9/11 remembered

It's hard to believe it's been seven years since Sept. 11, 2001, but America will never forget.
Send good thoughts and prayers to those affected by the 9/11 tragedy and God Bless America!

A Nation Remembers

Olympics peacing out

I should probably mention that the Olympics are over, with the United States earning the greatest number of medals, but China earning the most gold.

This year's Olympics are being heralded as "truly exceptional Games," and even for an apathetic Olympic watcher such as myself, I thought a lot of it was pretty exciting.

To read some interesting stats, click here, and for medal counts, photos, news stories and more, click here.

Reagle Beagle

Congratulations to Uno, the 3-year-old Beagle who won the Westminter Kennel Club Best in Show, the breed's first ever title in the show's 131 previous editions.


Personally, I was rooting for the Australian Shepherd. That dog was gorgeous. Her, or the Weimaraner.



Uno won the hound group (the first time the breed has done that since 1939), and then moved on to win Best in Show. Good for the Uno, though. He was clearly the under dog, no pun intended.

2008 will be a sexy year

AskMen.com has released its annual Top 99 Women of the Year.

To see the list in its entirety, click here. For the "Jercnotes" version, keep on readin'...

TOP TEN
10. Adriana Lima
9. Marisa Miller
8. Rihanna
7. Jessica Biel
6. Scarlett Johansson
5. Jessica Alba
4. Eva Mendes
3. Kate Beckinsale
2. Alessandra Ambrosio
1. Katherine Heigl

Understandably, the Jessica Alba-Biel powerhouse landed in the top 10, and Lord are we thankful Jessica Simpson has finally fallen off the map.

But they've got three Victoria's Secret models in the top 10, and kudos to them for being hot, but really? Top 10? Mehh, don't know about that.

I'd like to petition for Scarlett Johansson to be moved up on that list, because if ever I had a celebrity girl crush, she's the one (or maybe Blake Lively, who landed at number 99 this year). And Eva Mendes on this list was probably a good idea at the time, but AskMen might be regretting this once her new movie tanks.

I'm not the biggest Katherine Heigl fan, but this woman has had an incredible year. From Grey's Anatomy--which I'm not into but is apparently the television form of crack-- to Knocked Up (awesome movie) and finally to the latest uber-chick flick 27 Dresses, she's got her success in the bag. Good for her.

Thoughts?

Can't phase the tase

The please of college student Andrew Meyer during a Sen. John Kerry speech in September--"Don't tase me, bro!"--has landed atop a list of 2007's most memorable quotations.

Yet another end of the year list was released today, this one compiled by editor of the Yale Book of Quotations Fred R. Shapiro.

The University of Florida student's quote was ranked number one due to its Internet popularity and pop culture success.

Following close behind was my personal fav, Miss South Carolina Teen USA Caitlin Upton's response during the Miss Teen USA pageant to the question, "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?" [click here to watch the video]

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and Iraq and everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us."--Caitlin Upton

The girl even got her own Wikipedia page for the mindless response!

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's October comment at Columbia University in New York came in third: "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country." And everyone's favorite radio jock Don Imus' comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team landed him the fourth spot: "That's some nappy-headed hos there."

"We always do it nice and rough"

Rock pioneer Ike Turner, aka Mr. Tina Turner, died yesterday in his San Diego home.

Though Ike apparently influenced a number of current hit makers and won a Grammy in the traditional blues album category this year for "Risin' With the Blues," he will forever be known as that monster that beat the daylights out of Tina Turner. Whether that's the complete truth or not, we'll never know...

There is currently no word on cause of death, but his current wife reported that he had emphysema. Ike was 76 years old.

I stayed up for Top Chef, yadda yadda yadda, and I'm really tired today

WARNING: SPOILERS

Unfortunately for me, I left the second airing of Project Runway on in the background last night and just as I was about to turn the TV off and drift away into peaceful slumber..."UTENSILS DOWN, HANDS UP!"

Padma??

Yes. Even though Bravo promised the "Top Chef Holiday Special" debut tonight at 9 p.m., it came on at 12 a.m. this morning. Odd how a special whose details were kept so hush hush ended up airing 21 hours before it was intended for the masses...But if you don't want to know who wins (or you could care less about this show) stop reading now!


The competition pitted eight chefs from the last three seasons against each other in one quick-fire round and a three course holiday meal for a smattering of impressive culinary judges. After each course, two chefs will be eliminated until two are left standing at the end of the meal to win $20,000.

Stephen, Tiffani, Josie, Betty, Marcel, Sandee, CJ and Tre ventured out to Chicago and pretended like it was the holiday season (though this was likely shot three months ago) and opened up stockings full of gag gifts to get them in the mood--CJ was given a bundle of broccoli to remind him of the fateful overdone "Bob Marley" broccolini that sent him home last season.
The quickfire challenge was done in "dirty Santa" style, where the first person unwraps an ingredient from under the tree and the next person can either steal that or go for another gift. Betty, Marcel and CJ land in the top three, and CJ ultimately wins immunity for one course of the meal, which is talked about a lot until the actual meal and never really seems to benefit him anyway.

The gang runs out to shop at Whole Foods, and hello marketing campaign. Everyone is raving about the selection of produce, meat, seafood...but I don't think Tre got the memo, because he demeans the greens that another chef scoops up: "I wouldn't use those. They're not...done," he said.

The first round sends Sandee and Stephen back into the kitchen after sub-par plates of watery soup and odd decisions. Betty and Josie are the next to go--overdone and overdone. Marcel and CJ go next, basically because Tiffani and Tre dominated, leaving them one step closer to $20,000.

And then the curve ball. Tre and Tiffani are asked to prepare a on-the-fly dish from whatevers left in the kitchen of their ingredients and the eliminated chefs' stations. Tre conquers his fear of desserts and presents a beautiful raspberry crepe, and Tiffani goes with a leftovers-style puff pastry.

In the end, Tre gets robbed and Tiffani wins the money. I wouldn't say it was my favorite episode of the show ever, but it was nice to get a little taste of it in the fashion reality show season. The special was filmed in Chicago, which they pumped the hell out of--Chicago signs everywhere, filler shots of the city--because the new season is being filmed there: coming in 2008, whoo!

SI honors Fav-ra

Your team may be undefeated, Tom Brady, but you are not Sportsman of the Year, according to Sports Illustrated; Brett Favre is.

The honor is bestowed upon a player who exhibits character, performance and sportsmanship. Favre received a sterling silver trophy crafted by Tiffany & Co. at a party in his honor in New York City tonight, and is featured on the cover of the magazine, on stands Monday.

Favre probably got the award because he's the winningest quarterback and leader in TDs in the NFL, but I'd like to think it's because he's like, 50 years old and still looking good in those tight pants, rarrrr.

Zig-a-zig-aww man.

Being an international symbol of girl power was not enough to trump the millions of people who like watching cars drive around in circles, as Brazilian race car driver Helio Castroneves beat out Spice Girl Melanie Brown for the Dancing With the Stars title.

This is without a doubt an upset, as Mel B and Maksim were the highest scored pair all season, but--still not as big of an upset as Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan being voted off entirely too early in the competition. She was by far the best dancer and her departure was the surprise of the season. (Don't feel too sorry for her though, she landed her hot dancing partner as a boyfriend, rarrr.)

I've watched only bits and pieces of the season, mostly because I can't stand the 45 minutes of commercials and 15 minutes of dancing they present each week, but the finale was actually bearable in that respect. What was not bearable was special guest Celine Dion's lack of enthusiasm and stifled smile as she belted out probably the biggest movie hit of all time midway through the show. Could they seriously not find someone who's had a hit in the last three years?

Anyway...Congratulations to Helio, but next to Scary Spice, he's a wannabe.

Looty pageant

Miss Ingrid Marie Rivera was crowned Miss Puerto Rico Friday, despite other pageant girls' attempts to sabotage her.

Officials are investigating several pranks against Rivera, including someone mixing a spicy substance into her makeup, causing her face to swell and break out in hives, and the theft of her clothes, makeup, credit cards and other belongings.

That's creative and all, but I probably would have just slipped a laxative in her breakfast.

Not even counting their ugly pranks, the other 29 girls must have been unsightly to not beat out a girl who's puffed up and covered in red blotches and missing her makeup.

Rivera, 22, will participate in the Miss Universe 2008 competition, but no date or location has been announced as of yet.

UPDATE: (from CNN.com)

Rivera was composed while appearing before cameras and judges throughout the competition. But once backstage, she had to strip off her clothes and apply ice bags to her face and body, which swelled and broke out in hives twice.

"We thought at first it was an allergic reaction, or maybe nerves," Rosario said. "But the second time, we knew it couldn't have been a coincidence."

SECOND UPDATE: (from Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSN0135521320071201

Predictions realized

Though no one offered up any thoughts on their 2007 MLB season predictions, I'm going to update for update's sake now that all of the awards have been announced.

...and just for bragging's sake, I went 5-for-6. Boo yah.

Rookie of the Year
*WINNER: Ryan Braun
(MY PREDICTION: Ryan Braun)
WINNER: Dustin Pedroia
(MY PREDICTION: Daisuke Matsuzaka)

Cy Young
*WINNER: Jake Peavy
(MY PREDICTION: Jake Peavy)
*WINNER: C.C. Sabathia
(MY PREDICTION: C.C.Sabathia)

MVP
*WINNER: Jimmy Rollins
(MY PREDICTION: Jimmy Rollins)
*WINNER: Alex Rodriguez
(MY PREDICTION: Alex Rodriguez)

Buffy re-vamped

2008's Woman of the Year? No it's not Hilary...it's none other than the modern day vampire slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar, according to Maxim magazine, that is.

Yes, that's right. Though she's done nothing since the WB existed, Sarah Michelle Gellar is next year's "it" girl. But have no fear Buffy fans: Not only will you get a smattering of hot SMG pics in next month's issue of Maxim, she's back in theatres with three new movies. Southland Tales, aka "Have a Nice Apocalypse," is out tomorrow (Wednesday); The Air I Breathe, chock-full of celebs like Kevin Costner and Brendan Fraser, will be out Jan. 25; and Possession will be out in February.

Yeah, she was hot then, and she's still hot now, but so is Elizabeth Berkley--Jessie Spano--and you don't see her nominated for Woman of the Year.