Vote....but for the love of God, do it responsibly.

I have always beleived that an uninformed voter is just as dangerous as a drunk person wielding an axe. They both do a lot of damage and don't really understand the who, what, when, where or why behind it all. In less than two weeks there is a very important mid-term election coming up that will have a very large impact on our lives whether you know it or not. America has a choice to keep the balance of power in place as it is, or completely change things up and attempt to send this country in a new direction.

If you don't know anything about politics and are over the age of 18, then get with it. There are so many things wrong with this country that need fixing, and we are beyond the point of being able to sit idly by and let politics as usual take it's course.

If you don't know who to vote for, there is this nifty tool called Google, just type in the candidates name and your off. It's important to vote, but it's more important to know who and why you are voting for someone.

So vote people, this country is more important than American Idol, no matter what the numbers tell you.

If your voting in favor of this guy however, then I give you permission to stay home.

Lost: Every man for Himself

Sawyer episodes never fail to disappoint, and "Every man for himself" was no different.
This episode put even more meat on an already solid character, while at the same time kicking the door open a little further on the motives of the Others.

The flashback this week probably had the least amount of screen time as any other flashback in Lost history, but it still made it's point. That point is that Sawyer is indeed a genius, a genius with a baby on top of that. The door is without a doubt left open for the baby to be a con in itself, but for the time being, James has himself a daughter. The island contrast of Sawyer's flashback, was him being conned by Ben. From the moment Ben shook that rabbit to death I believed that they had placed a pacemaker in Sawyer, but after seeing the botched surgery on Coleen because of the Others lack of medical equipment I began to have my doubts about their ability to perform such a quick surgery on Sawyer. Especially considering the guy didn't even know where to give him the shot. Ben was still right though, the Others are the best con men on the island, they have shown that so far in many different ways.

A lot of new information came out of this eppy as well. The big one being that there is another island, granted a tiny one. I'm still not sure whether or not that that is the island where Kate,Sawyer and Jack are being held, but considering they didn't take Sawyer on a boat ride, and the Others snuck up on Sun from the sea, I'm guessing baby island is the home of the Hydra Station. There was also something mentioned in a side conversation between Zeke and Ben about the Others having a submarine. Besides the few beatdowns that Sawyer was given, it looked to me like the Others are trying to simply establish some trust with the Losties, for what reasons I still don't know. They could be good, but all signs are still pointing to sinister. We also got to meet a little more of Paulo, the guy who's been on the island the whole time but we are just now seeing (they could have handled his introduction a lot better), it seems that they are trying to make him kind of a jerk, or make Desmond look nice. I just hope a better job is done of developing Paulo and Nikki, either that or each one of them . Speaking of Desmond, he showed off some more of his psychic abilities by preventing Claire and Charlie from being struck by lighting.

Another good episode, a lot more focused than last weeks, and it recaptured the dark new tone of Season Three.

8.5/10

Next weeks episode is called "The Cost of Living" and it's an Eko episode. Something very, very big is supposed to happen next week so don't miss it. (I know what it is and it makes me a little sad to be quite honest). Until then.

The Departed

I know that I'm not the utmost expert on Martin Scorcesee. I haven't seen the Aviator, I didn't see Gangs of New York, and I just thought that Goodfellas was "just o.k.". Hey, I loved Raging Bull though. The Departed however is cinema gold, and hands down the best movie I have seen so far this year.

The Departed is dripping with talent. Nicholson, Damon, DiCaprio, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, and Mark Whalberg. Every single one of these guys delivers a performance that could give them an oscar nomination, and they do it in the confines of a story that is geniuosly crafted ans well executed.

I really don't want to give away to much of the plot, but it centers around the characters played by DiCaprio, Nicholson, and Damon. DiCaprio plays a police cadet dropout who agrees to go undercover for the FBI to infiltrate Jack Nicholson's tightly woven organized crime ring in Boston. Matt Damon plays a hard working cadet who rises up in the department quickly, the catch is he actually working for Nicholson as his inside man for the mob. Most of the movie is about DiCaprio and Damon trying to figure out who the other is. It's suspenseful to say the least. That's all I'm really going to say about the plot because it's the twists and turns in this movie that make it so compelling, and the last 10 minutes are mind blowing.

The 90's had Goodfellas, The Usual Suspects, and Pulp Fiction, The 80's had Scarface and Carlito's Way, The 70's had the Godfather. Now I feel that this decade has it's first classic crime drama, The Departed. Go see it.

9.5/10

Lost: Further Instructions

Locke is back, officially. A lot of people (not me) complained about the turn that Locke made in Season 2, he was less adventurous and questioned his destiny, a.k.a he became a normal guy. Well all of that is out the window, as Locke returned to his "Man of Faith" status in this episode.

Further instructions began with Locke lying on his back ala Jack in the Pilot episode. When he woke up he couldn't speak and was almost immediately hit with Eko's stick as it fell from a tree. From that moment on Locke was on a mission, and that was to re-connect with the island. With Charlie's help, Locke built a "sweat lodge" out of his old tent and drugged himself just like he did Boone in season one as a way for him to find himself. Once the drug kicked in, it was none other than Boone himself who appeared to John.

Boone took Locke on a journey/dream sequence through the airport. I must say this is one of the best shot scenes ever in Lost, lots of neat camera tricks, and trippy visuals. The cinematographer did an excellent job of placing the viewer right there in the dream with Locke. Boone's descriptions of the castaways were also very intriguing. For instance when describing Jack, Sawyer, and Kate, Boone said "There's nothing you can do for them now, not yet anyways". Which is major foreshadowing into the direction Locke will take throughout this season. At the end of the sequence Boone told Locke that he needed to clean up his mess, which begins with Locke needing to go save Eko from the polar bear, that apparently had drug Eko off after the implosion of the hatch. We Locke came out of his "sweat lodge", he was a new man.

The rescue scene itself was pretty good, some of the things inside the polar bear cave where interesting, like the bones draped with the Dharma logo. Charlie coming along was interesting, especially considering he basically hates Locke. Maybe that is going to change too. I also liked how Hurley was reintroduced and that he briefed Locke, Charlie and Desmond right away about what happenend. Desmond foreseeing Locke's speech is really interesting and makes me wonder what happened in the hour that Locke, Eko and Desmond where missing. Locke taking charge of the camp was also good to see. He's no longer in Jack's shadow.

There were something about this episode I wasn't to crazy about. The main thing being Locke's flashback. At first I really liked Hippy convent that it appeared that he was living on. It explained how Locke may have gotten a lot of his hunting and tracking skills, as well as where he got the idea for the sweat lodge at. I just felt towards the end of the episode the focus of the flashback was lost a little bit. The convent being a cover for a massive weed growing operation just didn't seem right for Locke's character, it also didn't seem like the best foil to the island tail, minus the connection between Locke being a "Hunter" and a "farmer". It wasn't the worst flashback, I just have high standards for Locke episodes. The other thing I wasn't to crazy about was the introduction of the two "new" characters, Nikki and Paulo. I know they are supposed to be some of the background characters that they haven't focused on before, but their introduction seemed a little forced. I'll reserved final judgment until I see how it all plays out.

So all in all this was an enjoyable episode. It had a lot of adventure and it brought Locke back to his old self. I feel it could have been a lot better with a little more time in the editing room and a little more fleshing out of the flashback, but even that wasn't bad enough to make this a bad episode, especially since the Boone dream sequence was insane.

8/10

Next weeks episode is called "Every man for himself", and it's a Sawyer centric episode. Lookes like a goodie. Until then......

Lost: The Glass Ballerina

This was a classic episode of Lost on many different levels. It shed new light on Sun and Jin, advanced Kate and Sawyer's relationship, and more importantly established the island firmly in reality.

In "The Glass Ballerina" the flashbacks centered around Sun and Jin, almost immediately letting us know that Sun did in fact cheat on her husband. Sun's father discovers his daughter and her lover Jae. Her father's honor is so hurt by his daughters affair that he orders Jin to kill Jae, only Jin doesn't know why.

This episode establishes Sun's darker side. From the very begging when she lies to her father to later on in life when she continuously lies to her husband, it's clear that Sun is not naive. Sun's ability to plan the trap with Sayid and keep Jin out of the loop proved that even further. Add in the fact that she gunned downed the Other, "Colleen", when she was cornered by her in the boat. Who knows what Sun is capable of now, and what are the consequences of her shooting Coleen.

Jin also showed more depth through this episode as well. Him sparring Jae's life showed that he was is an honorable guy, and the also proved his intelligence by his ability to understand English.

I still have my doubts that Jae jumped from the balcony, I still think he was murdered, but by who? Sun maybe? I doubt it. This story is still far from over.

The situation with Sawyer and Kate's treatment by the Other's is also very interesting. Why are they making them work? What are they digging for? and who are the other people that are being forced to work along side them. The scene when Sawyer kisses Kate in order to size up Pickett and his friends was clever, as was the conversation Kate and Sawyer had in the cages. The most shocking thing about all of that wasn't the Kate/Sawyer kiss, but the fact that Ben was listening the entire time. Which makes me wonder a number of things. The first one being that if the Others are monitor audio, then they were probably listening the entire time the Losties were in the hatch. It also makes me wonder why the Others are trying so hard to push Kate and Sawyer together. I'm guessing we'll find out sooner rather than later.

The scene between Jack and Ben might be one of the best ever on this show, and I don't feel like that's an overstatement. In that scene Ben formerly introduces himself as "Benjamin Linus" and tells Jack that he had "lived on this island his entire life". Ben goes on to explain to Jack that if he co-operates he can get him back home, and that even though they seem trapped on that island they do have contact with the outside world. Ben tells Jack that their plane crashed on September 22, 2004, and tells them that they have been on the island for 69 days and since then America re-elected Bush, Christopher Reeves died, and the Red Sox won the World Series. Jack not believing the Red Sox comment was hilarious, but when Ben turned on the TV monitor and shows Jack the footage Lost as a show went up a few more notches in the "one of my favorite things ever board". The look on Jack's face was priceless, it was Jack's first glimpse of hope since the show began.

I love the methodical way that the writers are letting the show draw out this season. The tone from last week was picked up on and added to. Lost has started with a bang this season. I hope they keep up this pace. A show like this is hard to write for, and Damon Lindleloff and Carlton Cuse have made it an art.

Next weeks episode is called "Further Instructions" and is centered around Locke. Word on the street is that we might find out why Mr. Locke ended up in a wheelchair. I'm excited. Until then...

10/10.

Lost: Tale of Two Cities

After a few months of waiting Lost is back, and it's safe to say that I was a little bit excited about it. The Season 2 finale was out of control and left us (the viewing audience) with a lot of questions to start the season with. What happened to Jake, Kate and Sawyer? What happened to Locke, Eko and Desmond? How hot will the new cast members be? Who are the Others?

Did any of these questions get answered in the first 42 minutes of the season? Yes, yes they did.

The most mind blowing part of this epidsode was the first five minutes. The amount of insight we were given on the others staggering. They live in a suburban community on the island. They have been there for quite sometime. They are either the remnants, or descendants of the Dharma Initiative. They had a plan in place for the plane crash, yet they still seemed surprised by it. So with all of the answers there is still a great deal of questions, and that was just in the first five minutes.

I really like how this entire eppy centered around Jack, Kate, and Sawyer's captivity. It became clear that everything the others do is very caculated. There is a reason behind every little thing that they do to the three losties. There is a reason they are trying to breakdown Jack, there is a reason they are buttering up Kate, and there is a reason why Sawyer is getting the crap kicked out of him. What are the reasons? I don't know yet, but the quest for the answers will keep me intruiged all season as the backstory of the Others is revealed.

The flashbacks centered around Jack and gave a whole new perspective on his character. Jack doesn't seem invincible anymore, he is more of an emotional wreck than was let on in the first two seasons. This is a good move story wise because I think that Jack's character was losing some of his appeal, and this new internal conflict breathes new life into his character. The stuff with Sawyer in the cage was funny, but the more interesting thing to me was the boy that was locked up across from him. I'm guessing he was a plant by the Other's themselves. How else would he have gotten on the Island? It definately seems like the Others are trying to set Kate and Sawyer up for the same thing based on the fact they put them in cages right across from each other. "Ben"ry Gale seems like he is definatley the leader of the pack. His conversation with Kate was really well written and makes me wonder what is in store for her. However he still seems cold and standoffish, while the other "Others" seem a lot more laid back and open. Which brings me to one of the best parts of the episode and that was the introduction of Juliet. Her story will be interesting, and it helps that she is a good actress.

This was an awesome episode. It felt different in tone that anything from the last two seasons and I'm excited about that. It's always good to keep things fresh. Next week "Lost" should start to cover the other questions left unanswered from the season finale. Which is insane because the story developed from this first episode could carry most of the season. I say bring it on. The next one is called "The Glass Ballerina" and it's a sun-Jin episode. Should be interesting. Until then....

9.5/10