Nightlife

I went out both night this weekend. I took out a customer from New Zealand on Friday. It was a great night. We started with some good steaks at Mike Shannons. We then went to his hotel (Hilton Ballpark) to chill and have some drinks. After we decided to keep going, we went to Lucas Park and had very little success. We ended the night at The Dubliner. It was a lot better of a time as we talked with girls there all night. It was a fun night.

Saturday was a full day of drinking. We went to Side Bar for the MU game and then went to The Dubliner again after the Blues game. I was pretty exhausted so it was a short night. The funny part of the night was watching Smith try to play pool.

Sports

MU put up a good run but it finally came to an end against a great team in UConn. MU could have a good year next year but I have put some thought into it and I am not sure an Anderson team could ever win it all. As you could see in the game Saturday, any team with height can score at will and out rebound a smaller team like MU. A taller person would not  necessarily work in the Anderson scheme due to the constant pace and shifting of coverage. But we can always be competitive against smaller teams and teams with very little depth.

I went to my first Blues game with the boys. It was a great game and we had a lot of fun. I am pretty excited about the Blues possibly making the playoffs.

TV

I finally caught up on all my DVR watching. I may have a new favorite show. It is called Kings on NBC. I has Ian McShane (aka Al Swearengen). This is the perfect role for him and I thought the first two episodes were very entertaining. Allison Miller is really hot, too.

I also watched Pineaplle Express. Everyone told me this movie was very hillarious. I was not impressed. It did have Danny McBride from Eastbound & Down.

• I will post my blog entry on my trip to Negril this weekend. The entry is done but I do not get my pictures from the water camera developed until tomorrow so I wanted to wait.
• I am surprised I do not have warrant for my arrest. I just got notified by a law firm that I have an outstanding red light camera ticket from 2 years ago. I got it right next to my work which has cameras at each stop light. They said they sent the ticket to my Brentwood address since that’s where the car was registered to at the time. Luckily it is only a $100 fine and a non moving violation.
• Lost was decent last night. I feel like it has more of a season 1 flow now. I totally missed the image of girl in the background with Sun and Jack’s dad at the end of the show. I like how Sawyer is now the man instead of Jack.
• It is March Madness time. I am somewhat excited and basically only because MU is in it. I had a hard time filling out my brackets. All the good teams have really not been tested or they have hurt players so I think there will be all kinds of upsets even though I did not pick any. I expect the Big 12 to do well in the tournament. I will be taking a half day on Friday to watch the MU game. I feel sorta bad since I have taken so much time off in the past two weeks.
• My brother is selling a car alarm and two graphic cards on Craigslist if anyone is interested.
• I am so looking forward to sleeping this weekend even though I am going to F15teen on Saturday for a Wash U grad party/going away party for 3 of the girls from PMBA 22.
• My fast food binge is about to come to an end. I think I got it all out of my system. I also made some really good beef stew last night. I will go back to eating healthy in preparation for swim suit season after it is all gone.
• I am not sure I am going to get through all my DVR shows before I get my new one on Saturday. I have knocked out about half of the 19 hours I had on there. Luckily, I have been saving all the Showtime and HBO shows for last since I knew I could get them OnDemand even though it would not be in HD. I am super excited about my Moxi 2 coming this weekend. I feel like I am special for getting it.
• I got 4 tickets (thanks to Luke H.) to the Blues game vs the Blue Jackets on the 28th if anyone is interested in going with me. They are really good seats.

Wow, great episode like some predicted. Did not expect to see any island this week but it sure was good.

• I expect this is the last we will see of Walt. I would totally write him off if he hadnt made that dream comment.
• Tunisia is always the place you end up when you turn the FDW.
• It looks like we have seen the end of Matthew Abbadon. I was expecting more of this character. Maybe it had something to do with Fringe.
• I definitely want to think that Ben is definitely the bad person but I am still not sure. Maybe Ben and Charles are both bad. I did not see that one coming with Ben killing Locke.
• How long ago was Whitmore exiled from the island?
• Is the war between Ben and Flight 815 or Flight 815 vs 316.
• I was pretty positive that 316 would crash on the island. I am just not sure what date it is. I thought it was present but not sure due to the previews. I unfortunately will not get to watch Lost for 3 weeks so its going to be a while till I find out.
• Who else went off in the canoe with Frank? Why did he care about the flight list. Is he really an other?
• What hatch were they in? Was that the other small island where they held Jack for a while?

One word describes this episode, “predictable.” except for the last 3 minutes. I was pretty positive that the 316 was the Ajeria airline flight they would have to fly. I even went to their website today to try to confirm the flight number on any flights leaving LA. They all said they were booked. It also can be linked to the Bible verse which relates totally with John coming back to the island. The other obvious thing was that they pretty much confirmed that Locke is going to take over as “Jacob” from Jack’s dad. Frank being the pilot was not surprising at all either. He was destined to be the pilot since he was supposed to be the original pilot on flight 815 and I saw he was going to be in this episode so I figured it was coming.

Some of the things that surprised me were:

• the opening scene of the episode
• that everyone was so easily on board to leave the island
• that Desmond did not go; what was the point of Desmond going to talk to Faraday’s mom?
• How they got on the island? I was expecting the plane to crash. Did they just get caught in a flash?
• They have to be back in the 70s since the bus is still active. I read a theory about how the Lostees would be the new Others since time might have quit skipping. Obviously Jin is posing or is one. Are they stuck in time and that is why people like Richard do not seem to age?
• The previews to next weeks episode. It looks like a Locke episode. Was Ben there when Locke hung himself? What a liar!

Things that I am wondering about:

• Why is Sayid locked up? Is he taking Kate’s place?
• What happened to Aaron?
• Did Whitmore beat up on Ben? He obviously tried to kill Penny. I hope Desmond beat up on him. Everyone has predicting that she would die soon since they have already had their happy ending scene.
• Who is the Arab fellow that was behind Jack in line at the counter at the airport? They focused on him too much.
• Did all of them go back?
• What did Ben do when he got up?

This was a pretty good episode. Unlike past seasons, I really doubt there will be “bad” episodes since time is running out and there is a lot to explain.

• It is pretty much confirmed that Elloise Hawkings is Farady’s mother.
• We figured out that Charlotte was on the island but we do not know who her mother is and what she did. Plus why she was told never to  come back by Faraday. My assumption is Faraday told Charlotte not to come back when he was time traveling but I guess he does not realize his own string analogy where no one can change the future, except for Desmond apparently.
• I assume we will see a Charlotte flashback through the eyes of Faraday. They just can’t kill off her character like that but she did reveal alot of info so maybe not.
• I also think that Faraday and Charlotte are siblings. The pieces fit. Faraday said he loved her but really never made a move. That is because it was love for a sister.
• The people still on the island seem to be suffering when the time shifts. They kept grabbing their heads. I don’t remember seeing this in the past episodes.
• The reason for the shifts was that the FDW was “off its axis”
• Locke was supposed to  move the island; not Ben. So basically it is Locke’s fault that everything is going to hell.
• Is Locke going to be dead the rest of the show? I am starting to think so. Like I read in another blog, I think it is going to turn out that Locke is Jacob. I don’t think Jack’s dad is Jacob even though Locke called for Jacob and Christian appeared.
• Is CFL crazy because of skipping Jin? I at first thought that maybe CFL was the crazy one while her crew just knew the truth so she killed them; which still might be the truth. I
• Not sure what that hole is where the smoke monster went into. Obviously CFL’s crew made it out alive from there but not sure how. Is this the Temple? If so, this is where Ben told the Other’s to go because it was safe. I guess it is if there is monster out there to get them. That version of the smoke monster seemed to be more machinery like.
• I saw the name of next weeks episode and it was a 3 digit number which makes me think it is the flight number of the Ajira airline flight that is going to take the group back to the island.
• Did anyone think that Sun was going to steal Aaron when she make that creepy remark to her kid that she found a new friend for her?
• What did Charlotte say right before she died?
• Why did she speak Korean? Is her father Dr Chang?
• Of the skipping stops, doesn’t that leave the survivors back in time or are they in present time now. We really don’t know but the well did disappear. For all we know, they are back in the present and everything is okay. Maybe Locke and Ben are wrong and the Survivors don’t need to go back. Maybe all that needed to be done was for Locke to be the leader (make the sacrifice) and turn the FDW to restore order.

Thought this episode was very predictable and sort of boring.

• Jin is alive. I hope everyone knew this all along. He was on the edge of the boat when it blew up so he could have easily been blown off without dying. I did not expect him to be on Lost time though. I am guessing the boat was close enough to the island to get him in range to shift time. I immediately thought we would see Jin whenever they found the wreckage from CFL’s boat. I then saw the guy floating and it looked like Sayid so I was a little confused.
• The episode guest list pretty much told you that young CFL (Rosseau) was going to be in this episode. I imagine time will skip again before we can find out why or if CFL killed her crew.
• Ben was behind the blood check of Kate to see if she was Arron’s mother. I thought this all along since it was a good method to get Kate scared into coming to the island.
• Ben’s lawyer also represents Oceanic. This is not just a coincidence.
• Ajira Airlines made its first reference in Lost. This fictional company was used in Season 5 promotions.
• It looks like they have almost all the Oceanic 6 rounded up. Is it possible that they could be back on the island midseason?
• Miles definitely was on the island before. Everyone is assuming he was the baby born in the season premiere.
• I assume Locke told Ben that Jin is alive. Not sure how he is going to prove it unless Locke is not really dead. It goes back to the spider theory back in either season 1 or 2 when the person was buried alive but was really in a coma from the spider bite.
• Is Locke really going to get off the island by turning the FDW at the Orchid station? I do not think so.
• Who were the people that had the canoes that were shooting at the Lostees? This was the biggest mystery of the episode.

For the first 50 minutes I was totally disappointed with this episode. We then find out that Widmore was on the island and it instantly makes it an awesome episode for me.  Here are the things I am pondering.

• Why did that little blond firecracker act like she had seen Faraday before but it was never mentioned again?
• Is that same soldier girl the same person Desmond visited that was working with Faraday who was sick (radiation poisoning)?
• An episode without Kate or Jack? Has that happened before?
• The whole thing with the compass, Locke, and Richard has some kind of weird timeline that just doesn’t make sense to me. The only thing I do know is Richard visits Locke 6 or 7 years after Locke gives him the compass to test to see if Locke was telling the truth.
• I know there was talk in episodes a long time ago (Swan hatch era) in which there was a big lead deposit. Is the Swan Hatch the storage place of the H Bomb? Is that why they had to press the numbers in the old PC? Didn’t it look like the bomb was hanging over a hatch?
• The present time of this episode had to be 7 or 8 years (at least) from when they got off the island. Penny said they Desmond was off the island 3 years while pregnant and their kid had to be 4 or 5. This seems to supplement my theory (along with everyone else) that the island and the real world operate on different times. There is no way they could go back to the island 10 years later.
• Shout out to naming the kid Charlie.
• Why was it such a big deal to go back to LA for Penny and Desmond?

Update 1:  The crazy army lady is Faraday’s mom along with the current day Mrs Hawking in LA. All the things were tied together between this episode and the enhanced previous episode (with added text … he named his rat after his mom?). We will find out that Mrs Hawking first name is Ellie.

Update 2: This comment is just crazy but it could be true “I think Charlie (Desmond’s baby) is actually Charles Widmore, and Des & Pen are Adam & Eve (from the cave in Season 1)! Charlie and Ellie are Daniel’s parents, so D&P are his grandparents…” I was wondering why Desmond didn’t tell Widmore that Penny just had a baby. Maybe it would mess up the whole space time continuum ala Back to the Future.

Wow! It was not enough that there were first flashbacks, then the Lost writers added flash forwards to their repertoire last season and now we have time actually jumping around. I am not sure what to say. I really do not know what to think about those two episodes. Were they good? Bad? Awesome? Did the show get too crazy for the casual viewer? What I do know is they did answer a lot of questions. I also thought the Lost writers were pretty tricky with some things they led us to believe from the previews and the episode descriptions and what I read in Brian’s thoughts. Below are some of the things that I am thinking about.

• Did they give us too much information this episode?
• Faraday said you could not alter what happens in the past to the effect the future (I liked his string example) but then how could any of the Darhma people survive the purge this time or how does any of the Lostees die while back in time. One thing that came to mind is that Locke will now kill everyone in the Purge instead of Ben.
• What else did Locke say to Richard in the future since we obviously know they met? Is this why he is the chosen one?
• The conversation between Faraday and Desmond was very interesting at the hatch. I can’t wait to see some analysis of it. Why is Desmond not effected? It is because Faraday is his constant? Is that why Faraday doesn’t seem to age.
• What is happening to Charlotte? I would think that she is dying but she made the weird comment that she had not had nose bleeds since she was a kid. Did she come to the island as a kid and get healed? Or is this another constant thing? Or the fact that there might be two versions of her on the island at the same time (i.e. young and old)?
• Does Daniel not age like Albert? Was he time traveling in that opening scene, was it a point when the island was jumping around, or he was actually there all along thus not aging?
• Miles is one weird character. I like how he nonchalantly threw in the fact that Faraday has been on the island before. No one even questioned that but I believe that was the first time that idea was raised. The whole killing the boar scene I think had some deeper meaning.
• I like how the writer made us believe for a couple seconds that Sun blamed Kate for her husband’s death. I guess we will find out another time the other person she blames. Sun is still not on the Oceanic Sixes side otherwise she would have told Kate that Widmore is the one that is trying to find answers with the paternity test.
• Who is this Ms. Hawking? She has shown up in multiple episodes and seems to have many connections with everyone. I think it is pretty obvious that she can track where the island is.
• The biggest question that was not answered was what happened when the island shifts through time? Is it really moving? Faraday made it seem like the island was traveling back and forth through time but that wouldn’t made it disappear like it did. Is it in an alternative universe? That would be too crazy.
• No Abaddon? Is he doing too many other shows?
• What was up with Neil freaking out so much? The writers hopefully had some meaning behind it since they spent so much time on it.

I am sure I will add more to this or make a second post later.

On another subject, did you see one of the ten thousand Comcast commercials where they were playing a Of Montreal song at the end. Pretty neat. In trying to find info on this, I discovered that Of Montreal wrote the song for the Outback Steakhouse commercial. It does sound like them (it is a cover band though).

There are a bunch of new shows coming out this month along with several old ones. Below is what I am looking forward to.

Monday Night CBS lineup – I am really looking forward to seeing How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang, and Two and Half Men in HD. All three are shows for great laughs.

Lost – I can not wait for this show. I watched the last two episodes on tv last night. It was a good 3 hours of Lost action. I have been hitting the comment boards about if this is my most favorite show ever. It is a toss up between Lost and Carnivale.

Fringe & Life on Mars – Looking forward to the return of both of these shows. I really got into both of these shows late in their season; especially Fringe.

Lie to Me and Harper’s Island – These are two on the network new 1 hour shows. Have not looked into them too much but I will give them a check later this month.

United States of Tara – New Showtime show about a lady with multiple personalities. The show looks really good.

Big Love / Flight of the Conchords – Both these start new season next Sunday. I am really looking forward to it. I have been watching Big Love alot lately. I can’t believe they have not had new episodes since 2007.

I have not been very fond that I could not watch CBS in HD through Charter but the latest news is just ridiculous. STLtoday is reporting that Charter is going to lose the standard definition feed after December 31st. This is horrible. There are several shows that I record with my DVR for CBS so this now means that I have to go and watch the shows online since I normally miss when they are on.

I would switch to a dish (Direct TV or Dish Network) but we can not get HD through our building’s satellite dish. My unit is not wired for two lines so I would never be able to record two shows at a time with a dish so I will never go for it. My only hope is that U-Verse come to my area some day.

I am not sure if this is a Charter or CBS problem but I can only presume that Direct TV, Dish, and AT&T are all paying for CBS so someone needs to settle their problems and get the issue resolved. I would pay extra if that is the problem.

UPDATE : I was watching one of the football games for 15 minutes on CBS in HD through Charter before I realized I actually was. Sounds like they settled their issues and brought back CBS in HD.