High Fives and Sneezes

I'm gonna talk about something a little different today. To get it started though, take a look at this YouTube video.



Now tell me that isn't hilarious. But this brings me to my discussion today. Bogut stepped forward for some high fives, and no one wanted in. What the crap? Who doesn't want a high five, arguably one of the greatest things to ever be invented. Say what you will, but handshakes and pounds have nothing on the solid contact of a good high five. My friend Ryan Burke will back me up on this, as we are possibly the only people left who high five and truly enjoy high fiving.

What does this has to do with sneezing? Nothing, only that I hate when you take the time out of your day to say "Bless you" to someone who has sneezed and then when you sneeze, no one returns the favor to you, including that person who just sneezed. Seriously? Do you really have the worst manners ever?

This just made me realize, I also hate when either people don't hold doors open for you or when you hold the door open and the person you held the door open for doesn't say "Thank you." I realize my friend Todd already blogged about this awful phenomenon earlier in the year, and I can't help but agree. Grow some manners, or I'll slap them into you. Then give you a high five. Out.

Summer Movies

Summer is right around the corner (pun) and the recent warm weather has reminded me as such. With that, I'll give you the summer movies of 2008 that I'm looking forward to (ordered by the date they come out).

MAY
5/2 - Iron Man, Son of Rambow
5/9 - Speed Racer
5/16 - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
5/22 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
5/23 - War, Inc.
5/30 - The Fist Foot Way

JUNE
6/6 - Mongol
6/13 - The Happening, The Incredible Hulk
6/20 - Get Smart
6/27 - WALL-E, Wanted

JULY
7/2 - Hancock
7/3 - The Wackness
7/11 - Hellboy II: The Golden Army
7/18 - The Dark Knight
7/25 - American Teen, Step Brothers, X-Files 2

AUGUST
8/8 - Pineapple Express
8/15 - Tropic Thunder

Other movies will be coming out obviously, but I omitted them because I do not care for them. If you have questions about what each movie is about, post them in my comments and I'll make a post dedicated to that movie.

Live From San Antonio, It's.....

the FINAL FOUR! So I flew into San Antonio last night, and man did it take forever. My flight from Philadelphia to Atlanta was delayed 1 hour, and then my flight from Atlanta to San Antonio was delayed 3 hours, so it was a loooooooong day. But I'm here, and I'm excited. Year number 7. It's going to be a great year at the Final Four. If you missed it last time, my picks are: UNC over Kansas, UCLA over Memphis, and UNC over UCLA. I'll keep everyone updated.

Denzel Washington to be the next.....

SUPERMAN!!!! This was just confirmed a couple hours ago, but apparently Brandon Routh is out and Denzel is in. This is a pretty weird turn because well, Denzel Washington is black and the character of Superman is white. Not sure how they're going to pull this off.

The main reason for the casting of Denzel has to do with the court's recent decision to take away the rights for Superman from Time Warner and give them to the heirs one of the co-creators of the great comic, Mr. Jerry Siegel. Joanne Siegel, the wife of Jerry, has said it was always Jerry's and Joe Shuster's vision to have Superman be not white, but black. But for fear that the comic would not really take off, at the last second they changed the character to be white. However, now that the rights are back where they belong she is going to create the vision her husband wanted originally.

Titled Man of Steel, look for this movie with Denzel to be released April 1, 2010.

Absent/Final Four

Let me apologize, again, for not updating the blog as frequently as I would have liked to. I had midterms, and then my teachers decided to give us tons of more work after those midterms so I have been swamped. Add to that within the past two weeks there has been some personal problems, but I am back, and ready to write. I'll start this week's blog off with the Final Four, which I will be attending next weekend.

This will be my seventh Final Four appearance, all coming in a row. I go every year with my dad and my two cousins and uncle. My dad and uncle have gone every year going on number 23 this year (so since 1986). This is the first year in Final Four history that all four number 1 seeds will be squaring off against each other. UCLA vs. Memphis is the early game on Saturday followed by Kansas vs. UNC. I am so ridiculously pumped for this Final Four. Each team has a legitimate shot to win the title, as each team has weaknesses other teams can prey on.

UNC
I picked them to win the title in my bracket (however my bracket has been pretty awful this year), but I'm not sure I necessarily believe they can win. I was skeptical of their chances, but after the Louisville performance they really showed me they can win in a close game against a good opponent. Kansas plays their style of ball and this will be the first time UNC will have an opponent who can go head to head with them in transition. With a healthy Lawson UNC will be very hard to stop on the break. Key for them is to continue to crash the offensive glass, as they're one of the best in the nation at doing that. Add to this matchup: Roy Williams going up against his former team that he bolted from to coach at his Alma Mater. Craaaaazy.

Kansas
Kansas will have to get back on defense and make sure Kaun and Jackson and Arthur bang Hansbrough inside if they're going to contend with UNC. Their game against Davidson was a close one. Their previous three games they won with ease, so I'm not sure if it was the pressure of getting to the Final Four that affected their game or if Davidson really did play them well (I'm going to say both, because Davidson really is a good team). Either way, they're going to have to play much better against UNC if they want to win. Rush can't shoot the way he did against Davidson and their bigs are going to have to produce more (sans Kaun, who was a machine. Literally. My friends and I just made fun of him the whole game. He looks deranged. "Kaun smash basketball. Kaun score goal." I'm convinced he sees like the Terminator does, with a red computer screen).

UCLA
With Kevin Love they might have finally added the right piece to the puzzle to win a National Championship. Their third Final Four in as many years, Love was the MOP in the Regionals and will have to be that much better to lead his team to their first title since 1995. Love is going to have to bang against Dorsey and a very athletic Memphis team and try to produce. Collison and Westbrook are going to find that they have yet to experience a team as athletic and long as Memphis. Just ask Texas.

Memphis
Did they impress in Austin or what? Totally manhandling a pretty good Michigan State team and a great Texas team. Derek Rose really showed that he is the best point guard in the country, completely controlling every facet of the game. And there is no one quicker than him with the ball end to end (sorry Ty Lawson). And their free throw shooting, not a problem, going 30-36 against Texas. They are goooooood.

My Picks
I have Memphis over UCLA in OT by 3 in the first game and UNC over Kansas by 4 in the second. In the final, I have UNC over Memphis by 1 in eight OTs because it's gonna be an amazing game. Ok, maybe not 8, but one OT at least.

I hope I didn't jinx UNC....and if Kansas wins the whole thing I get $150. Sweet.

The Wire Series Finale :-(

The dreaded Sunday has finally came. First of all, it's my last day of Spring Break, but more importantly, The Wire airs its last episode tonight on HBO at 9pm (95-minute episode). It's the longest episode they've made, it's more of a movie, but nonetheless, this could be one of the saddest Sunday's I've ever experienced. I'll post tomorrow with more thoughts on the episode and the show. Please tune in.

Carolina Blue

Last night was #1 North Carolina vs. #5 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke's home court) and Carolina won the game by 10. Perrrrfect! I hate everything there is about Duke and love everything there is about UNC so I was extremely happy last night. When talking to my dad he asked me who I thought would win the game, and I told him if Danny Greene played well then Carolina would win (in the first meeting Danny Greene and Wayne Ellington shot a combine 4-24). Well you tell me how be played: game-high 18 points, 8 rebounds and 7 blocks. Whenever Carolina needed a big play he was there to make it. Now I'm not trying to brag, but I am. Greene is their x-factor. If he plays well, UNC has a much better shot of winning. It's also worth mentioning that Tyler Hansborough had 16 points and 15 rebounds and Wayne Ellington also had 16 points. Ty Lawson, who did not play in the first matchup against Duke, had 10 points and 4 assists. Carolina should have solidified their bid for the #1 seed in the East bracket, barring any loss in the ACC tournament.

Lost, The Other Woman

Last night's episode of LOST was a Juliet-centric episode. It was the worst episode of the season, however, that's not to say that the episode was by any means bad. This episode was less LOST as it was more soap opera. Who loves who and who was sleeping with who were some of the major questions last night. We'll get back to that. Even though this was a Juliet-centric episode we got a whole lot of Ben tonight, not that I'm complaining. Let's run down the big parts.

Ben loves Juliet. This was an unexpected twist. I saw it coming throughout the episode but not before this episode. Juliet reminds Ben of "her." Her has to refer to Annie, the little girl from Ben's flashback episode. My guess is that Annie ended up like Henrietta. Ben probably got her pregnant and then she died because of it. Ben then found Juliet and brought her to the island and believes her to be "his." Very melodramatic.

Widmore the Big, Bad Guy. I saw this coming throughout this episode connecting to last episode. I have no doubt he's trying to find the island, but I'm not sure if he wants to exploit his powers like Ben said. This would mean he's the Economist from Sayid's episode, trying to kill Ben. This also ties into the map which I spoke about below.

Ben, Master of the Universe. Ben always, always has a plan. And say what you want about him sending Goodwin out to the tail section, whether it was or wasn't because Goodwin was getting with Juliet, everything he does is for the good of himself and for the good of the island (which I'm sure he sees as an extension of himself). The whole Red Sox tape with Charles Widmore is part of his plan. And he even said it himself, he always has a plan. Harper informed us that Ben is exactly where Ben wants to be. It's just not fair that a guy could be that smart. And he's playing Locke again, he has to be. And poor Locke, you just have to feel bad for him.

Kate's Fugitive Status. Definitely not the reason she stayed at the Other's camp. Kate's pregnant, Sawyer's the dad, and she wanted to know if he wanted the job. Mark it down.

White Cells Depleting and the Immune System turning on the Fetus. Does that even make sense? Hari, my doctor friend, help me out with this one?

Faraday's Map of the Island. Not very in-depth for a company that has a next-generation satellite phone. Since there is no record of the island ever existing, that map must have come from the log of the first mate of the Black Rock which Mr. Widmore purchased at the auction last week. Which would point to Mr. Widmore being the big, bad guy. Check out the map below.The Tempest. The name of the new Dharma station is also the name of a Shakespeare play that featured people shipwrecked on a mysterious island.

Rabbits and Rabbits. Locke served Ben rabbit and Ben asked if the rabbit had a number on it. If you didn't understand that reference, check this video out:

During the above video everyone starts to freak out when a rabbit with the same number appears out of nowhere and everyone wants to make sure the two rabbits don't go near each other. Given last week's episode we can assume that people in the Orchid station are experimenting with time travel or mind-time travel.

Harper and the Whispers. Just so everyone knows, I did not think of this by myself. This is totally borrowed from a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly, but it makes perfect sense, so I'm sharing it. Now that we have the element of time travel, the whispers and people appearing out of nowhere are beginning to make sense. We know time on the island moves 31 minutes slower than outside the island. So, what if the whispers are actually time loops of the outside world catching up to the perceived time of the island.

How do people appear/disappear on the island? Simple of course -- time travel! We never knew that was an element of the show before, but now that we know, it's fairly simple. Harper was definitely not a ghost she was just unstuck in time (term used in Desmond's flashback). The Others are probably using the research from the Orchid station about shifting to transport people in space and time. The problem is that this requires them to apply real time to the island time, so the whispers are the residue of the shift. It's really all quite simple now that we have the element of time travel on the show, and pretty amazing too.

That does it for this week's episode of LOST. Next week is Jin/Sun centric. After that is Michael-centric (so we can guess he'll appear at the end of this next episode). And then that is the last episode for about a month. Keep checking back for more updates.

Movies to Check Out

So I'm on break for this week and all I have to do is write a paper, so I'll be spending much of my break catching up on movies and TV that I have not been able to watch. Yesterday I watched the Oscar nominated Michael Clayton and today I watched Gone Baby Gone. Both in my opinion were very good movies. Michael Clayton was more of a law firm/political thriller starring George Clooney, Michael Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton (who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role) and Sydney Pollack. Gone Baby Gone is about two private detectives who are hired to try and find a missing five year old girl starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman (Amy Ryan won the Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe for this role).

Gone Baby Gone is a much more depressing film than Michael Clayton in that the movie forces us to choose between what is right and what is the law. There is one twist which I didn't see coming but than after that I was able to guess the rest of the movie, which didn't take away from it, it just made it more predictable. Casey Affleck has really garnered some attention with this role (deservedly so) and with his role in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (another movie I aim to check out this break).

With Michael Clayton we get an excellent opening fifteen minutes and an explosion. Then the movie takes us to four days earlier to give us all the events leading up to the explosion and then we go from there to conclude the movie. Not so much a guessing game as throughout the movie we have a clear idea who is on what side (whether it's good or bad is up to you I guess), but the movie aims more to thrill you than to stump you. Clooney, Wilkinson and Swinton all give remarkable performances which is what really makes this movie work.

If you have a chance check out these two movies, they're two of the better ones from 2007.

Omar Little, R.I.P.

So the episode officially aired last Sunday. Omar Little is dead. Arguably the best character on The Wire, Omar Little was gunned down in a convenient store while trying to buy a pack of cigarettes. He was shot in the back of the head and was killed instantly. He was shot by a young kid, Kenard, who was a corner boy and was "part" of Marlo's crew. Seldom seen in season 4 and 5, Kenard perhaps made the shot heard round the world. No other shot in The Wire's history was larger than that gunshot. Well, to be fair, I'll put it up for debate between Kenard's killing of Omar and and Omar and Brother Mouzone's killing of Stringer Bell in season 3. Either way, Omar was in the show from the beginning, and to see a character taken out like that, it's just heartbreaking.

Omar was definitely not a saint. He was a "bad guy," but at heart he was a good guy. He had a code and he lived by it -- only go after people within the game. Anybody else just is not worth it. He took it upon himself to "police" the other bad guys when he felt they were getting too powerful. When the Barksdale crew was running wild in the first couple seasons it was Omar giving them trouble, and through Season 4 and season 5 Omar was giving Marlo trouble. It was almost as if he was attempting to level the playing field so everyone could have a chance at dealing, making sure not one group had a monopoly. Now obviously that was not his goal, but it was a side effect of his actions.

Omar lived off of his reputation on the streets. He knew that no one would face him man to man and shoot him. His reputation had grown to mythic proportions. It was amazing he lasted as long as he did on the streets. His death, annoying as it was, was a necessary occurrence on the show. David Simon and Ed Burns strived to make The Wire as realistic as it could possibly be, and to have Omar survive throughout the entire series would not have been the most realistic thing to happen. Stickup guys like Omar normally don't live past the age of 25, let alone 30.

And thinking about it, the way Omar died was the only way he could have died. Omar lived by a code, and he would have never think about taking out a kid unless he knew for a fact he was in the game. He took a look at Kenard and thought about him, but then just went on about his business, only to be shot in the back of the head. Being shot in the back is also a key point because no one would shoot him face to face, it would only have to be in the back. And having a kid do it just makes it all the more realistic. Kids get dragged into the game earlier and earlier because they have no choice but to join. Kenard was no exception.

My friend and I argued over Omar's death for over a week and we still have no been able to find common ground. He is so totally against how Omar met his fate. We were both sad when Omar was killed, but I thought it was an OK sendoff where he didn't agree. We both agreed he had to die, but just differed in how he should've went out. The big shootout would have obviously been a better choice for him to die, but it would not have been the correct choice in trying to keep the show as realistic as possible.

Omar will always live on.

Back with LOST

So I'm sorry about the delay in posts -- Midterms have been pretty awful. But they're pretty much over, so I can get back to doing the fun stuff. On with LOST.

Sorry I didn't get to give you my feedback on last week's Kate-centric episode Eggtown (best of the season so far?). I won't go in-depth because I have to break this week's episode down, but let's go over the major points.

I told you about Aaron! I forewarned you that Kate would be taking care of Claire's baby. This could mean that Claire is still on the island in the future with the other survivors, but more likely that she suffered the same fate as Charlie, Boone, Shannon, Libby, Eko and Ana Lucia. We should assume that Aaron does not count as one of the Oceanic Six, so there is still two more "survivors" we need to find.

Why didn't Jack want to see Aaron? It's his nephew, what's the catch? Kate obviously wanted him to come back to the house, but Jack is scared. Speaking of Jack, what a story of how they survived the crash. 8 survivors, and Kate helped a bunch of them live when they crashed. So Claire must be one of the two that survived the crash but didn't survive the island, my guess for the second is Sun (suffering the same fate -- having a baby but then "dying"). And Jack still loves Kate, of course.

Miles is trying to blackmail Ben for $3.2 million dollars -- why?? The ghostbuster apparently doesn't have allegiance to the economist and is willing to switch to Ben's side. Also, why $3.2 million? Why not $3 or $5 million? We'll figure that out eventually. I love what Locke did to Miles after he found him with Kate. Every action has its consequence, and Miles had to snack on a grenade.

Now for the new episode of LOST that aired last night, the Desmond-centric The Constant (best of the season so far? - see the running theme with my posts?)

Whoaaaaaaaaa! So we had flashbacks.....flashforwards....that was supposed to be it. But with Desmond we can have....mind-time travelling. Leave it to the creators to give us a third option to confuse us, but man do we love it. Let's break it down.

Desmond is easily one of my favorite characters on the show (I'm going to do a post on my favorite LOST characters another time), however, Daniel Faraday has quickly cemented himself up there. He is just awesome. He understands all that is the island. We'll get into him in a second.

Desmond's conscious can time travel. This episode he kept going back and forth between 1996 and 2004 and if he couldn't stop it he would meet the same fate as Eloise the lab rat and Minkowski -- his brain would overload, short circuit, and he would die. Faraday, who we find out knows all about mind time-traveling, tells Desmond that he must find a constant; something that he cares deeply about in both time periods that he can latch onto: Penny.

Faraday is amazing. Simply put. Easily my favorite of the new comers and quickly climbing the charts. He gets the island, he really, really gets it. However his mind is obviously not all there. But he knows what's going on with the island. I'm going to come back to him at the end.

Charles Widmore, Penny's dad, won an auction that featured the manifest of the first mate of The Black Rock, the ship marooned on the island with the castaways. The first mate also happened to be a member of the Hanso family. And as we know Alvar Hanso made the Hanso Foundation which was on the lost island, until Ben came along. This shows us that there are definite ties between Widmore Industries and the Hanso Foundation.

Desmond, after seeking out Mr. Widmore, get's Penny's address and goes to see her. This is after he broke up with her so she's not very happy to see him. Desmond explains to her that even though its crazy, in 8 years, he's going to call her and she must pick up. With time running out in the present, Desmond comes back with Penny's number in hand, just as Sayid repairs the phone in the radio room. Desmond calls Penny, and after a while (a long while), Penny picks up. They say they love each other and that no matter what they'll find each other. It really was a good LOST moment.

Ben's man on the boat probably sabotaged the radio room, and he definitely let the guys out of the locked hospital room. Who is this man? Well, it's Michael, let's be serious. Frank needed to go on heading 305 degrees, on Eko's stick it said North 305, and Ben told Michael to go on heading 305 in order to leave the island....that should solidify that Michael is the man on the boat. And what a man he is.

Back to Faraday, he is flipping through his journal at the end of the episode, and he comes to a page that says, "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume is my constant." So it's safe to assume that Faraday, like Desmond, can mind time travel. My guess is that he made himself a guinea pig back at Oxford after Eloise's experiment worked. This makes sense with regards to other items as well, such as:

When Faraday first dropped on the island what did he have on him? Oh yeah, a picture of Desmond and Penny. Funny, considering the freighter is NOT Penny's. How'd he come across this picture, and why does he have it? Because Desmond is his constant.

Also in the same episode, Faraday's flashback has him crying as they're discovering the Oceanic 815 flight wreckage. His caretaker asks him why he's crying, and he says he doesn't know. Now I originally said he had made some calculations as to how to find the island, and those were the co-oridnates he gave his people, and they found the flight wreck instead. But now I'm going to say this: his mind has been to the future and he knows that they survive. He meets Desmond in 2004. He knows that there should not be flight wreckage, yet he doesn't really know...if that makes sense. It's like a gut feeling when you know something isn't right even though all the evidence points against you're feeling.

That's it for this week's breakdown. Next week we have a Juliet-centric episode. Keep checking back everyday as I continue to catch up on my blog posting.

Apologies

I recently received a comment from "the bod" (which is a pretty awful name Todd) which I'm choosing to address. I've been swamped with midterms this past weekend and week so I haven't been able to update as frequently as I would have liked. As soon as everything calms down I promise to break down last week's LOST episode as well as give you my thoughts on the Oscars which aired this past Sunday. Just stick with me and we'll all get through this unscathed. Until then...

Lost Tonight! The Wonderful World of Kate Austen

LOST is on tonight at 9pm on ABC and it's a flashforward featuring the lovely Evangeline Lilly as Kate. Apparently we learn something about her or she does something tonight that will shock even her most devoted fans. Sounds good to me. Tune in and tomorrow I'll break the episode down for you.

Weekend Backtrack: All-Stars & Wires

Well the weekend is over, and I'm not sure what to think of it. Friday I stayed in and ended up doing work for my midterms coming up. Saturday I did the same thing, but that was more of a staying in because All-Star Saturday was that day, and man, was that something else. And Sunday was the All-Star game as well as the next installment of The Wire. Let's break it down.

ALL-STAR SATURDAY
We can skip the team shootout and skills competition (although it is worth nothing that Deron Williams now holds the record in a flawless final round against hometown hero Chris Paul) and jump straight into the Three-Point Competition and Dunk Contest. The only thing really worth noting for the 3-Point Competition is that Jason Kapono is the best pure shooter in the league. Last year I attended All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas and during the competition the section I was in was assigned to Jason Kapono, meaning if he won the contest then we would win a "special prize." So I cheered for Kapono and he won and I won a free shirt, was pretty cool. Naturally this year I am going for Kapono again because he didn't let me down last year, and he didn't this year. He made the final round with a first round 20 and then in the finals tied the record of 25. He's tied with Larry Bird. Now that is pretty freakin' sweet. Then that was done, bring on the dunks.

Finally, creative thought is back. No more doing what the older dunkers did in "new ways." Creative, original thought, has returned in the form of Gerald Green and Dwight Howard. Moon and Gay are high flyers, but they're creative image was not as bold as Green's or Howards. Gerald Green and the Birthday Cake. He placed a cupcake at the top of the rim before the dunk and lit a candle. Then threw the ball up to himself, caught the ball, blew out the candle, and then dunked the ball. Showing this from the point of view from the backboard was actually pretty amazing. Check it out.

That should've had a higher score, but his dunk didn't top Howard's dunks.

With three dunks that I can say are three of the best dunks I've ever seen, Howard proved that big men can fly through the air. I can't even describe the dunks, just check out the video.



ALL-STAR GAME
The All-Star game was pretty sweet. I didn't watch the last quarter of it because I had prior obligations, but I watched the highlights and what a game it was. The West crawled back into it and almost took the cake led by Chris Paul's 16 points and 14 assists. But Ray Allen's 14 fourth quarter points, including three straight 3's, and LeBron's power dunk, were just too much to overcome. Sidenote: After the first quarter I said the score would be 131-129; the actual score ended up being 134-128, not too shabby. LeBron was named MVP for the second time in three years. Fun, fun game.

THE WIRE
Episode 7, titled "Took," aired last night. However I had already watched that last week so I was looking forward to episode 8 that would come on HBO On Demand Monday morning at 12am. "Clarifcations" was, to say the least, surprising. I really can't ruin anything for you, because well, something monumental happens that I did not see coming until literally the second before it happened. I am extremely distraught over this and I can't in my right mind post the spoiler here because it would be doing you fans an injustice. I'll talk about what transpired next week after it officially airs on HBO at 9.

Pineapple Express Red Band Trailer

This looks to be all sorts of awesome. Starring Seth Rogen and James Franco about two stoners who are on the run from some hit men, this looks to have all the typical laughs of an Apatow produced movie. Check out the Redband trailer for it below (Redband means not allowed in theaters).

Sayid, You Mothaf*$%er

I have no idea what Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have been drinking, but damn I want some of it. Their creative genius has been off the charts outstanding this year. Three stellar episodes this year so far. It's clear the genius that was behind the first season of this show has been back now for a number of episodes (dating back to last year), and this episode was no different. In fact I would go so far as to say last night's episode was one of the best of the series, and that's saying something, because I've said that about every episode this year so far. Let's break it down.

FLASHFORWARDS
Last night was Sayid's flashforward and it's revealed that he is also one of the Oceanic Six. We see him enjoying a nice morning round of golf when a stranger approaches to him and makes a friendly wager with him. Sayid agrees and continues to explain to the man very casually that he is a member of the Oceanic Six. The man is visibly startled about this and upset, takes his swing (wins) and then attempts to leave without taking the payment. Sayid doesn't let this happen, as it turns out the payment was to shoot the man dead. Bam! What a way to open it.


Next we see Sayid in a coffee shop in Berlin ask a woman for directions. The woman seems to remember Sayid from somewhere but can't place it. He tells her that he's a headhunter (corporate recruiter) and she tells him she is the assistant to an economist. They arrange to go on a date and take it from there. He leaves the coffee shop and calls his employer saying he made contact, then drops the phone in the garbage (Alias anyone??).

They're next preparing to go to the opera and she tells him she's not going to take her beeper which is the way her employer reaches her. He's in town about twice a year and she's supposed to be at his side immediately if he beeps her (they're either not very technological or they don't want to be contacted/found). Sayid says that he'll take the beeper, and justifies it by saying she shouldn't be fired because of him. So we know now for a fact that Sayid is just with her to get after her boss.

The next flashforward we see them in bed, presumably after sex, and she's complaining that she doesn't know anything about him. She wants to know what he's up to now and doesn't care about the plane crash and whatnot. She tells him she loves him, and he reciprocates the feeling. Then her beeper goes off. She gets up in a hurry and says she has to go. Sayid gets up and tells her that she has to leave Berlin, saying that he doesn't want her in danger after what he does to her boss. He says her boss is on a list (another list, more on that on the bottom) and that he's going to kill him. She gets visibly upset, saying is that all you do, kill people without see who they are and how good they can be. Sayid says her employer is not a good person. She comes back from the bathroom and shoots Sayid in the shoulder. BAM! She asks who he works for and he says nothing. She calls her employer saying that he won't talk and that she didn't kill him and that she's going to bring Sayid to him. Sayid sees his gun in his jacket and distracts her, then gets her gun and pops two in her chest, shes dead. DAMN! Plus, she has the same bracelet on that Naomi had on. Say whaaaa? Check on that below.

In the last flashforward we see Sayid getting his bullet pulled out by his employer. He asks if the other employer, the economist, found out who he was working for and Sayid said definitely not. We then see his employer is none other than the great Benjamin Linus. He tells Sayid he has another name on the list for him to go after. Sayid says now they know they're going after them, and Ben says, "GOOD!" Wowowowowoowowowoow!!! Let's put all this on hold for a second and check what's going back on the island.

RANDOM THOUGHTS
Another list. There's the Oceanic 815 Flight Manifest List. Jacob's List (which we don't understand yet). The list of people Michael needs to bring back to get Walt back. Interesting.

Disappearing cabin. Locke can't find it. Hurley ran into it twice in two different places. What is up?

Ben's secret closet. Had a bunch of clothes and tons of foreign currency and tons of passports. So all of this, plus the photo that the boat people had on them tells me two things: 1. Ben is a liar (which we knew), and 2. Ben has been going off the island secretly without anyone knowing. How?? Another piece of Ben Linus falls into place.

Faraday's experiment with the payload. Awesome. Something tells me Faraday understands a lot about the island. He just gets it. Doesn't have a specific connection with the island, but he understands it scientifically. With the experiment though, time on the island runs slower than in real life. 31 minutes slower to be precise. That's freaky. So the gang has been on the island for 100 days but in real time it's much more than that (I'm not good at math).

Bracelets. Naomi had one, and now Elsa had one. Both people were hired to find Benjamin Linus. Coincidence??? Not on this show.

R.G. The inscription on the bracelet had those initials. Who could that be? We've been hearing the name Regina a lot. She's the voice on the other end of the phone. The actress that plays her is Zoe Bell, a former stunt double. I doubt they would have her on the show just so she could provide a voice. We'll be seeing more of her later on, and maybe those are her initials.

Staying the course. Faraday told Frank to not go off the route that they came in. Stay the same bearing back to the boat. Faraday knows shiz about this island. And could this be the same bearing 325 Ben told Michael at the end of season 2?? We'll have to wait and find out.

Oceanic Six. Who are the other two members? So far we have Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid. I've heard a lot of rumors online. I'm staking my claim. I did not come up with this so I can't take credit. I'm saying the other two are Jin and Sun. And Ben is definitely not a member.

Sawyer playing house. Pretty much sort of proposed to Kate right there. He's staying on the island and wants to play house with Kate. That's love baby.

Ben. Such an evil piece of work. But I love it. He survives the island and the boat people, and is going after the bossman. Love him.

NEXT WEEK
Kate flashforward. We'll find out who the "he" is she referred to in the season 3 finale. I think I know the answer, but I won't post it. I'll post an asterisk quiz. ******'s ***** *****.

Love this freaking show.

Officially, Strike Over! TV Updates

The WGA voted yesterday and with 92.5% of the vote they decided to get back to work! Here's what you can expect for some TV shows:

LOST Will shoot 5 more episodes and call it quits for season 4. They will cram the original 8 down to 5, and the in the next two years will tack on the 3 hours they erased from this season. The 9th episode will air 4 weeks after the 8th episode.

Friday Night Lights No more episodes to air. In fact, this show might get canned (unfortunately). Ratings are down so we'll just have to wait and see. DVD of season two comes out in April.

Smallville Expected to shoot 4-6 additional scripts bringing the season total to 18-20, by far the most of scripted TV shows.

One Tree Hill Expected to shoot 4-6 additional scripts bringing the season total to 12-14.

The Office Expected to shoot 4-6 additional scripts, which they can start filming right away, because they had a couple of scripts already written before the strike.

Heroes No new scripts until the Fall. Season 3 will be titled "Villains."

24 No new scripts until January 2009. Tony will still be playing the bad guy.

Jericho Back

Tonight features the return of Jericho. Left for dead at the end of last year, the fans sent tons and tons of nuts, literally nuts, to the head of CBS in protest for them not picking up Jericho for a second season. The response? Jericho was picked up for seven episodes to end the series on a good note. If they didn't end up picking the show up, the series would have ended just as the war between New Bern and Jericho was starting. Now at least we can get some resolution.

This episode takes place 4 weeks after the war between the two towns and is now over because it was broken up by the Cheyenne government. We'll get some hints regarding more of Jake and his backstory, and we'll see that him and Emily are living very happily together right now. Major Beck will be a new key character in the series. Jenning's & Rall becomes a very important company in the town of Jericho, helping out many of the residents, however they might not be all they're cracked up to be. Robert Hawkins is back and he figures out who is trailing him (from the end of season one). The United States is still divided into at least three factions. All of the states West of the Mississippi are together except for Texas and the capital is located in Cheyenne, all the states East of the Mississippi are together and the capital is located in Rome, NY, and Texas is doing it's own thing because well, everything is bigger in Texas.

Welcome back Jericho. We missed you. Finish out your series the right way.

5 Weeks

I know I know, I've already posted something this morning. But I just realized something so monumental, so huge, that it couldn't wait. 5 weeks ladies and gents, 5 weeks.

Selection Sunday is just under 5 weeks away. And I cannot wait. MARCH MADNESS!!!! This year the Final Four is in San Antonio, and I'll be going again. This will be my 7th year there (all in a row). Every year I make the trek to wherever the Final Four is with my dad, my two cousins and my uncle. I am eagerly awaiting Selection Sunday.

Stop Getting Pushed Back

I'd like to rant for a second about how annoying "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" is. This is a game for the Nintendo Wii that was supposed to come out November 2007. The second sequel to the Nintendo 64 "Super Smash Bros.," sequel to the Nintendo Gamecube "Super Smash Bros. Melee," this game I've been looking forward to for the Wii for quite a while now. About a year and a half. So when November rolled around I was ecstatic the week of the release for this game because I love it oh so much. Then I check online and it says that the game has been delayed until February 12, 2008. I obviously wasn't happy, but nevertheless I could wait, it wasn't the end of the world. So today is February 11, and I check online to see if the game is still coming out tomorrow, and it's not. March 2008 is now the new release. And it's just starting to get really annoying. If it gets delayed again I might just end up boycotting the game. Thanks for listening to my rant.

Strike Over?!?!

UPDATED 2/10/08 11:41AM It's almost a done deal. Strike Assistants are looking for new jobs and writer's are preparing to get back to work FULL SCALE tomorrow. Welcome back The Office, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights (HOPEFULLY!!), LOST!! And movies can finally start getting back in production as well. But the best part about this is -- ALL THE REALITY SHOWS THAT WERE MADE CAN BE BOOTED OFF BECAUSE SCRIPTED TV IS MUCH MUCH BETTER!!

That's what I've been reading this morning. According to Variety, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have reached a tentative deal that "protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery." The WGA East and West presidents sent out e-mails this morning at 3am alerting writers that a deal has been made.

This is the best news I've heard in a while. Now LOST (check out my LOST breakdown below) and The Office can get back into production and movies can start rewriting and filming again. Hallelujah!

You can read all the finer points of the deal viewing this pdf.

Lost Breakdown

So I got around to watching Lost this morning, and then again this past evening, and I've gotta say, it was better than the premiere. The writers have really stepped up their game for the fourth season, learning from the mistakes of season 2 and the beginning of season 3. So lets break it down.

We got the rough back stories from the 5 people coming to the island to "rescue the survivors" which I think helped us to understand who they are and what the survivors are dealing with. We first see an ROV (remote operated vehicle) that's underwater and we hear voiceovers of the two people who are controlling the vehicles. They end up stumbling upon the supposed plane crash of Oceanic Flight 815, the one that actually crash landed on the island that we all know and love. We cut to one of the "rescuers" Daniel Farraday (last name is the same as the famous 19th century chemist and physicist) who's crying but he doesn't know why. But I think he knows why. My guess is that he believe the plane to have landed on the island but then this showed that it didn't, so his calculations that he made for whoever was wrong, but it turns out they weren't wrong obviously.

The next backstory is that of Miles, who happens to be a ghostbuster of sort. He apparently hast he ability to communicate with the deceased as we see him help out a grandmother who's grandson has been sticking around the house. Miles comes into the room and tells the kid (who I have a feeling we'll be seeing again) to tell him where "it" is. We hear a strange noise and then Miles finds a load of cash, which he keeps, and tells the kid that he "can go now." This ability is useful on the island when he demands to see Naomi so he can verify Jack and Kate's story as to why she died, which he ends up doing.

After that we get Charlotte Staples Lewis (C.S. Lewis....) and her trip to Tunisia. We see her pay her way to get closer to a dig that some natives were doing, and the payoff is bones of a bear in the dirt. A polar bear in Africa. Sounds like something Dharma cooked up. Well it was, as Charlotte found a collar with a Dharma octopus logo on it, telling us that the island isn't the only place Dharma reached.

Next we get Frank Lapidus, located in the Bahamas, watching footage of the 815 wreck as they are showing the pilot dead in his seat underwater. He called the hotline posted on the TV (which I also called, and was pretty freaky) and demanded to talk to the supervisor because he knows the person they're showing on TV is NOT the pilot of the flight that crashed because he saw that the pilot had no ring on his ring finger (he married his high school sweetheart at 19 and never took it off). After being asked how he knows so much about the pilot, he responds that he was the one that was supposed to be flying Oceanic 815 that day.

Lastly we see Naomi, most likely for the last time, as she is talking with Matt Abbaddon about the team she's supposed to lead the island safely (the team composed of the above 4 individuals, who have no military training). She doesn't like the plan at all but agrees to do it because that's her job.

At the end of the episode we seem to find out why they have come to the island -- Ben. They want Benjamin Linus. Ben knew this all along, as he reveals to Locke and his crew. Ben knew this because he has a mole on the boat that the "rescuers" came from, proving once more that, Ben is the man and is always one step ahead of everyone else.

Random thoughts:

Ben shot Locke purposefully through the side of his body without the kidney because he knew it wouldn't kill him. I feel that Ben unlocked everything he could from the island and he needed Locke to unlock the rest, but the only way he could do that would be to make it seem like Locke was doing it on his own.

Why has everyone forgotten Charlie? Claire wasn't upset at all about what had transpired, about what she found out at the END of last episode. That was a big turnaround for someone who seemed to have loved Charlie. Ditto for Hurley.

Hurley knowing where the cabin was really freaked out Locke and Ben, and for good reason. I think Ben only thought Locke had a connection with the island and didn't foresee Hurley having a connection as well. Locke probably thinks the same thing.

Jack and Kate forgetting all about Daniel Farraday saying to them that rescuing them wasn't their "primary objective." I mean I realize it was for the big reveal at the end, that they wanted Ben, but they shouldn't have to make Jack and Kate, two of the show's smarter characters, sacrifice their smarts.

Locke asking Ben what the smoke monster was! Finally! Someone asks the question we've been dying to know since THE FIRST EPISODE!!! This question is definitely older than the "where are we?" question.

And finally, the man on the boat, working for Ben. Michael. You read it here first. Michael will be back on the show, and I think he's been helping Ben out. I don't know why, but I think it's Michael.

Season 4 = siiiiiiiiiiick, so far. 6 more episodes to go. However, I'm hearing that since the strike could be over within a couple weeks, that they could get right back into production and shoot another 6 episodes to air in Late April/May/June. I read that at Buddytv.com. But I think that's great news, not just for Lost but for all TV (and mankind).

Lost and Others

Second Lost is on tonight, titled "Confirmed Dead." Tonight features the flashbacks of the 5 boat people who are supposed to be there to rescue the Losties, but I'm pretty sure that won't be happening anytime soon. As good as the premiere was I'm hearing that this episode is much better, which is exciting. "The Other 48 Days" is a similar episode to this one, as we get a back-story from people we haven't yet seen on screen. Should be lots of fun.

Unfortunately I'm missing tonight's episode, but I will be watching it tomorrow afternoon (or later tonight if I'm up for it), and will be posting my reactions after that.

Also on this weekend:

The season finale of Friday Night Lights which could end up being the series finale, as awful as that sounds. I'm hearing rumors of a pregnancy scare that no one sees coming. Hopefully the NBC execs don't terminate this beauty. Friday at 9pm on NBC.

Episode 6 of The Wire, which I've already seen. Another brilliant episode, but that mean's we're one closer to the series finale, which just sucks. Omar begins to strike back at Marlo's people, and we see Marlo taking the reigns after Prop Joe died. Freamon cracks the code by which Marlo and his people are communicating, but it will be much harder to actually get a tap on that. Carcetti starts to show the media and Baltimore what he's planning to do about the serial killer who's preying on the homeless....which McNulty and Freamon made up, with some help by Scott Templeton, the reporter who makes up his stories. And now Gus is onto his scent. Sunday at 9pm on HBO.

Suns Becoming a Dead Star?

Did not see this one coming. Apparently, Shaq is coming back to the West. The Phoenix Suns and Miami Heat have agreed to terms on a trade that sends Shaq from the Heat to the Suns and Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks from the Suns to the Heat. This trade, could be the WORST decision the Suns have made in a long, long time.

Right now, the Suns have the best record in the West and are 8-2 in their last 10 games. They're on pace to win 58 games this year and take the top spot in the Western Conference for the first time in 15 years (Barkley, KJ, Majerle anyone??) Why, oh why, would they trade an integral part of their system (Marion) for, as much as I love him, a near-dead big man that cannot run their style of play? I really cannot fathom any good reason as to why they would do this trade. The only thing I can think of as to why the Suns would do this is because the Stoudemire-Marion feud has reached its breaking point. Everyone knew that the love between the two was few and far between, and now the heat became too much, as it looks like a Heat player will now replace one of them.

On the other hand, the Heat look to have fresh life. Marion is a unique type of player who will fit the Heat's system very nicely and give Dwyane Wade help on the scoring load so he doesn't have to kill himself before year's end trying to do too much. Shaw's time as a dominating big man has, sadly, come to an end. The day's of him destroying people down in the post are long gone. He can't hang with the younger, more athletic forwards/centers such as Dwight Howard. Marion will be able to help in new ways and Marcus Banks give them another option at point guard so its not only Jason Williams. This could rejuvenate the Heat to at least be a respectable opponent in the East.


I really don't understand this trade from the Suns perspective. For the Heat it's great, but for the Suns, I just don't know. I feel like the Western conference has been hit with an idiot bug in the last couple of months. Kevin Garnett shipped off to the Celtics for....nothing. Recently, Pau Gasol shipped to the Lakers for none of their top 10 players (24 points and 12 boards in his first game). And now this: Shaq coming to the best team in the West to inevitably knock off a couple wins for them. I just don't know anymore.

Super Weekend

Wow what a weekend. I haven't been able to post individual articles just because I've been very busy, so I've decided to mush it all into one post dealing with different topics. First off, Lost.

How good was the premiere episode? Easily worthy of following the stellar season 3 finale, this episode really got us thinking again in new ways. The past and the present aren't everything anymore. Now the future has to be reckoned with as well. This week we got a Hurley-centric episode with him in the future and it was pretty revealing. When I say revealing I use that word lightly because on Lost with everything that's answered we get 10 more questions to think about, which is exactly what happened. What we saw: Hurley reveal he's one of the "Oceanic Six," another Hurley and Charlie scene (maybe the last), Jack's father in Jacob's chair, creepy guy stare at Hurley through Jacob's window, Hurley make Jacob's cabin disappear, Deputy Commissioner Daniels from The Wire talk to Hurley about the other survivors, Locke and Jack state their positions very clearly about the rescue boat, Hurley and Jack disagreeing in a mental institution, Hurley not siding with Jack on the island, the survivors split into two camps led by Jack and Locke, Charlie telling Hurley he needs to help the other survivors. I thought the episode belongs in the same group as the season 3 finale as one of the best episodes of the series, and this just makes me even more excited that Lost is back (albeit for only 7 more episodes...)

Friday Night Lights had another great episode on Friday. This show is up there with Lost and The Wire as shows you should be watching right now. Superbly written and acted, this show was never about the football but rather the relationships between the community and how football relates to all of them. Next week is the "season finale" due to the writer's strike so that gives you plenty of time to catch up on season 2 if you haven't been watching (or season 1 for that fact, go out and rent it).

The Writer's Strike had an interesting rumor floating around Sunday, saying that a deal was imminent and that both sides only had small issues to resolve on Monday. Good news for all Movie and TV fans obviously. Then this morning came a letter from the president of the WGA saying that they are still in talks to resolve the issue but that everyone should be back to picketing on Monday. Not good news for all Movie and TV fans. I feel like they're closer to a deal but still a couple weeks off (either in time to write the Oscars or they'll make an exception to write the Oscars and then during it will announce the deal).

The Super Bowl was outstanding. The game through the first three quarters was pretty good, a defensive stalemate at best. Then came the fourth quarter and the 3 lead changes. The Giants finally scored a TD with 11:05 left to take the lead 10-7. The Patriots, doing what they do best, marched down the field and scored with a little over 3 minutes left, taking the lead 14-10. That was the game, right there. No way Eli Manning was going to have a winning drive against the 18-0 Patriots, soon to be 19-0 (Peyton could do it, but not Eli). And then something amazing happened: he did. Eli led the Giants down the field against the 4th best scoring defense in the league and scored when no one thought they could. Appropriate because no one thought they could win the game at all. Highlighted on that drive was when Eli spun, ducked, sidestepped and ran away from 2, maybe 3 sure sacks, and threw and 30 yard pass to David Tyree with just under a minute left, who caught the ball and the bobbled it but pinned it against his helmet and then caught it, falling down with 2 guys on him, I mean, you can't make this stuff up. That was such an unbelievable play. But still I didn't believe they could do the impossible. Then they did. And I was the happiest I've ever been on Superbowl Sunday. I'm a Jets fan. The Giants I hate. The Patriots I hate. But, the Patriots had the chance to go perfect. And I did not want that. Oh yeah, and what about Bill Belichick? Running off the field with a second left, Tom Brady following. What gracious losers. Are you f*cking serious?!!? I sort of felt bad for them, coming all this way and then losing at the last minute, and then that happened, and I didn't care for them at all anymore. Sore f*cking losers.

So that was my weekend. And on top of that I got my car washed. So all in all, good freakin weekend.

The Beginning of the End: Lost

Don't forget to tune into Lost tonight. 2-hour premiere event with a recap episode from 8-9 and the premiere "The Beginning of the End" airing at 9pm on ABC. Hurley-centric tonight.

Must See Movies of 2008

These are the movies I've deemed a must see for 2008 (a Top 19 if you will). I'll give a little write-up for each movie so you know what is what, but I believe each of these will be worth going to a theater and watching for $10.

Be Kind, Rewind (February 2008)

From director Michael Gondry (Being John Malkovich), this stars Mos Def as a clerk at a New York video/thrift store, and his friend Jack Black somehow manages to erase all the videotapes in the store because he's magnetized. So they have to "swede" (make by themselves) all the movies Jack Black erased.

Synecdoche, New York (Early 2008)

Written/Directed by Charlie Kaufman (writer Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener. I'm not exactly sure what this is about, something to do with PSH as a theater director, but anything from the mind of Kaufman should be worth seeing.

Iron Man (May 2)
No need for a description here. But Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark I think will be pretty sweet. Should be a good popcorn flick.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (May 22)

He’s back! 20 or so years later, but finally a fourth Indy film, featuring his son played by Shia LaBeouf and the return of Marion Ravenwood. Unfortunately there is no Sean Connery but still this should be interesting. The plot is still unconfirmed but I’ve been hearing a return to the Lost Ark storyline and something about aliens. Not sure how it’s going to turn out but I’m sure it’s going to be fun.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (April 18)

Another movie from the Apatow camp, although not written or directed by the leader, Judd. This one, written by the star, Jason Segal, is about how he breaks up with his famous girlfriend (Kristen Bell) of a couple years and goes to Hawaii to get away from life, but ends up bumping into her there with her new boyfriend. So far the Apatow guys have yet to lead me astray.

Righteous Kill (April 18)

De Niro and Pacino in the same film! Say no more, two legends are back on screen together as two cops hunting a vigilante who may be one of their own. Both of these haven’t had the best track record in the past couple of years, but both should put in a hell of a performance.

Choke (Unknown)

Based on a novel written by the same guy who wrote Fight Club, this is sure to be a good film. I’ve heard this book as better than Fight Club, so maybe the movie will be as well, although it will be hard to top one of David Fincher’s masterpieces.

The Happening (June 13)

The new film from M. Night Shyamalan should be interesting at least. I’ve heard that this was his best script since The Sixth Sense, possibly even better. And say what you will, I’ve yet to hate any of his movies (I didn’t see Lady in the Water). But Unbreakable still remains my favorite movies of his. Should be good, Friday the 13^th.

The Incredible Hulk (June 13)

So the Ang Lee directed Hulk sucked, but let’s face it, that movie didn’t star Edward Norton, who pisses excellence in the morning. Show me a bad movie with him in it, and I’ll fight you on it. Also add in the fact he may have had a hand in writing part of it, I’m sure this one will be much better than the other piece of crap.

Wall-E (June 27)

Pixar is king. I’ll just say that. Never have they turned out a bad movie. Never (Maybe Cars…). And this surely will not be their first. They know how to make good movies and this will just add to the resume.

Hancock (July 2)

Pixar is king….well so is Will Smith. He could be starring in a movie about a guy taking a crap and it would still gross $200 million. Right now I don’t think there is an actor with more appeal than him. Directed by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom), Will Smith is a superhero who has lost the faith of the people and needs help getting back into their goodwill. Also stars Jason Bateman, who I love.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (July 11)

The first Hellboy I won’t say was amazing, but it was definitely entertaining. Guillermo Del Toro really knows how to relate his vision onto the screen (Pan’s Labyrinth anyone?). Returns all the same old characters, but should be better I think. Del Toro doesn’t turn out many bad films.

The Dark Knight (July 18)

I’ve been waiting for this one for about two years now, and it’s inching closer day by day. Everything about this should and will kick serious ass. Heath Ledger should really bring a new twist to The Joker which will be superior to Nicholson’s. It’s unfortunate about Ledger’s death, but this movie will really show how versatile an actor the Aussie really was. I have complete faith in both Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale (who also pisses excellence, right alongside Edward Norton, and possibly better than him). Add to that Katie Holmes is out of the picture, and we’re golden.

Pineapple Express (August 8)

The last script written by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg was Superbad, and that was phenomenal, so this should be just as good if not better. This movie is supposed to be a merger of comedy and action, something about two stoners on the run for witnessing a murder with Rogan and James Franco in the lead roles, should be a whole mess of fun.

Quantum of Solace (November 7)

The next Bond movie, back with Daniel Craig as James Bond, this should be good. Casino Royale really surprised me with how good it was and how well Craig played the 007 agent. This movie starts a couple hours after the last one ended and revolves around the group/company that made Eva Green’s character do what she did.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (November 21)

I like the Potter movies, say what you will. My favorite being the third (Prisoner of Azkaban), but 4 and 5 have also been very good. The sixth probably won’t be the best Potter movie (save that for the two Potter movies for book 7!) but it should still be some fun. Dumbledore dies here, so should be fun to watch on screen. And yes I said two movies for Book 7, I’ve been hearing they’ll break up the book into two parts because it’s so dense they want to get a lot of the material in, and that’s what they should do.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (November 26)

David Fincher’s next movie sounds pretty damn intriguing. First off, Seven, Fight Club and Zodiac I all loved, with the latter being my favorite of the bunch. This stars Brad Pitt as an 80 year old man who is born that way, and ages backwards. Based on a book by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it should be really good. Also stars Cate Blanchett.

Star Trek (December 25)

I’m really not into Star Trek at all. I’m more of a Star Wars guy. That being said, this is directed by JJ Abrams, who I loved. Creator of Alias and Lost, I stand behind him whenever he puts his head into something. Also directed Mission: Impossible III which was much better than I thought it was going to be, mainly because of him. I think this is going to be a whole lot of fun. Check out the video of JJ Abrams below, under Mystery in a Box – best twenty minutes you’ll spend all day.

Frost/Nixon (Unknown)

I was actually lucky enough to see an advanced screening of this movie back in November. One word: excellent. Ron Howard is really in top form here with Frank Langella playing Tricky Dick to the tee and Martin Sheen playing David Frost very, very well. This movie is about the interviews that David Frost gave Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal, and when Nixon finally apologized to the U.S. for his devious schemes.

Santana to Mets

The Santana sweepstakes seem to have finally come to a close. It looks like the Mets got their hands on the ace pitcher from the Minnesota Twins for outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. The Mets now have 48-72 hours to finalize the deal with the pitcher otherwise the deal falls through. They have to offer Santana the right extension offer or he'll most likely return to the Twins.

I'm happy. I'm a Yankees fan, so by nature I hate both the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets (although if you ask my friend you're allowed to like both the Yanks and the Mets, but I personally think that's bullshit). But the Mets here are the lesser of two evils. The Yanks only have to face the Mets 6 times throughout the year, that means only twice could the possibly face Santana. If he were dealt to the Red Sox that would mean the Yanks could've faced him 5 possible times, which is no fun as we've seen how good pitching can shut down the Yanks powerful lineup.

I'm also happy because the Yanks weren't stupid in trying to acquire the star pitcher. They had an offer of Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, and two prospects for the pitcher that the Twins refused, and I'm glad they did. They Twins were pushing for Ian Kennedy to be added to that deal but Cashman and the Yanks didn't budge, and I think it'll payoff in the long run. Hughes in the playoffs really showed how much of an addition he'll be to the pitching staff, and Kennedy is going to be an ace pitcher in the near future. Cabrera has been amazing in centerfield gathering 16 outfield assists last year to lead the AL. Add in Robinson Cano and Joba Chamberlin and you have a very strong, young core of players who can both make an immediate impact now but be good enough to stick around and hopefully win more World Series' in the future.

Mystery in a Box

Botwin and Draper Back to Work

Lionsgate and the WGA made an interim agreement this past Thursday, so Showtime's Weeds and AMC's Mad Men as well as other Lionsgate productions can head back to the writing board. Weeds and Mad Men are two very well-written shows on cable television (Mad Men recently won the Golden Globe for Best TV Drama and Best Actor in a TV Drama while Weeds was nominated for Best TV Comedy and Best Actress in a TV Comedy) and this interim agreement means that starting tomorrow the writer's can start to write more episodes.

This is another step in the right direction for all this strike nonsense. It's been almost 4 months since the strike began and TV is finally coming down to the wire with scripted shows. Almost everything is a reality show. I'm a huge TV fan and normally have about 10-12 shows I watch during the week, but because of the strike I've only been able to watch a few of my favorite shows.

It's time to stop with these interim deals and just make one huge deal so everyone can be happy again. It's probably too late to save this TV season, but at least if this strike was resolved sooner rather than later it could give TV scribes a jumpstart on writing new episodes to good TV.

I saw this story posted on Ain't It Cool News.

Jordan XX3

Saw this commercial a couple of weeks ago and felt indifferent about it. Every year come February I look forward to the new Air Jordan sneakers. I've had every pair of Air Jordans since I was a kid, but in recent years I've stopped getting them, mainly because they're expensive as hell ($230 for a pair of basketball sneakers is a bit ridiculous). I still like to check out the sneakers, just to see what they're made of, but recently I've looked forward to the commercials that his company puts out. Each one has been different and unique, and each one hits me in a different way. I've been a Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls fan ever since I can remember, so I like to check out the stuff he puts out. What do you think of the commercial?

Lost !

Lost is finally returning after an extremely long 8 month hiatus! Next Thursday we finally come back to the island. When we last saw Lost, we were treated to one of the greatest twists on a show...ever. We saw that Jack and co. made contact with Naomi's ship using her satellite phone. The person on the other line locked onto their signal and can now get onto the island to rescue everyone...or so we think. It's not going to be as easy as that, for I think these other other's are going to be worse than the other's that everyone had to deal with. But that wasn't even the big twist. Throughout the episode we got what looked like Jack flashback's to a very troubled time in his life, only to find out in the last minutes that it was a flash-forward, not a flashback, and he was trying to get back onto the island! If that didn't make you jump off you're seat, I don't know what sort of twist would.

Unfortunately this season we only get 8 episodes due to the WGA strike. Even if the strike ended today they wouldn't be able to finish the season in time. With only 48 episodes of Lost remaining the producers Damon Lindloff and Carlton Cuse decided to make three more seasons of 16 episodes each. They said each season would be treated as a chapter of a book. To stop reading a chapter in the middle of it would be such a tease for the reader, and that's what's going to happen to viewers. We're most likely going to be treated to some sort of cliff-hanger at the end of the episode, but not one worthy of a season cliff-hanger. I would equate the cliff-hanger we're going to get to reaching the end of a page, when all you have to do is turn the page to continue and finish the chapter. But some Lost is better than no Lost.

I've waited 8 long months and I'm ready for arguably my favorite show to return (reading my other posts you see it's pretty much tied with The Wire) and it's finally (almost) here.

Season 4 premieres Thursday, January 31 at 9pm on ABC.

Cloverfield

Just saw Cloverfield last night. Simply put: I loved it. It was exactly what I thought it was going to be, and the payoff was awesome. I don't remember any marketing campaign for a movie as genius as this movie's campaign. It started in July when the teaser trailer for this movie was released alongside Transformers. It left audiences gasping, desperately trying to figure out what this movie was, but more specifically, what this movie was called. There was no title attached to the trailer making the teaser even that much more of a teaser. The teaser (and the movie) was shot only with a handheld camera, giving it a very Blair Witch Project vibe. We only got some people at a party wishing Rob good luck on his trip to Japan. Then there's an earthquake and people started freaking out and from the roof of their apartment they can see a huge explosion that takes place at or around the Chrysler Building. They all head down to the streets to see what's going on, and then again from the direction of the Chrysler Building comes something flying through the air. This huge thing hits a building and then comes flying towards the people on the street and lands, and its the Statue of Liberty's head. Then the teaser ends, only giving the date of release. After I saw that I was obsessed with trying to figure out what the hell this thing was because it left me speechless.

I went online searching all movie sites and their forums and whatever else could give me news on this mystery movie, only known by the codename of "Cloverfield." On a couple of the sites I checked there were links to this puzzle site that these sites said were geared towards the campaign for codename Cloverfield. So after a couple of weeks I finally completed the puzzles, which was no easy feat, and after which I received an email saying to come back to this site and enter in the password (which was in the email) and I would be told how I could help save New York. I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, the next day, I found out that this site as actually a campaign for a video game, and not only that, a game that has nothing to do with codename Cloverfield. Since then I sort of was in the background for the movie, I didn't want to jump onto another false bandwagon. So I waited, bided my time, and finally I got to see the movie last night.

The movie kicked all sorts of ass. What's great is that this movie isn't about a giant monster that somehow got into New York and is causing havoc; this movie is about five friends, and how they are trying to survive through all of this. They're trying to navigate through the blazing streets of New York to find one of their other friends who is stuck at her apartment. So we only get these five people's perspective on how this all went down. We don't know how the president reacts firsthand, or what the military leaders are thinking firsthand, we get that information only by what's available to these five people and what's available on the camera.

If you want a good time at a theater, go see Cloverfield. It's not the greatest movie ever, but it's an entertaining movie that's worth seeing at least once.

Superbowl

So it's going to be the Patriots against the Giants. Unfortunately. I'm a Jets fan, so this is almost as bad as if the Red Sox were facing the Mets in the World Series. Who can I root for? The lesser of the two evils is obviously the Giants, so I'm going to be rooting for them, but in all honesty I cannot see them beating the Patriots. As good as the Giants have been the last couple of weeks (outside of last night, they were "ok"), I don't see them either playing up to the level of the Patriots or getting the Pats to play down to their level. The Pats are just too good and it just bugs me to death.

First the Red Sox won the Series, now the Pats are going to win the Superbowl, and it's a high possibility that the Celtics could get to the NBA Finals and even come out on top. As a Yanks/New York fan, this is my worst year for sports ever. The Giants need to pull off one of the greatest upsets in Superbowl history. Everything about the Pats annoys me, they just need to win.

I realize that the Pats are easily one of the greatest teams ever, and I'm not trying to downplay them in anyway. But I hate them. Why does Belicheck wear a sweatshirt with cutoff sleeves? They're just one of those teams that anything they do I will always hate them. And need I say spygate? As good as they are and where they make their mark in history, no one will forget about spygate. It's a huge blackeye on their perfect season.

So please, Giants, for the sake of all mankind, win.

Sunshine

I just watched Sunshine this morning, haven't seen it in a couple of months. I forgot how great the score was to this movie. Especially this song I just added: "The Surface of the Sun." The score is by John Murphy who does a great job really capturing each moment of the movie. This song really stuck with me for a couple of weeks after I first saw the movie, unfortunately it wasn't available anywhere. But now that I have it I can share it with you. Enjoy.

Sunshine is listed below as my fifth favorite non-comedy of 2007

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Favorite Movies of 2007

I just got finished watching David Fincher's Zodiac and it got me thinking about my favorite movies from the past year. I absolutely loved this film but I wanted to see how it compared with other movies from this year. Now being a film buff I keep a list of my favorite films of all time, and I break that down into Non-Comedy and Comedy lists, just because I don't feel it's fair to judge comedies against dramas or whatever else, and I'll do the same for these lists. These lists do not mean the best movies of 2007, these lists are just my favorite movies. For instance, I'm Not There is a better movie than The Bourne Ultimatum (in my opinion), but I liked TBU more so it ranks higher on the list. So here goes Top Non-Comedies of 2007:

1. No Country for Old Men/There Will Be Blood
2. Zodiac
3. The Bourne Ultimatum
4. Grindhouse: Death Proof
5. Sunshine
6. I'm Not There
7. 300
8. The Kingdom
9. Transformers
10. Live Free or Die Hard
11. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
12. American Gangster

Top Comedies of 2007

1. Knocked Up
2. Superbad
3. Juno
4. Hot Fuzz
5. Enchanted
6. Dan in Real Life
7. Ratatouille
8. The Ten
9. You Kill Me

No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are tied atop my non-comedy list for a couple of reasons. First of all, I've only seen them each once, so to make a fair judgment I would have to see each film at least once more, maybe even twice more. The Coen Brothers really returned to form with NCFOM writing a stellar script (based on the book of the same name by Cormac McCarthy), getting great actors (Javier Bardem won Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor), and just visually creating a movie that reads just like a book. When books are adapted into movies it is very hard to keep true to the book, but Joel and Ethan really did a great job in this fact.

P.T. Anderson's last film Punch Drunk Love I did not see, but I've seen both Boogie Nights and Magnolia and both of those I loved. TWBB blew those out of the water. Daniel Day-Lewis stars in a movie about once every 50 years, but when he does he absolutely knocks the role out of the park. His portrayal of oil tycoon Daniel Plainview is haunting as we see how he deteriorates throughout the film. He already won the Golden Globe for Best Actor and I'm sure an Oscar is just around the corner.

I'd go into more detail about why I put each film where it is on my list, but for right now I'll leave it be. What do you think?

The Wire

I just watched the third episode of the fifth season for "The Wire." Currently there is not a better show on television. Even if the writer's strike wasn't happening, this would still be the best show out there. Slowly but surely it's overtaken my now second favorite show ("Lost") as something that's constantly on my mind. So far this season it has been a bit slow with the action, but at the end of this episode we get a look at the infamous Omar, who will be sure to make the game much crazier now that he's back in town.

With only seven episodes left in the season, "The Wire" is going to get messy, and quick. It's just too bad that this is the last season of the show. David Simon, the co-creator, had always intended the show to only go five seasons, each season telling a different chapter about the city of Baltimore. How those five seasons have come and gone. This show is a wake-up call to the rest of the U.S. because it's not afraid to show us what most audiences don't want to see. Namely that the system is flawed.

Do yourself a favor, and buy season one of the "The Wire." Watch the first couple of episodes, and if you're not instantly attracted to this show then I'll stand corrected. But there is nothing better on tv. I promise you that this show will instantly be on your mind constantly, and that you will care for each and every character that you see. Buy the first season, and before you know it you'll be craving for seasons 2, 3, 4 and 5.

"The Wire" airs on HBO on Sundays at 9pm.

Welcome

Welcome to my first blog. I've never done this before so this will be a learning experience. Enjoy.