Do you know where your President is?
Have a good day!
4.30.2006
4.28.2006
Welcome to my TV Nightmare.
Rosie O'Donnell gets new daytime "View".
Three of the most obnoxious people on television on the same set. Poor Elizabeth Hassleback, whoever she is.
Three of the most obnoxious people on television on the same set. Poor Elizabeth Hassleback, whoever she is.
4.27.2006
There're Only Five More To Go.
and
There's Only One Sydney Bristow
Sloane is brought, blindfolded, to Minsk to meet The Prophet 5 Consortium of Twelve, but I'll just call them The Twelve. Joseph leads Sloane to a door and tells him The Twelve are waiting inside for him. Sloane figures out that Joseph isn't allowed in the room. He's just an errand boy and Sloane takes the opportunity to lord it over him by handing Joseph his coat for safekeeping. The Twelve tell Sloane he needs to do one more task for them and they will give him the cure for Nadia. He needs to draw Sydney back to work. He makes them promise that Sydney will not be hurt.
Peyton visits Anna Espinosa in prison (Hi Anna!) and tells her they'll help Anna get out of prison if they help them do something. Anna'd rather kick Peyton's skinny ass. Until Peyton tells her that helping them will give her the opportunity to hurt Sydney Bristow.
Back at The Twelve's HQ, Sloane's not so sure he will be able to convince Sydney to return to work. They tell him not to worry, she will have an incentive to do so.
At Sydney's house, she's in the baby's room when she hears a loud crashing noise from another part of the house. She goes out to check and finds a flustered SpyDaddy in the kitchen picking up a bunch of knives from the floor. "I dropped these while putting them in a cupboard. Sydney, you can't leave sharp-edged weapons where a child can reach them, especially not a Bristow woman." Ha! Um, Dad, she's only 4 weeks old. Sydney asks whether there's been any new intel on her mother's location and Jack says no, and tells her that she should enjoy her maternity leave. If they need her, they'll let her know.
Well, they're gonna need her soon because Anna just came calling at Will's (Hi Will!) Witness Protection house. She pretends to be an FBI agent and tells Will that Sydney's in trouble. Will lets her in. Bad idea Will.
Sydney has to cut her maternity leave short when she finds out that Will's been kidnapped and SpyDaddy has hired some babysitters for her: two agents trained in infant care, complete with a briefcase full of baby supplies. Agent Rance hilariously tells her that they want to start off by babyproofing the house with cameras, listening devices and explosives sensors - you know, the usual stuff. By the way, her name is Isabelle and she's cute as a button.
The doctor with the pointy electrical stick from the container ship is back and this time he injects something into the base of Will's skull.
The gang at APO intercepts a communication between Anna and some Russian guy - she's going to hand over Will for some cash. In Russia somewhere. So they all head to Moscow for a classic Alias mission in a nightclub. Sydney finds Will in a room, tied to a chair, in a scene I found reminiscent of one of the best scenes this show has had, from the season 1 episode "Rendezvous".
Remember, it was when Will first found out that she was a spy? Sydney walked into a room where Will was tied to a chair, kicked the crap out of the guy guarding him and scared the hell out of Will. All while wearing a red wig. This time Sydney has to fight Anna. Anna pulls a knife and cuts her. There must have been some kind of nanobots or something on the knife that got into her blood because next we see Dr. Pointy Stick watching a computer screen as biological data is being uploaded from Sydney's body. Her mission accomplished, Anna breaks a window and escapes.
On the flight back home, Sydney and Will catch up on old times. They have such great chemistry. Will tells Syd that he is going to be married soon and Syd tells him that she has a baby girl with Vaughn and she has to lie to him and tell him that Vaughn is dead. Back at Sydney's house, Will and Syd are cooing over the baby when Agent Rance's explosives sensors go berserk and the source is somehow Will. Will is examined by an APO doctor and they discover he has a bomb in his head! They can't remove it and in order to defuse it they need to get close to the detonator. Guess who has the detonator?
Anna has called and informed them that she'll give them the detonator in exchange for Rambaldi's Page 47 (the one with the prophecy about Sydney). There's a great little throwback of a scene with Sloane conducting a review of Rambaldi in the conference room. Ah, the good old days. After hearing everything, including the prophecy about Sydney bringing "utter destruction upon the greatest power in the world", Rachel hilariously asks, "And you guys believe this stuff?" They decide it's worth giving Anna the artifact to save Will's life.
Cut to a train speeding through the Lisbon countryside. Syd and Will are undercover as a French couple. Syd meets Anna in the dining car and her watch is some kind of gizmo that links to the detonator and starts downloading the codes necessary to defuse Will's head bomb. Anna and Syd head to another car for some privacy and Syd hands over the case with Page 47. But Anna doesn't want to hand over the detonator. She starts to leave and Syd jumps her. They fight and Anna hits the detonator and Will sees a counter pop up on his computer screen - he's got about 40 seconds before his head blows up. As Sydney and Anna fight, Will freaks, holding his head and yelling, "My head is beeping!" Sydney pushes the stop button just as it reaches 2 seconds, but Anna grabs the briefcase, exits the car and closes and locks the door. She pushes a button and a red liquid chemical begins to spray from the fire sprinklers, soaking and overcoming Sydney. Somehow, this liquid is absorbing Sydney's DNA and as it's collected in a tank under the train car it is downloaded to a computer back at Dr. Pointy Stick's office.
Will is able to get in to Sydney and open the side door for some air, but Anna's back and she's picked up the detonator. She pushes the button and chucks it out the door. Will's head starts beeping again! Sydney grabs Will and they both jump out of the train car and off of a very high bridge into a river, where Sydney finds the detonator and stops it just in time. Completely off the scale impossible but I don't care - I'm just glad Will's head didn't explode.
Will and Sydney are taking Isabelle for a walk in a very nice scene where he tells her that she is not responsible for the bad things that happen to the people in her life. He tells her that he and everyone else who loves her is thankful every day because they know that's she's out there fighting the bad guys and making the world a safer place. Aw. He tells her, "There's only one Sydney Bristow."
Not so fast, Will. It seems that Prophet 5 and Dr. Pointy Stick are putting all that DNA they stole to good use by genetically altering Anna Espinosa, turning her into a Sydney Bristow clone.
Who else thinks that now we can have the Rambaldi prophecy come true and protect Sydney at the same time? Nadia will be cured and she will fight and kill Anna-as-Syd? Works for me.
There's another new episode next Wednesday at 8:00!
There's Only One Sydney Bristow
Sloane is brought, blindfolded, to Minsk to meet The Prophet 5 Consortium of Twelve, but I'll just call them The Twelve. Joseph leads Sloane to a door and tells him The Twelve are waiting inside for him. Sloane figures out that Joseph isn't allowed in the room. He's just an errand boy and Sloane takes the opportunity to lord it over him by handing Joseph his coat for safekeeping. The Twelve tell Sloane he needs to do one more task for them and they will give him the cure for Nadia. He needs to draw Sydney back to work. He makes them promise that Sydney will not be hurt.
Peyton visits Anna Espinosa in prison (Hi Anna!) and tells her they'll help Anna get out of prison if they help them do something. Anna'd rather kick Peyton's skinny ass. Until Peyton tells her that helping them will give her the opportunity to hurt Sydney Bristow.
Back at The Twelve's HQ, Sloane's not so sure he will be able to convince Sydney to return to work. They tell him not to worry, she will have an incentive to do so.
At Sydney's house, she's in the baby's room when she hears a loud crashing noise from another part of the house. She goes out to check and finds a flustered SpyDaddy in the kitchen picking up a bunch of knives from the floor. "I dropped these while putting them in a cupboard. Sydney, you can't leave sharp-edged weapons where a child can reach them, especially not a Bristow woman." Ha! Um, Dad, she's only 4 weeks old. Sydney asks whether there's been any new intel on her mother's location and Jack says no, and tells her that she should enjoy her maternity leave. If they need her, they'll let her know.
Well, they're gonna need her soon because Anna just came calling at Will's (Hi Will!) Witness Protection house. She pretends to be an FBI agent and tells Will that Sydney's in trouble. Will lets her in. Bad idea Will.
Sydney has to cut her maternity leave short when she finds out that Will's been kidnapped and SpyDaddy has hired some babysitters for her: two agents trained in infant care, complete with a briefcase full of baby supplies. Agent Rance hilariously tells her that they want to start off by babyproofing the house with cameras, listening devices and explosives sensors - you know, the usual stuff. By the way, her name is Isabelle and she's cute as a button.
The doctor with the pointy electrical stick from the container ship is back and this time he injects something into the base of Will's skull.
The gang at APO intercepts a communication between Anna and some Russian guy - she's going to hand over Will for some cash. In Russia somewhere. So they all head to Moscow for a classic Alias mission in a nightclub. Sydney finds Will in a room, tied to a chair, in a scene I found reminiscent of one of the best scenes this show has had, from the season 1 episode "Rendezvous".
Remember, it was when Will first found out that she was a spy? Sydney walked into a room where Will was tied to a chair, kicked the crap out of the guy guarding him and scared the hell out of Will. All while wearing a red wig. This time Sydney has to fight Anna. Anna pulls a knife and cuts her. There must have been some kind of nanobots or something on the knife that got into her blood because next we see Dr. Pointy Stick watching a computer screen as biological data is being uploaded from Sydney's body. Her mission accomplished, Anna breaks a window and escapes.
On the flight back home, Sydney and Will catch up on old times. They have such great chemistry. Will tells Syd that he is going to be married soon and Syd tells him that she has a baby girl with Vaughn and she has to lie to him and tell him that Vaughn is dead. Back at Sydney's house, Will and Syd are cooing over the baby when Agent Rance's explosives sensors go berserk and the source is somehow Will. Will is examined by an APO doctor and they discover he has a bomb in his head! They can't remove it and in order to defuse it they need to get close to the detonator. Guess who has the detonator?
Anna has called and informed them that she'll give them the detonator in exchange for Rambaldi's Page 47 (the one with the prophecy about Sydney). There's a great little throwback of a scene with Sloane conducting a review of Rambaldi in the conference room. Ah, the good old days. After hearing everything, including the prophecy about Sydney bringing "utter destruction upon the greatest power in the world", Rachel hilariously asks, "And you guys believe this stuff?" They decide it's worth giving Anna the artifact to save Will's life.
Cut to a train speeding through the Lisbon countryside. Syd and Will are undercover as a French couple. Syd meets Anna in the dining car and her watch is some kind of gizmo that links to the detonator and starts downloading the codes necessary to defuse Will's head bomb. Anna and Syd head to another car for some privacy and Syd hands over the case with Page 47. But Anna doesn't want to hand over the detonator. She starts to leave and Syd jumps her. They fight and Anna hits the detonator and Will sees a counter pop up on his computer screen - he's got about 40 seconds before his head blows up. As Sydney and Anna fight, Will freaks, holding his head and yelling, "My head is beeping!" Sydney pushes the stop button just as it reaches 2 seconds, but Anna grabs the briefcase, exits the car and closes and locks the door. She pushes a button and a red liquid chemical begins to spray from the fire sprinklers, soaking and overcoming Sydney. Somehow, this liquid is absorbing Sydney's DNA and as it's collected in a tank under the train car it is downloaded to a computer back at Dr. Pointy Stick's office.
Will is able to get in to Sydney and open the side door for some air, but Anna's back and she's picked up the detonator. She pushes the button and chucks it out the door. Will's head starts beeping again! Sydney grabs Will and they both jump out of the train car and off of a very high bridge into a river, where Sydney finds the detonator and stops it just in time. Completely off the scale impossible but I don't care - I'm just glad Will's head didn't explode.
Will and Sydney are taking Isabelle for a walk in a very nice scene where he tells her that she is not responsible for the bad things that happen to the people in her life. He tells her that he and everyone else who loves her is thankful every day because they know that's she's out there fighting the bad guys and making the world a safer place. Aw. He tells her, "There's only one Sydney Bristow."
Not so fast, Will. It seems that Prophet 5 and Dr. Pointy Stick are putting all that DNA they stole to good use by genetically altering Anna Espinosa, turning her into a Sydney Bristow clone.
Who else thinks that now we can have the Rambaldi prophecy come true and protect Sydney at the same time? Nadia will be cured and she will fight and kill Anna-as-Syd? Works for me.
There's another new episode next Wednesday at 8:00!
"That mail-order cowboy sat on his pimple in the rain, got himself catarrh, and went up the flume."
I turned on HBO last Sunday night, just before The Sopranos was to begin and I saw an ad for Deadwood. Wow, I've missed that show! I've missed Doc and Jane and Al and Wu and Seth and Sol and Trixie...but it won't be long before they're back. Season 3 is set to debut in June (no fixed date yet). If you need to catch up, or just need a refresher, it looks like season 1 is available On Demand. Hopefully they'll also put season 2 up as well as we get closer to the season 3 premiere.
OK, so, you may watch Deadwood, but Do You Speak Cowboy? I apparently do not - I only got a 4 out of 10. Now, if they had said ""That mail-order c*cks*cker sat on his f*cking pimple in the rain, got himself a catarrh, and went the f*ck up the flume," well, that would have been a different story.
OK, so, you may watch Deadwood, but Do You Speak Cowboy? I apparently do not - I only got a 4 out of 10. Now, if they had said ""That mail-order c*cks*cker sat on his f*cking pimple in the rain, got himself a catarrh, and went the f*ck up the flume," well, that would have been a different story.
Why?
SciFi Announces a prequel to Battlestar Galactica: "Caprica would take place more than half a century before the events that play out in Battlestar Galactica. The people of the Twelve Colonies are at peace and living in a society not unlike our own, but where high technology has changed the lives of virtually everyone for the better. "
Why do they have to mess with a good thing?
Why do they have to mess with a good thing?
Idol Results: Cue the commercial and...."CUT!"
That was Kellie's last word on American Idol, yelled just as the end credits finished rolling, and it was perfect. Maybe I was still buzzing from the high of seeing Kellie eliminated, but she was most appealing during her goodbye speech - articulate, charming and much more composed than I would have given her credit for being. Well done, Kellie, and good luck!
I missed the first 5 minutes and so I didn't see Simon's apology to Katharine - damn! I did, however, sit down in front of the TV just in time to see the Happy Dysfunctional Family shot. I can feel the love from here.
Now we have a real competition - Chris, Taylor, Katharine, Elliot and Paris are our remaining contestants. Results night is going to be excruciating from here on in.
From what I gather, next week each contestant will be singing 2 songs: one from the year they were born and one song from any of the Top 10 Billboard charts. And as far as I can tell, it's only on for an hour!
I missed the first 5 minutes and so I didn't see Simon's apology to Katharine - damn! I did, however, sit down in front of the TV just in time to see the Happy Dysfunctional Family shot. I can feel the love from here.
Now we have a real competition - Chris, Taylor, Katharine, Elliot and Paris are our remaining contestants. Results night is going to be excruciating from here on in.
From what I gather, next week each contestant will be singing 2 songs: one from the year they were born and one song from any of the Top 10 Billboard charts. And as far as I can tell, it's only on for an hour!
4.26.2006
"Here - Cover your mother."
Continued from here.
Maternal Instinct
It's OK, honey, Mom and Dad are just having a little difference of opinion.
We open with the Alpha Black guy that Jack beat up and shot up, who is being transported in an ambulance, under guard. A Mack truck comes out of nowhere and slams into the side of the ambulance. They all survive, but not for long. The two guards are immediately dispatched by on off-screen shooter who then knee-caps AlphaBlack as he tries to scurry away. Welcome back, SpyMommy. She wants to know if AlphaBlack told her husband about The Horizon. He swears he didn't and she believes him. And the she kills him. Twice.
Sydney is with her new doctor, who confirms that she and the baby are fine and that the surgery done on her on the ship probably saved them both. Dixon pops his head in and tells her it's time to go. Aw, Dixon's taking her to her appointments. He tells her that Jack has been released from custody because AlphaBlack confessed.
Meanwhile, Devlin has showed up at APO, demanding to see all reports and files relating to the Prophet 5 investigation. He wants to know who leaked the location of AlphaBlack. Hmm, I wonder who that could be? Neither Sloane nor Grace look too pleased about this. In fact, the subplot of this episode centers around Sloane trying to cover his ass with the help of Grace and Rachel. Not much happened there, so we'll just leave it at that.
Syd (along with Dixon) and SpyDaddy meet in secret and hug. They figure out there's a mole (moley-mole-mole-mole!) in APO and decide to continue the Prophet 5 investigation in secret - or "compartmentalized", as Jack would say. It should be mentioned that Dixon is rockin' a new braided 'do. He's always been cool, so I say he pulls it off. Anyway, Syd tells Jack all about how Prophet 5 said they "had plans for" her, and how she gave them the wrong intel on The Horizon. She withheld the real map location, which was "Leo47Norte". Jack and Dixon figure out that it's an operation name and 47Norte was code for Paris. Jack tells Syd to go and pack a bag and get to a safe place, Dixon to go wait in Paris and he'll go back to APO to see if he can figure out the "Leo" part. There's a really nice scene in the car with Syd and Dixon where he tells her she waddles and she denies it and he agrees and says that actually, she teeters.
Syd enters her house alone - you'd think Dixon would have come in and checked it out for her - and who is sitting in her dining room but Lena F*ckin' Olin. She plays Irina so well, and it's really hard to read her expressions in this scene, but I think it's safe to say she's more wicked than ever. She tells Sydney that she came because she heard about Prophet 5 and her kidnapping and that everything will be alright (ha!) and Prophet 5 is looking for something called The Horizon and does Sydney know anything about it? Sydney lies and says no.
Jack's at APO with Marshall and they identify "Leo" as some guy named Jean Bertrand, who headed the Leo47Norte operation and is still in France. Jack tells Marshall to forward Bertrand's location to Dixon in Paris. Then his cell phone rings. It's Sydney. Guess who's coming to dinner, Dad?
We have a nice little SpyFamily reunion at Syd's house and Dixon calls Jack and tells him that he and Renee strapped Jean Bertrand to the hood of his car and hilariously drove around a parking garage at high speed until he cried and told them that the operation entailed delivering a package to a safe deposit box in a bank in Vancouver and that's all he knew. Well, he didn't tell Jack all that, but it's what they did. Jack then proceeds to tell his scheming, deceitful spy of a wife exactly where to find The Horizon. Jack! They need to go to Vancouver to get it, but Syd and SpyDaddy will have trouble getting transportation and contacts and protocols and whatever it is they need for a mission, because Prophet 5 is off-limits, officially. Irina graciously offers to go to Vancouver for them, but they aren't buying it - they will all go together.
Meanwhile, at Prophet 5 HQ, some goon tells Peyton that Irina is going to Vancouver to retrieve The Horizon. Peyton says she trusts her, but will go anyway, just in case.
At Queen's Bank in Vancouver, Syd, Jack and Irina pretend to be a rich, Italian family as a ruse to get to the safe deposit vault. Syd does some spy stuff on a computer and Mom and Dad knock the bank officer unconscious. SpyDaddy retrieves the package from the box, and it's as small as a paperback, is wrapped in old cloth and twine and is wired to self-destruct if anyone tries to unwrap it. Jack turns his back on Irina (Jack!) and she attacks. They fight and Syd walks in. This is not a fight between your parents you want to walk in on. Everything starts to click into place for Syd - her mother was the one who kidnapped her, she is part of Prophet 5 and she used her to get to The Horizon. Well, there's no time for this - the bad guys are on their way up to get them. Jack tells Irina (whose hands are now bound) to call off her team, but she swears they are not there with her and will kill her and take The Horizon. Just then, Sydney goes into labor.
They decide to hoof it up 4 flights of stairs to a helicopter that Irina was going to use for her extraction, by calling it with a beacon she stuffed in her bra and Jack just happened to have to reach in to get it...I'm just saying. Anyway, they get to the top and Peyton freakin' blows the helicopter out of the sky with a surface-to-air missile thing that she shoots from a lower floor. They come back inside and Jack gives Sydney his pistol and delivers the best line of the night: "Here - cover your mother." Syd and Irina go hide in an empty office while Jack heads off to dispatch the baddies. He does so with minimal effort but doesn't double-check his work - Peyton will live to see another assasination. While Jack was gone, Syd and Irina had a heart-to-heart, and Irina told her that she never wanted to have her. Ouch. But then she said that once she held her, she knew she had made a big mistake. You can't be a good mother and a good spy. She chose to be a good spy. Also, Syd accused her of wanting to take the baby and of killing Vaughn. Irina doesn't outright deny either accusation.
Sydney's really in pain now, the baby's close, but so is a bad guy and Syd has to give her mother the gun. Irina kills the bad guy, unties her hands and is about to leave with The Horizon when she looks back at Sydney. She approaches her and tells her that the only reason she saved the baby was because Sydney was her daughter. She decides to stay to help deliver the baby. Aw.
Jack returns and poor Sydney is an absolute mess and the baby is breech. Despite that, Sydney manages to push twice and deliver a perfectly healthy baby in about 3 minutes, which is ridiculous and absolutley par for the course with this show. As unbelievable as it may have been, that scene had me in tears with the Jack/Sydney stuff. Anyhoo, Syd has a girl, of course, and after she hands her the baby, Irina disappears. Don't worry, Jack says, we'll catch up to her.
She didn't abandon them completely - she calls Marshall and tells him that Jack and Sydney will need an extraction - and diapers. On the flight home, Sydney and Jack coo over the baby - I wonder what they will call her? - and Sydney gives Jack a knowing look and slight smile. Jack says, "I'll take care of it." Cut to Bhutan (Wikipedia says it's the most isolated country in the world) and a man on a horse delivers a message to a man who looks to be a monk. The monk closes the door and walks deeper into his house and tells someone offscreen the he has good news - you have a daughter. Hi Vaughn!
More Alias tonight at 8:00 PM on ABC.
Maternal Instinct
It's OK, honey, Mom and Dad are just having a little difference of opinion.
We open with the Alpha Black guy that Jack beat up and shot up, who is being transported in an ambulance, under guard. A Mack truck comes out of nowhere and slams into the side of the ambulance. They all survive, but not for long. The two guards are immediately dispatched by on off-screen shooter who then knee-caps AlphaBlack as he tries to scurry away. Welcome back, SpyMommy. She wants to know if AlphaBlack told her husband about The Horizon. He swears he didn't and she believes him. And the she kills him. Twice.
Sydney is with her new doctor, who confirms that she and the baby are fine and that the surgery done on her on the ship probably saved them both. Dixon pops his head in and tells her it's time to go. Aw, Dixon's taking her to her appointments. He tells her that Jack has been released from custody because AlphaBlack confessed.
Meanwhile, Devlin has showed up at APO, demanding to see all reports and files relating to the Prophet 5 investigation. He wants to know who leaked the location of AlphaBlack. Hmm, I wonder who that could be? Neither Sloane nor Grace look too pleased about this. In fact, the subplot of this episode centers around Sloane trying to cover his ass with the help of Grace and Rachel. Not much happened there, so we'll just leave it at that.
Syd (along with Dixon) and SpyDaddy meet in secret and hug. They figure out there's a mole (moley-mole-mole-mole!) in APO and decide to continue the Prophet 5 investigation in secret - or "compartmentalized", as Jack would say. It should be mentioned that Dixon is rockin' a new braided 'do. He's always been cool, so I say he pulls it off. Anyway, Syd tells Jack all about how Prophet 5 said they "had plans for" her, and how she gave them the wrong intel on The Horizon. She withheld the real map location, which was "Leo47Norte". Jack and Dixon figure out that it's an operation name and 47Norte was code for Paris. Jack tells Syd to go and pack a bag and get to a safe place, Dixon to go wait in Paris and he'll go back to APO to see if he can figure out the "Leo" part. There's a really nice scene in the car with Syd and Dixon where he tells her she waddles and she denies it and he agrees and says that actually, she teeters.
Syd enters her house alone - you'd think Dixon would have come in and checked it out for her - and who is sitting in her dining room but Lena F*ckin' Olin. She plays Irina so well, and it's really hard to read her expressions in this scene, but I think it's safe to say she's more wicked than ever. She tells Sydney that she came because she heard about Prophet 5 and her kidnapping and that everything will be alright (ha!) and Prophet 5 is looking for something called The Horizon and does Sydney know anything about it? Sydney lies and says no.
Jack's at APO with Marshall and they identify "Leo" as some guy named Jean Bertrand, who headed the Leo47Norte operation and is still in France. Jack tells Marshall to forward Bertrand's location to Dixon in Paris. Then his cell phone rings. It's Sydney. Guess who's coming to dinner, Dad?
We have a nice little SpyFamily reunion at Syd's house and Dixon calls Jack and tells him that he and Renee strapped Jean Bertrand to the hood of his car and hilariously drove around a parking garage at high speed until he cried and told them that the operation entailed delivering a package to a safe deposit box in a bank in Vancouver and that's all he knew. Well, he didn't tell Jack all that, but it's what they did. Jack then proceeds to tell his scheming, deceitful spy of a wife exactly where to find The Horizon. Jack! They need to go to Vancouver to get it, but Syd and SpyDaddy will have trouble getting transportation and contacts and protocols and whatever it is they need for a mission, because Prophet 5 is off-limits, officially. Irina graciously offers to go to Vancouver for them, but they aren't buying it - they will all go together.
Meanwhile, at Prophet 5 HQ, some goon tells Peyton that Irina is going to Vancouver to retrieve The Horizon. Peyton says she trusts her, but will go anyway, just in case.
At Queen's Bank in Vancouver, Syd, Jack and Irina pretend to be a rich, Italian family as a ruse to get to the safe deposit vault. Syd does some spy stuff on a computer and Mom and Dad knock the bank officer unconscious. SpyDaddy retrieves the package from the box, and it's as small as a paperback, is wrapped in old cloth and twine and is wired to self-destruct if anyone tries to unwrap it. Jack turns his back on Irina (Jack!) and she attacks. They fight and Syd walks in. This is not a fight between your parents you want to walk in on. Everything starts to click into place for Syd - her mother was the one who kidnapped her, she is part of Prophet 5 and she used her to get to The Horizon. Well, there's no time for this - the bad guys are on their way up to get them. Jack tells Irina (whose hands are now bound) to call off her team, but she swears they are not there with her and will kill her and take The Horizon. Just then, Sydney goes into labor.
They decide to hoof it up 4 flights of stairs to a helicopter that Irina was going to use for her extraction, by calling it with a beacon she stuffed in her bra and Jack just happened to have to reach in to get it...I'm just saying. Anyway, they get to the top and Peyton freakin' blows the helicopter out of the sky with a surface-to-air missile thing that she shoots from a lower floor. They come back inside and Jack gives Sydney his pistol and delivers the best line of the night: "Here - cover your mother." Syd and Irina go hide in an empty office while Jack heads off to dispatch the baddies. He does so with minimal effort but doesn't double-check his work - Peyton will live to see another assasination. While Jack was gone, Syd and Irina had a heart-to-heart, and Irina told her that she never wanted to have her. Ouch. But then she said that once she held her, she knew she had made a big mistake. You can't be a good mother and a good spy. She chose to be a good spy. Also, Syd accused her of wanting to take the baby and of killing Vaughn. Irina doesn't outright deny either accusation.
Sydney's really in pain now, the baby's close, but so is a bad guy and Syd has to give her mother the gun. Irina kills the bad guy, unties her hands and is about to leave with The Horizon when she looks back at Sydney. She approaches her and tells her that the only reason she saved the baby was because Sydney was her daughter. She decides to stay to help deliver the baby. Aw.
Jack returns and poor Sydney is an absolute mess and the baby is breech. Despite that, Sydney manages to push twice and deliver a perfectly healthy baby in about 3 minutes, which is ridiculous and absolutley par for the course with this show. As unbelievable as it may have been, that scene had me in tears with the Jack/Sydney stuff. Anyhoo, Syd has a girl, of course, and after she hands her the baby, Irina disappears. Don't worry, Jack says, we'll catch up to her.
She didn't abandon them completely - she calls Marshall and tells him that Jack and Sydney will need an extraction - and diapers. On the flight home, Sydney and Jack coo over the baby - I wonder what they will call her? - and Sydney gives Jack a knowing look and slight smile. Jack says, "I'll take care of it." Cut to Bhutan (Wikipedia says it's the most isolated country in the world) and a man on a horse delivers a message to a man who looks to be a monk. The monk closes the door and walks deeper into his house and tells someone offscreen the he has good news - you have a daughter. Hi Vaughn!
More Alias tonight at 8:00 PM on ABC.
Idol Top 6: The Pills Kick In.
Who else thinks that was the weirdest night so far this season? A night whose defining moment, I think, was the spectacle of Paula completely losing her shit. Awesome! Simon seemed to be enjoying the meltdown as well. I have to say, however, that I have about had it with the judges' bickering, between themselves and with Ryan. It's a waste of time and makes them look completely unprofessional. Oh, who the hell am I kidding? Look who I'm talking about!
So, our guest this week was Andrea Bocelli and producer David Foster. Foster's apparently a complete prick, but I do think he gave the singers some good advice.
Things do not start off well.
Katharine not only sings in the dreaded first position, but she is wearing a big yellow dress that's gorgeous from the waist up and a VPL nightmare from the waist down. The wardrobe miscalculation worsens when the slit in the skirt pops open and we see London, we see France. Worst of all, however, is the absolutely baseless thrashing she gets from the judges. What's going on here? I thought she did a wonderful job and I don't understand what all that harshness was about.
Next up, Elliot, who called Ryan before the show to see what he was wearing. That boy just looks better and better with each passing week, doesn't he? I didn't know that song, but I could tell he sounded great. Not quite "make-me-cry" great, Paula, but maybe that's just me.
Oh Kellie, Kellie, Kellie. The pre-performance chat with Ryan was a blatant sales pitch, the pompadour is not a good look and even Bocelli knew you were a blonde. All of that would be irrelevant, however, if you could actually sing. Alas...
Paris, who hasn't had any "love thoughts" yet, impresses the hell out of Bocelli and Foster, channels Gladys Knight and sings the hell out of "The Way We Were", and will probably go home.
Taylor was off last night. Simon was right, he looked uncomfortable up there. I thought that was a pretty good song choice for his voice, but it was just an average performance.
Bringing up the rear, we had Chris in the pimp spot, yet again. You all know I am not a big Chris fan, and he still looked like he wanted to reach down through my throat and rip my heart out because that's what it's like when you really love a woman, but I have to admit that he did a great job with a crappy song.
OK, so...Bottom 3? If I could, I'd put Simon, Randy and Paula there, but I can't so I say the Bottom 3 will be Kellie, Paris and Katharine. Find out tonight at 9:00 (not 9:30 as I erroneously posted last week - sorry!)
So, our guest this week was Andrea Bocelli and producer David Foster. Foster's apparently a complete prick, but I do think he gave the singers some good advice.
Things do not start off well.
Katharine not only sings in the dreaded first position, but she is wearing a big yellow dress that's gorgeous from the waist up and a VPL nightmare from the waist down. The wardrobe miscalculation worsens when the slit in the skirt pops open and we see London, we see France. Worst of all, however, is the absolutely baseless thrashing she gets from the judges. What's going on here? I thought she did a wonderful job and I don't understand what all that harshness was about.
Next up, Elliot, who called Ryan before the show to see what he was wearing. That boy just looks better and better with each passing week, doesn't he? I didn't know that song, but I could tell he sounded great. Not quite "make-me-cry" great, Paula, but maybe that's just me.
Oh Kellie, Kellie, Kellie. The pre-performance chat with Ryan was a blatant sales pitch, the pompadour is not a good look and even Bocelli knew you were a blonde. All of that would be irrelevant, however, if you could actually sing. Alas...
Paris, who hasn't had any "love thoughts" yet, impresses the hell out of Bocelli and Foster, channels Gladys Knight and sings the hell out of "The Way We Were", and will probably go home.
Taylor was off last night. Simon was right, he looked uncomfortable up there. I thought that was a pretty good song choice for his voice, but it was just an average performance.
Bringing up the rear, we had Chris in the pimp spot, yet again. You all know I am not a big Chris fan, and he still looked like he wanted to reach down through my throat and rip my heart out because that's what it's like when you really love a woman, but I have to admit that he did a great job with a crappy song.
OK, so...Bottom 3? If I could, I'd put Simon, Randy and Paula there, but I can't so I say the Bottom 3 will be Kellie, Paris and Katharine. Find out tonight at 9:00 (not 9:30 as I erroneously posted last week - sorry!)
4.25.2006
The Spy Has Come In From The Cold.
S.O.S/Maternal Instinct
The Bristows are back, and it gives me great joy to say that. I am going to do my best to recap and comment on these final episodes of Alias, a show that's near and dear to my heart. It's the least I can do.
Hopefully, I will be able to do them in a more timely manner than I have with this one. Real life's a bitch.
S.O.S opens right where we left off, with an extremely pregnant Sydney stranded on the deck of a container ship out in the Middle of Nowhere Sea. She's not alone for long, as Peyton and her goons start chasing her around. Syd manages to get an SOS message out over the radio, but she's not feeling too well. She gets the jump on Peyton and they hide in what appears to be a delivery room, something I don't think is standard on a container ship. Syd wonders WTF is going on but before she can get an answer she is overcome with pain and Peyton gets the gun from her.
Back at APO, Marshall and Jack listen to Syd's SOS signal but before they can get a location, it's interrupted, corrupted, and deleted. Jack decides they need to break into CIA heaquarters to retrieve the SOS from one of their computers. This is clearly treason, but no one has a problem with it. Dixon, Marshall, Rachel and Tom do the breaking and entering. There are alarms set off, lockdowns put into place and Rachel runs right into a door. Ha! Bottom line, they have to take an entire hard drive back to APO. In order to get everyone out of the building, Jack calls in Weiss, who has to miss his Pilates class to help out. Hi Weiss! Also, while there, Tom did a little moonlighting and accessed the Witness Protection database and retrieved the name and location of the man who killed his wife. Hmm.
Sydney awakes on the container ship to find she is strapped to the table in the delivery room with a fetal monitor on her belly. The baby is lighting up like a Christmas tree on the monitor screen. No one will tell her what's going on. A doctor comes into the room and who should it be but Syd's own OB/GYN. Bitch! Dr. Bitch takes some amniotic fluid, finds blood in it and says they have to do the procedure right away. Procedure? What procedure? Will someone tell me what is going on?
Back at APO, bad news - the hard drive is too encrypted and they can't get the message off of it. Marshall, however, waves his geeky hands in the air and voila! The person who intercepted the message has Alpha Black clearance. There only 7 people in the CIA who have that level of clearance and they all have special cell phones. I know, but wait, it'll make sense. SpyDaddy has an idea. Jack calls all these Alpha Black dudes into one conference room and starts doing an awesome Hercule Poirot routine, albeit a little bit more badass than HP usually is, saying that one of them knows where Sydney is and he's going to find out who that is. Or else. And when Jack says "or else", he means it. Marshall does his thing with the thing and locks in on the cellphone in question and it rings. Bam! Jack shoots the guy whose phone is ringing. Whoa! "Where is Sydney?" He's not telling. Pow! Jack pistol-whips the guy. "Where's Sydney?!" He doesn't know! BAM! Jacks shoots the guys again. "Where is Sydney?" Oh OK, she's on a container ship called the Athena in the North Atlantic.
Meanwhile, Peyton chats with someone on the phone who tells her that Sydney gave them the wrong information while under hypnosis.
They locate the ship and Tom and Dixon and the rescue team land on deck, only to find the ship deserted. Except for poor Sydney, still strapped to the delivery table, apparently post-op. They airlift her out of there. Then we cut to Tom watching the guy who killed his wife (Allen Korman, I think) walking through a parking garage. Tom approaches him. Just when you think Tom's going to kill him, he addresses Korman in a foreign language (Russian, perhaps?), and tells the guy that he needs to get a message to "The Cardinal." Oh, and Korman calls him Peter. Hmm.
This first hour ends with Jack visiting Sydney in her hospital room, accampanied by armed guards. Syd wants to know what's up with the guys, but Jack tells her not to worry. And he confirms to her that the baby is fine and that the operation on the ship was in fact for a placental abruption and they actually saved her and the baby.
And that was the first hour. We still don't know what The Horizon is or why Prophet 5 wants it. Or even who Prophet 5 (or The Cardinal) is. Let's continue the second hour in another post.
The Bristows are back, and it gives me great joy to say that. I am going to do my best to recap and comment on these final episodes of Alias, a show that's near and dear to my heart. It's the least I can do.
Hopefully, I will be able to do them in a more timely manner than I have with this one. Real life's a bitch.
S.O.S opens right where we left off, with an extremely pregnant Sydney stranded on the deck of a container ship out in the Middle of Nowhere Sea. She's not alone for long, as Peyton and her goons start chasing her around. Syd manages to get an SOS message out over the radio, but she's not feeling too well. She gets the jump on Peyton and they hide in what appears to be a delivery room, something I don't think is standard on a container ship. Syd wonders WTF is going on but before she can get an answer she is overcome with pain and Peyton gets the gun from her.
Back at APO, Marshall and Jack listen to Syd's SOS signal but before they can get a location, it's interrupted, corrupted, and deleted. Jack decides they need to break into CIA heaquarters to retrieve the SOS from one of their computers. This is clearly treason, but no one has a problem with it. Dixon, Marshall, Rachel and Tom do the breaking and entering. There are alarms set off, lockdowns put into place and Rachel runs right into a door. Ha! Bottom line, they have to take an entire hard drive back to APO. In order to get everyone out of the building, Jack calls in Weiss, who has to miss his Pilates class to help out. Hi Weiss! Also, while there, Tom did a little moonlighting and accessed the Witness Protection database and retrieved the name and location of the man who killed his wife. Hmm.
Sydney awakes on the container ship to find she is strapped to the table in the delivery room with a fetal monitor on her belly. The baby is lighting up like a Christmas tree on the monitor screen. No one will tell her what's going on. A doctor comes into the room and who should it be but Syd's own OB/GYN. Bitch! Dr. Bitch takes some amniotic fluid, finds blood in it and says they have to do the procedure right away. Procedure? What procedure? Will someone tell me what is going on?
Back at APO, bad news - the hard drive is too encrypted and they can't get the message off of it. Marshall, however, waves his geeky hands in the air and voila! The person who intercepted the message has Alpha Black clearance. There only 7 people in the CIA who have that level of clearance and they all have special cell phones. I know, but wait, it'll make sense. SpyDaddy has an idea. Jack calls all these Alpha Black dudes into one conference room and starts doing an awesome Hercule Poirot routine, albeit a little bit more badass than HP usually is, saying that one of them knows where Sydney is and he's going to find out who that is. Or else. And when Jack says "or else", he means it. Marshall does his thing with the thing and locks in on the cellphone in question and it rings. Bam! Jack shoots the guy whose phone is ringing. Whoa! "Where is Sydney?" He's not telling. Pow! Jack pistol-whips the guy. "Where's Sydney?!" He doesn't know! BAM! Jacks shoots the guys again. "Where is Sydney?" Oh OK, she's on a container ship called the Athena in the North Atlantic.
Meanwhile, Peyton chats with someone on the phone who tells her that Sydney gave them the wrong information while under hypnosis.
They locate the ship and Tom and Dixon and the rescue team land on deck, only to find the ship deserted. Except for poor Sydney, still strapped to the delivery table, apparently post-op. They airlift her out of there. Then we cut to Tom watching the guy who killed his wife (Allen Korman, I think) walking through a parking garage. Tom approaches him. Just when you think Tom's going to kill him, he addresses Korman in a foreign language (Russian, perhaps?), and tells the guy that he needs to get a message to "The Cardinal." Oh, and Korman calls him Peter. Hmm.
This first hour ends with Jack visiting Sydney in her hospital room, accampanied by armed guards. Syd wants to know what's up with the guys, but Jack tells her not to worry. And he confirms to her that the baby is fine and that the operation on the ship was in fact for a placental abruption and they actually saved her and the baby.
And that was the first hour. We still don't know what The Horizon is or why Prophet 5 wants it. Or even who Prophet 5 (or The Cardinal) is. Let's continue the second hour in another post.
4.24.2006
4.20.2006
Idol Results: Ding Dong Ace is GONE.
All together now! Ding, dong, the wimpy Ace is Goooooooone!
Ace says, "This is my time!"
Gina says, "This is your time to go home."
Hey, I made my first correct Bottom 3 prediction! It was a no-brainer, but hey, yay for me!
Was Taylor pissed about having to do that choice thing, or what? Holy crap. I thought he aquitted himself nicely, however, making the best of a bad situation. I was very pleased that Elliot did as well as he did. Someone else, who's name I won't mention, should not have been where she was but I'm so tired of complaining about her, and her continued presence is such an inevitability, I won't even bother going there.
Next week: the "world's greatest love songs" and Andrea Bocelli. Oy.
Ace says, "This is my time!"
Gina says, "This is your time to go home."
Hey, I made my first correct Bottom 3 prediction! It was a no-brainer, but hey, yay for me!
Was Taylor pissed about having to do that choice thing, or what? Holy crap. I thought he aquitted himself nicely, however, making the best of a bad situation. I was very pleased that Elliot did as well as he did. Someone else, who's name I won't mention, should not have been where she was but I'm so tired of complaining about her, and her continued presence is such an inevitability, I won't even bother going there.
Next week: the "world's greatest love songs" and Andrea Bocelli. Oy.
4.19.2006
From Birth, Mortal Enemies Bound Together In Eternal Struggle for the Fate of Humanity.
Tom and Katie Welcome Daughter Suri: "In a strange twist of fate, Suri was born on the same day Brooke Shields gave birth to her daughter, Grier Hammond Henchy. Shields and Cruise had a public spat last year after he criticized the actress for taking antidepressants following the birth of her first child."
Idol Top 7: They Call 'Em Standards For A Reason.
Well, well, I had almost forgotten that these people can actually sing. Most of them, that is.
Did Rod Stewart have anything to do with the overall excellence? Or was it the songs? I love Rod Stewart but I think for the most part, it was the songs. They aren't included in the Great American Songbook for nothin'.
We started off with Chris, looking like Gene Kelly in a motorcycle gang. Nice ascot, man! He sounded very nice. Incongruously, he looked like he wanted to kill me. Chris, why are you so angry with me when the world is so wonderful? Dude needed to bring the intensity level down a notch or two for that song. Still, well done.
Ryan has been sneaking sips from Paula's cup hasn't he? "Simon dressed up like the Easter Bunny and laid eggs at my house"? WTF?
Paris reminded me of why I liked her so much at the beginning. She was amazing and looked very pretty (even if the suit was a little too "Julie McCoy"). Again, well done!
Ryan obviously told Taylor that Paula was sharing because "Flattery is a great form of humor"? Whoa! Regardless, he nails You Send Me, especially the end.
Elliot (or Idi Yamin as Sheila likes to call him) looks better than ever, sings well, has a little fun with his stage presence and Simon tells him he lacks personality. Go figure. I think Simon is using reverse psychology and criticized Elliot in the hope that his fans will respond by power voting for Idi.
Wow, everyone's doing so well...
Heh, that was fun while it lasted. Kellie crashes and burns with "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (hee!)". Actually, she started off sounding remarkably good; however, it all went very wrong about halfway through as she got ahead of the band and couldn't carry a note if it had a handle. Oh the humanity! However, as much as I wish she was out of the competition, I give her serious props for owning that disaster and acknowledging that she farked it up.
Hey look! It's Vinnie Barbarino in Pulp Fiction! No wait, that's Ace. I don't really want to talk about him or his lip quiver at the end.
Katharine gets the pimp spot and blows away the competition. Exquisite.
Do I hazard a guess at the Bottom 3? How about Ace, Paris, and Kellie or Chris as the shocker!
I'll be happy if either Ace of Kellie go home. Results tonight at 9:30 on FOX.
Did Rod Stewart have anything to do with the overall excellence? Or was it the songs? I love Rod Stewart but I think for the most part, it was the songs. They aren't included in the Great American Songbook for nothin'.
We started off with Chris, looking like Gene Kelly in a motorcycle gang. Nice ascot, man! He sounded very nice. Incongruously, he looked like he wanted to kill me. Chris, why are you so angry with me when the world is so wonderful? Dude needed to bring the intensity level down a notch or two for that song. Still, well done.
Ryan has been sneaking sips from Paula's cup hasn't he? "Simon dressed up like the Easter Bunny and laid eggs at my house"? WTF?
Paris reminded me of why I liked her so much at the beginning. She was amazing and looked very pretty (even if the suit was a little too "Julie McCoy"). Again, well done!
Ryan obviously told Taylor that Paula was sharing because "Flattery is a great form of humor"? Whoa! Regardless, he nails You Send Me, especially the end.
Elliot (or Idi Yamin as Sheila likes to call him) looks better than ever, sings well, has a little fun with his stage presence and Simon tells him he lacks personality. Go figure. I think Simon is using reverse psychology and criticized Elliot in the hope that his fans will respond by power voting for Idi.
Wow, everyone's doing so well...
Heh, that was fun while it lasted. Kellie crashes and burns with "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (hee!)". Actually, she started off sounding remarkably good; however, it all went very wrong about halfway through as she got ahead of the band and couldn't carry a note if it had a handle. Oh the humanity! However, as much as I wish she was out of the competition, I give her serious props for owning that disaster and acknowledging that she farked it up.
Hey look! It's Vinnie Barbarino in Pulp Fiction! No wait, that's Ace. I don't really want to talk about him or his lip quiver at the end.
Katharine gets the pimp spot and blows away the competition. Exquisite.
Do I hazard a guess at the Bottom 3? How about Ace, Paris, and Kellie or Chris as the shocker!
I'll be happy if either Ace of Kellie go home. Results tonight at 9:30 on FOX.
4.18.2006
When last we saw her...
Heads up, people! Tomorrow night brings us the beginning of the end for Sydney Bristow with a 2 hour return of Alias on ABC at 8:00.The show's been off the schedule for so long, I recommend reading TWoP's recap of the last new episode to get a feel for where we left off. I haven't done so (yet), but the best that my addled brain can recall is that a very pregnant Sydney had been kidnapped and drugged by her mother (!), who was in cahoots with the assasin girl who worked with Gordon. Damn, I can't remember her name! Something with a "P".
Anyway, drugged-up Sydney was reliving her memories as a "doctor" guided her with a pointy electrical stick. The purpose? To acquire information that was on an SD-6 map way back when she was first brought to the CIA by Vaughn. Once the information was retrieved, Sydney escaped her torture chamber only to find that she was stranded on a container ship in the middle of some ocean. Also: SpyDaddy and Renee found a very creepy nursery room somewhere after SpyDaddy got all medieval on Renee's father and cut his ear off. Good stuff.
This is the final season for Alias and I have a feeling that JJ Abrahams and his crew are going to be pulling out all the stops for the conclusion of this story. If you've ever been a fan of the show, you won't want to miss it.
He started off in the back seat.
He started off in the back seat.
Originally uploaded by gina64.
But there's no keeping him from his mommy. This was taken on Easter Sunday, on the way home from my sister's in Rhode Island. He was exhausted from the long car ride the day before, the lack of any substantial napping time, the two kids and two other dogs at the house, the late night and the fact that he didn't sleep a wink all night. But he'd rather sleep sitting up if it means he can be next to Sheila.
God, they're getting so big.
God, they're getting so big.
Originally uploaded by gina64.
My niece and nephew. Hannah is 10 now and Zachary is 6. They grow up too fast!
4.17.2006
Idol Results: Better Late Than Never
Or perhaps not.
Regardless, I promised to catch up so here are some thoughts on last week's results.
Regardless, I promised to catch up so here are some thoughts on last week's results.
- We did not get a Queen performance. I'm not sure where I got that from. We did, however, get a group sing, and it was really good! It was a Queen medley, of course, and Chris sounded incredible singing "Under Pressure", the song that would have given him his 'moment' if he had sang it the night before.
- Filler was provided by messages from home for all of the contestants, and while I usually find all that filler stuff insufferable, I enjoyed these for the most part. I guess I'm just a pushover at heart. The ones that really got to me: Katharine's dad and Elliot's mom. Katharine was stunning even as a 3-year-old and Elliot really is a good boy.
- Kellie brought some much needed class to the proceedings with her 'snot rag' shenanigans.
- Our Bottom 3 was Elliot, Ace and Bucky, and it is not a just world as I had hoped because Ace stayed while Bucky said bye-bye. Bye-bye, Bucky. I hope they finished capping your teeth.
- Brian May posted a note at his site about his American Idol experience, revealing what really went down between the band and Ace.
Nothing like a good cry to start your week.
An Act Of Grace By Police Follows Atrocity: "For a girl who has been so wronged, whose family has been entrenched in a saga stretching from Connecticut to Colombia, who has spent the past four months in a hospital recovery room, still unable to speak or walk, the world tilted a little Saturday, indisputably toward the right."
4.16.2006
Happy Easter!!
Happy Easter!!
Originally uploaded by gina64.
And Passover!
Actually, is it alright to say "Happy Passover"? Why don't I know this? I should know this.
It's been a busy few days, including traveling out to my sister's in Rhode Island for the weekend. But I'm back now and hoping to get caught up very soon. However, right now it's time to cook some dinner.
4.12.2006
Idol Top 8: Killer Queen.
That was SO much more fun than the past 2 snoozapaloozas. I'm not sure anyone sang any better last night, but at least I was entertained.
Some random thoughts, because that's how I'm remembering it:
The Powers That Be do have a sense of humor, don't they, showing Marlee Matlin in the audience while Elliot was singing. I though Elliot was good with a really tough song, but he seemed to be struggling to keep up with the band.
Speaking of the band, could they be any louder??
Ryan lost at least one of his beards.
Sheila summed up Chris' performance perfectly: it was like being at a concert by your favorite band, being totally into the songs and then they whip out a track from their new album and everyone tries to clap along to a song they don't know but the band's lost the audience. Very indulgent, unmelodic choice of song. They'd better back off the eyebrows, too. He's looking more metrosexual than hardcore.
While we're on the subject, Randy was never more in need of a smack than when he argued with Simon's assessment of Chris' performance (which was right on the money) by saying that it wasn't about song choice, it was about talent. Excuse me, what show have I been watching? Someone play back every single semi-finals performance show for Randy so I can watch him eat his words.
Paris is quite the little performer but I didn't know the song and she looked like a cross between Li'l Kim and that midget hooker from Total Recall.
Taylor had the Mother of All Spaz Attacks and completely missed the mic stand when he tried to kick it over. We had our heads buried in the furniture laughing so we missed the majority of the performance but I heard the end and he sounded awesome.
The second most awesome OhMyGodDidTheyJustDoThatIHaveToLookAwayMoment was Ace getting put in his place twice by Brian May. Hee! He made the worst song choice of the night and it was predictably bad, but he was strangely calm. Weird.
Katharine was not helped by the dress rehearsal recap clip they used for her - she missed a few notes in the live show but she wasn't that bad. But her clothes were! Jesus Christ, who's closet did they raid for that top? Dynasty-era Joan Collins'?
Bucky sang what was probably the only Queen song that I know of that he could pull off (although I would have loved to have seen what Taylor would have done with "Fat Bottom Girls") and was adequate. Very amiable, but the boy has absolutely no energy on stage. He did have a great moment after the song (paraphrased): Bucky: "[Freddie Mercury]'s not someone you want to come up behind." Deadpan Ryan: "You can say that again." Ha!
The performance I dreaded the most was Pickler singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" and, while it was not in any way, shape or form good, it was no where NEAR as bad as it looked on paper. "On paper" being one of those high-falutin' expressions those weird British people use. Then again, Simon does "have the weirdest terminology." Terminology, huh?
I honestly don't have enough of a clue to even attempt a prediction at the Bottom 3 tonight. All I can say is if this were a just world, Ace would be going home.
Tonight's results show is an hour long, from 8:30 to 9:30, wherein we get a Queen performance and a group sing and a whole lot of filler.
Some random thoughts, because that's how I'm remembering it:
The Powers That Be do have a sense of humor, don't they, showing Marlee Matlin in the audience while Elliot was singing. I though Elliot was good with a really tough song, but he seemed to be struggling to keep up with the band.
Speaking of the band, could they be any louder??
Ryan lost at least one of his beards.
Sheila summed up Chris' performance perfectly: it was like being at a concert by your favorite band, being totally into the songs and then they whip out a track from their new album and everyone tries to clap along to a song they don't know but the band's lost the audience. Very indulgent, unmelodic choice of song. They'd better back off the eyebrows, too. He's looking more metrosexual than hardcore.
While we're on the subject, Randy was never more in need of a smack than when he argued with Simon's assessment of Chris' performance (which was right on the money) by saying that it wasn't about song choice, it was about talent. Excuse me, what show have I been watching? Someone play back every single semi-finals performance show for Randy so I can watch him eat his words.
Paris is quite the little performer but I didn't know the song and she looked like a cross between Li'l Kim and that midget hooker from Total Recall.
Taylor had the Mother of All Spaz Attacks and completely missed the mic stand when he tried to kick it over. We had our heads buried in the furniture laughing so we missed the majority of the performance but I heard the end and he sounded awesome.
The second most awesome OhMyGodDidTheyJustDoThatIHaveToLookAwayMoment was Ace getting put in his place twice by Brian May. Hee! He made the worst song choice of the night and it was predictably bad, but he was strangely calm. Weird.
Katharine was not helped by the dress rehearsal recap clip they used for her - she missed a few notes in the live show but she wasn't that bad. But her clothes were! Jesus Christ, who's closet did they raid for that top? Dynasty-era Joan Collins'?
Bucky sang what was probably the only Queen song that I know of that he could pull off (although I would have loved to have seen what Taylor would have done with "Fat Bottom Girls") and was adequate. Very amiable, but the boy has absolutely no energy on stage. He did have a great moment after the song (paraphrased): Bucky: "[Freddie Mercury]'s not someone you want to come up behind." Deadpan Ryan: "You can say that again." Ha!
The performance I dreaded the most was Pickler singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" and, while it was not in any way, shape or form good, it was no where NEAR as bad as it looked on paper. "On paper" being one of those high-falutin' expressions those weird British people use. Then again, Simon does "have the weirdest terminology." Terminology, huh?
I honestly don't have enough of a clue to even attempt a prediction at the Bottom 3 tonight. All I can say is if this were a just world, Ace would be going home.
Tonight's results show is an hour long, from 8:30 to 9:30, wherein we get a Queen performance and a group sing and a whole lot of filler.
4.11.2006
Wanna know who will be singing what song tonight?
USAToday knows.
And now I kind of wish I didn't! The most troublesome choices: Ace's and Kellie's. And I'm so afraid that Taylor will be boring again.
And now I kind of wish I didn't! The most troublesome choices: Ace's and Kellie's. And I'm so afraid that Taylor will be boring again.
Rolling Stone Profile
Kiefer Sutherland: Heart of Darkness: "He once heard that some college-going 24 fans had developed a drinking game in which you have to down one shot for every time Jack Bauer says, 'Damn it,' which is the show's 'fuck' and 'shit' substitute. So during one episode, in one scene, he took it upon himself to say 'Damn it' three times in a row, 'Boom, boom, boom. And that was just one scene. By the end, there had to be fourteen 'Damn its.' And I could just see all these college kids going, 'Oh, fuck!' '"
That was a great article. This is the first season of 24 that I've missed completely. 'Missed' being the operative word. I need Jack Bauer on DVD NOW, Damn it!
4.10.2006
Hurley's LOST his mind.
Dave
This is the one where we are told why Hurley was in the psychiatric hospital AND what Libby's connection is with him.
To recap: Hurley and Libby are becoming very close. He reveals to her that he kept some of the original hatch food for himself and has been binging. She does her "psychologist" thing and tells him to free himself by destroying it all. He does. But just when he thinks he's got that monkey off his back he and Libby stumble across the palette of DHARMA food just as the castaways are pillaging it. This is enough of a trauma to make Hurley see Dave at the edge of the woods. See, Dave was this imaginary friend that Hurley had when he was in the hospital, sort of a manifestation of the part of Hurley that hates himself. As he's chasing Dave around the island we get flashbacks to his stay in the hospital, where Dave tells him to not take his medicine, to eat whatever he wants and to try to escape. Hurley makes a breakthrough, however, when he opens up and tells his doctor about the accident that resulted in his hospitalization: Hurley stepped onto an already overloaded deck, which collapsed, killing two people. The deck was unstable but because of his obesity, Hurley blamed himself and had a little bit of a nervous breakdown. With this breakthrough, Dave disappears and Hurley is presumably able to recover. But in the here and now, the new food and the increasing attentions of Libby are enough to bring back Dave, who ultimately convinces Hurley that everything that's happened to him since the hospital - the lottery, the plane crash, the island, Libby (how could a girl like Libby be intereseted in him?) - is all in his head and he is actually still in the hospital. The only way to awake from his catatonic state, Dave tells him, is to jump off of a cliff. Libby finds Hurley just in time, convinces him that it's actually Dave who's all in his head and that she really does care for him. She kisses him to convince him. But as they walk away, the look on her face is anything but caring.
Cue another flashback that takes place in the hospital common room but is not Hurley's flashback. It's Libby's (or an objective flashback). She was a patient at the same hospital and from the looks of things she was a bit worse off than Hurley was.
Meanwhile, down in the hatch, Jack is tending to Locke's injured leg (a small fracture and a big NO to the wheelchair) and Sayid and Ana Lucia are interrogating Henry again, who they've got shackled like someone in the Pit of Despair. Sayid catches Henry in a lie about the real Henry Gale and won't give Sayid what he wants so Sayid pulls out his gun and tries to shoot Henry, only to have AL push the gun out of the way just in time. Henry completely flips out and says the oddest thing: "I'm not a bad person!" And that if he told the truth, "he" would kill him. He who? Later, Locke has a private moment with Henry because Locke still wants to believe (I think), and Henry screws with Locke's head again and tells him that he never put the code in, that the counter went down, turned to hyeroglyphics, he heard a sound like a magnet powering up and then nothing. The counter reset itself. And then he made another curious remark: "God can't see the island." (or something like that)
ETA: This is what he actually said: "God doesn’t know how long we’ve been here John. He can’t see this island any better than the rest of the world can." What in the world does that mean?
This was another one I really enjoyed. All of it. I even liked Ana Lucia! It wasn’t a “doozy” like the previous episode was for me, but it was still very enjoyable. I think one of the reasons I liked the episode so much was I felt like the writers were addressing me personally and some of the issues I’ve been wondering about:
1. Hurley’s stash of food – Thank you for the explanation as to where his food was coming from. Now, I understand the psychological benefit of destroying the food the way he did but, dude, what a WASTE! Yeah, they just got a big food drop but Hurley and Libby didn’t know that when he dumped his stash all over the jungle floor. And how about Sawyer just chucking that broken Oreo! He made up for it with the Sayid/mini-mart joke (so wrong but it made me LOL), but still.
2. Fat Hurley jokes – How awesome was it to see Hurley beating the crap out of Sawyer while screaming a litany of all the fat nicknames Sawyer has given him?
I found it interesting that Sawyer didn’t tell Hurley that he didn’t have the medicine when he asked for the Clonazipam (sp?). Did he not give the medicine to Jack yet? I suppose it hasn't even been a day since the poker game ended and Jack said he would be back later to get the meds, so...
3. Who knows about the hatch – So Jack went topside to tell the rest of the group that they had “one of them” captive in the hatch. I guess that means that everyone knows about the hatch and we just don’t see others (not Others) using it for things like showers, etc.? I am going to have to assume so, since the alternative is so unfair.
I knew that Dave was imaginary when they were playing Connect 4, but I should have known when in the basketball scene no one was passing to him and they in fact threw the ball to Hurley, who was right behind him. I thought the actor who played Dave was very good.
So now we know why Hurley was in the hospital. I felt so bad for him when he finally talked about the deck collapse. I liked the whole “this island thing is all in your mind” idea. I don’t think that’s what’s going on, but it fits well enough to work as a possibility and it’s fun to wonder about the possibilities.
So how about Libby?! There’s been a lot of speculation that she worked (as a “clinical psychologist”) at Hurley’s hospital and that’s how he knew her, but now we know the truth. That was a very cool surprise. Is she lying about being a clinical psychologist? I think she is. Does she really care for Hurley? I think she does. Well, maybe I hope she does. What was she doing on the plane? It can’t be coincidence – nothing in this show is – so I’m wondering if Hurley perhaps caught her eye in the hospital and she was sort of stalking him? Maybe? When Hurley asked Libby how she found him on the cliff, she said that Jin saw him whiel he was fishing. There’s no way that she could have gotten all the way up that hill from the beach in such a short amount of time. I think she was following him. Whether it was out of concern for him or because she’s a creepy stalker remains to be seen.
I love Eko and I wish we could see more of him. What do you think he’s building? I’m thinking a church, but that may be too obvious. Good for him for putting Charlie to work. Give that boy a purpose.
Sayid has gone a little off his nut, huh? The professional torturer in him should know that you can’t get information from a dead man. Maybe he and AL were playing good cop/bad cop? I loved Henry’s scene with Locke. Did he push the buttons or not? And who is “He”? The actor who plays Henry is fantastic. I think he’s telling lies within lies, but who knows? I do know he’s evil to the core, though – did you see his face in the previews for next week?
On Wednesday, another new episode.
This is the one where we are told why Hurley was in the psychiatric hospital AND what Libby's connection is with him.
To recap: Hurley and Libby are becoming very close. He reveals to her that he kept some of the original hatch food for himself and has been binging. She does her "psychologist" thing and tells him to free himself by destroying it all. He does. But just when he thinks he's got that monkey off his back he and Libby stumble across the palette of DHARMA food just as the castaways are pillaging it. This is enough of a trauma to make Hurley see Dave at the edge of the woods. See, Dave was this imaginary friend that Hurley had when he was in the hospital, sort of a manifestation of the part of Hurley that hates himself. As he's chasing Dave around the island we get flashbacks to his stay in the hospital, where Dave tells him to not take his medicine, to eat whatever he wants and to try to escape. Hurley makes a breakthrough, however, when he opens up and tells his doctor about the accident that resulted in his hospitalization: Hurley stepped onto an already overloaded deck, which collapsed, killing two people. The deck was unstable but because of his obesity, Hurley blamed himself and had a little bit of a nervous breakdown. With this breakthrough, Dave disappears and Hurley is presumably able to recover. But in the here and now, the new food and the increasing attentions of Libby are enough to bring back Dave, who ultimately convinces Hurley that everything that's happened to him since the hospital - the lottery, the plane crash, the island, Libby (how could a girl like Libby be intereseted in him?) - is all in his head and he is actually still in the hospital. The only way to awake from his catatonic state, Dave tells him, is to jump off of a cliff. Libby finds Hurley just in time, convinces him that it's actually Dave who's all in his head and that she really does care for him. She kisses him to convince him. But as they walk away, the look on her face is anything but caring.
Cue another flashback that takes place in the hospital common room but is not Hurley's flashback. It's Libby's (or an objective flashback). She was a patient at the same hospital and from the looks of things she was a bit worse off than Hurley was.
Meanwhile, down in the hatch, Jack is tending to Locke's injured leg (a small fracture and a big NO to the wheelchair) and Sayid and Ana Lucia are interrogating Henry again, who they've got shackled like someone in the Pit of Despair. Sayid catches Henry in a lie about the real Henry Gale and won't give Sayid what he wants so Sayid pulls out his gun and tries to shoot Henry, only to have AL push the gun out of the way just in time. Henry completely flips out and says the oddest thing: "I'm not a bad person!" And that if he told the truth, "he" would kill him. He who? Later, Locke has a private moment with Henry because Locke still wants to believe (I think), and Henry screws with Locke's head again and tells him that he never put the code in, that the counter went down, turned to hyeroglyphics, he heard a sound like a magnet powering up and then nothing. The counter reset itself. And then he made another curious remark: "God can't see the island." (or something like that)
ETA: This is what he actually said: "God doesn’t know how long we’ve been here John. He can’t see this island any better than the rest of the world can." What in the world does that mean?
This was another one I really enjoyed. All of it. I even liked Ana Lucia! It wasn’t a “doozy” like the previous episode was for me, but it was still very enjoyable. I think one of the reasons I liked the episode so much was I felt like the writers were addressing me personally and some of the issues I’ve been wondering about:
1. Hurley’s stash of food – Thank you for the explanation as to where his food was coming from. Now, I understand the psychological benefit of destroying the food the way he did but, dude, what a WASTE! Yeah, they just got a big food drop but Hurley and Libby didn’t know that when he dumped his stash all over the jungle floor. And how about Sawyer just chucking that broken Oreo! He made up for it with the Sayid/mini-mart joke (so wrong but it made me LOL), but still.
2. Fat Hurley jokes – How awesome was it to see Hurley beating the crap out of Sawyer while screaming a litany of all the fat nicknames Sawyer has given him?
I found it interesting that Sawyer didn’t tell Hurley that he didn’t have the medicine when he asked for the Clonazipam (sp?). Did he not give the medicine to Jack yet? I suppose it hasn't even been a day since the poker game ended and Jack said he would be back later to get the meds, so...
3. Who knows about the hatch – So Jack went topside to tell the rest of the group that they had “one of them” captive in the hatch. I guess that means that everyone knows about the hatch and we just don’t see others (not Others) using it for things like showers, etc.? I am going to have to assume so, since the alternative is so unfair.
I knew that Dave was imaginary when they were playing Connect 4, but I should have known when in the basketball scene no one was passing to him and they in fact threw the ball to Hurley, who was right behind him. I thought the actor who played Dave was very good.
So now we know why Hurley was in the hospital. I felt so bad for him when he finally talked about the deck collapse. I liked the whole “this island thing is all in your mind” idea. I don’t think that’s what’s going on, but it fits well enough to work as a possibility and it’s fun to wonder about the possibilities.
So how about Libby?! There’s been a lot of speculation that she worked (as a “clinical psychologist”) at Hurley’s hospital and that’s how he knew her, but now we know the truth. That was a very cool surprise. Is she lying about being a clinical psychologist? I think she is. Does she really care for Hurley? I think she does. Well, maybe I hope she does. What was she doing on the plane? It can’t be coincidence – nothing in this show is – so I’m wondering if Hurley perhaps caught her eye in the hospital and she was sort of stalking him? Maybe? When Hurley asked Libby how she found him on the cliff, she said that Jin saw him whiel he was fishing. There’s no way that she could have gotten all the way up that hill from the beach in such a short amount of time. I think she was following him. Whether it was out of concern for him or because she’s a creepy stalker remains to be seen.
I love Eko and I wish we could see more of him. What do you think he’s building? I’m thinking a church, but that may be too obvious. Good for him for putting Charlie to work. Give that boy a purpose.
Sayid has gone a little off his nut, huh? The professional torturer in him should know that you can’t get information from a dead man. Maybe he and AL were playing good cop/bad cop? I loved Henry’s scene with Locke. Did he push the buttons or not? And who is “He”? The actor who plays Henry is fantastic. I think he’s telling lies within lies, but who knows? I do know he’s evil to the core, though – did you see his face in the previews for next week?
On Wednesday, another new episode.
4.07.2006
And that's what scares me.
Libby testified that Bush OK'd intelligence leak: "'The president is going to make the determination as to what's in the best interest of the country,' Gonzales replied."
4.06.2006
Paula Won't Be Kicking the Painkillers Any Time Soon.
Abdul Tells Police She Was Assaulted: "'According to Abdul, the man at the party argued with her, grabbed her by the arm and threw her against a wall,' Vernon said. 'She said she had sustained a concussion and spinal injuries.'"
Idol Results: They did NOT!
I said yesterday that it could be anyone going home last night but I don't think I really believed it because, well, whoa!
The first 20 minutes are not even worth talking about except didn't it look like Kenny had been voted off when everyone came out to hug him goodbye?
Ryan split the contestants into groups of 3 and I was immediately relieved when Christ -- good LORD, did I just type that?! - when Chris joined Taylor and saved him by association. Kellie completed the group of "Simon's Chosen Ones" and they were all obviously safe. More worrisome for me was the grouping of Ace, Bucky and Katharine. If I was to assemble my dream Bottom 3, Ace and Bucky would be in it. And I would be wrong because they were all safe and the actual Bottom 3 had 3 of the best singers: Mandisa, Elliot and Paris. Shocked, I say.
Ryan toys with everyone and after about 45 minutes of commercials we are told that Mandisa is going home. Whoa! No, I didn't think she was going to win the thing, but I did think she would be around until the Top 4, and she certainly deserved to stay longer than Ace or Bucky. But American Idol is not a singing competition, no matter how hard I wish it to be one, and I don't think Mandisa had a fan base big enough to make her a real contender in a popularity contest. Maybe her holy-roller antics hurt her, maybe not. But she was a great performer and I think the competition will suffer without her.
Doesn't Elliot seem like such a nice guy?
I think it's very cool that they'll all get to sing with the actual members of Queen next week and all, but I have a really bad feeling about this.
The first 20 minutes are not even worth talking about except didn't it look like Kenny had been voted off when everyone came out to hug him goodbye?
Ryan split the contestants into groups of 3 and I was immediately relieved when Christ -- good LORD, did I just type that?! - when Chris joined Taylor and saved him by association. Kellie completed the group of "Simon's Chosen Ones" and they were all obviously safe. More worrisome for me was the grouping of Ace, Bucky and Katharine. If I was to assemble my dream Bottom 3, Ace and Bucky would be in it. And I would be wrong because they were all safe and the actual Bottom 3 had 3 of the best singers: Mandisa, Elliot and Paris. Shocked, I say.
Ryan toys with everyone and after about 45 minutes of commercials we are told that Mandisa is going home. Whoa! No, I didn't think she was going to win the thing, but I did think she would be around until the Top 4, and she certainly deserved to stay longer than Ace or Bucky. But American Idol is not a singing competition, no matter how hard I wish it to be one, and I don't think Mandisa had a fan base big enough to make her a real contender in a popularity contest. Maybe her holy-roller antics hurt her, maybe not. But she was a great performer and I think the competition will suffer without her.
Doesn't Elliot seem like such a nice guy?
I think it's very cool that they'll all get to sing with the actual members of Queen next week and all, but I have a really bad feeling about this.
4.05.2006
A Walk in the Woods
Valley Falls Park
Originally uploaded by gina64.
I went geocaching with some friends last Saturday and one of the parks we visited was Valley Falls Park in Vernon, CT. It was quite pretty. This is the rail trail.
Idol Top 9: "Lose the beard!"
Now, now, Simon, that's no way to talk about Teri Hatcher. And the Desperate Housewives crack? MeOW!
OK, so this week ended up in the crapper again performance-wise (for the most part). Was it because the songs were country (not my favorite genre) or was it because the singers just plain stunk up the place? A little of both, I think. I also don't think Kenny Rogers was much help to any of them. And the man needs to step away from the knife already! Holy Christmas! Uncle Junior called, Kenny, and he wants his mummy head back.
Taylor sings first and it's probably the most incomprehensible song choice on this show yet. He looks uncomfortable (as does pretty much everyone tonight), sounds off-key and makes me cringe for the first time. And he was one that I wasn't worried about on country night. Not a good start.
Here comes Mandisa singing a Shania *gag* Twain song that I've never heard. Her voice doesn't really sound all that bad to me, I just don't think it fits the song. The judges don't like her performance, either. Simon and Ryan, stop with the cat fights, please.
Elliot's stylist should get a raise or something because that boy has gotten better looking with every show. No small feat, I might add (sorry, Elliot). Kenny gives some good advice and tells Elliot to cut it with the melisma (a new word I learned!) and just sing the song (again, I've never heard it) simply, but when he does he seems really nervous. Not bad, though.
Next we had Paris, who looked very pretty but sang a very boring song that I have heard of and don't particularly like. Again, she looks extremely ill at ease singing this song, which is not like her at all. Randy and Paula agree with me but Simon likes it. I think that's just because he actually recognized the song.
Does Ace have any other clothes? A jacket, maybe? He sings a Keith Urban song that seems to suit his voice, but again, I don't know the original and so can't tell if he's singing it well or not. He's too breathy and nasally for my taste, but it's not too bad, and then he goes and ruins it with that falsetto thing he does and does not do well, I don't care what anyone says!
Tonight was Kellie's chance to shine and it pains me to say it, but she did. After admitting that she was indeed as dumb as she appears to be.
Chris climbed out of his box and sat down and straight out sang a song (another Keith Urban song that I don't know) and did a good job. Except for his IntenseFace he has on all the time. Chill out, dude! He's another one that needs to expand the warbrobe a little.
Katharine sang another song I didn't know, something about making her feel like Elvis, but that didn't matter because she was much better than last week. Whew.
Finally, we had Bucky in the pimp spot and I don't think he has the talent required to reap the benefit of going last. Sorry, Bucky. This should have been your night.
Tonight: Mummy Head sings and someone goes home. Sorry I can't be more specific but at this point I honestly think it could be anyone.
Oh, and BTW, I actually tried to vote last night I was so worried about Taylor and Katharine. Never got through on Taylor's line and was able to get through once on Katharine's, and that has to be a good sign.
ETA: Next week's theme: Queen. If the guest artist is Smeagol I will never watch this show again.
OK, so this week ended up in the crapper again performance-wise (for the most part). Was it because the songs were country (not my favorite genre) or was it because the singers just plain stunk up the place? A little of both, I think. I also don't think Kenny Rogers was much help to any of them. And the man needs to step away from the knife already! Holy Christmas! Uncle Junior called, Kenny, and he wants his mummy head back.
Taylor sings first and it's probably the most incomprehensible song choice on this show yet. He looks uncomfortable (as does pretty much everyone tonight), sounds off-key and makes me cringe for the first time. And he was one that I wasn't worried about on country night. Not a good start.
Here comes Mandisa singing a Shania *gag* Twain song that I've never heard. Her voice doesn't really sound all that bad to me, I just don't think it fits the song. The judges don't like her performance, either. Simon and Ryan, stop with the cat fights, please.
Elliot's stylist should get a raise or something because that boy has gotten better looking with every show. No small feat, I might add (sorry, Elliot). Kenny gives some good advice and tells Elliot to cut it with the melisma (a new word I learned!) and just sing the song (again, I've never heard it) simply, but when he does he seems really nervous. Not bad, though.
Next we had Paris, who looked very pretty but sang a very boring song that I have heard of and don't particularly like. Again, she looks extremely ill at ease singing this song, which is not like her at all. Randy and Paula agree with me but Simon likes it. I think that's just because he actually recognized the song.
Does Ace have any other clothes? A jacket, maybe? He sings a Keith Urban song that seems to suit his voice, but again, I don't know the original and so can't tell if he's singing it well or not. He's too breathy and nasally for my taste, but it's not too bad, and then he goes and ruins it with that falsetto thing he does and does not do well, I don't care what anyone says!
Tonight was Kellie's chance to shine and it pains me to say it, but she did. After admitting that she was indeed as dumb as she appears to be.
Chris climbed out of his box and sat down and straight out sang a song (another Keith Urban song that I don't know) and did a good job. Except for his IntenseFace he has on all the time. Chill out, dude! He's another one that needs to expand the warbrobe a little.
Katharine sang another song I didn't know, something about making her feel like Elvis, but that didn't matter because she was much better than last week. Whew.
Finally, we had Bucky in the pimp spot and I don't think he has the talent required to reap the benefit of going last. Sorry, Bucky. This should have been your night.
Tonight: Mummy Head sings and someone goes home. Sorry I can't be more specific but at this point I honestly think it could be anyone.
Oh, and BTW, I actually tried to vote last night I was so worried about Taylor and Katharine. Never got through on Taylor's line and was able to get through once on Katharine's, and that has to be a good sign.
ETA: Next week's theme: Queen. If the guest artist is Smeagol I will never watch this show again.
CNN.com is weird and wild today.
Just look at some of the headlines:
Homeland Security official arrested in child sex sting
Hussein grins, reads poetry during cross-examination
Garth Brooks' ex-wife kidnapped
Gene Pitney found dead in hotel
Exploding paperweight costs teacher his hand
ETA: Now we have this photo accompanying the lead story:
Homeland Security official arrested in child sex sting
Hussein grins, reads poetry during cross-examination
Garth Brooks' ex-wife kidnapped
Gene Pitney found dead in hotel
Exploding paperweight costs teacher his hand
ETA: Now we have this photo accompanying the lead story:
4.04.2006
"You stole my kidney!"
Lockdown
So yeah, like I said in my earlier map post, wow. This was a good one.
There were a few story threads going on but since this was well-written I didn't think it got bogged down. I'll just recap the 3 stories and one flashback and then throw out some random thoughts on what went on.
Locke and Henry - We pick up exactly where we left off at the end of the previous episode, with Henry telling Jack and Locke he was only kidding about laying a trap for Sayid, Ana Lucia and Charlie. Jack gets his panties in a twist and orders Locke to put Henry back in the armory. Henry pushes Locke's macho button and asks him why he lets Jack talk to him like that. Locke becomes furious with Henry and locks him back up. Locke hears a static-filled warning over the loudspeakers that turns into a countdown. This scene was very well-done. The countdown finishes and suddenly all of the blast doors come down. And we don't know why. Locke needs Henry to help him pry up one of the doors. Henry makes him promise to protect him from the rest of the group "no matter what happens", which will be significant later, I think. Locke promises. As they try to pry open the door, it falls on Locke's legs, pinning him. The computer alarm starts to beep, they can't wait for anyone to come down to the hatch, so Henry is given the code and instructed to crawl through an air vent to the computer room and enter the code. While he's gone, the lights go out and a black light comes on, revealing the much-talked-about map. Locke only gets a quick glimpse of the map before the lights come back on and the doors raise (ouch). Locke drags himself into the computer room, where Henry is NOT, and calls for him. Henry finally walks up behind him. He tells Locke that he did nothing to make the doors go up, he only entered the code like Locke asked him to. Yeah, right.
The Poker Game - So where was Jack during all of this? Winning every mango and banana left on the island in a poker game/pissing contest with Sawyer, that's where. Turns out Jack learned how to play poker in Phuket (okaaay) and he beats the pants off of Sawyer. I wish. Anyway, he wins all of the medicine that Sawyer has been hoarding.
The Flashback - Locke is living with Helen and things are going well. So well, he's planning on proposing to her. Until Helen reads his kidney-stealing no-good father's obituary in the paper. They go to the funeral (and they were the only ones there - hello!) but it turns out that Daddy dearest is not dead but is pulling another con. He stole $700,000 in a retirement plan scheme and has faked his death in order to escape the wrath of a couple of thugs. (who I totally thought were going to be responsible for Locke's paralysis) Locke is so desperate for his father to love him that he agrees to help him get the money out of a safe deposit box and lies to Helen in the process. He gets the money to his father, but Helen shows up and is not happy. She tells John that he needs his father's love more than hers and turns down his proposal. Poor John. It is unclear whether John takes the $200,000 his father promised him as retribution for the kidney stealing.
The Three Lostketeers - At the beginning of the episode, Sayid, Charlie and Ana Lucia find not only the balloon that Henry Gale drew his map to, but also what appears to be the grave of the wife Henry swears he buried near the balloon.
The Wrap-Up - Henry attends to Locke's injuries, helping him stand (yay!) and guiding him to the couch. Locke thanks Henry for his help. Meanwhile up on the surface, it's nighttime and Jack is heading back to the hatch. Kate catches up to him, flirts with him, asks if she can use the shower (she has to ASK?), Jack lies and says a pipe is broken (presumably because she doesn't know about Henry Gale), offers to walk her back to the beach and then they spot something. They explore the flashing strobe light and discover it is atop a palette of DHARMA food that appears to have been dropped by parachute. As they puzzle over this, Sayid, Charlie and AL show up with some news. They all enter the hatch and confront Henry Gale. Yes, they found the balloon where he said it would be. Yes, they found a grave. But it wasn't Henry's wife in the grave. It was the REAL Henry Gale, whose driver's license shows he was a black man from Minnesota.
Some thoughts:
~ My guess is that the blast doors close periodically for the food “drop”. A warning sounds and the doors come down, keeping the person inside while DHARMA (or whatever they call themselves) leaves the supplies. When all is clear, the doors open again. It was just coincidence that the doors closed and the alarm went off for the code entry at the same time. How did the supplies get "dropped?" If it was by airplane, surely someone would have heard it. I’m not sure how to explain that. Maybe it’s dropped from a balloon? Or it’s raised from under the ground and the parachute is a ruse?
~ It was so cool when they showed the drawing on the blast door! Who did it? How did they do it? Why use something that only shows up in black light? You know, I was just thinking about those few minutes where Locke (and we) lost track of Henry Gale and how that blast door had to have been lowered for much longer periods of time for someone to be able to scrawl as much as they did on it...HG told Locke that all he did was enter the #s into the computer and that he had nothing to do with the raising of the doors but maybe that’s exactly what he was doing when Locke was calling out for him – he went somewhere and did something that raised the door early in order to free Locke. And that under “normal” circumstances the door would have been down much longer? Maybe?
~ So Henry Gale is NOT Henry Gale! I knew he was lying, but I didn’t think they were going to find what they found in the grave. I love his character and I hope he’s going to be on for a long time, but I somehow think I won’t get my wish. Not if Sayid has anything to say about it. I’m not sure Henry didn’t already know those numbers – he seemed to remember them awfully well. And I’m not sure that his fall in the storeroom wasn’t on purpose, either.
~ Locke’s flashback was pretty good – kinda sad, actually. He really is a sort of pathetic character and I think we needed to be reminded of that. Aand I don’t mean “pathetic” in a mean way - he’s just had a really crappy life and crashing on the island was a good thing for him – a new start, filled with wonder and the miracle of his healing. But his true personality makes him the perfect sucker for whatever is going on on the island. When he said “You came back” to Henry Gale, I just felt so bad for him. He really wants to trust someone and he keeps getting let down.
~ Did anyone else recognize the woman whose new house Locke was inspecting? It was Nadia! Sayid’s girl.
~ I guess there’s a theory going around that Locke’s father (Anthony Cooper) is the Real Sawyer, the man who he chased to Australia to kill. It makes sense – both con-men, the appropriate age...and I believe that was an Oceanic flight going over Locke’s head. His dad was going to the airport. Maybe he caught a flight to Australia.
~ So Locke promised to protect Henry Gale from the rest of the group but will he still do that even though HG has pretty much proven to be untrustworthy? I think so, just like he kept his promise to his untrustworthy father and got the money from the safe deposit box for him. It’s as if Locke thinks that by virtue of being trusted by him, they then become trustworthy. His belief in them makes it so.
~ I’m not really diggin’ all the fat Hurley remarks that have been on the show lately – Sawyer’s “head over to the buffet” remark, and Hurley sneaking around and gorging himself on the (no longer) scarce food supply – but then I remember that they have to have some way of explaining why Hurley doesn’t lose weight. Speaking of food, have a question: remember that episode where Hurley was put in charge of distributing all the food and he let everyone just have one big pig out? Wasn’t the point of it that he didn’t want the responsibility of rationing out the food so they all just ate it in one sitting? Where does he get the food he’s sneaking? And where do Jack and Locke get their food? I suppose Hurley could have kept some aside for himself, but...(of course now that point is moot)
~ One final question: How many people actually know about the hatch? Just the leads? Because I would be royally pissed if there was a place with a bed and a shower and a toilet and food and books and music and only the cool people got to go in. I think they need to make that a little clearer.
Tomorrow night, believe it or not, brings us another new episode. And it looks like another doozy. (I hope!)
4.03.2006
Welcome to TeeVeePedia.
Check out teevee.org's April Fool's joke. They must have been working on that instead of writing new articles!
Drive-Thru Review
King Kong - This one was about a half hour too long. Some of the set pieces, particularly the action ones, went beyond exciting to "OK, are they done yet?". However, in spite of that flaw I thought this was a good movie and despite knowing how the thing ended I still cried my eyes out at the end, a testament to Peter Jackson's movie-making skills.
Summer Approaches.
Sunset over Dyer Bay
Originally uploaded by gina64.
Finally!
We had our annual trustees meeting regarding our cabin in Maine yesterday (which is owned by our Family Trust). The view from the front porch is pictured above. Among the items that were discussed: upgrading the electrical, burying the water line, conversion of a portion of the front porch into a sunroom and an examination of the trees surrounding the house for possible hazards. All of which sounds really boring but still makes me wish I could go there today. We're so lucky we have this place.
4.01.2006
Shamrock Blossoms
Shamrock Blossoms
Originally uploaded by gina64.
Not only have I not killed the shamrock plant I bought for St. Patrick's Day, the damn thing is thriving!
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