LOST: Top 10

So at this point the Lost finale has been discussed ad nauseum. But come on it was pretty awesome. Not quite as epic as "Through the Looking Glass" but even more emotionally evocative (minus Charlie's poetic death scene that is, I still get sniffly just thinking about it). "No Place Like Home" was the perfect capper to dare I say it, a perfect season of my crazy show. Without further adeu, my top 10 moments.

1. Penny/Desmond reunite. This was quite possibly the most rewarding scene the powers that be at Lost have ever given us. I spent most of the finale pleading with the tv gods to spare my favorite time-travelling Scotsman from some horrific death, so seeing him live and get his happy ending---at least for the moment was an embarrassment of riches.

2. Sawyer gets to be the hero. I'm not as diehard a Sawyer fan as most Lost fangirls, but I've always thought he was one of the most interesting characters on the show. I have to admit even I swooned when Sawyer kissed Kate before leaping from the helicopter allowing our gang to make it the freighter.

3. Juliet drinks rum. Oh Juliet, how do you break my heart all the time? Sitting on the beach drinking rum watching her last hope of leaving the island go up in smoke was one of those quiet aching moments that Lost does best. When a wet Sawyer comes swimming out of the ocean calling back to that glorious scene in "Whatever the Case May Be", my brain may have started dreaming about a Juliet/Sawyer pairing.

4. Sayid and Keamy throwdown. In a year full of awesome new cast additions, Keamy managed to be one badass standout. Getting to watch him go at it with our resident badass? Priceless.

5. Ben. I can't pick one moment. Emerson plays them all to perfection. From the comedic (Locke must have too busy hanging out in his locker to study botany) to the serious (Ben kills Keamy...and everyone else on the freighter) to the seriously creepy (Ben moves the island. With a frozen wheel.) It was a terrific night to be Benjermin Linus.

6. Jin misses his plane. Sun sounded as if some essential part of herself was being ripped away as that helicopter flew away leaving her husband to die on the freighter. Not that I believe Jin's dead.

7. Sun makes a deal with Widmore. Future Sun proves to be awesome...and kind of scary.

8. "Checkmate, Mr. Eko." Sayid shoots a guy and then busts Hurley from the asylum, but not before Hurley beats the late Mr. Eko in a game of chess.

9. Daniel says goodbye to Charlotte. Let's face it, I love Daniel Faraday. And Daniel Faraday loves Charlotte. Therefore I love Charlotte (and Miles--let the man eat his peanuts, Rose). Finding out Charlotte was born on the island? Cool. Being forced to spend the next nine months wondering if my sweet, gravelly voiced physicist was on the good or bad side of the island move? Not cool, Damon and Carlton. Really, really not cool.

10. "You can go now Micheal." The actor may not be pleased with his send off , but as a fan of the character since the beginning seeing him get some measure of redemption was pay off enough for me. A ghostly Christian Sheppard allowing him to shake of his mortal coil was just the creepy icing on the cake.

Bonus: I have to mention seeing a downward spiraling Jack listening to his emo and breaking into the funeral home for his late night rendevous with Ben. And of course the reveal of Locke in the coffin, unlike last year I didn't figure this twist out before it happened.

Is it January yet?

Things That Are Cool

1. The trailer for the Lee Pace film "The Fall". It looks gorgeous and it's playing with my favorite genre: the fairy tale as nightmare. I just read one review that likened it to "The Lady in the Water" and I may be the only person on the planet who would take that as a ringing endorsement. You think less of me now, don't you?

2. TV friendships. Booth/Bones, Bones/Angela, Donna/The Doctor, Leonard/Sheldon, Barney/Robin, Betty/Daniel, Sawyer/Hurley. I kind of want to squish them all.

3. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. For some reason I waited ages to read this book, now I can't put it down.

4. Daniel Faraday. The Lost gods may have taken away my sweet Charlie, but they gave me an adorable bumbling, time-travelling physicist to help the healing process along. And it's totally working.

5. Corner Gas. It's Canadian and completely charming and the only reason to watch WGN unless you happen to like watching grown men run around a diamond. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a staycation to get back to.

The Truth Is Still Out There

In my 21 years on this planet I have loved many fictional things. When I was five I learned boys weren’t icky when I fell in love with Mario Lopez’s dimples (conversely now I find Mario Lopez about as attractive as a Ken doll, but hey we all have to start somewhere right), when I was seven I wanted to be a Power Ranger, and at some point in my childhood I thought Rouge/Gambit had the most epic of epic loves (thanks Fox Kids!). Then of course there was Harry Potter, Buffy, Gilmore Girls, and eventually Lost—some things don’t fade my friends. But in between there was a little show about aliens, conspiracies, and the legendary love of two FBI agents that would directly impact every story I would ever care about after. And that show is getting its second big screen treatment two days after my birthday this year.

Oh X-Files, where would I be without you? Probably spending my days watching The Hills and According to Jim instead of Lost and How I Met Your Mother or reading chick lit instead of Harry Potter. The X-Files taught me the joys of dense mythologies, fed my love of stories about things that go bump in the night, taught me the joy of “shipping”, and most of all gave me Fox Mulder (my favorite TV boyfriend). I remember being absolutely terrified by the theme music and happily chiming “I made this” at the end of every episode. Oh and the sheer exhilaration I felt every time Mulder and Scully brushed against each other. I still get chills when Mulder breaks down crying next to Scully’s bed when he thinks she’s going to die. Show I’ve missed you so much.

Most of all I loved the stand-alone episodes. At ten most of the mythology went right over my head (black oil? Aliens? I’ll be over here praying that Mulder holds the door open for Scully if you need me). But those episodes where they just went to a town somewhere and searched for Bigfoot or vampires never get old. Everything I love about good TV probably stems from “The Post-Modern Prometheus”, and I still can’t hear “Walking in Memphis” without smiling. “The Ghosts Who Stole Christmas” may very well be my favorite Christmas episode of anything ever. “The Triangle”, “Bad Blood”, and “Monday”, all classics. Oh and the achy episodes like “Emily” and the cancer trilogy and “William”. To this day I can not re-watch “William”.

Watching the show now as a grown up person who has consumed a lot of media, I can see cracks and flaws in my show. It was at times overwritten and sometimes underwritten, the acting in the beginning was shakier than I remember, the mythology baffling no matter how closely you watch, but it still shines. I still owe it my love for The Twilight Zone, everything Joss Whedon touched, even my obsession with Luke and Lorelai. Most importantly I owe it for my love and patience for Lost. Whenever someone makes a face and starts whining about never getting answers, I sigh and think, “Clearly, you never watched the X-Files.” In the end it gave me a deep appreciation for good storytelling and characters. And Fox Mulder.

All that being said, I’m beyond excited for the movie. Particularly since I’ve heard rumblings that it’s going to deal with the William issue. In the end I don’t need some grand conclusion, wrapping all of those plot threads up in a neat little bow. All I need is Mulder and Scully being awesome, a spooky case, and some sunflower seeds and I will be more than happy. Oh and kissing, there had better be kissing.

Things That Are Cool

1. Doctor Who Season Four starts in a mere two weeks. And that theatrical promo? Already has me squealing like the little fangirl I am.
2. That bootleg X-Files trailer floating around YouTube. July 25 needs to be here now. Tell me you didn't get chills when you heard that theme song. Oh Mulder and Scully it's been too long. Bonus: I've heard talk that a certain William will not go unmentioned. That gives me hope that my favorite FBI agents will go to Kansas and get their little alien baby back.
3. Chief, BSG. He's just barely edging out Helo as my favorite BSG boy. Oh Chief. That episode where he thinks he might be Cylon and accidentally beat the snot out of Callie may have broken my heart. And the one where he and Helo charge off to save Sharon? Yes. And when that one guy got shot while he was trying to protect him? He may be the most noble one of them all. And apparently he ends up with Callie. Please tell me that doesn't end tragically but from what I've seen of this show, nothing ever ends well.
4. Wired Magazine. It seems like it would be super techie but it actually has it's geek on.
5. "Hurricane" by Bob Dylan. Currently my favorite Dylan song. I'm a sucker for songs that tell stories. See also: "Outlaws" by Joe Purdy and "The Ballad of Billy Joe" by someone whose name I can't remember.

What the Frak!?!

Okay so I’m a big fat liar, there was no week of cool women just one lonely post, what can I say sometimes college trumps blogging. It’s a sad fact of life. That being side if I were compiling my list of top 5 fictional women on TV today it would look a little different: President Laura Roslin and Kara Thrace would most certainly be on that list. Why weren’t they there a couple of weeks of ago? We hadn’t met.

I’ve been a BSG fan for, oh a little over 48 hours now. So this is how it happened: Last year after reading all the “OMG-Battlestar Galactica is the best show ever!” articles, I thought to myself, okay it has a really stupid name but so did Buffy and we all know how that turned out, ah what the hell, lets give it a shot. So I tuned into an episode. The last episode of season three. I had no idea, not even an inkling, of what I was seeing. Cylon? Frak? Bob Dylan? What!? (Seriously, this must be how people feel when they tune into Lost for the first time. Gods bless mythology-laden shows.)

So, that was my first and what I assumed would be my last brush with BSG. All I got out of it was they hated light. And colors that aren’t gray. So I returned to my BSG-less existence figuring I would never ‘get it’. Fast-forward to last week, SciFi is running approximately 90 billion promos, articles are popping up everywhere, and I hear that The Man Joss Whedon and The Other Man Seth Green are participating in a retrospective of sorts for the show. Where Seth Green goes, so goes my nation. So I watched the retrospective and watched cool people gush about the show and I found myself thinking, you know maybe I should I give it another shot.

Then I watched the BSG in nine minutes promo and I started feeling an itch. I needed to watch this show. Luckily for me, SciFi loves marathons. Monday morning rolled around and I woke up early and settled myself in front of the TV and I met Kara Thrace. And Laura Roslin. And Adama. And Helo-Oh my God, Helo! And Chief. And cute little Callie. And little Adama. And my friends, I finally got it. It is not for naught that Dwight Schrute believes BSG beats bears. It’s dark and beautiful (the space battles are mesmerizing), the characters are terrific, and the cylon mythology is delightfully complex. I may have skipped a class because I was in the middle of a two-parter. I think this show has eaten my brain. Why haven’t I been watching since it started? Oh, right my stupid space-prejudice. Have I learned nothing from Firefly?

Sadly, I can’t watch the marathon in its entirety unless I take a second spring break so I won’t be able to catch up completely before Friday night, but someday very soon there will be dvds. In the mean time here are ten things I still don’t understand about BSG (with spoilers):

1. Ship-Sharon loved Chief, yes? Caprica-Sharon was impregnated by Helo. They are not
the same, right? Yet, they are addressed the same. Do cylons share consciousness (I get
the downloading after death thing-but do they all share thoughts, memories)?
2. Who is Anders? Why does he look so much like Lee?
3. What is up with Baltar and Six? Is she a figment of his imagination or is she actually
appearing to him? I get that he was involved with a copy of her.
4. Why isn’t everyone freaked out by how crazy Baltar is? It’s not like he hides it.
5. Where exactly did Cylon-Sharon get ovaries? Is this going to be like Angel-Darla part
two? Gods, I hope their kid is less whiny.
6. How is Laura so awesome?
7. In the same vein, dude we still haven’t found a cure for cancer? We can make robots
pregnant, but we can’t cure breast cancer? Stupid future.
8. How did the cylons evolve? Why haven’t they all evolved? Do the shiny ones have
thoughts?
9. Is it just me, or is Lee kind of whussy? Adorable, sure, but I kind of think Starbuck
would eat him alive.
10. And finally, is it normal to be jealous of fictional characters, cause I kind of want to
fight Sharon for Helo. That’s kind of crazy, right? I’ll work on it.

In conclusion: Is it Friday yet?

Cool Fictional Women

March is Women’s History month, so in honor of that I want to talk about some cool fictional women. We look to fiction to both reflect and shape our culture. When it comes to women, fiction can sometimes get it wrong. Whether that’s improbably busty heroines always in need of rescuing or make over queens ala She’s All That, fiction often leads us to believe that being a woman means we must be hot and slutty but demure and needy. Cause that makes sense. But every now and then a female character comes along that’s so fully realized she could be your mom or your best friend or even you. Each day this week I’m going to showcase five of my favorite female characters from television, books, and films. Let’s start the week off with five of my favorite ladies currently on television.



1. Liz Lemon, 30 Rock
As portrayed by the hilarious and talented Tina Fey, Liz has quickly become a hero to
geeky girls everywhere. How can you not relate to Liz when she whips out a Heroes
reference at a swanky party where oxygen is actually on the menu? Besides a love for
pop culture, Liz also happens to be the head writer of her very own comedy sketch
show. She’s funny, quirky, talented, but most certainly not flawless. And she wears
glasses. Liz Lemon is paving the way for all of us who would rather watch Lost than
go shoe shopping.



2. Juliet Burke, Lost
Speaking of Lost, is there a female character in all the land as kick-ass as Juliet? Back
in those dark days before Elizabeth Mitchell made her entrance set to the tune of Petula
Clark’s “Downtown” the ladies of Lost were all a bit, well lackluster, compared to
their male counterparts. Yeah I love Kate, but she spends a wee bit too much time
waffling between Jack and Sawyer to be truly cool. Sun’s pretty awesome but she too
often fades to the background. Claire? Too irrational and whiny. Ditto Shannon. Ana
Lucia was a bit too much like a rabid pit bull. But Juliet? She can knock out Jack, run
complicated double crossing schemes, have sex with Goodwin, and make a mean
grilled cheese sandwich. Awesome.



3. Miranda Bailey, Grey’s Anatomy
Bailey’s been the most awesome of all the Grey’s ladies since day one. She’s tough,
ambitious, and hey, even a mom. She can be vulnerable (see her interact with her old
high school crush) and still rule the interns/residents with an iron fist (see her put the
smack down on Izzie, et al. post Denny). She’s perhaps the most real charcter on the
show. And despite their attempts to bust up her marriage she’s also the most normal.
She’s a damn fine doctor, a good mother, mentor, and friend. We should all aspire to
be like Miranda Bailey.



4. Pam Beesly, The Office
Last year was The Year of Pam. That was the year she dropped her dead weight
boyfriend Roy, started dating, got her own apartment, held an art show and oh yeah,
walked on fire. We saw our girl Pam grow up before our very eyes, learning to stand
on her own two feet and finally speak her mind. By the time Pam triumphantly ran
across hot coals before proclaiming her feelings for Jim all without one ounce of
embarrassment I knew Pam had arrived. This year she’s finally got her guy, but the
best part was watching her find herself.



5. Betty Suarez, Ugly Betty
Occasionally Betty walks into glass doors or trips over her own feet and I inwardly
groan because that may be the worst of the I’m a cutesy girl clichés but then I
remember what Betty looks like. Bushy hair. Glasses. Braces. Unique fashion sense.
Pretty much me if I started dressing myself in the dark. The fact that Betty can look
like that and still do the cutesy girl pratfalls is actually kind of uplifting. Because Betty is
the cute girl. She’s not the goofy sidekick; she’s the main event. Add to that her big
heart and confidence and you’ve got one of the most important female characters to
hit television since a certain tiny blonde started saving the world. The best part? She’s not just
a moral compass, Betty has flaws, she screws up, she makes bad choices. This just
makes her all the more beautiful.

Honorable Mentions: Temperance-Bones, Peggy-Mad Men, Robin-How I Met Your Mother, Olive-Pushing Daisies, Nora-Brothers and Sisters, Martha-Torchwood/Doctor Who, Lynette-Desperate Housewives, Rita-Dexter, and Wanda-Corner Gas

I Can Make You Thin And Let You Eat Oreo's

Does anyone else find themselves compelled to watch TLC’s programs? It doesn’t really matter if it’s “What Not to Wear” or a five hour marathon of “Jon and Kate Plus 8” I often lose hours of my life watching other people redecorate their living rooms thanks to TLC.
Yesterday I stumbled upon Paul McKenna’s new show, “I Can Make You Thin”. I of course watched it because, come on who doesn’t want to be thin? And if the becoming thin sounds like it involves magic? Just try and stop me.

So I watched Mr. Mckenna excitedly explain his four golden rules to weight loss success to a room full teary-eyed chubby people like myself. These are his golden rules: 1. Eat when you’re hungry, 2. Eat what you want, 3. Eat consciously, and 4. Stop when your full. Sounds kind of crazy, right? Eat what I want? What if I want French fries and brownies and pasta, oh glorious pasta! McKenna says cool man just chew it all 20 times while wearing a blind fold and were golden. Seriously though, it sounds more like he can make me constipated. Also, have you ever tried to chew your food twenty times? I did. My poor chicken nugget completely disintegrated well before I reached the magic chew number of twenty. I was left feeling like I should be looking for some baby birds to feed.
One food this would definitely work with: Cube Steak, which if you don’t chew it a good twenty times you can always play swallow the bite whole with your friends. Whoever requires the Heimlich maneuver first loses! *

I’ll give him this though his excitement is rather infectious. By the end of the hour I was vowing to never deny myself Ben and Jerry’s again. But a couple of times I thought he came off a bit pushy. Like with that poor mother of three who was his demonstration gal. He gives her macaroni and then proceeds to watch her eat it, instructing her to place the fork down in between bights and to chew it s-l-o-w-l-y, but after every bight he would lean in all earnest like and say, “Do you feel it?” and “Are you full?” over and over when you could tell the lady just wanted to scream I’m still on my third noodle man, would you just let me enjoy my mac and cheese!

It was interesting though and I would be lying if I said I didn’t tear up when he brought the Indian lady out as his success story. She seemed so darn happy I wanted give her a high five. Skepticism aside, I’m so watching him again. Besides according to his website he can also “Make You Confident!” and “Make You Stop Smoking!” and he’s apparently some kind of guru to the stars. He also alludes to a mind-programming CD so he could also be trying to take over the world. Or make us all cluck like chickens at inappropriate times. Either way, how is that not entertaining?

So that’s one more show to add to TLC’s shamefully addictive line-up. Alright, I’m going to go not deny myself a baked potato now.

*This blog does not endorse swallowing your food whole unless you are a snake, in which case carry on.

The Stangers, Or How Movie Trailers Are Freakin Scary

So I’m back from my pop-culture saturated spring break which involved polishing off season one of Dexter (excellent), watching No Country For Old Man—twice, and reading essays by Chuck Klosterman ranging from the fascinating to the annoying to the disconcerting. It was fun and I’m sure I’ll blog about all of these lovely things at some point but today I’m blogging about a much more pressing matter: CBS’s attempt to scare the crap out of me with the most terrifying movie trailer in all the land.

There I was back in my apartment after a lovely vacation relaxing, reading my Entertainment Weekly half listening to Dexter on CBS (I wanted to see how ridiculous Deb would sound edited) when out of nowhere comes this trailer. You see I like to watch movie trailers, I love that nice movie man announcer’s voice, I like to mock the often crappy music choices, they are second only to those Tide talking stain ads in terms of my personal commercial hierarchy (bottom tier: those damn Pepperidge Farms Go Meat commercials---those ad men are going to the special hell). So I pepped up when I noticed the beginning strains of what I assumed would be a short ad for some crappy creep fest that would give me a good chuckle before bed. Instead I was treated to Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler being all flirty and “let’s make dinner honey”. What’s so scary about…hey what’s that thing in the corner? Is that a mask? Turn around Liv Tyler, for the love of God turn around!

Things just got worse from there. There were messages (Hello! Hi! Hello!) scrawled on their mirror. There was an ax. An ax, people. Then it turned out it wasn’t just one homicidal maniac but a whole family of homicidal maniacs including a tiny little ax wielding creepy kid. At this point I was a whimpering mess, but the ad continued. Because apparently 30 seconds of traumatizing me just wasn’t enough. No from there they gleefully announce this story was inspired by actual events. By “actual events” I hope they mean some nice young couple heard strange noises and assumed there was an ax wielding maniac but really it was just some rascally raccoons, but hey wouldn’t that make a great horror movie?

The end result: I had actual, honest to God nightmares. Yes I realize I am a wuss, but I very rarely have actual nightmares. In short: thanks a lot CBS. Just because I’m watching a show about serial killers doesn’t mean I want to see an ad about crazy ass ax murderers who hang out in your new house waiting to kill you dead.

I tried to research the whole “actual events” angle but once I reached the official site I started screaming like a little girl and frantically hit my computer’s back button. I’m just going to stick with the raccoon angle. If you too would like to be freaked out check out the film over at http://www.imdb.com/ ---The Strangers. I have no plans on ever actually seeing this film and I’m sure I’ll spend the next couple of months living in fear of being caught off guard by the trailer, but I have to hand it to them this seems like a legitimately scary film opposed to a disgusting film ala the Saw franchise. Which is something, I guess. Just keep that creepy kid away from me, okay?

Dear Lost,

Thanks for erasing any need for me to watch the inevitably crappy film adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife, Penny and Des will do just fine thanks.

Oh Lost. I want to post coherent and unbiased analysis for you but how can I when you fill me with so much awe and glee? How can I offer up cold-hard analysis of a scene like
Des and Penny’s Christmas Eve phone call that it so clearly the definition of poetry in motion? The sheer epicness of their relationship means I cannot speak about it in the cynical manner I usually use when talking about the dreaded "star-crossed lovers".

And Sayid with his old school season one MacGyver skills! And looking after Desmond! And slamming Doctor Man against a wall!

And there was time travel. Honest to God time travel that was explained well sans paradox---well mostly. (Sidenote: Shouldn’t Desmond have already possessed the memory of meeting Daniel in 1996?) And “Desmond is my constant”. There should be a t-shirt, yes?

And Daniel Faraday: time traveling super genius for the win! Oh and thanks for making my brain spin crazy theories about Eloise (She’s his ex-love who died tragically! She’s his ex-partner who he accidentally trapped in the fourth dimension! She has a restraining order against him because he’s really a creepy stalker! She’s his time traveling lab rat….wait, what?).

Well you see why I can’t have rational thoughts about you. I guess I’ll just have to settle for channeling my squee-filled inner fourteen year old on Thursdays. I hope you’re happy.

P.S. If you hurt one hair on Juliet’s head next week I swear I will post unbiased and completely coherent analysis about you, don’t look at me like that I’m not kidding.

P.P.S. To ABC actually, feel free to run that Iron Man preview on a continual loop if you like. MMM…Robert Downey Jr.

Reasons to Stay Up Past 11:00

I’ve spent many years resisting the allure of the late-night television show. Well, okay technically for many of those years my parents had a strict be in bed by 10:00 rule, but even now sans bedtime I rarely feel the need to watch late night chat shows. Sure I tune in if Seth Green’s guesting on Conan or if one my Lost folks is popping up on Jimmy Kimmel, but mostly I opt for Simpsons reruns if I’m up past the 11:00 hour.

Lately, I’ve begun to feel left out. I’ve never actually seen one of Letterman’s Top 10’s or watched an entire episode of Saturday Night Live. What does this say about me as a pop culture consumer? That I value sleep over largely overrated late-night television? Perhaps, but I fear that is not a valid excuse for such a glaring cultural blind spot. Especially since these shows have been pretty entertaining as of late. For instance last night’s Jimmy Kimmel retaliation to girlfriend Sarah Silverman’s extracurricular activities with Matt Damon? Priceless (with the added bonus of Dominic Monaghan and a profane Josh Groban). And what about the Tina Fey hosted episode of SNL? Man, I really should have watched that one live.

Then there was the Stewart/O’Brian/Colbert match up a couple of weeks ago that I had to google before I could get the joke. Late night television appears to be culturally relevant again and I suppose it’s time for to dip my toe into these uncharted waters. It’s not feasible for me to watch all of the late night shows so I feel I should pick one or two to watch at least once a week, you know just so I no longer feel left out of those annoying Who’s your favorite late night host conversations.

I know I won’t be picking Leno. Once I watched a few minutes of his show and became some distracted by the strange proportion of his head I found I hadn’t heard a word of what he had said.

I find Letterman to be a bit dry for my taste, but he does get props for being the first host to step up and pay his crew during the strike. But his show has too much audience interaction for my taste. Leave the audience alone, Letterman, I do not want to audition for a seat to watch your show---why don’t you do a backflip while singing the national anthem backwards?

Now Conan I’ve watched before and liked, so he’s a distinct possibility for regular viewing. I particularly enjoyed the episode last season when B.J. Novak called out the Cadbury company on decreasing the size of their chocolate eggs. Youtube it, it’s fantastic.

Kimmel gets bonus points for being a Lost fan. Out of all the late night shows I’ve seen his the most, which is you know six more times than I’ve seen Letterman.

And then there’s Ferguson who would be a serious contender if he wasn’t on so late. I watched him one night while taking a break from writing a paper that was due at 9:00 a.m. and found him delightful. Plus Dominic Monaghan appears on his show. A lot.

Hey, does Carson Daly still have a talk show? Oh well, I’ve never seen it and I don’t think anyone else has either.

And then there’s SNL, not technically a chat show, but it is on quite late and I’ve only ever seen the random skit.

So, in conclusion, I think I’ll make an attempt to catch Kimmel and O’Brian when I’m not in desperate need of a good eight hours and I’m totally going to watch an entire episode of SNL. I will be well versed in late night television you just wait and see. And now I’ll be able to let you know where I land on that whole best late night host issue.

Dexter Meet Shawn

On the surface Psych and Dexter seem like unlikely companions. Could the outgoing, life-loving Shawn Spencer and the coldly logical Dexter Morgan have anything in common? On any other day perhaps not, but if you like me spent the weekend watching the boys side by side you might agree.

I was introduced to Dexter, that most morally ambiguous serial killer, for the first time this weekend and immediately fell for him and his dark horror/noir confection of a show. It is remarkably well crafted and Michael C. Hall is eerily convincing and appealing in this unusual role. So far (I’m six episodes into season one) I love everything about the show from the unexpectedly jaunty music to the dark Miami setting to the character’s constant eating. It’s a strange and disorienting world that’s almost compulsively watchable. However, I had to take a break sometime. It just so happened that I filled that break by watching the season finale of Psych.

I’ve loved Psych since it debuted two years ago on USA. It’s a light, funny show peppered with obscure 80’s references and random pineapple sightings. It’s at once silly and fully aware of its silliness, merrily lampooning those serious procedurals and psychic cop dramas in one fell swoop. At its center is James Roday as the hyper-observant faux psychic Shawn. Roday mugs and jumps and still manages to give one the most purely comedic performances on television. The show is in short a joy to watch.

So you can imagine my surprise when in a weekend television haze I began to think the two shows had something in common besides being led by two handsome blond men.
In my fevered state it seemed to me that the shows were shadow twins. What is Dexter but a fun-house reflection of Shawn? Stay with me here.

From what I’ve gathered from the series, Dexter is a product of his adoptive father’s molding. Harry saw a dark impulse for killing in Dexter and nurtured that impulse, directing it towards small animals and later “bad” people. He turns Dexter into a sort of vigilante and it seems sets his son up to carry out the impulses he himself as a cop must keep in check. Did Harry really “save” his son as Dexter believes or did he simply hone him into a finely tuned killer? Either way Harry shaped Dexter, never allowing him to find his own path, never giving him any other choice but killing. And Dexter followed that path.

Then there’s Shawn. From a young age Shawn’s cop father Henry honed his son’s observational skills. Everything was a challenge (how many hats in the restaurant, how many towels on the beach) and he tried to keep Shawn grounded, stomping out imaginary notions. In this case Shawn rebelled from his father, using those childhood lessons not to become a cop but to become a “psychic” detective marrying the imaginary and the irreverent in a way that drives his father crazy. Both boys are a product of their father’s molding, Dexter embraces that mold while Shawn took the mold, smashed it and did a little Irish jig on it.

Their very characters are similar. Shawn and Dexter are always performing. Dexter pretends to be normal; he brings donuts to his coworkers and picks up his girlfriend’s kids from school all the while hiding this dark life he leads. Shawn revels in his showmanship, every day is a performance for him. He leaps on desks and throws out fake names leveling every person in his path with his sheer charisma, but we know that this isn’t Shawn. Shawn doesn’t like to be vulnerable, he doesn’t like to be serious so he created a persona that allows him to hide.

And on the superficial side, are there two shows on television any more enamored with the art of eating than these two? The characters are constantly eating or talking about eating, particularly Shawn and Dexter who both approach the act with a strange sort of reverance whether that be Dexter’s ode to the pleasure of eating while driving or Shawn’s joy in preparing the perfect pineapple upside down cake.

Then there’s the whole death thing. The character’s are constantly dealing with death (although Dexter is alone here in inflicting it), but both men approach it in a deeply detached fashion. They don’t grieve over these deaths, in fact they often joke about it. A corpse is a corpse as far as these men are concerned. For each of them a dead body is a source of joy---for Shawn it means a new case to solve and for Dexter it’s either a mystery to unravel or the end result of his favorite pastime.

Finally, to round out the mirror analogy they’re located on opposite sides of the country---Shawn in sunny San Diego and Dexter in well, sunny Miami. So the next time you settle in for a fun, silly night of Psych think about his dark brother the equally charming Dexter and play the what if game. What if it was Shawn merrily killing killers? What if Dexter palled around with Gus solving murders with his hyper-observancy? Is it really such a stretch?

Lost "The Economist"

When Lost is good it’s better than pretty much everything on television with the exception of Mad Men. When Lost is really good it’s better than pretty much everything, ever. At this point you’re probably thinking overstatement much, but join me as we discuss “The Economist” and I convince you that as in all things I am right.

The first sign that this episode was going to rock was the part where it started with Sayid. That’s always a good sign my friends. On the superficial side Naveen Andrews may very well be the most attractive man on the planet. Outside of that he’s one of the finest actors working today (even if he often makes truly terrible movies). It’s like he has this fire in his performance, a passion that can’t help but bubble over into his work. It’s the reason the man has palpable chemistry with everything from his costars to the floor he’s standing on. That’s why I love his episodes, whenever the rest of the cast stands back and lets him go he commands the screen. It’s always breathtaking.

Thursday’s episode may have been his finest to date. In “The Economist” we discover that Sayid gets off the island becomes a hitman, falls in love yet again, has love end in tragedy yet again, and is working for Benjamin Fricken Linus. Throughout it all Sayid ran the gamut from terrifying (shooting that dude on the golf course) to vulnerable (lying with his head on guest star Chloe Bell’s stomach) to broken (breaking down in Ben’s office). Yes, in the end Sayid seemed to be every bit as damaged in the future as the other members of the Oceanic 6.

And can I just say, what an ending that was? From Sayid shooting his latest lady love and crawling across the floor to close her eyes and remove her bracelet in a perfect mirror scene to the beginning of the episode to the reveal that Sayid had “sold his soul” and was now working for Ben it was tragic and aching while still managing to be completely tantalizing. (My crazy theory: The death Ben uses to recruit Sayid to do his dirty work is Nadia’s. Anyone else thinking she might be working for these freighter folks? She was working for a pharmaceutical company was she not? And I’m sorry but I’m not buying a future where a post-island Sayid doesn’t make a beeline for her.)

And what about the on-island action? That shot of Sayid looking out the island as the helicopter rose into the sky was one of the most beautiful Lost has ever given us. Right up there with Sun dropping her shawl in a quiet declaration of freedom back in season one. Also I think I’m falling for Daniel the way I fell for Juliet last year. His stuttering, bumbling genius makes him difficult not to like. I love it when new characters actually work, in fact I’m a little enamored with all of the freighter folk. And what about that experiment? Time moves differently on the island? Or was it a little more sciency than that?

Finally, Sawyer convinces Kate to play house. Oh, Sawyer she’s going to break your heart so bad sweetie. Line of the night goes to Hurley, after Miles calls him tubby he sighs, “Oh great, the boat brought us another Sawyer.” Oh, Hurley.

In conclusion: Lost > everything else.

Join me next week when Kate deals with the stalkerazzi.

Things That Are Cool:

1. Doctor Who season 4 cinematic trailer. I loved the Bride! And dude, there are giant wasps. How is that not terrifying?
   


2. Writer’s Strike over! New Shows Imminent.
   


3. More importantly via Ausiello, Damon and Carlton have promised five additional episodes this season. They also promised the three cut episodes will be added on at some point.
   
4. Lost is moving to the post-Grey’s slot meaning ABC’s Thursday night line up will be Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost! Win.


5. Diane Sawyer. Just cause.

Brothers and Sisters, "The Missionary Imposition"

Brothers and Sisters is one of those shows you don’t quite realize you miss until you watch it after a long absence. I was pleasantly surprised to see a new episode this week, and even happier when it turned out so awesome. B&S has been a little maudlin this season what with the president drama, Justin’s relapse, and the marital woes of Tommy and Sarah. A lot of time has been devoted to the bad decisions these character’s make. Which is all very dramatic, but seriously make good choices Walkers.

Last night they did. From Nora’s budding relationship with Danny Glover (no I can’t remember his character’s name, but come on he’s Danny Freakin Glover) to Tommy not being a tool to my favorite, Kevin committing to Scotty. Okay so all of these good choices are going to be undone by next week, but for a moment let’s pretend they’ll stick.

My favorite storyline of the night was a tie between Nora/Danny Glover and the Kevin triangle. Let’s start with Nora, shall we? Every time I watch this show I’m struck by just how good Sally Field is. I loved the scene where she’s babbling on about her kids and Danny Glover busts out that gravelly voice of his all, “I asked how you were, not your kids.” Dude. Then he blows of a presidential campaign for her. That’s love man.

Then there was Scotty/Kevin/Hot Priest. I love Kevin and I feel his pain, it can’t be easy having to sort out your feelings for two guys as cool as Scotty and Hot Priest, but man was I ever glad to see him facing the situation. For the record, I want him to stand by his decision to stay with the adorable, crustacean bringing Scotty but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion he’ll be transgressing with Hot Priest soon enough. Oh Kevin, you’ve grown so much since this show started, but I fear you’re still a commitmentphobe at heart.

Then there was the Tommy/Lena/Julia/Justin/Rebecca mess that thankfully was resolved. Is it evil that I secretly hope they’ll kill Tommy off in time for sweeps? Come on think of the drama that would create for the family and I care about Tommy just enough to be invested in the aftermath, but not so much I would devastated by his death ala Charlie from Lost (Damn you Damon and Carlton). It’s a win-win.

The best part of that mess was Justin coming to his senses and jettisoning Lena (Repeat after me Brother’s don’t sleep with other Brother’s mistresses). I couldn’t help but think Lena would have been much more interesting had she been played by Maggie Grace. That aside it was nice to see Tommy and Justin, as well as Justin and Rebecca, make up. Although I wish Justin and Rebecca could tone down their incestuous chemistry ( they’re starting to rival the Petrelli brother’s in the inappropriate chemistry department), either that or the show needs to de-Walkerfy Rebecca.

Finally there was Sarah and Steven Weber looking relieved to be on a show that doesn’t suck. I love Sarah, after Nora she’s my second favorite. I loved the flower scene. Sarah might as well give in, it’s kind of hard to resist Weber.

Next week: Karaoke! Drunken Walker’s! We got ourselves a party.

Hey Man, Where's My Journey?

I watched Rob Reiner’s Stand by Me for the first time last night. I’ve wanted to see it for quite some time, but the opportunity had never presented itself. It lived up to the hype, although I gotta say those kids cried a lot considering they were twelve. I’ll give them a pass though what with the dead brother and abusive/negligent parents and all. It was the perfect coming of age story and I love me some coming of age stories---The Dead Poet’s Society, The 400 Blows, American Graffiti the list goes on. Once I started thinking about this particular genre I couldn’t help but notice a trend---there’s seems to be a lot of testosterone in these movies.

Let’s face it, guys have all the cool coming-of-age movies. Judy Blume’s got us covered in the literature department and Buffy and Clare Danes have the corner market on television, but film? Pretty much a wasteland. Sure there are a few that come to mind, the original My Girl for instance. No denying the film has a good grasp on the whole growing up as a girl thing, but I’ve never heard any critic fawn over it the way they laud Stand By Me.

Then you’ve got movies like Now and Then (Stand by Me with girls and extraneous adults!), 13 Going on 30 (Big as Chick Flick), and Mona Lisa Smile (think really crappy Dead Poet’s Society) that try to cut and paste girls into the boy classics. There’s also the I’m pregnant so I better grow up now sub genre featuring Saved! and Juno.

I’m not saying that these movies aren’t good (well some of them aren’t---I’m looking at you Mona Lisa), but can we honestly say that any of them have captured the essence of transitioning into womanhood the same way Stand By Me captured the last gasp of boyhood?

Maybe the experience is inherently different. Boys have long been sent on journeys to mark their passing into adulthood and journeys are interesting things to watch. We like quests and heroes. When girls come of age we get parties and periods. That’s not quite as cinematic. Oh God, with that reasoning our definitive coming of age tale would be Sixteen Candles.

If any film has come close to capturing the experience honestly I would have to say it is Juno, but it’s too early to declare it the "definitive coming of age movie for girls". Maybe it just feels that way because Juno’s tiny and snarky and not even a little pink, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Juno’s going to feel dated real fast. Those witty pop culture references have a shelf life, whereas films like Poet’s and Stand by Me feel timeless.

Then again maybe we don’t need our own film. Just because the films feature boys doesn’t mean we ladies can’t relate. Maybe these films only seem to capture the experience of growing up guy. There’s an air of Hollywood romanticism around them that makes me wonder. Regardless, they’re pretty awesome. Still it would be nice to have a girl movie to point to and say, “yeah man that’s exactly what it was like.” I wonder if Judy Blume’s up for writing a screenplay?

Blogging, Act II

Two years ago I started my first blog. It was an interesting exercise wherein I blogged aimlessly about whatever happened to cross my mind. That blog died. Actually it was murdered. In a fit of annoyance with my real life I deleted that poor defenseless blog without warning. I've been blog free for a year now but I've found myself creatively stifled. Outlets, I've come to realize, are necessary evils.

Which brings me to this blog. This new blog is going to be different. Where my first blog was aimless, this blog is going to have a specific purpose. Here will be nattering on television, film, books, and pop culture in general. These are the things I love and the things I hope to make a career out of loving. With college graduation looming in a not-so-distant future it's time for me to start you know, writing.

So, who am I? Student. Lover of stories. Lost aficionado. Everything else will come in time.

Oh my God, I'm back in the blogosphere.