A Lot of Stuff

So much to cover!

First: TV Finales. It's so sad to say goodbye to all my shows until the fall. The winner so far hands down goes to The Office. The last scene!! Killer and amazing. Lost's is tomorrow night, it's gonna be a doosey. And American Idol's over tomorrow too, not as big of a deal but entertaining. Jaslene won ANTM otg it wasn't Natasha. Grey's: everyone's sad, is George leaving? DH: Bree's back, and that's about as exciting as it gets...Lynette's Mom is just like Brandie's Grandma!

Second: Music. Sooo much new stuff finally coming my way, this is my year guys I'm telling you. As I posted earlier, there are a ton of new releases that I am just sinking my teeth into right now, reviews will come up as I make up my minds on albums. AND Kelly's release date for My December got MOVED UP to June 26th! Score!

Note: Marc Broussard's new CD of soul covers also comes out June 26th, so I will be getting that as well. And from out of NOWHERE Rihanna's blowing my mind right now! Her new album is called Good Girl Gone Bad, it leaked yesterday, thought I'd download it for kicks....and it's freaking me out how crazy good poppy/r&b-y/rocky/fun it is, so weird when a random artist comes out of the blue and surprises you. That one comes out June 5th.

Whew! I think I got everything that I've been thinking about out there. oh!

Third: Movies. Spiderman 3 wasn't that good, might see Shrek 3, heard its not that good. My prediction for my favorite summer movie: Ratatoullie (i know i jacked up the spelling on that). It looks the most original, and it's by the same guy who did the Incredibles, so I'm sure it's gonna deliver.

Later!

R.I.P. Stars Hollow

I've been pretty self-indulgent with this blog in the past. I apologize if my drawn-out Lost posts have turned some readers off. Now I'm not assuming that millions read what I write everyday, but I've heard some rumblings. So here's the breakdown (get it?): Lost is awesome again. The last episode was insane, the season's over very soon. I will always love this show, but I won't be hardcore blogging about it as much. Maybe a little update or two, because sometimes I just can't control myself with how intensely this show impacts me.

I also just wanted to give a eulogy for Gilmore Girls. There are only a couple episodes left and the CW just announced that it's the end. Brandie and I will be sad to see it go, but it's run its course and we can see the series wrapping up nicely. Thanks for everything GG, you had a good run.

Review: Spider-Man 3

The picture above pretty much sums up my feelings for the third Spider-Man film - pain.

Everyone's back of course, but when did things get so campy? Did I just blindly follow along the last 2 films? Because this time around, it's really hard to watch and take seriously. I know it's a movie based on comic books, but so was Batman Begins and that single film is better than the 3 Spidey movies combined. Sam Raimi's brilliant when it comes to the action scenes and the CG of course is amazing, but drawn out "dramatic" scenes alongside Tobey Maguire doing his best Jared Leto impression (eyeliner included...I'm not kidding), and dancing, DANCING! I felt really uncomfortable during a lot of this movie, it made me squirm how cheesy a lot of it was. Were the filmmakers purposefully trying to make a movie that only 11-year olds will lol to?

In the end, there are some good plot points and storylines that get wrapped up, but it's in the execution that this film fails. Go see it, nothing I say will stop you from going, and I probably would still go see it even after reading bad reviews. This movie will make a billion dollars no matter what, but at the end of the day, it's just sloppy sad film making.

Upcoming Releases of '07

Kelly Clarkson - "My December"

Release Date: Early Summer
First Single: "Never Again" - only a remix has leaked so far, but it's going for radio plays tomorrow.
How I Became A Fan: American Idol of course, and I've stuck with her thru From Justin to Kelly and she's grown into an awesome artist.
Seen Live?: Only, like, 5 times....


Rufus Wainwright - "Release The Stars"

Release Date: May 15
First Single: "Going To A Town"
How I Became A Fan: Heard him on soundtracks (Shrek, Moulin Rouge, I Am Sam), then slowly gathered his albums.
Seen Live?: Yes, with Ben Folds a couple years ago (awesome "Careless Whispers" duet)


Bjork - "Volta"

Release Date: May 7
First Single: "Earth Intruders" - Collab w/Timbaland, just downloaded it off iTunes this week, its crazy cool.
How I Became A Fan: Her movie "Dancer in the Dark" - she played a going blind woman who lived for music; it's a dramatic musical. From there I realized her genius and started collecting her albums.
Seen Live?: Not yet, but I have a live DVD


Maroon 5 - "It Won't Be Soon Before Long"

Release Date: May 22
First Single: "Makes Me Wonder" - a great return for one of my favorite bands in college, this song has the makings of another hit.
How I Became A Fan: My friend introduced me to them in the Fall of 2002, then about 2 years later they exploded.
Seen Live?: Four times. First time I was leaning my elbows on the stage in San Fransisco, second time was a little further back in L.A., third time I was in the lower balcony at Universal Studios, then I was in nosebleed at the Savemart Center.


Avril Lavigne - "The Best Damn Thing"

Release Date: April 17
First Single: "Girlfriend" - not the best song on the album (it already leaked), that would go to "Runaway".
How I Became A Fan: Saw her first video on MTV the first Summer after my freshman year in college...resisted until I downloaded her full album and found out that she could sing. She's my guilty pop/rock pleasure.
Seen Live?: Fresno 2004


Rooney - "Calling The World"

Release Date: June 19
First Single: Unknown
How I Became A Fan: Through my brother, then they got big after they were on the OC. Really solid debut album.
Seen Live?: With Kelly Clarkson last year in Marysville *shudder*

Blades of Glory

Brandie and I got the chance to catch an advance screening of Will Ferrell's new movie "Blades of Glory" tonight (thanks Corrie!)....jealous?

We were planning on seeing this movie when it came out this weekend anyway so we were very excited to catch it early. This movie is classic Will Ferrell; dumb and smart at the same time. Plus Jenna Fischer (Pam!) and Will Arnett (Gob!) are in it too, which only adds to its awesomeness. This might be my favorite Will Ferrell comedy so far; better than Anchorman and Talladega Nights. Definitely go check this movie out, you'll laugh a lot.

Lost - The Man From Tallahassee

Lost delivers again this week with an awesome ep (the best of the season so far perhaps?). I went into this week knowing that we'd find out how John got into his wheelchair, but I wasn't expecting so much revelatory island stuff as well.


I'll start out on the island. Sayid, Kate and John have a go at getting Jack freed. Kate and Sayid are captured almost instantly (they were watching Jack! Who knew he was a good piano player?). John however succeeds in getting into Ben's room, which we find out was his whole motive in the first place. He wants to blow up the Others' submarine for....reasons, I'll get to it in a bit. Alex ends up helping John get the C-4 from Sayid's pack which was also a great opportunity for Sayid to drop some real mom truth on Alex and a little later Rousseau actually sees Alex for the first time! So so great. After a lot of head games with Ben, John finally gets Alex to take him to the submarine, which we also find out is how Jack and Juliet are going to get off the island that very night. Now at this point I couldn't figure out whether Ben wants John to blow the thing up or not...but it happened nonetheless. Was this John's third huge mistake in 3 episodes (don't forget he blew up the farmhouse, killed the Russian guy and now this)?

Now to John's backstory, which was the best and most gratifying backstory this show has given us in a very long time. We're brought to the time in John's life after his girlfriend's left him and when he's a very depressed and bitter man. John gets a visit from a mysterious young man who turns out to be the son of a woman his dad is about to marry only to con her out of her millions. This propels John into action: no more screwing with people's lives then skipping town. He pays his dad a surprise visit in a flower shop and "convinces" his dad to leave town and call off the wedding. Then presumably a few days later, the FBI are onto John because the young man who visited him ended up dead with John's contact info in his pocket....convenient. John pays daddy visit number 2 where his dad swears that the woman he was about to marry was so distraught over her son's death that she called off the wedding herself....problem solved right? Well as John reaches for the phone to call up the woman to corroborate his dad's story (his dad told him to!) his dad lunges at him and pushes him out the window! John fell 8 stories and survived, only to be paralyzed, both physically and emotionally. This scene was so perfect; there were so many theories about how John became paralyzed but the actual execution of this storyline made so much sense. John's daddy issues were so engrained in him the moment he landed on the island, which makes his miraculous healing even more profound, aaaand this explains why he wanted to blow up the submarine, because this island is the one place he's healed from all the pain his father's inflicted upon him.
Right?

Back on the island Ben told John about a box they have in which whatever you envision to be inside will appear the moment you open it. Sounds shady. Cut to the very end of the episode and Ben's about to show John just what's inside the box. Really? Seriously? I almost expected the episode to end right as the door was opened, but we weren't tortured that bad. In the seconds leading up to this moment I whispered to Brandie "it's his dad, it can't be his dad...no way..." But lo and behold the source of all of John's frustrations and fears was sitting there, bound and gagged....HIS FREAKIN' DAD'S ON THE ISLAND!! Even though I thought this might be true, it nevertheless didn't stop me from getting shivers all over. The look on John's face was mirrored in every true fans face as well....how is this the case? What the heck's going on? These questions don't leave me as frustrated this week, because so much good stuff was revealed, I know only more good stuff is to come. This was long! Until next week!

Lost - "Par Avion"

So I'll start things off by saying that I haven't been posting as much lately mainly because none of my favorite shows have been on. Except Lost. However, the show has been mostly underwhelming the last couple episodes so I haven't been running to my computer to post recaps because honestly it hasn't been that good. It's still a great show, but ever since Jack and Juliet went off on that boat, it's been random backstories and no plot progression. I'm sure when season 3 comes out on dvd I will appreciate these filler episodes more, but right now I want story! But doesn't everyone. So on to last nights episode.


So something was revealed last night that me an I'm sure millions of other Lost fans had already figured out: Jack and Claire are half-siblings! Maybe I should have left the exclamation point out of that last sentence because this was not as much a shocking revelation as it was the show just telling us what we kinda already knew. For a split second, I thought that maybe Claire and Kate were siblings, because Claire's comatose mom really looked like Kate's mom for a second; but then I thought about it more and logistically it makes no sense. But I was just hoping that maybe the writer would pull a fast one on us and make Claire have a connection with someone else besides Jack. It was nice to get a little bit more background on Claire though (who new she was such a cute goth?), she definitely had a lot on her mind when the plane crashed besides being pregnant. Now my big question (another one) is whether Jack and Claire will ever find out that they're related. In the end it's pretty much up to the Others to tell them, because they're the only ones that would know - time will only tell (a long time probably...maybe season 5?).


On to other events. John had slip-up #2 when he pushed the patch-eye guy into the sonic-electric-shock fence. Now I wasn't that mad at him for blowing up the station last week, but this time I was kinda pissed. The patch eye guy was a great asset to them in getting info and possibly helping them get Jack back. I can see though why Locke pushed him, because his paralyzed past was about to be out in the open and in the end he probably wouldn't be enough to get Jack back, but still, he would've been good to keep around, at least for bait.


Last night Claire found out that Desmond can tell the future and has been protecting Charlie from his death. This brought them closer together again, blah blah.


So the biggest shocker of last night was (of course) at the very end. After Kate and the search committee made it over the shock-fence, they came up to the barracks. Cut to Jack making a mad dash to safety....or he's just playing catch with Tom. What?! Like I always say on my Lost recaps, time will only tell what's going on. My theory is that Jack and Juliet were taken here a few episodes ago and in the time they've been there, the Others have been treating Jack very nicely, but Jack is only playing along. I don't think for one second that Jack will ever be brainwashed to being on their side. But I could be wrong.

Next week we FINALLY find out what put John into his wheelchair, and it looks like the search committee and the others finally get to meet up.

Lost Recap - Stranger In A Strange Land

The title of this episode kind of describes me in viewing this episode. I felt lost (no pun) and somewhat out of place during this episode. It seemed very disconnected; with Jack's odd flashback that had him swimming in the sheets with Bai Ling (gross) who can "read people" and who "marked" him with the tattoo....was this really one of the "3 big mystery's revealed" like all the promos said? Please. This was not the Jack that the viewers know; if this was post-breakup with his wife then the random sex would maybe make sense, but it's a stretch. They're asking a lot with this whole marking deal - Juliet also got marked by episodes end - all I'm saying is that it better mean something and they better explain it fast or else it's gonna get lost in the mix; I just hope it makes sense somehow.

Then there's Sawyer and Kate; this part of the episode felt the most true to form. I feel bad for the both of them; Sawyer kind of put it all out there for Kate back when they got crazy in the cage, and that was big for him. Kate of course acted on raw emotions, but now that she knows Jack's ok and that her and Sawyer left him alone, she's feeling mixed emotions. Plus they've got lost-in-love Carl on their hands as well, who embodies all that these two will never be: honest with their feelings. Even though this kids storyline was a little cheese with the naming constellations together, I still kind of liked it. The guy playing this character is good, and he was a great juxtaposition to Sawyer's man's man.

We also got introduced to Isabelle, another creepy Other who's visiting the island to do some house-cleaning, and reintroduced to Cindy and the kids, then at the very end we see Jack and Juliet along with Ben on a boat to "home". Questions: who is Isabelle really and where did she come from? Why are Cindy and the kids "watching"? And most importantly, where is Ben taking Jack and Juliet?

Next week brings more promises of craziness from the promo department of abc, but I've learned to know better. I'm going in not expecting much, then maybe I'll truly be blown away.

Grey's Anatomy Recap

We just watched the newest ep of Grey's last night, and we're one step closer to knowing how Meredith doesn't end up dead (there's no way she'll end up dead). What we do know is that Izzie drilled holes in that guy's head, Karev helped a lot of people find their loved ones (both dead and alive), George found the lady's son, and even though Derek was the one who got Meredith out of the water, it was handled really well and it was probably the most touching part of the ep when he was forced out of the room she was being work on in and Mark sat down next to him.

My predictions: Meredith will not die, but the aftermath of all this drama will be intense. I've thought all along that Izzie loves George, and not just best friends love. It was kind of hinted at when she told him she disapproved of him marrying Callie - you can't deny that drama is only just beginning. The Karev and Addison intensity will only heat up. Even though Meredith won't die (have I emphasized that enough yet? Are you listening Bran?), I bet someone WILL by season's end.

I'm going to start something new for my Grey's recap. The weekly quote that gets viewers choked up.

This weeks quote - George:"People die" Izzie:"I know people die"

Grey's viewers know the simplicity of these lines combined with the acting from Katherine Heigl was by far the most tear-inducing moment of the night.

Lost - "Flashes Before Your Eyes" Recap

Last night's episode was all about what happened to Desmond after he turned the failsafe key in the hatch back in last season's finale. The episode was an extended quasi-flashback which I think the show pulled off. As Lost fans know, the show has always had flashbacks, but this time Desmond relived his past (traveled back in time?). We got to see Desmond approach his father-in-law to be to ask for his permission in asking Penny to marry him, in which he was swiftly ripped a new one by the old man (Kirsten's Dad from the OC!). Then this old lady started telling him what he was and wasn't "supposed" to be doing. Desmond wasn't supposed to buy the engagement ring, he is meant to break Penny's heart, meant to race around the world in a boat to prove Penny's dad wrong, meant to be on the island pushing the button for 3 years. Who is this lady? Did Des ever really come across her in his past? Is she part of Dharma planted in his past? Is she even real? The whole message relayed is that the universe wants certain things to happen, and there's only so much control we have over it. So just like the universe wants, Des breaks Penny's heart and he's on his way to the island.

Flash-forward to the present back on the island and we find out that Desmond wasn't trying to save Claire earlier from drowning, but he was actually saving Charlie! Charlie's had several near-death experiences on the island (remember first season?) but is he really gonna die? How long can Desmond keep saving him, can he really change the fate of the universe? Let's hope we don't have to say goodbye to Charlie any time soon, but a good death would add some awesome drama.

My last burning question that Brandie helped me realize last night - when did Claire have time to cut bangs?