Where have our beloved characters gone?

Time to recap another episode of LOST…

Season 5—Episode 4: "The Little Prince"


This episode wasn’t as good as "Jughead," or even as good as "The Lie." I wouldn’t say the episode was devoid of intrigue, but with no Desmond, no Hurley, no Richard Alpert, and no Mrs. Hawking…well, the writers had the odds stacked against them.

I’ll divide this post into two sections. First, we’ll look at our flashing islanders: Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Miles, and Charlotte. (And let’s not forget that Rose and Bernard and a few others are still sloughing around somewhere on the island—but the writers were wise to lose them after the flaming arrows rained down on Frogurt. There’s enough to keep track of without Rose and Bernard’s constant bickering slowing things down.)

The most notable development in this episode was the revelation that the flashing islanders (Yes, I am trying to coin that phrase) might soon be reunited with Jin. I don’t think this shocked anybody. It was nice to see him alive and somewhat well, but it certainly wasn’t a jaw-dropper. Even having him meet up with a younger, very pregnant Danielle Rousseau and her crew…that wasn’t all that shocking, either. Although I’m curious if anything notable will come out of that before he flashes away from them.

I don’t need something to shock me in order to like it. But if something is revealed in a way that is intended to shock, and it doesn’t, then it becomes something of a letdown.

(Speaking of Rousseau’s crew, remember when Rousseau told Sayid that she killed her whole team because they got sick? Radiation poisoning, anyone?)

Other than Jin’s reappearance, the most notable event was the flash back to a familiar moment in island history: that infamous night when Boone died, Locke’s hatch lit up, and Claire had her baby. Flashing Locke was leading his fellow flashers through the jungle when he realized he was about to cross paths with former Locke, and he carefully redirected their paths.

Shortly after Locke avoided seeing his former self gazing down into the hatch, Sawyer, in what was probably supposed to be a touching moment, found Kate helping Claire give birth to Aaron. I’m sure this scene was included for a couple reasons. One, seeing Aaron’s birth again was probably supposed to heighten the off-island drama where Kate is worried about losing Aaron. Two, we hear Kate encouraging Claire, saying that Aaron is family to all of them, or something like that—which nicely mirrors Jack’s comment later that Aaron is his family, too. (Although, Jack, as the half-uncle, or whatever he is, has DNA to back up his statement.)

Meanwhile, in another notable development…Charlotte survived her massive nosebleed and she was up walking around again—seemingly back to normal, for now. But before the episode ended, Miles and Juliet both had a nosebleed of their own.

Further evidence to suggest that Miles might be Pierre Chang’s son:

Daniel (hypothesizing about the reason for the nosebleeds in some of the flashers, but not all of them): "…something to do with duration of exposure."
Miles: "I've never been here before 2 weeks ago."
Daniel: "Are you sure about that?"

Interesting stuff. Now, for the other half of this post…

The Oceanic 6 is disappointingly predictable right now. The one exception is Sun.

What in the world is she up to? First of all, someone delivers a package to her that contains surveillance photos of Jack and Ben. Also in the package, a box of chocolates…with a handgun hidden beneath the layer of chocolates. Is anyone else having trouble seeing Sun as James Bond?

But anyway, it seems Sun came to L.A. to kill Ben, right? And maybe she did (maybe), but why did she call Kate? Why did she want Kate to come visit her in her hotel? Why is she watching Aaron? She left her own child in Korea, presumably so she would be free to do what she needs to do. So then, if her goal is just to take care of business, to kill Ben (maybe), why encumber herself by bringing Kate and Aaron into it?

It makes me wonder if Sun is involved in something more insidious. But what, I don’t know. Didn’t she encourage Kate to go to the lawyer in the first place? It’s almost like Sun is working with Ben…(but more on that in a bit)

Sayid’s actions are predictable. He’s turned into LOST’s version of Jack Bauer (which, strangely, is somewhat boring to me). Predictable as his actions are, his motives are not as obvious. I was really intrigued when Ben asked Sayid why he took it upon himself to take care of Hurley. And I realized, that’s a great question. In the beginning of this season, Sayid told Hurley they had to get him out of the Institution because "they" were coming for him.

I assumed the "they" meant Ben and his friends. And I still think it was Ben's henchmen who attacked Sayid at the "safe house" and again at the hospital, where we just saw a dart-blowing operative disguised as a doctor. I think these men are attacking Sayid with darts because Ben wants to capture Sayid and take him back to the island against his will because he knows a conscious Sayid won't be convinced to tag along.

But if that’s true, then I think Sayid would know that. It would also explain why he told Hurley to do the opposite of whatever Ben asks him to do. But that makes me wonder why Sayid—super assassin that he is—doesn’t try to stop Ben. Why does he just ride along as Ben goes about his business? There’s something here that doesn’t add up.

Further evidence to suggest the dart-blowers work for Ben: Sayid’s most recent attacker had Kate’s address in his pocket (and he was pretty willing to show it to Sayid). So what happens? Jack calls Kate, determined to help Kate and Aaron get away from these would-be attackers. Isn’t that exactly what Ben wants? To help all of them get away?

But we didn’t have to wait long for confirmation on this score:

Ben: Hello, Kate
Jack: It’s okay, he’s with me.
Kate: He’s with you?
Jack: He’s here to help us, to help everyone we left behind.
Kate: It’s him! He’s the one that’s trying to take Aaron…
Jack: No, no. He’s…
Ben (cuts off Jack): She’s right. It is me.
Ben (looks at Jack) Sorry.

That little exchange made me laugh.

I love LOST, so I’m not going to use this blog to rip the show if I don’t think every episode is phenomenal. Even when an episode is disappointing on some level, there are still plenty of intriguing and entertaining elements to relish. But consider that my disclaimer for this:

I really don’t like the Oceanic 6 when they’re not on the island. Jack isn’t much of a leader anymore. Kate is only concerned about Aaron, and even though that’s important, it’s boring. She’s not the same spunky, feisty Kate who was so independent yet dependable on the island. Sayid’s storyline is no longer complex. His long-lost love is dead. And instead of being a former torturer who is reluctant to use violence but will to protect his friends, he just kills everybody. Like I said, I don’t know what to make of Sun. But Hurley, well, he’s still cool.

If there’s an ongoing love connection between Jack and Kate, I no longer care about that, either. They’re not the same characters I know and love from past seasons, and until they are, I don’t care what happens in that relationship.

As for Ben, he’s so shifty, and has been for so long, that any twists involving him are now almost anticlimactic (i.e. when we learned that the lawyer is working for him). I’m confident he’ll be back in his element on the island. They all will. Or at least that’s my hope. And I hope they get back there soon.

5 Notable Quotes:

1)Sawyer: I was close enough to touch her. If I wanted to, I could have stood right up and talked to her.
Juliet: Why didn’t you?
Sawyer: What’s done is done.

(Note: I included this quote because I think there’s some foreshadowing here. This isn’t just lovesick, sappy Sawyer putting his trust in Juliet…I think it’s going to be significant when Sawyer (or maybe others) decide that what’s done isn’t done, and they start trying to change things…OR maybe he couldn't have "stood right up and talked to her," even if he tried.)

2) Daniel: “John, do you know when we are?

3) Claire’s mum: “Who’s Aaron?”

(Note: At first I thought this was a mistake. Because Claire’s mum met Aaron at Jack’s father’s funeral, and she told Kate that he was a beautiful boy—who looked just like her, or something like that…but then I remembered that she probably never learned his name. And apparently she didn’t think that cute boy looked like her missing daughter after all…)

4) Sayid, talking about Hurley: “Sorry Ben, I’m not letting you get anywhere near him.”

5) Locke: “I have to make them come back, even if it kills me.”


Prevailing Questions:

1) Back when the island first flashed…how did it disappear? Because now the island seems to be jumping in a way that carries the characters to different times—including the past where the island already was. So if the island itself (the large mass of land we've watched for four seasons) is moving—how can it revisit an exact time and place where it already was? Wouldn't there be two islands there? How's that work? But if it is just the characters being carried back in time…why does the island disappear in the present (when the freighter blew up)…if the characters are the only ones jumping? The only thing that makes sense to me (and it's still confusing) is if the island’s current state is suspended (it’s absent from the present) until its past is played out or reconciled. Perhaps the island blows up in the past if they don't do something to prevent it. So when they flashed back, the present island was gone because it was blown up in the past. And then maybe if the islanders prevent it from blowing up in the past, it will reappear in the present?

2) Assuming that the island's history can be re-written, allowing it to reappear in the present...is it possible that the same thing could happen with any of our dead characters, rewriting their history in a way that doesn't involve their death?

3) Can the original characters see the Season 5 Flashers? For example, if Kate and Claire had looked up, would they have seen Sawyer’s mug peering googly-eyed out of the woods? Can the flashers change anything, or just observe? Do the flashers account for the whispers the characters heard on the island in previous seasons?

4) Now that we know the flashing islanders can see the original islanders, who is going to be the first one to see their old self? Maybe we’ll see Sawyer face-off with Old Sawyer?

5) Will Juliet become Sawyer’s replacement for Kate, much like she was for Jack when Kate was off in “New Otherton” with Sawyer?

6) Why didn’t Locke go to the cabin to talk to Jacob? Instead of relying on Richard Alpert (who didn’t recognize him) for instructions, why doesn’t he go to Jacob?

7) So why did we see Vincent’s collar sans Vincent? Does anyone else think this means something?

8) Ben and Jack plan to “bring them all back”…but does that include Desmond? (My guess is yes.)

9) What’s the deal with the new airline (that flies out of India), and who are the people drinking a water bottle from that airline—and where did they, and their canoes, come from?

10) Is it possible Sun is working with Ben? I know this seems contrary to what we’ve seen, with her meeting with Widmore and all. But her activities—coming to L.A., calling Kate (coincidentally) just after Kate runs away from home to avoid the lawyers, watching Aaron, somehow showing up at the wharf…with a gun—they seem to coincide too nicely with Ben’s plans to get them all together to go back to the island. I think she’s either playing Ben, with the intention of killing him…or else she’s working with him with another objective (see question #11).

11) Could Sun be planning to kill Jack? I know that sounds far-fetched, but I think the preview for the next episode wanted us to think that she’s about to threaten Ben’s life. But the surveillance photos showed Ben and Jack. Maybe she told Widmore she wanted to kill Ben because she knew Widmore would provide a gun for her (would Widmore help kill Ben?). But maybe she really blames Jack for Jin's death, since he made the helicopter pilot (when are we going to see old Frank Lapidus again, anyway?) take off, leaving Jin on the freighter. If she's planning to kill Jack, I think Ben will be the one to prevent her from doing it by saying what he said in the trailer for the next episode, “Jin’s still alive…and I can prove it.”

12) Another baffling question that goes back to "Jughead." Locke tells Richard to go and see him being born in 1956. We know from past seasons that Richard was there when Locke was born. But how does that work on a timeline? At first I thought it explained things, but now I'm confused. Because Locke apparently isn't changing anything by telling Richard to go and see him being born. Because Richard already did that. The only way Richard could have been there for Locke's birth was if Locke had visited him before and told him to do that. I'm wondering if this will be explained, or if we're supposed to accept that this is how time travel works.

Final Thoughts:

I missed seeing Desmond and Hurley in this episode, but I suspect we'll see both of them next week; Hurley should be released from jail (according to Ben's lawyer) and I suspect Desmond and Penny will be arriving in Los Angeles just in time to join the hi-jinx before Ben gets the chance to whisk Jack, Kate, dead Locke, and the rest to them off to the time-jumping island…

Speaking of going back to the island, that needs to happen soon. I’m enjoying Season 5, but I think the writers are having a little trouble maintaining their characters’ identities now that everything (literally, everything) is off-kilter. Take Sawyer for example. In the past, Sawyer was the renegade who didn’t like authority figures. Sawyer was the guy who defied everyone else, often with hilarious nicknames, whenever they were mired in a serious situation—and that worked because there were other characters there to make the tough decisions and lead in spite of Sawyer. Now he doesn’t have a leader to rail against, and he seems too unsettled to make any smart remarks. He’s too busy pointing the gun at Ellie, smacking Daniel, threatening Charlotte, and silently bemoaning Kate’s absence.

You could call this character development, but I think it’s a deviation from the beloved Sawyer. Sawyer has been reduced to a lovesick sap. The writers managed to give him one funny line amidst all the drama—when they were paddling furiously in their canoes, while being fired upon by strangers, he realized they were about to flash in time again, so he raised his arms and yelled, “Thank you, Lord.” But they flashed into a torrential storm, still at sea in their little canoe, so he added, “I take that back!”

Lovesick Sawyer needs Kate to come back. But the smart-mouthed Sawyer we all miss (surely I’m not alone, right?) needs Jack or Ben to butt heads with, and maybe Hurley, too, so he can call him Jabba again.

And Sawyer isn't the only character who's lost (no pun intended) some of his appeal. As I wrote earlier, the Oceanic 6 are not appealing off the island. The LOST writers are in a tough spot, in my opinion, because they need to keep this plot advancing, but viewers don't want a fast-moving plot if it doesn't include the characters we love.

Before the Oceanic 6 left, all the characters were united by the same dilemma—stranded on the island and opposed by the baby-snatching Others. But in the midst of their shared struggles, they were all living their lives in ways that outlined their personalities.

Sawyer reading...Hurley hiding food...Jin fishing...Kate climbing trees for fruit...Sun gardening...golfing...Locke hunting boar...Claire taking care of her baby...Jack sewing people up...Sawyer guarding his stash...Michael screaming "WALT!"...The Others' book club...

The drama has always been there, but it was always interfering with the structured lives they were trying to lead on their beach camp. Now, it just feels like everything is askew, everything is out of control, and in some ways, it's not quite the same show we've been watching. The mysteries are just as compelling, but in this time-jumping madness, there seems to be fewer opportunities for the characters to be themselves.

So I'm hoping we can fix that up soon. After all, Ben, Jack, Kate, Sayid, Sun, and Aaron are all on a wharf right now. Maybe there's a submarine waiting for them?

Will Desmond and Penny arrive by boat? (I assumed they wouldn't have been able to make it in time unless they flew...)

The only one missing is Hurley, and he's supposed to be released the following morning (so that's well within the 70-hour window outlined by Mrs. Hawking). So they're all primed for an island-homecoming. And I'm looking forward to it.

By the way, the next two episodes:

—"This Place is Death"
—"The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"


—Thanks for Reading

Groundhog Day: The True Story

Everyone knows how Groundhog Day works, right?

On February 2, one groundhog (Punxsutawney Phil) emerges from the ground, and if he sees his shadow and returns to his hole, we get another 6 weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow, then we'll have an early spring.

It's a simple enough story...or at least that's what I used to think.

Dun dun dun.

Friends, it's time we uncover the truth.

First of all, let's clear up this matter of Punxsutawney Phil. To be accurate, I should probably include his full name at least once, so here goes: "Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary." (now let me pause for a breath)

According to legend, there is only 1 Punxsutawney Phil. But when I was a child, my family stopped in Punxsutawney, PA, to take a gander at the famous groundhog. And I swear I remember seeing multiple Phils in that enclosure, and I thought I was told (or read) at that time, that they always have multiple Phils on hand... I know I have pictures somewhere, or at least I used to. But alas, despite my certainty, I can produce no evidence. Nor, it seems, can anyone else.

And if I could provide incriminating information about Phil's legitimacy, I'm not sure I'd go through with it. If I did, who knows what the Inner Circle might do to me.

"The Inner Circle?" you ask.

Oh, right! That, dear reader, is another element of Groundhog Day we don't learn about in school. The Inner Circle is, well...how can I put this? I'll just be blunt: if this group's chief interest weren't so trivial, I'd swear they were a cult. As it stands now, I merely suspect them to be a cult.

These men, all of them Punxsutawney dignitaries, can be identified by their tuxedos and top hats (often with an accompanying handlebar 'stache)—which one can only hope they don year round. These are the men (I don't know if women are definitely excluded, but I do think they'd have trouble growing the signature 'stache) who take care of Punxsutawney Phil throughout the year.

Sure the attire doesn't scream "cult," but if nothing else convinces you, the elitism and the strange customs should.

If you ask me, the Inner Circle is probably a cover for something much more insidious. Need proof?

Okay, first notice that there are 22 men in that picture above. 22 men to take care of one groundhog? And why does an immortal groundhog need anyone to take care of him?

Wait, you hadn't heard that "immortal" part of the story, either?

Well, according to groundhog.org (the official site for the cult, er um, I mean, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club), the same "Phil" has been making weather predictions (prognostications, if you prefer) for over 120 years.

How in the world could he live for over 120 years, you ask? (Especially if you know that few groundhogs live for more than one decade.) Well, let's go back to groundhog.org for a response:

"Punxsutawney Phil gets his longevity from drinking the 'elixir of life,' a secret recipe. Phil takes one sip every summer at the Groundhog Picnic and it magically gives him seven more years of life."

C'mon, drinking "the elixir of life"? You can't tell me that doesn't have "cult" written all over it...

And I find it especially odd that each sip gives him seven more years of life. If that's true, then why does he drink it every summer? After 120 years, shouldn't he have about 720 extra years already stored away?

Now if all of this were true, I think there'd be some people crashing that Groundhog Picnic party...and rightfully so. Because if they have a secret recipe that can keep one groundhog alive for 120 years, and they're not willing to share it with anyone else... but then again, perhaps that explains why this true story isn't widely known.

Oh, but wait, it gets weirder. Forget the whole see-his-shadow-and-go-back-in-the-hole rigmarole. Oh no, Phil doesn't have to do that anymore. Once again quoting groundhog.org:

"After Phil emerges from his burrow on February 2, he speaks to the Groundhog Club president in "Groundhogese"(a language only understood by the current president of the Inner Circle). His proclamation is then translated for the world."

Only understood by the current president? So what, does the previous president un-learn the language when his term ends? If so, who teaches it to the new president? Upon his oath of office, is this understanding magically bequeathed to him by the Groundhog Gods?

However this special language is learned, it's clear that this whole practice is uber cult-like. I mean, every cult has a leader, right? And what self-respecting cult doesn't have a secret language?

Of course, the Inner Circle also claims that Punxsutawney Phil's predictions have been accurate every single year...never mind that wikipedia says "according to StormFax Weather Almanac, his accuracy is just 39%."

So now we can add delusions of grandeur to the equation, which, combined with their uniform dress code, elitism, secret language, the presence of a clear leader, and their special life-extending drink, equals cult, cult, cult, cult, cult.

It's highly probable that this group is actually just using the groundhogs for animal sacrifices. Doubt me? Just look at the guy's eyes in this last picture? And then look at the terrified groundhog? (I never thought I'd say this, but where is PETA when you need 'em?)

Even before I knew about the Inner Circle, Groundhog Day always interested me for one reason. You see, I've never been able to decide whether or not I think the whole tradition is just plain stupid. And that's weird, because I'm usually very good at deciding that things are stupid. But on this, I vacillate. Sure the procedure makes no sense; that much is clear. And I do think Groundhog Day definitely is the most depressing holiday (since it seems we're always reminded that winter is still here...). But if the tradition ceased to exist, I suppose I'd miss it.

Yeah, stupid or not, I'd miss it.

So maybe we owe a debt of gratitude to those handlebar-moustached men of the Inner Circle, those dedicated souls who keep the tradition (and the one and only Punxsutawney Phil) alive year after year. Maybe their hard work and unwavering commitment make all of our lives a little richer, in a way that is nearly unnoticeable yet altogether significant...

Or...maybe I'm just saying that because I fear what that cult will do to me...

Either way, Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil live on. And I'll just leave it at that.


—Thanks for Reading

Holy Hydrogen Bomb!

I've decided to join the thousands who are already blogging about LOST. I might occasionally include a theory, but I mostly want to highlight what I perceive to be the most interesting elements after each new episode.

Season 5—Episode 3: "Jughead"

Wow, this episode was a doozy. I'm glad I chose tonight to start typing up facts and quotes that intrigued me while watching the show.

There were so many jaw-dropping moments. My eyes bugged out and my mouth dropped open when Richard Alpert said, to the young punk telling him he shouldn't trust John Locke, "Put the gun down, Widmore."

Wow! Just, wow! But more on that in a bit.

Daniel also confessed his love for Charlotte...to Richard Alpert, with Charlotte and Miles Straume there, too. Romantic, no? But I suppose it's a good thing he didn't wait any longer, since Charlotte collapses at the end of the episode—after they flashed backward (or was it forward?) yet again—with blood running from both of her nostrils.

When he wasn't confessing his love for Charlotte, Daniel was marching across the island, held at gunpoint by Ellie, a feisty young woman whom I'm convinced we'll learn a lot more about. Daniel's destination: oh, just a large wooden platform/scaffolding that happens to be supporting a dangling hydrogen bomb (property of the U.S. government).

Daniel realizes how volatile this bomb is (it's leaking something—hydrogen? or whatever a hydrogen bomb leaks)and before they flash forward again, he insists that The Others use lead or concrete to neutralize this bomb and then bury it.

We didn't see much (if any) of the Oceanic 6 in this episode, and I couldn't have been happier about that. For me, the most compelling storyline (or should I say "timeline") is taking place on the island, not Los Angeles.

Only slightly less interesting than the events on the island are Desmond's adventures as he and Penny steered their boat back to Great Britain—and Desmond set out to find Daniel's mom, as Daniel had instructed him to do in his dream/memory.

We learned so many things through Desmond's story. Here's a snippet of the new information:

—Oxford has no record of a Daniel Faraday ever working there
—Faraday's old laboratory had a sign on it claiming it was closed for "fumigation."
—When Desmond broke into Daniel's old facilities, a man caught him in there and he said Desmond "wasn't the first to come poking around," and he asked Desmond to tell "his mates" that all he found was "rubbish left behind by a man" (whatever that means...)
—We also see a picture of Daniel with a girl, which we can presume is the same girl who the man in the lab refers to when he says, commenting on the fact that Oxford has removed all records of Faraday, "Do you blame them? After what he done to that poor girl?"
—Speaking of "that poor girl," Desmond goes to the address given to him by this helpful laboratory man and he meets a woman named Abigail. She has a sister, Theresa Spencer, who is bedridden. Theresa's consciousness seems to be jumping to and from different time periods, and Abigail suggests that Daniel "left her this way" when he "ran off to America."
—We learned Widmore is not only paying for the medical care for the bedridden Theresa, but he was also Daniel's benefactor—and he had been funding Daniel's research

Then Desmond burst into Widmore's office. And he demanded that Widmore tell him where Daniel Faraday's mom is.

Widmore, strangely, does comply. Which makes me think it's in his (Widmore's) best interest. Surely he knows why Desmond is looking for her...

If we weren't already convinced that Daniel's mother is Mrs. Hawking, who's first name just so happens to be Eloise, which just so happens to be the name Daniel chose for his time-traveling rat in Season 4's "The Constant," I think we should be pretty darn convinced now. Especially since we know Mrs. Hawking was just seen in Los Angeles in episode 2.

When Widmore gives her address to Desmond he says, "I suspect she won’t be pleased to see you; she’s a very private person."

I can't help thinking there is something more to that quote. It almost seems as if Desmond's agenda (which is Daniel's agenda...and on some level, is most certainly Widmore's agenda) will conflict with her plans (which also seem to be Ben's plans...).

Widmore also implores Desmond to finish delivering this message and then to get away from "this mess," suggesting that what he's going to do will affect many lives (or history, or time, or however he phrased it).

And so Widmore says, "Wherever you were hiding, go back there.”

Desmond then seems reluctant to carry out his mission, or maybe he just feels bad hauling Penny and their young son (another new revelation in this episode) across the ocean to L.A. Penny knows he's lying when he claims that Daniel's mom is dead. And she tells him that they'll go together...but only after we learn that their boy is named Charlie (after the late Charlie Pace, I'm sure—rather than the child's grandfather).

Now let's flash back to the end of the 1954 island scene. John Locke comes out of the island calling for Richard Alpert, and then he claims that Jacob sent him—and I still can't figure out if that's true, or if it was Locke's strategy for claiming the leaderhip role he believes is rightfully his. Eventually Locke shows Alpert the compass (just as Richard had instructed him to do) and Locke also tells him that he's their leader. Richard says that they have a very definite process for selecting their leader—saying that it starts at a very young age.

Locke, in response, suggests that perhaps Richard should go to California in two years—to witness Locke's birth. And, we know, if we remember our past seasons, that Richard did just that. (So that's how Richard knew to be there!)

As for the revelation that Widmore is one of the young kids living on the island...that just made my night. It confirmed some of my suspicions. But it also made me wonder whether we should recognize any of the others (the other Others, as it were). Is Mrs. Hawking there somewhere? Maybe a parent of another character we've come to know? Matthew Abaddon? Christian Shephard? Richard Malkin, the Australian psychic? What about Brother Campbell, the monk at the monastery where Desmond temporarily lived...after all, he did have a picture on his desk of him and Mrs. Hawking.

It's also interesting to note that Locke could have shot Widmore before they knew who he was. They had captured him and another Other, and when the other one started revealing the location of the Others' camp, Widmore broke his neck and ran off through the jungle. Sawyer screamed for Locke to shoot him, but Locke hesitated, and then did nothing. Sawyer grabbed the gun, fired once, and missed. When he asked Locke why he didn't shoot, Locke said, "Because he's one of my people."

Which brings me to...the most notable quotes. I had planned to only include 5, but there were too many good ones. So...

The 11 most notable quotes:

Desmond, after Penny asked him to swear he'll never go back to the island: "Why would I ever want to go back there?"

Richard Alpert, to Daniel: "I assume you've come back for your bomb."

Miles, after Daniel rushes over to ask Charlotte if she's okay: "Yeah, me too. I'm great, too."

Desmond: “You're my life now, you and Charlie.”

Richard: “Put the gun down, Widmore.”

Locke: "Nice to meet you, Charles."

Widmore: "I suspect she won’t be pleased to see you; she’s a very private person."

Locke: "How did you know Richard would be here?"
Juliette: "Richard’s always been here."
Locke: "How old is he?"
Juliette: "He's very old, John."

Locke: “Because he’s one of my people…” (turns out it was Widmore)

Daniel: "I'm in love with the woman sitting next to me…"

Locke: "Jacob sent me."

Despite all the great quotes, alas, there was still nothing that could match Hurley throwing his Hot Pocket into the wall in Episode 2. Maybe next time...

Things to ponder:

1) Why does Daniel tell the woman who is walking him at gunpoint (Ellie?) that she looks familiar? Why does he seem to recognize her?

2) Who is the Jill character who is working in the butcher shop, the one Ben is confiding in? Is that character going to become more relevant, or was she just introduced to show that Ben has cohorts off the island?

3) What is Sun up to? Is she really in cahoots with Widmore? Can she be trusted?

4) Can Sayid be trusted?

5) Why is Charlotte the only one being affected by the time-jumping?

6) Is Ben's childhood friend, Annie, going to emerge in one of these scenes as the island leaps along its timeline?

7) Will Danielle Rousseau and her team of scientists factor in to one of these episodes?

8) What about the Black Rock, the slave ship that was wrecked on the island?

9) What's Pierre Chang's role with the Dharma Initiative? And could Miles be his son, the crying baby in the Comic-Con video (and the baby from the beginning of Episode 1)?

10) Is there something significant about the picture that shows Brother Campbell and Mrs. Hawking together?

11) In "The Constant," Mrs. Hawking told Desmond that fate has a way of "course-correcting," and she told him that he can't change things. Yet Daniel seems to think Desmond has the ability to change things. And the fate of those on the island (especially Charlotte, at the moment) seems to be riding on Desmond's ability to change things. So if this is true, who else is special (like Desmond), able to change things? And did Mrs. Hawking know Desmond was special? She once told him that pushing that button was the only truly great thing he would ever do. Was that a lie to get him to fall in and do what she wanted?

12) Is John Locke going to be presented as a Christ figure—sacrificing his life to save the others (and his beloved island)? I'm hoping not. I think LOST can be more innovative than that.

This isn't a point to ponder, but I just realized that Mrs. Hawking's name is clearly a reference to Stephen Hawking. And I'm not sure how I could have missed that before.

Overall, I think "Jughead" was one of my favorite episodes from any season. It answered a lot of my questions, and it got me even more excited about where we're going next...



—Thanks for Reading

This is disgusting ...(and no, I'm not referring to what you think I am)

Let me begin by saying I don't have a strong opinion about Jessica Simpson one way or the other; I don't think she's loathsome, nor does she ever inspire rapt admiration from me.

That being said, I'm disgusted by our media (and that takes a lot) and the suddenly pervasive commentaries on her weight/figure.

These pictures were taken when she recently performed at a Chili-Cookoff in Texas. Why do I know this? To be honest, I wish I didn't. I wish this "hot story" hadn't been picked up by mutliple media outlets.

I suppose the media is often drawn to stories (or at least, pictures) like this. So I probably shouldn't be surprised... but I just found this especially disturbing. Jessica Simpson appears to have gained a little weight. Is she going to have a heart attack tomorrow? Be on The Biggest Loser next fall? No, I don't think so.

Meanwhile, there's a whole host of Hollywood actresses who are starving themselves to be skinny. There are girls literally dying from anorexia because of this crap. Because they don't want to put on 10 pounds and be crucified in the news—instead they'll do anything to avoid the same scathing reports Jessica Simpson has been forced to endure this week.



So while some girls are starving themselves, delusional and desperate, Jessica Simpson just might be enjoying food...unbelievable as that might be—a starlet who actually eats.


What kind of message does that send to young girls? And what does that say about our media? About us?

I just think it's disgusting.


—Thanks for Reading

Zooey's Jesus

Since my good friend Chad feels I cheated with my last post, simply embedding my review from goodreads.com, I decided not to embed my review of the book I just finished, J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey.

Instead, I'm going to post the long quote from the book that I referred to as one of the best descriptions of Jesus I've ever read.

Just do me one favor. Don't scroll to the bottom of the post to see how long it is. It might make you decide it's not worth reading. But trust me, it is. Just start reading, and I don't think you'll regret it.

If you haven't read this book, know that Zooey is Franny's older brother. And they're both brilliant. Zooey's about 25 and Franny is roughly 20, I think.

The quote begins with Zooey and continues that way with only mild interference from his sister, Franny (everything emphasized by bold type was added by yours truly):

"This last thing," he said abruptly, "will probably cause an explosion. But I can't help it. It's the most important thing of all." He appeared to consult the ceiling plaster briefly, then closed his eyes. "I don't know if you remember, but I remember a time around here, buddy, when you were going through a little apostasy from the New Testament that could be heard for miles around. Everyone was in the goddam Army at the time, and I was the one that got his ear bent. But do you remember? Do you remember it at all?"
"I was all of ten years old!" Franny said—nasally, rather dangerously.
"I know you were. I know how old you were. I know very well how old you were. C'mon, now. I'm not bringing this up with the idea of throwing anything back in your teeth—my God. I'm bringing this up for a good reason. I'm bringing it up because I don't think you understood Jesus when you were a child and I don't think you understand him now. I think you've got him confused in your mind with about five or ten other religious personages, and I don't see how you can go ahead with the Jesus prayer til you know who's who and what's what. Do you remember at all what started that little apostasy?…Franny? Do you remember, or don't you?"
He didn't get an answer. Only the sound of a nose being rather violently blown.
"Well, I do, it happens. Matthew, Chapter Six. I remember is very clearly, buddy. I even remember where I was. I was back in my room putting some friction tape on my goddam hockey stick, and you banged in—all in an uproar, with the Bible wide open. You didn't like Jesus anymore, and you wanted to know if you could call Seymour at his Army camp and tell him all about it. And you know why you didn't like Jesus anymore? I'll tell you. Because, one, you didn't approve of his going into the synagogue and throwing all the tables and idols all over the place. That was very rude, very Unnecessary. You were sure that Solomon or somebody wouldn't have done anything like that. And the other thing you disapproved of—the thing you had the Bible open to—was the lines 'Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.' That was all right. That was lovely. That you approved of. But, when Jesus says in the same breath, 'Are ye not much better than they?'—ah, that's where little Franny gets off. That's where little Franny quits the Bible cold and goes straight to Buddha, who doesn't discriminate against all those nice fowls of the air. All those sweet, lovely chickens and geese that we used to keep up at the Lake. And don't tell me again that you were ten years old. Your age has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. There are no big changes between ten and twenty—or ten and eighty, for that matter. You still can't love a Jesus as much as you'd like to who did and said a couple of things he was at least reported to have said or done—and you know it. You're constitutionally unable to love or understand any son of God who throws tables around. And you're constitutionally unable to love or understand any son of God who says a human being, any human being—even a Professor Tupper—is more valuable to God than any soft, helpless Easter chick."
Franny was now facing directly into the sound of Zooey's voice, sitting bolt upright, a wad of Kleenex clenched in one hand. Bloomberg was no longer in her lap. "I suppose you can," she said, shrilling.
"It's beside the point whether I can or not. But, yes, as a matter of fact, I can. I don't feel like going into it, but at least I've never tried, consciously or otherwise, to turn Jesus into St. Francis of Assisi to make him more 'lovable'—which is exactly what ninety-eight percent of the Christian world has always insisted on doing. Not that it's to my credit. I don't happen to be attracted to the St. Francis of Assisi type. But you are. And, in my opinion, that's one of the reasons why you're having this little nervous breakdown. And especially the reason why you're having it at home. This place is made to order for you. The service is good, and there's plenty of hot and cold running ghosts. What could be more convenient? You can say your prayer here and roll Jesus and St. Francis and Seymour and Heidi's grandfather all in one." Zooey's voice stopped, very briefly. "Can't you see that? Can't you see how unclearly, how sloppily, you're looking at things? My God, there's absolutely nothing tenth-rate about you, and you're up to your neck at this minute in tenth-rate thinking. Not only is the way you're going about your prayer tenth-rate religion but, whether you know it or not, you're having a tenth-rate nervous breakdown. I've seen a couple of real breakdowns, and the people who had them didn't bother to pick and choose the place they—"
"Just stop it, Zooey! Just stop it!" Franny said, sobbing.
"I will, in a minute, in just a minute. Why are you breaking down, incidently? I mean if you're able to go into a collapse with all your might, why can't you use the same energy to stay well and busy? All right, so I'm being unreasonable. I'm being very unreasonable now. But, my God, how you try what little patience I was born with! You take a look around your college campus, and the world, and politics, and one season of summer stock, and you listen to the conversation of a bunch of nitwit college students, and you decide that everything's ego, ego, ego, and the only intelligent thing for a girl to do is lie around and shave her head and say the Jesus Prayer and beg God for a little mystical experience that'll make her nice and happy."
Franny shrieked, "Will you shut up, please?" …
"Always the heavy," Zooey said, a trifle too matter-of-factly. "No matter what I say, I sound as though I'm undermining your Jesus Prayer. And I'm not, God damn it. All I am is against why and how and where you're using it. I'd like to be convinced—I'd love to be convinced—that you're not using it as a substitute for doing whatever the hell your duty is in life, or just your daily duty. Worse than that, though, I can't see, I swear to God I can't—how you can pray to a Jesus you don't even understand. And what's really inexcusable, considering that you've been funnel-fed on just about the same amount of religious philosophy that I have—what's really inexcusable is that you don't try to understand him. There'd be some excuse for it if you were either a very simple person, like the pilgrim, or a very goddam desperate person—but you're not simple, buddy, and you're not that damned desperate." … "God Almighty, Franny," he said. "If you're going to say the Jesus Prayer, at least say it to Jesus, and not to St. Francis and Seymour and Heidi's grandfather all wrapped up in one. Keep him in mind if you say it, and him only, and him as he was and not as you'd like him to have been. You don't face any facts. This same damned attitude of not facing facts is what got you into this messy state of mind in the first place, and it can't possibly get you out of it." …
"The part that stumps me, really stumps me, is that I can't see why anybody—unless he was a child, or an angel, or a lucky simpleton like the pilgrim—would even want to say the prayer to a Jesus who was the least bit different from the way he looks and sounds in the New Testament. My God! He's only the most intelligent man in the Bible, that's all! Who isn't he head and shoulders over? Who? Both Testaments are full of pundits, prophets, disciples, favorite sons, Solomons, Isaiahs, Davids, Pauls—but, my God, who beside Jesus really knew which end was up? Nobody. Not Moses. Don't tell me Moses. He was a nice man, and he kept in beautiful touch with his God, and all that—but that's exactly the point. He had to keep in touch. Jesus realized there is no separation from God…Oh, my God, what a mind!" he said. "Who else, for example, would have kept his mouth shut when Pilate asked for an explanation? Not Solomon. Don't say Solomon. Solomon would have had a few pithy words for the occasion. I'm not sure Socrates wouldn't have, for that matter. Crito, or somebody, would have managed to pull him aside just long enough to get a couple of well-chosen words for the record. But most of all, above everything, who in the Bible besides Jesus knew—knew—that we're carrying the Kingdom of Heaven around with us, inside, where we're all too goddam stupid and sentimental and unimaginative to look? You have to be a son of God to know that kind of stuff. Why don't you think of these things? I mean it, Franny, I'm being serious. When you don't see Jesus for exactly what he was you miss the whole point of the Jesus Prayer. If you don't understand Jesus, you can't understand his prayer—you don't get the prayer at all, you just get some kind of organized cant. Jesus was a supreme adept, by God, on a terribly important mission. This was no St. Francis, with enough time to knock out a few canticles, or to preach to the birds, or to do any of the other endearing things so close to Franny Glass's heart. I'm being serious now, God damn it. How can you miss seeing that? If God had wanted somebody with St. Francis's consistently winning personality for the job in the New Testament, he'd've picked him, you can be sure. As it was, he picked the best, the smartest, the most loving, the least sentimental, the most unimitative master he could possibly have picked. And when you miss seeing that, I swear to you, you're missing the whole point of the Jesus prayer. The Jesus Prayer has one aim, and one aim only. To endow the person who says it with Christ-Consciousness. Not to set up some little cozy, holier-than-thou trysting place with some sticky, adorable divine personage who'll take you in his arms and relieve you of all your duties and make all your nasty Weltschmerzen and Professor Tuppers go away and never come back. And by God, if you have intelligence enough to see that—and you do—and yet you refuse to see it, then you're misusing the prayer, you're using it to ask for a world full of dolls and saints and no Professor Tuppers."



When I read all that, it gave me goosebumps. If you didn't find it as interesting, I apologize...but that doesn't mean I'm sorry.

--Thanks for reading.

Reviewing The Road

Wow, it's been a long time since I've written...

So I thought I'd paste a book review I posted on goodreads today:


The Road by Cormac McCarthy

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was very good. If I were writing an official review, I'd probably try to use a word like "harrowing" or "haunting" or some such adjective...and then I'd decide that it was an inadequate description and I'd rack my brain for a more suitable description...eventually determining that each new one was just as unsuitable as the first...



So I'm glad I'm not writing an official review. And I can just say "this book was very good" and leave it at that...



...except I can't leave it at that. Because, despite the "very good"-ness of this book, I don't think it was nearly as monumental as do those who have written official reviews.



Do I think it shouldn't have won the Pulitzer? No, I think that honor may have been well-deserved. Other honors, however, seem a bit preposterous to me. What honors could be bigger than the Pulitzer, you ask?



Well, Entertainment Weekly concluded that The Road is the best book in the last 25 years. British environmentalist George Monbiot determined, after reading The Road, that author Cormac McCarthy is one of 50 people "who could save the planet."



Monbiot also claimed that The Road is the "most important environmental book ever written." That quote first startled me, and then it provided the enlightenment for which I was looking.



Never once while reading The Road did I think of it as an environmental book. Looking back on it, I still don't.



A father and son are traveling a road in a post-apocalyptic world. The earth is bitter cold, covered in ash, and no longer capable of sustaining healthy life. If you want to claim this setting makes The Road an environmental book, fine. But then I'll claim it's the most important civil engineering book ever written---a testament to the durability and longevity of our finely-constructed roads.



The book, thankfully, contains no explanation for the ash that permeates everything, nor does it explain the eternal coldness. It doesn't say that humans destroyed the earth...



...and if readers want to infer that, I suppose that's their prerogative. And I suppose that prerogative will continue to elevate The Road's status in our increasingly environment-loving world.



In my opinion, The Road is a good book. If you're reading it as a caution against destroying the environment, then perhaps you will see it as a great book.



But if that were the real message behind it, if that were the thread on which the story relied, it would actually detract from the beauty of the story---a story about a father and son and their unbreakable bond, a story about the perseverance of man and the willingness to suffer in the hope that hope might still exist. That's what makes The Road a good book, not some subtle---and dare I say, petty---environmental warning.



I would recommend The Road for anyone. Including you overzealous environmentalists...and the overzealous civil engineers, wherever they might be.






View all my reviews.

Searching Through the Debris

I find myself trying to write a blog at a time when I know I can't find the right words. And yet I feel compelled to write something.

I have been reading about today's car bombing in Pakistan. Yes, another car bomb.

But this one shook me.

Earlier today, a car exploded outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Early reports indicate at least 6 dead and approximately 35 injured.

Many suspect that al-Qaida is behind this bombing.

Background information:

You might remember back in September of 2005 when Denmark published some political cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. These cartoons infuriated some followers of Islam because they believe it is wrong to depict Muhammad in any way. To do so could lead to idolatry, and for that reason it is prohibited.

These cartoons, appearing in Danish newspapers, have sparked riots and deaths on more than one occasion in the past three years.

But why now, you might ask? Well, supposedly, al-Qaida bigshot Ayman al-Zawahri encouraged Muslims to attack Danish targets because of these caricatures of Muhammad. According to Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080602/ap_on_re_as/pakistan;_ylt=Avr.4yXzmyqMq0wcvWk.9mwZO7gF),
IntelCenter reports that al-Zawahri recently said, "Denmark went too far in its aggression against Muslims by repeatedly slandering the Prophet, God's peace and prayers be upon him. I urge and incite every Muslim who can harm Denmark to do so in support of the Prophet."

So presumably, the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, was blown to pieces because a Danish newspaper depicted Muhammad in a way that some Muslims (including al-Qaida) did not like.

Here are a couple pictures of the aftermath:
















(Mian Khursheed/Reuters)

















(AFP/Aamir Qureshi)

So why does this bombing sadden me so much? Why this one when there have been so many others like it?

I don't know exactly.

Maybe it's because I recognize how senseless it is. How pointless it is to blow up an embassy in Pakistan because of something printed on paper in Denmark. Seriously, what did this bombing accomplish? 6 dead. Guess how many of them are from Denmark. Maybe one. The blast killed two Pakistani policemen, a Pakistani cleaner, a Pakistani handyman, and they are still trying to identify the others. One might have been from Denmark, but they aren't sure.

I think I'm also saddened because there is no end in sight. These cartoons were first published nearly 3 years ago. People died because of it then. And now, after a Danish newspaper reprints some of these images, now al-Qaida is calling for Muslims to murder more. All to "support the Prophet."

(I must also stop and wonder whether the irony is lost on these extremists. They are blowing people up to defend their Prophet because somebody depicted him with a turban shaped like a bomb. Hmmm. It's like a kid telling a bully, "I don't like you because you punch me." And then the bully gets mad and decks the kid.)

Maybe I'm just saddened because I don't understand how people can continue to adhere to these beliefs. I fully understand that not all Muslims are willing to blow up cars outside of embassies. In fact, the majority of those who follow Islam do not support the extremists. And yet, far too many are willing to kill for their God (and their Prophet), and I really don't know how we can change that.

















(AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

The picture above shows a peaceful protest that occurred in Pakistan today, the day the car bomb exploded outside the Danish embassy. The banner declares that Pakistan should sever all diplomatic ties with Denmark. And I'm fine with that. If 300 men want to march in the streets, carrying a banner calling for a severing of diplomatic ties, that's fine by me. In America, we call that freedom of speech. Or the right to assemble.

But I am not fine with more senseless killing. I am not fine with a terrorist leader calling for Muslims to kill anyone and anything affiliated with a country that printed something disagreeable in a newspaper.

As one who follows a different God, I want to ask these Muslims, "Why must you kill to defend your Prophet, to defend your God? Why is your God not powerful enough to withstand slander? Why must you exact revenge for your God? Why must judgment come from your hands?"

But even more than those questions, I want to ask these bombers, "What do you think you are accomplishing? Do you honestly think you are doing something good? "

Denmark is not going to stop printing their caricatures because of this. Instead, the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen (which is a sweet name, by the way), is left sounding like George W. Bush following September 11:

"We will not give in to terrorists," says Rasmussen.

And so it continues...

Other embassies will most likely be evacuated before nightfall. And even once things calm down in Islamabad (you could certainly make a pun out of that name, huh?), the enmity will spill forth in another city, outside another embassy, or hotel, or streetcorner cafe...wherever another extremist decides to park a car full of explosives, or detonate a bomb strapped to his chest, all because someone is telling them they must destroy life in order to "defend their Prophet."

I think I've figured out the main reason why I am so bothered by this bombing. Typically, the more I think about something, the more it begins to make sense to me. But I can't pinpoint the logic behind violence like this. I can't find enough justification to even begin to comprehend the motives at work here.

And yet things like this keep happening.

I really don't understand why. And I can't accept that.



--Thanks for reading

Knock yourselves out...

I stumbled across this embeddable version of Guitar Hero III, and I decided to throw it on my blog.

So far I haven't been able to hit any notes. But maybe that's just me. If it's absolutely impossible, I'll take it back down. That would just annoy everyone who tried to actually play it. As funny as that might sound, I won't do that to you.

Have fun.


EDIT: I found out later that you have to hit ENTER while you hit the appropriate number key. Without hitting ENTER, you'll never hit a note. I played twice and my high score is 9500 on the first song. Now my fingers are tired, so I'm going to take a break.

Growling Tiger

Think of one thing that you're really good at. One thing.

Let's pretend that one thing is staring contests. You're the master of staring contests. Now let's say that all the best starers in the world get together for staring competitions. You have to stare over and over again for 4 day tournaments. And you're so good at staring that you beat all these other professional starers. And you do this regularly. And everyone expects you to win. Always.

Well, I'm realizing that staring contests was a horrible example. So hopefully you thought of something better that you're good at. Whatever that may be, the scenario above is what it would be like to be Tiger Woods.

PGA Tournaments pit all the best golfers in the world against each other, and they play 4 rounds, or four days, of golf. And, obviously, in keeping with how golf is played, the lowest score at the end of the tournament wins. Everyone else doesn't lose; they place. The golfer with the second-lowest score finishes second. (And he still gets a lot of money.) And for many golfers, a top 5 finish would be the highlight of their career.

But when Tiger Woods finishes anything other than first, you'll notice sports gurus referring to it as a loss for Tiger Woods (I'm sure, as competitive as he is, Tiger sees it the same way). But I think the suggestion that a second-place finish be considered a loss, in a field of all the best players in the world, in a sport where strokes can be determined by fractions of an inch, is just absolutely absurd.

In golf, not winning is not the same thing as losing.

If Ernie Els finishes 9th, Vijay Singh winds up 5th, Mickelson shoots 3 under on the final day and heads to the clubhouse in 8th... none of those pros "lose." Yet Tiger Woods finished 5th last weekend, and all week people have been talking about Tiger Woods "losing."

Here's why:

Tiger Woods is the best athlete ever. Ever.

Yes, better than Michael Jordan. I said it.

No one has ever been as dominant in their sport as Tiger Woods is on a golf course.

Here's a few numbers for ya:

-Heading into last weekend's PGA tournament, Tiger had won the last 5 tournaments in which he played (including every one thus far in 2008).

-Tiger had finished first in 7 of his last 8 tournaments, with the one exception being a second place finish on September 3, 2007 (a "loss," clearly).

And remember, he is playing against the whole field. Of professionals. All it should take is for one player to play great golf, and Tiger would get edged out. But this rarely happens. It's truly remarkable. Woods is just that dominant.

Last weekend, when he didn't win...when he was edged out by fellow professionals...did Tiger tip his hat to them and say "nicely done, chaps"? (I think that's how golfers talk, right?)

No, Tiger, the greatest athlete ever, decided to blame his loss on the photographers.

Come again?

That's right, those photographers, believe it or not, were taking pictures of him. And he heard their cameras click when he was in the middle of his backswing on an approach shot. Apparently this made Tiger flinch, pulling him off the shot a little...and instead of landing on the green his ball nearly went in the water.

Immediately after this, Tiger turned to the crowd and yelled at the photographers:

"The next time anyone takes a ****ing picture, I'll break his ****ing neck!"

You might want to read that quote again.

Right now you're thinking, "Tiger Woods said that?"

Yeah, Tiger Woods said that.

When asked on Monday about his outburst, he said that it's happened 3 or 4 times this year (can you believe that? People have been taking pictures of him...), and he's made a bogey on three of those holes. Apparently after we learn that photographers have made him bogey 3 holes this year we're supposed to think, "Well it's a wonder he didn't threaten to break their necks before!"

I should pause to point out that one of the reasons Tiger is so good is that he is a fierce competitor. As a competitive person myself, I can think of times (too many times, actually) when I have been frustrated or annoyed in the middle of a competition, and I have done things and said things that were inappropriate. In fact, I'm not proud of this, and I hesitate to post it, but during a competition I once told a girl, "If you weren't a girl, I'd punch you in the face."

Yeah, I said that (and I was 21 years old at the time).

I'm pretty sure though, if I had been asked about it the next day, I wouldn't have tried to provide background information that would justify a desire to punch that girl in the face. I would have been able to say, with my head down, "Yeah, I shouldn't have said that."

Tiger, on the other hand, smiled his patented smile and justified his outburst by saying that it's now happened 3 or 4 times (surely that warrants breaking a cameraman's neck, right?). When the interviewer pushed harder to get Tiger to address the severity of his response, Tiger smiled (of course) and said, "You have no idea what's said out there all the time on the golf course."

Then he repeated:

"That one shot took momentum away."

So again he is justifying his outburst.

From where I'm sitting, I don't even care if he's right. If I had been playing that hole and a photographer's clicking camera made me flinch, stripping me of my momentum and costing me the tournament...I'd be hacked off, too.

But the next day, I could still say, "I shouldn't have responded that way." ("Why don't I just eat some hay. I can lie by the bay. I think I may. What do you say?")

Like it or not, cameramen will be there. For that matter, so will birds. And heaven forbid that one of those creatures of flight might coo or chirp at the wrong time in the upcoming Master's tournament...

As much as I love Michael Jordan, I now firmly believe that Tiger is the most dominant athlete I've ever seen. And his competitive nature is the thing that makes him great.

But instead of pointing to photographers for costing him the win, Tiger should still be able to tip his hat to the competition on those rare Sunday afternoons when someone else is receiving the over-sized check.

And he should definitely have enough class to admit that there is really no excuse for threatening to break necks on a golf course. Golf, after all, is a gentleman's sport. And as the greatest ever, Tiger should be able to win (and lose) like a gentleman.

--Thanks for reading

P.S. I eventually did apologize to the girl who I would have punched in the face if she hadn't been a girl. And for the record, we were playing a sport and she was cheating. And it destroyed my momentum. And it had happened 3 or 4 times. And...uh...she was asking for it...

March Madness, Easter, and a Killer Robot

Warning: This is a hodgepodge. (On second thought, it's not really. But I'm not going to edit that out, because "hodgepodge" is a fun term.)

Looks like somebody at the calendar company should be losing their job. Easter in March? That's madness. Or "March Madness," more like it. (Picture me slapping my knee and making the I-think-I'm-so-funny face.)

I'm not thrilled about this new March/Easter arrangement. First of all, here in the suburbs of Chicago, they're predicting 6 inches of snow tomorrow. Easter eggs are not supposed to be hidden in snowdrifts. Unless you're from Canada. But Canadians don't celebrate Easter, so that's irrelevant. (What's that? They do?) Moving on...

The real reason I'm unhappy about Easter in March is that it conflicts with the NCAA tourney. Those who know me know that I love March Madness. Well, I also love spending Easter with my family. That's why I'll be driving to Ohio tonight...while the games are on TV. And that's why I'll be driving back to Illinois on Sunday...while the games are on TV. And then Saturday is my mom's birthday (while it always falls in the middle of March Madness, it usually lands a safe distance away from Easter festivities). So we'll be going out to eat to celebrate her birthday on Saturday night...while the games are on TV.

In short, due to this new March/Easter arrangement, I'll miss about three quarters of the first 2 rounds of March Madness. That's just plain sad. But, there is one thing that will make up for it:

Cadbury Mini-Eggs. The best candy ever made. (They recently introduced a Christmas version of these eggs--although the Christmas treats are not eggs, but balls--but somehow, even though they're the same candy, they don't taste as good as these eggs. But I digress...)

Even though I won't get to see much March Madness this weekend, I will have the chance to eat many Cadbury Mini Eggs. Or, I guess you could say I will be eating "Many-Eggs." (Picture me being disgusted by that terrible joke.)

Madness and Mini-Eggs aside, I'm really looking forward to going home to Ohio and spending time with family--mine and Barbie's.

Completely unrelated... a co-worker/friend/arch-nemesis of mine shared a link with me yesterday, and I feel compelled to pass it on.

As I read it yesterday, my emotions went through this progression: interested, incredulous, scared, impressed, and then very sad. Perhaps your experience will be similar:

Deadly Robot





On that note, I will wrap this up.

I hope you all have a happy Easter, and I hope you enjoy some (more than me) March Madness and some (less than me, I'm sure) Cadbury Mini-Eggs. And take a moment or two to think about just how unthinkable the Easter story was and is.

--Thanks for reading.

In Cozumel...

Now that it's been nearly 6 months since Barbie and I got married, and over 5 months since we got back from our honeymoon in Cozumel, I decided it is finally time to post our pictures from the honeymoon.

I first tried to post these about 4 months ago, and about 3 times since, but I kept encountering formatting problems, and the pictures were overlapping... and it was frustrating.

I finally got motivated enough to sort it all out (I think). Here goes:




(Above: Pretty self-explanatory)



(Right: This is the bridge between the two pools at our resort. Under the bridge, there were dozens of turtles. Barbie liked to pretend to throw food to them so that they would open their mouths and flap their front feet out of the water, jockeying for a better position to snatch the food that she wasn't really providing.)



(Above: This picture isn't all that clear, but I'm not strangling her, if that's what you're thinking. I forget what this place was called, but this photo was taken at the beachfront restaurant at our resort. We ate lunch here almost every day.)

(Above: Relaxation Pool)




















(Above: Out of something like 300 hold-the-camera-myself attempts, this was one of the few that turned out fairly well.)

(Left: I think we just got done eating a lot, although that could be true for most of our pictures.)














We spent one day at Xcaret (pronounced Sh-care-ette, because in Mayan, x's are pronounced "sh"), a hybrid park that is historical, zoo-like, and a natural waterpark. The park contains quite a few Mayan ruins, it is located alongside the ocean, and it is absolutely beautiful. We walked through caves, floated down underground rivers (that also went through caves), admired the Mayan ruins, and relaxed on the oceanfront beach. I highly recommend Xcaret to anyone who goes to Cozumel, Cancun, or anywhere else close to Playa del Carmen.



(Left: This is a picture of the underground river that Barbie and I floated down. We didn't actually take a picture of this, so I found this one online. Sorry it's not a great shot.)



(Above: Some of the Mayan ruins within Xcaret.)


(Above: Us standing by some of the Mayan Ruins at Xcaret.)

(Above: One of the many iguanas we saw while in Mexico. This was the best picture we took of one of them, probably because this was one of the few times I let Barbie have the camera.)
(Above: Another picture with the same iguana. This shows how big some of them were.)

















(Above: This is where the underground rivers at Xcaret end. Just looking at this picture makes me want to go back right now.)


(Above: I think this picture was taken after dinner, and judgding by the reddish tint to our skin, I think it was our final night in Cozumel.)

(Above: One of the days we rented a jeep and drove all the way around the island. You can see a little bit of the lingering hurricane damage that Cozumel sustained.)

(Above: Barbie looking beautiful.)



















(Above: I tried every night to get a good picture of the sunset. But clouds always seemed to appear at just the wrong time. This was the best I could manage.)




So those are the pics that I planned to post months ago. Now that I've finally overcome my formatting difficulties, I hope to get back to actually writing blogs again. We'll see.

--As always, thanks for reading.