Dancing with the Stars (so far)

Dancing with the Stars is a show I always meant to watch and never got around to it. Well, in fairness, I don't get to watch a lot of TV just in general anymore, but every time there was a contestant I was interested I always make plans to watch and then never did. But Amber Riley is on this season and I love her from Glee and I follow her on Twitter and she just seems like such a genuine person that I decided to go ahead and finally watch the show. But then we don't have TV service anymore. So what to do? YouTube and Hulu were my answer. Now every Tuesday at lunch I've been catching up on DWTS. I tried to talk to a co-worker about it but she apparently hates Derek Hough who is Amber's partner and since I like Amber and Derek is a great dancer, we didn't get very far in our conversation. I have virtually no background on any of the dancers so I think I'm missing a lot of information that long time fans of the show have. But that's okay.

My favorites so far are Amber and Derek and Bill and Emma. Bill has a charm that I find endearing. Of course, I've seen his stand-up routines and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour so I was already familiar with his charm. But you can see how much he honestly seems to care about the others. And he's clearly made friends. Everyone always looks so excited to see him finish a routine and he brings a levity to rehearsals that the rest of the stars/dancers need on occasion. He genuinely looked super sad when Nicole (Snooki) was outed and he was safe. I thought he was going to cry. He looked stunned and confused. I think he is just a good guy.

Corbin Bleu seems like a cool guy but, I mean, let's be honest. He's had professional training. Maybe not ballroom dance training but if you are use to training and you have natural ability like he does, then it's not really a fair competition. Still I enjoy watching him and Karina dance. They have amazing chemistry and I wonder about them together as a couple. Maybe most couples are like this since they spend so much time together but they do spend a lot of time touching. Elizabeth Berkley is very intense, almost disturbingly so but she is a good dancer and I like her with her partner Val. They seem like they are just really intense together. Brant Daugherty is not someone I previously heard of but apparently he is on Pretty Little Liars, a show I never watched and a book series I couldn't get into. He is a decent dancer and he has really nice teeth. He is another one with great chemistry with his partner, Peta, and I wonder too about them. That was a pretty decent kiss at the end of their last routine.  Jack Osbourne, I am only familiar with from the reality show with his parents. But he is a cool guy though he falls more on the pessimistic side with good reason. Lately he's been dealt a raw hand between his MS and the recent miscarriage his wife suffered (something thankfully DWTS hasn't mentioned). He is a good dancer with a natural musicality (as they say) though his face is stiff and in the first few dances you could almost see him counting. But I like him. Leah Remini is not my favorite. She as person seems cool, very dry wit and sarcasm but she is not a good dancer and certainly should have went home before Nicole. And then lastly is Amber who is my favorite and I hope she wins. She is doing good this season and has a lot of talent. But it's basically the same thing as Corbin. She's had professional training and I know that on Glee there are long days and long practices so it's not like she hasn't done this before. I know ballroom is different though and she certainly struggled with the hold for the paso doble but her timing and her musicality and her acting ability are certainly coming into play for her. I don't know if she will win. I like her with Derek. They have a brother/sister vibe that works for them.

This past episode with the team dances was crazy. I like Team Foxing Awesome's the best but that shit was crazy. I also don't think it was fair to have Corbin and Amber and Brant and Derek on the same team. The cards were definitely in their favor. But they also did bring it with a bizarre song. So that was a challenge. Team Spooky BomBom's routine was also really cool but not as crisp as Foxing Awesome. Bill held that team's routine together and he did a great job. However it's hard going up against Derek's choreography and Amber and Corbin's talent. I think Team Spooky BomBom should have had at least one 10 though.

Some of the complaints I've been seeing on the scoring are how can Jack, say, get an 8 for that and Corbin a 9 when Corbin's is clearly superior? Well I think they need to be judged differently. One of them is practically a professional and the other is not. They can't be judged on the same scale so I think the judges might have different standards for them. Certainly Jack is not going to pull of the same moves Corbin does and so I don't think it is fair to judge them the same way. And Corbin is capable of those higher standards so it is fair to expect more of him. No one was going to judge Valerie Harper the same they were going to judge Amber or Elizabeth. It's only fair.

No TV, no football

I've never really been a huge football fan. And I'm still not to a certain degree. When I was at LSU for graduate school they won the National Championship and it was around then I started to pay attention. I think my problem was I didn't understand the rules of football. It always seemed to me they would take forever to play one minute and it took a long time for them to set up for less than 10 seconds of play. But once I understood the rules better, I started to enjoy it more. Now I will seek any LSU or Saints game and try and watch it. I don't try to watch other teams so I wouldn't say I'm a football fan, just a Louisiana football fan. I will root for my team but very few others. My husband is a big football fan though. He plays fantasy football and will watch just about any game.

But we canceled our TV service if you remember and now there's no football at our house. It's a little sad actually and I think if anything breaks us and makes us bring back TV it will be football. How sad is that? Surely we don't really need sports. We get along fine without it most of the time. Luckily my parents will invite us over so we can watch with them. Football is always better as a social activity, right? Right. Well we will just have to see how this goes.

Currently streaming

Long ago I said I wanted to cancel the satellite TV and just have Netflix and maybe Hulu+. And we kicked the idea around and finally BT agreed despite the fact that it is almost football season. But I ended up suspending it for 6 months to see how we liked having no regular TV before we all out canceled it. So Monday was our last day with regular TV. I subscribed to Hulu on Tuesday and we are giving that a whirl. So far I haven't missed it. I don't watch a whole lot of TV. I use to watch a lot of TV and then I had kids and just stopped. There are a few shows that I really wanted to watch and some of them are available on the services mentioned. But I will mostly miss Cupcakes Wars and Tia and Tamera, two of my favorite shows and ones that I made a point of watching. I think I will survive without them and hopefully they will show up in streaming one day.

I know quite a few people who do this and none of them have said too many negative things. One of my co-workers even said that it was good for the kids since they see a lot less advertisements and that is one benefit I am looking forward to. Bub was getting too invested and wanting too much of what he saw on TV. So this is good in that regard.

I am pretty happy with the selection available so far but I wish there was one more streaming service available. Netflix lacks in some pretty big company areas due to rights agreements and so I wish I could get one more supplementing service. But so far so good. Bub won't care and BT will only care if he gets a daytime job and will be missing football. But as of now Netflix has his science and history shows and so he is good. As far me, well, like I said, I don't watch a lot of TV on my own anymore and the one show I do care about trying to keep up with is available on streaming (Once Upon a Time) so I think I'll be okay. 

Best Ink {season 2}

Wednesday night I stumbled on Best Ink. It's apparently the second season though I hadn't heard of the show before. I love tattoos and I love competition shows so I got sucked in. It's seems a bizarre thing to compete about since it is so permanent, not like hair or clothes, but I kept reminding myself that these are actual professionals. Not just apparently the best professionals. Quite a few are certainly not selling themselves very well.

The format is they do a Flash Challenge involving some kind of art and then they do the regular Tattoo Competition. The Flash Challenge has a cash prize and sometimes an extra bonus. With the Tattoo Competition, the winner receives immunity (at least at the beginning of the season).

Episode 1

Let's meet the contestants (as far as I can remember them)

Kelly
Derek
DJ
Teresa - seems like a cool girl
Melvin- seems like a nice guy
Ralph
Brittany
Carolyn - looks like a Monster High doll, is scared of people
Alli
Dollarz - is street
Tylor - was very briefly a male model and he reminds me of someone famous. Maybe Kevin Dillon?
Jerod

The first Flash Challenge involves hanging from a building and tagging a billboard with a self portrait. Melvin wins.

DJ won the first Tattoo Competition. Carolyn lost with her gory girl tattoo because it had a dead eye.
Kelly gets to stay despite the fact that her girl just up and walked out. It got pretty ugly. So the girl left with an incomplete tattoo. Maybe she was having second thoughts of being a tattoo competition show? 

Episode 2

Flash Challenge, guest judge Ray J (gross) - Using blacklight paints, the artists have to paint a picture that looks different under the blacklights than it does in regular light. Jerod wins with pretty cool painting of a girl and a boy who look broken but under the blacklights the picture changes to a silhouette of them kissing.

Tattoo Competiton - Using UV ink this challenge follows along with the flash challenge, create a tattoo that looks different under the blacklights. All the "skins" have secrets to reflect in their tattoos.

Brittany wins with her portrait of a girl who under the blacklights is very bright and loud. Jerod's was also cool looking like a Native American pin-up and then changing to a roller derby girl under the blacklights.
Melvin lost with his owl and snake. The snake was huge next to the owl. Kelly gets to stay despite that hers is ugly too. Teresa misspelled Philippians on her client because she didn't spell check but other than that her tattoo was really nice.

Episode 3

Flash Challenge, guest judge Vanessa and Angela Simmons - The artists paint on Pastry sneakers. DJ wins because he panders to the judges and brings up their dad.

Tattoo Competition -  Pairs. The artists are paired together to do matching tattoos for their pair of skins. Mostly it is parent/child pairs but there are two sets of siblings too, a set of twins who have had a colorful and seemingly troubled filled life despite looking like they are only 20 years old and a stepsister pair getting tattoos to commerate their late father.
Winner - Teresa who is shaping up to being a real competitor. She does good work. She won for her puzzle piece tattoo on one of the stepsisters.
Kelly loses (finally) for her ridiculous horse tattoo that one of the twins has to wear. I hope they offer to fix it for him. The best part is when the head judge Joe told her that they didn't want to see anymore from her. So it's fine to let her fuck up 3 different people but this is just the limit?

So far I am liking this show. I like how the 3 top artists of the challenge get to choose the 3 bottom artists. It actually seems fair and they are kind of strategizing but mostly playing it straight right now. Some of the artists are much more passionate than the others. I'm actually shocked that Taylor is a good as he is and I really like Teresa even if she did screw one of the most basic things about lettering. Alli doesn't seem to have it together with her inability to make a decision on her own. They must do a lot for her at her work. And Dollarz isn't going to make it. He always seems a bit confused and he had a hard time going outside his comfort zone in Episode 3.

TV, my lost entertainment

TV. I would actually like to watch more of it. After Lost went off I couldn't commit to anything. I started watching Once Upon a Time recently but I've fallen behind. I also have Grimm recorded but haven't watched it. I had planned on using some of my time off to get caught up but mostly we have been watching Eureka and Warehouse 13 on Netflix, two excellent shows, one of which has sadly been canceled. I generally watch what ever Bub is watching which means a lot of Power Rangers and cartoons. Mostly I have been reading. I've managed to read two or three books since I've been on maternity leave, an improvement over the last few months of pregnancy when I had trouble getting into anything. So that is probably actually better. It's just that I miss regular TV sometimes. I will have to start trying to keep up with a couple of shows.

On the Disney Channel and their selfish girls

I watch a lot of the Disney Channel.  I'd like to say it's because I have a child but it's not.  I mean, we watch Playhouse Disney together and that is not something I would typically watch without a 3 year old.  Anyway,  I like their sitcom shows because mostly they are fun and easy and make good background noise.  But I've noticed that the main girl characters in several shows are not the best role models.  For example, both Miley Stewart on Hannah Montana and Alex Russo on Wizards of Waverly Place and even Raven on That's So Raven are very selfish, immature, bratty girls.  Now those shows are fairly talented supporting casts but the shows are mostly focused on the main girl.   The main girl who exhibits no feelings of sympathy or empathy to her "friends,"  who doesn't seem to care when something bad happens to her friends and will only focus on how it effects her.  Maybe this is a realistic portrait of girls today, but I sincerely hope not.  I wonder why Disney chose to focus on such bratty children. 

Let's take Miley for example.  For the first couple of seasons the show was mostly about Hannah Montana and how having a double life as a pop star has effected her real life.  Fine, that's what the show was pitch as and they obviously pulled it off since it became such a popular show.  Once the show became a super hit and Miley Cyrus became a star in her own right, the show went for more Miley at home type of episodes.  And in each one of them she does something stupid and makes Lily and Oliver join in and then chaos ensues, etc.  Maybe it's less how the show is written and more how Miley delivers her lines, like she is entitled to mess with everyone's lives and heads and there are virtually no consequences for disobeying her father or continually treating her friends like they are less important.

And Alex on Wizards...I actually hate that character.  Like so much I don't even watch that show.  I know I'm not the target and am WAY too old to watch that show anyway, but still.  I find Alex, of all the characters, the worst one.  She can't stand to do anything for anyone for an unselfish reason.  She treats her friend, Harper, like dirt and then acts like because she is pretty and magical it's ok.  It's not!  It is not ok and she has to be the worst role model of them all. 

I do find that the ensemble shows, Sonny with a Chance, JONAS, Good Luck Charlie, have much more tolerable lead girls which seems like a much more conscious decisions.  Now granted JONAS is actually about the girls, but the guys.  However they seemed to have upgraded a bit on the new LA show so I'm counting it.  I just really hope that with Hannah going off the air soon and hopefully (please!) Wizards ending within the next year or two that Disney can introduce a new girl show with much kinder and caring teenage girls.

Tin Man (mini-series)

Since I read the Wizard of Oz recently I found this mini-series from 2007 that tied in with it.  It is a alternate retelling of that book mixed with a few elements from the movie.  DG is a waitress living on a farm with her parents when she is whisked away one night during a tornado.  She winds up in the O.Z. (Outer Zone) where she meets Glich, a man with half a brain (Scarecrow), Raw, a lion-like telepath (Lion), and Cain, who was imprisoned in a literal tin man, and is now looking for the man who put him there (Tin Man).  Together they work their way around the O.Z. with DG trying to find her way home and finding a lot more about herself than she knew existed.

This was a darker, more cynical re-imagining.  The characters are heavily flawed and can be downright scary at times.  Zooey Deschanel plays GD and I like her in general.  She has this deadpan way of speaking and she is so pretty.  Alan Cumming plays Glich in a wonderful performance.  The only one that seemed a little over the top was Kathleen Robinson who plays Azkadellia, the evil sorceress.  Or maybe that was just her costumes because some of them bothered me.

But it was good movie, if a little uneven, especially in the visuals department.  Sometimes they had beautiful effects and the other times the special effects were meh.  The story was very cool and I like the whole idea of it.  If you are a Wizard fan or a fan of sci-fi, I would check it out.

Reality shows I WILL Watch

I'm not big on reality TV.  I don't like the competition shows and I've never gotten into any singing or dancing shows.  I used to be a big Project Runway fan but it's gotten really boring and stale so no more.  I used to watch America's Next Top Model but Tyra is completely ridiculous and I can't stand to watch her anymore.  That was a funny show though.   There are a couple of shows that I still like however and will watch if I come across them.

I like Say Yes to the Dress and it took me forever to figure out why.  It's because it's funny how much drama people create over a dress.  Sometimes though they have really touching stories.  Also PRETTY DRESSES.  And now there is Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta which might be great.  Southern people and weddings should equally some great drama.

I also like I Didn't' Know I was Pregnant.  It just seems so crazy that all these women didn't know they were pregnant until they go into labor and then have perfectly healthy babies.  I wonder if they only pick people whose babies turned out ok because there has to be someone out there who didn't a good experience.  Not that I want something bad to happen to anyone or any baby but still.  Maybe the message they are passing along is that prenatal care isn't necessary.  I don't know.  But I still like it.

Along the same vein I like 16 and Pregnant.  It's interesting to see how different teens handle being a parent.  Often I simultaneously want to slap them and hug them because they just don't get it.  I like the teens who actually take care of their babies and don't try to pass the baby off to their mom.  Sometimes the adult parents are good, sometimes they are worse than the teenagers.  It's fascinating stuff.

And House Hunters.  I've always like looking at houses and this show appeals to the voyeur in me.  I especially like House Hunters International because of all the beautiful locations.

"The End" (Lost thoughts)

a'll, I am so sad this is over.  I cried so much last night.  Pretty much every time someone had an epiphany.  I love Charlie and Claire and it made me so happy to see them together again.  But it wasn't just them.  It was everyone.  I'm going to miss this show, flaws and all.  I've been trying to avoid comments on other pages because I truly loved this episode and I don't want anyone to ruin that for me.  Was it perfect?  No.  Was it great?  Yes.  Am I surprised by the ending?  Yes and no.  Some people are calling the ending a cop-out.  But I wonder what would be the best way to end it other than this ending.  No matter what the writers had decided someone would be calling bullshit.  I think they told the story they wanted to tell and that's that. 

I think (and it seems to be the consensus) that everything happened on the Island and everything in Sideways world is just like a holding place for the characters tell they could move on together.  Sideways world was how the characters had wished things had gone.  So they died at some point in their lives (obviously) and made this world where Kate was innocent, and Jack had a son, and Sawyer choose to be good, etc.  There were flaws, but each character got what he or she ultimately wanted.  Some people say they died in the crash, but I don't think so. Christian says that everything really happened and that it all mattered.  It was just a holding place.  They didn't all die at once, but some died before Jack and some died after.  But they wanted to be together to move on.

I'm not sorry that the other mysteries weren't cleared up.  It would have been nice, but it wasn't the point of the show to me.  The point was what happened to the people.  I was invested in them.  I can't think right now of one mystery that I'm dying to understand.  I have reach a place of understanding with Lost.  Sometimes things happen and you will never know why.  That's a lot like real life. 

So much happened last night.  It was very epic.  The whole Lost story revolved around fate vs. free will.  Jack volunteered to be the new Jacob, but it was Hurley's destiny.  Jack's destiny was to save the Island.  Jack is a fixer so of course he would be the one to "fix" the Island.  And, God, that last scene with Vincent.  It makes me tear up just thinking about it.  It's just so sweet and moving.

There's so much to say, but others are going to analyze it to death.  I just wanted to say that I'm going to miss Lost.  It was a truly great show.

"What They Died For" (Lost thoughts)

nd then that happened... I'm not sure what to say.  I'm not surprised that Jack took up the mantle of Island protector. He has always wanted to be the savior.  It was obvious that no one else really wanted it.  But it sucks that Jacob wasn't really holding hard and fast to his list while it was causing MiB to kill off the people on the list.  I'm sad because this has lead to the loss of Sayid, Jin, and Sun as well as a lot of other people.  If only the two little boys had been able to resolve their issues before instead of all these games.  But it is understandable that MiB is pissed that Jacob basically threw him under the bus.

Desmond is freaking creepy in Sideways world, yeah?  Cool to see Ana Lucia and interesting she is willing to be paid off.  But that is neither here nor there.  I'm guessing Desmond and Kate are on their way to wake up Jack at David's concert.  Maybe we will see the mom.  Is it Mother?  Doubtful.  I'm hoping for Juliet.  Maybe if they introduced Charlie and Claire she would "wake up."  I just want them to be together.   I have never shipped a couple so hard as Charlie and Claire.  But that's my own thing.

Ben was in rare form.  That man always has a game and he knows what it is like to work for MiB.  I'm betting he has an angle and that he will be important in the end just like he always wanted.  Ben just wanted to be important in some way.  I knew he was going to rat out Widmore b/c he blames Widmore for Alex's death.  So I wasn't surprised at that.  It is almost funny how fast they are going through characters.  But my Richard!  Nooooooooo.  I hope he is not dead yet.

I'm surprised so far at where this ended up.  I'm hoping to be surprised some more.  I think I've reached a Zen place with this show.  Whatever happens happens.

"Across the Sea" (Lost thoughts)

usually write this after one viewing because I like writing down my initial "knee jerk" reactions.  And that is what I'm doing right now.  But I feel like this one had so much and nothing at all.  I'm going to have to watch it again.

What we learned:

acob and the still unnamed Man in Black are brothers, more to the point twins.  They are the mysterious blond and dark haired kid plaguing current Locke.  Except that Jacob "killed" his brother (hmmm) so whoever is walking around in the MiB suit is not the brother.  MiB and their "mother" are Adam and Eve from the beginning of the show.  So that shows that the brother was actually dead.  Was Smokey released from wherever because Jacob killed his brother in anger and threw him into the mysterious light/"heart of the Island?"  Remember when John Locke looked into the heart of the Island and thought it was beautiful.  Is the Island trying to escape itself?  Does that make any sense at all?

Jacob seemed a little simple, yes?  He was so childlike and trusting even as an adult while his brother was always questioning.  The mother seemed to favor MiB or so Jacob says and I guess he was intended to be the caretaker of the Island, but he just wanted to leave.  So it was left to Jacob to take care of the mysterious light and the whatever place it leads/lead.  Was the mother immortal?  She was stabbed with the same knife that is being passed around and she was grateful to be dying so she must have lived a long time.  She said she didn't want MiB to leave because she loved him which is a crap reason if it is true.  Was it because she herself couldn't leave or was there another reason she didn't say?  She's the one that made it so that they can't hurt each other.  Maybe Smokey is repayment for Jacob hurting his brother.   Because he wasn't suppose to.  This explains MiB saying that Jacob betrayed him and took his body from him.

Now I feel sorry for the old MiB/the brother.  He just wanted to leave and didn't seem to have any other intentions beyond it.  I do not feel sorry for the current Locke.  His intentions are obviously nasty.  I hope everyone gets the right resolution.  I'm assuming Jacob's guilt is the reason behind his acquiesce to his own murder by Ben.

Elsewhere, we get a little about the electromagnetic pockets and the wells on the Island.  Not too much about their significance that I can understand though.  But we sort of know where the donkey wheel came from even though it wasn't put in when the mother cracked MiB's head and buried the well.  But what is this light?  Is it gone now that Smokey is out?  Obviously it can still be harassed because Ben turns the wheel but it leads to Tunisia, but why there, I wonder?  And why does it move the Island?

I'm guessing the mother didn't know what to do with two boys.  Maybe she figured she had one to take over and one to be with her or something.  I need to watch this one again.  I feel like I must be missing something.  I'm noticing a lot of hate for this episode.  I liked it.  The acting on parts was meh, I will agree, but I feel like when this is all over this episode will have some deeper meaning.  It's like looking at one part of a puzzle.  That piece by itself might not be much, but all together the picture is great.  At least I am hoping so.  It was a slower episode and given what we had last week, I can understand the disappointment that this one wasn't bigger.  But I like it and I'm standing by that.

"The Candidate " (Lost Thoughts)

ow.
I missed watching it last night and so I watched it during lunch.
Wow.

Sadness.

So Locke tried to kill all the candidates.  This is not surprising.  Not at all.  I'm guessing he lead them to the sub so he could keep the airplane.  Man, is he mad now.  Cause now he has to go and kill Jack, Sawyer, and Hurley.  Oh and Desmond when he finds out that Sayid *sob* didn't kill him.  Which I knew he didn't.

SAYID! WHY?  My heart is broken.  My beloved Sayid is gone, GONE!  At least he died nobly instead of all zombie, not emotions Sayid.  And Jin and Sun.  So sweet and yet they just orphaned their baby girl.  I really thought Kate was a goner.  Jin and Sun took me by suprise.  *sob*

Sayd *sob* told Jack that it was going to be him.  So I guess Sayid really thought that Jack was going to be the new Jacob.  I can believe that too.  It was always going to be Jack and Locke (after a fashion) in the end.  So does this mean that Sawyer and Hurley are goners too?  Because if Hurley dies, then I'm done.  Never again will I watch TV.  As much as I love Sayid, Hurley is just the best.  And Hurley just sobbing, o. m. g.  That made me cry more.  And Hurley's face when Jack said there is no more Sayid.  I just can't...

And Widmore was right.  It really was best that they stay in the cage.  They would have been better off.  And Jack was right.  Locke couldn't directly kill them and he was betting that someone would pull the wires.  Sawyer never had any faith.  So how is Locke going to kill the others now if he can't directly?  And where is the blond kid at now?  Is that Jacob, mocking Locke?  When will we see Richard Alpert?

I really think Jack and Kate are meant to be.  They care about each other.  Kate is shot and Jack freaks out.  Kate cries that she couldn't find him later on the beach.  I wonder what would happen in sideways world if they really meet.

Speaking of Sideways world, I know things happened, but they just don't seem to be as important though they probably are.  Jack and Claire make a better sibling connection, Anthony Cooper is brain dead, John Locke is responsible.  Anyone else wonder if John was really Locke(!) coming through.  No, just me, ok.

This whole episode was a knife in the heart. 

"The Last Recruit" (Lost thoughts)

houghts:

We got a double dose of Jack and Claire acknowledging/find out about their relationship. I was glad to see Kate talk Claire down and hopefully some sense into her.  I knew that dumb-as-rocks Kate would find away to get Claire on that boat.  Not that it really matters, probably.


Locke acknowledged being Christian but said it was for Jack's best interest so Jack seems to be important especially at the end when Locke rescues Jack.  Either that or he really does need them all to get off the Island.  Locke's plans seem to be falling apart around him.  With Sawyer taking his boat and Claire deserting him and Sayid not killing Desmond (I can only assume), he is not going to be happy. 

What is up with the meanness to our Lostaways by Widmore's people?  Not cool, not cool at all.  OMG though how touching was Jin and Sun's reunion.  I may have screamed Oh My God in a very very high pitched voice with arms waving.  And then there may have been a few tears.  Love it so very much.  Sigh.

Sideways worlds are converging very quickly.  There was a whole lot of cross-over with Jack operating on John and Sun seeing John (and I think mistaking him for Locke.  I think she was remembering Island world).  Miles and James captured Sayid, and James had a conversation with Kate.  Man, Desmond is a wee bit creepy though in Sideways world.  Still don't exactly know why he ran John over.

 Jack finally takes his leap of faith after questioning the wisdom of getting off the Island to Sawyer (who he called James.  Has it done that before?).  And what happens?  He ends up with Locke.  But he does have a point about if Locke is a monster then why would they give him exactly what he wants.  Besides he wants to kill all of Jacob's replacements so that would be a good reason not to trust him.

I honestly am not sure what is going on anymore.  It's gotten better thought now that things are happening.  I wish though they would finally say who Locke/MIB is.  There are only four episodes left till the finale, but the action is definitely picking up.

"Hell-O" (Glee thoughts)

was so excited for last week's Glee.  I watched it immediately after I finished Lost, staying up way too late.  While I was excited for the music and thought it was great, I was less enthusiastic about the actual episode.  For me it jumped around too much, moving way too fast.  The main plot centered around Rachel and her wanting to date Finn now that he is finally free and moving way too fast so she immediately moved onto the suspicious Jessee, star of the rival Vocal Adrenaline.  I don't know.  I just wished they has slowed it down some.

Also Mr. Shue ends up putting on hold on his relationship with Emma because he hasn't been alone since he was 15 and he needs to figure out who he is as an adult.  This is a very mature thing to do.  But then he also makes out with the coach or whatever of Vocal Adrenaline so whatever.

Looking forward to tonight's Madonna episode though.

"Everybody loves Hugo" (Lost thoughts)

ambling Thoughts:

A Hurley episode! Whee. One of my top 5 favorite characters, tied with number one with Charlie.

Also MICHAEL! HAI, long time no see. Interesting that the whispering is people who can't move on. Like purgatory or something? So that is one minor mystery solved sort of.

Libby and Hugo are soul mates. So sweet. I got a little teary when they kissed and he remembered. They are so awesome. So the secret is to kiss your soul mate in Sideways world and then you will remember Island world. Or have a near death experience which is no fun.

There were a lot of explosions. Ilana, didn't see that one coming. Shocking, but she was always a redshirt anyway. And the Black Rock, oh well. I'm sorry to see Richard gone. I hope the Island isn't done with anyone in his party yet. I'd like to see him back. I'm sure we will.

Desmond is looking very placid now. I wonder what he knows. Is he still experiencing Sideways world? Is that what inspired him to mow down substitute John? I'm guessing it was either to awaken his Island memories or he is pissed off that Locke threw him down a well. Who didn't see that Locke was about to push Desmond into the well? Did Desmond? Anyone with the crazy eyes who is suppose to be dead should never be allowed close enough to kill you. I think Desmond might know who Locke really is and that scares Locke. He looked a little afraid himself.

Locke also had a weird look in his eye when he said hello to Jack. And Jack looked so shocked. Did he really not believe that Locke was walking around?

The words are colliding and will merge soon, maybe? Desmond is pushing everyone towards the Island which is funny since he hated it so much in Island world.

Oooh, I almost forgot blonde kid and his freaking out of Locke.  Desmond saw him too and the whole thing made Locke so angry.  And his angry seemed to amuse the kid.  I'm guessing Jacob?  Or he is the original body of the MIB or ... something?

And Jack actually admitted that when he was in charge nothing ever went right so he is letting the others take the lead.  Which is hard on him, but he is trying.  Way to be smart for once, Jack.

Also next week's previews were awesome/creepy with the Gene Hackman/Chocolate Factory voiceover.

There's no earthly way of knowing / Which direction we are going / There's no knowing where we're rowing / Or which way the river's flowing / Is it raining? / Is it snowing? / Is a hurricane a-blowing? /
Not a speck of light is showing / So the danger must be growing / Are the fires of hell a-glowing? / Is the grisly reaper mowing? / Yes! The danger must be growing /
For the rowers keep on rowing / And they're certainly not showing / Any signs that they are slowing!

"Happily Ever After" (Lost thoughts)

houghts:

DESMOND! DESMOND!

CHARLIE! CHARLIE!

DANIEL! DANIEL!

Ok, sorry, geeked out for a minute.  Let's see.  I'm assuming Sideways world is the result of the nuclear explosion.  Daniel pretty much said so.  So this reality is not really real?  Certain people seem to know that it's not.  Charlie had a near death experience that lead to him seeing Claire and realizing that is who he loves in every reality (awww, love that so much).  (I loved seeing Charlie, even suicidal weird Charlie.  I hope he shows up in Claire's sideways and they fall in love.)  Desmond saw his Island reality with Penny.  Eloise/Mrs. Hawking seems to know since she tried to stop Desmond from meeting Penny, saying he wasn't ready.  And apparently this new reality gave Desmond the thing he really wanted which was Widmore's approval.  It seems to have done that with everyone except maybe Kate but she said she was innocent whereas in the old reality she was guility.  So maybe that is what she wanted, and Sawyer chose to be a good guy, Jack a good father, Sayid a loving and selfless brother, Jin and Sun...something, John a loving "husband" and son, Ben a good guy.  They all got what they wanted except maybe Jin and Sun but then we haven't seen the end of their story yet.  They are the only couple to survive Sideways and Island.  MIB's new reality or something else?

Also it occurred to me that everyone on that flight ended up in the hospital at some point sooner or later.  Charlie was looking for Claire but she was probably in the hospital.  Sayid with his brother, Jack is a doctor, Kate with Claire, Sawyer? maybe that is where that falls through.  Oh well I didn't know the significance of that anyway.

Widmore put Desmond in the big electromagnetic thing and it proved that Desmond can only exist in one reality or another, yes?  Like when he was jumping in time in "The Constant."  And so he wasn't really there when he was expereincing the other reality.  Also what's up with the chauffeur?

At first, he was eager to help Widmore when he woke up since it seemed he knew what needed to be done.  I'm still not clear on the plan.  I knew it's to stop the big bad Man in Black/Smokey, but I'm not clear on how that is going to happen.  Then Sayid came along to kill everyone and take Desmond and he trots along after Sayid like whatever, brother.

Are the electromagnetic pockets on the Island keeping MIB contained on the Island?  It seems to be important somehow and I know they use the sonic pylons to stop him.  Is that related?

Next week: HURLEY! Oh Lost there is no way I can abandon you for Glee for sure now.  Hurley beats Glee by a whole lot and that is saying something but I do love me some Glee.

GLEE!!! vs. LOST

I just realized like today that Glee is starting up soon.  GLEE!!  And it is starting on the 13th right up against Lost.  This makes me sad.   Because I'm sorry but as much as I love Glee, I have to watch Lost that night.  Must.  Because it is the last season and I NEED to know.  Thank God for the DVR.

"The Package" (Lost Thoughts)

houghts:

Well, how about that ending?  I want to say shocking, but it kind of wasn't.  More on that in a minute.

So this was a Jin/Sun episode.  Their sideways story was about on target.  Nothing shocking, not married, she's pregnant (saw that coming), her father is a bastard, etc.  Man, the guy that plays Keamy is pretty awesome.  I loved his moment with Jin in the meat locker.  Like he was actually sorry he had to kill Jin.  How screwed are Jin and Sun now.

Island: I doubt that Locke would have hurt Sun.  I think he really needs her and Jack and Sawyer and he is so desperate to get off that Island that he is willingly to kill God or whoever so he's thinking that persuading Sun and the rest should be a piece of cake.  And then she runs and looks back which is always a mistake and now she can't speak English.  Poor lady.  Oh and he basically gave Crazycakes Claire permission to kill Kate as soon as he can get all the candidates together.  Does he really want to just take them off the Island or is he planning on killing all of them?  And Claire was looking awfully put out that her name wasn't on the list.  And Locke comforts her by offering up Kate.  Dude, she left him with your mom so that should make it better I would think.  Also you abandoned your child in a forest to wander off with your dead dad.  Kate did you a favor.

I love that Illana has such faith in Jacob and he turns out to be right when Richard comes back with Hurley and wants them to go over to Hydra Island.  We didn't get too much information out of that storyline.  I think Jack is stepping up to be the new Jacob.  He sounded a little like him when he was talking to Sun.  That would be an awesome finale if Jack was the new Jacob and Locke was still MIB because that is like an old rivalry.

Widmore is a worthy opponent to Locke.  He set up those pylons to keep him out and seemed to have Locke's number.  Locke was not happy about that situation, but then he had Sayid, who is now devoid of any human emotion, to do his dirty work.  And a Sayid who can't feel anything, especially guilt and regret, is a very dangerous Sayid indeed.

And, of course, the package: a very drugged up Desmond.  I guess the Island still needs him and Widmore used that to locate it.  Is Desmond the last candidate?  Because I count Sun or Jin, Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid which is only 5 really unless you are counting Sun and Jin as 1 and 2.  Ilanna just said there were six people to protect, not six candidates left right?  It would be cool and would explain why Desmond keeps getting dragged to that Island.  He seemed to recognize Sayid even in the condition he was in.  Poor Desmond.  Taken from Penny and little Charlie for Widmore's plan to save the world from MIB.  Does Widmore know the whole story or is he really just guessing from legends and stories?  What are those stories?  Please share with the rest of us.  I'd like to say I was shocked but I wasn't.  I figured it would be Desmond at the end.  Still a great ending though.

"Ab Aeterno" (Lost thoughts)

hat we learn:

 I'm back in love with Lost and I ♥ Richard Alpert like so very much.  Damn!  That man had a hard life  Seriously, his wife dies and he accidentally kills the bastard doctor who wouldn't give him medicine for his wife, goes to prison, won't get absolution from the asshole corrupt priest, is sold as a slave and ends up on the Black Rock destined for the Island.  Then the stupid Englishman goes all crazy and starts stabbing the slaves.  And ole Smokey comes and kills everyone but Richard but looks into his soul or whatever and I guess decides that Richard is worthy of the murder of Jacob or something.  Then he tricks Richard into thinking that "the devil" has his wife and sends Richard off to murder Jacob who kicks the crap out of Richard.

Basically this story was all about how Richard ended up ageless on some mysterious Island with gods fighting or whatever the hell is going on.  The original recipe Man in Black was back and he was trying to trick Richard into thinking that Jacob was the devil and they were all dead.  He admitted to being the Black Smoke straight out though so I wonder if he can only lie by telling the truth, as the devil does.  When he gave Richard the knife to kill Jacob, he gave the same rules that Dogen gave Sayid, don't let him talk to you, stab him in the chest.  More evidence he was trying to trick Ricard into thinking that Jacob is the devil?

Jacob talks to Richard after the murder attempt.  He says he brings people to the Island to prove MIB wrong, that people are not inherently sinful, but he doesn't like to interfere since he doesn't think he shouldn't have to and it would be meaningless if he had to tell them to be good.  He enlists Richard to help.  Richard wants his wife back, then absolution but Jacob cannot give him either.  Then he asks never to die so he doesn't have to face Hell and Jacob smiles and says he can give him that and touches Richard's shoulder and that is how Richard became immortal.  He also explained how MIB is bad.  He picks up the wine bottle and says that the wine is evil/darkness and the cork is the Island keeping evil locked (ha, see what I did there) inside.  So then Jacob is the keeper of the bottle?

MIB's offer to Richard still stands.  The offer to take him off the Island?  I'm not entirely sure.  And he gives Richard his cross back who then buries it.   140 or so years later Richard digs it up and wants to take up the MIB on his offer, but Hurley pops up talking to Richard's dead wife who says he must let her go and that he has to stop the Man in Black from getting off the Island or they will all go to hell. DUN!

So all evidence is pointing to MIB being pure evil and Jacob is his brother's keeper or something.  Oh he gives MIB the metaphor wine bottle who promptly smashes it showing that there is more than one way to release the metaphor evil/wine.  They have a fairly friendly conversation before like people who have been together for a long time.  But MIB is resentful of his imprisonment.  Jacob also mentions that even if he is killed then there will be someone to take his place and MIB says he will kill all of them too.  So, uh oh, for our dear candidates.  This would explain the list on the cave wall and the scratching out of names.

Well, now one of the biggest mysteries on the Island has a back story and I thought this episode was really well done and we didn't have to endure any Sideways stories which is always a plus.

"Recon" (Lost Thoughts)

hat did we learn:

Locke (MIB) had a crazy mom because of whom he suffered from "growing pains" and has issues he is still holding onto.  Now Aaron has a crazy mom too who tried to kill Kate and then later gave a teary apology after a slap and a talking to from Locke. I'm still going to go with gods and this will hold up under the "mom" issue because most gods have crazy moms and/or dads.  A lot of parent issues with gods.  Someone will have a better theory about who though, I'm sure.

Sayid is now crazy too but in a disaffected way, not a Claire/Rousseau way.  He watched Claire's murder attempt without stopping it.  I think he is just overcome with Locke's promise and what he did.

Kate is wandering around being useless and almost getting killed as usual.

Sawyer became a cop in Sideways world as a result of his parent's murder/suicide, but his goal is still to kill Anthony Cooper.  Oh Sawyer, how far, yet how close.  He is still a charmer and he captured FelonKate at the end of that story.  If he is a cop, then why did he let her go at the airport?  I don't think he is all that dedicated to the law despite his police status.

Sawyer on the Island is playing the long con or really just hedging his bets.  I guess he figures that Locke and Widmore will kill each other leaving him out of it.  I doubt it will be as clean as all that.  So I guess Widmore is on Jacob's side?  Seeing how he wants to kill Locke and all.  Locke was playing Jacob all that time in the cabin with Ben so I guess the real Jacob went and saw Widmore at the some point.  And Widmore did send Keamy and his friends to capture/kill Ben so Widmore wanted to remove Ben from the situation.  Because Ben can be very clever.  Why can't they kill each other again?  Same reason as Jacob and his enemy?  Anyway,...

RICHARD RICHARD RICHARD
HIS EPISODE IS COMING UP NEXT WEEK! WHOOOO! I CAN'T WAIT!!!