Kasey

YouSendIt to the rescue!

 I am pleased to tell you that I found a reasonably priced (free) website that will host my rather large VCH Radio files.  Go there, download and enjoy me.

Sometime within the next 7 days.  Better do it now just to be safe.  :)

 

http://www.yousendit.com/download/25ktWaxXwLh5TA%3D%3D

"VCH Radio" Status Update (+#11)

  I'm officially an idiot.  I forgot about the space limitations of sending files through e-mail.   Yesterday I recorded a wonderful program that I thought was really great.  I was witty and somewhat engaging and the whole thing came out better than expected.  I really enjoyed doing it and listening to myself.  The problem is that it was an hour and fifteen minutes and the size of the file came in at a whopping 34MB.  After AOL mail failed me, I searched around to try and find if another mail service has a bigger capacity, but AOL is in actuality quite a bit larger than most.  Our Time Warner mail service only allows a transfer of 10MB, same with Yahoo, while AOL allows 16.

I tried compressing the show into a zip file, but that only knocked it down to 31MB.  I tried splitting the recording into two or three parts but I don't know if or how you can do that once the recording is complete.  You can split it while you're recording, but I don't know if you can do it after, so that was no help either.

There are options.  There are services out there that offer ways to send large files to people or at least allows you to post the file, give people a password and have them pick it up at the site.  The free version of this only allows three downloads per file, however.  You have to pay 3 dollars a month for unlimited.  With the tepid response I got to the introduction of my show, I don't think this is worth it.  Clearly, I only have two readers to begin with.  I can't tell you how disappointed I was to get home from work the last two days and have no mail.

Option 2 is probably the way I will go even though I don't want to.  That would be to cut the show down to a half hour or so.  The first half hour I recorded as a test run came in at 13.3MB, which is within AOL's capacity to send by mail. 

It's just a shame that no one will be able to hear the program I recorded yesterday because it was really fun and funny (I actually made myself laugh as I listened back to it.)  If there is anyone out there lurking in the shadows, please join my mailing list and expand my audience so I can justify joining a large file transfer program!  

 ----

  I am so crestfallen right now that I barely have the enthusiasm to tell you that #11 is Snakes on a Plane by Cobra Starship.  I'm not going to upload it because I've done it twice in this journal already and you know what it sounds like from that.  :-P

God, I'm in a bad mood.

The Best of 2006-#12 PLUS Some Exciting News

 #12 is How We Operate by Gomez.

 

One of the reasons I wanted an mp3 player for Christmas (which I got early- thank you, dated rebate) is because I really wanted to make some kind of podcast where I can act as my own DJ and play music.  Yesterday, I gave it  a shot and I think it turned out better than I expected, considering the primitive nature of what I did.  I used the microphone option on the mp3 player, which can record up to 10 hours at once and I just talked into it naturally.  Then when I wanted to play a song, I kept very quiet and held the player up to the laptop speakers.  And I was satisfied with the results.  I even have learned to not hate the sound of my own voice.  So not only is it a great Christmas present for what it is, it also has built my self-esteem up a little.  :)

 

So here's what I'm gonna do.    The BIG NEWS.   I am going to start the audio version of this journal.   "VCH Radio" if you will.  What I want to do, and this is very important so pay attention, is start a mailing list.  I initially wondered how I was going to post an audio entry in here because I don't know how or if this even has the capacity for that.  Then the light bulb went off last night at work.  I'm recording my show as an mp3 file, so I can just e-mail it to anyone who wants to hear it.  Then you can simply download it out of your mailbox instead of having to come to the site to get it.  So that's what I'm going to do. 

 

My e-mail is CaptHappyv2@aol.com.  If you would like to subscribe to the free audio version of this journal, drop me a line and I will add you to my address book Listeners category.  The first episode is in the can and can be sent to you post haste!  Even if you don't like my music, you can very easily fast forward past it and just listen to me talk.  I amuse myself and am full of fun and information, plus my hoarseness is pretty sexy.  I think you will enjoy it. 

 

PS- I won't be wasting any more space in this journal with the countdown after tomorrow and I won't be messing around with failed uploads anymore.  The second episode of VCH Radio will be the Top Ten of 2006. Whoo hoo!  Hope to hear from you.   Yes, you.  In the pajamas. 

The Best of 2006- #13

 #13 on the Best of 2006 Countdown is Alive With the Glory of Love by Say Anything.

I have news I am very excited about and it involves me, this journal and my early Christmas present.  I will have full details in the next entry which is coming up as soon as I'm done writing this one.

 

 

 

 

The Best of 2006- #14

 #14 is Smile by Lily Allen. 

 

 

  I know that every company in the world tries to cash in on the Christmas rush and I may have even mentioned this before in here, but I always get a laugh when things are described as the perfect gift, when clearly they are not.

  Unless someone specifically asks for a Swiffer mop, then it is not a great gift and it would be justifiable for the recipient to beat you with it.

  And nothing says 'I don't give a crap about you' quite like a McDonald's gift card.

  That's all I can think of this early in the morning.  Feel free to add any "great" gifts you've seen advertised.

The Best of 2006- #15

#15 is But It's Better When We Do by Panic! at the Disco.  They've blown up pretty big on the pop scene, so I'm sure you've heard this song by now.  No need for me to upload it.  Also, the upload didn't work.

I got my Christmas present early and I like it very much.  It's an mp3 player.

So I got up at 6 yesterday and started ripping all my CDs.  Remember when I mentioned that I needed an mp3 player because I couldn't fit my whole year end list onto a CD?  Well, in 2003 I actually made a second disc (40-21).  Guess how many tracks I ripped off that CD yesterday.  Four!  I just didn't like the rest of them anymore.  I thought to myself, well that's why I never made a Disc Two before- they don't have the staying power.  Then I moved on to Disc One (20-1) and I only took 6 off of there.  My point is that I just couldn't believe that my music tastes move so quickly and change so much that songs I liked three years ago I don't even like anymore.  This time next year will I hate Franz Ferdinand or Interpol??  It doesn't seem possible!

Survivor +#16

 #16 is Hands Open by Snow Patrol.

  I thought last night's twist in Survivor was a good move.  Having three people in the final vote actually made it a better final two.  It eliminated the possibility of Ozzie voting out Yul and taking Becky to the final, which would have been completely anticlimactic.  This way, the worthless Becky became an afterthought as she should have been and the vote really came down to the two most worthy people.  It was a close vote and both people deserved to win so it ended up being a good show. 

The Best of 2006- #17

 Waaaaaaaay behind on my entries.  I will make a big update when I get caught up on the music list. 

#17 is Let's Make and Listen Death From Above by Cansei De Ser Sexy (aka CSS).  I think the grammatical error is intentional or lost in translation because they're Portuguese.  Still, this song is pretty funky, bad English or not.

 

 

 

The Best of 2006- #18

 Not a lot of time here, but since I'm already a day behind, I figured I'd stop by to tell you that my 18th favorite song of 2006 is Fraud in the 80's by Mates of State.  Yes, they're married.

 

 

 

 

The Best of 2006- #19

 #19 is Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games by Of Montreal.

You may have heard the bastardized version of this song on commercials for Outback Steakhouse.  It's really Of Montreal singing, so I guess it's okay to bastardize your own song.  I prefer that to selling away the rights.  :)

The Best of 2006- #20

 #20 is Catastrophe Keeps Us Together by Rainer Maria.

I can't believe we've already reached the CD portion of my countdown.  These will be the songs I hear almost every day when I get frustrated with the radio and pop in my Best of 2006 CD.

 

 

The Best of 2006- #21 (and TAR grumblings)

 #21 is Cobrastyle by Teddybears.

Three things that annoyed me about The Amazing Race finale last night:

1. The finale was anti-climactic YET AGAIN.  It seems almost every season they work so hard to keep things close and bunch everyone up so no team runs away with it.  People are having trouble with challenges or directions and getting passed all the time.  Yet for the last episode, there is no point where the leaders can get tripped up.  How are you supposed to pass someone skydiving?  And tailoring a shirt?  What was that?  The whole thing becomes so frustrating when people win a million dollars because their cab got someplace first.  The family edition may have sucked, but at least they had to do that tough puzzle before they could hit the final mat.  Last season's flag challenge was good, too.  If they had the problem solved, why didn't they stay with it?

2. I'm sure I'm not the only one who forgot about the football game overrun.  We need to invent DVRs that know when shows are actually starting and ending instead of relying on pre-determined times.  It was some sort of cosmic joke that our recording cut off just as TAR was doing their weekly suspenseful edit as to who would come in first.  At least I was able to find out and learn that it was as predictable as I assumed.

3. Finally, I'm mad at myself.  I was going to pick the two model guys because two males are almost always the winners.  Yet in their opening, they had to go and mention that they were models and formerly addicted to drugs.  I thought they were weak.  I should have known better.  If I had just stuck with my original formula instead of going with my guy, I would have had another successful prediction!

The Best of 2006- #22

 #22 is Stay by Small Sins.

I had so much fun answering the TV survey the other night, that i went trolling through myspace to find more to do.  I got this Year End one from my sister's bulletin and I thought it fit nicely with my countdown theme.  Here we go.

WITH 2006 COMING TO AN END, HAVE YOU...

1. Have you had any relationships this year?
With everyone I know to some degree or another.

2. Have you had your birthday yet?
Yes, and it was quite depressing.

3. Cried yet?
When I found out Lance was gay.

4. Been on a diet?
YES!  Between that and exercise, I lost 50 pounds this year.

5. Pulled an all nighter?
I'm so old I don't even know what that means

6. Drank Starbucks?
No, I've never had any kind of coffee ever.  It smells nasty.

7. Went Camping?
  yes, over the 4th of july.

8. Bought something(s)
Nope. Thank God I made it through an entire year without buying anything.  It was close a couple of times, though.  Sometimes I really want food.

9. Met someone special?
Nope, but I don't go out of my way to meet the mentally handicapped, so it's not surprising.

10. Been out of state?
Vacation in NJ

11. Gone Snowboarding?
No

12. What are you thinking about?
Trying to think of a wittier response to the snowboarding question.

13.) Hugged someone?
Only complete strangers at the grocery store. 

14.) Slept in someone elses bed?
yes, and couches sometimes too

15.) Any alchohol?
No.  Not even on cuts.

16.) Loaned out money?
Nothing substantial

17.) Gotten in a car accident?
Nope, but I know some people who have.

18.) Gone over your cell phone bill?
Not my department

19.) Been called a whore?
Probably.  Men can be so cruel.

20.) Done something you regret?
Never.  I only look forward with my foot on the gas, baby

Last Person you hugged?
Your mom.

Last Person to call you?
No one calls me.

When was the last time you felt stupid?
When I forgot to close the lid on the washing machine so it just filled up and did nothing.

Who was the last person you danced with?
The devil!

Who did you last yell at?
probably kasey

What did you do today?
Christmas party, babysitting, grocery shopping

TEN FACTS

01. Hometown?
Wood-ridge, NJ
02. Natural hair color?
brown

03. Initials?
KB

04. Hair style?
buzzzzzzzz

5. eye color?
red 

06. Height:
5'9

07. Pets:
pets backwards is step

08. Mood:
mood backwards is doom.  now i'm freaked out

09. Where would you rather be?
at the movies

10. Last thing you drank?
a half full glass of soda that my wife left by the computer 8 hours ago.  Sad, but true.


TEN THINGS ABOUT YOUR LOVE LIFE:

01. Have you ever been in love?
yes

02. Do you believe in love?
yes

03. Why did your LAST relationship fail?
Incompatibility

04. Have you ever been heartbroken:
yes

05. Have you ever broken someone's heart:
Anything's possible. 

06. Have you ever fallen for your best friend?
I don't have any friends.

07. Have you ever loved someone and not told them?
yes, but most of the time, they're not real anyway.

08. Are you afraid of committment?
Yes, because I'm not that crazy.

10. Have you had more than 5 different serious relationships in your life?
Nope

5 EMOTIONS

01. Are you missing someone right now?
Nope, everyone is accounted for.

02. Are you happy?
Not until the Shins' new album comes out in January

03. Are you eating anything?
you wish

04. Do you like someone right now?
I like everyone!

That's only four.....

Oh well.

 

The Best of 2006- #23

#23 is The Number by Pretty Girls Make Graves.  I can't find a copy of this song anywhere, so you'll just have to take my word on its goodness.

-I recently received a compliment, believe it or not.  One of Kasey's friends came over after school while his mom was at work and later he told his mom that Kasey is very lucky because she has such a nice daddy. 

-Speaking of good parenting, I'd like to pass on a note to other parents.  Cinderella.com: not what you think it would be.

Survey Thief

Stole this from the real J-Lo's journal.  I'm sure it was originally stolen from myspace anyway, so I don't feel bad.

List 6 of your favorite TV shows, then answer the questions. 

1. Veronica Mars
2. The Office 
3. LOST
4. Heroes
5. Prison Break
6. Arrested Development

1. Who is your favorite character from #2?  

Hmmm, tough one.  I'd have to go with Jim.

2. Who is your least favorite character from #4? 

Nicole/Jessica.  She was intriguing at first, but lately seems too detached from the big picture.  Besides, having a split personality doesn't even make you a super hero. 

3. What would a crossover between #1 and #5 include? 

Veronica Mars: Fox River Bounty Hunter 

4. Who is your favourite ship from #6?  

George-Michael- Maebe!

5. If you were to set one person from #3 and one person from #6 on a blind date, who would they be?   

George Sr. and Kate seems natural since they've both been on the run from the law.

6. If you could meet one person from #4 and spend the day with them, who would it be, and what would you do?

I would spend the day with Hiro, over and over.

7. If you could change one thing about #2's plotline, what would you change?   Make Jim act more like he just got a big promotion.  That seems like it should be a bigger deal, especially to Dwight (though he is a little distracted by Andy)

8. Explain a relationship between two people (not necessarily romantic) from show #3, and why you like the relationship between them.

Jack and Ben.  Even though they are the leaders of opposing factions, you can tell that, even if they can't admit it to themselves, they are falling in love. 

9. If the lead title characters (first name in the credits) from #1 and #5 were both drowning, and you could only save one, who would it be?  

Although I'm sure they could both rescue themselves, I'd have to save Veronica.  She's not a criminal. 

10. If you could change the title characters' order in the credits for #6, what order would you choose?

It was pretty spot-on, I thought.

11. If you were able to add a new character, any kind of character you wanted, to the storylinefor #4, what would the character be like and what would their role be?

They add new characters pretty much every week, but I guess I would add a robot monkey to be Nathan's sidekick that makes sassy comments.  

RM:  Nate, you so fly!

Nathan:  Keep it down, Robo-monkey!

RM: Quit acting like you gay, yo.   *I believe you can FLY!*

Nathan:  Dude!

RM: Maybe you ARE gay.

That would be awesome.  I should write shows.

12. What happens in your favorite episode of show #2? Now I have to think about which was my favorite.  Most of them are great.   

13. If you could kill off one of the characters of #1, who would it be and how would you do it?    The dean

14. If you got the chance to visit the set for either show #3 or show #5, which would you choose?    LOST.  It's in Hawaii.

15. So, I saved the best for last. If you could date anyone from any of these shows, which show and which person?   

 

The Best of 2006- #24

 #24 is Wildcat by Ratatat.

  If you had told me at the beginning of the year that one of my very favorite songs would be something with with no lyrics other than roaring, I would have giggled.  But there you go.  My tastes have gotten crazy.  :-)

 

 

 

The Best of 2006- #25

  My twenty-fifth favorite song of the year is New English by Ambulance LTD.  Unfortunatley, I have never ever been able to find a decent copy that I can play.   I direct you to the band's myspace page, where you can hear this sweet little two minute song.  Good day.

www.myspace.com/ambulanceltd

The Best of 2006- #26

 #26 is Long Distance Call by Phoenix.

Can you believe the countdown is half way over already?

 

 

 

 

 

The Best of 2006- #27

 #27 is Cheated Hearts by Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  Of the songs off the Show Your Bones album, this is my favorite.

Here are my favorite songs this week, independent of the year end countdown.

1. Naive- The Kooks

2. Between the Moon and the Ocean- Bon Savants

3. Test Pattern- The Thermals

4. Treasure- Papercranes

5. Long Way Home- Tom Waits

6. Hang Me Up To Dry- Cold War Kids

7. Painted By Numbers- The Sounds

8. God Knows- El Perro Del Mar

9. Wildcat- Ratatat

10. Just Stay- Kevin Devine

Bad News! + #28

   #28 is Love Me or Hate Me by Lady Sovereign.  This song contains foul language so if you are a prude, you should hit ESC now.  :)

 

  So the bad news is that my team has already been eliminated from the 2007 World Series of Pop Culture.  My brother tried to register and was informed that NYC was already booked to capacity.  This is just not right.  Know why?  Because I registered at VH1.com to be informed when casting began.  And I have not received any notification whatsoever as of this moment.  I had to see it in an ad in a magazine and by then it was too late.  Needless to say, VH1 will be receiving a strongly-worded letter from me.  The only matter left to decide is how many exclamation points to use.

The VCH Television Awards II

It's time for the second annual VCH Television Awards!  Before we get started, let's travel back in time to one year ago and look at my ten favorite shows from 2005.

1. Arrested Development   -canceled!

2. The Office  -still awesome!

3. LOST       -still awesome!

4. My Name is Earl     -nosedive!

5. Project Greenlight    -canceled!

6. Survivor        -still good, but not awesome!

7. Grey's Anatomy       -better than ever!

8. Pardon The Interruption      -work schedule prevents me from watching it!

9. Prison Break         -still awesome!

10. Reunion     -canceled!

  And now, break out your tux for this year's ceremony.  Here are my ten favorite shows from this year:

1. Veronica Mars (The CW)- Yeah, I know.  I was surprised, too.  But I realized a couple of weeks ago that VM is actually the best show on television.  It's got everything.   A wittiness to match any of the best comedies.  The mystery solving and cool gadgetry of CSI and company. The 'don't care if you get it right away or not' attitude of Arrested Development.   The healthiest and best parent-child relationship on TV.  And of course, a hot girl as the lead...

     

Yes, the VCH loves Veronica Mars.   As a friend.

2. The Office (NBC)- With AD gone, The Office inherits the spot as the best comedy on television.  And my God is it funny.  Like 'having someone drawn into the room wondering what the heck you are watching that could possibly be so funny' funny.  And, as I said last year, despite its zaniness, the characters are so real.  Michael Scott is a surprisingly complex character.  In the season three premeire, he made me laugh, cringe, and truly feel sorry for him all in the span of twenty-two minutes.  And don't even get me started on the Jim-Pam thing.  I think it could be the gateway into getting my wife to watch the show.

3. LOST (ABC)- OMG!  Michael just shot Ana-Lucia and Libby!  I know most of the media attention is on the controversial hiatus and the off-camera activities of its cast, but LOST is still the most dramatic, amazing roller-coaster ride on TV and still the only show that has literally dropped my jaw.  I don't get home from work until very late, and if there is a LOST recording waiting for me, I can't go to bed until I've watched it. 

4. Heroes (NBC)- The best new show on television this fall.  I was a little on the fence about watching this one, as the previews didn't look too terribly captivating, but I am so glad I did.  It's fast-paced, action-packed and yet still character driven.  How can anyone not fall in love with Hiro?  Or Heroes for that matter.

5. Prison Break (FOX)- Who would have thought this show could have kept up its pace and its crazy twists into a second season when the title of the show had already been achieved?  Yet the show didn't miss a beat and I found myself being interested and talking about it even more than I had the first season.  Of course, that might have been only because of physical therapy where Kate and I would do nothing but talk about it.  Good times!

6. The Loop (FOX)- The best of last spring's mid-season comedies and the only one to not be canceled- technically.  Last I heard, it was coming back again this next spring, only with more focus on the workplace part of the show, which was the best part.  Check it out if it ever does make it back on the air.

7. The Nine (ABC)- And now the sad part of the list.  The shows that were canceled or practically canceled and never given a proper chance.  God forbid a show should be put on the air that uses character development almost exclusively to move a story forward.  Maybe The Nine doesn't have all the twists and turns that other shows have, but it was still telling an intriguing storytelling before being yanked.  Let's hope ABC comes to their senses and let's this one play out. 

8. Kidnapped (NBC)- The biggest travesty of the new season.  I can't believe I got duped by a network again.  I drooled at the mere announcement of this show.  I looked forward to it all summer.  I watched the premeire with glee.  And then I got hosed by an impatient network once again.  I voiced my displeasure to NBC in a non-angry, sensible e-mail and this is what I got:

Thanks for your email. NBC values your comments, but unfortunately, due to the volume of emails we receive, we cannot respond to each one. Please check our FAQ section to see if your question is answered there:

http://www.nbc.com/faq/

Since we cannot accept unsolicited scripts, show ideas, or other creative material, any such submission by email will be deleted without being read.

We would also like to hear more of your opinions about television and the programs you watch. If you would like to share your feedback with us by becoming part of our viewer panel, please visit the following link:

http://www2.rresults.com/1809998/index.cfm?s=50

Once you join, you'll occasionally be invited to take Internet surveys, which are fun to do and usually take about 5 minutes to complete. The informationyou give will have an impact on the television programs you enjoy.

Thanks for logging on to NBC's websites.

Thanks.  That makes it all better!

9. Grey's Anatomy- Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I watch a girl show.  Sue me!  It's still pretty funny.

10. Monk- (USA)- There's a reason Tony Shalhoub keeps winning the acting Emmy for this show.  He has created one of the best television characters of all time.  Like VM, Monk blends mystery with comedy flawlessly.  Only Monk is not as hot.

 

---Okay, that's it!  My favorite shows of 2006 whether they're on the air or not.  I highly recommend checking all this stuff out because if I like it, it has to be good.  I have impeccable taste.  Now I'm off to watch my WWE recording.

The Best of 2006- #29

 #29 is Fire Island, AK by The Long Winters. 

  This is why I need an mp3 player.  My Best of the year CD only fits 20 songs so great songs like this get put in the high twenties and forgotten.  I listen to the CDs all the time and it burns them into my memory.  I know what #15 was on my 2005 list, but I do not know what #29 is.  Making the cut on the CD makes a big difference in my brain.  If I had an mp3 player, the whole list would fit on there.  And I would memorize it!

 

Coming up later- my second annual Top Ten Best of Television list.  And there's a new number 1!   (Since Arrested Development is not on anymore)

Oh, guess what!  I was flipping through the channels and AD was on G4 something or other channel-I've never heard of it.  Tonight they are showing 4 more episodes.   They're out of sequence, but still, it's AD on TV!!!

The Best of 2006- #30

 

I love, love, LOVE this song.  Which is why it's tearing me up that the whole songs are not playing.  I am hoping maybe it's just my problem and you can hear it, but I doubt it.  The pain will only get worse if I can't play this stuff for you.  Obviously, every day we get to a song I like better than anything before it.

Oh yeah, #30 is Sundress by Ben Kweller.

 

 

 

...well, this one seems to be playing.  Who knew that crossing your fingers works?

  Tomorrow I am going to write a really long entry that will not be all about music.   That's for all the complainers!  :-)

The Best of 2006- #31

 

#31 is Munich by Editors.

I think I've mentioned how I like wacky covers.  The other night I heard the Editors covering Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz.  Instead of doing the rap parts the singer would start putting the lyrics to this song in there.  It's funny.  Anyway, I don't know why this song is called Munich, but I like it. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Best of 2006- #32

 Ok.  Everything is back to normal here.  Phone.  Check.     Internet.  Check.   TV.  Check.   Feels great to be reconnected with the world.

  #32 is Gold Lion by Yeah Yeahs Yeahs.   At first I hated this song, but it didn't take long for me to remember that the Y's rock.  Sometimes I just don't listen to new stuff right away and it takes me a little while to catch on.

  I really don't want to stop uploading songs on here, but it better start playing the whole song!   Hulk getting mad.

I'm back...again! ( + The Best of 2006- #33)

UGH!   I haven't had the internet for three days!  Tuesday at noon, the cable went out and when it came back, the net didn't.  On top of that, the cable guy was just here for two hours trying to fix our reception and the net.  He pulled out all kinds of old wires in the basement and found a lot of wires that led nowhere and all kinds of crazy crap.  The people before us really went nuts with wires and splitters and it really screwed everything up.  The net problem is another story.  Apparently, there is an outage in 60% of our area.  The weird thing is that the modem works on the desktop, but if I hook up our router and Vonage, it stops working.  This problem is supposed to be fixed today and if it's not, there is of course a number to call.

  Anyway, #33 is Better by Regina Spektor.  I don't have this song (thought I did) so here is the myspace page:  www.myspace.com/reginaspektor

 

The Best of 2006- #34

 #34 is Shine a Light by Wolf Parade.

This upload seems to have not worked at all, so here is the myspace link: www.myspace.com/wolfparade

I can barely understand the lyrics, but sometimes that doesn't matter.  :)

------

  I knew this would become a trend as the television landscape changes more and more.  I am talking about the "fall finale."  Mini-seasons are not just for cable anymore.  This week Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, and Jericho go away for the rest of the calendar year and The Nine has been yanked with no specifics on a return.  The networks have been patted on the back for being patient this year, yet some great stuff has still been given no chance.  I've given up on Kidnapped since only the current episode is available online.  If I didn't know that the series had become online only until two weeks in, how am I supposed to get caught up?  I will wait for the DVD and hope it is a big seller.  Man-crush on The Sisto aside, Kidnapped is really good and yes, Jeremy is one of the main reasons why.  It's only crime was starting too slowly.  Things really picked up once the show was already dead in the water. 

---

It amazes me that an entire 3 hours of a football game can be decided on just one play.  Mathias Kiwanuka not finishing his game-clinching sack of Vince Young, literally cost the Giants the game.  If he makes sure the guy is on his butt instead of inexplicably letting go and immediatly turning his back on his opponent in midplay, the Giants win instead of lose.  It was the most mind-boggling thing I have ever seen and I've seen the Giants blow games before.  That play was just surreal.

As for picking the games, I am slowly climbing out of my season-long slump.  I have climbed up the standings in my cousin's pool and while I am still 14 games out of first, I am just six games out of 5th place, which is the first spot to get prize money at the end of the season.  Still no hope for the family pool as shaving 6 games off my sister-in-law's lead still puts me 17 behind.  Kudos to my wife though, who has eliminated a 13 game lead in just three weeks.  If the Packers win tonight, she will pull into a tie for the lead.  The lesson, of course is, it's better to not know anything about football and just guess than it is to overanalyze everything.  

The Best of 2006- #35

 #35 is Crooked Teeth by Death Cab For Cutie.

I've been looking over my whole list, and DCFC is one of the only bands to have a song on both the 2005 and 2006 lists.  Just goes to show how many great bands are out there and how many new great bands keep popping up. 

In other news, I am getting tired of my uploads not playing the whole song.  I don't know how to fix it.

The Best of 2006- #36

 #36 is Hang Me Up To Dry by Cold War Kids.  Of course the upload didn't work properly again, so here's a link: www.myspace.com/coldwarkids

Since this is my current favorite song, I thought I'd do an impromptu Top Ten List.  I usually don't keep a list during my yearly countdown, but I can do whatever I want.  It's my prerogative as Bobby Brown and then Britney Spears said.

1. Hang Me Up To Dry- Cold War Kids

2. Naive- The Kooks

3. Wildcat- Ratatat

4. The Pick of Destiny- Tenacious D

5. Small Parts- The Oolahs

6. Just Stay- Kevin Devine

7.  O Valencia!- The Decemberists

8. Let Me Go- Wired All Wrong

9. Enough To Get Away- Joseph Arthur

10. Between the Moon and the Ocean- Bon Savants

The Best of 2006- #37

 #37 is Living Proof by Cat Power.

 

It's not your FACE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Don't hate the player, hate the game." - Abraham Lincoln

The Best of 2006- #38 (HAPPY THANKSGIVING BTW)

 #38 is Conceived by Beth Orton.    

 

I don't know if the whole thing will play.  I've been having problems with this lately.    The song is also on her myspace page:  www.myspace.com/bethorton

Happy Thanksgiving!  Save some food for me.  I have to work.

The Best of 2006- #39

#39 is Let Me Go by Wired All Wrong.  I couldn't get a copy of the song for the journal, but I did make it my profile song on myspace:

www.myspace.com/capthappy

It wasn't working when I added it, but maybe it will work for you.  As we get into the 30s, we're starting to get to the songs I liked from the very first time I heard them.  The first time I heard this, we were leaving the parking lot at Pizza Hut and I thought, "Oh, this sounds cool.  I will like this song."  I hope you get to hear it play because this song is cool and I like it.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best of 2006- #40

 

#40 is This Isn't Farm Life by The Essex Green.

The Essex Green Website

Good news is there is lots of work to do at work so I got some overtime yesterday.  Bad news is that there will be no work to do on Thursday, so I will lose the overtime by going home early.  Also, Wal-mart is not giving us turkeys this year.  Losers!  They've ruined Thanksgiving! 

The Best of 2006- #41

 

  #41 is Dress Up In You by Belle and Sebastian.

This song is off of the very good album The Life Pursuit.  I have it in contention for album of the year, but if my favorite song off of it can only reach 41, I'm not sure I can justify that.  Anyway, check out that whole album, or buy a T-shirt of it here:  Belle & Sebastian

*EDIT*  For some reason, the journal is not playing the whole song.  Here's a live version of the song on Youtube:  YouTube - Belle & Sebastian - Dress Up in You (live)      (Wow, it's not just their website that's boring!  These guys are all [indie rock nerd] business!)

The Best of 2006- #42

 

  #42 is Get Myself Into It by The Rapture.

  I thought of another way to hear only one song at a time in here.  Click on View Archives and then you can see each entry one at a time instead of the last ten.

Also, I'm not sure if I downloaded the explicit version or the edited version of this song.  I guess we'll find out...

The Best of 2006- #43

 #43 is Bullets by Editors

I got a comment on Myspace from my cousin's GF, Frances telling me about how awful it is that I will miss Thanksgiving because they have the LOST role playing game.  I agree.  I have never missed Thanksgiving!  Stupid work!  Plus, they've already told us that there will be no work but they won't schedule anyone off. 

  Here is my official reply to Frances' comment:

  I've never had to work on Thanksgiving before. It's going to stink! BTW, the new Entertainment Weekly with James Bond on the cover has an ad in it for the 2007 World Series of Pop Culture. It will be in New York on the weekend of Jan 12. Sean and I have to do it! We need a third person and I was leaning toward my brother, but I don't know. I might feel better if we can find some old broken down derelict who was once a proud champion and we have to whip him back into shape and remind him of his former glory and that it's never too late to give up on your dreams. I picture a montage where we dust him off and at first he's terrible at the questions, but then we clean him up, get him a haircut, give him a shave and then finally he gets that twinkle back in his eye when he overhears two people talking in the background and one of them clearly has the character's name wrong. Then he corrects them, repeating the right name over and over like some strange mantra, ("Garth's last name was Algar!"), his former life beckoning to him from the past, and the broken down bum starts dancing in the streets, grabbing us by the shoulders and smiling, still screaming the answer like it has saved his life and, in a way, it has, because at last he is inspired to join our team and help us win the 2007 World Series of Pop Culture. This could happen.

The Best of 2006- #44

 

  So yeah, I missed a day.  It's hard to post every day!  I've been really sick and didn't get off the couch hardly at all yesterday.  Shrek 2 for the Playstation was the babysitter as I drifted in and out of consciousness.  Three times I collapsed to the ground because I was too dizzy once I stood up.  I also had a strange dream in which I was Jim from The Office.

 #44 is Conventional Wisdom by Built to Spill.

 

 

 

 

  BUFFER- that's a funny word!

The Best of 2006- #45

 

#45 is Phenomena by Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  I thought over the course of the year that the band would score three songs in the top twenty, but as usual, there's just too much good stuff so their first song off the Show Your Bones album falls all the way to 45.  Oh well.  :)

The Best of 2006- #46 ...and other stuff

 CAUTION: Today's song contains vulgar language.  Hit Esc to turn off the music.

  #46 is The Pick of Destiny by Tenacious D.  You can visit the "greatest rock band in the world" here: Tenacious D

  I've liked Tenacious D for a long time.  Jack Black and Kyle Gass are so sincere in their silliness that it twists what should be terrible music and turns it into some fun, good stuff.  The D takes the cheesiness up a notch with this new offering because, hey, they've got a new movie to promote.  The blatant self-promotion is what makes this song even funnier than what we've heard before.  The movie is "better than Citizen Kane!"  I should go see it, right? 

By the way, this is not the last the countdown has seen of catchy songs blatantly promoting a film :)...

-------------

  Remember the Seinfeld episode where George starts doing the opposite of what his instincts tell  him to and starts to turn his life around?  Funny, right?  Well, it worked for me!  (As far as gambling goes, that is.)  First, I picked all the teams I thought would win or at least cover the spread.  Then when I entered them into my cousin's pool, I took the other team.  I even picked against the Giants for the first time ever.  Result: I am now 250 dollars richer.

-------------

  Last night at work I realized I had forgotten to put my belt on when my pants almost fell down.  They fell right off my waist.  Back in June, I was upset because I had to buy a 40 waist and now a 35 is too much to wear without a belt.  The funny thing is that I have even gone jogging in over two weeks.  I think I must have sped my metabolism up because last time I checked, I had lost three pounds without even trying.  I'm awesome.

-------------

  TV Thoughts: 

Prison Break:   How intense was T-Bag?  Biting his hand off to escape just like a trapped animal!  And I don't think he's ever looked scarier than when he came to get his money back.  Oh Michael, you should feel guilty for what you've released into the world.   The funniest part of the show was Geary using the money to act on some sexual deviances.  "A Cleveland what?" said the prostitute.  LOL  I don't think Sara will be killed.  If Kellerman could go through with killing her, he would have already done it.  He has shown no hesitation in the past.

 Heroes: The last episode was just filler until next week's big "save the cheerleader" episode, but it was still good.  I like the Charlie character and I don't think she will be dead for good.  (Go Hiro!)  It may not be a dynamic world-saving superpower, but remembering everything could be quite useful and I would take that ability before I would take flying or mind-reading.

Studio 60:  The number one complaint I've read about this show is that the bottom line is that it's about whether or not rich people can put on a television show and it's hard to invest in that.  I answer that by saying that it's the damn premise of the show.  If a show takes place behind the scenes of a TV show, then that's what I expect to see.  I don't get distracted or find it hard to care about someone because of how much money someone makes on a doctor or lawyer show so why should a change of venue make a difference.  It's been nice to have at least one show where you know no one is going to die.

Veronica Mars: The self-contained mystery was a little ho-hum.  Even Veronica herself was disinterested at first.  I'm sure the mystery of the kid that ended up in the drunk tank with no memory could have been eventually solved by the police without VM tracking cell phones and credit card transactions.  But the bigger stories were that Keith dumped his married girlfriend because he had lost his daughter's respect, which means more to him than romance.  Secondly, Veronica was almost the next rape victim!  Sure, she fits the profile anyway, but I'm sure the rapist must know she is on the case and getting close so he tried to stop himself from being the next checkmark on her undefeated track record.  

The Best of 2006- #47

 

#47 is Star Witness by Neko Case.

I have to get to work, so that will have to do it for today's entry.  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Best of 2006- #48

 

#48 is A Pillar of Salt by The Thermals.

The band's website is currently under construction, so here is their myspace page: www.myspace.com/thethermals

I like this song.  That is my brilliant analysis.  I don't want to burn myself out this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a buffer zone.  I am trying to help you not get overlapping music.  :-)

The Best of 2006- #49

 

Remember, you can hit Esc to turn off the music.  You might want to do this if you scroll too much and two songs start playing at once.  Plus, this next one is an acquired taste.

#49 is The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack by Liars

It sounds like it might be the saddest song ever, but it's actually a very sweet song about loyalty.

 

 

 

The Best of 2006- #50

 It's the third annual countdown of my favorite songs of the year.  And this year I will try not to lose focus or be in too much pain from the carpal tunnel syndrome to finish.  I am particularly excited about this year's countdown since I can actually play the music for you. 

# 50 is Pushover by the Long Winters

You can visit the official band website here: The Long Winters | Seattle, WA

  I find this to be a very difficult song to get stuck in your head.  It's hard to sing the overlapping vocals.  But still, I like it a lot.  It fits my melancholy musical taste perfectly.  I hope you like it too.

I'm Back

  Did you miss me?  Don't be shy.  You know you did.  We just moved into an apartment and the cable company wouldn't come to hook us up for a whole week.  What a terrible thing to happen during a sweeps month!  Fortunately, this TV season is unlike any other in history, as now you can watch almost anything for free on the internet.  I've caught up with LOST, Desperate Housewives and I just watched the director's cut of The Office.  It will take some time but I think we can get through this and get caught up.  Except for Veronica Mars.  Get on board with the wave of the future CW!  Offer your shows online!

  ---

  In my little spare time these last couple of weeks, I've been doing something I look forward to all year.  Compiling my list of favorite songs of the year.  Each year seems to get tougher and tougher, but overall I am pleased with my list and I think if I had to do it over again without referencing the final product, it would probably come out about the same.  The Top 50 starts tomorrow so today I'm going to blow out #'s 150-51.  This entry is going to be long.  To the one or two people who will read it: Enjoy!

150. When the Sun Goes Down- Arctic Monkeys

149. New Years- Asobi Seksu

148. Out Here All Night- Damone

147. Adventure Rocket Ship- Robyn Hitchcock

146. Cruel- Calexico

145. To Go Home- M. Ward

144. Lonesome Valley- Magnolia Electric Co.

143. End of the Line- Mohair

142. AM Slow Golden Hit- Hotel Lights

141. Wolf Like Me- TV on the Radio

140. Tricycle- Psapp

139. We Share Our Mother's Health- The Knife

138. Don't Listen to the Radio- The Vines

137. Just Drums- Tapes 'n' Tapes

136. An Old Familiar Scene- Elf Power

135. Louisiana- The Walkmen

134. Jekyll n Hyde- Ella Rouge

133. Situation- Irving

132. Standing in the Way of Control- Gossip

131. Key of C- Jim Noir

130. Shot Down- Nine Black Alps

129. When You Were Young- The Killers

128. Enemies Like This- Radio 4

127. Boys Wanna Be Her- Peaches

126. Consolation Prizes- Phoenix

125. The Compromise- The Format

124. Stuck Between Stations- The Hold Steady

123. Sing- The Dresden Dolls

122. Suddenly I See- KT Tunstall

121. Plan of the Man- The M's

120. Meds- Placebo

119. Eanie Meany- Jim Noir

118. Paralyzed- Rock Kills Kid

117. Thursday- Asobi Seksu

116. Suzie- Boy Kill Boy

115. I Need Some Fine Wine and You Need To Be Nicer- The Cardigans

114. I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor- Arctic Monkeys

113. Enough To Get Away- Joseph Arthur

112. Absolutely Nothing- Lily Allen

111. Bad Education- Tilly and the Whale

110. I Will Follow You Into the Dark- Death Cab for Cutie

109. Lazy Eye- Silversun Pickups

108. Love is Stronger Than Witchcraft- Robert Pollard

107. Love You in the Fall- Paul Westerberg

106. Hate (I Really Don't Like You)- Plain White T's

105. Steady, As She Goes- The Raconteurs

104. Miss Murder- AFI

103. The Big Guns- Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins

102. Oh My- Mellowdrone

101. This Time- DJ Shadow

100. Naive- The Kooks

99. Hard to Beat- Hard-Fi

98. Let the Sirens Rest- Now It's Overhead

97. Idecide- What Made Milwaukee Famous

96. Quiet as a Mouse- Margot & The Nuclear So and So's

95. Half Dead- The Mountain Goats

94. Your Eyes- Aloha

93. Gone Daddy Gone

92. Skip to the End- Futureheads

91. Well Thought Out Twinkles- Silversun Pickups

90. MakeDamnSure- Taking Back Sunday

89. Is It Any Wonder?- Keane

88. February- The Appleseed Cast

87. There Is No Ending- The Arab Strap

86. Ooh La La- Goldfrapp

85. The Blues Are Still Blue- Belle & Sebastian

84. Chips Ahoy!- The Hold Steady

83. I Don't Feel Like Dancin'- Scissor Sisters

82. Exeter, Rhode Island- Jennifer O'Connor

81. In The Morning- Razorlight

80. Mr. Tough- Yo La Tengo

79. Postcards From Italy- Beirut

78. I've Been Stalking You On Myspace- John B

77. Sister Twisted- Kinky

76. Breaking The Ice- Mojave 3

75. Fishnets and Cigarettes- New York Dolls

74. Breath Me- Sia

73. Saying Sorry- Hawthorne Heights

72. Hey! Is That a Ninja Up There?- Minus the Bear

71. No Key, No Plan- Okkervil River

70. If You Talk Too Much (My Head Will Explode)- People in Planes

69. Your Touch- The Black Keys

68. I Want You So Hard- Eagles of Death Metal

67. Happy- Snowglobe

66. O Valencia- The Decemberists

65. Wicked Light Sleeper- The Joggers

64. Not Going Home- The Elected

63. Dream Sequence- The Arab Strap

62. With a Gun- The Minus 5 

61. God is Going to Get Sick of Me- Aberdeen City

60. Dancing on the Lip of a Volcano- New York Dolls

59. Snakes in the Grass- Essex Green

58. Monster Hospital- Metric

57. Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken- Camera Obscura

56. Be Gentle With Me- The Boy Least Likely To

55. Treasure- Papercranes

54. You Have Killed Me- Morrissey

53. Bang Bang, You're Dead- Dirty Pretty Things

52. Elevate Myself- Grandaddy

51. Penny on the Train Track- Ben Kweller

LOST- Episode 53: The Cost of Living

  Previously on LOST: Sun killed Colleen, Jack saw some X-rays, and Eko found his dead brother on the downed prop plane.

  We begin in flashback land as young Eko breaks the lock off of a storage shed so that young Yemi can have some food.  Unfortunately, before they can dig in too much, a stern looking nun busts them and takes them into the church.  She orders young Eko to confess his sin, but he is reluctant.  Is acting on the survival instinct really a sin?  According to this nun's God, it is. 

  In the present, Eko is still unconscious.  Sayid, who is suddenly back, tries to wake him to no avail.  Hurley tells him to let Locke know that he is back.  They leave Eko alone with his mind, which is racing through his first flashback episode.  When he gets to the end, he wakes up to see Yemi by his side.  "It is time to be judged," Yemi tells his older brother.  

  Outside, Sayid, Charlie and Hurley see that the tent they just left is now on fire.  They put it out with dirt and drag Mr. Eko to safety.  Eko grabs Charlie's leg and mutters "My brother," a few times.  Locke comes to check on the fire and when Charlie tries to show him where they left Eko, Eko is no longer there.  This sudden disappearance cues the creepy LOST title screen.

  In his cell, Jack is keeping in shape by doing pull-ups on the pipe, when Ben enters the room dressed in a dressy tunic.  He asks Jack to come for a walk with him and gives him his own tunic to wear.  As Ben leaves to wait outside, Jack asks him if his neck hurts from the tumor.  Ben says he doesn't know what Jack is talking about, but his eyes tell a different story. 

  Jack is led, unrestrained, to the beach where the Others are having a Viking funeral for Colleen.  Juliet approaches him and says she hates funerals- something she has in common with Jack if you can remember all the way back to the first half of the first season.  As the funeral progresses, Ben pulls Juliet aside and asks her why she showed Jack his X-rays. 

  The next day at their own beach, Locke tells Sayid and Desmond that he thinks he knows a way to find their captured friends.  Desmond tells Sayid about the communication capabilitiesof the computer in the Swan station, so Locke thinks they should head back to the Pearl to try its computer out.  Hurley and Charlie report back with the news that they can't find Eko's trail.  When Locke hears that Eko was mumbling about his brother, Locke tells them that they will catch up to him because they are going to the same place. 

  Mr. Eko, meanwhile is stumbling through the jungle in a daze.  As he collapses to the ground, he flashes back to his return to Yemi's church, still being mistaken for a priest.  Since he fooled the military men, he figures he might as well keep this thing going by fooling the whole town.  Never mind that they've, you know, seen him before in his other confrontations with Yemi.  He enters the church and finds his brother's bible bookmarked with a photo of the two brothers from their younger days.  He is disturbed by a woman and her son.  He tells them that he is replacing Yemi, who was called away and she asks if Father Yemi is still going to London. 

  In the present, Eko wakes up suddenly and begins stumbling around again.  He doesn't notice a little piece of Smoky the Monster zip past behind him.  Before he can make it very far, Eko is attacked by some mean looking dudes, who almost nail him in the head with a machete.  He pulls the machete out of the tree it got wedged in and goes on the offensive.  Except that it looks like the damage has been done already, as his attackers are bloody and missing limbs.  One begs for mercy as Eko holds the machete over his head.  Then the begging guy turns into the altar boy Eko just met in his most recent flashback.  The boy tells Eko to Shh and then disappears.  Mr. Eko is very confused.

  Elsewhere, Locke changes things up by telling everyone exactly what is going on, what he plans to do and inviting everyone to come along.  Hurley thinks this a nice change of pace from Jack's leadership by secret mission approach.  Locke's style leads to the recruitment of Nikki, which leads to Paolo reluctantly coming too.  She tells him that he is always complaining about not being included and this is their chance.  Desmond pulls Locke aside and asks him if they are really going for the computer or if they are going after Eko.  Locke tells him that Yemi's plane crashed on the hatch they are going to.  Desmond is impressed by this coincidence, so Locke tells him not to mistake coincidence for fate.

  Meanwhile, Eko makes it to a stream and begins drinking.  He flashes back to the church.  The altar boy tells him not to wash his hands in the holy water, but Eko tells him he is washing away his sins.  They hear gunfire outside, so Eko strolls outside to see what is happening.  It seems Yemi had made some kind of deal with the local thugs for "protection" in exchange for vaccines from the Red Cross, which the bad guys would sell.  I say "it seems" because I'm not entirely sure that's right, but my limit of watching the same scene consecutively is three.  :)  The leader of the bad guys wants to know if Eko will continue to honor Yemi's arrangement, but Eko says he is not afraid of them.  So the bad guy shoots a woman dead and tells Eko to comply by Friday or he will have more blood on his hands. 

  In the present, Eko continues drinking and tending to his polar bear wounds, when he sees Smoky's reflection in the water.  He turns around to face it and Smoky retreats into the jungle with its Smoky tail between its Smoky legs.  Then Locke and company show up to say hello.

  Elsewhere, Juliet enters Jack's cell with a covered plate of mystery lunch.  Jack says he's not big on mysteries.  Juliet lifts the lid to show Jack his cheeseburger, which thoroughly impresses the good doctor.  Ben interrupts their flirty banter to tell Juliet that he needs to speak to Jack alone.  Jack says he is fine with Juliet there, but Ben says it's a matter of doctor-patient confidentiality.  When Juliet leaves, Ben starts going on about the wonderful plan they had to break Jack and convince him that they weren't his enemies.  He says that Juliet resembles Jack's ex-wife and she was the means to get Jack "invested".  Of course, the whole plan was shot to sunshine when Jack saw the X-rays and figured out Ben was dying.  Ben is reduced to simply asking Jack to think about performing the operation.  He says that two days after he was diagnosed with a tumor on his spine, a spinal surgeon fell from the sky.  Proof of God is what that is in Ben's mind.

  Meanwhile, Eko has joined Locke's expedition so Locke begins to talk to him, asking him if he is looking for Yemi.  Eko pushes him against a tree and holds the machete to his throat, demanding that he never say that name.  Locke asks him what he is so afraid of, which triggers a flashback.  Father Eko questions the altar boy's mom about the vaccine arrangement with the militia.  She says the vaccines fetch a high price on the black market but if he is thinking about crossing those men, he had better not.  They owe what little they get to Father Yemi's efforts.  Later, Eko puts his drug dealer hat back on and tries to make his own vaccine deal with someone else.  Then he is going to leave the country.

  Our gang reaches the Pearl hatch and Locke tells Sayid to take everyone down while he helps Eko.  Paolo and Nikki, Mr. and Mrs. Exposition, remind the viewers that Yemi's body is on the plane by talking about what Eko is doing.  As they remove the rocks blocking the door of the plane, Locke wants to talk monster with Eko, asking him what he saw.  Locke says he saw a beautiful light, but that is not what Eko saw.  No, sir.  When they get the final rock moved, Eko is shocked and dismayed to find that his brother's body is gone.

  Locke takes a commercial break to think about it and decides that Yemi's body burned in the fire or was dragged away by animals.  As a resident of Crazy Island, he should know better than that.  Eko pulls the photo of him and his brother from his pocket and tells Locke that he will wait there and not enter the hatch.  Then Locke returns the cross he found while looking for Eko.  Eko flashes back to Yemi's church one more time.  The bad guys kick the door in and ask Eko if he thought they wouldn't find out about the double cross.  Because he is a priest, they will not kill him, but simply chop his hands off.  Eko doesn't like that deal, so he fights back, gets control of the machete and starts hacking away.  This is the exact scene Eko recently recreated on the island, only this time he brings the machete down on his begging enemy instead of having the guy morph into an altar boy.  After his victory, Eko stumbles out of the church with the bloody machete still in his hand.  The town is shocked and disappointed to see this, particularly altar boy and his mom. 

  In the Pearl Station, Nikki watches the Station Five orientation film while Sayid inspects the computer.  He tells Locke that the wiring is one way and it is a dead end.  Nikki asks what the other TVs are for, pointing out that the Dharma dude mentions more than one project on the island.  Sayid goes back to work, trying to patch into any other feeds that might be available.  Paolo emerges from another room to report that the toilet works.  After some fiddling, Sayid manages to get a picture on one of the monitors.  They see a computer room and to their surprise, a dude with an eye patch appears right in front of them.  Then he reaches for the camera and the picture goes dead.  "I guess he'll be expecting us," Locke says.

  Back in Jack's cell, Juliet enters the room on the other side of the glass and pops a movie into the VCR.  Jack says pass, but Juliet insists he watch it, even if the sound is turned down.  She begins to apologize, but as she speaks, Jack notices that the movie playing is not To Kill A Mockingbird, but a home video of Juliet herself holding up large flashcards like that old Bob Dylan video.  The first one says, "Ignore everything I'm saying."

As she goes on and on about how desperate they are to save Ben and how great he is, her signs tell a different story.

"Ben is a liar."

"And he is very dangerous."

"Some of us want a change."

"But it has to look like an accident."

"It has to look like we tried to save him."

"And that's up to you.  Jack"

"It's a complicated surgery.  No one would ever Know"

"And I would protect you"

"Now tell me to turn off the movie"

  Jack does as the video instructs and Juliet leaves him with this new wrinkle to think about.

  In flashback land, Eko has packed up and tells altar boy that he is going to London.  AB asks Eko if he is a bad man and Eko replies that only God knows.  Outside, the altar boy's mother is not grateful that Eko killed the bad men because they will just be replaced.  Eko sees the townspeople boarding up the church and AB's mom informs him that it can no longer be used because of what Eko did in there.  She tells him that he owes Yemi one church.

  In the present, Yemi appears before Eko, but doesn't answer his brother's cries as he stalks off into the jungle.  After a few more moments of shouting and frantic searching, Eko finds his brother waiting for him in a field.  Eko says he is ready and begins his confession.  "I ask for no forgiveness, Father, for I have not sinned.  I have only done what I needed to do to survive.  A small boy once asked me if I was a bad man.  If I could answer him now, I would tell him that when I was a young boy, I killed a man to save my brother's life.  I am not sorry for this.  I am proud of this."  Eko drops to his knees with his arms extended.  "I did not ask for this life I have been given but it was given nonetheless and with it, I did my best."  With spite in his eyes, Yemi tells Eko that he speaks to him as if he were his brother.  Eko stands, confused now.  "Yemi" disappears into the jungle and Smoky the Monster emerges to take his place.  Eko is ready to fight and is not afraid, but you can't win a fight with Smoky when he's in a fighting mood.  Smoky grabs Eko by the waist and whips him violently into nearby tree trunks over and over again.  Locke and company hear the violence above and come rushing to help, but it is too late.  All they find when they get up there is Eko lying bloody and beaten on the ground.  Eko whispers something in Locke's ear, goes to his happy place, which is hanging out with his younger brother in their youth, and then dies.  Sayid asks what was said and Locke solemnly answers.  "We're next."

  Next time on the "Fall Finale" of LOST:  Jack wants to get off the island and Kate and Sawyer get it on.          

LOST- Episode 52: Every Man For Himself

  Previously on LOST: Jack wondered what the Others wanted with him, Sawyer tried to fight his way out of captivity and Sun shot Colleen the Other.

  The show opens on Desmond, who is sitting on the beach watching Claire and Aaron share a moment.  He approaches her and asks if he can fix her roof.  A jealous Charlie approaches and nips this friendly offer to help in the bud. 

  In Jack's aquatic cage, the torture part of the Others' plan has begun as they have left the television and it is playing annoying old school cartoons.  Juliet enters with food and Jack starts playing with her mind.  He asks her if he should talk to Benjamin to find out what's going on.  Juliet insists that Ben is not the leader, that they make decisions together, but she is immediately undermined when Ben storms in and orders her to come with him.  The sub is back and there is a "situation."  When they leave, Jack presses his ear to the door to try and get the scoop, but it is unclear if he is able to learn anything. 

  Quick cut to the Others racing through the jungle with a bloody body on a stretcher. 

  Sawyer is woken up from his nap when his cage door swings open.  It's time for work.  Before Sawyer can provoke another beating, Danny gets a call on his radio and presumably learns of the fate of his lady love, Colleen.  Ben and the Others race by with the stretcher as Kate and Sawyer look on-apparently work is canceled today.  Kate asks what happend.  "We happened," Sawyer answers with a grin.  He says they just got their ticket out of there, which cues the creepy LOST title screen. 

  Over the break, Sawyer concocts a plan.  Every time he earns a reward, a drink of water pours from a pipe.  He's done it enough for a puddle to have collected at the cage door.  When he doesn't earn a reward, there is a jolt of electricity.  Since Picket/Danny is distracted at the moment, it shouldn't be terribly difficult for him to not notice the puddle.  Sawyer grabs him and ZAP!  Kate points out that Sawyer himself will be electrocuted too, but he says he will have the advantage of knowing it's coming.  Kate asks about Jack and Sawyer responds with the title of the episode, "It's every man for himself." 

  Sawyer flashes back to life in prison, where he was apparently a pretty good boxer.  As they head back to their cells, Sawyer asks the guy he just beat about the new guy, who is taking an unsanctioned beating from some thugs.  The guy is named Munson and he is rumored to have ripped off the government for 10 million bucks, which was never found.  Sawyer finds it intriguing that the warden keeps breaking up the fights as they make steely eye contact from afar.  Later, Sawyer talks to Munson and wonders out loud how he got such an easy prison job after only a week.  His theory is that Munson is being buttered up by the warden so that he can get his hands on the money. 

  In the present, Sawyer is pleased to see that his victim will be none other than Benry the Leader.  When Ben steps in the puddle, Sawyer grabs him and starts pusing the electro-button with a stick.  Unfortunately for the con man, Ben has taken the precaution of shutting the power off.  Then Ben kicks his ass.  When Sawyer regains consciousness, he is strapped to a table and is about to be injected in the chest with a giagantic needle.  We don't get to see the deed done before a commercial break, thank goodness.

  At the beach, Desmond approaches Paolo, the new guy just now emerging from the background.  He is launching golf balls into the ocean with the clubs Hurley found and Desmond asks if he can take one.  Paolo quips that if Des takes the five iron, which he never uses, then he won't have to go looking for it when Des dies in the jungle doing God knows what.

  When Sawyer wakes up again, he is greeted by Ben holding a caged bunny.  Ben shakes the cage repeatedly while yelling at the bunny, which eventually causes the bunny to have a heart attack and keel over.  Even funnier, stranger and sadder than I can even describe.  The point is that they have equipped Sawyer with a pacemaker which will cause his heart to explode if he overexerts himself.  It's the Others' own special way of keeping him in line.  Ben also mentions that if Saywer mentions this to Kate, they will do the same thing to her.  He straps a watch/heart rate monitor onto Sawyer's wrist and tells him to take up yoga.

  Sawyer is brought back to his cage and is immeditately put to the test.  Tom has brought Kate some new clothes to change into, and Sawyer can't stop himself from sneaking a peek as she changes.  He also raises her suspicions by not telling her what happened when he was taken.  He can't even explain why his watch is beeping at him as he pours a bucket of water over his head. 

  Sawyer flashes back to when he got a visit in prison from one of his former cons.  I think it's the one from his Long Con episode, but I'm too lazy to look it up.  Anyway, she is the one who landed him in jail by pressing charges.  She shows him a picture of a baby named Clementine and says that she is Sawyer's daughter.  She asks him to write the baby a letter, but Sawyer scoffs at both writing to a baby and the notion that he even has a daughter.

  In the present, Sawyer is still making Kate suspicious with every word.  She thinks she can squeeze through the bars at the top of her cage, but Sawyer tells her not to bother. 

  Meanwhile, Jack is hearing more scratchy voices through his broken intercom, when Juliet comes to get him.  She needs his help because Colleen is dying and he is a doctor. 

  A loud alarm sounds throughout the zoo, which prevents Kate and Sawyer from being able to make themselves heard as Jack is marched past them with a sack over his head.  Ben and the other Others are not thrilled that Juliet has brought Jack to their operating room, but she feels he is their last chance to save Colleen.  As Jack scrubs up he notices some X-rays on the wall, but Juliet tells him they are not Colleen's.  Jack goes right to work on his new patient, easily slipping back into 'doctor during a crisis' mode.  Unfortunately, there is not much he can do and it is not long before Colleen has slipped away. 

  Danny/Picket just lost his wife and this understandably puts him into a rage.  He takes out his aggression the only way he knows how lately, by beating the crap out of Sawyer.  Even though Sawyer doesn't fight back, the action is still too much for his heart and the watch starts beeping.  As Danny repeatedly punches Sawyer, he godes Kate into admitting that she loves the con man.  He then storms off, not even bothering to throw Sawyer back into his cage. 

  Back in Flashback State Pen, Sawyer has buddied up to Munson and has earned enough trust for Munson to ask for his help in moving the stolen money.  Something tells me this might be exactly what Sawyer wanted. 

  Back in his cage and still alive, Sawyer starts to clean himself up and doesn't even bother to try and figure out what motivated the beating.  Kate decides now would be a good time to try and climb out of her cage- a move Sawyer protests.  She makes it out safely and without tripping an alarm and starts to beat the lock on Sawyer's cage with a rock.  Sawyer grabs her by the arm and begs for her to leave him behind.  This is the last straw for Kate as she wonders incredulously what they did to him.  She asks for the truth for once in his life, but his only reply is that if she really loved him, she would run.  Kate replies that she only said that to put an end to the beating.  And with that emotional dagger, she climbs back into her cage to stick it out with Sawyer.  "Live together, die alone," she says, echoing Jack.

  Watching the action on Camera 5, Tom comments to Ben that Danny wants to kill Sawyer.  Ben tells him that can wait.  As for Jack, he can stew for a little longer, as well.  Jack is handcuffed to table where Colleen's dead body still lies.  Juliet enters and admits that she is a fertility doctor and has not been around death before.  She thinks she should have gotten Jack sooner, but he says it wouldn't have mattered.  Juliet wonders if he is just saying that to make her feel better, but he says he doesn't care how she feels.  Duh!  He then mentions the X-rays and thinks he has figured out why he was taken.  Someone has a tumor on their spine and Jack just happens to be a spinal surgeon. 

  At the beach, Desmond has used the golf club and some other stuff to create a contraption that Hurley thinks is pop art.  It looks more like a lightning rod to me, and soon enough, a storm begins and a bolt of lightning hits it. 

  Night has fallen at the zoo, or early morning rather, as Ben wakes Sawyer up with a "good morning".  Apparently, he wants to show him something.  Sawyer flashes back to his meeting with the warden and all is revealed.  Things can never be what they seem with James Ford.  He hands over the location of the 10 million dollars and is, in turn, a free man.  The warden asks Sawyer what he wants to do with his share and Sawyer tells him to have it put in a fund for baby Clementine, with the stipulation that she can never know where or who the money came from. 

  Whatever Ben wants to show Sawyer is really far away and quite a climb.  Sawyer's heart rate is getting dangerously close to critical mass.  They stop close to the top of the hill so Ben can show Sawyer the rabbit, alive and well.  There's no exploding pacemaker inside Sawyer after all.  What Ben finds most interesting is that threatening Kate was the real trick that kept Sawyer in line, not the threat of his own death.  Sawyer punches him in the face, but Ben keeps his cool, saying only that the rabbit is not what he wanted Sawyer to see. 

  And here's the real kicker.  The Others don't live on Crazy Island- they live on a nearby seperate island, about twice the size of Alcatraz.  That explains why they need to steal boats, take their captives to a pier and have a sub.  Sawyer is floored, realizing that even if he escapes, there is nowhere to run. 

  Next time on LOST: Locke begins his rescue mission and has more problems with Mr. Eko.             

The season so far...

  LOST recap is coming tomorrow.  I know- I'm a slacker.  Let's talk about television for a few, though.  I've done the reading so you don't have to.  Except you have to read this.  The system is flawed.

SUNDAY:  This night still belongs to ABC even with the loss of Grey's Anatomy.  Desperate Housewives has made a creative comeback, though the rumblings are getting louder that it's slipping again.  Brothers and Sisters despite the behind the scenes troubles before it even debuted has been a solid hit and holds DH's numbers better than Boston Legal ever did.  (Though doesn't build on them like Grey's did.)  FOX is happy with its comedy block, though they want to dump The War at Home which doesn't match the animated nature of the rest of the lineup.  They have hired Robert Smigel, he of SNL's TV Funhouse and Conan's Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, to create a new show.  NBC is happy to be back in the football mix, but I haven't heard what they plan to do in January.  At CBS, things are solid with the "Race, Case, Trace" lineup, but Amazing Race's numbers are down from the other nights it has been on.  I don't think that show has ever been in the same time slot twice.

MONDAY:  CBS is still untouchable with its comedy line-up, even though The Class has dropped off its initial good numbers.  Might have something to do with the quality taking a nosedive.  Not that I've ever seen it in the first place.  FOX has seen Prison Break's ratings drop consistently (which is a shame!) and Vanished has already vanished to be replaced with Justice, which also sucks anyway.  I think these shows will at least hold the fort until the 24 juggernaut returns in January.  NBC has its biggest hit with Heroes (awesome show btw) but Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has dipped way down below its premeire numbers.  The good news: NBC has ordered at least three more episodes and the show is tops among "upscale" viewers.  (+ $75,000 income).  Bad news: A rerun of the show has been replaced by Friday Night Lights this week.  Damn monkeys running the network seem to think a show about football will do well against actual football on ESPN.  Psssh!  I don't even know what ABC has on.  They've definitely saved their best crap for other nights.

TUESDAY: ABC is doing well with DancingWith the Stars.  FOX is happy with House.  Standoff will be back for at least three more episodes.  I don't really watch anything on this day so I haven't paid too much attention to what's happening.  The one show I do watch, Veronica Mars, has improved its numbers on The CW and, though they haven't said it, there's no reason why it shouldn't be bumped up to a full season instead of the 13 originally ordered.

WEDNESDAY:  The unthinkable has happened.  LOST screwed with its audience too much and has "lost" it.  It has been losing to freakin' Criminal Minds on CBS.  The upcoming three month hiatus could be catastrophic.  In other bad news, the critically acclaimed (and excellent) The Nine has been tanking (as in getting trounced by freakin' Dateline).  If they are forced to cancel it as well as the too high concept Daybreak (which slips into the LOST spot) ABC may very well end up losing the very night that began their big comeback two years ago.  On NBC, Kidnapped is already gone, relegated to Saturday to run its course, which is more dignity than most bombs get.

THURSDAY: CSI and Grey's Anatomy are having the biggest battle in years, finishing one and two every week and alternating who is on top.  William Peterson (Grissom) will be taking a break from the show in January and will be replaced by B list movie star, Liev Schreiber.  That might definitely swing things toward ABC as it's a pretty major shake up.  CBS is committed to Survivor, even though it's wearing thin and they picked up a full season of Shark, even though it hasn't found an audience.  ABC has the biggest new hit with Ugly Betty.  NBC has settled into third with Earl and The Office holding steady and ER enjoying a resurgence in ratings.  They will make a bid in November to reclaim the Must See Comedy moniker when Deal or No Deal slides out of the 9 o'clock hour to make room for 30 Rock and Scrubs.  All the comedic eggs are officially in one basket now.  FOX has The OC coming back, but other than that, they've lost the small foothold they once had on the night and have all but given up. 

FRIDAY:  CBS owns this night too, as Numbers and whatever other crap they put on continue to do well. ABC has gotten a better than expected performance from Men in Trees and it will probably make it to Season 2.  NBC has another game show hit with 1 vs. 100 and it shouldn't be long before they try to fill the gaping holes in their lineup with at least one all game-show night.

SATURDAY:  Still nothing on.  I checked.  Not even Kidnapped.  Liars! 

 

Here's this week's Top Ten:

1. Hang Me Up To Dry- Cold War Kids

2. The Pick of Destiny- Tenacious D

3. Sundress- Ben Kweller

4. Wildcat- Ratatat

5. A Pillar of Salt- The Thermals

6. Pushover- The Long Winters

7. Let Me Go- Wired All Wrong

8. Postcards From Italy- Beirut

9. Naive- The Kooks

10. I Need Some Fine Wine and You Need To Be Nicer- The Cardigans