Month: January 2008

The Biggest Loser 5 Episode 4

Yet another team with only one person’s heart in the game was eliminated in The Bigest Loser 5 Episode 3, as despite Amanda’s best efforts, Neill slacking off irritated the rest of the teams. At the end of the episode, Alison posed a question: if they could vote out one team, right now, who would that be?

She gives them an hour to think about it. They can only discuss it with their own teammates. Maggie and Jenn feel guilty because everybody voted for them to stay, which means they have to vote against someone they feel helped save them. They decide they want to go for the strongest team. Jackie wants to target Mark and Jay, but Dan suggests this is a risky strategy as it sends too strong a signal considering they may not actually go home. Her response, which is equally worth considering, is that if they don’t vote for them, they risk getting the most votes themselves. Mark & Jay and Roger & Trent employ a similar strategy, considering the teams who have been below the yellow line. Paul wants to vote for Mark & Jay. Kelly wants to at least consider Roger & Trent, an argument that Paul can’t really debate, so he says he cares more about the fact that Trent needs to be there.

Votes
Paul & Kelly: Mark & Jay
Bernie & Brittany: Mark & Jay
Maggie & Jenn: Paul & Kelly
Mark & Jay: Paul & Kelly
Roger & Trent: Maggie & Jenn
Jackie & Dan: Maggie & Jenn
Bette-Sue & Ali: Paul & Kelly

With three votes, Paul & Kelly have been chosen. I’d like to say I can understand the logic behind these votes, but the majority of them don’t make a great deal of sense. That’s probably because there are alliances on both sides who are more concerned about voting out people not aligned with them than people who are going to put up bigger numbers. Kelly gives what is essentially a goodbye speech, but Alison tells her she’s not going home. It’s all vs. one. For the next week, everybody else’s only competition is the yellow team. If they have a greater percentage of weight loss than all the other teams combined, they can choose who goes home. If they don’t, they go home. A lot of power but also a lot of danger, particularly considering how big a week they had last week as The Biggest Loser team of the week. Then again, last week was a big week for everybody following a bad week two. They can pick one trainer to focus exclusively on them. They pick Jillian. Paul’s ready for battle. Game on.

Now they get a bit of good news. They hike up the hill to choose what they want as their reward for winning last week. Paul has a one track mind focused on gameplay. She’s going on and on about sheets and phone calls and other stuff that’s not going to make as big a difference as a gameplay option, especially in a week where they either win or go home. He repeatedly insists on gameplay. She comes up with a compromise, where if they win and get a reward next week, he’ll have to consider one of the other options, which won’t make any sense then either, but whatever. The reward is an additional two pounds at weigh-in of their choice, which obviously will be this week.

Jillian tries to talk some sense into Paul and his warrior spirit. While he should definitely fight to stay, she’s concerned that they’ll run the risk of alienating everybody else. Not taking the hint, when asked by the other teams what they won for a prize, they say they can’t tell them.

Aside from being a paid advertisement, the breakfast segment has a point: don’t skip breakfast, or your metabolism will pay the price.

The challenge is running across balance beams above water, grabbing pegs, and filling in a board. Every player must get at least one peg. If this were about running, Paul & Kelly would be in big trouble, but since the key is balance and multiple people on the other team have little balance, they have a shot. They are playing for letters from home. Mark gets across with relative ease. Paul’s a ways behind, but Bernie struggles, allowing Paul to get a good lead. Roger does a decent job but is unable to come close to the gap Bernie’s created. However, Jackie goes faster than anybody else, but even still is only able to bring their team behind by one. Trent’s struggling even more than Bernie did. A 400 pound guy and a balance beam don’t mix well. It’s pretty clear the gap is now too big to close, as Paul is now two ahead. Kelly’s on the sidelines waiting for her one turn, and he has absolutely no interest in letting her go. Trent gets to the middle and falls. He must return to the start. By the time Jay starts, he’s behind by five pegs. Paul & Kelly win the challenge. Kelly’s thrilled to get the letters, but Paul couldn’t care less. He’s more concerned about what he’s there to do, which he should be. As an interesting gesture, they agree to forego the letters in exchange to allow the other team to all get letters. Not only does it keep them focused, but it’s a chance to earn some points with the other teams.

Now things are starting to get interesting. Dan & Jackie, Paul & Kelly, Bernie & Brittany, and Maggie (but not Jenn) form an alliance. The plan is to throw the weigh in because this represents the best opportunity to get rid of Mark & Jay, who if left in the game are one of the biggest threats and unlikely to go below the yellow line. Bob not so subtly suggests that gameplay would suggest throwing the weigh in but says he doesn’t want to be blindsided.

We then switch gears from the gameplay aspect of things to the warm fuzzy tearful letters from home. But it’s not long before it’s time to get back in the game and head to the scales. Before the weigh in starts, it’s revealed that Mark & Jay have one last hope. The team with the highest percentage of weight loss this week will be immune. Since half of the teams, including two of the stronger teams, planned to throw the weigh in, they have a good chance.

Bette-Sue: 224 (-7)
Ali: 198 (-8)
Total: -15 pounds, 3.43%

Roger: 331 (-12)
Trent: 375 (-13)
Total: -25 pounds, 3.48%

Bernie: 241 (-7)
Brittany: 201 (-2)
Total: -9 pounds, 2.00%

Bob gets suspicious, but Brittany pulled a -1 in week two when she was trying. Not sure where Bernie learned to throw a weigh in, though.

Mark: 235 (-14)
Jay: 258 (-10)
Total: -24 pounds, 4.64%

Maggie: 218 (-3)
Jenn: 229 (-7)
Total: -10 pounds, 2.19%

No suspicions seem to arise here.

Jackie: 214 (-2)
Dan: 264 (-1)
Total: -3 pounds, 0.62%

If ever there were a dead giveaway, this is it. Nothing like Neil gaining 17 pounds last season, but this has been such a strong team that it’s not like some of the girls whose low numbers can just be dismissed. Mark wants revenge.

Group Total: 2.81%

With the 2 pound weight prize, Paul & Kelly need more than 12 pounds lost to survive.

Paul: 260 (-9)
Kelly: 240 (-8)
Total: -17 pounds and -2 pounds, 3.39%

Without the group effort to save them, Paul & Kelly probably would have been toast. Mark & Jay are safe, though, throwing the original plan out the window. With that said, there is one team that is not in the alliance with them and also voted for them at the top of the show: Bette-Sue & Ali. Logically, though, Roger & Trent are a bigger threat.

They vote out Bette-Sue & Ali. They go out on a pretty sour note at the table, but their confessional after that almost makes up for it. Bette-Sue is now down 49 pounds to 212 pounds from her starting weight of 261. Ali is now down to 173 pounds from 234 for a total of 61 pounds.

Next week, it becomes an individual game. Someone will lose their partner.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 5, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 10

After coming in last three times in a row, Terri & Henry were finally eliminated in The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 9, while Rovilson & Marc and Adrian & Collin continued their dominance, placing first and second as per usual. Meanwhile, Paula & Natasha got screwed over by a poorly planned intersection, causing them to have to wait for 5 hours and fall way behind the rest of the pack.

First: Rovilson & Marc (11:44pm)
Second: Adrian & Collin (11:58pm)
Third: Ann & Diane (12:33am)
Fourth: Vanessa & Pamela (12:37am)
Fifth: Paula & Natasha (5:05am)

Teams will head by train to Budapest, Hungary, 443km away

First train (via Vienna, 5:00am, arrives 90 minutes earlier): Adrian & Collin
Second train (direct, 7:30am): Rovilson & Marc, Vanessa & Pamela, Ann & Diane, Paula & Natasha

If it were an airport, they’d have probably been in deep trouble, but since it’s a train station, Paula & Natasha have plenty of time to catch up to the others. Adrian & Collin, with their smart play, are far enough ahead that they should be able to come out on top for a change.

The first destination is Batthyany Square on the Danube River. The clue there tells them to drive to Magyar Farm, 20km outside Budapest. Manual cars. Before the race, learn them, love them, or at the very least be semi-competent driving them. We’ve seen it before, and we’ll see it again. Not good news for some of these teams.

The detour is a choice between pitch or pull. In pitch, teams must stack hay onto a cart and deliver it to a farmer. In pull, teams must milk a goat and collect 200ml of milk. Given the choice of a highly physical task or a task involving animals (notoriously difficult to work with), the physical task typically is the better option.

Pitch: Adrian & Collin, Paula & Natasha, Ann & Diane (after switching from pull), Rovilson & Marc
Pull: Vanessa & Pamela (after seeing the others doing pitch)

Despite their early problems with the manual car, Paula & Natasha manage to arrive in second place. Rovilson & Marc, who are the only team of the four comfortable with the driving, get held up while trying to find the place.

The clue given at the detour is for the road block. They will travel to the nearby town of Visegrad to Canopy Fun Extreme and complete multiple sections of the flying fox course. There’s also some basic addition involved, which may be tougher for some than others, but it could actually be the most difficult part of the whole thing.

Road block (in order of arrival): Adrian, Natasha, Diane, Marc, Pamela

Adrian gets it wrong on his first attempt but is correct the next time and still well ahead. Natasha also gets it wrong her first time. This gives Diane the advantage, or so she thinks. Ann took off to familiarize herself with driving the car. A worthwhile thing to do as we’ve seen from Pamela & Vanessa’s trouble this leg, but just bad timing to do it. Because of this, Marc is allowed to go ahead and do the road block, which is one at a time, first come, first served. Marc is the only one to get it right the first time. Diane is incorrect on her first try. Natasha’s second attempt is correct. Pamela is incorrect on her first try. Diane is correct on her second attempt, as is Pamela.

Teams will proceed to the Hercules Fountain featured on the 1000 forint Hungarian note. From there, they will head to the pitstop for this leg of the race, Salamon Tower Lower Castle, where they must take the correct entrance, which proves a bit of a challenge. While this gives us some drama, it’s still pretty obvious who will win this leg. Rovilson & Marc go the right way and rush into the tower incognito (hidden behind branches). These two are always good for a laugh. Like Adrian & Collin, Pamela & Vanessa also go the wrong way.

First: Adrian & Collin (win Nokia N95 and Nokia N73)
Second: Rovilson & Marc
Third: Pamela & Vanessa
Fourth: Ann & Diane
Fifth: Paula & Natasha (non-eliminated)

This leg was Pamela & Vanessa’s to lose, and beyond the car troubles, Vanessa’s nervous breakdowns are getting old. They didn’t spend a great deal of time on what happened to the other two teams, but it’s obvious they had difficulty finding the Hercules Fountain. Unlike the previous two non-elimination legs, I’m pleased with this one. Paula & Natasha ran a good leg and had just one mishap. They must come in first next time, or they will receive a 30 minute penalty. They’re hoping their allies will come through and yield another team (the moms) if a yield does come up. If nothing else, this leg shows us that nothing’s ever for certain and that one little thing can have a huge impact.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 2 episode 11.

The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 4

Gene Simmons made perhaps the dumbest decision of anybody on any episode of The Apprentice in The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 3. Whether his decision was an intentional out because he didn’t want to be “stuck” doing this show is up for debate, but at the end of the day, it left Donald Trump with no choice but to fire him. Nely Galan, who I thought should have been fired the week before, became Trump’s primary target, but he didn’t even have the chance to fire her, which he was not happy about. The women are flailing about aimlessly, while multiple men are strong contenders, so now it’s a question of whether the women can overcome their three in a row losing streak.

Nely takes Gene’s move as an act of respect for her. Piers Morgan was just happy to have Gene out of there, as he was certainly good competition.

As the winning project manager last week, Tito Ortiz is able to give a check to his charity, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

This week’s guest judge is Vince McMahon of the WWE. He and Trump had a bet going not too long ago where the loser shaved his head, and Trump unfortunately won. I say shave, start all over, and see what happens anyway.

They will have two hours to sell Broadway tickets. Vincent Pastore and Marilu Henner are the two project managers. Both have experience in the theater. Marilu’s team is real impressed with her, and she takes control early. Of all the women, she’s the only one who stands out as actually having a chance of winning this thing. However, Vinny loses control early, as he’s got the typical strong personalities to deal with.

Stephen Baldwin wants to be the negotiator for their team, but Piers would rather have him on the phone calling his contacts. Instead, Vinny takes Lennox Lewis with him. Marilu picks Omarosa to negotiate with her. Though the negotations are tense, the women get both their top two choices and overall are happy with what they get.

Piers and Stephen continue to argue over the direction to take, and Piers calls him a shallow little man. Piers wants to hit big contacts up; Stephen doesn’t want to waste time with calling people. Despite their arguing, though, they’re picked to work together making calls, and they work together well, laughing at what happened earlier.

Nely’s on a mission to prove she’s not a loser.

Bob Saget steps away from 1 Vs. 100 for a while to make a cameo appearance here. Piers dresses up like King Arthur and is told he’s embarrassing himself, but he doesn’t care because it’s drawing attention.

Omarosa doesn’t trust Jennie at all, and Jennie’s once again been assigned a task that doesn’t let her show anything.

The guys have a scare at the last minute. Piers was able to get a pledge from Richard Branson at Virgin. With 8 minutes remaining, the people with the check have not shown up yet.

With less than two minutes to spare, the drama is over, and they show up with the check. The girls have a similar scare. Nely’s waiting for some money to show up with less than two minutes to spare as well. They don’t make it apparent whether this happened or not.

Vince McMahon raises concern that the women weren’t using the people they had appropriately, and unlike Stephen with his megaphone, they were having difficulty drawing a crowd.

The women made $31,000. The men made $33,000. Not a big blowout like it has been previously, but still another loss by the girls. Apparently, the difference was that Nely’s people didn’t show up until after it ended, and Trump doesn’t like this poor planning. Marilu suggests the problem is that they don’t have the same star power. While I agree that’s part of it, it’s ultimately coming down to skill set and implementing ideas.

Vinny’s charity is The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer.

Marilu believes that her team doesn’t work together well because people either take a backseat or try to be overpowering. Vince says Carol Alt shouldn’t have been put in the position of being inside doing credit card transactions. She said earlier she wasn’t given a good role. Omarosa picks up on this and says she thinks Carol flies under the radar. Carol responds that Omarosa’s a parasite that’s eating the team apart from the inside.

Nely wants Marilu fired. Yet again Nely’s suggestion makes no sense and will be ignored.

Marilu brings back Jennie Finch and Carol. Yeah, we saw this last week, too. Nely, an obvious target to be fired, isn’t brought back. However, unlike last time, there is actually some chance of the other two being fired. Of the three, though, I don’t see how the blame on this particular task can be placed on either of the other two, so in that respect, I can see the argument for Marilu being fired. Her only argument here is just that she’s the more valuable of the three on the whole.

Vince doesn’t think Jennie has the competitive spirit. Ivanka suggests that without Marilu, the girls have no chance, not that they do have a chance now.

Marilu brought back these two because she worked together well with Omarosa and Nely, even though nobody else works well with Omarosa, or even likes her for that matter.

This is a very quick firing. Trump gets right to the point and says this just isn’t Jennie’s world, and she’s fired. Not a big shock. This was pretty much the theme for the first two firings as well.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 5, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on NBC.

Grand Theft Auto IV Release Date

After multiple delays, what was expected to be the biggest game of last year finally has an official release date that looks like it will stick. GTA 4 will be released on April 29 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

“We are so excited to be releasing Grand Theft Auto IV,” said Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games. “We’ve pushed ourselves very hard to make something incredible and hope the game sets a new benchmark for interactive entertainment.”

American Idol 7 Episode 4

Last night in American Idol 7 Episode 3 in San Diego, we saw some good talent, including Australian Michael Johns, Samantha Musso (who was a shoe in after saying Simon was hot), 16-year-old David Archuleta, and previously disqualified due to visa trouble Carly Smithson. Not very much in terms of disastrous performances. Well, nothing worth mentioning anyway.

Tonight we head to Charleston, SC, with over 10,000 contestants.

Raysharde Henderson believes he’s the black Clay Aiken and also from the 70s. Good voice but over the top. They reject him, rather odd considering he’s better than half the people they let through.

DeAnna Prevatte is from Albemarle, Kellie Pickler’s hometown. She’s no Kellie Pickler, though, and she’s got a very pronounced angry side.

Crystal Ortiz and Randy Stark met on the American Idol message boards and are now dating. This audition is a waste of time. Crystal asks whether her parents are blind; Simon tells her they’re deaf.

Maybe siblings will be better. They’re certainly more obnoxious. Unless you like really, really loud people. Michelle Lampkin and her brother Jeffrey Lampkin sing I Am Your Angel. They actually sound really good. Simon likes Jeffrey better but likes them both. Randy says yes to Jeffrey but no to Michelle. Paula and Simon say yes to both of them.

16-year-old Amy Catherine Flynn, captain of her catholic high school dance team, has a public service announcement. She wants people to abstain from sex, drugs, and alcohol and gives Simon a lecture about sex. He pretends to agree. She sings Reflections by Christina Aguilera. Not sure she’s ready for this, but she has star potential. Simon tells her a lot of people will find her annoying and that the song is too big for her (and again with the not as good as you think you are line he picked up recently). All three give her the thumbs up(ish).

London Weidberg is the last contestant of day one. She had a “surreal” childhood growing up right on the beach but lost her father three years ago to cancer. Good voice, but none of the judges are really thrilled by her. Still, it’s enough.

Lindsey Goodman is a pilot for the Air Force. She sings Black Velvet. Good voice, but Paula is concerned about her nerves. Simon calls her cabaret. All three say no.

Aretha Codner’s chest distracts the judges from looking elsewhere. Simon doesn’t like her dress, belt, voice, or anything else. Randy likes the belt, though.

Joshua Boson’s telling us he’s not going and that we’re gonna love him. Not likely. Then he says the show is fake and rigged. Oh, as if that’s a news flash.

Oliver Highman has been on throughout the show, as his wife went into labor as he was preparing to audition. He sings Get Here. He doesn’t look like a pop star, but he has a nice voice. He tries to do too much, though, and the judges aren’t impressed.

23 contestants have managed to get through to the next round.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol 7 episode 5, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.

American Idol 7 Episode 3

American Idol 7 Episode 2 had some talent, from country singers Jessica Brown and Alaina Whitaker to singer impersonator with a great voice in her own right Katie Malloy. The biggest performance of the night, however, was arguably Renaldo Lapuz, a Simon worshipper who sang an original composition, We’re Brothers Forever. Oddly enough, I agree with Simon about this song, though. I could see this actually being a hit record. Of course, William Hung managed to sell 300,000 albums, so anything could happen.

Next stop on the audition tour is San Diego, CA, with a crowd of over 12,000.

Tetiana Ostopowych (that may or may not be spelled right) is up first. She sings Someone to Watch Over Me. Simon says she’s not as good as she thinks she is but lets her through. Pretty girl with a decent voice but forgettable.

Perrie Cataldo is there with his four-year-old son. Their wife/mother died about a year ago. He sings Boyz II Men’s I’ll Make Love to You. Simon’s very impressed.

Michael Johns, originally from Australia, is up next. I’m not sure what this song is he’s singing, but he’s got a great voice. Simon says he’s like a white soul singer.

Valerie Reyes is a big Mariah Carey fan, and she loves laughing at the rejects on American Idol. It’s pretty obvious before she even starts singing she’ll suck. Simon says it sounds like Mariah Carey’s CD having been left out in the sun for a year. Randy thinks she has potential if she stopped trying to copy Mariah.

Simon thinks three different people dressed Monique Gibson today. She sings Whitney Houston’s I Believe in Miracles. It only takes about one note before we realize how bad this will be. Simon doesn’t believe in miracles. She insists she can sing and will be back. Her friend Christopher Baker, also singing Whitney, isn’t any better. He can’t take the hint either. Both of them are still singing out in the hall, yet still have no talent regardless.

Samantha Musso, the last contestant of the first day, thinks Simon is really hot. Ryan Seacrest isn’t happy. Simon invites Samantha’s sister to be a judge, too. She wanted to meet him, along with Oprah and Obama. What it comes down to, though, is singing, and this chick has a great voice. After the audition, Simon gets a hug from both of them.

Blake Boshnack has auditioned in at least 10 cities. He was the statue of liberty from season 5 in Chicago. They give him a chance to actually sing this time. He sings Stand by Me. Not necessarily a bad voice, but it’s obvious he’s a goner before he even walks in. Hopefully next year they don’t show this guy again, as he’s gotten enough attention already.

Alberto Hurtado, with a flower in his hair, a big fan, and a sparkling eagle on his shirt, has made his own song called Live. This isn’t even… interesting. Simon suggests it’s probably the most depressing song he’s ever heard and calls him the equivalent of a storm cloud on a sunny day.

16-year-old David Archuleta had problems a few years back with a paralyzed vocal chord. He didn’t want to have surgery because he was scared it would impact his singing. He sings Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer. Not sure how far he’ll go, but he’s got a good voice. I remember this kid (well, mostly I remember the name, but there was some quality talent in those finals) from when he won Star Search in 2003. After the jump is a clip of him at age 12 singing And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going to the American Idol 1 contestants. Kelly Clarkson’s sure impressed.

Carly Smithson was disqualified previously because her Visa fell through. She sings Whitney Houston’s I’m Every Woman. Simon tells her it wasn’t as good as two years ago, but she’s still easily through to Hollywood.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of American Idol 7 episode 4, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.

Continue reading “American Idol 7 Episode 3”

Kyle XY Season 2 Episode 15

Kyle and Jessi worked together to stop Ballantine in Kyle XY Season 2 Episode 14. While their efforts put Jessi out of the woods as far as being sought after by Madacorp, there was a new wrinkle at the end: a man introducing himself as her father came to see her in the hospital.

Kyle feels free now that he’s no longer hiding anything from his family. He might want to be more careful, though, as his newest trick of levitating with the assistance of water in front of Amanda’s mom won’t exactly win her over.

Nicole is concerned about Jessi’s well being with her newfound father Brian Taylor, a man who hasn’t proven to be particularly trustworthy in the past.

They go to the career fair at the school. Kyle doesn’t like that Madacorp has a booth there, but Lori tells him it’s okay and that they do every year. Hillary plans to be the queen of fabulous when she grows up, which actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Josh thinks this is all just a waste of time, but Kyle views it as an opportunity to find out what he can become.

Stephen goes to Madacorp to clean out his desk. Emily, who played right along with Ballantine’s game, apologizes and says his agenda was his own. She asks him to stay. He doesn’t trust her, with good reason, and happily declines.

Jessi’s back at school, and she says everything’s going well with her father, who claims he created her from Sarah’s genetics based on Adam’s experiments. The evil Jessi appears to be gone now, replaced with one who’s willing to keep her word. But the very curious Jessi still lurks. She insists on doing something to get away from the boring career fair, which leads her to jump off the roof… with a video camera nearby. Kyle believes she’s safe since he couldn’t make out a face in the video, though. Unfortunately, Jessi’s pretty happy with all the attention she’s getting from this. She doesn’t get why it’s a bad thing and thinks life is about getting noticed. She reluctantly promises Kyle no more tricks. This lasts all of a few minutes, as Hillary egging her on gets her to walk on water. This time it’s pretty clear who it is.

Hillary’s hoping to get some drooling guys to help her out. She offers them first base, no tongue, in an effort to get them to help her find out how Jessi did her “stunt” and put the spotlight back on her.

Nicole goes to confront Taylor about what’s been happening, hoping to prevent a circus from coming to Kyle. She wants him to start acting like a dad.

Kyle’s just getting more confused with all the options available. A group of guys want him to become an engineer after he saved their firm some money. Josh wants him to become a doctor to cure cancer and save Andy. Emily’s there, too. Kyle isn’t interested, but Jessi’s eager to work with her. Kyle tries to talk some sense into her, but she doesn’t care what he has to say.

Josh and Kyle were watching a science documentary “hosted by one of those naked magazine rabbits” in which a rat was kept in a cage and had its every move monitored. Kyle fears that if his secret gets out, that will happen to him, though he did notice that the tests helped find answers.

Taylor comes to the house and admits he doesn’t know how to handle Jessi. As a gesture of faith, he brings the ring, which Kyle sold at the pawn shop. The ring around Kyle’s neck is actually from Ballantine’s father. He makes a case for why they should trust him, or at least not abandon Jessi.

Jessi seems to have learned her lesson. The kids are asking her for more tricks, but she’s refusing. Hillary, however, has not learned her lesson, and she taunts her. With enough pushing, Jessi finally agrees to jump off the roof again. Just in time, Kyle comes to stop her, telling her he’s jumping, too. That doesn’t work, so Lori and Josh volunteer as well. This works, but they back off when asked, except Kyle uses his newfound water-based powers to prevent her from actually falling off the roof.

Jessi didn’t want to jump either but was afraid she was losing approval. She doesn’t want to be what she was before: invisible. Kyle’s lesson for her is that the people with the most to offer usually believe in themselves the least, but that’s not the case with him because he has people who believe in him, who will believe in her as well if she lets them.

Josh has chosen a career. Following Kyle’s suggestion, he’s decided to become a doctor.

Jessi claims to have learned her lesson. That lasts about two seconds before she sneaks out her bedroom window and jumps off the roof.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Kyle XY Season 2 episode 16 Great Expectations, which airs Monday at 8/7c on ABC Family.

Oscar Nominations

The nominees for the 80th Annual Academy Awards are:

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
(DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah” (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises” (Focus Features)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (Universal)
Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal)
Julie Christie in “Away from Her” (Lionsgate)
Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse)
Laura Linney in “The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in “Juno” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in “American Gangster” (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement” (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone” (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Best animated feature film of the year
“Persepolis” (Sony Pictures Classics) Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Brad Bird
“Surf’s Up” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Achievement in art direction
“American Gangster” (Universal)
Art Direction: Arthur Max
Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
“Atonement” (Focus Features)
Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood
Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners)
Art Direction: Dennis Gassner
Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Art Direction: Dante Ferretti
Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Art Direction: Jack Fisk
Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Achievement in cinematography
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.) Roger Deakins
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Seamus McGarvey
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Janusz Kaminski
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roger Deakins
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Robert Elswit

Achievement in costume design
“Across the Universe” (Sony Pictures Releasing) Albert Wolsky
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran
“Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal) Alexandra Byrne
“La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Marit Allen
“Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Colleen Atwood

Achievement in directing
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Julian Schnabel
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight) Jason Reitman
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) Tony Gilroy
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Paul Thomas Anderson

Best documentary feature
“No End in Sight” (Magnolia Pictures)
A Representational Pictures Production
Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
“Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience” (The Documentary Group)
A Documentary Group Production
Richard E. Robbins
“Sicko” (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company)
A Dog Eat Dog Films Production
Michael Moore and Meghan O’Hara
“Taxi to the Dark Side” (THINKFilm)
An X-Ray Production
Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
“War/Dance” (THINKFilm)
A Shine Global and Fine Films Production
Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine

Best documentary short subject
“Freeheld”
A Lieutenant Films Production
Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
“La Corona (The Crown)”
A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production
Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
“Salim Baba”
A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production
Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
“Sari’s Mother” (Cinema Guild)
A Daylight Factory Production
James Longley

Achievement in film editing
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal) Christopher Rouse
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn) Juliette Welfling
“Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment) Jay Cassidy
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roderick Jaynes
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) Dylan Tichenor

Best foreign language film of the year
“Beaufort” A Metro Communications, Movie Plus Production
Israel
“The Counterfeiters” An Aichholzer Filmproduktion, Magnolia Filmproduktion Production
Austria
“Katyń” An Akson Studio Production
Poland
“Mongol” A Eurasia Film Production
Kazakhstan
“12” A Three T Production
Russia

Achievement in makeup
“La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
“Norbit” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount) Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Walt Disney) Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“Atonement” (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli
“The Kite Runner” (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics) Alberto Iglesias
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
“3:10 to Yuma” (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Falling Slowly” from “Once”
(Fox Searchlight)
Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
“Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted”
(Walt Disney)
Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
“Raise It Up” from “August Rush”
(Warner Bros.)
Nominees to be determined
“So Close” from “Enchanted”
(Walt Disney)
Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
“That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted”
(Walt Disney)
Music by Alan Menken
Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

Best motion picture of the year
“Atonement” (Focus Features)
A Working Title Production
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight)
A Dancing Elk Pictures, LLC Production
Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
A Clayton Productions, LLC Production
Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production
Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production
JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Best animated short film
“I Met the Walrus”
A Kids & Explosions Production
Josh Raskin
“Madame Tutli-Putli” (National Film Board of Canada)
A National Film Board of Canada Production
Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
“Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)” (Premium Films)
A BUF Compagnie Production
Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
“My Love (Moya Lyubov)” (Channel One Russia)
A Dago-Film Studio, Channel One Russia and Dentsu Tec Production
Alexander Petrov
“Peter & the Wolf” (BreakThru Films)
A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production
Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Best live action short film
“At Night”
A Zentropa Entertainments 10 Production
Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
“Il Supplente (The Substitute)” (Sky Cinema Italia)
A Frame by Frame Italia Production
Andrea Jublin
“Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)” (Premium Films)
A Karé Production
Philippe Pollet-Villard
“Tanghi Argentini” (Premium Films)
An Another Dimension of an Idea Production
Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
“The Tonto Woman”
A Knucklehead, Little Mo and Rose Hackney Barber Production
Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

Achievement in sound editing
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal)
Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Skip Lievsay
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney)
Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Matthew Wood
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro)
Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Achievement in sound mixing
“The Bourne Ultimatum” (Universal)
Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney)
Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
“3:10 to Yuma” (Lionsgate)
Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro)
Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

Achievement in visual effects
“The Golden Compass” (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners)
Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Walt Disney)
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
“Transformers” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro)
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier

Adapted screenplay
“Atonement” (Focus Features)
Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
“Away from Her” (Lionsgate)
Written by Sarah Polley
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn)
Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Original screenplay
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight)
Written by Diablo Cody
“Lars and the Real Girl” (MGM)
Written by Nancy Oliver
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
Written by Tony Gilroy
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney)
Screenplay by Brad Bird
Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
“The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)
Written by Tamara Jenkins

It’s unclear what impact the writers strike will have on the awards ceremony, which is scheduled for Sunday February 24, 2008. The Golden Globes were largely ignored, and the Writers Guild of America has vowed to not allow any writing for the Oscars either if the strike is still going on at that time. However, organizers for the event say the show will go on. Some actors have said they won’t cross picket lines, though.

Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences