I Am a Top Chef!

I just finished my all-day cooking class. What fun!!!! I definitely recommend anyone who wants to build more confidence in the kitchen take a beginning skills/techniques class - I feel so much better prepared to experiment now! And, thanks go to Mom and Dad for answering my call for a gift certificate for Christmas. What a great gift! :-)

Today was the Beginner Techniques Workshop at L'Academie de Cuisine (Top Chef finalist Carla Hall's alma mater - Hootie Hoo!) in Bethesda. It was a full class of about 20 people. There was a nice mix of people of all ages. I ended up partnering with a woman about my age who works on the Hill. Her husband had given her a gift certificate for her birthday, and we both were at about the same basic skill level. I've done a little more cooking-cooking, she's done more baking, so we balanced out well. Around were a couple of nice guys who I'm guessing were signed up by their wives. :-) There also seemed to be two mother-son pairs, which was pretty cute, and a whole bunch of singles of all ages. It was all very friendly.

The agenda for the day:

Morning - We made our own focaccia bread (my partner and I flavored ours with garlic, basil, and parmesan), corn and potato chowder, and a garlic and basil vinaigrette to serve over field greens. When everything was done, we ate it all as our lunch with a few bottles of chardonnay cracked open. Yum, wine with lunch! I do love Saturdays.

Afternoon - Then we moved on to working in large groups to make roasted potatoes with red peppers, and back to pairs for chicken marsala with mushrooms and an apple and pecan cake with ginger glaze. At about 3:45 everything was ready so we ate again, with a few more bottles of chardonnay. Excellent!

Things that I learned how to do today, which I'd never done before:
- make a roux
- chiffonade fresh basil (chiffonade's a verb, right?)
- a better way to dice an onion, leaving the root end intact to hold it all together to the end
- make homemade bread dough and let it proof and rise, and proof and rise again
- add a little bit of honey to a vinaigrette to balance the vinegar in an awesome way
- pound chicken breasts (our instructor kept yelling "be a pirate! pound it hard! aargh!")
- dredge meat in seasoned flour
- use a shallot (I never have before!)
- deglaze a pan and make a sauce with all those brown bits (a big Food Network trick, but I'd never actually done it)
- use a stand mixer - first time!
- toast pecans in a dry saute pan (yay toasty nuts!)

Things I did today that I will *totally* do again:
- make a chowdah -- so many options! I may try a potato/leek version at some point
- that honey in the vinaigrette trick - LOVE. WANT TO MARRY.
- do breaded chicken cutlets - there are lots of options there, too!

Handy tips:
- doughscrapers are awesome, and so versatile. We used them all day to keep cleaning off our cutting boards. Must get one.
- using your thumb and index finger to help grip your knife blade = better control
- when measuring out your flour, stir it up first and scoop it into your cup with big spoon to lighten it up - you want your flour measured by volume not weight. Packing it in tight to your measuring up probably gives you too much.
- flatten celery before dicing it, much easier
- have a buffer in the pan before you start to cook garlic - something else with a little moisture so it won't start to burn (oil, onions, etc.)
- chicken is done at 165 degrees
- when adding alcohol to a cooking dish - add it OFF the heat. then let the alcohol boil before adding any other ingredient, it cooks off some of the alcohol that way
- cracking eggs on a flat surface, rather than against an edge = less shell in your dish
- if you're adding eggs to something, have them be at room temperature so cook / blend faster
- keep sliced apples from turning brown by immersing them in water with a little lemon juice. The water keeps the oxygen away, and the lemon juice = vitamin C, which is an antioxidant.


That's about it -- it was a great day, and I am looking forward to planning more meals for myself with these handy tips and more experience under my belt. Hooray!

Best LOST Blog Ever

I don't know when or if I'll get to posting about this week's LOST episode. It was great, it just came right in the middle of my 5-day-sick and I haven't been up for much blogging.

But, in the meantime, enjoy... this is the best blog I've found in ages! "Dispatches from the Island" is the blog of none other than Jorge Garcia, aka our beloved Hugo "Hurley" Reyes.

He's hilarious! It's a blog just like anybody else's, where he tells funny stories about life - sometimes about being on the set, but mostly just the funny little real-life stuff that keeps the days interesting. Like getting a water bottle stuck in the toilet, or funny pictures of his dog Nunu, or the adventures of buying toilet paper in bulk. He's so charming and funny. Try it, you'll like it!

The Envelope, Please....

And the big winner of this year's annual Sterfanie Blog Oscar Pool? Drum roll.....

.... is.... THIS GUY!!! Yes, Greg was the big winner! Congratulations! He won hands down, with 19 out of 24 correct picks. Amazing stats! I didn't even have to use the tie-breaker questions, since he was at least 2 ahead of all the rest of the competition. (Though the Entertainment Weekly picks did edge him out with 20 out of 24, but they don't really count!)

It's easiest to report which categories Greg missed rather than all of those he got right: he only missed Best Actor (picking Mickey in the hotly-contested race), Documentary Short, Foreign Language Film, Animated Short, and Sound Mixing. Not too shabby, movie fan!

So what does he win? $25 in Fandango Bucks! To go see all those movies (or, 2 1/2 of them) that he didn't have the chance to see before the big night.

Other highlights?

• There were 2 people tied in 2nd place with 17 wins each - the champ from 2 years ago Brunette and our own Mr. Hollywood, Steve. Great job, you guys! If just a few things had gone differently you could've been contenders. :-)
• J-Lo - last year's champ - was the only one among us to successfully pick ALL 4 acting winners! Woohoo!
• Every single one of us made the right pick with Man on Wire, that feel-good documentary about a crazy Frenchman following his dream. What a feel-good category!
• Brunette was the only one to get the documentary short, Smile Pinki!, correct, and I happen to know she picked it cuz she liked the name. Good call!
• Foreign Language shocker! We were all so focused on the race between The Class and Waltz with Bashir that not a single one of us correctly picked the winner, Departures.
• RSM (my bro) and AJ resisted the nearly-irresistible pull of that adorable cartoon rabbit and were the only ones to correctly pick the Animated Short winner, Le Maison de Petits Cubes, over Pixar's Presto.
• The final count, with initials only, if you're curious: GR 19, MBW and SB 17, JL 15, RSM 14, SSE 13, SM and AJ 12, and EA and MHJ 9. So, gang, what works better for you? Seeing all the movies or just randomly guessing??? I think I need to go with the latter!
• And finally, though we voted 5-4 in favor of SUCK, I have to say that Hugh Jackman pretty much ROCKED. Good call on having a song-and-dance man as the MC.

So - that's it for this year's pool! As usual, I had a great time with it. I'm a big old CMU-grad dork who loves updating my Oscar spreadsheet every year. And between this and March Madness I have so much fun tracking stuff that I'm starting to wonder if I was a bookie in a past life!

Congrats again to all the winners!!!

The 2009 Oscars- LIVE!

The big night is finally here! The stars are walking down the red carpet, the accountants have the results locked up in those "Deal or No Deal" briefcases, and all of the Friends of the Blog have gotten their picks in for my annual Oscar pool. There's some good stuff in there - we're all unanimous on many of the categories, but pretty much *none* of the big ones! Other than the apparent lock for Heath Ledger, we're all over the place in the acting, screenplay, directing and best picture categories. So this pool could be surprising!

This year I'm going to try something new -- I'm going to attempt to live-blog this evening, so stay tuned! I'll try to publish at commercials or other big (or boring) moments, and I welcome comments at any time. Here's hoping for a great evening!

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8:01 pm - I made it through the E pre-show wilderness, somehow I made it throu--ou--ough. Not bad - Ryan Seacrest is actually pretty good at being Mr. Entertainment, and I just ignored Giulana and Jay mostly.

Now it's time for the official ABC pre-show. Kate Winslet = gorgeous. Josh Brolin = orange. Amy Adams = also gorgeous, and give it up for wearing red! SJP = oh, look, another princess couture gown. Snooze. And Matthew is looking OLD! Taraji P. Henson = Beautiful and seems so happy. Frank Langella = I can't look at him without remembering seeing him run naked in Lolita. Eeek. Brangelina = Classy, thank goodness.

Ha! Love the Tim Gunn flashback to Bjork's Swan Nightmare and Cher's crazy Bob Mackie dress. But I'm a little sad that so far no one seems to be a fashion disaster. The entire Slumdog cast seems so happy, and I'm glad the little kids were able to come. They really made the movie, IMHO. Mickey Rourke = it is touching to have his beloved chihuahua who passed away on his necklace. It's sad to lose a pet, no matter who you are. High School Musical kids? I'm too old for this whole phenom. Robert Downey Jr. looks all cleaned-up and classy. Viola Davis = not only does her performance rock, I think she's got my favorite dress of the night. She looks gorgeous! Miley Cyrus? I'm too old for her whole shtick, too. Anne Hathaway = part of that off-white trend that I'm not loving so far.

Funny little accountant montage before introducing the Price WaterhouseCoopers guys. That must be the best gig in all of accounting land. :-) Meryl Streep = an idol, but why does she always wear gray? Her daughter was funny - "Oh, I've been here before..." Even the 2nd generation Streep is used to being on the red carpet! Penelope Cruz = gorgeous, and vintage, but still that off-white color. Does it play better in person than on tv? Richard Jenkins = aww, I just wanna be friends with him. And... Jack Black at the bar. Love that he points out how awkward this all is. Marisa Tomei = who will always be Maggie in A Different World to me. Another gown where I can't tell what the color is. And...back at the bar with Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, and Judd Apatow. One final montage and then it's on to the big show!

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8:30 pm - THE SHOW BEGINS!

Oooh, the new set kinda reminds of those toys you'd get at the Ice Capades in the 80's, with those filaments that would all light up different colors at the end. Know what I mean?

Hugh Jackman -- he was a good Tonys host, let's see how he does here. The self-deprecating Australia joke was pretty funny, with the recession-New Zealand chaser. Ok, I *LOVE* the school play-esque recession-proof opening number! I'm surprised he could get a little racy and snarky in those lyrics. And look, Anne Hathaway can sing! "I am a Slumdog, I am a Wrestler, I'll rent The Reader, I'm Wolverine!" And then a Meryl Streep - 15 noms - steroids joke?? Okay, in my bonus questions for the pool I had the last question of "Will Hugh Jackman rock or suck?" So far, I'm leaning towards the former.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Nice montage, and what a great group of presenters! Eva-Marie Saint, Whoopi Goldberg, Tilda Swinton, Goldie Hawn, and Anjelica Houston! Ok, if they do this for every single category the night is going to drag on until Tuesday. And the Oscar goes to... Penelope Cruz. She was the odds-on fave, but I was rooting for Viola!

8:52 pm - and we're back. And it feels like we're already behind. Let's start giving out some more awards!

Tina Fey & Steve Martin - great writers' setup, funnier than their episode of 30 Rock earlier this year. Snap! A Scientology smackdown! :-)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - This one's coming down to Milk or WALL-E I think, and I'd be happy with either. And the Oscar goes to....Dustin Lance Black for Milk!!! Woohoo! That's the one I voted for. I'm putting for it for Best Picture, too. DLB's speech about the inspiration of Harvey Milk was very touching, even though Harvey's work isn't done yet.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - Steve Martin's "DON'T fall in love with me" is the line of the night, so far. I voted for Doubt here but think it could be the first major Slumdog win. And the Oscar goes to... Slumdog Millionaire. Is this the start of a trend for the night? Funny opening to the speech - "The Moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium, and...here."

Jennifer Aniston & Jack Black - bring out the comedians to give a snarky intro to the animation films, with a good Dreamworks vs. Pixar dig. So what is this 2008 "Movie Yearbook" - is this necessary? Don't we all know the nominated films by now? I mean, if someone's watching the Oscars aren't they probably already paying attention? Whatevs, time for a great WALL-E clip.

ANIMATED FEATURE - There's no question here, right? And the Oscar goes to...my new favorite movie of the year, WALL-E. Look at that - Andrew Stanton played Barnaby in Hello Dolly in high school. Further proof that we need to support the arts in schools!

ANIMATED SHORT - This has gotta be Pixar's Presto, right? Those poor other films don't seem to have a chance against the Pixar powerhouse. WHOA! Never mind, a shocker! The winner is Le Maison En Petits Cubes. Well, "Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto" indeed!

9:15 pm And we're back from commercial and I have a big glass of chilled riesling. Yum.

ART DIRECTION - SJP and James Bond presenting? That's an odd pair. In our pool, this category is evenly split between The Dark Knight and Benjamin Button. And the Oscar goes to...The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Dang. I voted for Gotham City for this and several other techie awards. Does that spell doom for me in my own pool?

If I ever win an Oscar, I hope I do it solo so I get that whole time to make the speech myself. It would suck to be the second of a team and get played off.

COSTUME DESIGN - There's a big debate about how period movies have always had an advantage here cuz it's so visible, whereas costume design for contemporary films is harder to judge. And the Academy says.... The Duchess. Yep, fancy, frilly period piece wins again.

MAKEUP - They're putting SJP and Daniel Craig to work! Three awards so far? At least it keeps it moving. Here, almost our entire pool picked Benjamin Button. I had picked The Dark Knight but changed it today - I hope that was the right thing to do! And the Oscar goes to... yes, I was right! The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

The kid from Twilight and the girl from Mamma Mia! (better known as the dead girl from Veronica Mars) present a "Movie Yearbook" on romance in 2008. Hmmm. Again, necessary? I guess so for a shot of Javier Bardem saying we should "make love." Muy caliente! And is that a new U2 song I hear? I have the album pre-ordered, I hope it comes soon! Oh look, there's that bird on Carrie Bradshaw's head again... soon to be seen in the Movie Yearbook for 2008's fashion mistakes. ;-)

9:31 pm - we're back, and Hugh continues us on the journey of making the film - now on to cinematography.

CINEMATOGRAPHY - Natalie Portman looks gorgeous, and apparently Ben Stiller is doing his best Joaquin Phoenix impersonation! That's all gotta be a hoax, right? A Hasidic meth lab, indeed. Our pool has a definite favorite... And the Oscar goes to...Slumdog Millionaire. Yay! That was our pick.

9:38 pm - We're back for Jessica Biel wearing a horribly unflattering bag-dress to talk about the Sci-Tech awards. Resume drinking riesling. And now another commercial, really? It was only 2 minutes!

A Note on the Commercials -- this year, due to the recession, the Academy/ABC actually reduced the price for ad time, and for the first time in years they have lifted the ban on having movie advertisements shown. We just saw an ad for the new Jamie Foxx/Robert Downey Jr. movie The Soloist, and I don't think that takes anything away from the telecast. The earlier ad about Nicolas Cage as a scientist figuring out the world's mysteries in Knowing? That took away from our souls.

9:42 pm - Back with a Judd Apatow Pineapple Express sketch. More Reader jokes! Seth Rogen and James Franco review the movies that *weren't* nominated. Love the ABBA tribute. :-) I really want to see their movie, but it's stuck on stupid very long wait on Netflix. Ah, I get it, that was the 2008 Comedy Yearbook. Much better when done as a sketch.

LIVE ACTION SHORT - Funny stuff with the DP. And the Oscar goes to...Toyland. Apparently Franco doesn't speak German, nor do I. :-)

9:52 pm - Hugh's back, and he's loving musicals. Showman time... And the always over-sequined Beyonce. Oh, and she's singing "At Last!" Somewhere Etta James is throwing something at the tv. And are those the HSM kids? And Amanda Seyfriend and the other Mamma Mia guy? The other 4 weren't really needed, in my opinion, but Hugh and Beyonce are a good pair for a big, old-fashioned musical number.

10:01 pm and we've only given out 10 awards. 14 left to go, plus the honorary stuff. Let's get a move on!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Here we go with another montage of winners and 5 presenters. This time, we've got Christopher Walken, Kevin Kline, Cuba Gooding Jr, Alan Arkin, and Joel Gray. Wait who won this last year? Wasn't it Javier Bardem? Where is his hotness??? And Alan Arkin just totally screwed up Philip Seymour Hoffman's name. Serves him right for wearing that stupid knit cap. Joel Grey's tribute to Josh Brolin was great, and Cuba was finally funny again talking to Robert Downey Jr. ("The brothers need to work!") but we all know who this award is going to. Kevin Kline's tribute was well-said. And the Oscar goes to... Heath Ledger, accepted by his family. Not a lot of dry eyes in the Kodak.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - I just watched 2 nominees in this category this weekend, and I agree Man on Wire is a great story with a crazy, eminently watchable subject. I also watched Herzog's Antarctica film, which was good but not great. Bill Maher - whose own doc Religulous is also on long wait in my queue - presents... the Oscar to...Man on Wire. Every single person in our pool picked it! And - there's crazy Phillipe! He wins the award for being the only crazy Frenchman to ever balance the Oscar on his chin on stage.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT - Sadly I missed all of these this year, so I just went with Entertainment Weekly's pick. And the Oscar goes to... Smile Pinki. Not EW's pick! Only one person in the pool got that right, and I happen to know she picked it just cuz she liked the title best. :-)

How'd Jimmy Kimmel get Tom Cruise to do his commercial?

10:22 pm - Hugh's back again, and now we're on to postproduction in our film-making journey, showcased in the 2008 Action Movie Yearbook. It's like summer all over again, car chases and gun fights and flying superheroes galore.

Will Smith makes quite an entrance, and even Mr. Billion-Dollar Box Office still has those goofy ears. :-)

VISUAL EFFECTS - I'm in the minority here, rooting for TDK over BB, but I'm afraid..... The Oscar goes to... crap. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button seems to be getting the technical love tonight, and that's my bad for picking The Dark Knight in those categories.

SOUND EDITING - I picked WALL-E for the sound categories, go, go, go adorable animated movie! And the Oscar goes to... The Dark Knight. Crapola. I had that as my pick until yesterday, when I finally watched WALL-E. I'm slowly sinking in my own pool...

SOUND MIXING - I'm still rooting for that little robot movie! And the Oscar goes to... Slumdog Millionaire. Yep, still sinking.

Will Smith jokes about how he's still giving away awards, but frankly I'm okay with this cuz it goes faster than bringing out new presenters each time. Makes up for the time suck of those acting presentations.

FILM EDITING - Here again I chose TDK, which I'm sure means Slumdog will win. And the Oscar goes to... Slumdog Millionaire. Okay, fine. I enjoyed the movie, too, I just didn't think it would win all of these tech categories.

7 more awards to go, I believe, plus the tribute to Jerry Lewis. HEY LADY!

Eddie Murphy! Wow, I kinda actually forgot about him. He's presenting the humanitarian award to Jerry Lewis. Eddie's a pretty good presenter. He should stop doing those crazy movies he's doing and try some more dramatic roles, I'd go watch him. With all these clips of telethons, it reminds me that growing up I just always thought of Jerry Lewis as the telethon guy. It probably wasn't until I was in my teens until I knew he'd been a major comedian himself. That was life before cable, I guess. And now Jerry finally gets his Oscar. Thank you, Jerry, for keeping your speech short!!!

10:50 pm - Okay, Hugh, time to roll out the big awards. But first, the musical interludes.

MUSIC - SCORE - Really, Zac Efron and Alicia Keys? Is she wondering who the heck this little guy is? But I love her purple dress! On to the cateogry...Another one where I'm pulling for WALL-E. And the Oscar goes to...A. R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire. This really should teach me to not pick with my heart. I'm now tied for 2nd-to-last in my own pool. :-(

And now the original song nominees in a medley... not featuring Peter Gabriel. I voted for "Jai Ho" here cuz I loved that big Bollywood dance number, but I'd be happy with either Slumdog song winning. But why are there only 3 nominees here? There can be 5, right, so why no Bruce? And good for John Legend for being a team player and singing, frankly better than old Pete has been sounding lately.

MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG - And the Oscar goes to..."Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire. Hooray! I finally picked one right!

11:05 pm - keep it moving, Hugh. We're getting tired.

Liam Neeson and Frida Pinto? Another interesting pair, but they both look great. God, she's gorgeous. Is she really dating her 18-year-old costar?

FOREIGN LANGUAGE - Our pool is split between The Class and Waltz with Bashir. I haven't seen any of these... yet. And the Oscar goes to... Departures (Japan). Wow, none of us got that.

11:10 pm - Queen Latifah is presenting the In Memoriam montage. I like it as a song - "I'll Be Seeing You" - instead of just the photo slideshow. Paul Newman definitely won the Kodak audience clap-o-meter, with Sydney Pollack just behind. So why didn't they include Heath Ledger? The new floating screens thing made it HARD to read on a tv at home, btw!

11:18 pm - Hugh's announcing Sid Ganis's retirement as President of the Academy. I've actually met him. He's about my height.

Reese Witherspoon - not so into that blue and black weird strapped dress she's wearing.

BEST DIRECTOR - Here I did pick Slumdog so Danny Boyle better better freakin' bring home the gold. He makes everything from heroin movies to zombie movies to inspirational triumph of the human heart movies, come on! And the Oscar goes to.... Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire. Whoohoo! Or is it Tigger bounding up to that podium?

Hmmm, just a few categories to go... there's a likely winner in our pool but the 3 remaining big categories could still shake things up! This year's pool is interesting - we have a much wider gap between the leader and the last this year, which might mean that there is a wider range of pics sharing all of the awards? Or that we made more blind guesses this year?

11:24 pm - Big Time!

BEST ACTRESS - And our 5 memory lane presenters are Sophia Loren, Shirley MacLaine, Halley Berry, Nicole Kidman, and Marion Coutillard. Don't really love any of their dresses. Okay, here's where this gimmick works, cuz the crowd is loving this lineup. Shirley's tribute to Anne Hathaway came off as pretty authentic, nice. These tributes do make it much more exciting to be nominated. Kate has my vote in this category, though I haven't seen her movie, but I also adore Meryl so I'd be happy with either of them winning. And the Oscar goes to...Kate Winslet. Woohoo! That's my girl! Now don't lose it up there... Gather...No, it's not a shampoo bottle now! I love her telling Meryl to suck it up. :-)

BEST ACTOR - Presented by Robert DeNiro, Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins, Adrien Brody, and Michael Douglas. Wow, that's a line-up! Now this may just be the most hotly-contested race of the night, and while I wish Mickey well I am rooting for Sean Penn all the way. He's arrogant and dour, sure (and sexy as hell), but his embodiment of Harvey Milk was transformational. DeNiro's tribute to Penn was hilarious, btw. And the Oscar goes to... woohoo!!!! Sean Penn!!! Now let's get ready for some politics in his speech. "I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often," now that's funny, "you commie, homo-loving, sons of guns." Down with Prop 8! But, did he thank his wife???

BEST PICTURE - Out trots Steven Spielberg in the obligatory "Hollywood Heavyweight" role of presenting this final category. This is a strange montage, linking all the current noms with the films that came before them. It's looking like Slumdog's night, but I am still rooting for Milk especially in light of Sean Penn's win. And the Oscar goes to... Slumdog Millionaire.

And there we have it. Slumdog takes home 8 Oscars, and that's gotta be more than any one film has one in a while. That without any acting nods, which is always a bit controversial when a film wins Best Picture without any performances singled out. What do folks think about that?

So Hugh is able to call it a night *before* midnight, which feels pretty good.

We have a definite winner in the pool, no tie-breakers even needed -- and I'll announce that and all our fun stats tomorrow! Good night!

Cuteness

Awwwww.... this is what a happy cat looks like. She has defeated her arch-nemesis, feather-on-a-stick, and is enjoying a victory nap.

LOST - The new numbers, 316

Wow. Holy Moley Wow. Spoilers ahead...

First, since I've already shared with you the fact that I take notes while watching LOST, here's an indication of just how SUPER-HUGE an episode this was tonight:


Yes, I took THREE PAGES of notes. Good thing my mother taught me to read, just like Ben's. :-)

Okay, lots of vitamin-fortified goodness tonight. Where to start?

The Opening Scene: Brilliant reference back to the Pilot. Loved it, loved it, and believed it for a moment until I suddenly yelled out, "Wait, he's BACK ON THE ISLAND!" Beautifully done.

The Island: Is always moving, always. Does that mean in both space *and* time? I believe so -- Ms. Hawking gave a quick Island 101 class in the Dharma Lamppost station - located in LA??? - describing the quick history of how the Island was and still can be found.

Finding the Island: It's about looking for it where it will be, not where it should be. Or something like that. I believed all of Ms. Hawking's (Daniel's mom's) army intelligence - physics - Foucault's pendulum stuff as she was saying it, but now I can't remember it well enough to explain. Basically, she told Ben, Jack, Sun, and Desmond that in order to find the Island in the next 36 hours, they had to take the Ajira Airlines (Ajira!) flight 316 from LA to Guam. That would put them in the right place at the right time. And they had to "recreate the circumstances" of when they first crashed on the Island, meaning the same people had to be involved. Lots of work to do to get those Oceanic 6 back together! (And does this mean it's our 6'ers shooting at our Island gang in the outrigger canoes???)

Desmond: Called a big "Lemon out!" and finally let loose on Ms. Hawking, which was great. He basically told her she ruined his life, or 4 years of it, by sending him off to the Island and the time loop in the first place. Great scene for Henry Ian Cusick. So Des is out of the picture for now, but I sure do believe we'll see him again soon. It looks like the potential close encounter between Penny and Ben didn't happen -- or did it??? -- so Des's ladylove should be safe.

Jack: Y'all know Jack has never been my favorite character. (He's never been my least favorite, either - that's Ana Lulu hands down.) BUT -- I was liking him a lot more tonight. I think it's because he was shaken, doubtful, unsure of what they were all doing. It's his certainty and self-righteousness that have always aggravated me the most, so seeing him transformed to becoming the new "man of faith" complete with doubts, rather than the hard-headed "man of science," was refreshing. Locke wished he had believed, and I think it will be this journey that finally makes it so. Matthew Fox always does good work, and tonight I really appreciated seeing those doubts and vulnerabilities play over Jack's face.

Kate: What is UP with Kate??? Did you notice how different she looked tonight? No more polish or makeup, she looked almost haggard - like a tired and worn version of Island Kate. And what in the heck happened to Aaron??? Who took him? Something terrible must have happened, for her to say she never wanted to talk about him again. Another ghostly visit from Claire? Or a very real kidnapping? Something scary, for sure. And does Aaron not need to come back to the Island?

Ben: So, biggest thing first, even as I was writing the Des part above I thought "Oh, we never saw Penny so Ben must not have gone after her" until it clicked for me... his "loose end" that he went off to pursue, and he ended up at the marina with the crap beaten out of him??? What if he went after Penny and Desmond kicked his ass??? I would love that!!! As long as it means Penny's safe. But if Ben tried for revenge and failed, that could be an even bigger motivator for him to get back on the Island. The other big scene in this ep was his beautiful discussion of Doubting Thomas. Well played by Emerson and Fox. So now good old Ben Linus is making his way back to the Island the castaway way -- did he make it??? He must, cuz I can't imagine this show without him. (Other than season 1, of course.)

Circumstances: It was pretty way cool to see all the eerie little ways that the "circumstances" recreated themselves as the 6-minus-1-plus-2 made their way to the Ajira flight. So much deja vu! The biggest kick was seeing Sayid in handcuffs with a brand new marshal as his escort. THAT wll be interesting. Jack has Locke's body on board, as the proxy for Christian Shephard -- what will that end up meaning? (We'll definitely see more next week.) Is this proxy status just for the flight, or is that some hint that Christian has been a proxy for Jacob all along? It was cool seeing Jack's granddad in order to get the shoes needed to set Locke as the proxy - but why did the granddad look to be the same age roughly as Christian? Weird. And.... LAPIDUS! I loved it, and his "We're not going to Guam, are we?" was my 2nd favorite line of the night. :-)

The Big Reveal: And that glorious last scene, as Jack, Kate and Hurley try to figure out where they are - and don't even know that they have to figure out when they are - seeing that Dharma bus drive up with none other than Dharma Jin in it??? Fabulous!!!! I can't WAIT to see the time skips that bring that about!

The Storyline: Along with many others, I'd been saying lately that I thought the real-world O6 storyline was dragging, and that the main action was really on the Island. We didn't see any of our Island survivors tonight, but this ep was a roller coaster! I think it's because from the very first moment we *knew* that they were going to end up back on the Island, and the explanations and actions came very fast. So -- now we're midway through the season, and they're already back on the Island. Just a few weeks ago I figured this would take until the end of the series. So what in the heck do Damon & Carlton have planned for us?? They need to stop the time skipping, and figure out more of the Island's mysteries, but now I have absolutely no idea what the Island's end game will be. And that's how I like it!

'Twas the Week Before Oscar

The Big Night is near! I hope everyone's readying their entries in the annual Stef's Blog Oscar Pool. Remember, you have to play to win!

I'm still way behind in my Oscar to-do list, with many more movies to see that I probably won't be able to watch by Sunday. I have several occupying the "very long wait" top slots in my Netflix queue, and I hope to take in some screenings of the docs and shorts around town this week.

As a reminder, here are the nominees, in alpha order by category.

Now.... AAARGH!... I had a whole post worked out that I spent almost an hour on, writing out my "should win/will win" picks, but I hit a stupid stray key on the computer and deleted them all. DANGIT! That'll teach me to write in Blogger instead of cutting and pasting from a Word doc.

So -- to sum up what I *had* written, I think Slumdog Millionaire will probably pick up the most statuettes of the night, but I'm rooting for Milk in a surprise upset to win Best Picture. I'm guessing Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger, and Viola Davis as the acting winners, and Danny Boyle as the director -- which would give us the unusual but not unheard of scenario of Best Director and Best Picture going to two different films. As for the rest of the categories, mostly I'll be guessing just like everyone else!!! And that's the fun of it, right? :-)

Who's In Her Bed?

Highlander In Her Bed by Allie Mackay

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is a trashy romance novel. I've read trashy romance novels before, even medieval-era stories of knights and damsels in distress, and while they're formulaic they at least usually have some kind of plot and character development to go along with the naughty bits. Sadly, this book was about 88% naughty bits and 12% ridiculous plot, the kind in which I just kept yelling at the main character for her stupid behavior.

So a modern woman buys a 14th-century handmade bed...that's haunted...by a medieval Scottish knight...whose forsworn enemies are the woman's own ancestors...and she moves it into the ancestral castle...and proceeds to have ghostly sex with him, a lot. The "forsworn enemies" part didn't last long, and the main character was supposed to be a plucky modern gal but I lost complete patience with her when she refused to believe the Scottish knight was a ghost, and thus instead must have thought he was a stalker/intruder but had no problem with that. Ack! Call the police if a strange man shows up in your bedroom and threatens you with a dagger! (No, that's not a metaphor. An actual dagger.)

It all gets resolved in the end, they all live happily ever after - 7 centuries and ancient curses be damned. The book got better towards the end, and by that time I just gave up on the author's terrible writing style and wanted to figure out how they'd finish out the formula. The naughty bits were a lot naughtier than I expected, as well, and I'd just find myself giggling at some of the metaphors and descriptions!

I did give this 2 stars, rather than 1, because it was a very entertaining birthday gift and I look forward to discussing it with Selena in full detail! We might have to underline passages to debate just what the author was thinking. (No, not *those* passages!)

View all my reviews.

LOST - "This Place is Death"

I'm a few days behind my regular viewing schedule, but that means that today on my day off I got to watch LOST the way I like best: completely commercial-free. Thanks, iTunes. It really keeps the suspense level up when you don't have to hear about auto manufacturers' apr or the absorbing power of the ShamWOW! every few minutes.

So, spoilers ahead on this week's installment, the grimly-titled "This Place is Death" ---

Things are moving, moving, moving along at the usual mid-season pace. The main action of the show right now is trying to get all the people in the right places for the Ocean 6 to return to the Island. That means our Skipping Survivors, now happily reunited with Jin, had to make their way to the Orchid station and, back in real time, Ben has to get the O6 gathered together without killing each other to make whatever mysterious journey will take them back.

So far -- mission half-way accomplished. The Survivors, minus one, made it to the pre-Orchid frozen donkey wheel and John attempted to put it back on its axis. So is that what was causing the time skips? The wheel was off its axis and jumping around? Hopefully they're done with the skipping and the horrible pain of being unstuck in time. It's a bit late for Charlotte, though. More on that below.

I imagine (because I don't want to see scenes from next week) that we'll now see John/Jeremy Bentham making his way among the Oceanic 6 a few months/weeks before the current timeline trying to make his case for their return. I'm guessing that he takes the name of Jeremy Bentham because he's trying to hide the fact that he's an 815 survivor, which would destroy the O6 cover story and alert Widmore to what's going on.

Alas, Ben's not having much success so far convincing the O6 -- and it seems John didn't do a great job either. Sayid and Kate have both taken off, Kate along with Aaron, disgusted with Ben and Jack. Hurley's still in jail but Ben will probably bust him out quickly. This is not a merry band just looking to relive the old days. Sun's convinced though, as she is now starting to believe that Jin is still alive, which was a nice emotional storyline to watch as Yunkin Kim is doing a great job this season.

And, in the final moments, our favorite Scot appeared to help draw two storylines together -- and from what I could tell, shocking Ben with the info that Eloise Hawking is Daniel Faraday's mother. Did Ben, our man who always has a plan, not know that??? Well, creepy/cool Ellie/Mrs. Hawking seems to be the lady in charge, and she's disappointed in Ben for not bringing the whole group together. But I'm very intrigued that she said they should get started anyway -- with only Sun and Jack representing the 6, plus Ben and Des along for the ride, what in the heck could she be planning? Something scientific, some strange Druidic ritual, a groovy Others dance party? I just can't imagine what we'll see next!

Charlotte & Dan
So, big news for the Freighter Folk... poor Charlotte has proven to have a tragic storyline. The woman who was just trying to return to the fantasy Island of her childhood did so, only to learn it would be the cause of her death. Since she left the Island as a girl with her mother, and since she did meet Ben on the Island in season 4, I think that lays to rest the theory that she was Ben and Annie's daughter and that Annie died in childbirth and the baby was whisked away. She grew up knowing her mother, who refused to talk about the Island. But if she was old enough to remember her Dharma days and the location of the frozen donkey wheel at the well, she should have been old enough to recognize her father, too. So -- was she just a random Dharma girl?

And, in a way showing themselves to be the sad opposite of Desmond & Penny, it turns out Daniel and Charlotte were star-crossed/time-crossed lovers as well. For Charlotte remembered that there was a crazy old man in Dharma who warned her never to return to the Island or she'd die, and that crazy old man turns out to be a time-skipping Daniel Faraday. So, perhaps we shall soon see Daniel back at the Dharma Initiative, like in the season premiere, warning a little girl of her fate. How very Time Traveler's Wife! Poor Charlotte, and poor Dan. I'd grown to like them both a lot.

Christian & John & Ben
We saw the return of the spectral Christian Shephard tonight, in what I still believe to be some manifestation of the Island spirit. Is that because Christian himself was involved, or just because there was the available dead body on the plane? Who knows. I imagine that'll be a Season 6 problem. But his appearance tonight was pretty revealing - as he scolded John for basically abdicating the responsibility he'd been given. Christian told John to move the Island, and he meant JOHN should move the Island. But, pretty typical for our flawed Locke, he let Ben take charge followed his lead. With such a scolding from the Island, I'm guessing John won't do that again, which should make for an interesting interaction whenever Ben meets up with Locke/Bentham on the mainland.

Jin
What a great episode for Daniel Dae Kim! We've missed you, Jin buddy! He quickly figured out who Rousseau was and that he was somehow lost in time, then upon regrouping with the other Survivors he became singly focused in trying to protect his wife and the daughter he's never met. His willingness to let Sun believe he was dead rather than have her come back to the Island was touching, especially juxtaposed with the off-Island scenes of a Sun hell-bent on revenge for thinking was dead after all. Will their inevitable reunion be happy, or bittersweet? And, at this point, it looks like Ji Yeon will remain safe in grandma's arms while her parents figure out when and where they are.

Rousseau
We finally got almost all of the holes filled in on Rousseau's storyline tonight. We've seen the sweet, innocent young mother-to-be as her crew crashed on the Island, then watched as two of them were taken by the awesome return of the Smoke Monster. When the rest of the crew, including her cute-patootie French hubby, fell for what must have been the Monster's eerie projection/manifestation of the voice of their fallen (jerky) friend, something happened to them. At least, that's what Rousseau believes. What was the "sickness" that led the sweet girl to turn her gun on the crew, including said hubby? Were they really possessed somehow? It was not what I expected - not the nosebleeds, not any medical illness that we could see. Instead, Danielle believed that somehow her friends had changed and perhaps were trying to kill her -- which we saw ourselves in that tense scene with her husband. And had he changed that much, or was he just know initiated in the Island's mysteries? He knew the Smoke Monster was a security system for the temple -- very interesting. But poor Danielle, she's now suffered a lot and still doesn't know that crazy Ben Linus is going to steal her baby.

Tidbits

- How freakin' cute is little Ji Yeon???

- And how creepy was it when Sun told her daughter that she'd found her a new friend? I was half-expecting Sun to peel out of that parking lot with Aaron and never look back.

- It feels like we are going to see some "ancient" Island culture soon -- there've been so many hints lately, especially with this ep's view of the temple with its cuneiform writing and guard dog Smokey.

- When Christian yelled "say hello to my son!" John didn't know what he meant. I'd forgotten that Sawyer's the only one who knows what Jack's dad looks like, and so far Sawyer hasn't seen Christian walking around. Claire (alive or dead) doesn't know that her dad is also Jack's dad, right? And no one else who's seen him would know who he is. More for that Season 6 wrap-up story, I'm guessing.

In many ways, this episode reminded me a lot of good old school Season 1 LOST, with the return of the smoke monster, the brief clip of THE NUMBERS being broadcast over the Frenchmens' radios, the mystery and confusion about the physical surroundings of the Island, and most of all with Locke's unwavering faith in the Island's mysteries even as everyone questioned the weakness of his logic. Locke often turned out to be right in his instincts, but we've also seen him be pretty darn wrong. Hopefully we'll soon see if all this Richard- and Christian Shephard-influenced faith is leading them all in the right direction.

Wowee. What did everbody else think??

Keepin' It Real

This is why friends are important, right, they keep your feet firmly planted on the ground? My very good friend Brunette just sent me this HI-larious card from someecards (the greatest site on the Internet - go ahead, waste a few hours). Yes, it's everywhere that our beloved (mostly) 16th President is celebrating his 200th birthday today, so she had to remind me as well. :-)

But, no, that's not enough for trusty gal pal Brunette, who has always done her homework. She also followed it up with a full list of the famous people who share my birthday, and her commentary -- which I have to share cuz it had me laughing at my desk. Her thoughts are in italics.

I heard on my way in to work that it's also Charles Darwin's birthday, which is cool. And now, with an assist from Wikipedia, here is an abridged list of shared February 12 birthdays:

1218 - Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shogun (d. 1256) [Shogun!]

1663 - Cotton Mather, New England minister (d. 1728) [reformed witch hunter; tried unsuccessfully to promote smallpox inoculations; son of the sublimely named Increase Mather] 1809 - Charles Darwin, English naturalist (d. 1882)

1809 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (d. 1865)

1876 - Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (d. 1933) [Namaste.]

1915 - Lorne Greene, Canadian actor (d. 1987) [Rawhide!!]

1930 - Arlen Specter, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania

1936 - Joe Don Baker, American actor [who I'll always remember as the corrupt cop in Fletch] 1938 - Judy Blume, American author

1952 - Michael McDonald, American musician [a Doobie for your birthday]

1955 - Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host [woof woof woof!]

1968 - Josh Brolin, American actor

1968 - Chynna Phillips, American singer

1974 - Fonzworth Bentley, American hip-hop artist [the guy who carried Diddy's umbrella]

1979 - Jesse Spencer, Australian actor [Chase! I can't believe he's younger than us]

1980 - Christina Ricci, American actress

Reflections

By the time you all read this, it'll be my birthday! Hooray!

While my birthday buddies Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin are enjoying the big 2-0-0, I'm embracing the kinda ho-hum, boring age of 34. Goodbye Jesus Year, I failed at starting a new world religion. Hello, 34, most notable for being... twice the age of 17??? Yikes.

But, I love being in my now, ahem, mid-30's. I was explaining this to someone tonight, someone who has the benefit of a few more decades of perspective, and he totally agreed with me. I wouldn't go back to my 20's for anything. Sure, I had a lot of fun and felt a little more free and casual with a lot less stress back then, but... I feel like in my 30's, I and so many of my friends have just gained so much. Confidence, experience, respect, knowledge.

I'm so much more secure in who I am, and what I want, and what I believe in, and what I need from myself and others, and where I want to go in life *now* than I was 5 or, egad, 10 years ago. I've learned what is important for me to fight for, and what I can shrug off. I've learned what really pushes my buttons, and what I can live with easily. I can recognize the things I'm really good at, and the times when I should defer to others and ask for help. I've found ways to keep myself interested and entertained, and ways to (as we'd say on the farm) separate the wheat from the chaff and focus on what's really important.

I've learned how to value and make time for family, and how to express to them what I need in return. I've stopped worrying so much about what "other people" think, and instead focus more on the important people in my life. I've learned how to "embrace my inner dork" and wear it with pride.

I know there's a whole lot more still to learn in life, and I'm looking forward to all kinds of new experience in the rest of my 30's -- and, you know, someday hopefully going through the new experiences of having a great relationship and starting a family. So - other than 34 being a kinda boring number in and of itself - I'm just happy to be starting another new year with a great family and friends, with a job that I love and an apartment that makes me happy, with trusty cat Cleo by my side and more adventures to come here in our nation's capital.

Yay!



Photo source.

Brief Programming Note

Heads up -


Due to a major work event Wednesday night, and a party-hardy night on Thursday (feliz cumpleanos to me!), I will probably not watch this week's LOST until Friday!

Please don't spoil it for me, pretty please????

A Tale of Two Plays

Two Saturdays, two different experiences at area theatres...

Last week, I took in the matinee performance of Conor McPherson's The Seafarer at Studio Theatre. This is the third McPherson play I've seen, so I knew what to expect -- down on their luck Irish characters, elements of the supernatural, looking for the meaning of things in the small ups and downs of daily working class life. Those elements are all there in this new play, as a group of Dubliners drink, nag each other, gossip, and play cards on Christmas Eve. The main characters were all likable, and local faves Floyd King and Ed Gero both exhibited their usual charisma and presence as rascally good-for-nothings who get a big kick out of each other.

McPherson's supernatural element appears in the form of an unexpected guest at the Christmas Eve card game -- Philip Goodwin plays a character we soon learn to be the devil in disguise. Yes, the actual devil, who long ago played a card game and won against one of the characters and is now back to exact his price. There's potential in this storyline, and McPherson's writing on this seems just as strong as usual, but I'm sorry to say that I just *hated* Philip Goodwin's performance. He and the director obviously made choices about how to portray the devil, in this case as inhabiting a strange, limiting, and uncomfortable body. His mannerisms were stiff and a little jumpy, and the complete opposite of what I would want to see in a devil. Lucifer should be sly and seductive, right? He's a tempter, someone who can cast a spell and is irresistible. Unfortunately, in this play, I just couldn't wait until Goodwin was off the stage cuz he was so distracting and frustrating. I've seen him in other shows and never had this reaction before, so I chalk it up just the choices on how to play this role. It's too bad, because it really took away from my enjoyment of the play as a whole.

Fast forward a week, and I was back at the theatre again tonight checking out a preview performance of The Heavens Are Hung in Black, the world premiere that's reopening the renovated Ford's Theatre. The play celebrates Abraham Lincoln and is part of Ford's and the overall city's Lincoln Bicentennial commemoration (his 200th birthday - and my 34th! - is this Thursday, February 12). The action takes place throughout the spring and summer of 1862, as the President and Mrs. Lincoln are mourning the loss of their beloved son Willie and, as President, Lincoln and his Cabinet members are growing increasingly frustrated with the Union's poor fortunes in the War (though the play and I both place a great deal of blame at McClellan's feet).

The play covers a lot -- and I think this is part of what it still needs to work out. It has 3 acts, something I don't think I've ever seen other than in Shakespeare, and the playwright really tries to cram a whole lot of story, debate, and what I'll call "Lincoln's greatest hits" into those 3 acts. If you've ever heard any of Lincoln's famous one-liners, you'll recognize most of them cuz the play works them all in even when it seems a little forced. The "throughline" of the story, I believe, is supposed to be Lincoln's coming to grips with the idea and inevitability of Emancipation. If the play focused more on that, it would be a stronger work. But instead, it comes off a bit as a cross between a history lesson on Emancipation, a "this is your life, Abraham Lincoln" montage, and a mystical "Christmas Carol"-style series of spectral visitors offering Lincoln life lessons to point him in the right direction. I don't think any of these storylines were bad, per se, but I think the play could use some trimming. It could also tone down some of the metaphors that hit us over the head -- that last scene, especially, didn't seem necessary. I've seen world premieres before, and been around as shows have been workshopped, and I've always been impressed to see how much tighter a show is at the end of premiere run than it is in the previews. So, with some time, I think this play will get there.

The production we saw tonight was pretty strong -- the cast was all good, and David Selby is really good playing the 16th President himself. He has the challenge of humanizing the man who has become an icon, and he does a great job of portraying both Lincoln's famous melancholy AND his famous humor. The lighting design is also very interesting and helps add to the haunting effect, and I loved the way they used slight alterations of the set with different lighting to convey the outdoors, the night sky, even a rainstorm.

So -- two shows, both with promise but in need of a little work. I know not every visit to the theatre can be the best experience ever, but I do appreciate the opportunities to learn more about what makes a good show and what choices could help improve others. If I learned anything in my years of working at theater companies, it was about how important all the pieces are -- a good script, strong and clear direction, talented actors, innovative designers, and resourceful craftsmen. When it all works, it's really a joy to watch.

Little Prince LOST

In my view, LOST episodes tend to be good, really good, great*, or "Stranger in a Strange Land." Last week's episode, "Jughead," falls somewhere between really good and great in my book, and so that makes any episode that follows it seem a little slow in comparison. Often the "good" episodes are the ones that focus on moving the action/storyline from Point A to Point B, filling in gaps and setting up the next major plot point, and that's what tonight's episode felt like. Still, I'd rate "The Little Prince" as a good episode, especially because of all those 4th-quarter reveals.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Quick hits:

- Things are still moving a lot faster this season than I expected - 4 eps in and John is already talking about leaving the Island to go get the 6 back? Will we meet Jeremy Bentham soon?

- The dad from My So-Called Life can totally play a jerk lawyer.

- I was glad to see some continuity re-established, as Jack got in trouble for bringing Sayid to the hospital since he was suspended for being a crazy-bearded addict.

- I still love a good Sayid kick-ass scene when he goes all Jason Bourne using found objects as weapons. Beware of IV tubes.

- They focused a lot on Sawyer's heartbreak tonight. I'll never claim Josh Holloway is the best actor on the show, and my dear Sawyer is really looking in need of a shower, but he played that pain well. You could see the hurt in his eyes, and his scenes with Juliet really made me believe they're becoming friends. She's got a little heartbreak of her own going on, too.

- Oh, the nosebleeds! I'm now definitely thinking Miles is Candle/Wickman's baby that we saw, and he's suffering now cuz he's had more exposure to the Island than he knows. Charlotte also must have lived there as a child, but I can't remember if she knows or not? With Juliet's nosebleed after 3? years on the Island, it probably won't be long before our 815ers show symptoms, too. Those O6 better get back fast and stop the time-warp soon!

- Who the heck were the Ajira Airlines folks in the black getups, shooting from the canoe??? And when was that??

- I loved Sawyer's pre-post warp exclamations: "Thank you Lord!" "I take that back!"

- Where are Rose & Bernard???

- Harold Perrineau's got a new show. Don't really care.

Now, those reveals:

--> After a big fakeout with Claire's mom that totally had me fooled, thinking sneaky Sun was behind the custody case for Aaron, we learn that BEN was behind the legal threat to take Aaron away. I give big points to Kate, finally showing us again those street smarts she has deep down, for figuring it out the instant she saw him. It was his way of putting Kate on the run again, if she thought someone was after Aaron, which would give her the reason to actually want to go back to the Island. Can't wait to see how this plays out, cuz Mama Kate does not look like she's gonna let Ben win without a fight.

--> After all of those promises early on, Damon and Carlton kept their word. It's not a flashback, it's actually a time skip, but we're gonna get to know the young Danielle Rousseau!!! I was so excited when they found that French wreckage on the beach and showed us the raft -- I was chanting "Rousseau! Rousseau!" at my tv. :-) I'm shocked by how young, soft, and sweet she seems. Pretty soon Ben Linus is gonna steal that baby and her whole crew is gonna die, so she'll start becoming that hard-bitten survivalist we grew to love.

--> And, finally, JIN!!!!!!!!!! He's alive!!!! And he's skipping in time along with our other castaways, so its only a matter of time before they meet up again. Last season, I really, really thought he was dead, but this year I've been wavering a bit. I love the idea of him still being alive, cuz it creates an urgency for all of us, knowing that Sun is trying to avenge his death and wondering how she'll learn and believe that's he's really alive. They'll have to be reunited, and hopefully he can meet his little girl. I don't know how that will work, though -- once the 6 return to the Island, can they ever go back to the real world? Will Sun and Jin be separated from Ji Yeon forever?


*All of the "great" episodes I can think of happen to feature Desmond prominently. He's such a great character, and the writers seem to love him. "Flashes Before Your Eyes," "The Constant," and the season 4 finale (I'm blanking on the name right now) are all so strong, and they all focus on Desmond, Penny, and time travel. It could practically be a show all on its own.