Summer TV

Just because the majors - 24, Lost - are on hiatus doesn't mean my DVR won't get some work...

Week of June 4
John From Cincinnati (HBO)

Week of June 11
Big Love (HBO)
Rescue Me (FX)
The 4400 (USA)
Entourage (HBO)
Flight of the Conchords (HBO)

Week of July 9
Eureka (SCI-FI)
Psych (USA)

Week of July 30
My Boys (TBS)
Weeds (SHO)

It's not that I don't like these shows as much as the big time shows, it's just that - with a couple of exceptions like Big Love, Entourage and Weeds - I don't know enough people who watch the show so there's no one to talk to or bounce thoughts off.

Let me know if you watch any of these shows and I'll be sure to seek you out post-airing.

Movies I'm Interested In Seeing: June

This summer has been pretty disappointing so far. Hopefully, the best is yet to come...

June 1st
Knocked Up

June 8th
Ocean's Thirteen

June 15th
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

June 20th
Sunshine

June 27th
Live Free or Die Hard

June 29th
Ratatouille
Sicko

Movie of the Week: Waitress

It was cute.

It's always good to see Keri Russell in a starring role and doing great.

It was a funny, sweet movie.

The music was kinda annoying but it was an indie movie so I'll let it slide.

But once again, I will take this moment to again lobby for the stardom of Nathan Fillion.

Spielberg. Bay. Lucas. (Ok, not Lucas.)

Cast this man as the next Summer blockbuster hero.

Please.

Movie of the Week: Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End

Please let this franchise be "at world's end".

This movie isn't bad. It's boring which is a bigger crime. The first two hours were a constant struggle to stay awake during or care about this movie. They would sprinkle Jack Sparrow in to keep you going like a shot of espresso but eventually your body adjusts.

My review for Dead Man's Chest last year pretty much applies to this movie as well and I don't feel like retyping it.

Let me just add two things:

1. It's like the writers and directors forgot what made the first one so great and so much fun. That movie was all about Jack Sparrow and a fun little pirate adventure. Then they went and made it all dark, twisty and unnecessarily complicated. It's like, "Wow, Johnny Depp got nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for a role in this silly little pirate film. Let's add more characters and cut his lines."
   
   
2. What happened to the two hour movie? Really?

Lost Season Three: "Through the Looking Glass"

In various interviews, Tim Kring, creator of Heroes, constantly went out of his way to say his show isn't like Lost in a negative way. You know what, Tim? You should be so fucking lucky.

What I Liked:

• As I sat at work anticipating this episode, avoiding spoilers, I tried to figure out who might die and it occurred to me that anyone could die at this point. Usually the sign a character is going to die is flashbacks come to some sort of resolution. We learn every facet of what made the person on the island. This season, we basically wrapped up everyone's past - Locke's dad, Kate's dad and mom, Sayid getting forgiveness, Sawyer getting his revenge, how Jack got his tattoo (I know...who cared). The point is there was nowhere else to go so everybody was vulnerable. How I underestimated Cuse and Lindelof? The flashback is over. The flash forward begins
• I know some people hate Jack and some people want someone to punch Jack in the face (I'm not one of them), but Matthew Fox carried this episode acting-wise from his future self, his five minutes with Ben when he thought Jin, Bernard and Sayid were killed and his final showdown with Locke. Seriously, I hope the Emmys don't ignore Lost in the acting categories this time around.
• There was all types of bad assery: Jack kicking Ben's ass, Hurley's rescue in Roger's van, Sayid pulling a Jack Bauer, Sawyer's revenge kill on Friendly, Locke throwing a knife in Naomi's back and Mikhail's underwater grenade pull
• Two best quotes of the night
• "If you say 'live together, die alone' to me, Jack, I'm gonna punch you in your face." - Rose (after Jack told them they weren't waiting for Sayid, Bernard and Jin)
  
• "I didn't believe him." - Sawyer (after shooting Tom Friendly in cold blood)
  
• Charlie died. Ok, I wish he didn't die. There! Are you happy?

What I Didn't Like:

• I wish ABC didn't list Malcolm David Kelly in the opening credits so Walt's appearance would have been more of a surprise
• Jack's kiss with Juliet and saying "I love you" to Kate seemed out of place and pointless.
• Jack's AWFUL fake beard
• I wish we got more of Locke
• The anticlimactic reunion of Alex and Danielle
• I'm mad at myself for not figuring out the flash forward thing sooner

What We Learned On The Island:

• Ben was keeping the fact that Looking Glass was still functioning a secret to everyone
• Everyone were told the girls guarding it - Greta and Bonnie - were on assignment in Canada
• Ben was keeping Alex and Karl apart because he didn't want her to get pregnant
• Bernard is a bitch
• Danielle recorded her distress signal three days before Alex was born
• Naomi is not working for Penny
• Jin is a poor shot with a handgun
• Mikhail is a poor shot with a machine gun in broad daylight and a stationary target
• Tying up and gagging Sayid does not necessarily mean he can't kill you
• There is a "temple" on the island
• Walt's ghost is about 6 inches taller than real Walt
• Mikhail is an immortal. Ok that's not true but it sure feels that way doesn't it

What We Learned Off The Island:

• Jack and Kate got off the island (!)
• Jack became a pill-popping drunk
• While trying to jump off a bridge, he caused a woman driving with her son to crash her car. Jack saved their life
• Jack attends a funeral for someone that both him and Kate knew
• Oceanic Airlines gave the survivors unlimited miles which Jack uses hoping to crash on the island
• Kate has a "he" to go home to
• Jack is trying to get back on the island.

Questions:

• How did they get off the island?
• Who didn't get off the island?
• What "mistake" is Jack tired of "lying about"?
  
• Who's funeral was that? (My guess: Ben)
• Who is the "he" Kate has to go home to?
• Is Jack's father alive?
• Is this the absolute future or a possible future?
• Was that Jacob appearing as Walt?
• After all the things that have happened to Locke, now he decides to kill himself?
• Who is Naomi working for?
• I know Charlie thought he was going to die but why did he rat out Juliet as his source for finding the underwater hatch? What if he ruined everything with his big fucking mouth?
  
• Is Mikhail really dead this time?
• Did Charlie close the door on himself to make Desmond's vision come true saving Claire in his mind or was he too sodding stupid to realize a) he had enough time to get on the other side of that door or b) the moon pool in the other room would have slowed the flooding to a crawl giving them plenty of time to escape?
• How badass is Sayid and Sawyer?
• Will Desmond still get visions? If so, what will he see now?
• what and where is the temple Alpert is leading the remaining Others too?
• Why has Ben been lying to his own people and jamming their communications off the island?
• Why is the cast of NBC's Las Vegas invading Lost? will James Caan be playing Jacob?
• Seriously, did another black character have get killed off the show?
• Can Cuse and Lindelof pull this off?
• Can I survive until February 2008 without Lost?

Fuck UPS [update]

Continuing last night's tale...

UPS was supposed to call me at 10 AM to discuss last night's non-delivery.

They called me at 10:55 AM. Whatever.

The woman says that it shows here blah blah blah...it doesn't matter what the fuck she said because the fact is he didn't come.

Then she was like is someone there to receive the package now? No, I'm at work. Just like you.

I think this is the thing that annoys me most about most about my conversations with them: their immediate assumption that you are home.

Anyway, I ask if they could deliver it after 5 PM tomorrow. She says she will inform the driver and call me back. That call still hasn't come.

I get back to the office (I was in at the doctor's office during this call) and check UPS.com for some sort of update. Guess what?

05/23/2007 11:07 A.M. RECEIVER WAS UNAVAILABLE TO SIGN ON 3RD DELIVERY ATTEMPT

I'm just so tired right now.

Any unseen all-powerful, all-knowing deity, please give me strength...

Fuck UPS

So for my five year anniversary at work, I got to select a gift and I picked this bicycle.

It was shipped and was supposed to be delivered by UPS on Friday.

That's when the adventure begins...

I decide to work from home because when I wake up, I see this message on UPS.com:

05/18/2007 4:54 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY

So I sit at home, working on my shitty desktop, waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

I sit at home all day until this message comes up on the website:

05/18/2007 7:08 P.M. THE PACKAGE IS DELAYED DUE TO EMERGENCY CONDITIONS BEYOND UPS' CONTROL

What the fuck does that even mean? It was a beautiful 70+ degree day. What "emergency conditions" were there?

So I don't get any updates on the weekend and Monday morning. I check UPS.com periodically but no updates. So I get home and there's a UPS slip on my door. I get upstairs and check the website and see this:

05/21/2007 3:35 P.M. THE RECEIVER WAS NOT AVAILABLE TO SIGN ON THE 2ND DELIVERY ATTEMPT. A 3RD DELIVERY ATTEMPT WILL BE MADE

2nd delivery attempt? What the hell are they trying to pull? You only get three attempts before you have to go pick up the package yourself.

So I call UPS and arrange to have it delivered Tuesday after 5 PM. Everything is straight.

UPS calls me right back and says the driver is still in the area and wants to know if I'd MEET HIM to pick up my package.

1) It's a 35 pound package.
2) He's the one with the fucking van.

I obviously say no and will be fine with delivery on Tuesday.

So today, I leave work early so that I will be home by 5 PM. And I wait.

And wait.

And wait.

I call UPS at 6:30 PM and they tell me my package should be there by 7:30 PM.

7:30 PM comes and goes.

I call back. UPS tells me packages have been delivered 11 PM (can anyone confirm this?)

I keep waiting and checking UPS.com periodically.

I get distracted by the final episode of Veronica Mars (sniff) and at about 9:40 PM, I refresh UPS.com and see this:

05/22/2007 9:24 P.M. THE RECEIVER WAS UNAVAILABLE TO SIGN ON THE 1ST DELIVERY ATTEMPT. A 2ND DELIVERY ATTEMPT WILL BE MADE

I flip out. I run down the stairs while calling UPS to check if there was a slip on my front door. There wasn't. UPS tells me that the driver tried to deliver it and I wasn't there. I tell her that's not likely because I have been here waiting for almost five hours. I ask her to explain to me why the driver flat out lied. She stutters and puts me on hold. She tells me UPS will call me tomorrow morning.

I am so angry right now that I can't think of a better word to describe it than "seething."

Fuck UPS.

24 Season Six: 4:00 AM - 5:00 AM/5:00 AM - 6:00 AM

Body Count: 49 (+13!)

Sorry this is late but there was nothing to talk about aside from Jack setting the single season kill record.

I'll make this quick so we can forget this season ever happened.

Jack was right, everyone was wrong.

Jack killed 19 people with one clip.

Doyle's blind

Chloe's pregnant

Bill Buchanan, channeling Tony Almeida, goes from not being sure he can fly a helicopter to landing on an oil rig on the sea.

Bill and Karen Hayes are unemployed

Dragonslayer is still a snarky dick.

Josh proves he's Jack's son by getting the drop on Papa Bauer and shooting him

Jack lets Papa Bauer blow up with the chip on the oil rig

Jack ambushes Heller and gets his balls back

Jack says goodbye to Audrey.

Jack contemplates his future (or suicide).

Silent clock for the death of a popular show.

The End

I Believe in Christopher Nolan

The first look at Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight

New Transformers Trailer

This is the first trailer that has made me want to see the movie.

Looks better in Quicktime HD if you
have a Quicktime player on your computer

R.I.P. Veronica Mars

You'll be missed.

Lost Season Three: "Greatest Hits"

The Life Aquatic With Charlie Pace

What I Liked:

• The way they built tension for next week's finale. All the pieces are in place
• The return of Rose and Bernard
• Juliet wins the best line of the night award, responding to Karl telling the 815ers that Juliet is a spy: "They know Carl, but thanks!" (it was all in delivery)
• Charlie and Desmond's interaction throughout the episode was great.
• Charlie's "Greatest Hits" flashback. I hope they continue to find interesting ways to do flashbacks from this point forward
• Charlie's goodbye to Hurley was particularly sad
  
• They almost made me not want Charlie to die

What I Didn't Like:

• Everything seemed a little rushed
• Charlie lived

What We Learned:

• There is an underwater station called The Looking Glass (more Alice in Wonderland) that is jamming all communications off of the island except for The Others
• There was a DriveSHAFT Greatest Hits album released when the world thought Charlie was dead (despite having only two albums but hey, even the Fu-Schnickens have a greatest hits album)
• Charlie saved Nadia (Sayid's) from a mugger and she called him a hero
• Bernard can shoot
• The DS ring Charlie wears and bequeaths to Aaron doesn't stand for DriveSHAFT but were his great-grandfather's initials (Dexter Stratton) and was also the inspiration of the band's name
• Naomi is from Manchester
• Charlie can swim (despite saying he couldn't in season one)

Question:

• Did it not occur to anyone that such an important station might have guards?
• Are those guards Others? Dharma Initiative? Mermaids?
• Why did Ben mislead the Others into believing that the Looking Glass was empty and had been flooded?
  
• Why did Charlie lie in season one and say he couldn't swim?
• Why isn't Claire nervous anytime Charlie goes off with Desmond knowing that Desmond gets visions of Charlie dying?
  
• If Charlie dies, will Desmond still get flashes? If so, of what?
• Why did Ben move up the time table to kidnap the women? Was he trying to distract the Others from wondering what happened to Locke?
• I know Ben was lying this time out but does Jacob actually give Ben orders or is he some sort of boogeyman he uses to scare the Others straight?
• Who is Nadia's travel agent? This chick is everywhere.
  
• Did Charlie ever get some from Claire?

New York: Go See "Once" Today

Here's my original review and the official website!

Do it!

Thank You, TV Gods For Renewing...

and



Now, just give me Veronica Mars, and I will stop sacrificing goats in your name.

24 Season Six: 3:00 AM - 4:00 AM

Body Count: 36 (+6)

For all the shit I talked about Jack's kills this season, he's on course to break Season Four record of 44 kills. Fingers crossed.

Big Trouble In Little CTU
So the Chinese grab Josh and leave to meet up with Cheng. Jack and Nadia come up with a plane to overtake their captors. While they are whispering, Chloe comes up to them like a high schooler saying "Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Chloe really misses her alone time with Jack. With a well-placed headbutt, Jack sets off the attack. Morris tries to choke one of the captors from behind, Nadia busts out some nifty punches and Jack continues this season's penchant for creative kills by choking out head Chinese merc with his gun strap. Doyle and the rest of CTU show up in time to save Nadia from sharing Milo's fate. Jack wants to run after Josh. Nadia reminds him that he's still under arrest. He ignores her. She accepts that. No one bothers to clean up Milo's body. Division shows up to make CTU look bad AGAIN. Blah Blah Blah

Russian Cocktail
Well, Mike Bishop, Russian spy, is no commercial break lover like President Logan last season as we rejoin this Dragonslayer and Secret Service team in the van waiting for Bishop and Aide Slore to finish up which leads to the funniest line of the season,"Aaaaand finally we're done!" Mark doesn't fall for the bait and the Aide tries to beat up the spy. Guess how that turned out? Anyway, Dragonslayer and team save her from being choked to death and force the spy to send the e-mails. Doesn't matter because Russkie Prez was having his spy monitored and knew the e-mails were fake (Question: Why aren't the Russkies out looking for Cheng if this chip is so fucking important). Presidnt Suvarov gives VP ODB two hours to secure the chip and provide proof or else: WAR! Then the VP sums up the absurdity of this entire season in one line: "We're about to go to war over a piece of circuitry." Indeed.

Chinese Take Out
So Doyle "leads" a team with Jack to recover Josh. "Lead" is in quotes because Jack does all the hard work. He kills his way to Cheng and saves Josh who keeps getting himself into Kim-like trouble. Cheng gets away but now has nothing to bargain with to get the chip from Papa Bauer (Question: How did Cheng even find Papa Bauer? Did he look him up in the Yellow Pages?) So Papa Bauer calls the Vice President (apparently on 24, it's not so hard to get someone in the White House on the phone). He offers to give them the chip in exchange for Josh. VP ODB agrees and Doyle snatches Josh from Bauer and flies off in a helicopter while an entire team of CTU agents holds back Jack. Good, NOW Jack has a reason to kill Doyle.

Bauer Moments to Remember:

• Jack choking out head Chinese merc with his own gunstrap
• During Jack's rescue of Josh, Jack does this amazing slide and shoot with his chicken legs.

What does it say about me...

...that I am looking forward to the upcoming season finales, not only for story resolutions and cliffhangers, but because it will give me a break from all the television I have committed myself to watching?

I'll finally be able to read some books, play all those video games that have been piling up, go out without thinking of the television I'm going to catch up with later in the week.

Nevermind. Don't answer that question.

Lost Season Three: "The Man Behind The Curtain"

Help. Me.

What I Liked:

• When Lost ends in 2010, Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson should try and find a project together.
• We finally learned what became of the Dharma Initiative
• While it lasted, I loved seeing tough guy Locke. I felt like he was representing frustrated Lost fans (not me) when he was beating up Mikhail and pushing Ben into a corner to stop his incessant stalling
• The 815ers finally got together and talked. Look how easy that was.

What I Didn't Like:

• I don't think Locke is dead. But if for some crazy reason he is dead. I. DO. NOT. LIKE. THAT.
• Another season, another secret plan by Jack
• Another character, another shitty father. Thank God this show is off the air before Father's Day.

What We Learned:

• Ben was not born on the island. He was born outside of Portland to Emily and Roger Linus in the woods after an ill-advised hike. Emily dies shortly after he is born.
• Roger and Ben (as pre-teen) are brought to the island by Horace Goodspeed, who pulled over along the side of the road to help Emily and Roger when Ben was born.
• Roger is given a job as a Work Man (or what we in the real world would call a Custodial Technician)
• Dharma Group is at war with the Hostiles, the island's original inhabitants
• Ben has a little girlfriend growing up called Annie
• Roger blames Ben for his mother's death and keeps forgetting Ben's birthday.
• Kid Ben sees his mother (wearing the clothes a doll Annie made for him).
• When Kid Ben sneaks into the woods to look for her, he runs into Richard Alpert. He tells Richard that he wants to leave the Dharma group.
• Adult Ben kills his father in the van that Hurley found in "Trisha Tanaka Is Dead" and helps the Hostiles to kill the rest of the Dharma Group
• There is a volcano on the island.
• Naomi is NOT with the others
• Mikhail survived the pylons because they were not set to lethal
• Juliet told Jack about Ben's plan, he just had decided to not share this information until he figured out what to do.
• Jacob lives in the woods in a shack.
• Jacob hates technology.
• Only Ben can see or communicate with Jacob (kind of like Management in HBO's Carnivàle) until Jaocb says "help me" to Locke.

Questions:

• What the fuck is Jacob?
• How come only Ben can hear or see him?
• WHat is with the ring of ash around Jacob's shack?
  
• Did Annie die with the rest of the Dharma Initiative?
• Were there other Dharma members who defected to the Others?
• How is Richard the same age now he was when he met Ben as a kid?
• If Richard has been around for so long with the Others, how come Ben is in charge and not him?
• Is any of the Others supporting Ben at this point?
• How did the Others get to the island?
• Who goes hiking when they are seven months pregnant?
• Was the dynamite Danielle got from the Black Rock for Jack's plan?
  
• Can the island heal a bullet wound? If so, can it hurry?

Movie of the Week: Hot Fuzz

Here comes the Fuzz!

Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg come up with another awesome parody. What's next: romantic comedies?

It was really slow in the beginning (it didn't help that I was a little sleepy). I felt like they rushed Pegg's character to the country and spent too much time revealing the villain(s).

But when it got going, wow.

The action was incredibly well-directed considering it was Wright's first foray into this kind of filmmaking. I didn't expect it to be so bloody though. That was a pleasant surprise.

Pegg and Nick Frost continue to be a modern day British Abbott and Costello.

Awesome cameo by my girl Cate Blachett. I don't care what she was wearing. There's no way I couldn't spot her.

This movie reminded me that I need to buy Point Break already.

24 Season Six: 2:00 AM - 3:00 AM

Body Count: 30 (+5)

Even when Jack doesn't go looking for trouble, trouble goes looking for Jack

Political Espinoge - The Skinemax Edition:
Let's get the stupid (or stupider) part out of the way. Dragonslayer and ODB get VP Aide Slore to call her snitch of a lover and tell him that they got the component back so that he can tell the Chinese. Then she's supposed to go over there and leave him alone with her PDA so he can go through it. So with Dragonslayer and some men in a van outside, Aide Slore tried to execute the plan but fails because snitch just wants to get laid and isn't letting her out of his sight. It was a comedy of error. So now they are probably having sex with Dragonslayer watching in the van after requesting for some privacy.

Assault at CTU (Part 4):
Audrey and Heller are gone (Thank God). Jack is still under arrest. Chloe decides that Marilyn needs to know all this information and see Jack so that she can hover over this dead relationship carcass like a vulture. Meanwhile, Chloe and Morris and Nadia and Milo are sorting out their love lives with Silver Spoons is doing the cliched "We're in the wrong place" thing in his hunt for Cheng.

Now this is how easy it is to infiltrate CTU. It wasn't even Cheng initial plan to break into CTU. This is something he put together (with outside help but still) in a little over an hour.

The Chinese mercenaries break in and start shooting. They ask who's in charge. Nadia freezes and Milo is like, "I'm in charge here". BAM! Bullet in the forehead. R.I.P. Milo. You died like you lived: trying to get laid. The security guard opens Jack cell before he gets shot. Jack takes his gun and killing time. The last thing you want to give Jack Bauer is home court advantage. You think Cheng might have warned them that Bauer was in the building. Jack saves Marilyn and Josh (side note: he continues to prove he's Bauer's son because he hasn't slept this entire day) and they realize the Chinese are after Josh. Jack helps Josh escape but him and Marilyn get captured as a result. Now, why the Chinese don't put a bullet in Jack's head right now is beyond me. He is sitting on the ground staring at them like a rabid dog. The head merc gets Josh to come back by threatening to kill Marilyn. I was hoping that Josh's pants would get caught on something and he would be too late to save her. Oh well. Then we realize that the Chinese were obtaining Josh for Papa Bauer(!) who is fixing the broken chip in exchange for Josh, the kid who he threatened to kill 8 hours ago or so.

Movie of the Week Part II: Spider-Man 3

Unfortunately, third time is not a charm

From this point on, all spoilers because that's the only way I can do this

What I Liked:

• Tobey Maguire still has Peter Parker down
• This was the first Spidey movie that I liked James Franco in
• Thomas Hayden Church was great as Sandman
• Venom looked more like Todd McFarlane's version than I expected
• The action sequences were great as always. Raimi knows how to kick Spidey's ass and make it look good
• J.K. Simmons owns J. Jonah Jameson
• Bruce Campbell's best cameo role yet
  
• Topher Grace, pre-Venom, was probably the best person in the movie
• The scenes with dark Peter were pretty funny until it went over the top
• I won't deny that I smiled at the Green Goblin/Spider-Man team-up at the end

What I Didn't Like:

• Explain to me why Bryce Dallas Howard wasn't cast as Mary Jane and Kirsten "Snaggletooth" Dunst was?
• So the movie is chugging along and I'm wondering why everyone is whining about this movie and then it happens...the movie suddenly comes to a grinding halt. From the moment MJ and Harry kiss (the crowd actually booed) til Peter rips off the suit, except for a couple of moments (Peter vs. Harry in his apartment & the aforementioned funny dark Peter), the movie essentially stands still.
• I'm getting tired of Aunt May's speeches
• Who told Kirsten Dunst she should sing multiple times in the movie?
  
• The constant crowd NYC crowd shots with random kid ab libs get more and more annoying with each one. At this point, they are just poorly staged.
• Venom and Sandman weren't developed enough. Venom particularly seemed sort of tacked on.
• Spider-Man let a criminal get away at the end.
• The 15 minute cryfest at the end. I thought I was watching the end of The Return of the King.

All and all, it wasn't bad but we could have done without this one being made.

God help them if they try to make Spider-Man 4.

Lost Season Three: "The Brig"

My name is James Ford. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

What I Liked:

• Say what you will about season three but this season has produced some of the best Lost episodes ever...including this one.
• Finally a connection between two castaways has some sort of payoff
• Josh Holloway's Emmy reel will come from this episode
• The backstory showing us what Locke's been up to since we last saw him.
• The divisions amongst the castaways AND the Others
• Um, Naomi is cute and had my favorite line of the night: "Remind me not to save you, Sayid"

What I Didn't Like:

• How Kate went over to Jack at Mach 5 speeds to spill the beans about Naomi

What We Learned:

• Sawyer is still Kate's booty call
• The Others have apprently been "waiting" for Locke
• Ben's plan for the 815ers: kidnap all the pregnant women
• Oceanic Flight 815 was found at the bottom of the ocean near Bali, all the bodies were accounted for
• Naomi is part of a company hired by Penelope Widmore to find Desmond using the coordinates she got at the end of Season Two after the Hatch imploded
• The ship Naomi came from is about 80 miles away from the island
• According to Alpert, Ben is purposely trying to make Locke look bad in front of the Others
• Cooper was kidnapped after a car crash
• Cooper is Tom Sawyer, the man who conned James' mother.
• After all he's been through on the island, somehow that letter James wrote when he was a little kid is still intact

Questions:

• Is there really a schism in the Others faction or was Alpert doing exactly what Ben wanted him to do by getting Locke to get Sawyer to kill Cooper?
• Did all the Others have to do something for their initiation?
• Why does Danielle need dynamite?
• What secret is Juliet and Jack keeping?
• Why did Ben tell Locke about his plan to kidnap the pregnant women on the island?
• what bodies did they find in the wreckage of flight 815?
• Why does the island heal everyone so quickly?
• When will Locke and Danielle realize they are perfect for one another?
• Like Inigo Montoya, now that James has finally gotten his revenge on Cooper, what's left?

Björk at Radio City Music Hall

What a weird, awesome woman

So Bill & I went to her Radio City Music Hall show. I expected she would be doing mostly songs from her new album, Volta. So I was pretty pleased when she essentially ran through the greatest hits, sans "Hyperballad" which is probably my favorite Björk ever so that was disappointing.

She came out with the same horn section that she did for her recent Saturday Night Live appearance.

This was the setlist:
"Earth Intruders"
"Venus As A Boy"
"Aurora"
"I See Who You Are"
"Oceania"
"Dull Flame of Desire"
"All Is Full of Love"
"Pleasure Is All Mine"
"Pagan Poetry"
"Joga"
"Where Is the Line?"
"Army of Me"
"Innocence"
"Wanderlust"
"Pluto"
"Anchor Song"
"Declare Independence"

I'm always amazed at how powerful her voice is and how she's been able to maintain it it. Especially when she says "thank you" after every song with a voice of a ten year old at a spelling bee and is dancing around stage like Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine.

The funniest moment was when some fan tried to get on stage and dance along with Björk. Radio City Music Hall security does not fuck around. That guy took two hops on stage before he was taken down and dragged off the stage on his stomach.

All and all, a great night.

Iron Man Movie Armor

Good job, Jon

Movie of the Week Pt. 1: Once

My favorite movie of the year thus far

This is sort of a musical ("modern day musical" is how the writer-director John Carney described it at the Q&A following the screening). It's not like a Dreamgirls/Chicago musical where characters break into songs about the scene. The songs (some featured on the album, The Swell Season, some written specifically for the film) come along while the characters are collaborating and making this demo but the songs are about both the characters' (who are never named so they are referred to as Guy and Girl) past and what is going on between them.

The two leads Glen Hansard (from the Irish band, The Frames) and Markéta Irglová have great chemistry together and their friendship seems natural and not forced. And the songs were great.

I want to say more but it would spoil certain aspects of the movie.

The movie isn't perfect but it felt perfect so I'm sticking with my rating.

Just see it and hate me if you don't like it.

It comes out in limited release on May 18th.

24 Season Six: 1:00 AM - 2:00 AM

Body Count: 25 (0)

A mole, relationship problems during a crisis, conflict between CTU and Division, Jack beating up CTU guards, just another hour in CTU land...

White House Ho
Show surprise, there's a leak and it's in Lisa Miller's drawers. Apparently, VP ODB isn't the only person she's been sleeping with it. Far be it from me to judge her promiscuous ways but syhe just happens to be boning a guy who's linking intel to the Russian which allows them to find out about Cheng getting away with the chip. Little do they know, the chip is broken and now Cheng is looking for someone to fix it. Wait, isn't this how the day started? Morris better not go outside for a smoke break. Anyway, VP ODB tells the Dragonslayer his sob story of being a widower and his feelings for the traitorous slore. Boo hoo! Dragonslayer comes up with a plan to get Lisa to tell her booty call they found the chip so World War III won't have to start.

CTU Days of our Lives
After Nadia denied Morris of his transfer due to hurt feelings, he dumps Chloe with some now-trademark face touching. He leaves her crying and now she appears to be missing (Chinese?). Division sends a psychologist to deal with catatonic Audrey which Jack is being detained in another room. The doc, who probably has degrees and experience in this sort of thing, tells them that they are going to give her some drugs to try as get much information as possible, possibly killing her. I don't see a problem with this. Jack, who only has a degree in killing people with limited resources, thinks he can cure Audrey just by being Jack Bauer. Doyle in attempt to make the viewers like him sides with Jack and sets him loose on CTU and Division staff like a pit bull in a kindergarten class. He kidnaps Audrey, locks her in a room and eventually she says one word which helps give them a hint to where the Chinese might be.

Heller An Ending
Out of nowhere, Secretary of Defense (still?) Heller is at Audrey's bedside. Before he gets her out of there, he talks to Jack and tells her to stay away from his daughters, blaming Jack for her state and telling him that everything he touches dies. If that's true, Jack must have touched one too many writers this season.