Marty is ready for Halloween.

Marty is ready for Halloween., originally uploaded by gina64.

Are you?

For no mere mortal can resist, the EVIL of the Thriller!

The worst may be over.

If you couldn't tell, I have had a hell of time publishing anything here these past 2 weeks. Blogger had some serious hardware and software trouble and have just now gotten things back up and running. Comments were also not showing up until now.

So, expect things to return to normal and expect my LOST recap later on today. Thanks for sticking around!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving 2006, originally uploaded by gina64.

I went to a friend's annual pumpkin carving party on Saturday night. I got there a little late and so I had to do a rush job on my pumpkin. He's the one on the right.

Mickey

Mickey, originally uploaded by gina64.

The List.

OK, so I mentioned that my friends and I were exchanging our lists of the 10 TV characters we would sleep with, given the chance (and a free pass for those of you who are attached to someone already), and it wouldn't be fair of me to not post the list, especially since I know you're all dying to see it.

Anyway, here are the 10 TV characters (not necessarily actors) that I would like to get to know better, in no particular order. Line 'em up! -- Just kidding!

Also, I just wanted to let you know that yes, I am aware that at least seven of these guys have killed people, that a couple of them are expert torturers, none of them has had a lasting, meaningful relationship with a woman, and nearly all of the make their living with a gun. Considering my taste, I suppose I'm just lucky to be alive!

Warrick Brown, CSI
Sawyer, LOST
Mulder, X-Files
Magnum, Magnum, PI
Vaughn, Alias
Jack Bristow, Alias
Desmond, LOST
Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly
David Palmer, 24
Tom Quinn, MI5

Care to share your list??

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Tonight at 8:00 P.M. on ABC.

I'd rather have Dick Cheny play himself.

Of all the amazing actors in the Deadwood cast, it has to be the granite-faced, scenery-chewing Powers Boothe who will play the Vice President on 24's fifth season?

Well, if anyone can drag an actual genuine emotional response out of someone, it's Jack Bauer, torturer extraordinaire.

Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

I take it all back.

I take back all of the complaining I've been doing recently (elsewhere) about the addition of new characters on LOST:

Firefly star Nathan Fillion guest-stars on the Nov. 8 episode of ABC's hit series LOST.

(Warning, there be slight spoilers there)

Mal! On LOST! I think I've just died and gone to Geek Heaven. Oh and that reminds me! Friends and I have been e-mailing our respective (ever-evolving) "lists of the 10 TV characters you would sleep with" back and forth and I can't believe I forgot Mal! I need to add him, but that means I will have to remove someone...

Who's on my list, you ask? Maybe I'll tell you in another post.

Marty makes a good pillow.

Marty makes a good pillow., originally uploaded by gina64.

"After all, you are a hunter, John."

Further Instructions

Finally, we get to find out what happened to Locke, Eko and Desmond after Desmond used the fail safe key. Sort of.

We open with a closeup on Locke's eye. He's lying on his back somewhere in the jungle, post-incident. As he looks around, he sees someone running through the jungle nearby. It's Desmond, who appears to be naked, confused and scared. Locke tries to call out but finds he can't speak. Desmond runs off without seeing Locke.

Locke stands (I thought he wasn't going to be able to walk) and Eko's Jesus Stick, which had been with Locke at the time of the explosion, falls from the treetops and lands near him.



One of the inscriptions reads: "Lift up your eyes and look north." Have we seen that before?

A short time later, Locke returns to the beach camp, where Charlie and Claire see him approach. They are completely unconcerned about his well-being and simply wonder where he's been and why he's taking apart one of the shelters. Locke takes the shelter materials with him to the site of Eko's church, which is still just a frame. Charlie follows him there and gets all obnoxious with him as he asks where he's been and where Desmond and Eko are. Locke mimes to Charlie that he is unable to speak, and he needs to talk to the island.

Back at the beach camp a short time later, Charlie is working on repairing the shelter Locke took apart when Locke approaches with a pad and paper. Charlie continues with the jerk routine as Locke asks him to help and stand guard outside the "sweat lodge".

Flashback. Locke drives down a country road in an old pickup. I think we are supposed to assume that this flashback takes place after the thing with his father and the money. He stops to pick up a cute little hitchiker named Eddie. Eddie's running from a dysfunctional family, too, and hopes to find work in Eureka (Washington state?). A cop pulls them over for a broken tail light and asks to see what's in the back of the truck. Locke comes right out and tells him: "Groceries and guns." He shows the cop that he has all the proper paperwork and the cop lets them go.

Back on the island, Locke has built his sweat lodge inside the church's frame. While Charlie stands guard (obnoxiously) outside, Locke lights a fire inside the sweat lodge and eats some psychedelic black goop he whipped up earlier in the scene. Suddenly, a hand grips Locke's shoulder, and it's Boone! Well, it's Locke's sweat lodge-induced hallucination of Boone.

Boone tells Locke that it's good to see him, and with tears in his eyes, Locke tries to tell him he's sorry. This is the stuff that O'Quinn is so good at. Boone replies that it's okay, he's just "the sacrifice the island demanded", throwing Locke's words back in his face. John mimes that he can't speak and Boone tells him not to worry, he'll speak "when he has something worth saying." Boone tells him that he'll help him find his way again so he can bring the "family" back together, and then says he wants to show him something. Locke tries to stand, but Boone says he's going to need his wheelchair this time.

Locke's vision transports him to an airport, where Boone is pushing him in his wheelchair. The airport is supposed to represent the island, I think, and Boone tells him that someone at this airport is in danger and Locke's the only one who can save him. As they move about the place, we see Charlie, Claire and Aaron, and Boone says, "Not them, they'll be fine...for a while"; then we see Sun, Jin and Sayid together at a ticket counter, where Hurley types the numbers into a computer, and Boone says it's not them, either. Locke sees Desmond walking with a couple of flight attendants, and Boone says, "Forget it, he's helping himself." Then we see Sawyer, Jack and Kate in the security line and Henry Gale (Benry) is the security guard and Boone tells John there is nothing he can do about them, not yet: "First, you have to clean up your own mess."

Boone disappears and reappears at the top of an escalator and calls out to Locke. Locke drags himself up the escalator and finds Eko's blood-covered Jesus Stick and Boone, covered in blood, tells him, "Clean it up John. They've got him."

Back at the sweat lodge, the vision quest has ended and as John gets up to leave, the vision of snarling polar bear comes at him. He jumps out of the lodge, where Charlie stands waiting, a little less obnoxious. Locke pulls out his big-ass knife, walks up to Charlie and finally has something worth saying: "I'm going to save Mr. Eko's life."

Charlie joins Locke in the search for Eko. As they walk through the jungle they find Eko's cross, a pool of blood and a tuft of white fur. John tells Charlie to go back to the beach, that "bad things happen to people who hang around with me." Charlie refuses.

Flashback. Locke and Eddie are still riding in the truck. They arrive at some kind of farm/commune. A farmune, let's say. It seems this is where Locke is now living. As they get out of the truck, Locke points out the sweat lodge to Eddie. Ah, that's where it comes from. He tells Eddie that you use a sweat lodge to meditate on your direction in life, to find out whether you're a hunter or a farmer. Eddie asks him which he is, but Locke just smiles enigmatically. They join the rest of the farmuners for dinner and Locke introduces Eddie to the gang, including the leaders Mike and Jan. Everyone is very nice and welcoming and all crunchy granola. (and Eddie is adorable) Locke says grace before dinner, thanking God for making him less angry and for helping him to find a new family.

Back on the island, we're walking, we're walking...Locke and Charlie comes across a very large hole in the ground, which Locke says is where the hatch used to be. He somehow deduces that the hatch imploded, and I have to say, that's where they lose me. If the hatch imploded while Locke, Desmond and Eko were in it, wouldn't they have been crushed to death? How does an implosion cause things like human bodies and hatch doors to be blown a great distance away? They had better explain this.

Anyway, they come across an "active kill", which means there's probably a polar bear nearby, and there is, and as they're running from it John throws his knife at something in the woods and hits the canteen Hurley is drinking from. Dude.

Hurley is on his way back to the beach with instructions from the Others about not trying to save Jack, Kate and Sawyer, etc., and he tells Locke and Charlie what happened. They send Hurley to the beach and continue looking for Eko. At last, they find the entrance to a cave, probably the bear's den.

Flashback at the Farmune. Eddie checks out a girl he thinks would be good for Locke and says that what she really wants is a Daddy, just like everyone else at the Farmune. Locke is not amused. They go peach picking and Eddie asks Locke what is going on at the greenhouse, where people are carrying in bags of fertilizer. Locke tells him to nevermind but Eddie continues the line of questioning. He wants to know why no one will tell him what goes on in there even though he's been at the Farmune for 6 weeks. He tells John he thinks they're planning to blow something up and he wants in. John laughs and says he'll talk to Mike and Jan.

Island. Charlie waits outside the cave as John enters, armed only with his knife, a torch and a can of hairspray. You'll see.

On his way back to the beach, Hurley runs into Desmond, who is absolutely starkers. Hurley is embarrassed (a little too embarrassed, if you ask me) and asks Desmond what happened, but Desmond says he doesn't know. Hurley gives him a very large tie-dyed t-shirt he had stowed in his backpack.

In the cave, Locke almost trips over an old, beaten up Tonka Truck - you know, one of those old, metal toy dump trucks. Now where did that come from?

Flashback. As promised, Locke goes to the greenhouse to see Mike and Jan, but when he gets there he finds them in a frenzy, packing up all their shit, including the marijuana they've been growing there. John asks what's up and they tell him that Eddie is a cop and they blame him for bringing him to the Farmune. John tells them that it's not too late, that he can fix this. He can clean up his mess.

En la cava. John finally finds Eko, semi-conscious and lying near the bones of what I can only presume were previous human polar bear meals. As he goes to help Eko a polar bear grabs Eko by the feet and begins to drag him away. John pulls out his trusty hairspray and lights the spray with his torch, turning the can into a flamethrower. The bear runs off far enough to let Locke escape the cave with Eko.

Hurley and Desmond are walking (Jesus, there was a lot of walking in this one) back to the beach, talking about what happened when Desmond used the failsafe key. Desmond says there was an implosion. Like I said, they had better explain this. Hurley tells Desmond how the Others took Jack, Kate and Sawyer and Desmond tells him not to worry, that Locke will go after them, he "said so in his speech." Hurley's all like, what speech, dude? A bit uncomfortable, Desmond apologizes and says he must be a bit shook up from the "implosion".

As Locke and Charlie carry Eko, Locke tells Charlie that Boone told him that he has to clean up his mess. If Locke had let Eko continue pushing the button, the "implosion" wouldn't have happened and everyone would be alright.

Flashback. Locke and Eddie are in the woods, with hunting rifles. Eddiey falls for the oldest trick in the book ("hey, what's that over there?") and Locke points his rifle at him. He gets Eddie to admit that he's a cop. Locke asks, "Did they know it would be me driving (when you were hitchiking)?" Eddie says yeah, "they chose you, John. Because you'd be amenable for coercion." Another blow to John's self-confidence. Eddie tells Locke that he won't shoot Eddie, that he's not a murderer, not a hunter. He's a farmer. John is near tears and says, "No, I'm a hunter." But Eddie walks away anyway and John lowers the gun.

Locke, Charlie and Eko stop near a stream and Charlie goes to get water for Eko. John talks to the unconscious Eko, telling him that he's sorry he ever doubted him: "If I let you keep pushing the button, I could have gone with them, I could have protected them. I could have saved them. Eko wakes and gives John "further instructions": "You can still protect them. You can still save them. You will find them. After all, you are a hunter, John." Charlie comes back and John tells him that Eko is awake. Except he's not, he's still unconscious. Was that the island talking to John?

Locke and Charlie finally arrive back at the beach with Mr. Eko as people, including 2 new characters (a man and a woman), approach and ask what happened. Hurley has also arrived and he tells them all about Jack, Kate and Sawyer, and about Benry's instructions that they not try to rescue them. Locke makes a short speech about how everything is going to be alright, how he's going to find Jack, Kate and Sawyer and bring them home. As he says this, Hurley looks sideways down at the beach, where Desmond is wearing his cute little t-shirt dress and throwing stones into the ocean. Deja vu.



Tonight: Sawyer gets tortured!

BSG on War

It's a Tough Universe: "Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, the executive producers of 'Battlestar Galactica,' talk about the show's political allegories."

I cannot believe my ears.

Bush: ‘We’ve Never Been Stay The Course’.

I know this is old news in the blog-world, but I just had to say something anyway.

How can he sit there and lie like that? Does he really think no one is paying attention?

Even I was able to find several examples of him or Cheney saying "stay the course" by simply googling it. Some of them I found on the White House website, for crying out loud!

President Bush's Remarks Upon Arrival in Utah
Utah Air National Guard
Salt Lake City, Utah

"Iraq is the central front in this war on terror. If we leave the streets of Baghdad before the job is done, we will have to face the terrorists in our own cities. We will stay the course, we will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed, and victory in Iraq will be a major ideological triumph in the struggle of the 21st century."

President Addresses the Nation in Prime Time

Press Conference of the President
The East Room

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, April is turning into the deadliest month in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad, and some people are comparing Iraq to Vietnam and talking about a quagmire. Polls show that support for your policy is declining and that fewer than half Americans now support it. What does that say to you and how do you answer the Vietnam comparison?

THE PRESIDENT: I think the analogy is false. I also happen to think that analogy sends the wrong message to our troops, and sends the wrong message to the enemy. Look, this is hard work. It's hard to advance freedom in a country that has been strangled by tyranny. And, yet, we must stay the course, because the end result is in our nation's interest.


Interview of the Vice President

by John King, CNN
The Vice President's Residence

"With respect to the overall course of the campaign, I think it's been very successful. With respect to this question of liberation, we have, indeed, liberated 50 million people -- 25 million in Afghanistan from the rule of the Taliban; 25 million in Iraq from the rule of Saddam Hussein, two of the worst regimes in modern times, a very, very significant achievement. But we have to stay the course."

Now forget you ever heard that phrase.

Just Brilliant

Friday's Battlestar Galactica was perhaps the best episode of the series yet. And that is saying a LOT. I still get chills when I watch this clip.

"Exodus, Part II" was about Adama's rescue mission and the liberation of the human colonists from the Cylon Occupation. In one hour they managed to completely change the dramatic landscape of the show and send it in an entirely new direction. It was gripping television, filled with both great joy and great sadness.

If you want to see what all of the fuss is about with this show, this is the episode to watch. I can't wait to see it again.

TV Talk

First off, I am loving my DVR. Just loving it.

The other thing I am loving is the new show Heroes. With each successive new episode the story gets richer and the characters deepen. And boy do they know how to use the cliffhanger! As far as my favorite character so far goes, I'm with most everyone who watches - Hiro rules. Who do I found the most fascinating? Nathan Petrelli, played by Adrian Pasdar, and actor I never really liked but who I can't stop watching now. Go figure.

Veronica Mars is moving along nicely and I'm really enjoying that, too, but the buzz doesn't seem to be there this year and that makes me afraid that CW won't be making more than the 13 episodes they ordered.

I don't know if any of you watch it, but the season finale for BBCAmerica's Wire in the Blood is on tonight at 9:00 P.M. Four 2-hour episodes does not a season make, I don't care what the BBC says. It is simply not enough.

The recap os last week's LOST episode will be coming soon, as will a special mention for Friday's episode of Battlestar Galactica, an absolutely brilliant hour of television.

Am I back?

I think I am.

My publishing problems may be over. Thank you so much for hanging in there!

Man, I have such a backlog...

When Galaxies Collide.

Damn.

This New Orleans couple was featured in a news article about life in the city post-Katrina.

Today, he killed himself after strangling her, cutting her up and cooking her head and extremities on the stove.

(apologies for the poorly written article - it was all I could find)

Tina the Turtle has a wheel for a leg.

No, really, she does!

How cool is that?

Test Post

Publishing trouble, still.

"Not nerdy, but definitely not hip."

Good Listeners with a Disembodied Pug Head

Good Listeners, originally uploaded by gina64.

Marty and Mickey, taken last weekend. Look at how big Mickey is getting!

And look at how much Marty loves his Mommy.

Oy.

Just FYI, I've been having some difficulty publishing from Blogger for the past 2 days (so I can blame at least part of the lateness of my LOST recap on that). Things seem to be working alright now, but there may be another silence here and there as the problem sorts itself out.

Thanks for being so patient!

Peanut Butter Pumpkins

Peanut Butter Pumpkins, originally uploaded by gina64.

Melt on package of Reese's peanut butter chips and mix with a can of vanilla frosting. Add food coloring. Separate a little bit of the dough and color green for stems. Refrigerate for one hour. Roll into balls, score with a knife and squish them a little between thumb and forefinger. Poke holes in top of pumpkin with a toothpick. Make stems from the green stuff and stick 'em on top.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire.

The Glass Ballerina

Sorry for the lateness. I start off so well and then it all just falls apart, doesn't it?

OK, so, this week we move to our second parallel storyline, which centers around Sun, Jin and Sayid on the sailboat. This week's story is told from Sun's point of view, and through her flashbacks we see that she has always been quite the accomplished liar, lying to protect herself even if it means it will be at the cost of others.

We open with a slo-mo shot of the titular glass ballerina crashing to the floor. Sun is a little girl in the flashback. Her father enters a room where she is practicing piano and she flinches a bit as he approaches. He asks her who broke the ballerina. Little Sun says the maid did it. Her father tells her that the maid will lose her job if she broke it, and little Sun repeats her assertion that it was the maid who broke it.

We cut to the present, where Sun, Jin and Sayid are waiting on the sailboat. They don't know that Kate, Sawyer and Jack have been captured and it's been a day since they lit the signal fire on the beach for them. Sun has morning sickness and Jin wants to head back to their camp. Sayid says they should stay and light another fire further up the beach and Sun agrees with him. She goes against Jin and tells Sayid that she will help him sail the boat.

At the Hydra station, it's day 2 (I think) and Juliet takes food to Jack. When she leaves Jack's cell, she knocks on a door, the same door that Benry came through last week. Benry opens the door and steps out into the hall. There is a wall of video monitors in the small room he just left. Benry makes a snarky comment to Juliet about how she never made soup for him and then who should f*ckin' come down the f*ckin' ladder but f*ckin' Trixie from Deadwood!



Hi Trixie! Except she's not Trixie here, she's Connie. (and the fact that she came down a hatch-like ladder confirms that they're holding Jack underground) Connie seems a bit put out that Juliet and Benry are having a little private chat and I'm getting the feeling that the Others have are in the middle of a raging soap opera. Connie tells Benry that they have a situation on their hands - "they have a sailboat." Benry is genuinely surprised at this news and tells her to round up a team and go after them: "I want that boat."

Sawyer and Kate are removed from their cages by someone named Denny, and given a lunchbox. As Denny and his group lead Sawyer and Kate through the jungle, Connie intercepts them. Denny gives her a kiss on the cheek and Connie seems less than enthused. Connie takes one of Denny's guys for her sailboat raid and Denny, Kate and Sawyer continue on their way.

In the next flashback, we find out that Sun did indeed have an affair with her English tutor, Jae. As they lie in bed, he gives her a pearl necklace, which she says she cannot accept. Just then, there's a knock on the door and it's Sun's father. Busted!

Sawyer and Kate are put to work on some sort of chain gang/rock quarry job, the purpose of which is unclear. There are other people (Others) working there, but is it for real? I can't imagine it is. Kate says she won't do any work until she sees Jack, so Denny shocks Sawyer with his taser.

Flashbacking again. Jin has been called to Sun's father's office (because I don't know his real name, I'm calling him SunDaddy). SunDaddy hands him a file on Jae (who I don't think Jin has seen before), tells Jin that Jae has "been stealing" from him and he wants Jin to "deliver a message". Realizing that SunDaddy wants him to kill the man, Jin tries to quit. Silly, silly Jin. SunDaddy tells him that their family has been shamed by this man and Jin needs to restore the family's honor. Jin leaves with the file.

Back on the boat, Jin's cooking some kind of monster for dinner. He's called up on deck, where we see that the sailboat has reached the dock from the season finale. Sayid thinks it's abandoned and they should tie up the boat there and build a new, bigger signal fire on this beach. Jin is worried and asks, "Safe?" Sayid replies, very condescendingly, "Yes, Jin, of course it's safe." You'll be eating those words soon, mister.

While Kate and Sawyer are breaking rocks on the chain gang, Kate hears a "psst" from the nearby bushes. It's Alex, Rousseau's daughter: "Don't let them see me talking to you. Are they keeping you in the cages? Did you see another guy in there, about my age, named Carl?" Kate says no because Carl was gone before she got tossed in the cage. Then Alex says something cryptic, like, "he's not even supposed to be in that cage", that the dress Kate is wearing is hers, and takes off before Kate can ask any more questions.

The sailboat is tied up at the dock and Sayid, Sun and Jin are building a huge bonfire on the beach. Sun brings a gas can from the boat to use on the fire. I mention this because it just seems wasteful to me to use that on the fire. Anyway, Sun figures out that Sayid has been lying about why he wants to light such a big fire. "Why are you lying to me, Sayid?" He replies, "And what would you know about lying, Sun?" Oh, quite a bit, actually. You'd be surprised.

By the way, did anyone else notice that Sun's accent is now markedly more American? No?

Being the master interrogator/torturer that he is, Sayid instantly cries uncle and tells the truth: He is certain that Jack, Kate and Sawyer have been captured by the Others. And Sayid has a plan: light a big fire on the beach to attract the Others; since they live so far away, it will be nighttime before the Others arrive and at that point Sayid will ambush them and take a couple of them hostage, killing the rest. How does he know how long it will take them to get to the beach? I'm already thinking this is a piss-poor plan. Sayid asks Sun to continue to lie to Jin about the plan so he can use him to get the fire built and lit.

Flashbacking. Jin comes home from SunDaddy's office and sits down to dinner with Sun. He tells her that her father has asked him to "deliver a message" to someone. Of course, Sun knows exactly what the message is and who it is intended for. She asks Jin if he will deliver it and Jin says that he has to: "I do this for you, Sun...I do this because that's what it takes to be married to you." Jin leaves to deliver the message to Jae and Sun does nothing to stop him, protecting herself just like she did with the glass ballerina.

Back on the beach, the fire is burning. Jin asks Sayid for a gun and tells them that he knows that Sayid plans to trap the Others and that he understands English better than his wife thinks he does. Oops. Sun says, "He knows I betrayed him." Does he know about Jae? Sun goes to hide on the boat while Sayid and Jin wait in the bushes on the beach. Sayid tells Sun that there is another gun on the boat, just in case the Others get past them on the beach.

On the chain gang, Juliet offers a canteen of water to Sawyer, who pours it onto the ground in front of her. Then he walks over to Kate and plants a big, wet one on her. The guards attack, Sawyer gets one of their guns, but Juliet has a gun pointed at Kate. Sawyer drops the gun.

It's night now, and Sayid and Jin are hiding in the bushes while Sun is on the boat. I'm watching this, and I'm thinking, "Um, Sayid, I'm no Iraqi Republican Guard, but I think your plan has a huge hole in it - what makes you think they won't come by water and go after the boat instead?" And whadya know, that's just what they do. Sun hears footsteps on the deck above her and she grabs the gun.

Flashabacka. Jin goes to Jae's apartment at the hotel (was the number on the door "1516"?), beats the crap out of him, scares the crap out of him but can't go through with killing the crap out of him. Jae believes that Jin knows about the affair, but at this point I don't think he does. Jin tells him to disappear from the face of the earth, to go far away and never come back, or he will kill him. Jin leaves the hotel and gets in his car just as Jae's body comes crashing down on top of it, his hand clutching the pearl necklace he bought for Sun. Did SunDaddy send a backup team to complete the job if Jin didn't? Or did Jae really kill himself? Or did Sun have something to do with it?

Back on the boat. Connie enters the cabin and Sun pulls a gun on her. Connie knows Sun's name. She tells Sun, "Despite what you think, I am not the enemy, we are not the enemy. But if you shoot me, that's exactly what we'll become." Someone starts the engine above, Sun is startled and she shoots Connie in the stomach. The Others shoot at Sun, which brings Sayid and Jin running from the beach. There's a shootout and Sun falls overboard. Jin dives off the dock after her as the Others motor away on the boat. After a short round of Marco Polo, Sun and Jin find each other.

Flashiebackie. It's Jae's funeral, and Sun stands away from the proceedings, observing. SunDaddy approaches her and tells her to go home to her husband. She asks if he will ever tell Jin about the affair and he grumbles back that it is not his place to tell him. On the beach, Sayid apologizes for his shitty plan and says that they should have listened to Jin after all. They start walking back to camp. I wonder how long it will take them? They'll probably get there in time for May sweeps.

At the zoo, Sawyer and Kate are tossed back into their cages after a hard day at the quarry (yabadabadoo!). Kate asks him why he kissed her and Sawyer explains that he did it to test the guards, to see if he could take them. He thinks he can, except for maybe Juliet, who seems pretty hardcore to him, and he and Kate work on a plan to escape, all while Benry watches and listens.



Finally, Benry enters Jack's cell for a chat. Jack asks him what he wants from him and Benry tells him that he wants Jack to "change his perspective." Benry introduces himself formally to Jack as Benjamin Linus and says that he has lived on the island all of his life. I totally believe him and I'm so psyched for the questions this opens up. Like, WHY? Do they stay because of the healing powers? He tells Jack, "If you cooperate, we'll send you home." Cooperate how, he doesn't say. Jack actually asks an intelligent question: "If you could leave this island, why would you still be here?" Benry replies, "Yes, Jack, why would we be here?" Ooo!

Benry has called out to someone who wheels a television into the room on the other side of the plexiglass. To prove that they have access to the outside world, Benry tells Jack that it is November 29, 2004, they have been on the island for 69 days and that since they've been there GWB was re-elected, Christopher Reeve died and the Red Sox won the World Series. This scene was fantastic. Jack, of course, does not believe the whole Red Sox thing so Benry hits play on his remote and Jack watches the final play of the final game of the World Series that the Red Sox won. It almost looks as though there are tears in his eyes. Benry says, "That's home and I'll take you there. I'll take you home, if you listen to me and do as I ask."

Tomorrow, we get to find out what happened to Desmond, Locke and Eko!

M&Ms

M&Ms, originally uploaded by gina64.

Halloween peanut butter M&Ms.

A model presents a creation by Ukrainian designer Oleksiy Zalevsky

And she doesn't look happy about it.

Beads

Beads, originally uploaded by gina64.

Quartered

Quartered, originally uploaded by gina64.

White Flower Farm

White Flower Farm, originally uploaded by gina64.

Occupation, insurgency and suicide bombings -- sound familiar?

Occupation / Precipice

Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica premiered last Friday night with a 2-hour episode. I won't recap it scene for scene but instead I'll do a quick summary for you.

At the end of last season: Roslin stole the election from Baltar but couldn't go through with the deception. Baltar became President and moved immediately to abandon the search for Earth and settle on the desolate rock now known as New Caprica. A year later, the Cylons return, invade and Baltar surrenders. The Galactica and Pegasus, which had been orbiting New Caprica, fled since they were severely outnumbered and outgunned by the Cylons. This time, however, the Cylons are not set on obliterating the human race. According to them, they just want us all to get along.

As this season begins, it appears as though about 4 or 5 months have passed. On New Caprica, a resistance movement has begun (called an "insurgency" by the occupiers) against Baltar's Vichy government and the Cylons. Tyrol and Anders lead the resistance, setting off bombs while Tigh is being "detained" on suspicion of being an insurgent leader. He has been tortured (his eye was ripped out and then presented to him) and holds a serious grudge against the Cylons.

Starbuck has been in her own form of detention: Leoben (a Cylon) found and kidnapped her. She has been held against her will by Leoben these few months, and he wants them to be lovers. He claims to love her, and if you know anything about a Cylon's understanding of the concept of "love", you'd believe him as I do. I don't however think that there has been any rape going on here - I think he's being patient and waiting for her to come around. So anyway, they sit down to dinner one night and Starbuck manages to grab a knife and kill Leoben. Unfortunately, since he's a Cylon, he will simply resurrect. It seems Starbuck has killed Leoben many times and the act has become purely symbolic.

Up in space, Adama and Lee, commanders of the Galactica and Pegasus respectively, spend their time devising plans for an attack on the Cylon occupiers that will take place once they get word from the human population they left behind (Cylons are jamming the frequencies). Oh, and they're also eating. A LOT. Or at least Lee is - man needs to back away from the cheetos. He and Adama are at each others' throats about a course of action and whether or not they should return to New Caprica, fight the Cylons and rescue their people, or take whatever is left of the human race on board the 2 ships and continue the search for Earth. Adama wants to go back and fight and Lee wants to cut their losses and head for Earth. And they both have their points.

Ellen Tigh has been doing the dirty with Brother Cavil (ew!) in order to get her husband released from prison. And it works. Tigh is released and takes the resistance in a new direction: suicide bombings, much to Tyrol's strenuous objections. Based on intel from a source inside of Baltar's government (Gaeta!), the first suicide bombing kills scores at a police academy graduation, where humans join the police in order to help enforce the Cylon Occupation (Iraqi Security Forces, anyone?). The bombing horrifies many and takes the Cylons by surprise. They roundup "suspicious" individuals at night and put them in the detention center. Among them are Roslin, Zarek and Cally, Tyrol's wife and mother of their baby.

In the meantime, Leoben tries a different tack with his wooing of Starbuck: He presents her with a toddler child that was grown in the Cylon baby factory from the ovary they stole from Starbuck. How nice. She wants nothing to do with the child at first, but then when the child falls and hurts herself (actually, I think Leoben pushed her down the stairs), Starbuck's maternal instinct kicks in. Has she been broken? I don't think so.


Tigh insists on continuing the suicide bombings because at the very least they create chaos and will help to distract the Cylons when Adama and Galactica come to their rescue, which Tigh is convinced is imminent. The Old Man wouldn't just abandon them, he says.

He's right. Adama's been sending a long range raptor to New Caprica to look for radio messages from the ground all this time, but none have gotten through (Cylon frequency jammers, remember). Until now. Gaeta has provided Tyrol with a channel on which to send a message and it works. Adama and crew receive the message with great joy and send one back: "Have hope. We're coming for you."

A plan is devised: Sharon (the one on Galactica) has become Adama's confidant. He trusts her and makes her an officer. She will lead the initial landing on New Caprica. The fact that she's a Cylon should help her break through some of their defenses. The landing site is chosen, but there's a problem: the location of the landing site has been compromised. You see, Ellen Tigh is still screwing around with Brother Cavil (ew! I mean, Tigh isn't much better, but still), I presume to keep the heat off of her husband, and he tells her that they know about Adama's plan and she is to get the location of the landing site from her husband and give it to him or they will throw Tigh's ass back in detention. Ellen manages (easily) to get a copy of the map and the meeting at the landing site is ambushed.

In order to gain back some control and win over the human colony, the Cylons have decided to summarily execute 200 of them. Baltar is forced to sign off on the order after Six is shot in the head in front of him. The 200 detainees (Roslin, Zarek and Cally among them) are loaded into trucks and driven out to the edge of a gravel pit. Jammer, a "police" officer, helps Cally to sneak away as we hear the Cylons guns fire at the assembled group offscreen.

*******
That wasn't really a quick summary, was it? Ah well.

This show works well on so many levels, not the least of which is as a mirror to be held up to ourselves during wartime, and particularly the current war. What makes it watchable and not thoroughly depressing is how highly entertaining it is. Please watch this show!

We can rebuild her.

'Galactica' guy preps revamped 'Woman': "Eick and Kalogridis will exec produce a new take on 'Bionic,' a 1970s spinoff of 'The Six Million Dollar Man' in which Lindsay Wagner played tennis pro-turned-superwoman Jamie Sommers. "

Combine the creators of one of the best shows on TV with one of my favorite shows from growing up and what do you get? A match made in TV heaven, I hope!

I so wanted to be Jaime Sommers when I was growing up. I hope they're able to use her in some small way in the new show (like Richard Hatch in BSG). Get her off that sleep number bed and back to work!

I wonder if they think we need to "stay the course"?

Study: War blamed for 655,000 Iraqi deaths: "Violence including gunfire and bombs caused the majority of deaths but thousands of people died from worsening health and environmental conditions directly related to the conflict that began in 2003, U.S. and Iraqi public health researchers said."

655,000 people.

And for the American casualty list, please see The Human Cost of Occupation.

My Job.

Make sure you watch through to the end!

Cute!

Sam Paletsky, Cattle Dealer

Sam Paletsky, Cattle Dealer, originally uploaded by gina64.

Fall in New England

Fall in New England, originally uploaded by gina64.

Autumn Afternoon

Autumn Afternoon, originally uploaded by gina64.

Turning

Turning, originally uploaded by gina64.

I went for a Sunday drive on...Sunday. I did some leaf-peeping and pumpkin-buying. And picture-taking.

What Would Tony Do?

A History of Sex With Students, Unchallenged Over the Years: "Many in this gray, insular city are at a loss to explain why Diane Cherchio West was allowed to continue working in the public school system for two decades after she was caught in 1980 kissing and groping a 13-year-old student at an eighth-grade dance."

I'm sure they know exactly why, they just can't say:

"Ms. West, now 52, was raised in one of the city’s more comfortable Italian sections, the daughter of John Cherchio, a regular on who’s who lists here, who ran a successful construction and waste-carting business."

Ah, well, there ya go.

Unattractive, frightening, sad and most of all...

Just plain irresponsible.

Drive Thru Review

Inside Man - I love heist movies, Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster, so this was a no-brainer for me. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the movie was a "Spike Lee Joint". A heist/action movie is not in his every day bag of tricks, but maybe it should be. The direction is slick and the writing is tight and the actors are all excellent. And Denzel and Clive are hot.

Frak!

Don't forget, season 3 of Battelstar Galactica premieres tonight at 9:00 P.M. on SciFi! (it's 2 hours long)

The lights are much brighter there, You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares.

A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times? No, that doesn't really fit, does it? Is it the story of 2 men during a time of social upheaval, who look remarkably alike but are quite different in character and who are both in love with the same woman? Sort of, but no, not really. Was the episode literally about 2 cities? No.

Maybe it'll come to me.

So, what a way to start the season!! It's similar to last season's opener with Desmond getting ready in the morning in the hatch. This time it's a woman in a nice, sunny little interior and she's listening to Petula Clark's "Downtown" and is clearly upset. But the song makes her smile. Later, she's preparing for her bookclub meeting and burns her muffins. It seems to be an all around bad day as the book club meeting deteriorates into a sniping match between her and a guest. Just then, the earth starts shaking. When the "quake" passes - was it the EM pulse that Desmond set off that caused the quake? - everyone runs outside to the street in this idyllic suburban neighborhood and who do we see gathering around? Why it's Ethan! Goodwin! Henry Gale! Except his name is not Henry Gale, it's Ben, and I think he and Juliet are in a relationship (or are breaking up, actually) and they all look up in the sky and what do they see? Oceanic Flight 815 breaking apart! Benry tells Goodwin and Ethan to head to the different crash sites for the tail and fuselage, to pretend they're crash survivors and to get the lists of passenger names. The camera pans back and we see that this little slice of small-town America is actually in the middle of the jungle on the LOST island and the Others are actually not all that different from you and me.

From this I'd guess that the Others did not anticipate the crash and the Lostaways were not chosen by DHARMA or the Others and brought to the island. All of the information that Benry Gale knew about the survivors was compiled once they got their names from Ethan and Goodwin. And I think that means that the Others have reliable contact with the outside world.

So what does that mean for all of the connections we saw between the characters in flashbacks? Are they just coincidences? Or do they fit into some mathematical theory? Or is there someone else pulling the strings?

OK, back to the present and where we left off at the end of last season...It looks like the writers have divided the story into 3 groups:

Jack, Kate and Sawyer, held captive in OtherTown
Sayid, Sun and Jin on the sailboat
The rest of the group back at the camp/beach, including Locke, Eko and Desmond (and what the heck happened to them in the EM explosion)

This episode centered around Jack, Kate and Sawyer and the flashback was all about Jack. Ho-hum. I am so bored with his backstory - how many different ways can we revisit his divorce and troubled relationship with his father? I'm not going to bother recapping the flashbacks. I think the important things to mention from them are 1) Jack never knew the name of the man Sarah left him for, but it wasn't his father; 2) Jack's father was actually on the road to sobriety when Jack, driven by his childish obsession, pushed him right back into the bottle.

Back on the island...our heroes are each being held in different locations: Jack wakes up in "cell" in what turns out to be the Hydra Station, an underwater aquarium; Sawyer wakes up in an outdoor zoo cage that once held bears (polar?); and Kate wakes up in a sort of locker room, where she is instructed to take a shower and put on a pretty dress. Ick. They all have bandaids in the crooks of their elbows and puncture marks from some kind of injection. Was it just something to knock them out? Or was it a truth serum of some kind and they used it to get
information from them?

Jack's cell and the room next to it are divided by a clear plexiglass wall and I have to say I laughed right out loud when he ran into it. I've done that a few times myself. Anyway, Juliet comes to see Jack, from the other side of the plexiglass. She offers him food but he must first agree to sit at the far wall so she can come in through the door on his side and place the food on the floor. After a few flashbacks, he agrees, but he was only foolin': As soon as Juliet opens the door, Jack lunges at her and forces her out into the hallway. There are two doors leading away from the cell. Benry walks in through one and tells Jack that if he opens the other one, they will all die. Jack says he'll kill Juliet. Benry says go ahead. Oo, that's cold, dude. Jack decides to try the door and Benry was right - the entire ocean comes rushing in. Instead of helping Jack and Juliet, Benry runs through the door he came through earlier and locks it behind him. That's really cold. Juliet and Jack make it back inside his cell and close the door and she promptly knocks him out cold.

When Jack wakes up later, Juliet is back on the other side of the plexiglass and has a file in front of her. She tells Jack that she knows everything about him, his marriage, his job, his education...she even has a copy of his father's autopsy report. After being asked repeatedly if there is anything he would like to know from the report, Jack finally lets go of his obsession about Sarah's lover and simply asks if she's happy now. Juliet says yes, she is, and Jack has clearly been broken. Juliet offers to try to give him food again and this time he agrees to her conditions. As she goes out into the hall to deliver the food to Jack, she runs into Benry, who tells her, "Good work, Juliet." She replies, barely civil, "Thank you, Ben."

Elsewhere at the Hydra Station, Sawyer is on display in the zoo. There's a kid in the cage across from him named Carl, and I think he must be an Other plant. Why? Who knows. Carl breaks out and they try to escape but Juliet catches them. It was sll very "Planet of the Apes" for me, even the music. I loved it. Damn dirty apes!

After Kate has her shower and puts on her girly dress, she's brought out to the beach to have aborderline romantic breakfast with Benry, who makes her put on a pair of handcuffs first. Ick. She asks him why the nice breakfast, pretty dress, beachside table? He tells her it's because the next 2 weeks are going to be pretty terrible for her and he wants her to have something to old on to when things get bad.

Later, after Carl is taken away, Kate is tossed into the cage across from Sawyer, and they take her handcuffs off. Her wrists are cut and rubbed raw, but we don't know what happened to make them that way. Did she refuse to eat with Benry and was punished for it? Sawyer shares his fish biscuit (did I mention the fish biscuit? no? well it's too late now) with her and they exchange meaningful glances.

And that's it. It looks like next week we'll be concentrating on Sun, Jin and Sayid. In the meantime, check out these links:

Utopiaville

Hydra Station

What He Said.

Mike does an excellent job of putting into words the way I'm feeling about coverage of the Amish funerals:

"Private funerals are not something you cover. They're things you should allow to happen with peace and dignity. You can report that the funerals happened, but to film them and show them is unnecessary and creepy."

Thanks, Mike.

155 t-shirts, 4 hours and 100 pounds later.

One Less Show to Watch

It's looking like I wasn't the only viewer on the fence about Kidnapped.

From Ask Ausiello at TVGuide.com (be careful, that page is a minefield of spoilers for quite a few shows):

Question: I'm such a huge fan of Kidnapped. Do you see it lasting for a full season? — MelanieJo

Ausiello: Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I just got word that the show is essentially dead. Producers have been told to finish making 13 episodes, and then stop. On the bright side, another Reunion this is not. They had a contingency plan in place that lets them wrap up the mystery by then.

Drive Thru Review

X-Men: The Last Stand - Please tell me this was not really the last stand for this franchise. Please.

I was sad while watching this last night, and it wasn't because of the character deaths; on the contrary, I was sad because I was watching Brett Ratner come very close to killing the entire X-Men series. Who told this guy he knew what he was doing? When I should have been tearing up as people died, I was instead cringing at the awful dialogue and complete lack of character depth and development. When I say I loved the first two movies, I really mean it. This one was a complete clusterf*ck.

There may be a single ray of hope, however. Apparently there is serious talk about an X4 movie, with Bryan Singer back as director. I repeat: Please.

Today's TV Talk

First things first, a reminder: Don't forget that tonight is the season 3 premiere of LOST (9:00 PM)! EW.com names it the "Must Watch of the Week":

We could say what happens in the season 3 opener...but then we couldn't run this quote from co-creator J.J. Abrams: ''The way it begins is my favorite kind of thing - it's the last thing you'll ever expect.'' Or this one from executive producer Damon Lindelof: ''Here's what you won't see: Globetrotters, zombies, the guy Meredith Grey didn't choose, coconut radios, Laura Palmer, Jack laughing, Desmond running naked through the jungle, the Others' Annual Talent Show, buttons, timers, electromagnetic anomalies, Cylons, cyclones, or Clones, nanobots, Captain Jack Sparrow, and time travel. And hell: It just wouldn't be Lost if we weren't lying.'' Oh, we don't know anything, anyway.

Next up: I watched Monday's episode of Heroes last night and wow, I really liked it! I see a really well-written, intricate storyline developing and I hope they can sustain it. So far, so good!

And of course, I watched the season 3 premiere of Veronica Mars last night. God I love that show. All of the kids are in college now and while some of the themes/issues are more mature, the basic feel of the show is the same.

I also wanted to mention that I am in love with my DVR. We watched a X-Men 3 on DVD (more on that later) and then watched Heroes while the DVR recorded VM. My TV and I are very happy right now.

Google Copernicus Center is Hiring!

Google Jobs: "Google is interviewing candidates for engineering positions at our lunar hosting and research center, opening late in the spring of 2007. This unique opportunity is available only to highly-qualified individuals who are willing to relocate for an extended period of time, are in top physical condition and are capable of surviving with limited access to such modern conveniences as soy low-fat lattes, The Sopranos and a steady supply of oxygen. "

Big Bux

A silver Mercedes was in front of me as I drove into the Target parking lot today and you can just imagine my colossal eye-roll hwen I saw his license plate. Give me a BREAK.

I watched as he drove around the entire parking lot, looking for the perfect, isolated spot in which to park the VERY EXPENSIVE CAR THAT HE HAS ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY BECAUSE HE IS SO RICH.

Unfortunately, because he chose to park his FABULOUS GERMAN CAR THAT COSTS A LOT OF MONEY a bit of a distance from the rest of us mere peasants, it wasn't all that easy snapping a photo with my cameraphone. I was sly, though, and pretended that I was carrying on a phone conversation as I strolled within picture-taking distance of the CAR OBVIOUSLY OWNED BY SOMEONE WHO IS FABULOUSLY WEALTHY and surreptitiously took a couple of quick shots before MR. BIG BUX was any wiser.

The lengths I go to for you guys.

Hanso Exposed.

Just one more day!

Vancouver Sunset

Vancouver Sunset, originally uploaded by gina64.

Don't. Get. Eliminated!!

I pre-ordered this from Amazon a few weeks ago and I can't wait to get it in the mail!

Drive Thru Review

The Third Man - I finally got around to watching this classic. A great noir mystery that seems years ahead of its time (1949), it provides a view of post-WWII Austria that I had never seen. Fascinating. The music was a little off-kilter, imo, but the movie was good enough to overlook that.

Season Premiere Palooza

What a week this is going to be for me and my TV!

Tonight - The BBC America series Wire in the Blood returns for its 4th season at 9:00 PM. Also airing at 9:00 is the second episode of NBC's Heroes. Looks like I'll have to christen my new DVR! Yep, I signed up for the DVR service through my cable company. It's an 80-hour, HD-ready, dual-tuner DVR for $8.40 per month. Not bad.

Tomorrow - Veronica Mars returns with its 3rd season premiere at 9:00 PM on CW (what does that stand for, anyway?), with Veronica heading to college.

Wednesday - The season 3 premiere of LOST! Did any of you finish the LOST webgame this summer? I didn't. It was way too complex and I'm not enough of a tech-head to enjoy that sort of thing so I sort of drifted away from it. EdHill over at TVgasm has a great post about the return of the show and the conclusion of the game. Make sure you check it out. Also on Wednesday night is the third episode of Kidnapped. This may be the make-or-break episode for me, so it had better be good.

Friday - The long-awaited (by me) third season premiere of Battlestar Galactica. Hot damn!

Asleep at the Wheel.

George Michael 'had drugs in car': "Pop star George Michael has been arrested and cautioned after being found once again slumped over the wheel of his car in London and in possession of cannabis, British media said on Monday."

Look at this photo of him. Yikes!

It's no wonder he wears sunglasses all of the time now.

Tom Thumb

As much as I would like to imagine that in real life Tom Cruise is of the same stature as those little oompa loompa guys in the most recent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movies, I just have to think that this photo has been doctored in some way. I don't think the size discrepency can be explained away by claiming forced perspective, either - yes, he's standing a little bit behind her but they're also holding hands so he couldn't be THAT far away. I do love their headline, though.

Now, while this photo may not be a true representation of Cruise's itty-bittyness, it does, however, have the dubious distinction of disproving the one absolute rule I have regarding men: That any man, no matter how attractive or unattractive, looks better in a turtleneck.

Why?

Coroner: At least 6 dead in Amish school shooting: "A gunman killed six people at a one-room Amish schoolhouse Monday morning in Pennsylvania's bucolic Lancaster County, and several others were taken to hospitals with injuries, authorities said."

What is happening? I don't even have the words to talk about this. I can't understand why people do these things, nor do I understand why it's happening so frequently these days.

My God a one-room schoolhouse? It must have been like shooting fish in a barrel.

Headline Hijinks.

Justices refuse to ungag Gloria Allred.

And I ask you, can you blame them?