In the midst of a women's tour that has been fraught with inconsistent play, double faults, and doubtful service games, Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to win a Slam in the Open era in a close, well-played match that was decided by one break of serve and one tie break.
Schiavone (all of 5 foot 5) won by handling Samantha Stosur's wicked kick serve better than either Justine Henin or Serena Williams, and, unlike Jelena Jankovic, Schiavone did not let Stosur take over every point with her crushing forehands. Schiavone also had a brilliant serve, hitting it hard and fast and out-acing the "second best server" Stosur.
In all, this was a really good match for both players and was well-played (Finally!) on both ends; something that hasn't happened at the French Open Women's Final in.... well, I don't remember. But it's been a while. And even though I am a big fan of Stosur's, Schiavone, at 29, pulled off upset after upset by playing fearlessly and flawlessly in what she must know might be her best (and only) chance at a major women's tennis title, which Italy hasn't had at all since the 1950s.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Chuckie Finale
Hey, I used this as a sample writing for a job as a blogger for a site called Starpulse.com. Tell me what you think... or don't.
Going into making this season's finale, the creators of Chuck thought, as they did at the end of last season, that this could be their series finale. So, as many show runners have done before them, they decided to offer the network and their viewers a reset to the series, altering the show enough that they could potentially sell it as a new commodity, just with the same characters.
Last season, this meant adding fighting skills to the Intersect, along with a line from The Matrix ("I know kung fu"). This season, this meant doing away with Chuck (Zachary Levi, giving hope to geeks everywhere that all we need are downloaded special abilities and we too can get the hottest girls) as spy, and instead re-introducing him as a secret superhero, taking over where his deceased father left off in protecting the world in ways governments can’t… or won’t… or something like that. It wasn’t made all that clear in the episode exactly what Chuck’s father (They killed Scott Bakula! Who will travel through time to get two random people to fall in love now?!!) had been doing all these years, other than keeping files on organizations named after constellations.
I didn’t mind the re-invention of Chuck as a badass. I actually really liked how the show decided to handle it, by making so much of last season about Chuck coming to terms with being a spy all on his own. But that’s why I have issues with how they ended this season, because they decided to just ignore Chuck’s progression as a character and instead stick him in some completely new situation.
The creators even decided to do this just when it was perfectly set up for Chuck to finally become a world-class spy: everyone close to him was now aware of who and what he is, so it was just a matter of having them all (especially Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) who is somehow convinced she has to protect the super-spy) accept it, move on, and potentially help him out. Instead, both Chuck and the viewers have to get used to some brand new thing, and, of course, Chuck is no doubt going to go back to keeping secrets from his family, friends, and probably even his girlfriend (Yvonne Strahovski, just as hot in video game form).
I’m not saying I won’t watch the next season of Chuck (especially not when I love the show so much), or that I won’t necessarily like the next season. I’m only saying I think they made a mistake in what they could have done with the show and where they had already taken their lead character.
Going into making this season's finale, the creators of Chuck thought, as they did at the end of last season, that this could be their series finale. So, as many show runners have done before them, they decided to offer the network and their viewers a reset to the series, altering the show enough that they could potentially sell it as a new commodity, just with the same characters.
Last season, this meant adding fighting skills to the Intersect, along with a line from The Matrix ("I know kung fu"). This season, this meant doing away with Chuck (Zachary Levi, giving hope to geeks everywhere that all we need are downloaded special abilities and we too can get the hottest girls) as spy, and instead re-introducing him as a secret superhero, taking over where his deceased father left off in protecting the world in ways governments can’t… or won’t… or something like that. It wasn’t made all that clear in the episode exactly what Chuck’s father (They killed Scott Bakula! Who will travel through time to get two random people to fall in love now?!!) had been doing all these years, other than keeping files on organizations named after constellations.
I didn’t mind the re-invention of Chuck as a badass. I actually really liked how the show decided to handle it, by making so much of last season about Chuck coming to terms with being a spy all on his own. But that’s why I have issues with how they ended this season, because they decided to just ignore Chuck’s progression as a character and instead stick him in some completely new situation.
The creators even decided to do this just when it was perfectly set up for Chuck to finally become a world-class spy: everyone close to him was now aware of who and what he is, so it was just a matter of having them all (especially Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) who is somehow convinced she has to protect the super-spy) accept it, move on, and potentially help him out. Instead, both Chuck and the viewers have to get used to some brand new thing, and, of course, Chuck is no doubt going to go back to keeping secrets from his family, friends, and probably even his girlfriend (Yvonne Strahovski, just as hot in video game form).
I’m not saying I won’t watch the next season of Chuck (especially not when I love the show so much), or that I won’t necessarily like the next season. I’m only saying I think they made a mistake in what they could have done with the show and where they had already taken their lead character.
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