – “The Shape of Water” – WINNER
Jonny Greenwood – “Phantom Thread”
Dario Marianelli – “Darkest Hour”
Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer – “Blade Runner 2049”
John Williams – “The Post”
Hans Zimmer – “Dunkirk”

Opinion: Another expected and satisfying outcome. Alexandre Desplat crafted a simple yet magical soundtrack for ‘The Shape of Water’. The score adds extra layer to the movie.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Blade Runner 2049”
“Dunkirk”
“The Shape of Water”
“Thor: Ragnarok”
“War for the Planet of the Apes” – WINNER
“Wonder Woman”

Opinion: Also happy for ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ to win as that was the last movie in its film franchise. The creation of the realistic apes in the movie is a challenging task to do and yet so amazingly delivered in this movie.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“The Breadwinner”
“Coco” – WINNER
“Despicable Me 3”
“The LEGO Batman Movie”
“Loving Vincent”

Opinion: ‘Coco’ all the way. Everybody is now 100% sure that ‘Coco’ will take the same prize in the coming Oscars too. This wonderful movie has been snatching almost all of the precursor awards and it totally deserves all of them. 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“BPM (Beats Per Minute)”
“A Fantastic Woman”
“First They Killed My Father”
“In the Fade” – WINNER
“The Square”
“Thelma”

Opinion: No comment in this category as I have not watched all of the nominated films. 

BEST ACTION MOVIE
“Baby Driver”
“Logan”
“Thor: Ragnarok”
“War for the Planet of the Apes”
“Wonder Woman” – WINNER

Opinion: Delighted for ‘Wonder Woman’ to win. I had an awesome time watching it months ago. Brilliant movie and is the ‘only’ brilliant movie by DC in recent years.

BEST COMEDY
“The Big Sick” – WINNER
“The Disaster Artist”
“Girls Trip”
“I, Tonya”
“Lady Bird”

Opinion: I am surprised that ‘Lady Bird’ lost for this one. Even if ‘Lady Bird’ lost, I would thought of it losing to ‘I, Tonya’ or ‘The Disaster Artist’. It ended up losing to ‘The Big Sick’, a movie that has not received a lot of awards buzz. I’m surprised.

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Steve Carell – “Battle of the Sexes”
James Franco – “The Disaster Artist” – WINNER
Chris Hemsworth – “Thor: Ragnarok”
Kumail Nanjiani – “The Big Sick”
Adam Sandler – “The Meyerowitz Stories”

Opinion: Expected. James Franco won here after similar win in Golden Globes few days ago. Well, his winning will end here as there are no longer separate category for acting performance in musical/comedy in the remaining award presentations. It will be all just nominations for him from here onward.

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Tiffany Haddish – “Girls Trip”
Zoe Kazan – “The Big Sick”
Margot Robbie – “I, Tonya” – WINNER
Saoirse Ronan – “Lady Bird”
Emma Stone – “Battle of the Sexes”

Opinion: Saoirse Ronan surprisingly lost to Margot Robbie here. Again, another surprise. Saoirse Ronan won in Golden Globes but now Margot Robbie came into the light by winning in this Critics’ Choice. But I’m actually happier that Margot Robbie won as I find that her performance is slightly better than Saoirse Ronan. Anyway, both of them are sure to be nominated for best actress in the coming Academy Awards but they won’t be able to win. So, it is very obvious that ‘Lady Bird’ is totally shut out in Critics’ Choice to the shock of many people.

BEST SCI-FI OR HORROR MOVIE
“Blade Runner 2049”
“Get Out” – WINNER
“It”
“The Shape of Water”

Opinion: This is the category for ‘Get Out’ to win. Enough said. 

The next major Hollywood film awards will be the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) to be held on 21st January 2018.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

The month of June starts with the end of The Amazing Race 29

I have been following every episodes of The Amazing Race Season 29 each week. I have actually followed this reality television show for several continuous seasons by now. I love this program which sees a number of teams in pair travelling across the world, completing tasks, having arguments within themselves or with other teams, experiencing difficulties, brace the extreme challenges and sweating it all out to win the final grand prize of US$ 1 million. In this Season 29, the teams are formed by choosing within the group of individual participants who are completely stranger to one another.

I look forward to the new episodes every weekend and they traveled to countries like Panama, Brazil, Norway, Italy, Greece, Vietnam, South Korea, etc to complete tasks. Matt and Redmond are a great team that I first foresee their potential to win this season of The Amazing Race. They have been performing very well and consistently in every episodes. However, their poor decision of choosing train as their mode of transport in Seoul and the carelessness of their taxi driver later on the same day who brought them to other location has cost their opportunity to win the race. What a bad day that turns everything over for them! They were the last team to get kicked out before the final leg which is so unfortunate.

The final 3 teams that successfully proceed to the final leg are Scott and Brooke, Tara and Joey, and London and Logan. These 3 pairs were always considered the underdogs earlier on as they have not performed very well in the earlier legs. And to my surprise, luck is on Scott and Brooke’s (picture below) side on the last two crucial legs. Everything seems to be very smooth for this pair and they indeed win the race in the end and won the 1 million dollar. A huge congratulation to them! I actually find it unexpected because they are actually one of the weaker teams as compared to the rest. I also cannot stand the consistent whining by Brooke in every legs. She is too annoying and unbearable throughout the whole race. She can’t even do a simple task properly and loves to scream ‘I’m dying’ even at simple task of just running around. Scott should just get the whole bunch of the 1 million dollar just for putting up to her. Brooke do not deserve a single cent from this win. She should seriously work on her attitude. She now literally becomes my most hated person in The Amazing Race series, and will not be remembered as the winner of this reality show. Now, I have to wait for the next one, The Amazing Race 30 and I hope it will be out very soon. That will be the iconic 30th edition of the show!

On the other hand, did TVB has no new own dramas to show now? It has two timeslots every evening on the television. TVB ended up putting a mainland China drama and an old local drama made 10 years ago currently. This is a very bad move. People will just move away from their dramas for now. TVB should really appreciate the viewers and not letting them leave with such move especially in this year when the station will celebrate its 50th anniversary. I’m sure you have a lot of other completed dramas in shelf ready to be released out. I have no choice but to watch ‘Phoenix Rising’ now, a drama that was actually made a decade ago and they choose to release it now. They did release this drama earlier on though in oversea market.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Finished The Amazing Race 27…and the other much bigger news; this is my 1700th blog post!

First of all, a huge announcement need to be made first; My blog had reached another milestone on this day, by having a total of 1700 blog posts to date. This blog post is exactly the 1700th of this blog. Wonderful! Target achieved before the end of the year of which I have set or forecast earlier. What a great news…my Sunday couldn’t be more happier in marking this accomplishment.

Producing 100 blog posts is already a no-easy task, and now I have went so far beyond, and reached 1700 today. I believe not many bloggers out there can have that much of posts in less than 8 years. So far, in this year alone, I have written over 200 blog posts which obviously shows that my blog is very active and frequently updated, and that I’m very hardworking and passionate about blogging. Haha…taking this opportunity to praise myself.

Well, on this Sunday too is the day I finished watching ‘The Amazing Race Season 27’ after gone through its exciting final episode (12th episode) just now. If you didn’t know, I have been catching up with this US television programme for many seasons already (about several teams of 2 person each racing around the world and performing tasks to avoid getting eliminated in each episode) and this latest one is not excluded. I’m happy that my favourite pair, Kelsey and Joey won the race as well as the awesome US 1 million dollar prize. From the beginning, I have been in favour of this pair as they are kind, good, seldom quarrel and always performed tasks in very efficient way. However, in the earlier stages, they always ended up being in the second place. Fortunately, luck is on their side at the most crucial last leg and they won the race after having gone through 5 continents and 10 countries with the other two finalist teams.

The other two teams which succeeded into the final leg are Justin and Diana and Chris and Logan. Justin and Diana had been conquering the earlier legs (winning many of them) but cab issue had cost them the final leg. They are really one strong team to beat as seen in their dominating leads in earlier rounds. However, I find the attitude of Justin to be quite bad and he is always being cocky. I’m okay with them ended up in first runner-up in the end. Chris and Logan are famous for frequent quarrel and they surprisingly made it into the final 3. It’s the best that they can do already. Now, another season has ended and I have to wait for the next one. The season 28 should be on early next year.

I am also quite excited today because the TVB Anniversary Awards 2015 is going to be held tonight. Too bad, I couldn’t watch it live because I have a full-moon dinner to attend tonight as my cousin’s newborn baby would be celebrating 1-month (full moon) today. Nevertheless, I would still catch up to the results as soon as possible and will write a blog post about it later on. And on the other hand, in about less than a week later, I have another dinner to attend and this time it is my cousin’s wedding dinner. That’s it for my 1700th blog post on this lovely Sunday.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)

Oscar season is back with line-up of many great movies coming soon…

As we are approaching the last few months of the year, it is also the time when we shall get ourselves prepared for many upcoming movies to be released before the end of 2015 that are tipped for Oscar glory early next year. ‘Birdman’, Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore winning Oscars early this year will become history as attention is now redirected to potential films this year that could score big in the world’s most prestigious film awards, the Academy Awards next year.

Well, some of you would say that it is a bit too early now to talk on this topic as the next Oscars is still more than five months away. However, there have been already many polls, forums and websites out there debating and making their early predictions for 2016 Oscars, much earlier than me. I have been a keen follower of the Oscars in these recent years by watching many of the Oscar winning and nominated films in the past. I have had also many of my predictions for Academy Awards early this year accurate.

The first film that made its mark as a strong contender for next year’s Oscars is ‘Carol’, a film that received critical acclaim after being premiered in Cannes Film Festival in the past May. The film about a woman falling for an older, married woman starred Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Rooney had already won the Best Actress from Cannes from her role in this film. But everyone is expecting her to be better if placed in supporting actress category for Oscars next year, and she looks like an unbeatable frontrunner in that particular category. This will eventually allows Cate Blanchett to potentially shine again in leading actress category next year for her similarly astonishing performance as judged by the critics in Cannes. Cate Blanchett is one of my favourite actresses and I’m looking forward to watch ‘Carol’. Ohh…by the way, she’s the evil stepmother in ‘Cinderella’ film early this year too.

Not long ago, a movie trailer for ‘The Revenant’ is released, starring Leonardo diCaprio and Tom Hardy, which is about a frontiersman setting out on a path of vengeance against those who left him for dead after a bear mauling. Directed by the most recent Academy Award winning director, Alejandro G. Innaritu, people see this film as finally a smooth road for Leonardo diCaprio to get his Best Actor statue. He is definitely long overdue and if he is really doing absolutely great in this movie, then I have no problem anticipating him to get the trophy. But wait…as usual, the competition for best actor race is always tight and compacted every year. Who is there to prevent that from happening again?

He is Eddie Redmayne, who had just won the most recent Academy Award in best actor from his portrayal as Stephen Hawking in ‘The Theory of Everything’. He is now looking good to win back-to-back Oscars as he has one wonderful film coming up by this November. The movie is ‘The Danish Girl’, one of my most anticipated films this year after looking at the first teaser image of Eddie portraying as a woman in the movie. The movie, inspired by a true story of Lili Elbe, one of the first people to undergo gender change surgeries is tipped for Oscar glory. The first trailer for the movie had just been released yesterday, and many were already abuzz about it. Here’s the trailer that got me watching it for about 5 times.

Directed by Academy Award winning director Tom Hooper, starring Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne and also Alicia Vikander, an exceptionally great newcomer actress that is predicted to make it big in Hollywood very soon, there is no way Academy members would put this movie aside. The movie’s release is also considered very timely as this is a big year of America’s transformation in LGBT issue. It has all the Oscar-bait elements, and if the movie is really good in the end, then I’m quite sure it will be receiving multiple nominations in 2016 Academy Awards. The 2-minutes long trailer of the movie is already very touching and captivating. The movie will premier in Venice Film Festival this weekend.

Other films that could be in the slot for Best Picture nominees are ‘Steve Jobs’, ‘Bridge of Spies’, ‘In The Heart Of The Sea’, ‘Suffragette’, ‘The Hateful Eight’, ‘Joy’, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, etc. Well, this is just my very preliminary prediction as all of the films mentioned above have not been released yet except for Mad Max which is surprisingly good. Check out trailers for ‘Steve Jobs’ and ‘In The Heart Of The Sea’ below too.

It’s certainly a good day for many nice movie trailers! Haha….

The Amazing Race 26’s highlights.

‘The Amazing Race’ has been my only interested English reality TV show currently after ‘Fear Factor’. It’s a waste that ‘Fear Factor’ is not running anymore with unknown reason. In recent years, I have been catching up with all the latest seasons of ‘The Amazing Race’ which is about a competition where over 10 teams (two in a team) race around the world and complete tasks to win USD$ 1 million in the end. The broadcast of the show had now reached its 26th season with initial broadcast over at the US ending on May 15, 2015. It has only recently started airing at AXN channel in Malaysia. Well, the only way for me to watch all the 12 episodes in this Season 26 is through online for free.

And yup….I managed to watch all the episodes in 2 days. One episode on Thursday and a whopping eleven episodes on Friday. That’s equal to over 7 hours spent watching on Friday alone. That’s crazy and creepy. Well, you can do that if you have nothing to do and don’t mind having a neck pain and slight headache after that. I’m just very interested on the show, which kept me craving for the next and the next episodes. It has the suspense, climax and intensity in every episodes and the show also taught me various cultures and places across the world where the teams are racing. So, it’s fun and gaining knowledge at the same time from watching the show.

In this 26th season, six existing couples and five blind date teams (who met for the first time at the start of the race) raced across 5 continents, visited 9 countries (Japan, Thailand, Germany, France, Monaco, Namibia, Netherlands, Peru, United States) and traveled approximately 35 000 miles for the USD$ 1 million prize. Only one will win it in the end. It must be hard for the five blind date teams as they have only met their partner when the show started. They don’t know their teammate beforehand. There must be a lot of issues (like communication problem, quarrels, attitudes problem, etc) for them, but ironically, all the three final teams that successfully went into the last leg are the blind date teams. Also not to forget one existing couple team that manage to proceed to the last leg but still eliminated in early stage of the final leg.

Laura Pierson and Tyler Adams won this season of ‘The Amazing Race’. I’m happy for them. They are steady, stable and filled with positive energy during the race most of the time. Jelani and Jenny finished in second place, and I’m glad for them too. Jenny is a strong and tough girl. She is exerting authority most of the time, leaving Jelani only looks like following orders from his teammate. Pity Jelani. Hayler and Blair finished third. In the 10th and 11th leg, they stayed at the top among the other teams, making them as the frontrunner for the champion title. But in the last leg, a fatal mistake made by Hayley at Reunion Tower, Dallas caused them the USD$ 1 million. Talking about Hayley, she was the most annoying person in this season. She is weak, clumsy, irritating, and has bad attitude most of the time. Eventhough her teammate Blair do make mistakes some of the time, but she is the one that makes the team fall behind all the time. A big pity for Blair in getting this horrible teammate. He had been very calm and patient on dealing with her already.

In this season, the teams made a lot of selfies. Interesting. There is even one team that missed a train while they were taking a selfie, causing a delay on their race. Opps. Selfie Fail. I’m informed that the 27th season of ‘The Amazing Race’ is currently filming. Good. Looking forward to it. It is scheduled to premier on 25th September 2015 and to finish airing by end of the year (I guess). Keep it running. Don’t make it stop. I just love this show. As the show’s title said, it’s really amazing.

(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)