The 2006 Election

With the concession of George Allen, the clean sweep of congress by the Democrats was made official. Some media outlets have called this election a mandate for change, a repsonse to the Iraq war, or just an overall reaction the failures of the Bush Administration. I'm sure a lot of those factors played a role in people's minds when they were voting from their new fangled electronic ballots, but the end result of this election points to something much more profound in my opinion.

The optimist in me thinks that the 2006 election helped to re-establish some credibility that our country's electoral system had lost since 2000. Americans came out in record numbers for a mid-term election, an election with no major recounts or scandals, and yes, through it all they did make a statement.

I'm not happy because the Democrats won, I'm happy because this Administration was brought down to Earth by a big dose of reality. You can't screw this country up for six straight years, protect only the rich, send the poor and middle class to war on lies, and build the nation's largest deficit . It's time to fix these problems, and I hope the new blood in Washington can help shepard these changes in, and after that, hold the one's responsible for those problems accountable.

Democrats, you've got your chance now, put your money where your mouth is and make this government work again. You saw what happens when politicians get comfortable and forget what there job is. Being a leader isn't a right, it's a priviledge. Don't forget it.






I bet you regret that now dont ya!

Borat=Very Nice !!!

I had never seen a single episode of Ali G until after I had seen this movie, but to be quite honest. It didn't matter at all, because Borat is freakin comedy gold.

Sacha Baron Cohen puts himself up their with the likes of Andy Kaufman in Borat. Cohen immerses himself so much in his characters, that he actually becomes him. He even did all of his promotion for this movie as Borat, and each one of those appearances was just as funny as a scene from the movie.

There wasn't a time during the course of this movie were I didn't stop laughing ( well there was one time, but instead of laughing, I was throwing up in my mouth, you'll know the scene when you see it) Borat also exposes a little of that homegrown American ignorance throughout some of his encounters, and I really hope some of them were scripted, because if they weren't, then wow, some people are really stupid.

There isn't much else I can say about this movie. The main point is that it's hilarious, and it's a type of funny I have never seen before. See it, laugh at it, and bring on Bruno.

9.5/10

Very nice!!!!!!

Lost: I Do

This was the last Lost until February 7, 2007. That's a very long time. Meaning this episode had to give us enough to chew on until then. Did it do it? I believe so.

This eppy centered around Kate, and helped further establish the fact that she is afraid of commitment, and that she is afraid to stop running. In this case it was Kate's most extreme considering she actually married the guy this time around before she decided to take off. Wait, nevermind, her high school boyfriend ended up dead, I think he had it the worst. So she played wife for a little while, but the reality of her situation kicked in and she left him.

The flashback was juxtaposed with the ongoing situation with Kate, Jack, and Sawyer in captivity. Ben continues to try and persuade Jack tp perform the surgery, but he doesn't give in. Juliet then brings in Kate to try and persuade Jack, telling her that if she doesn't, then Pickett/Danny is going to kill Sawyer. Jack doesn't trust anything the Others tell him, and he tells Kate to forget about him doing the surgery. Kate then tries to break Sawyer out of so she can save him, but when Sawyer breaks down and tells Kate that he can't, she breaks down. Then she kisses him and Kate and Sawyer finally get together after three years of sexual tension. I still wonder to myself whether or not this is Kates real choice, or whether or not she was acting the emotions of Sawyers imminent death.

Someone then mysteriously let Jack out of his cell (either Alex or Ben himself) and Jack sees Sawyer and Kate together in Sawyers cage. He then turns to see Ben and agrees to do the surgery, as long as he promises to get him off the island. At this point I was beginning to get a little worried, I thought for sure that they were going to go the predictable route of Jack become so overwhelmed with anger and jealously over losing another woman he loved (Kate), that he would agree to do the surgery simply to save himself. Luckily and thankfully I was completely wrong. During the surgery Jack makes small incision in Ben's kidney, tells Mr. Friendly to get him Kate on the walkie talkie. This scene is set against Pickett pulling Sawyer away from Kate and forcing her to watch him shoot Sawyer. Just before he can pull the trigger he's interrupted. Jack tells Kate for her and Sawyer to run, and it the don't let them go then he will let Ben die, and the episode ends with jack screaming at Kate to run.

These first six episodes have really give Matthew Fox some good opportunities to show off his acting chops, especially the scenes between Jack and Ben. The dialogue between those two is excellently written. If Matthew Fox and Michael Emerson aren't nominated for emmy's then someone need to get punched in the face. I was extremely satisfied with the turn at the end of the episode. Instead of Jack taking the selfish way out, he put his own life at risk to save Kate and Sawyer. Even if he does fix Ben's kidney, there still is a small chance that he would be able to safely remove the tumor, so if Ben dies on the table, Jack might not be too far behind.

I was very glad that they ended the mini-season with added focus on the characters on Lost. I love the mythology and the mysteries, but what makes this show so strong is the character development. Besides, I think Eko being killed by the smoke monster filled that void last week. I feel that Jack, Kate, and Sawyer's characters have been given a truckload more depth in these first six episodes, and Ben and Juliet feel extremely deep, and they haven't even had flashbacks yet.

As for this episode, I felt it was solid and a half, and an excellent way to set sail to the second part of next season. 9/10

As for the mini-season, I would also give it a 9/10 because of the way the writers were able to to pack so much exposition in just six episodes. It really did feel like it's own season (sometimes to much due to the amount they packed in, see Nikki and Paulo, they shouldn't have been introduced until the second half of the season).

The first episode back from the break is called "Not in Portland", and it's the first ever flashback that focuses on an Other, that other, is none other, than the smokin hot Juliet. Until then.......

Lost: Cost of Living

R.I.P Mr. Eko.

Last night marked the first time reality hit the Lost cast. Unlike many of the actor exits on the show, the actor who played Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) left the show under his own power. Michelle Rodrigues (Ana-Lucia), Cynthia Watros (Libby), and Ian Summerhalder (Boone) were cut much to their own surprise. It leaked about two weaks ago that Eko would be killed off of the show do to the actors own desire to pursue other oportunities. The Lost producers have known about this since May, and kept it a secret pretty well until a couple weeks ago. It's the sad reality of tv shows, good actors leave, but the show goes on. I just hate it was Eko, he was a freakin awesome character.

With that said, onto the show itself.

I'll start with the bad.

As far as acting goes, this was one of the worst acted episodes in Lost's short history(outside of Eko's performance). Most of the stiffness coming from the new characters Nikki and Paulo. They are plain terrible, and I hope that their characters are given a little more substance when the second part of season 3 rolls around, or else there are going to be a great deal of Lost fans calling for thier heads (Some already are, me included). There is no need to throw the newbies into important story arcs quite yet, it somewhat cheapens it, and the new actors are so bad, that it makes the performances or the regulars seem a little weaker as well. Hopefully that will all change.

I'm very interested in the man that appears to be in the Flame Station , but the little tape of him seemed a bit awkward. I bet you a gold dollar that the glass eye that the tallies found belongs to our new friend Patchy.

Now onto the good stuff.

Eko's story was wrapped up nicely, with just about every loose end being tied up for him. It turned out that he was building the church to repay his brother, and he was in London to take his Yemi's place as well. I also like the way it wrapped up at the end with Eko revealing to Yemi that he wants no forgiveness for the things he has done. "I did the best with the life that I was given". That scene was a very well written bookend to Eko's tale, no matter how much I hated to see his character go.

I'm also liking the Ben/Juliet/Jack dynamic, very much so in fact. There is already a lot of palpable tension between those three characters, and it's only five episodes in. I'm still not convinced Juliet is telling the truth about Ben, mainly based on the fact that she seemed ready and willing to kill Kate. It's so hard to tell with the "Others". If I learned anything from this season so far, it's definatley that the Others are good con men, and they shouldn't be trusted. The way she delivered her message may seem cheesy to some, but I found it relatively ingenious on Juliet's part. With Ben watching Jack's every move, it was one of the only ways to communicate with him. It will be interesting to see how Jack reacts considering he's been applying the reverse psychology pretty thick.

Overall I thought this was a good, but very far from great episode. If it hadn't been for Eko's speech at the end, and some good scenes between Ben/Jack/Juliet, then this might have been one of my least favorite episodes of Lost. However, those few good points rescued it from that fate and made it a sufficient set up for next weeks mini-season finale.

7/10

Next weeks episode is Kate-centric and is titled "I do". Should be cliff-hangerriffic. Until then.....