Quad Blogs

Random Musings from the Entertainment Flyers Desk

Out with the Old in with the… Older?

            Jay Bouwmeester? Jay Bouwmeester, who?

            As in who needs him when you have Chris Pronger, as my beloved Philadelphia Flyers now do.

            That’s right boys and girls, say good bye to Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa and TWO first rounds draft picks, but say howdy to the big, bruising and VERY dirty former Duck, Oiler and Blue.

            Oh yeah, and we also got some guy named Ryan Dinlge from the Ducks as well.

            On the surface, that seems like a tremendous amount to give up for a 34 going on 35 year old defensemen— and it was. On top of that, the cash-strapped Flyers have added about $2 million in the trade, meaning that if Homer plans on following through with fixing the cap, another trade is certainly in the works.

            Briere? Gagne? Cough…Randy Jones cough?

            The whole scope of this remains to be seen, but adding Pronger is certainly something.

            Everyone wanted a big, physical, crease-clearing defensemen… well, here you go. That’s exactly what Pronger is

            Also, he can score too. And he’s a tremendous leader. We needed all of those things.

            Sure, he’s a bit old, maybe past his prime. The point is, this guy is STILL one of the top defensemen in the league.

            Losing Sbisa sucks, flat out. Losing those picks sucks as well. Losing Lupul? Meh. I’m ok with that. Take you 25-30 goals and every other day effort and don’t let the door hit you on the way out Lupes. There’s a reason you keep getting traded despite all that potential and it’s because you never seem to TRULY realize it.

            Also, I’m very happy to break up the Center City Boys Club of Richards, Carter, Hartnell and its former members Lupul and Upshall.

            Those guys have been getting WAY to comfortable down there and maybe need to get their cage rattled a bit.

            Of course, when I say those guys I’m referring to HARTNELL and Carter more so then Ritchie, but he needs it too.

            NO ONE gets off the hook for last year.

            This is a wake up call.

            Pronger makes the team better now. Much better.

            Say what you will about next year’s Flyers, but with Ray Emery and now Chris Pronger in the mix— they certainly won’t be boring.

            Here’s hoping that Briere and Gagne are somehow still here when the dust settles on this trade.

            Vaya con dios Sbisa.

First order of business: West Chester Entertainment Related News! Do you like The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus? I don’t particularly care for them but that’s no matter. In fact, I haven’t thought about them until this news came to the good ol’ quad entertainment e-mail inbox and I feel obligated to mention it. Every other music-related press release is generalized but this is specifically West Chester. I respect that and will therefore spread the word. They will play The Note on August 25, 2009. Apparently they have a new album that debuted #14 on the Billboard Top 200. I am shocked. I have a rather unpleasant memory of the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. In 2007, whilst working at a movie theater, their one song whose name I do not know’s chorus played on a loop every 5-7 minutes. I had 7-8 hour shifts. The only thing worse than that experience was the Anna Faris bunny movie trailer playing on a loop every 7-9 minutes (and this time working 7-9.5 hour shifts). I’m lucky I didn’t go insane.

THE ‘LOST’ EPISODE OF THE DAY!

On this, the day after Michael Jackson passed, one needs a great cheery pick-me-up. There’s only one character to turn to: Hurley!

The episode: Everybody Hates Hugo
Original Airdate: October 29, 2005
Written by: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz
Directed By: Alan Taylor

Content: Hurley worries that his new job will make him the most unpopular man on the Island. Sawyer, Jin and Michael learn that their captors are actually survivors from the tail section of the plane. Claire finds the message bottle from the raft, making her and Sun fear the worst. Sayid’s exploration of the Hatch raises suspicions.

Why It’s Worth Re-Watching: Hurley’s the heart of LOST. After three episodes which took the viewers to a weird, unfamiliar place (the Hatch), this episode let the audience re-gain their “footing” so to speak (sort of what “The Lie” did in season five and….YOU GUESSED IT! Hurley’s the focus of that episode). Plotwise, this is the episode Sayid checks out the Hatch. Sayid notices the heavy amount of concrete and the electromagnetic energy in the Hatch (thanks to Jack showing him). He remarks to Jack that “The last time I heard of concrete being poured over everything in this way was Chernobyl.” It’s especially cool considering season five (and the whole season five mirrors season two). It’s mostly worth re-watching because it’s a nice episode. Hurley’s in charge of rationing the food but he’s having trouble. His flashback juxtaposes his present. In the flashback, he’s afraid everything will change once people learn that he’s won the lottery so he doesn’t tell anyone and before anyone finds out he has a great day with his best friend Johnny and he asks out Starla (and she says yes). Everything does change of course and he’s afraid everyone will hate him for not giving people food when they want it. He does end up making everybody happy in the end, and doing what he wants (with Rose’s helpful advice of course). It features one of my favorite montages with everybody happy and eating. Charlie gives Hurley a big hug. Claire finally gets her jar of peanut butter. It’s fantastic. Sun also reveals herself to be an utter pessimist when she buries the bottle of notes that washed back on shore. Sweetie-pie Claire gives her the bottle because she feels like Sun should decide what to do with it. I understand all of the symbolism around the scene. I just took an opportunity to rip on Sun one last time. As for the adventures of Sawyer, Michael, and Jin they find out they are in the hands of the Tailies. Ana Lucia is belligerant and beats up Sawyer. Not cool. My disdain for Ana Lucia will slowly be revealed throughout this retrospective. The ending’s very sweet: Rose saves an apollo candy bar for her husband. She never lost faith that he’s alive. There will be no youtube videos for this one. If you’re sad about Michael Jackson and a fan of LOST, pop this one in the DVD player.

OASIS OFF!

Since I’m about to listen to “Whatever” again, “Whatever” will be today’s song in Oasis Off. It was released after Definitely, Maybe but before What’s The Story, Morning Glory? Liam sounds fantastic. I also recommend watching Noel play this acoustically as it does not disappoint. So check out the video below. And, also, listen to Michael Jackson’s song “Childhood” in the previous post. A wonderful song.

“Whatever”

I can’t help it. I know every major media publication is providing massive coverage for Michael Jackson. I know there are timelines, retrospectives, etc available at every major media and news website. I feel like I have to write about Michael Jackson though. A little something at least. His music was the music of my childhood. That’s no exaggeration. It was Michael Jackson, The Jackson 5, or the Jacksons. I listened to his music before I ever became aware of rock ‘n roll, before I purchased a Marcy Playground or Matchbox 20 CD in ’97 or 3EB in the summer of 1998. His music informed what my later tastes would be as well. There’s really no going back once you hear “Off The Wall” or “Thriller.” Those two albums are near perfection. “Thriller” suffers from one weak track. The rest is gold after gold after gold. I opened a piece I wrote on Carolyn Leonhart with a quote from Shakespeare about the charms of music. There really is magic in music. There’s some intangible transcendental quality to music, in music. It exists within the creation. On those early solo albums, he combined disco (but good disco not that ABBA nonsense) with the soul of Motown and R&B. We all know “Thriller,” “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” “Rock With You” and a bunch of other songs that are too many to list. We can throw out adjective after adjective to describe the power of his music but in the end his music is indescribable and that’s what makes it as great, magical, and transcendent as it is. He just had the ability to tap into that part of our brain, something that is inherently within us and open it up (i hope you followed me there and understand what I mean).

I remember as a boy listening to my mother’s Jackson 5 tape with all of the hits. I used to wear penny loafers (the closest I got to his trademark black shoes), tried to mimick his moves, made an embarrassing Thriller video at the age of 6 or 7. I used to sing Billie Jean and Beat It at the top of my lungs as a boy. I remember watching Moonwalker with my sister and playing the Michael Jackson video game on Sega Genesis I know there’s countless others who grew up with the music of Michael and his brothers. My sister told me that the bars come alive whenever a Michael Jackson song come on.

It is sad though. I was watching CNBC when the news first broke and then followed it for about 2 hours. America has lost some wonderful entertainers and legends in 2009.

Included are some videos. I feel sad watching and listening to these songs especially the 1970 performance of I Want You Back when he and his brothers were so young. Gone Too Soon is what I like to call a Kairos song. Do enjoy. I’ll be back with the next song in Oasis Off later in the day.

“I Want You Back”–1970 performance

Motown 25 Jackson 5 Reunion

Childhood

Gone Too Soon

Baby Be Mine

Off The Wall

Hello, minions of the World Wide Web!

! I’m slowly beginning to realize just how quick this internship has gone – after tomorrow I only have two more weeks at the Express-Times. Now, I love the Quad, but it’s really been eye-opening working in the newsroom and seeing the difference when your coverage isn’t limited to a four-block radius from your dorm.

So, in our news – earlier this week (Monday night, I believe) I was checking out our website, and found that the Northampton Bureau of our “rival” paper, The Morning Call, shut down. The landlord was furious, saying they “sneaked out in the middle of the night” and “didn’t even turn the lights off.” This was quite a buzz the next morning in the office, but via Twitter I discovered that branch member actually moved out in the middle of last week. However, I haven’t heard much more of this since that day.

Anyway – on to my perspectives on entertainment as of late. In this post:

-Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland: I’m prepared to be obsessed.
-the Jon and Kate drama, and how it should end, immediately.
-Transformers 2: upclose, and off-track.

Alright  – first up is Tim Burton.

The 2010 release of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is the winner in upcoming films for “what is holding Tara’s attention.” Anyone who knows me and my gloriously inattentive mind should realize just how ground-breaking a statement like this is.

The movie, set to hit theaters March 5, looks to be a delightfully gruesome take on Lewis Carroll’s novel. I’ve always had an affinity for the slightly strange and sinister, and the Disney version of the film never really appealed to me much (yes, I was a slightly “dark and twisty” kid, whose favorite movie was 13 Ghosts for the better part of my childhood. And anyone remember Disney’s “So Weird” show? Where did that go!?).

So can it really be helped that if I had to pick a “favorite” director, it’d be Tim Burton?  Between “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Beetlejuice” and “Edward Scissorhands,” Burton has directed and produced many of the movies I called “favorites” growing up.

So when the first photo stills released for “Alice in Wonderland” hit the web on Monday, is it too hard to imagine my utter excitement?

As is obvious just through these photos, the film will feature a slew of distinguished actors, many of whom are Burton frequents or veterans. Johnny Depp, reported to have developed an accent for the role solely described as “indescribable,” forms the Mad Hatter. Burton’s long-time love interest, Helena Bodham-Carter plays the grossly out-of-proportion Red Queen, and Anne Hathaway changes (hair) colors to become her delightfully eccentric sister, the White Queen, in her Burton film debut.

The star-studded cast list also includes Alan Rickman (“Harry Potter,” “Love, Actually”) as the hookah-smoking Caterpillar and Timothy Spall as the Bloodhound.  This is the third film in the past few years that Rickman and Spall are both appearing in,* the other two being Harry Potter and (also directed by Burton) Sweeney Todd.
*This statement is based only on my limited knowledge and is considering the Harry Potter films as “one,” so my count could be very wrong.*

Other characters include: the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen), the Jabberwock (Christopher Lee), the Cheshire Cat (Stephen Fry), and comedian Matt Lucas as the twins Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

The title character Alice is played by Mia Wasikowska, a relatively unknown Australian actress. My main thought concerning this is that she’ll either win over audiences instantly or be constantly overshadowed by the big names that flank her every side throughout the film.

While obviously based on the Carroll novel, the actual plotline and content of the film is written more as a follow up to the book rather than the initial story itself.  The cinematography is also going to be unique to the film.
In a recent interview with MoviesOnline, Alan Rickman discussed the production methods being used to create Wonderland.

“The movie is a mixture of live action, animation, and stop motion, so it’s very complicated,” he says. “I don’t think all three have been put together ever before.”

Though only a few stills have been released thus far, (all of them viewable here), I’m excited to see the trailer and other snippets that Burton will release in the next few months.
—————————————

Ah, Jon and Kate.

Let me start off with saying there has been far too much publicity on this family. I know stating such on a blog associated with the campus newspaper doesn’t exactly help that matter, but I’d like to justify this by taking the stance of “this is all fairly ridiculous.”

In the past week alone I’ve written two Jon and Kate blogs: One with the spoiler of their “divorce announcement” and another regarding Kate checking off “reasons for divorce” on her legal papers like it was a grocery list.
I have only seen a handful of episodes, and my take on the show is that the kids are absolutely adorable, Kate is extremely phony and pushy, and Jon just doesn’t want to try. It was really no surprise that they were headed towards divorce.
My real issue, here, is that the show is going to continue. Not only are the kids going to have to learn what divorce is and adjust to it at very young ages, but they’re going to have to do it on television after two months of “regrouping.” As I said in one of my Express-Times blogs: two months is not enough time to adjust to a divorce, after eight kids and 10 years of marriage.

Jon and Kate, I’m begging you: Please, take the show off the air, get rid of all the supposed perks of telecelebrity status, and take some time to raise your kids.  However, since that’s unlikely to happen, I’d like to suggest some new possible show titles:
“Jon and Kate seper8″
Jon and Kate + hate”
“Jon – Kate + 8″
“Jon + 8 – mate”
“Jon and Kate + dates”
—————————————–

Now for my last topic. Transformers.
Here’s the thing. Not only was I into weird shows and movies as a kid, I also loved Transformers (thanks to my younger brother). So I was psyched when I heard the movies were going to be made.
Now, I’ve yet to see the full one in its entirety. (Anyone know of a movie that they keep trying to watch and things just always come up? There you go.) What I have seen looks like it could either be awesome or an overload of action effects and clanging metal. But – I pass no real judgment. I’m here to report my opinion on the sequel, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”
I was not one of the many people who went to the midnight showing or costume contest dressed as Autobots and Decepticons. I went the next day with my brother and some mutual exchange-student friends. The theater was still pretty crowded, which was to be expected, yet there were far too many people who were far to into the film. As in, people who would randomly shout out during fight scenes “Yea, OPTIMUS!! Kick his-”
— You get the picture.
The film, in theory, has a very decent plotline. And I think the actual film turned out equally decent. Michael Bay has this passion of blowing things up, and he definitely has a talent for it. However, just because you’re good at doing something, doesn’t mean you should do it obsessively. I mean, many Lehigh Valley residents were excited to see our very own Bethlehem Steel Factory in the opening sequence, but the combat moved too quickly and was too zoomed in to be able to make out which characters were battling, let alone their backdrop.

Also, the eagerness to show booms and brawls should not take out consistency from the film. In one particular fight scene, Sam and Mikaela were on the run on Sam’s college campus (in a city), and the next scene showed them in the middle of a forest? What?
And oh – Mikaela. Okay, we get it that you’re the film’s “hot chick” and that you’re required to play that up. But I’m starting to seriously think there’s something wrong with your back. I mean – who works on cars and motorcycles standing like this? That can’t be the easiest way of doing things.

You should seriously get that checked out. I’m concerned.

Moving on: I understand this film is supposed to be a bit more advanced and gear to older audiences. But there were far too many crude references, spoken or unspoken, and too many kids under 13 (the youngest I noticed being four or so) for me to not feel a little uncomfortable. Between Mrs. Witwicky eating (and experiencing results from) a pot brownie, Decepticon “Wheelie” aggressively showing, erm, “affection” to Mikaela’s leg, and the twin Autobots, “Skids” and “Mudflap,” are portrayed with possible racial stereotypes, talking “street,” and Skids sporting a gold “tooth.”

My final note: In a brief part of the film, I saw various parallels to the Harry Potter plotline. There’s a point where The Fallen claims he cannot yet try to overtake Earth, until the last Prime is defeated. “Starscream,” a bumbling, wheezy, top-heavy Decepticon, caters to the Fallen, providing him updates regarding the situation on Earth, while showing a fearful reverence for his master. As soon as Optimus is “defeated,” the Fallen shoves the faithful servant aside to go on and be all menacing and evil.

Um. Voldemort-Pettigrew-Potter anyone?

Overall, the film is good, if you’re a Transformers or action junkie. My advice? Don’t spend the $10 for the movie theater. Wait until it comes to Sykes – two dollars feels a lot better than 10 – or (if you don’t go to WCU), wait until it comes to DVD. At least that way you’ll have it permanently in order to watch it over and over. And over.

That’s it everyone – now go check out the rest of the Quad Blogs!
peace&love,
Tara T.

THE ‘LOST’ EPISODE OF THE DAY!

The episode: Catch-22
Original Airdate: April 17, 2007
Written by: Jeff Pinkner and Brian K. Vaughn
Directed by Stephen Williams

It’s the second Desmond episode of season three. It is the 66th episode of LOST produced. It is episode 317 of season three. I’ve come up with a more coherent way to write the LOST episode of the day so I will switch into that mode right now.

Content: When Desmond has a flash of a stranger arriving on the Island, he recruits Charlie, Hurley and Jin to join him. Meanwhile, Kate seduces Sawyer after witnessing Jack and Juliet together.

Why It’s Worth Re-Watching: Not only is this the episode in which Desmond and Penny meet but it is the episode when we meet the first member of the Freighter: Naomi. The content above is the original description of the episode from a television weekly publication or something so it really doesn’t reveal anything. Desmond enlists Charlie first because (he doesn’t tell Charlie) he thinks Charlie needs to die THAT DAY in order for everything to work out. Hurley and Jin tag along which results in one of the funniest scenes in the series (the walking/whistling the theme from Bridge of River Kwaiscene). Desmond’s extremly intense throughout the process. I view this episode as the beginning of the endgame for LOST. We don’t get to where we are without the freighter. The introduction of rescue was momentous during season three. Everybody expected the series to end with rescue. Of course one had to be skeptical if anything would come of the rescue. The big thing we were expect to believe is that Naomi came on Penny’s boat. After all, she had a photograph of Desmond and Penny in her Portugese edition of Joseph Heller’s Catch 22. Knowing what we do know, this episode is tremendous to watch. It’s a very cool experience. There’s no Others in this one. Eloise Hawking shows up as well. Back then, we knew very, very little about her. There’s a subplot with a jealous Kate and her sleeping with Sawyer because she’s depressed about Jack and Juliet but the meat of the episode is with Desmond and Charlie.

Other Reasons to Re-Watch: Fantastic scene when Jin is telling a ghost story and he scares the bejeesus out of Hurley. It’s fantastic.

Desmond’s flashback is pretty great too. We discover that Penny’s not the first girl he feared commitment with. He joined a monastery to get out of marrying Ruth. And Jack and Sawyer battle in ping pong which is fantastic. They manage to like eachother for a few minutes but then Kate is brought up and it ruins all the fun for Sawyer.

For fun, here’s what I wrote about the episode two years ago: “As far as tonight’s episode, I enjoyed the questions of sacrifice, fate, running away/running to, and the Catch-22 parallels.” I obviously became much more blowhardy.

Here’s two videos of the “Catch-22″ highlights so to speak. YouTube is king as is Portugal.

OASIS OFF!

Overwhelming response to the first Oasis Off. Am I being serious? Anywho,  time for the next song in Oasis Off.

Today’s song: Rock N’ Roll Star

It is the first song off of their debut “Definitely, Maybe.” It is the first song on their greatest hits album “Stop The Clocks.” Considering the sky-rocket confidence that we’ve seen from Liam and Noel about their music, there is no better song to open their careers as musicians. “Tonight, I’m a rock ‘n’ roll star” is a prophecy. Eventually there’ll be some kind of voting process for the greatest known or well-known song but once again I am prepared to decide it myself if need be.

Noel said, about this song: “Rock n Roll Star is the whole manifesto of the band. I ve never wanted to say anything else in a tune. We re going to be rock stars, and even if we don t, even if we re just playing the fucking Boardwalk the rest of our lives, we re going to act like fucking rock stars. When we started it, my ambitions were to have a jet, a monkey, a house in Ibiza. Did I ever get a monkey? I ve got Liam. He s the only monkey I ll ever need.”

Random Musings from the Entertainment Desk

“The Academy Is…”

            Holy moly plot twist Batman!

            It’s finally happened. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has come down from its Mount Olympus- like perch and mingled with us common folks for a bit.

            You know, the same common folks who despite our love for Kate Winslet, still haven’t seen “The Reader.”

            The very same peasants who HAVE seen “The Dark Knight” once or twice or a few dozen times.

            I wonder how they adjusted to the air down here? I’ve heard that if they descend from their Temple too quickly they could get the bends.

            Or am I thinking of SCUBA diving? I can’t remember.

            The point is that, as a result of being called “out of touch” by basically everyone who is NOT a member of the club, The Academy has decided to tinker with its annual Oscar Award presentation a bit.

            Rather then simply have FIVE movies nominated in the Best Picture category each year, the Academy— in their infinite wisdom that is— has decided to nominate TEN starting with the 2010 show.

            Yes. Exactly. That should fix this “out of touch” nonsense once and for all. Thank you, you cinematic geniuses, you crown princes of the multiplex.

            You dark and evil cabal of elitist film snobs… whoops! Did that last part just slip out? What I meant to say is you royalty of Hollywood and Vine! Yes all praise the Academy! Thank you for throwing us common folks this generous bone! You are most gracious and have a far superior knowledge of films then any of us mere mortals! Hail! Hail!

            Ok… here’s hoping they stopped reading after that last part.    

            See, the problem with this plan is that it’s like in Little League where everyone gets a trophy. Sure, at the time it’s cool, but looking back on it you realize that those trophies meant NOTHING.

            To borrow a line from Pixar’s “The Incredibles”— “if everyone’s super… then no one is.”

            So ten movies now get to vie for the title of Best Picture instead of five.

            If this rule were in effect last year, “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E” surely would have been nominated. They wouldn’t have won, no the Academy just wants to APPEAR progressive, they don’t actually want to BE progressive.

            That’s the thing isn’t it? Appearances are everything. Everyone knows that those two films were FAR superior to “Slumdog Millionaire,” but it wouldn’t have mattered.

            No, if the Academy really wanted to change things around a bit, it would stop nominating movies that aren’t even OUT yet in half of the country, over movies that everyone went to see like the aforementioned “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E.”

            Stop punishing movies because of their genre or their box office success.

            Sure, “Titanic” won a bunch of awards, but that was a costume love story. OF COURSE it won big.

            The real surprise was how much it made at the box office.

            Bottom line Academy, this is nice but in NO way enough.

            How about SIX nominees, with five selected by the Academy and the sixth voted in online by movie fans.

            Now we all know that the sixth film would never win, but at least it would feel like slightly less of a sham then nominating ten movies just to say you did.

            Here’s the thing, the Academy can nominate 100 movies for Best Picture and it won’t matter until THEY themselves open THEIR narrow minds a bit.

            There’s an entire film world outside of what you guys know, outside of the typical Oscar-bait B.S.

            Change your thinking, not the number of films that get nominated— its just that simple!

            Seriously, if you guys really thought that “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was one of the top FIVE films of last year, then you need to get out more because that thing wasn’t in my top twenty.

            Get a clue Academy, the rest of us will be here in the 21^st Century, hope you can join us one day. Until then…

            Vaya con dios.

Random Musings from the Entertainment Desk

Hitting the Silver Screen…

            You know what the thing about the “new” NHL is? Have I told you how much I strongly dislike Bozo Bettman? You know what the Flyers need to fix for next season??

            You do? We already talked about all of this?

            Are you sure? Because I feel like I’d remember that.

            Positive?

            OH YEAH! I remember now! In the last week or so, I remember writing two 1,500 word plus manifestos… err… I mean blogs on the subject. Whoops!

            So you don’t want to listen to more hockey talk? Fine, this is supposed to be a movie blog after all. I guess I can talk about movies.

            So what’s hitting the silver screen this week? Let’s see here…ahh yes. Two movies that are about as different as movies can get from each other.

            In fact, if they were any more different, one of them would be a puppy.

            I can’t tell if that made any sense or not, but the point is that these two movies aren’t going to be sitting at the same table in the Hollywood High School cafeteria.

            One of them is a cheerleader, the other is the quiet, book worm.

            The ends of the film spectrum that I’m referring to are the bombastic, CGI-driven “My Sister’s Keeper” and Michael Bay’s latest character study, “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.”

            Get your popcorn ready for “MSK” people. It’s your typical summer blockbuster about a young girl who sues her parents for emancipation, only to get caught up in a war between alien robots from outer space that turn into cars. And Alec Baldwin shows up.

            Add to all of that the fact that’s its based off of a story by acclaimed science fiction writer Jodi Picoult and you have a sure fire hit on your hands.

            Step aside “The Dark Knight,” time to let the big boys play. Hell yeah!

            Whoops! Hold the phone Mabel. It appears that I have played a game of Twister with the plots of these two movies and gotten things a big garbled.

            Apologies. I know you expect better from “Tales from the Cineplex,” and I have failed.    

            So, ok. Let’s start untangling all this nonsense.

            Alright, “Transformers 2,” which hits screens today, is the bombastic cheerleader and “MSK” is the quiet book worm character study… with Alec Baldwin.

            And Jodi Picoult apparently writes books about love and occasional intrigue, not science fiction.

            And “The Dark Knight” won’t be stepping aside for any movie for some time. It’s his yard people and we’re just playing hop-scotch in it.

            What’s with this sudden outburst of game references? I make it through 20 some blogs without one and here we are drowning in them? It’s like I just fell down a bunch of chutes and ladders and found myself in a “Candyland” full of old game metaphors.

            I apologize for that last bit there. I will try and rein this in— PRONTO.

            In any case, “Transformers 2″ is about two groups of robots, one trying to destroy the planet, the other trying to save it.

            The real story is why on Earth a girl like Megan Fox would even give a guy like Shia LaBeouf the time of time. There is absolutely no way that this pairing would ever happen in the real world! NONE!

            While we’re on the Megan Fox thing, let me say this: Lady, stop complaining about people comparing you to Angelina Jolie. You should BE so lucky to have half the career as she has had. And you DO look similar so get off your high horse, though Ange is much prettier. And she has Brad Pitt… who is also prettier then Ms. Fox.

            One more thing on “Transformers,” while were talking about it. I HATED the first one. Honestly, I had NO idea who was who half the time.

            All of the bad guys were gray and not one but TWO turned into airplanes! For the love of Chris Nolan that’s confusing! Couldn’t one of them turn into an aircraft CARRIER or a CARRIER PIGEON! ANYTHING!! Why two planes?!

            I also enjoyed — read: hated— the boringly choreographed robotic fight scenes: two robots run at each other, roll into a huge ball of metal, hit a building, separate and then repeat.

            Fun cinematic times, I’ll tell ya.

            I’ll take “Terminator” over this tomfoolery any day.

            In the matter of full disclosure I will say that I never watched a second of the “Transformers” TV shows when I was younger. I did own a few toys though.

            No even at such a young age, “Terminator” held my heart.

            I’m a one type of killer robot guy, its just who I am. Sure, some guys can hang out with all kinds of killer robots, but me? Nope, I like to settle down with that one special kind of killer robot and raise a little cyborg family.

            I’m sorry, what was I talking about? I got a bit sidetracked there, forgive that ugly tangent.

            As for the week’s other “big” release, “MSK,” which comes out on Friday— presumably to avoid splitting its audience with “Transformers 2,”— is about a girl who sues her parents for the rights to her own body so as to avoid being forced to give her sick older sister a kidney. Yeah, its one of THOSE kind of movies.

            Bring a few boxes of Kleenex with you and get ready to give the old tear ducts a workout if you go see this thing, which is based off of the Jodi Piccoult book.

            Fellows, don’t worry though, Alec Baldwin is in there somewhere. However, just from the trailer, I feel as though I can no longer take him seriously as an actor. He just seems stuck in his “30 Rock” character. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll be dragged to this and so I will make the best of it.

            I’ll just sit back and think of two robots beating the tar out of each… two TERMINATOR robots, that is. Mmmm… robot carnage.

            Vaya con dios.

Many things to get into today and by many I mean three things to get into. In other news, I’m actually going to update this more than once a week and make it into more of a blog. You’ll have a clear idea of what the content of subsequent, more frequent posts will contain later in this entry. Review of Octahedron is coming later this week. Time for some “True Blood.”

EPISODE 202: “Keep The Party Going”

In this episode, Jason began the Leadership retreat with the Fellowship of the Sun and is experiencing a conflict of the soul, of the conscience (he’s thinking of what he did for/to Eddie), Sookie’s good nature backfired considerably with Jessica AND Bill, Eric deemed the information Lafayette gave him useless, Lafayette was shot in the leg by crazy-glamoured-blond and gave Eric, Pam, and Bouncer Vamp Whose Name Escapes Me the idea of vamping him, Sam is still moody, and Maryann showed that she has the power of starting a wild dance party.

–Overall, a great, great episode. The second episode of any season is usually always better than the first because the premiere likes to set the stage for the season. The show continues to get better. It’s very enjoyable.

–The Jason Stackhouse storyline did not disappoint in episode two. It was equally entertaining and thoughtful. He’s not as stupid as he was last season. I got a kick out of his enthusiasm for everything. I indeed laughed out loud when he credited Moses as the one who walked on water in his scene with Mr. Envious-Former-Tight-End-for-Texas-Tech. He was quite shaken after acting out that scene with Mrs. Newlin (who it seems will eventually have sex with Jason). 

–The Sookie/Jessica stuff was good. I especially got a kick out of Jessica’s impersonation of Bill: “I have errands to run; errands which do not require your attendance” is the line I believe. Jessica’s story with her parents brought to mind the season one episode of ANGEL “The Prodigal.” Angel decides to kill his father. It’s the first thing he does as a vampire. Killing his father leads into killing his entire family. It is exactly what Jessica tries to do until Bill, angry as all hell, arrives and puts the kaibash on it (though he morbidly tells Sookie that he has to clean up the mess that she’s created). It is how the episode ended. Will Bill kill the entire family? No way. All he’ll do is glamour the family. I guarentee it. Speaking of the family, the actress who portrayed Colin Hart’s mother in “Everwood.” Once again, that actress portrayed the mother of a dead child. Colin’s mother, to digress, always had a bit of an attitude. In fact, the entire Hart clan did! I should buy season two on DVD. Anywho, I though the morbid way in which Bill told Sookie of new-vampire-impulses would lead to attempted murder on the part of Jessica. It did not.

–Lafayette was hilarious tonight as was Eric. The teaser of the episode was hilarious though extremely gruesome and bloody. Eric was concerned about blood-in-his-hair because Pam would flip. Slowly but surely Lafayette biting-way-of-being back. He got to the point where he stopped taking bullocks from people but then he showed extreme vulnerability when he was being taken to the basement again. Nelson Ellis is a terrific actor. He would’ve been great on LOST. Will he be a vampire the next time we see him? Yes. Alan Ball won’t kill him off, and there’s no way he survives being bitten by Pam, Eric, and BVWNEM.

–As for Maryann, she thinks in a foreign tongue, can eat endless amounts of food, and is able to incite dance parties. She also can turn Sam into a dog at will. Not cool, Maryann. I don’t like her, folks. Tara should move in with Sookie and forget about Maryann altogether but I know that Maryann will stick around. Her schtick is going to get old fast so Alan Ball should make whatever she is interesting. Another Obvious thing to note: everybody dancing moved their hands in the fashion of that statue shown last week.

That’s it for ‘True Blood.’ Time for LOST!

LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What do I have up my sleeve this week? Simple. I am introducing the LOST episode of the day. In no way will there be a LOST episode of the day every day but there will be a LOST episode of the day for every entry. 

THE LOST EPISODE OF THE DAY!

I should do a viral version of this entry so I could have a drum-roll. But this is text. The LOST episode of the day is…

The Variable!

Written by Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz

Directed by Paul Edwards
Original Airdate: April 29, 2009

I, literally, wrote about this episode two months ago. I had a vague dream about The Variable. It wasn’t about the episode itself. I wasn’t watching the episode in my head. I was, rather, living moments of that episode with the vague awareness that I felt like Daniel Faraday. I’m a geek. There’s no hiding that. I kept thinking about the doomed relationship of Daniel and (not Charlotte to surprise you all but rather) Theresa as well as the scene when Daniel is watching the discovery of wreckage of Oceanic 815 and he describes his feelings to Widmore as a reaction to the news story. “It’s just so sad.” I really feel like the writers gave Faraday the short-end of the stick. I mean, he went out with a whimper. Yes, he gave Jack the idea to change time, to (in his own words to his mother) ‘make time.’ Who knows what season six holds in store but I hope that Faraday returns somehow and in someway. This episode, as confirmed by Darlton, is the counter to the episode ‘The Constant.’ Carlton, I believe, used the phrase ‘a darker ‘Constant.’ This episode is well-worth re-watching. Here’s an excerpt from what I wrote after watching the episode: “The episode brought up the themes of LOST: free will vs. destiny, science vs. faith. Faraday has abandoned sciene in a way because he is just hoping he can change the future to undo the death of Charlotte.”

OASIS OFF!

I’m a big Oasis fan. Many Americans are huge fans of ‘Wonderwall.’ But is ‘Wonderwall’ their greatest song? That question is what begins the purpose of Oasis Off. What, in fact, is the best Oasis song? Is it ‘Wonderwall’? Or is it ‘Champagne Supernova’? Or is it ‘Live Forever,’ or ‘Supersonic’? Or none of these? I will not go through every song from the Oasis discography but there will be a substantial amount of songs that I will post on a frequent (maybe a daily basis but if not daily then I guarentee I won’t miss more than one day). What I’d like is feedback from people but if I don’t get any then I will take it into my own hands to decide their greatest song. Allow me to clarify what I mean by greatest. I merely am referring to songs that are known or well-known. And there’s a good chance every song on ‘Stop The Clocks’ will be included in Oasis Off as it is considered the greatest hits record and put together by the band themselves. I, personally, am extremely excited to do this. I want college students, in particular, to realize there are more songs in Oasis than ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Champagne Supernova.’ I want them to realize that there are other songs that can be played acoustically and will produce the desired result that playing ‘Wonderwall’ on acoustic at a party results in: getting laid. Here goes:

‘Don’t Go Away”–Be Here Now

It’s considered ‘Wonderwall’-lite. It’s from a (for some reason I do not understand) critically maligned album. Oh wait, I understand. Americans have ADD and can’t tolerate songs longer than 3.5 minutes. Be Here Now is fantastic. The third album of the one of the greatest first three albums ever released by a band. Anywho, ‘Don’t Go Away’ features some of the softest and gentlest vocal performances from Liam. His trademark scowl and snarl is not present during this track. His singing attitude (which makes him terrific mind you) disappears for the 4:48 length of the track. The song features some great guitar-work from Noel. In a word, it’s a nice song. A really nice song. Go ahead and take a listen for a video is included in this very post.

Random Musings from the Entertainment Desk

 

             The 09-10 NHL Season: Hope Springs Eternal

            There’s always next year.

            It’s the mind-numbingly familiar refrain echoed by fans of unsuccessful sports teams everywhere. Didn’t win the championship? Never fear, there’s always next year! Turn that frown upside down, next year your team will wear the crown!

            Tell that to the San Jose SaberCats, the team who lost the 2008 Arena Bowl to the Philadelphia Soul. Shortly thereafter, the AFL cancelled its 2009 season due to a lack of funding.

            The current plan is to bring the league back for a 2010 season, but alas, in this “harsh economic climate” who can be certain of anything?

            Certain of anything other then the obvious need to start stockpiling water, coffee and “The Dark Knight” DVDs. Once the 2^nd Great Depression hits, those DVDs will be more valuable then gold mixed with silver and a dash of Starbucks Coffee.

            The upcoming and inevitable total breakdown of society aside— let’s get back to what really matters, shall we?

            For the Philadelphia Flyers— unlike our oddly named friends from San Jose— there will be a definite next year. Beyond that? If Bozo Bettman remains in power, who can say for sure?  

            The Flyers slogan for the 2008-2009 Season was “Hungry for More.” Unfortunately for the fans, the Flyers undid their belts some time around early January and by April the team had pushed their chairs back from the table and belched loudly.

            And they hadn’t left any room for dessert in the form of a lengthy playoff run.

            Nope, the formerly “hungry” Flyers were completely stuffed.

            The Flyers slogan for this season? Well, nothing is set in stone just yet but I have an idea I’d like to throw out there.

            Redemption.

            Sure, it’s a bit corny, but that is what this season should be about for most of this organization.

            Starting near the top with general manager Paul Holmgren. Coming out of the disastrous 2006- 2007 season, Homer could do no wrong.

            He had huge amounts of room under the cap, a retooled and dangerous young roster, and he wasn’t Bobby Clarke.

            Homer worked a masterful off-season. He added Danny Briere, Joffrey Lupul, Jason Smith, Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell while still managing to keep the team’s young core together.

            But lately, things haven’t been going Homer’s way.

            He horribly mismanaged the cap this past season, using the long-term injury list as a get out of cap trouble for free card. That routine only worked until the team was completely healthy, and once that happened, Homer was forced to face his bombastic spending head on.

            Suddenly, trading for Matt Carle’s huge contract and Andrew Albert’s modest one no longer seemed like such great ideas.

            Homer had to let both Glenn Metroploit and Ossi Vaananen go via waivers just to get Briere off the aforementioned long-term IR list.

            Then, Homer did the unforgivable in the eyes of many fans— he traded speedy, yet highly inconsistent winger Scottie Upshall to Phoenix for fighter Danny Carcillo in order to clear cap space to keep promising forward Claude Giroux on the roster.

            Homer messed up. Huge. Not in trading Upshall, who would have left this summer as a free agent anyway, but in the way he handled the cap early in the season. He made moves for the present without any thought paid to the future. Those are the kind of moves that eventually cost Clarke the GM job.

            Homer paid no attention to what would happen when the team got healthy and his short-sightedness cost the team. Homer will have to fix the cap, while still adding at least one defensemen and a face-off winning center this offseason.

            If he doesn’t accomplish most of that and manage to redeem himself with the fans, Homer’s fairy tale run as GM will end without a happily ever after.

 

            Head coach John Stevens needs to prove that he can motivate and control his team. His low-key approach might make him a “player-friendly” coach, but it could cost him his job if the Flyers continue their undisciplined and inconsistent play throughout another season.

            Stevens is a nice guy, and a good coach, but he needs to reign in a locker room that occasionally lacks focus and typically lacks discipline.

            It won’t be easy, but if he doesn’t pull it off, Stevens may not be able to call himself the “second longest tenured coach in the Eastern Conference” for much longer.

            Of course, at the end of the day it’s the players who need to produce on the ice.

            The player on the roster who best personifies redemption is new starting goalie Ray Emery. Back in the NHL after a season spent exiled in Russia, Emery is going to need to prove that he can be a number one goalie again, he is also going to need to prove that he has left his air-craft carrier sized load of personal problems behind him. For good.

            No more fights with teammates or athletic trainers. No more “Fast and the Furious” style driving on city streets. And positively NO more… cockroach eating? Oh Ray.

            As for the guys who were actually ON the team last year, heading up the list of mea culpa candidates is Danny Briere.

            Now, I love Danny. I’ve never understood the resentment the fans have felt for him since he first stepped off the plane from Buffalo.

            “He makes too much money,” they whine. “He doesn’t play defense.”

            Cry me a river folks. I’m sorry but the Flyers absolutely needed this guy when they signed him.

            Who knew Richards and Carter would develop so quickly? Better question: Could either one of them HAVE developed so quickly WITHOUT Briere taking some of the spotlight off of them?

            So he makes too much. He’s a professional athlete, it goes with the territory. As for his lack of defense? Well, its true that Danny won’t be winning the Selke Trophy for Best Defensive forward anytime soon, he’s defensive ineptitude has been HIGHLY over blown.

            As for trading him? Well, he has a six million dollar a year contract and he’s coming off a season in which he only played 29 games. You want to trade him? Good luck.

            No, Danny’s not going anywhere but he does need to prove that he is worth the money. He needs to stay healthy and continue the near point-a-game pace that he’s been on since he got here. Playing a full year with the likes of Simon Gagne or Claude Giroux should ensure that.

            Honestly though, I’ll never understand all the Danny-hating.     

            Mike Richards, the team’s young captain is another player on the hot seat. He recently signed a Garth Snow-esque contract that should keep him in a Flyers uniform until 2120, I think. I’ll look into that, but in any case Richards needs to grab the often wandering attentions of his fellow teammates and never let go. He needs to keep them focused on the task at hand. They need to know that there will be no more taking shifts off or whole games off for that matter. He can’t tolerate that from them any longer.

            Jeff Carter needs to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke. Also, he needs to prove that he can play 82 games without all the nights off mentally that he took last year.

            Scott Hartnell needs to prove that he can be more then a goof with talent. He NEEDS to grow up or he needs to GO. The bottom line is that as entertaining as he may be, his crap will NOT be allowed any more. No more stupid, lazy penalties. Keep playing the way you did last year and I will personally drive you to Glen Falls so you can play for the Phantoms.

            Of course, this list could go on and on. There isn’t a single player on this team who should be thrilled with their performance from last year. There is room for improvement all around.

            “The 2009-2010 Philadelphia Flyers: REDEMPTION Hockey.”

            Not quite as intimidating as “Vengeance” but it sure beats the alternatives: “The 2009-2010 Philadelphia Flyers: We OWE You One” or “The 2009-2010 Philadelphia Flyers: The Way We SHOULD Have Played Last Year.”

            Or there’s: “The 2009-2010 Philadelphia Flyers: Coach Stevens Just Told Us that Games Last for 60 Minutes and the Season has 82 Games… Whoops! Our Bad!”

            So here we go, the free agent season is fast approaching and close behind it comes a brand new hockey campaign. Time to put the mess that was last year behind us and move on with a blind sort of hope that only sports can really bring out in people.

            The same blind hope that Detroit Lions fans feel each fall. The same crazy optimism that leads LA Clippers fans to believe that this is finally going to be their year. The same type of unfounded hope that Tampa Bay “Just” Rays fans felt, going into the 2008 baseball season. An unfounded hope that soon turned into reality.

            In the blink of an eye, even a team that had never finished a season with a winning record can go all the way to the World Series. All you have to do is believe. And if not this season? Well, there’s always next year…

            Vaya con dios.

 

“True Blood” began its second season Sunday on HBO. I finished the first season successfully and in time for the premiere. Don’t expect this to be like my LOST recaps/reviews. LOST is special. I like “True Blood” as I wrote last week. I’m not particularly invested in any one character though. I have favorites, of course. On the whole, though, it’s no Joss Whedon show or LOST. I won’t bother explaining my favorite characters. Hopefully, you pick up on it as I deliver my thoughts on a weekly basis. If you don’t, it’s no big deal. 
EPISODE 201: ‘Nothing But The Blood’

–The episode dealt with the corpse in Andy’s car, began to reveal a little about lover-of-pigs Maryann and the history with Sam, the justice side of Eric’s sheriff duties, Bill’s role as father to the woman he turned as punishment for killing Longshadow, Jason’s interest in the Fellowship of the Sun, as well as the grief Sookie still experiences for her grandmother. 

–Readers of the books “True Blood” is based on did not shut up about Lafayette being the corpse in the car. It wasn’t. Fans are happy regardless because Lafayette’s an awesome character. Miss Jeanette was the unfortunate victim in the car. Tara was mightily spooked and paranoid that she’d be a suspect because she yelled at Miss Jeanette (the actual name is Nicole something but I’ll just refer to her as Miss Jeanette) for conning her and her mother out of a lot of money (she gave exorcisms to both) though she did teach Tara about the importance of faith which Tara promptly ignored resulting in her current stay with Maryann (which seems like a good deal right now but probably will not be such a good thing as the story progresses). Two questions here: why did the murderer plant the body in good ol’ Andy Bellefleur’s car? And, why was Miss Jeanette killed? Let’s hope season two isn’t about another serial killer. The end is always disappointing when done in a television series. I might exclude Veronica Mars from that list though. I have to think about both seasons. Season Two of Veronica only dealt with the person who caused the bus accident so it was a killer but not a serial killer. I’m afraid this is going to lead me into rant about what would’ve been a better way to tell season two of Veronica Mars structurally speaking with regards to order of episodes. Perhaps another time…

–I’m on board with the Jason Stackhouse storyline so far. There’s no annoying Amy Burley this time around or ‘V’. It seems as if Jason is interested in redeeming himself as a person and is not a vampire-hater (which is a good thing because he was a fan of Eddie and I dislike inconsistency in a story). On the televisionwithoutpity.com forum for “True Blood,” they are wondering how long it’ll take Jason to have sex with Rev. Newlin’s wife. I doubt that’ll happen. Another interesting aspect of Jason’s conversion involves his interpretation of receiving the money Uncle Bartlett left Sookie. He, of course, perceived it as an act of God; as a sign that he’s meant to take part in the Leadership program. Jason contradicts this newfound faith of his by lying to Sookie about the church that is holding the Leadership conference. He’d probably feel quite differently if he knew that he received the money as a result of something a vampire did, a part of Satan’s darkness as written about in the Rev. Newlin the Senior’s book. I’m sure that was intentional on the part of the writers. I think it’s going to be a complex, deep and engaging storyline.

–Well, we’ve found out the deal with Maryann. Not only does she love being outside naked with pigs but she also enjoys sex with minors. There’s that mystery. I’m sure the whole epileptic-like seizure she had is of no importance at all and I can move right along without writing anything about it? Oh, wait? It is important for the story? Oh, well. I still don’t care about Maryann’s deal. I am interested in knowing why she came to Bon Tams to find Sam since she seems to be devoid of human emotion and sentiment known as love. We’ll see.

–Bill is extremely cooler as nerdish and stumbling over how to “raise” Jessica as a vampire than he is as an Angel rip-off. One of my favorite Bill scenes from season one was his Wii golf scene. More of that and less of the brooding. I mean, come on…he’s not Angel. Never will be. Also: here’s hoping the Bill/Jessica story remains an aspect of comedy. 

–The death of Uncle Bartlett came back to bite Bill for about two seconds and then he called Sookie his miracle which led to Anna Paquin topless nudity for the male audience and some quality sucking of the blood for good ol’ Billy. We were all winners.

–I have a sense that Andy Bellefleur will soon emerge as the hero at some point. He’s been humiliated and embarassed for a bit of time now. It makes narrative sense for him to emerge from this, for he to become the man he always claimed himself to be. 

–Eric likes to exact justice on those who have engaged in wrong-doing against vampires which putting highlights in his hair (or whatever it’s called). I found that funny. He’s also in control of the fate of Lafayette who it turns out is not dead which is great because Lafayette is hilarious. Previews have him asking Eric to make him a vampire. It’d be cool, I guess. Becoming a vamp isn’t like becoming a vamp in ANGEL or Buffy. They don’t become instantly evil and souless. It reminds me of the final scene in episode six of the third season of ANGEL. Fred tries to console Wesley after Wesley tried to kill her after being infected by Mr. Misogyny Billy’s touch. She says that what happened wasn’t in him but, rather, it was something that was done to him. It’s like that in “True Blood.” Don’t be surprised if I continue to mention ANGEL (and possibly Buffy) in these reviews/recaps/thoughts/whatever you want to call it. I thought of ANGEL a bit during the first season (and I’ve been re-watching ANGEL late at night). Go ahead and make Lafayette a vampire.

–I’m not looking forward to the possible return to drunkard Tara’s mom. Maryanne gave her a whole chunk of her mind outside of the police station and Lettie May look rather frazzled by the tongue-lashing. I’m really not into the drug/alcohol addictions on any show. I was elated that Charlie-is-addicted-to-Heroin plot went away in mid-season two. I dug it in season one but not in season two. It’s connected to one of the problems I have with season two which I believed I addressed in that fantastic entry with LOST and the Mars Volta. Don’t you worry, reader, I will be diving into LOST soon. I do not plan on breaking my promise of writing about every week until the season premiere in January. Back to “True Blood.”

–For a show that has a main character, they pretty much ignored her in the premiere. Sookie wasn’t involved in much. She attempted to clean out her Gram’s room but could not because it’s her Gram. I liked that. Other than that, she got mad at Bill for the Jessica thing, Sam didn’t put up with her nonsense this time (which was great), and then she forgave Bill after getting mad at him for the Bartlett stuff. That’s about it.

–Other stuff: Terry’s slowly charming Arlene, some girl named Daphne joined the staff at Merlotte’s, and we saw that the Sheriff is a square-dancing fan. All in all, not too bad an episode.

LOST!

I recorded season two’s “Maternity Leave” on DVR when it aired on ABC late Saturday night/technically early Sunday morning. I only wanted to watch the last scene with Claire talking to Aaron (when she gives him the slipper she knitted him while in The Arrow).

 

Something struck me though and I began thinking about the season-five-mirrored-season-two. There’s a scene in “Maternity Leave” when Claire has Sun take care of Aaron because Claire is about to embark on a journey to The Arrow to (she hopes) retrieve medicine for Aaron. Now Claire’s extremely pissy throughout the episode. Yelling at people and whatnot. Sun doesn’t seem comfortable taking Aaron. Yunjin Kim did a great job playing the scene. She tells Claire that a mother should not leav her child. Claire does not appreciate Sun’s opinion and wonders, rhetorically speaking, whether Sun is a mother. Sun of course says no. 

AND THEN CUT TO SEASON FIVE! Sun is the mother of Ji Yeon. She leaves South Korea to take revenge on Ben but plans on going back to S. Korea. Things change when Ben tells her that Jin is alive and uses the wedding ring as proof. As we all know, she boards 316 and comes back to the Island. Sun is the one who leaves her child now. It’s not an exact mirror because of the motivations behind Sun’s decision. There’s a quote from either Damon or Carlton about LOST and the concept of the looking glass. Alas, I cannot remember the quote. Season Five showed the motivations of some characters turned 360 degrees like Jack. Jack was a staunch man of science during season two. Didn’t believe in the button. Always thought Locke was crazy. In season Five, he is entirely a man of faith so much so that he believes he was meant to change time and the future. There are other elements which I’ve detailed in recaps past which I won’t reiterate in this space. I wanted to write about the Sun thing though because it’s cool. 

OTHER STUFF!

–I’m going to begin writing about music very soon. I’ll have a review of the new Mars Volta record next week maybe as well as thoughts about the solo efforts of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. I’ll also write about the greatness of Incubus and Oasis.

–I might have a review of Summer Hours up in the near future. 

–I’ll probably write a little about David Foster Wallace’s non-fiction as well.

-Chris Monigle