I really, really have to get back into the habit of posting every day, cuz I got a couple of yearly features that are meant to keep this site jumping until at least October. First off, a little bit on the baseball end of things: Yes, I’ve been keeping tabs as best I can, and that knot in my stomach is still not going away. I feel better than I did a couple days ago, but there’s still this ominous aura surrounding the situation. And it’ll probably stay that way until at least pitchers and catchers, if not longer. I suppose that’s the price I pay.

But let’s talk about TV, shall we? First off, I watched an entirely satisfying episode of The Amazing Race last night. Bickering Couple got themselves eliminated, which means that the final three consists entirely of teams I like. That’s never happened before. Usually I’m lucky if there’s one team I like in the final three. Most seasons end with me just hoping that the team I don’t like doesn’t win. This has been mixed, to say the least. Only once has my favorite team actually won (Season 9), and there have been only two other seasons (5 & 7) where a team I liked ended up winning. The rest of the time the winner was a team I either didn’t like or was largely indifferent about. For once, I’ll be happy no matter which team wins.

After The Amazing Race, I decided to check in with the “Golden Globe Winners Announcement Ceremony” or whatever it was called. That sure did suck. Granted, I like watching the Oscars more than I like watching the Golden Globes, but still. I can only hope that the Writers Guild will make some sort of deal before the Oscars. Also, there wasn’t a whole lot for me to get excited about anyways, cuz of all the nominated movies this year (any category), the only two I’ve seen are Enchanted and Ratatouille. I’ve tried reading spoilers for as many of the others as I can (although I can’t seem to find full spoilers for Juno, There Will Be Blood, or Charlie Wilson’s War, among others). Lars and the Real Girl strikes my interest a bit, but the others really don’t look that interesting. The one that’s most puzzling to me is the heaping critical acclaim and awards that are being poured onto No Country For Old Men. Without having seen it, it seems to me that the movie consists entirely of Javier Bardem going around killing every other character in the movie. A lot of the others seem to lack substance as well, at least from a “bare-bones-plotline” standpoint. I probably don’t have cause to judge, cuz I haven’t seen ‘em, but I haven’t seen anything that would give me incentive TO see them. At any rate, Oscar nominations come out next Tuesday, and I hope to start bringing you Oscar Picks shortly thereafter. That should keep this space occupied for the next month or so, culminating in that huge post I always put up the day after the Oscar ceremony (assuming there actually IS a ceremony this year). After that I’ll have about another month that may consist of sporadic posting (or not), and then it’ll be time for the Total Amateur Analysis to start up again (if this feeling of impending doom doesn’t culminate in anything, that is). Then later on in the summer, I’ll have the Olympics to deal with. I haven’t quite figured out how I’m gonna do that yet, short of not sleeping at all for two weeks straight. I’m not sure when exactly the Olympics take place this year, but if they’re in July or August, that’s a strategy I might be able to pull off, although it’s not exactly one I’d look forward to. If they’re in September, that’s not gonna work. Damn school.

And finally, NBC has somehow managed to make American Gladiators even MORE cheesy than it was 15 years ago. I think it has something to do with the dramatic music and the over-acting voice-over guy that were both absent in the show’s first incarnation.