Goodbye, Mr. Eko.

The Cost of Living

This week we start out with a flashback of the young Eko and Yemi, breaking into a storage shed to steal food (the actor who plays Eko as a boy is perfect). Every Catholic child's nightmare of a nun catches them and brings them into the village church to confess. Eko argues that he stole to feed Yemi and he shouldn't have to confess, but the militant nun says that hunger is no excuse and demands that he confess.

Island: It's night, and Eko is lying unconscious in a hut on the beach, with Sayid, Hurley and Charlie looking over him. His rest is uneasy and he's clearly dreaming. He's been like this for a couple of days, since John rescued him from the polar bear. His dream is basically an abbreviated version an old flashback, when Eko had Yemi outfit him as a priest and help him to smuggle the Virgin Mary Heroin out of the country. It's also when Yemi was killed.

Through the dream he hears someone tell him to wake up. He opens his eyes and sees Yemi sitting in the hut with him, holding a lit cigarette lighter. Sayid, Charlie and Hurley have left. Yemi tells him, "It is time to confess, to be judged, brother. I will be waiting. You know where to find me." Suddenly, the hut is on fire and Yemi is gone. Charlie pulls Eko to safety, as Eko mumbles, "My brother, my brother..." Locke runs up to the fire, asks Charlie where Eko is, and when Charlie points to where he left him, Eko is gone.

Jack's Cell. He's doing chin-ups. You know, I'm so lazy - I would totally be sleeping. Anyway, Benry comes in, wearing a very cultish white tunic top and white pants, and he appears to be carrying another set of the same clothes. He asks Jack to join him for a walk and tells him to put the shirt on. As he walks to the door, Jack asks him, "Does it hurt?" He tells Benry he knows about the spinal tumor, and that he doesn't have long to live. Benry plays it cool, but his face clearly says, "Oh, shit."



Benry tells Jack that he has no idea what he's talking about.

Jack follows Benry down to a beach where Others are gathered, all in white, for Colleen's Viking-style funeral pyre. Benry goes down to the group, telling Jack to stay where he is. Juliet then joins the group (stopping briefly to tell Jack she hates funerals), and as they light the pyre a song begins to play over the loudspeaker behind Jack. I'm not sure what song it is, but it's reminiscent of an old Patsy Cline song. Benry, still shaken up, asks Juliet why she showed Jack his x-rays and she tells him that she didn't tell Jack they were Benry's - but obviously Benry has by his reaction.

It's daylight now, so I assume it's the next day. Locke, Desmond and Sayid are on the beach, brainstorming on the Jack/Sawyer/Kate rescue mission. Locke wants to go to the Pearl Station to use the computer there to contact the Others. Charlie and Hurley come up to the group and say they've looked but they can't find Eko. When Charlie tells Locke that Eko mentioned his brother right before he disappeared, Locke deduces that Eko is heading in the same direction as them. (if you remember, the plane that carried Yemi's body crashed right near the Pearl Station)

Eko's in a world of hurt, wandering deliriously through the jungle. He collapses into a flashback: this one picks up right where the dream one left off, with Eko dressed as a priest and being returned to the village church after the shootout at the airfield. He is mistaken for a new priest by everyone, including a young woman who works at the clinic and her son Daniel, an altar boy. He says he is there to replace Yemi, who was called away suddenly. While in the church, he picks up Yemi's old bible and finds a worn black and white photograph of him and Yemi together as boys. I almost cry.

Back in the jungle, Eko awakens and as he's dragging himself upright, a puff of black smoke flits across the background, accompanied by the chittering sound. He starts walking again and is suddenly confronted by 3 African men, all covered in blood, one missing an arm. Eko takes the machete from one of them and is about to strike a man who is on his knees, begging for mercy, when the man turns into Daniel in his altar boy outfit. Daniel puts his finger on his lips, shushes Eko, and tells him to "Confess." Eko drops the machete and they all disappear.

Beach Camp Kitchen. Locke announces to the group assembled that they (him, Sayid and Desmond) are heading to the Pearl Station to try to use the computer there to find Jack/Kate/Sawyer and invites anyone who wants to to come along. Hurley comments that Jack used to do that sort of stuff alone, to which Locke replies, "I'm not Jack." The new girl and new guy decide to join the group. I don't think anyone has spoken their names on the show yet, but since I know them, for the sake of my sanity I'm going to use them - Nikki and Paolo.

As they are filling bottles of water, Locke tells Desmond that Eko's plane crashed right near the Pearl Station, so they can kill 2 birds with one stone. Desmond cracks wise that it's quite the coincidence. Locke tells him not to mistake coincidence for fate. Now that's the fate-loving Locke I've missed so much!

Eko finds a stream and falls down to drink. And flashback. Eko and Daniel are in the church when they hear machine gun fire outside. They go out to see armed thugs drive up in a pickup truck. Their leader steps out of the truck and I'll be damned if he doesn't look like P.Diddy. Diddy asks for Father Yemi, and Eko asks who's asking for him. The clinic woman explains to Eko that when vaccine shipments come in, the clinic keeps 20% and the rest gets handed over to Diddy, "in exchange for protection." The current shipment has not yet arrived. Diddy says that he hopes Father Eko will honor the agreement, but Eko says he is not afraid of him. So Diddy pulls out a pistol and shoots and kills some poor woman standing nearby. He tells Eko he will be back in a few days for the vaccine.

Back at the stream, Eko nurses his wounds. He hears that chittering sound and sees in the water's reflection the shadow of the smoke monster right behind him. He turns around quickly, but it pulls out of sight as Locke and his group approach on the opposite bank.

Juliet enters Jack's cell with lunch. She's carrying one of those dishes that I've only ever seen in cartoons, the kind with the silver dome on top that's usually lifted to reveal Tom or Jerry or someone with an apple in his mouth. Juliet lifts this dome to reveal a cheeseburger and fries. They flirt back and forth a little bit until Benry comes in. He wants to talk to Jack privately and Juliet leaves. As Jack eats the burger, Benry tells him how they had a wonderful plan to "break him", to get him to trust them, especially since they hoped he would become "invested" because Juliet looks so much like his ex-wife, Sarah. They wanted him to want to save Benry's life, but it's too late for that now, now that Jack has figured out that Benry's dying. All Benry can do now is ask Jack to think about it. As he's leaving the cell, Benry asks Jack if he believes in God. When Jack throws the question back at him, Benry says that 2 days after finding out he had a fatal tumor on his spine, a spinal surgeon falls from the sky, and "If that's not proof of God, I don't know what is." Ah, don't mistake coincidence for fate, Benry.

Locke, Eko, et al are all walking to the Pearl Station/plane crash site, and Locke innocently asks Eko if he's looking for Yemi. Eko freaks and puts a knife to Locke's throat, telling him to never speak Yemi's name again. Because it triggers flashbacks, apparently: Eko is at the village clinic, asking the young woman about the timing of the vaccine shipment, about the black market, etc. She warns him not to go behind Diddy's back. Next we see Eko, dressed in civvies, meeting a man at a roadside bar to talk about some vaccine he wants to sell.

Our group has reached the crash site. Locke and Eko go to the plane and the others head down into the Pearl Station hatch. As they remove the rocks that were placed in front of the plane door, Locke asks Eko what he saw when confronted by the smoke monster. He explains to Eko that he saw the same thing, a "very bright light", and it was beautiful. Eko tells him that is not what he saw. They roll the boulder away from the doorway and find that Yemi's body is not there (*cough* resurrection *cough*). Dismayed, Eko pulls out the old photo of him and Yemi, sits down and tells Locke that he will wait there while Locke goes down the hatch with the others. Locke gives him Yemi's crucifix, which he had found last episode.

FB. Eko is in church, dressed as a priest and looking up at the crucifix on the wall when Diddy and his thugs walk in behind him. They have found out that Eko is trying to steal the vaccine himself and as punishment they are going to cut his hands off with a machete. Before they can, Eko attacks them, taking the machete and using it to kill all of them, including cutting off one of their arms. These were the men that Eko saw in the jungle earlier. He walks out of the church, covered in blood and carrying the machete, and the villagers look at him in horror.

Pearl Station. Nikki is watching the Pearl DHARMA film while Locke and Sayid work on the computers. After Sayid figures out that the computers are not networked, Nikki wonders if any of the 6 video monitors is connected to any of the other stations. Just then a toilet flushes and Paolo comes out of a small room, closing the door behind him, thankfully. Heh! Sayid gets one of the video feeds to work, and it seems to show a room with one of those antiquated computer systems with reel-to-reel tape. As they peer at the image onscreen, a man with a black eye patch comes into view, his creepy face filling the screen.



He reaches his hand up, covers the lens and the screen goes blank. John smiles and says, "I guess he'll be expecting us." I think you're setting yourself up for another huge disappointment, John...

Jack's Cell. Juliet enters the room that's on the other side of the plexiglass divider and explains to Jack that she's brought a movie ("To Kill a Mockingbird") for him to watch. He doesn't want to watch but she insists and pops in a tape, saying she'll keep the sound turned down. As the movie begins, she tells Jack that she's sorry for bringing him there and for everything that's been done to him and his friends. He looks down at the TV, and it's not "To Kill a Mockingbird" showing but a video of Juliet holding up a board with the message, "Ignore everything I'm saying."



As she continues to tell Jack about how great a man Benry is and how his life is worth saving, on the video she is doing the Bob Dylan thing and flipping cards with these mesages on them:

Ben is a liar.

And he is very dangerous

Some of us want a change

But it has to look like an accident

It has to look like we tried to save him

And that's up to you, Jack

It's a complicated surgery. None one would ever know

And I would protect you

Now tell me to turn off the movie.

He tells her to turn off the movie. Juliet takes the tape and as she leaves she asks Jack to think about what she's said.

Flashback. Daniel is sweeping the church and as Eko walks out with his suitcase, he asks Eko if he is a bad man. Eko replies, "Only God knows." As the full vaccine order is delievered to the clinic, the young woman asks Eko if he expects her to be grateful. She says that someone will take Diddy's place and it will start all over again. Men are boarding up the church, since Eko has defiled it. She tells him that he will be judged for what he has done, and that he owes Yemi a church. Aha.

Eko sits by the plane wreck. Yemi appears to him and starts to walk away. Eko follows him to a beautiful clearing. Yemi asks him if he is ready, and Eko says yes. As he holds out the crucifix for Yemi to take, Eko says, "I ask for no forgiveness, Father, for I have not sinned. I have only done what I needed to do to survive." Yemi does not look happy at this development. Eko goes on to say that he is not sorry for killing a man to save his brother's life when he was a boy - in fact he's proud of it. He gets on his knees in front of Yemi and says that he did not ask for the life he was given, but he did the best he could. Cleary very unhappy, Yemi says to him, "You speak to me as if I were your brother," and walks away. Really confused (join the club, Eko!), Eko runs after him, demanding to know who (or what?) he is. The smoke monster reappears then, and grabs Eko, lifting him high in the air, throwing him against trees, beating him horribly and finally dropping him onto his face from a great height. It's horrible to watch.

The group from the Pearl hears something and runs out to investigate. The smoke monster has retreated by the time they reach Eko, who is dying. Locke cradles poor Eko's head, Eko whispers something in Locke's ear and then he dies. Damn. A brief scene of Eko and Yemi as boys is shown. They are walking arm in arm, together, again.

Sayid asks Locke what Eko said to him. He said, "we're next." Dun-dun-dun-DUN!!

Wednesday night: The Fall Season Finale!

Nothing to Hide

A few thought on last night's "Heroes" episode:

1. I had been on the fence about Micah - he's very cute, but on TV, cute can very quickly get on my nerves. Well, after last night, I think Micah is the coolest little pay-phone-fixin', bad-Mommy-recognizin' little super-hero boy there is. The cherry on top: If I close my eyes he sounds just like my niece, Hannah.

2. Speaking of the Bad Mommy, "Jessica" is a really lame name for her. It just makes me think of Murder, She Wrote. Something really bitchy-glamorous like Alexis or women's prison scary like Louise or Margo would have been better.

3. I was a little bored with the Petrellis last night. I still can barely stand Peter - I just don't think he's that great an actor, and his hair drives me crazy - and evil or not, I love Nathan. Any ideas as to why Nathan would tell Peter that Linderman wouldn't cough up the painting when it was clear from his phone call with Linderman that he did?

4. We have a new Hero in Radiation Man (Ted Sprague). I wonder what connection he has to the upcoming nuking of NYC? I think he accidentally caused his wife's cancer.

5. What do you think those two dashes were on Matt and Radiation Man's skin? I think they're part of the symbol we've been seeing all along (and Jessica's tattoo), but why don't they have the complete symbol? Is it because they haven't learned to control their powers?

6. I hope Jessica stays as Jessica. She's far more interesting than Niki.

This is definitely turning into the best new show this season.

What's in a name?

Trial opens for N.C. wife accused of killing husband, scattering his remains along parkway: "They eventually found her four days later, wrapped in a blanket and lying in a crawl space under a neighbor's shed, appearing 'disheveled.' She was taken to a local hospital, where police later served her with a warrant for the murder of her 48-year-old husband."

Adding to the gruesomeness of this story: The couple's last name is Gash.

I spent the weekend with Wes Craven.

Well, not the weekend, just a few hours on Saturday night. "Scream" was on one of the pay channels and then I watched "Red Eye" on demand.

We've all seen Scream a bunch of times so I won't go there, but I did want to mention how much I enjoyed Red Eye. It was a clever, fast-paced (1 hr 25 min!) thriller that had me on the edge of my seat for most of it. Cillian Murphy is perfect as the charming creep and Rachel McAdams is a much better actress than I would have thought (as well as being really stunningly beautiful). I highly recommend it (and it's rated PG-13 so some of you can probably watch it with your kids).

Vote.

Please do your part and cast your vote tomorrow. I haven't been this revved up about politics since the last national election, and even though my heart was broken then, I'm going to hope for a real change this time.

If you're still on the fence about who to vote for, you might want to read "Inside the Worst Congress Ever". It's a long read but it's worth it.

Throw the bums out, I say.

Halloween wears a puppy out.

Halloween wears a puppy out., originally uploaded by gina64.

Thomas the Lion.

Thomas the Lion, originally uploaded by gina64.

My nephew.

Any more kids coming, Marty?

Any more kids coming, Marty?, originally uploaded by gina64.

Marty secures the perimeter on Halloween night.

Kanye West doesn't care about European people.

Astounded that he didn't win the award for Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Video Awards, Kanye West dragged his enormous ego onstage, walked in front of the actual winners and told the audience that the award means nothing unless he wins it.

Uh, yeah, why don't you go back to saving the world or healing the sick or bringing joy and meaning to us all, or whatever it is you think you do, Kanye, and let the poor little French guys enjoy their award.

Click here to see the video at MTV.

God is in the details.

Take a moment to check out this awe-inspiring gallery of the Hubble Telescope's Top 100 Images. Gives me goosebumps.


(thanks, bunchofnerds)

Methinks he doth protest too much.

Evangelical leader resigns over sex scandal: "Mike Jones, who said he was a male escort, told KUSA on Wednesday he had had a three-year sexual 'business relationship' with Haggard."

I love how, at the end of the article, Jerry Falwell wastes absolutely no time in distancing himself from Haggard.

Dude, being gay isn't catchy.

Fan-fuggin-tastic.

J Fug: "He is the teeeeny pequenito stick of celery in my giant Bloody Mary and he LOVES when I say that because it gets him all hot and bothered and he has to go suck on a tomato for two hours, which is what he usually does when he gets excited.

Heroes Auction

Beginning November 6th, you can place bids for autographed Heroes drawings, in an auction to benefit Pediatric Epilepsy Project. PEP was founded by Greg Grunberg, who plays Matt Parkman on the show, and has a son with epilepsy.

Check it out.

More bad '24' news.

First they hire the crummy Powers Boothe to play the VP, and now Eddie Izzard quits after one day of filming.

Crap.

No man is an island.

Every Man For Himself

We open with Desmond on the beach in all his handsomeness, watching Claire. He tells her she's got a problem with her roof and that she should move a ways down the beach while he fixes it for her. Charlie gets all insecure (and wouldn't you in the presence of Desmond's Scottish awesomeness?) and tells Des that the roof is fine and if it wasn't he could fix it himself. He was just recently building a church with Eko before he exploded, after all. Alright, that was kind of cute. Desmond says OK and walks off.

Jack's cell. Juliet comes in with some food for him. Jack wants to know why he's being held there. He plays Juliet against Benry, implying that Benry is really the one in charge and Juliet just has to follow his orders. Juliet says that isn't true, that they all come to decisions together. Just then Benry barges in, saying, "Juliet! I need you. The sub (the sub!?) is back, we have a situation. Come with me now." Hmm, I think I know who's in charge here.

And sub?? What sub?!

People are running through the jungle, carrying a body on a stretcher. It's Colleen (not Connie, as I incorrectly called her) and she's in bad shape. So they brought Colleen back to the Hydra Station from the sailboat in a submarine? Why would they need to do that?

Danny (aka Pickett, and not Denny, as I incorrectly called him) comes to the zoo to collect Sawyer and Kate for another day at the quarry. But Danny gets an urgent call on his radio about Colleen. The Others rush through the cage area with Colleen, Danny joins them, and Sawyer and Kate see her. Kate asks Sawyer what happened, and he said "We happened." He tells her they just got their ticket out of there (and even after watching this twice I'm not sure what one thing has to do with the other). He starts playing with his Rube Goldberg food contraption, dumping water on the ground. He gets it all set up and tells Kate that when someone comes to get him, they'll step in the water, he'll hit the food button and trigger the electric shock, the Other will fall down from the jolt, Sawyer will grab the keys and they'll both escape. Kate's impressed, but she asks, "What about Jack?" Sawyer says they don't where he is or if he's even alive. It's every man for himself.

Flashbacking. Sawyer's in prison and he's rockin' the Samurai look. He asks about a fight he sees taking place and someone tells him that it's the new guy, Munson, and rumor is that he stole $10 million and they never found the money. They guy also says that the Warden keeps breaking up the Munson fights, to protect the guy and get on his good side, maybe get hold of some of that money some day. Later, Sawyer in on trash duty in the sewing shop, which is where Munson works. Sawyers tells Munson that the Warden is only being nice to him (breaking up the fights, giving him a cushy job) so that he can get his own hands on the money. He tells Munson that next the Warden will somehow turn his wife against him.

Zoo. Benry approaches Sawyer's cage, clearly upset. Blink, Benry, blink! But he stops short of the puddle in front the of the cage door. He asks Sawyer how much he weighs, how old he is and Sawyer tells him(180, 35). Benry steps closer, in the puddle, and opens the cage door. Sawyer grabs Benry and kicks the food button, but nothing happens. He tries again and again nothing happens. He looks at Benry, who cooly says to him, "We turned it off." (the "asshole" is implied there) and then BAM! Benry opens a can of whoopass on Sawyer, tossing him around the cage until he passes out. Is Benry super strong, like Ethan was?

As Sawyer comes to, strapped to a table somewhere, we hear Tom's voice: "...two days since the sky turned purple, we're blind, all our comms are down, I can't get them up again. Colleen's in critical cond --" Benry interrupts to say "Juliet's taking care of it." Sawyer's awake now, and he's wondering what the hell is going on. Someone named Jason gives him something to bite down on, "for the pain", as another guy whips out a big ass hypodermic needle and holds it over Sawyer's naked chest. And in one of the best moments of the episode, Benry looks away and says, "God, I hate needles."

In his cell, Jack can hear Sawyer struggling and yelling over the "broken" intercom speaker on his wall.

Back with Sawyer, and Jason and the other guy argue over how to stick the needle in Sawyer ("over the sternum, in the sternum, like in the --" the what? the movie? Pulp Fiction?), and all the while Sawyer is freaking out. Jason (or is it the other guy?) shakily holds the needle up above Sawyer and counts, "1, 2, ..." Cut to black.

Beach. The new guy is using the golf clubs to hit small, green fruits into the ocean. Desmond approaches and asks if he can borrow a club. New guy tells him to take the 5 iron, he never uses it. "That way, if you die going off into the jungle doing whatever it is you're doing, I won't have to go after it." Nice. Being Scottish (and awesome), Desmond give the jerk a golfing tip before walking away with the 5 iron.

Sawyer is waking up, still strapped to the table, but now he has a bandaid and a small, bloody piece of gauze taped to his chest. Benry and gang come in and Benry places a cage on Sawyer's chest. Inside the cage is a little bunny with the number "8" painted on its back. Benry picks up the cage and starts really rattling it, yelling, "Come on! Come on! Move it! Move it!" until the poor rabbit collapses in a heap. There's a joke in there somewhere about a personal trainer, but since I've never had one... Anyway, in the second best moment of the episode, Sawyer asks, "Did you just kill that bunny?" Benry tells him that the rabbit had a pacemaker in its chest, and when it got too excited, the pacemaker would send a jolt to its heart, causing it to explode. He tells Sawyer that they put a pacemaker in his chest, too, and the same thing will happen to him if he does things that will cause his heart rate to elevate, things like fighting and escaping. Benry gives him a watch that will beep when his heart rate gets to within 15 beats of kaboom. Sawyer asks him why he doesn't just kill him, and Benry replies, "Because we're not killers, James." And if you tell Kate anything, they'll put one in her, too.

Sawyer's returned to his cage. Tom gives him and Kate each a bucket and sponge to wash up with, and to Kate he also gives a change of clothes. (I still don't get the dress thing) Kate asks Sawyer what happened, but he tells her they just wanted to ask him more questions. His heart rate increases as he peeks at her changing her clothes, so he pours the bucket of water over his head to calm himself down.

Flashbacking. Sawyer's in the prison visiting area, watching Munson and his wife, clearly arguing. Munson and Sawyer exchange meaningful glances ("see? I told you so" "yeah, I guess you did). Sawyer's visitor comes to sit the f*ck down and who the f*ck should it be but f*ckin' Joanie Stubbs from Deadwood! She's Sawyer's girlfriend from the season 2 episode The Long Con. I can't remember her name, so we'll call her Joanie. Joanie pressed charges against Sawyer for what he did to her in The Long Con, and that's why he's in prison now. He asks her what she wants and she shows him a photo of a beautiful little baby and tells him that her name is Clementine and she is Sawyer's daughter. Joanie and the baby are living in Albequerque and she wants Sawyer to write the baby a letter. But Sawyer wants nothing to do with any of it - "I ain't got no daughter" - and walks away from her.

Zoo. Sawyer nervously checks his heart rate as he sits in his cage. Kate says she's noticed that the bars at the top of her cage are further apart and she thinks she can get through them. He tells her not to do it yet, to chill out.

Jack hears more incomprehensible chatter over the intercom and then Juliet comes in, wearing bloodstained scrubs. Jack demands to know what they're doing to Sawyer, but Juliet says it's not Sawyer's blood and she needs his help.

Zoo. A very loud siren/alarm starts going off, like an air raid siren, and then we see Juliet and some Others leading Jack, who has a bag over his head, across the compound. Kate and Sawyer yell Jack's name, and Jack stops momentarily but they keep moving him along. They bring him inside a building somewhere else at the station, and remove the bag from his head. Benry's there (and so are Tom and Danny), and he aks Juliet if she's lost her mind: "This is not why --" What was he going to say? "This is not why we brought him here?", perhaps? Juliet cuts him off, saying Jack's a doctor and he can help save Colleen. As Jack and Juliet scrub up, Jack sees x-rays on the wall. Juliet tells him they are not Colleen's.

Jack and Juliet work on Colleen but are unable to save her life. The crash cart and paddles aren't working and Jack's efforts at CPR fail. All the while, Benry, Danny and Tom are watching from a glass-enclosed observation room above.

Danny's not happy, not at all (Colleen was his wife), and he goes after Sawyer. He drags him out of his cage and beats the ever loving crap out of him. With each punch, he asks Kate if she loves him. Finally, Kate relents, crying, saying "Yes! I love him!" Danny stops and walks away, telling someone to lock Sawyer back up.

FB. Sawyer reads Of Mice and Men. Munson approaches, tells him he was right about the Warden, his wife, etc., and he wants Sawyer to move the money for him. Sawyer tells him that that's why you never get attached, because once you care, that's when they can come at ya."

Zoo. Sawyer nurses his wounds and Kate, despite Sawyer's protests, climbs out of her cage through the bars at the top, like a little monkey. She goes to his cage and wants to know what they did to him that has made him so scared? (It has started to rain, which becomes significant a little later on, I think) He tells her that she has to go and leave him there. She wants to know why he didn't fight back when Danny was beating him. He says, "If you really love me, go." She replies, "I only said that so he'd stop hitting you." Oh, that's cold. She walks back to her cage and climbs back in. He repeats to her that she should just go, that "it's every man for himself", but she just looks at him and says, "Live together, die alone." (which was the title of the season 2 finale)

Benry is watching all of this on his video monitors. Tom reminds him that Danny wants to kill Sawyer, but Benry says that Danny can wait. Tom asks if he should bring Jack back, but Benry says no, he wants him to sit with her (Colleen's body) a little longer.

Jack is handcuffed to the table upon which Colleen's body lies. Juliet comes in and apologizes for the handcuffs. She tells Jack that she's a fertility doctor and she's not used to death. She says she should have come for Jack sooner, but he says that it wouldn't have made a difference. She asks if he's just saying that to make her feel better and he says, "I don't care about making you feel better." Zing! She goes to un-handcuff him and he grabs her arm and pull her closer and you could cut the UST with a knife, the air is so thick with it. He asks her whose x-rays those were - he knows they're the spinal x-rays of a man about 40 years old, and that the person has a tumor on his spine. Since Jack just happens to be a spinal surgeon, he wonders who it is they've brought him here to see.

Beach. Desmond has stuck a tall pole in the sand near Claire's shelter, tied a golf club to the top of it, and run a wire from the club down into the ground. Ah, a lightning rod. He's chatting with Hurley when a thunderclap rings out and it starts to pour rain (is this the storm we saw earlier at the zoo?). As Charlie, Claire and Aaron huddle in their shelter, lightning crashes down near them, striking the lightning rod that Desmond just built. Charlie realizes that Desmond somehow knew that their shelter was going to get hit by lightning. (I'm really liking this storyline, btw)

Zoo. Benry wakes Sawyer up early in the morning and tells him they're going to go for a walk.

Flashbacking. Sawyer's taken by guards to a building somewhere on the prison grounds. The Warden is waiting inside for him, along with an agent from the Treasury Department. Turns out, it was all a setup, a con, to find out where Munson had hidden the $10 million. Sawyer tells them where Munson hid the money, and the Warden tells him that as agreed, the last 6 years of his sentence would be commuted. The Agent asks him how he wants his "commission", and Sawyer tells him to open a new account in a bank in Albequerque, in the name of Clementine Phillips, and to make sure she never knows where the money came from. Aw.

As Benry, Sawyer and some Others hike up a hillside, Benry tells Sawyer that it's not too much further, that there's something up there he wants him to see. Benry tells him that there is no pacemaker in his chest, that his heart is not going to explode: "The only thing we put into you is doubt." He then pulls the bunny, alive and well, out of his man-purse and explains to Sawyer that the bunny didn't die, they just gave him a sedagive - I mean a sedative. Sawyer punches Benry in the face, but B stays cool as a cucumber.

They walk a little further, to a cliff. Sawyer cannot believe his eyes as he looks out over the ocean and sees another island.



Benry tells him that he's looking at "your island" and that the island he's standing on is like Alcatraz and there's no way he can escape, there's nowhere to run.

(Now I know why they needed a sub to get Colleen back and why the rain hit the beach so much later in the timeline)

He tells Sawyer, "We did all this because the only way to gain a con man's respect is to con him. We're a lot better." Benry says the funny thing, though, is that it wasn't the pacemaker that kept him in line, it was when they threatened Kate: "You work so hard to make her think you don't care, you don't need her." But no man is an island, Sawyer.

Next week: The island grows restless!!

Marty is ready for Halloween.

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

Are you?

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

The worst may be over.

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

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

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving 2006, originally uploaded by gina64.

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

Mickey

Mickey, originally uploaded by gina64.

The List.

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

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

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

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

Care to share your list??

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

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

I'd rather have Dick Cheny play himself.

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

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

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

I take it all back.

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

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

(Warning, there be slight spoilers there)

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

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

Marty makes a good pillow.

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

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

Further Instructions

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



Tonight: Sawyer gets tortured!

BSG on War

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

I cannot believe my ears.

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

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

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

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

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

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

President Addresses the Nation in Prime Time

Press Conference of the President
The East Room

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

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


Interview of the Vice President

by John King, CNN
The Vice President's Residence

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

Now forget you ever heard that phrase.

Just Brilliant

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

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

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

TV Talk

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

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

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

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

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

Am I back?

I think I am.

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

Man, I have such a backlog...

When Galaxies Collide.

Damn.

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

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

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

Tina the Turtle has a wheel for a leg.

No, really, she does!

How cool is that?

Test Post

Publishing trouble, still.

"Not nerdy, but definitely not hip."

Good Listeners with a Disembodied Pug Head

Good Listeners, originally uploaded by gina64.

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

And look at how much Marty loves his Mommy.

Oy.

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

Thanks for being so patient!

Peanut Butter Pumpkins

Peanut Butter Pumpkins, originally uploaded by gina64.

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

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire.

The Glass Ballerina

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

M&Ms

M&Ms, originally uploaded by gina64.

Halloween peanut butter M&Ms.

A model presents a creation by Ukrainian designer Oleksiy Zalevsky

And she doesn't look happy about it.

Beads

Beads, originally uploaded by gina64.

Quartered

Quartered, originally uploaded by gina64.

White Flower Farm

White Flower Farm, originally uploaded by gina64.

Occupation, insurgency and suicide bombings -- sound familiar?

Occupation / Precipice

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

We can rebuild her.

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

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

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

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

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

655,000 people.

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

My Job.

Make sure you watch through to the end!

Cute!

Sam Paletsky, Cattle Dealer

Sam Paletsky, Cattle Dealer, originally uploaded by gina64.

Fall in New England

Fall in New England, originally uploaded by gina64.

Autumn Afternoon

Autumn Afternoon, originally uploaded by gina64.

Turning

Turning, originally uploaded by gina64.

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

What Would Tony Do?

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

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

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

Ah, well, there ya go.

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

Just plain irresponsible.

Drive Thru Review

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

Frak!

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

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

A Tale of Two Cities

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

Maybe it'll come to me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Utopiaville

Hydra Station

What He Said.

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

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

Thanks, Mike.

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

One Less Show to Watch

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

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

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

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

Drive Thru Review

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

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

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

Today's TV Talk

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

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

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

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

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

Google Copernicus Center is Hiring!

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

Big Bux

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

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

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

The lengths I go to for you guys.

Hanso Exposed.

Just one more day!

Vancouver Sunset

Vancouver Sunset, originally uploaded by gina64.

Don't. Get. Eliminated!!

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

Drive Thru Review

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

Season Premiere Palooza

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

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

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

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

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

Asleep at the Wheel.

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

Look at this photo of him. Yikes!

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

Tom Thumb

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

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

Why?

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

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

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

Headline Hijinks.

Justices refuse to ungag Gloria Allred.

And I ask you, can you blame them?