Overall, a very good winners' list. The nominees who were pipped to win won, The Social Network & Inception won their fair share of grandoise awards. Florence Welch performed 127 Hours' A.R Rahman original, 'As I Rise'. Gwyneth Paltrow performs a number too, though I ain't sure what that is - haven't got around to watching the videos. True Grit, nominated in 10 categories, went home empty-handed. Alright, I shan't watch it then.

Labels: Amazing Race

“Everyone has to uncover what our relation to our own mortality is; we have two choices: either go against it, or try to figure out a way around it like Tommy does.” - Director Mark Romanek

This Kazuo Ishiguro novel adaptation teaches us what it means to be human, and what inhumanities may be committed in the name of science. It is a treatise on mortality, on how frail humans cling to false hopes and happy rationales, desperately trying to distract themselves from the fate that eventually awaits us all.

The movie begins at an English boarding school called Hailsham, which was part of an alternate sci-fi universe in the 1970s. Ever so gradually did the school’s ostensible students discover that they were carefully nurtured clones who would die after donating their organs to long-lived residents of an England they were barely aware of.

It is fascinating (yet haunting depending on how you look at it) to watch the trio work their way through love, betrayal and reconciliation to a poignant peace with their fate.

Carey Mulligan lets us feel the emotions Kathy can’t express as she sits, alone on her bed, listening to an ancient cassette of songs by Judy Bridgewater. Things left unsaid only compound the tragic overtones of these seemingly joyless lives. Keira Knightley suggests Ruth’s fiery determination to not have her life’s course determined. And Andrew Garfield magnifies Tommy’s pliable innocence — a guy who isn’t quite as tuned in as Ruth or Kathy, the very embodiment of the hope that the film suggests is the one thing that keeps us going.

‘Never Let Me Go’ is such a meditative and delicate film that makes us consider our humanity, and theirs.

Labels: Movie Review

Jeff then revealed to all the castaways that unlike prior seasons, they will not be out of the game once they are voted out. Instead they will go to Redemption Island where they will live alone until the next person is voted out. The two will then duel to see who stays on Redemption Island and who goes home. At a certain point in the game, the remaining person on Redemption Island will be able to rejoin the game for another chance at the million-dollar prize.

At Ometepe, Rob assumes his role as leader again, and he earned himself a fanboy in Matt, also known as Fabio 2.0. It is at this point in time that the supposed former federal agent, Phillip, starts getting really disliked by his tribemates. He orders Francesca (or he calls her Franschequa) to dig the hole in a correct way.

Kristina is a desperate player who decided to search in the craftsman box for a clue to the hidden immunity Idol. Rob obviously catches sight of that, and confides in Phillip. It wasn’t Boston Rob’s smartest move, as Phillip immediately spilled the beans to Kristina, who found the hidden immunity idol on Day 3. She, Francesca and Phillip (the outcast alliance) planned on voting Rob out first.

The first immunity challenge was a lop-sided one, with Russell leading Zapatera to victory.

Kristina’s brains start doing all the clockwork. She thinks that her 3-way alliance was good enough to eliminate Rob. Even Francesca had the intelligence to understand that Rob was a strong competitor and he’ll be a huge asset to the tribe in the early phases of the game.

Being the veteran of the game, Rob was able to sense things were not going right, and told his 6-man alliance that he suspected that Kristina may have the hidden immunity idol; therefore they should flush it out by splitting the votes between Kristina and Francesca.

It wasn’t smart on Kristina’s part to show Phillip her hidden idol, because that started a whole chain of destructive events at Tribal Council. Francesca mentioned that Boston Rob was probably going to be fine, and this disturbs Phillip, who called Francesca out on it in front of everyone. Kristina then called Phillip unstable, and being really unstable, Phillip exposed the whole plan.

Rob asked Kristina to give him her idol in order to keep herself safe in the game, but she refused. The 6-men alliance pushed on with their plan, and with Phillip giving his vote to Francesca, she was therefore the first person voted off.

EPISODE 2

The highlight of Episode 2 was the mounting tension between Ralph and Russell at Zapatera. Russell thinks Ralph is the ‘dumbest person on the face of the earth’, but the ‘dumbest person’ found the hidden idol ahead of Russell.

At Ometepe, Rob saw the attraction between Matt and Andrea. He sensed that wasn’t good, because he knew ‘how strong a pair can be in this game, like Amber and [himself]’. Pretty loll-able. He shared his plan with Natalie. At this point, it seems to me that Rob’s having control of his entire tribe.

The second immunity challenge was a close one, but once again, Zapatera wins. Here comes the game-changer: Matt tried to be a good sport and congratulated Zapatera for their win. Rob caught sight of that, and that surely was not going down in his books. ‘Matt’s trying to play the good Christian game and the social game and the end game on day friggin’ five. Wake up brother.’ Haha.

Back at Zapatera, Russell, being his usual loser self, stole the clue to the hidden idol, and refused to admit to Ralph that he stole the clue. Epic fail.

At tribal, Kristina played her idol. Phillip expressed his interest in defeating his ‘nemesis’, Francesca, in the duel on Redemption Island should he get voted off. Rob was pretty smart in commanding Phillip to vote for Kristina, with just a simple tap on Kristina’s shoulder. This made Phillip think that Rob’s alliance wanted Kristina out, when really, Boston Rob knew Kristina would use her idol, and therefore allow Matt to get majority of the votes and get sent to Redemption Island. This episode probably just informed the audience that not all Fabios can win this game.

Labels: Survivor

Labels: Amazing Race

Labels: Idol