I can’t believe that I only have two more days left in Beijing! The time has flown by so quickly. Maybe it’s because we’ve been working so hard, but it feels like I just arrived yesterday. Still, I miss my family so much, that I’m also excited about getting home.

It rained very hard today in Beijing and, of course, this would happen on the day that the women’s beach volleyball finals were taking place! The rain cleared in the afternoon, but returned right on time for Shaun and Amanda Beard to shoot stand-ups for the show tonight.

When I woke up this morning, I thought to myself, ‘I really don’t want to go down to watch beach volleyball; it’s POURING!’ But then I ran into Hoda Kotb from "Today" in the lobby (Al Roker wore his swimsuit to the game!), who convinced me that I couldn’t miss this gold medal game! Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh playing China, on their home turf, to defend their gold medal!

Hoda is very convincing! I put on my rain jacket, and off I went with Shaun Robinson, Access supervising producer Mike, and our crew, Mike and Wally.

The rain didn’t let up the entire match. And the spectator seats certainly weren’t covered. It was a packed stadium of 12,000, all outfitted with umbrellas and rain slickers. Our Chinese hosts were so prepared though; they were handing out ponchos to every attendee.

The match was very dramatic. The Chinese team was the last to defeat Kerri and Misty (who are now on a 108 game winning streak) and they played a smart and strategic game. But the feeling of watching our Americans drop to their knees in joy after they won was worth the potential pneumonia!

Today was exciting around these parts… very, very exciting.

Michael Phelps’ final race – giving him 8 of 8 in ’08, and the most gold medals in Olympic history – was the stuff of legend.

The games are filled with moments – and this was the moment of all moments.

The energy inside of the International Broadcast Center (IBC) today was electrifying.

At 11 AM, dozens of NBC employees were gathered in the commissary watching Dara Torres’ and Michael Phelps’ final races together. There was cheering… sighing… and high drama – it was powerful and emotional. Even though most folks didn’t have tickets to the final races at the Water Cube, this felt like the next best place to be watching the action.

Afterwards, crowds of people were gathered everywhere in clusters around the IBC, just waiting to catch a glimpse of Phelps, as he made the interview rounds --- from Costas, to Brian Williams, to “Access Hollywood” … on to NBCOlympics.com, and soon, to do the “Today” show.

Billy’s interview with Michael was fun and engaging. You can catch it Monday night on “Access”. He asks the questions that are off the beaten track.

From the Managing Editor

One of the most exciting parts about being over in Beijing, amongst many high points, is that it’s the first time Access Hollywood has had an online staffer travel along with the TV team to an Olympics, which goes a long way to explain how important online coverage has become since 2004  -- both to Access Hollywood, and to NBC Universal as a whole.

There are 16 bodies here in Beijing from Access Hollywood --- 15 for the television show, and 1, namely, myself, for AccessHollywood.com. We all share a very small space together in the International Broadcast Center, and so we work very closely (figuratively, and literally… together).

Our ratio of on-air to online is pretty much in line with the rest of the NBC Universal team here overall. While NBC has had huge numbers on-air this Olympics, the percentage increase on NBCOlympics.com has been staggering! Only four days into the games, NBCOlympics.com has already surpassed the totals for the entire Athens Games in page views (a 27% jump), unique users (a 52% jump), and video streams (a staggering 514% jump!!!) -- and that’s with 12 days of competition left to go!

There are plenty of online journalists here in Beijing, but seriously, I probably have one of the best jobs out of any of them. Sure, there are plenty of sports journalists out here, reporting on results and injuries and doping -- but not me -- I’m writing about athletes’ personalities, and asking them, ‘Who are your favorite movie stars?’, and running all around town with stars like Chris Tucker – filing articles, and even more fun, doing a lot of digital photography.

Each day, I head out with our show’s field producers and listen to and assist on the interviews that we’re conducting (most of my career has been as an on-air producer). Occasionally, I’ll field produce a shoot here or there if the show can use my help. And like most print and online journalists, I rarely have to use my digital voice recorder, because the TV show is already rolling on the interview.

It’s amazing to think that most of us have already been here for a week getting ready for the Games to begin.

The energy here has gone from a gentle rumble, to a loud roar.

The streets are full of people and the traffic is insane (thank goodness there’s an “Olympics lane” for media credentialed folks).

It’s truly amazing how much we -- the team at Access Hollywood -- has seen so far… from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square to the Dirt Market and Night Food Market.

And we haven’t even explored the nightlife yet!

It’s amazing to wake up every morning and have Dim Sum for breakfast… to drive through the city and see traditional Chinese pagodas side-by-side with modern skyscrapers… to walk through the hallways of the International Broadcast Center and hear dozens of different languages being spoken.

By Jeremy Blacklow

Managing Editor

 

Ahhh, another spring week, another booted "Idol!"

 

Laura's on vacation this week, so I'm pinch-hitting in her absence.

 

This week we lost Chikezie – the man who dropped his last name WAY too soon before he became famous. C'mon Chikezie, even Fantasia waited until she WON "American Idol."

 

I'll miss his personality and his name, but his singing… not so much.

 

Last night's "Idol" was more of the same – I was surprised to see Syesha in the Bottom 3, but I was happy that Carly escaped the same fate. Jason Castro is starting to bury all goodwill that he built up with "Hallelujah" three weeks ago.

 

Oh, and David Cook is kinda officially the "Idol" front-runner now. He's definitely gained serious momentum. In fact, our friends at TV Guide have him with 50 percent of the winning vote, compared now with David Archuleta's 2^nd place 16 percent. I seriously never saw this coming in the first couple of weeks. At the start of the competition phase, this would have been the reverse.

Neil LaBute isn't a gentle playwright.

By Jeremy Blacklow, Managing Editor

I awakened today to two pieces of urgent news:

1) Early this morning, another of Young Hollywood's elite, Mischa Barton, was arrested on Suspicion of DUI charges and driving without a valid license, and…

2) Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan was assassinated in a suicide attack, sending shock waves of rioting through a country already in the midst of nuclear instability.

Guess which story I've been spending most of my day on?

If you guessed "Mischa," you're correct!

Mischa… Mischa… Mischa … in the words of Jay Leno, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Your hit show's been cancelled, your career is at a stand-still and now you choose to jump on the DUI bandwagon?!

Looking back on 2007, this was the year when going to jail on illegal driving-related charges has been in vogue – Lindsay, Paris, Nicole, Kiefer, Michelle… the list goes on and on.

And what's truly frightening is how much these antics have kept these celebrities in the news!

Haven't been on the front pages of Celebrity Web sites lately? Heck! Get a DUI! You'll be right back up there with the rest of the pack.

The "Across The Universe" soundtrack is currently #3 on iTunes album charts behind Kanye West and Reba McEntire -- 50 Cent lingers at #6.

In fact, Eddie Vedder & Colbie Caillat also have albums ahead of Fiddy!

Albeit on the Billboard album chart, Fitty is resting comfortably at #2 behind Kanye, while "Across The Universe" is only at #49.

But the little Beatles album-that-could, very well could be picking up steam.

In celebration of the United Nations' International Day of Peace, cast members from "Across the Universe" will lead audience members in a sing-along with the film at the ArcLight Theatre in Hollywood tonight September 21, 2007. The event's open to the public, and cast members Evan Rachel Wood, Martin Luther, and Dana Fuchs will introduce the 8:00 pm show and lead audiences into the special sing-along presentation.

Here at Access Hollywood, we take "Lost" very seriously -- sometimes... obsessive-compulsively (see effigy votive candle pictures, above):

General consensus on the "Flash Forward" Season 3 Finale = Darn Good.

Some random staff thoughts:

Best line of the night (Keith): Hurley: "Attention.... Others..."

Best Theory (Bryant): "AGREED AND JACK AND KATE LIED ABOUT SOMETHING MY THEORY IS THEY LEFT MANY FOLKS ON THE ISLAND AND HAVE LIED ABOUT IT...
THE GUILT IS DRIVING HIM NUTS AND KATE IS DOING HER BEST TO IGNORE IT..."

Best Moment (consensus... tie): Hurley mows down The Others in the VW van .... and, Charlie's death scene.

(Ratings news... after the jump)

The Access Hollywood staff got very excited over last night's episode of "Lost" -- here's a bit of our back-and-forth e-mail conversation throughout today!

JB: Perhaps one of the top episodes ever!

Love her or hate her -- hard to argue that Juliet's not a great character.

What we learned:

- The Others can cure cancer
- but they can't cure tumors ???!!!
- Women who become pregnant on the island, can't give birth (which kind of tells us that the Others are trying to create a Utopian society and explains the kidnapping of children)
- Sun's in trouble
- Mikhail developed the portfolios on the 815 crash folks

Did anyone else notice Aaron appeared to say "Claire" towards the end -- weird … like the Hurley bird.

NF: Couldn't disagree more. The entire episode was spent building our sympathy for a girl that they then throw out completely with the stupid Shyamalan ending. All we really learned was things we've known for some time:

Jack makes terrible choices in woman
Never question Sayid's instincts
Ben has a fetish for proving to people what day it is
Claire has terrible luck
No one asked questions
And the producers love to screw w/ an overly loyal fan base

KF: Come on, NF, 'no one asked questions'? Sayid did exactly what you've been calling for since the beginning. "I want you to tell me everything..."

Major Good Spoilers After The Jump At End Of Post (You've Been Warned!)