5.30.2008

Heaven just got a little funnier.





Thanks for the laughs, Harvey.

Pride and Fancy Footwork Goeth Before The Fall.

LOST: Episodes 4.12 and 4.13 (Season Finale)

THERE BE MAJOR SPOILERS HERE

This show is just so awesome, I can barely stand it.

What did you think? Did you like it? Do you want to marry it, like Mike does?

My heart was in my throat the entire 2 hours. I felt nauseous. I cried, more than once. And now I have to wait 8 months for more.

This finale really felt like an ending in many ways, with both lives and storylines coming to and end, and I wonder if that signifies a fundemental change in the show for the next 2 seasons. Will the focus shift to the people off-island? Will the story be presented in real-time now, with flashbacks covering events on the island after the rescue? Something to think about, I guess.

Again, random thoughts:

* Sayid and Keamy's kick-ass, ass-kicking fight was really well done. It's always nice when Sayid gets to break out his Republican Guard moves.

* Richard needs to ease up on the guyliner.

* I liked the way they picked up the threads of the flash forwards from where they left off, moving the story forward now. And I was glad that they were able to use the now-grownup Walt by putting him the flash forwards. It was good to see him.

* OK, the BIG REVEAL:



Whoa! WTF? Why "Jeremy Bentham"? Why did he leave the island? What went wrong after the O6 left? Who killed him? Oh, too many questions!

I liked it when John told Jack that he was good at lying because he's lied so long to himself, but I also think John is deluded in thinking that the island is purely benevolent. There's something not so good going on there. How come no one's "seen" Jacob? Is someone (or thing) holding Jacob captive? Didn't he ask Locke to help him the first time Locke was in the cabin? I'm still not so sure that Locke is the person meant to save Jacob. Besides, didn't he fail Richard's test as a child? Why would Richard accept him as the new spiritual leader? Oh, the mind boggles.

* So Charlotte was born on the island? Her parents must have been DHARMA, then, and that must be how she recognized the DHARMA collar on the remains of the polar bear. Her scene with Daniel was sweet. I really hope his raft was within the radius of the island's disappearing act.

* Sawyer really loves Kate, doesn't he? What a romantic hero he's become. I prefer Kate with Sawyer over Jack, but I gotta say, he and Juliet had some seriously crazy sexy chemistry in that one scene they shared. Oh, and speaking of Sawyer, I just read that the two alternate endings that they showed on Good Morning America this morning were shot with Sawyer and Desmond in the coffin. Aw, hell NO.

* Hurley was playing chess with Mr. Eko! That makes me sad and happy. Do you think Sayid is really taking Hurley to a safe place, or do you think he's still working for Benry and is gathering people up for a trip back to the island?

* I couldn't believe it when Benry jumped on Keamy and went crazy with the stabbing! And then his "So?" when told that he just killed all of the people on the freighter? That's sort of harsh, Benry. You have me all mixed up. First you make me laugh with the "time-traveling bunnies" line, then you freak me out acting like Norman Bates; and then you have me feel sorry for you as you say goodbye to John and you cry as you are forced to leave the island for good. You're a complicated little man, that's for sure.

* Who here thinks that Jin is really dead now? I think it's very probable that he is, but I'm still fighting it. I won't accept it until I see his dead body float up on the beach. Poor, poor Sun. That was so heartbreaking, to see him running for the helicopter...I'm going to start crying again. What's going on with her and Widmore? Do you think she's really siding with him? Or could she be setting him up?



* You know I had to save the best for last. Seriously, you guys - Penny found Desmond! And he didn't die!



Desmond, I am so happy for you. And for me. But God they sure did have fun jerking me around with all the bomb stuff and then the helicopter crash and then him telling Penny that he would never leave her again...even at that point I was waiting for the rifle shot that would take him out.

I hope that now that he's reunited with Penny that his story isn't over, and that they don't downgrade his presence on the show. I hope the fact that he (and his Penny) are fan favorites will keep his character from being marginalized in the final two seasons.

The only disappointing note hit for me last night was the retirement of the Blue Shirt of Hotness that Desmond has worn for years now, it seems. Desmond in that shirt was a thing of beauty, and I will miss it:



Well, that's it, I guess. Now we wait until January.

5.29.2008

Today's Gas Prices

According to GasBuddy.com, Connecticut has dropped down on the list of lowest gas prices and only Hawaii and Alaska is more expesive.

I took this photo this morning:



What is going ON? Seriously, what are they saying is the reason for this?

Either I'm really stupid or this is one of the worst articles I've ever read about LOST.

The New York Times: “Lost,” which concludes its fourth season on ABC on Thursday night, refuses our passive interest while it denies us the satisfaction of ever feeling that we might confidently explain, to the person sitting next to us at dinner, that we have a true grasp of what is going on — of who among the characters is merely bad and who is verifiably satanic. To watch “Lost” is to feel like a high school grind, studying and analyzing and never making it to Yale. Good dramas confound our expectations, but “Lost,” about a factionalized group of plane crash survivors on a cartographically indeterminate island not anything like Aruba, pushes further, destabilizing the ground on which those expectations might be built. It is an opiate, and like all opiates, it produces its own masochistic delirium.

Someone needs to put her thesaurus down. It's obvious that she watches the show, but I can't tell if she likes it. Can you?

Nice promotional photo that came with the article, though:



To help get you psyched for tonight's season finale, I give you what is quite possibly the scariest LOST quiz ever:



Scary because there are people who got a perfect score, which means that they know the answers to questions like "What is the name of Tom Brennan's son?"

Uh, I want to know who Tom Brennan is! My score: 1080 out of 3900, and of those that I answered correctly, at least 50% were wild guesses.

Have fun watching the show tonight.

5.28.2008

LOST: Episode 4.12

There's No Place Like Home, Part 1

It's been a while since I've seen this, and the details are kind of fuzzy, but I wanted to at least post something about it before tomorrow night's season finale. (BTW, tomorrow night is the season finale! Woo!)

Typical of the first half of a 2-parter, this episode spent all of its time moving characters into place and setting the stage for the action to come in the finale. But what I couldn't believe was how suspenseful it was! I really was on the edge of my seat while I was watching it.

I loved the opening sequence, the flash forward that showed the Oceanic 6 - Jack, Kate, Sayid, Sun, Hurley and Aaron - reunited with their families. Even though there's still so much we don't understand about the circumstances under which they left the island, and even though we know that their futures off-island end up fairly grim, it was still very moving to see them back with their families. Except for poor Kate, whose lack of a welcoming family probably explains her subsequent bond with Aaron.

Here's what I can't figure out: How do the Oceanic 6, who at the end of the episode, were scattered all over the place and with other people who don't get off the island, end up as the people who do get off the island? Sayid and Kate are with Richard and the Others, Jack and Sayid are with Sawyer and Frank at the helicopter site, and Sun and Aaron are on the freighter. I'm dying to know how they end up together. And what happens to the people they are with.

A few random thoughts:

I loved the music in this episode, especially at the end.

The best lines: "Jesus Christ is not a weapon" (I'll have that on a t-shirt, please) and "Those (crackers) are 15 years old."

How much money did Sun get in her settlement that she was able to buy a controlling interest in her father's company?

Has Daniel been to the island before? Why does he have a drawing of the Orchid symbol in his notebook?



I have a VERY bad feeling about the fate of Desmond, considering when we left him he was in a room full of C4 explosive with Michael, who is trying to kill himself, and Jin who we have been told died before Sun left the island. I can deal with Michael dying, and even though I don't like it, I've been preparing myself for Jin's death, but...I don't think I could handle it if they kill Desmond. I really don't. I mean, look at him:



Besides, he can't die without seeing Penny. Not after all he has been through.

Since they made a point of showing that Benry has his trusty baton of death with him:



I'm thinking that he will end up putting on Hallowax's parka with the Orchid symbol on it and "jumping" from the Orchid station at the end of the finale and into the desert in Tunisia, where we saw him land in "The Shape of Things to Come".

Just how Locke is going to be able to "move" the island will hopefully be revealed tomorrow night. I don't know what "moving" the island entails, but I do have a theory that before they are rescued, Locke will be successful in moving the island and to the O6 it will appear as if the island - and everyone on it - has disappeared. And that is why they think they can't go back. And it's possibly why Sun said to Jack on the Coast Guard plane that they were all in shock.

I can't wait for tomorrow night. Remember the finale begins at 9:00 PM and is two hours long!

More New Orleans Photos


Habitat NOLA 094, originally uploaded by gina64.

These are from the French Quarter.

Habitat NOLA 095

Habitat NOLA 139

French Quarter Street Musicians

Habitat NOLA 148

Habitat NOLA 176

I think I posted this one already, but it's worth a second look.

It's hard being brown.

5.27.2008

Awwwww, SH*T!


Oh Sh*t again!, originally uploaded by gina64.

We did some whitewater rafting on Friday and I had a really great time, as you can see by the look on my face. (I'm in the front, on the right)

Actually, I really did have a great time, despite being the only person from to fall off the raft. Well, "ejected from" the raft would be a better way to put it. It happened upriver from this shot, while going through a much easier rapid called Pinball. We hit a rock and the raft stopped and I kept going, landing on the rock. I was only in the water for about a minute before a raft that was behind us picked me up. When we caught up with my raft I transferred over. It seemed like it took forever, but all in all it probably took only 5 minutes.

The most humiliating part (besides all of the people laughing at me!), was being pulled from the water and sent flopping to the bottom of the raft. All I could think was, "God, I hope my pants haven't fallen down."

Thankfully, I managed to stay in the raft through Zoar Gap, even though we got stuck:

Where'd the raft go?!

For more rafting photos, check out my Flickr set.

5.22.2008

I watched while I packed.

Congratulations to David Cook, the new American Idol!

It would seem as though, in the words of the venerable Mr. Cowell, America got it right this time. He's definitely a worthy winner.

I just hope he's able to survive the AI/19E marketing machine and come out the other side with his credibility intact.

Good job, David.

5.20.2008

Two trips down, only one more to go!


05-19-2008 1091, originally uploaded by gina64.

I went to Nashville last weekend for my cousin's wedding and had a great time. I had never been there before and while I'm not a big fan of country music, I really liked the city and had a great time sitting in bars like Legends Corner and the nasty, crowded dive bar Paradise Park listening to local bands and drinking a LOT of beer. Or lazily browsing through Ernest Tubb's Record Shop and the Charlie Daniels Museum and Souvenir shop and listening to live music pouring from open doorways on Broadway at all times of the day.

We ate at Big River Brewing Company, where I had "Low Country Shrimp and Cheesy Grits" and at Rippy's, where I had the 6-rib portion of BBQ'd ribs. And the reason we were in Nashville, Karen's wedding, was lovely and it was wonderful to see the whole family again.

Here are some photos from the trip. I will also be posting more photos from New Orleans, but probably not until next week. I go away AGAIN on Thursday for an annual camping trip to Mohawk Trail State Forest. And we're white-water rafting on the Deerfield River on Friday! Yay! It's going to be freezing, but Yay! I'll be back on Monday, with even more photos to post.

Oh, and I watched LOST last night - wow! I'll try to post something later today.

Anyway, photos...

Rippy's ribs with beans, cole slaw and corn cakes.

Legends

Legends

05-19-2008 046

Please don't let this happen to me!

Woman sat dead in front of TV for 42 years: "'The cup she had been drinking tea from was still on a table next to the chair she had been sitting in and the house was full of things no one had seen for decades. Nothing had been disturbed for decades, even though there were more than a few cobwebs in there.'"

5.15.2008

Bill O'Reilly is a vile human being.

Watch it before they make them take it down (but make sure the volume is low - he tends to scream bad words).

The theme of this post is WTF.

Here we see a classic example of the "WTF face" as exhibited by Simon Cowell after Fantasia's performance last night (yeah, I know, I gave the show up; but you know what? the look on his face made the whole season worth it):



And here, Sue Simmons actually freaking SAYS it:

Hey! I know those people!

Image from Danbury News-Times article

Kovacs Floor Covering closing its doors: "On May 31 -- nearly 50 years after Jim Kovacs began his career at Barton's -- he and his wife, Maggi, will close Kovacs Floor Covering, the family business they grew from the back of a department store and a garage full of dreams."

I know them as Aunt Maggi and Uncle Jimmy :-)

5.14.2008

Idol: This is where I jump ship.

I'm sorry but I just don't care anymore and I barely watched it last night. I don't care about who wins, I don't care about who sings what, I don't care whether Paula is high or not, I don't care about Archuleta's dad, I don't care about any of it anymore.

And Randy is an idiot and he makes me want to beat up my TV whenever he opens his stupid mouth. And I love my TV.

Good luck to the remaining performers and have fun if you're still watching. I'm letting go.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1


Habitat NOLA 197, originally uploaded by gina64.

In New Orleans, everyone is buried (or not-buried, I suppose) above ground because the water table is only 3 feet down. When the early settlers would bury their dead the air-tight caskets would float and rise up through the ground after a good rain.

Generations of families share the same tomb. How is that possible, you ask? How do they all fit in such a small space?

Well, the dead are placed into the tomb in a special burial bag that aids in decomposition. After approximately one year (according to our guide, Mary - I read somewhere else that it takes up to two years) the deceased will have completely decomposed, leaving a pile of...something. Local ordinance prohibits the burial of another family member until at least a year and a day after the previous burial. When the next person needs to be buried, the previous occupant's remains are brushed down into the base of the tomb, where they join those of their ancestors, and the newly deceased is placed in the tomb.

So endeth the lesson.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is New Orleans' oldest cemetery, so I'm glad we got a chance to see it. Marie Laveau, an alleged Voodoo Priestess, is buried there, along with relatives of the artist Degas. The acid trip scene from "Easy Rider" was filmed there:

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT



Mary told us that when Peter Fonda was sitting in the lap of the statue he was actually off-script and talking about his own mother, who had committed suicide. The director decided to keep it.

One more tidbit: I asked Mary why the ground was covered with crushed seashells. She said that they use the seashells because they have no natural gravel in the area.

Here are a few more photos from that day:

Habitat NOLA 211

Habitat NOLA 208

Habitat NOLA 200

5.13.2008

Almost 3 Years Later.


Still unbearable., originally uploaded by gina64.

And the destruction that Katrina wrought upon the New Orleans area is still evident, still overwhelming and it seems almost insurmountable.

My trip was many things: enlightening, sad, rewarding, fun, exhausting, moving, HOT, emotional, stinky and dirty...all in all it was a very complex trip and it wasn't always easy to balance the vacation and touristy part with the real reason I was down there.

Here are a few photos I took while we drove through the areas that were hit the hardest by the flood and the levee breaks. Most of these are from the Lower Ninth Ward. I was amazed at the apocalyptic scenes we drove through and how things are still so bad down there. One estimate states that it will take about 25 years for the area (including St. Bernard Parish, which was hit just as hard as NOLA) to rebound, if it ever does completely.

Jesus doesn't live here anymore.

Roots run deep here.

The Lower Ninth Ward.

This was home.

All that's left.

LOST: Episode 4.11 (Discussion)

Because I was out of town last week and will be out of town two more times before the month is over, there will be no discussion post for Episode 4.10

Cabin Fever

This season has been amazing for the same reason The Sopranos first season was its best: The show's creator's have a limited time frame in which to tell their story. David Chase wrote the first 13 episodes of The Sopranos as if that was all he was going to get to tell his story. And now the LOST writers know how much time they have left (2 short seasons) and know how the story ends, so they can stop stretching the plot beyond its breaking point in order to make the story last through an untold number of future television seasons. I'm sure there will still be some filler here and there but "Cabin Fever"? Not an ounce of fat on this one.




  • Many people have suspected that it is no coincidence that these people in particular wound up on this island, and it looks like they were right, at least with regard to Locke. I gasped when I saw Richard at the nursery window. Some have speculated that he's "ageless", but I'm thinking he's just time traveling. Why do you think he became so angry when John chose the knife? From what we know of Locke, choosing the knife as something that "belongs to him" makes sense. I read that this test was similar to the one they give to the next Dalai Lama, to the boy they believe is the DL reincarnated. Is John Locke the reincarnation of someone?

  • And then Abbadon was also key to getting John to the island! But I had assumed that Widmore, who Abbadon works for, and The Others (whose interest I assume Richard represents) were at cross-purposes...Maybe Widmore wanted John because he failed the test?










  • I thought Doug Hutchison was creepy as Tooms, and then I saw him as Horace. Dude! That entire dream sequence was so wild, and so well done.

  • Hurley and Benry sharing the candy bar is right up there with the all-time best LOST moments.

  • The death-of-the-ship's-doctor timeline is beyond my grasp right now. I thought that the island was behind regular time, not ahead of it. That Keamey is one scary dude, especially with those little chipmunk cheeks and chicklet teeth. And what's he got strapped to his arm? I read that it might be a "dead man's switch" - that it detects his heart beat and if his heart stops beating it will detonate a bomb somewhere.

  • The book that Keamey took from the ship's safe, the one that had "Protocol 2" on it, had a big DHARMA symbol on it. I think that pretty much confirms Widmore's connection to DHARMA.

  • Christian Shephard was in the cabin. With Claire. W.T.F. If Christian is dead, does that mean that Claire is, too? It has to be significant that they are related to each other - do you think they are related to Jacob? I get so freaked out whenever they go in that cabin. It's a scary place.

  • "Move the island"??? Move it through time? Or through space? Benry did tell Widmore that he would never find the island again - perhaps because they "moved" it?

I understand why Desmond doesn't want to return to the island, I'm just not sure if his choice will result in him surviving the finale or not. Just the thought of him being killed off is too much to bear!

5.02.2008

Thisisgina on hiatus

I'm packed and ready to go. I'm flying to New Orleans in the morning and I'll be back home, and probably dead tired, on Sunday, May 11.

Take care, everyone, and I'll see you when I get back!

St. Bernard Parish

This video was made by firemen in the immediate aftermath of Hurrican Katrina. We will be staying at Camp Hope, which is in St. Bernard Parish. (our worksite, however, is in the Upper Ninth Ward, in New Orleans)

5.01.2008

It's hard for a daisy.

(AP photo)


This is Lucy, dressed as a daisy at a dog show in Peoria.

Marty and Mickey have suffered countless humiliations at our hands, but I don't think that even we would go this far.

Lucy, I hope you got a nice treat after that!