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24 Season Seven Cast Photo

Or "The People Who's Lives Will Be In Danger Because They Are Working With Jack Bauer"


Click the photo for the full-size

Lost Season Four: "The Shape of Things To Come"

What I Liked:

• Wow, what an episode! That was possibly the most action-packed episode that wasn't a season premiere or finale.
• So many great Michael Emerson moments: Ben pulling the shotgun out of the piano bench, disarming and killing those two guys on horseback, the look on Ben's face after Alex was shot, his chilly meeting with Widmore
• We are finally getting rid of those useless extras
• We are spared future poor acting performances from Tania Raymonde (Alex)
• “Australia’s the key to the whole game!”
• “When? ‘When’ is kind of a relative term.”

What I Didn't Like:

• No way Sawyer escaped several shooters with automatic weapons in a generally open area without getting shot once
• It was kind of silly watching all those redshirts get killed off
• Did the producers and writers just give up on the story Alex and Danielle Rousseau? They got their reunion and were killed 7 episodes later

What We Learned:

Flashforward (Ben)

• Ben was in the Sahara Desert being a badass
• He was using the alias of Dean Moriarty in Tunisa and is a preferred guest
• Sayid was married to Nadia and she was killed by one of Widmore's men (or so Ben says)
• Ben got off the island with Desmond's boat (or so Ben says)
• Sayid killed the man who killed Nadia
• Now we know how Ben and Sayid teamed up
• Now in England, Ben goes to see Charles Widmore
• Ben intends to kill Penelope as revenge for Alex

Island

• The body of the Doc Ray washed up on the shore with his throat slit
• Code 14J means someone has turned off the fence
• Sawyer is such a good con man, he conned all those bullets to hit other people
• Miles didn't know about the assault team on the boat
• Ben confessed that he stole Alex from Rousseau when she was a baby (but we all knew that)
• Keamy shot Alex!
• DO NOT FUCK WITH BENJAMIN LINUS!
• Jack is not a complete idiot because he had Bernard listen in on the Morse Code message to Daniel
• The Freighties had no intention of taking the 815ers off the island?
• Jack is finally getting the stomach pains he deserves.
• Sawyer, Claire and Miles head back to the beach while Locke,Ben and Hurley (under duress) go to find Jacob

Questions:

• How many pills can they have possibly obtained from one flight?
• Wasn't Hurley taking care of Vincent?
• Who killed Doc Ray?
• Did Sawyer care about the fact that three people got killed around him?
• How did Ben end up in the middle of the Sahara Desert (wearing a parka no less)?
• Why does Ben think it is important that Locke above all others survives?
• What did the hotel registry say about Mr. Moriarty that had the check-in girl shook?
• Why did Ben ask what year it was at the hotel?
• What point in time did Ben leave to go Tunisa?
• Is Ben telling the truth about Widmore having Nadia killed?
• If so, why did Widmore's man murder Nadia?
• If not, did ben have Nadia killed?
• What are "the rules"?
• What is Smokey?
• How does Ben control Smokey?
• Why did the freighter tell them that the doctor was fine?
• How does Bernard know morse code?
• Are all the redshirts in Locke's camp dead?
• How come Hurley can find the cabin but Locke and Ben can't?
• When did Ben (in terms of time) go see Widmore?
• Why can't Ben kill Charles Widmore?
• Where is Penelope hiding?
• Is Sayid going to be the one sent to kill Penny?

New "The Dark Knight" Poster

She & Him at Webster Hall

This show was supposed to be at Hiro Ballroom but the show was moved to Webster Hall at the last minute. I generally hate this venue because the drinks are so expensive and on the wrong night, you'll hear club music below the floor. I hate the venue so much that I have passed up on seeing some of my favorite bands if they were playing there. Anyway, last night wasn't so bad (except for the expensive beers).

Zooey was sick and could't talk (her singing was fine for the most part) so she held up signs throughout the night. This was my favorite.

It was a good show even though the opening act. Ola Podrida, was pretty bad (they were out of tune and I could barely understand what the lead singer was saying).

Afterwards, Jenny convinced me to go to her favorite dive bar again and drink cheap beers and shots.


I don't know why I listen to her.

Here are the rest of my photos from the show.

Highlights From NY Comic Con 2008

Michael Trucco (Anders), Rekha Sharma (Tory) & Michael Hogan (Col. Tigh) at the Battlestar Galactica event, originally uploaded by Melanism.com.

This year at New York Comic Con, I had a clear plan. Get all my shopping out of the way early so I could go to as many panels as possible.

Here were the highlights:

• The Battlestar Galactica panel was cool but I knew I was in trouble because I hadn't watched Friday nights episode and had the ending ruined for me.
• I saw two clips from Wall-E. This movie is going to be so good.
• I saw one action sequence from The Incredible Hulk which, while I still don't think it will be great, it will at least be entertaining
• They also showed a clip of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in The Incredible Hulk confirming that all the Marvel movies will take place in the same "universe"
• Warner Brothers was a late addition to the event but they brought the new The Dark Knight trailer that is going to debut in front of Iron Man. Awesome. Really awesome.
• Since I couldn't see Neil Gaiman, my favorite writer, on Friday, seeing my second favorite writer, Grant Morisson, was just as good.
• At The Spirit panel, Eva Mendes was gorgeous and really funny.
• This is where I go every year to remind myself that I'm not as big a geek as I think I am.

The rest of my photos from Saturday are here.

Movie of the Week: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Hopefully, this movie makes Jason Segal a star...and not just because he showed his kibbles and bits for laughs. I've been a fan of his since Freaks & Geeks. The script he wrote was really good and gave everybody a moment to be funny and gave a lot of characters a little more depth than expected.

I'll be honest. When I saw the trailer, I was a little worried about the Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) character (the British rocker who dates Sarah Marshall after Peter. I was wrong. He was hilarious.

As is usually the case in Apatow productions, there are tons of funny minor characters and they all work here, particularly Jack McBrayer (as a newlywed who is scared of sex), Paul Rudd (as a stoner surf instructor) and Jonah Hill (as a waiter who is a little too obsessed with Aldus).

My Longest Relationship

So this weekend is the 3rd Annual New York Comic Con. I’ll be attending on Saturday to spend money on discounted book, take pictures of people dressed like comic book characters in ill-fitting suits and listen to crazy comic book writers and artists talk about what will draining my bank account in the upcoming months. Anyway, on the subway this morning, I started to reflect on how this all began.

I’ve been reading comic books for as long as I could read. My brother was a reader of comic books and would leave them all over the house. They had words and pictures so that was good enough for me. I wasn’t reading them in order or following any storylines, I was just reading.

When I got a little older, my father would take me to the A&P supermarket with him every Saturday morning. I would go to the cigar shop and read comics and wrestling magazines. When I started getting an allowance, the first comic book I remember buying with my own money was G.I. Joe vs. Transformers #1. It was a no-brainer. I watched G.I. Joe everyday. I watched Transformers everyday. Now there was a comic…with both of them. It was more than my little brain could handle.

There was this friend of my father who lived 15 minutes away and my father would always stop over there for a beer anytime he had to pick me up for Little League or something. The guy had a son who had this huge dresser drawer full of comics. He was away at college so every time I was forced to go over to this guy’s house, I would make a beeline for his room and read the comics in his room. One particular day, I went into his room and he was home. He let me sit in there and read his comics until he finally just said, “Hey, do you want these?” I ran downstairs and grabbed a trash bag (couldn’t find a box) and carted home at least 200 comics.* I read every single one of those comics at least 20 times each.

In grade school, it seemed like everyone read comics but the only place to get them was 7-Eleven. Then, I think in 7th grade they opened a comic shop 15 minutes away from school. An actual comic shop. At this point in my life I had never seen a store that only sold comic book stuff. It was at this point that I started to ask for a raise in my allowance.

That store eventually closed down** but Andrew found a new store in Hicksville. It was quite a trek. We would walk at least 40 minutes to get to the store and walk all the way home. The guy who ran the shop was named Steve and, I shit you not, he was the spitting image of the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons. To this day, I am convinced Matt Groening met Steve and was impressed/terrified by Steve’s geekiness.

I read comic books all throughout high school but when I got to NYU, I had a dliemna. I was dating a girl who lived in Queens and you had to take the LIRR out there which was expensive. Plus, I started to feel embarrassed to be reading comic books in college. So I stopped buying them altogether. There was no way I could afford to see her on the weekends and continue my little habit. We broke up in my sophomore year and I didn’t even think about comics again. Then someone (either Derreck or Andrew) sent me an e-mail that Wolverine got his adamantium pulled out of body by Magneto. I was like “What?!” I had to go to three comic shops to find the issue in question (X-Men #25). I forgot how much I loved reading comics. But I didn’t necessarily start back up again. I periodically bought X-Men comics when I thought about it but not to the level I did when I was a kid.

Then in Junior year, I moved in with Kerwin who was a friend of my sophomore year roommate, Pierre. I don’t think I knew this right away but Kerwin was into comics too. He was still regularly buying them. He got me into reading JLA (the Grant Morrison run) and Batman (again). Once we knew we both loved comics, I was back on the horse again. Now that I had a job and no girlfriend to buy presents, go out to dinner with and visit, I bought comics like a madman. I would buy every #1 issue just to try it out. Kerwin and I would read each other’s purchases and there would just be piles of comics on the floor. Kerwin essentially ruined my life.

These days, I spend an obscene amount of money on comics weekly. I think Keriwn is the only friend I have who still reads comics regularly. My brother, in an interesting role reversal, now reads the comic books that I’m done with (much like I did when I was a little kid). Last year, I convinced Derreck and Eric (who used to read comics but abandoned them for better things like life) to go with me to Comic Con. My comic book reading expanded from just superhero books to indie and alternative books.*** I am a contributor to the PrepTimePosse blog****.

I love comic books and until I have a child who makes it financially impossible to maintain my love affair, I'll never stop.

The end*****.

* Man, some of the stuff in there would have been worth thousands if he took care of his books.
** I had been banned from the store anyway because I owed the owner $9 for a Punisher poster he gave me on credit. Sucker!
*** This started when I went to Barnes & Noble during my lunch break and discovered Neil Gaiman's Sandman which is probably my favorite comic of all-time now
**** A bunch of comic book fans from Okayplayer got together and started a blog
***** This is probably the longest non-list post I've ever written and it's about comic books. Line forms to the left, ladies.

Kung Fu Monkey

Good News & Bad News

The good news is I have uploaded all my digital photos onto Flickr (over 1700 photos). Feel free to laugh at pictures of me as old as 1999.

The bad news is if I ever took a digital photo of you, there is an 85% chance it's up there too.

Sorry...

Things That Might Make My Life Better (or More Interesting)

Some goddamn point a man's due to stop arguing with his-self and feeling twice the goddamn fool he knows he is 'cause he can't be something he tries to be every goddamn day without once getting to dinnertime and fucking it up. I don't want to fight it anymore, understand me Charlie? And I don't want you pissing in my ear about it. Can you let me go to hell the way I want to?
- Wild Bill Hickok from Deadwood

These things are always on my mind but maybe if I write them down and publicly admit them, I'll be more likely to do them...

• Learning how to cook from a recipe (as opposed to the microwave option I naturally gravitate towards)
  
• Learning another language
• Saving money like I'm going to have a long life
  
• Stop spending money like I'm going to have a short one
• Go to the doctor for a check-up for the first time a decade (to see if I can ignore #3 or #4)
• Go to the dentist (so it doesn't hurt when I eat candy)
  
• Don't watch so much TV (not that I have to stop watching my shows but during that time when I'm just flipping channels)
  
• Read more books
• Watch more documentaries
• Stop buying DVDs that I'm never going to watch more than once
• Stop buying video games that I'm not going to make time to play
• Make time to play the video games I have
• Stop spending so much money on comic books (if you only knew how much I spend in a month)
• Learn to do my job better (or get a new job)
  
• Pay off my credit cards before making any other major purchases
• Travel somewhere outside the U.S. that's not England (although I do want to go back)
• Call my parents more
• Call other people more
• Answer my phone when people call and I'm watching TV (not like I couldn't pause it)
  
• Spend less time aimlessly surfing the internet
• Spend less money on buying alcohol
• Don't use going to the gym as an excuse to eat poorly
• Stop buying amusing t-shirts and buy regular clothes
  
• Stop buying clothes you never get around to wearing
• Dust your room more regularly
• Go out more often
• Be more social when I do go out
• Don't use payday as an excuse to go shopping
• Ride that bike you bitched about getting from UPS
• Blog more about myself instead what I'm watching or reading (mostly watching)
  

Who are we kidding though. It's not like I'm going to do 98% of the things on this list but at least if you see me not doing any of these things, you have permission to openly judge me.

What's on your mental "to-do" list?

*This was going to be another 100 Things list but even I'm not that screwed up that there are 100 things that could improve my life.

The Chess & Checkers Theory

I wanna say something. I'm gonna put it out there; if you like it, you can take it, if you don't, send it right back.
- Ron Burgandy

So I have this theory about relationships I constantly refer to call "The Chess/Checkers Theory." Here's the gist of it:

• Women are playing chess
• Men are playing checkers
• Women think men are playing chess
• Men think women are playing checkers

Now, of course, this does not apply to all men and women but it does apply to a lot of them.

Questions?

The Best New Show Last Year Has The Best DVD Packaging

How dope is this?

This is the only show I neglected to leave off my The 200 Greatest Television Shows I Ever Watched list

What I Want To See This Summer

It seems like every year, the summer movie season starts earlier and earlier. It's only a matter or time before the big Summer movies start mid-April.

Anyway, here's my comprehensive list for the summer movie season in which I'll have to take a second job to pay for them:

May 2:
Iron Man
Son of Rambow

May 9:
Speed Racer

May 23:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

May 30:
Sex and the City: The Movie *

June 13:
The Incredible Hulk
The Happening

June 20:
Get Smart

June 27:
WALL·E
Wanted

July 4:
Hancock

July 11:
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

July 18:
The Dark Knight

July 25:
Step Brothers
X-Files 2

August 8:
Pineapple Express

August 15:
Tropic Thunder*

* Morbid curiosity

My new watch courtesy of Watchismo

Don't be jealous.

Get your own watch at Watchismo

Kristen Wiig: SNL's New Will Ferrell

Whatever sketch she's in, good or bad, she is the funniest person on the screen.

Movie of the Week: Horton Hears A Who

You know, I didn't think it was possible to overact in an animated feature.

Thank you, Jim Carrey for proving me wrong.

It was good. The story was spread a little thin as was to be expected.

I think the biggest problem with all the current Dr. Seuss films is that they are made for kids who never saw the cartoon versions from the 70's (yes, I am carbon dating myself).

So when I hear Jim Carrey as Horton is sounds wrong to me. I know that's my problem and not the filmmakers.

It was good enough, guess.

Movie of (Last) Week: Stop-Loss

Good movie that's hurt by bad acting.

I should say my friend and I had gone to the movies with the intention of seeing Horton Hears A Who so to go from being in the mindset for a Dr. Seuss movie to seeing a(nother) depressing flick of Iraq was a little jarring. But I won't hold it against the movie.

Ryan Phillippe was good but why does he always sound like he's clenching his jaw. Abbie Cornish was okay but her Texas accent was pretty bad. The best was (no surprise) Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I wish they had spent more time with his character arc (which towards the end happens behind the scene of the main storyline). Actually, it might have been a better movie with him as the lead but that's just my opinion.

It was good to see Victor Rasuk again who was good comic relief despite his character's personal tragedy.