Lost: Dr. Linus review

Here's another Lost Review from Paula! Make sure you check out her awesome blog @ http://dreamr-dogblog.blogspot.com/!

Michael Emerson plays Benjamin Linus, an Emmy winning actor. He was awarded the 2001 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Dramatic Series. In 2007, he was nominated for an Emmy for his role on Lost. This episode is named after him and he actually has a heart, and is redeeming himself.

Now Ben is a Doctor teaching high school history. In LA at the high school Locke tells Ben he is listening to him and if he doesn’t like the principal do something about it. Ben teaches history, very caring about students and especially his student, Alex.

Back on the island in 2004 when the plane first crashed, Alex was Ben’s daughter. The mercenaries that came to the island to kill Ben killed Alex. Ben had chosen the island over his own daughter, which always caused a great deal of guilt for him. Now Ben is playing a lead role again in Alex’s life.

In LA, Ben is at home taking care of his dad. A direct contrast to the hate he had for his father on the island in 2004. He gassed his dad and all the Dharma Initiative. His dad says maybe they should have STAYED ON THE ISLAND AND NOT LEFT. This is the first person in sideway flashes that has any knowledge of the island. News breaking!

Jack and Hurley are coming back from the Lighthouse. The (dead) Jacob told Hurley to take Jack there. They meet up with Richard Alpert. Richard is a strange character. He is the only one we know least about that has been a major player through all seasons. We learn a little more about him, but where did he come from? Why would you follow someone for decades and not know why?

Ilana has Miles “read” Jacob’s ashes and he tells Ilana Linus killed Jacob. Ilana wants to kill Ben now and chains Ben and makes him dig his own grave. Ben is always getting himself in a pickle even when he tries to do right.

Back in LA Ben is tutoring Alex and she reveals to him that she caught the principal banging the school nurse. Ben gathers the principal’s private emails and confronts him.

Miles brings Ben some food while he is digging, Ben tries to bribe Miles once again, but doesn’t work. Miles read Jacob’s last thoughts and said Jacob was hoping he was wrong about Ben, but he wasn’t. Miles has no sympathy at all for Ben. I’ve grown too really like Miles with his laid back attitude.
Richard Alpert says he is taking Jack and Hurley to the Temple but he lied to them. Richard tells them everyone is dead at the temple. Richard doesn’t see any reason for living now that Jacob is dead, his mentor. Jack tells Richard they are not meant to die now. Richard cannot kill himself because he was touched by Jacob. I wonder just how old Richard really is.

Hurley leaves jack and Richard and a lit stick of dynamite. Jack tells Richard what he saw at the lighthouse and the mirror of his house as a kid. They are talking, sweat running down their face, watching the fuse get shorter and shorter. And the fuse mysteriously stops right before the BANG. Richard is in awe now of Jack. He says now we go back to where we started. (Back to the beach.)

Ben is becoming a man in charge as the history teacher in LA .He was in charge on the island before; Ben went through great lengths to become the man in charge. He was brought to the Others as a child and has planned every since and devoted everything to the island.

Locke, Monster, shows up while Ben is digging his grave, unknown to Ilana. This reminds me of the devil coming to give you eternal life. Locke offers Ben charge of island if he follows him, and bam the lock on his ankle just falls off. Ben takes off running, Ilana right behind him.

Ben gets the drop on Ilana and gives a very heartfelt speech about his daughter getting shot and sacrificing everything for Jacob. Ben says Jacob didn’t even care. (Very touching, an Oscar performance.) Ben cannot forgive himself and doesn’t ask for forgiveness, he just wants to leave. He tells Ilana he is going to Locke,” he is the only one that will have me”, he says crying. Ilana tells Ben, “I’ll have you.” We see a whole other side of Ben now on and off the island.

Ben confronts the principal with the emails, but it backfires. Ben says I want your job, (Ben doing whatever it takes to get what he wants, at least it’s not killing anyone.)The principal turns around and blackmails Ben with his student Alex; he will torch her future. Ben backs down for the sake of Alex, Which he didn’t back down on the island and got her killed.

THE REUNION- Miles, Sun, Ilana, Ben, and Frank Lapidus, the pilot are all back on the beach now. Who should show up but Hurley, Jack, and Richard. What a touching sight. Sun is so glad to see them, but still no Jin. Will she ever find him?

To put an end to this touching reunion, Whitmore is back in the picture. He is on a submarine with a military crew, when he is told there are people on the island. Whitmore says go on by. I can’t wait to see what that was all about. At least he is not out to kill them now. Any thoughts on Whitmore’s role with the island present day?

The Mixed Tape

http://www.lizbaillie.com

    So lately, I've been spending my time catching up on episodes of My Life as Liz on MTV's website. Now I know, its incredibly dorky, but I can't help it. Yes, it's incredibly obvious that it is staged (but I kind of got the impression that MTV was never trying to sell it as anything but staged and written (Liz says something along the lines in the commercials about this was the way she viewed her high school experience.) When we all look back on things, the memory tends to fudge with the ways things actually happened anyway. What I love most about Liz is how easy it is for me to relate to her. She's dorky and sweet, and is going through many of the experiences that I went through in high school.

   So onto the purpose of this post. In episode 5 of the series Bryson (Liz's crush) gives her a mixtape for her birthday, and later, she  gives Bryson a mixed tape when she asks him to prom (which fails, sadly). I've always loved the idea of making a mixed tape for someone. It just seems like the perfect way to say I love you, here's some songs that make me think of you and that I think you'll enjoy. It has to be perfect though, and carefully thought out. Check out this for some tips, since I'm no expert. I've only made one, which was for a friend moving away in eighth grade. It was really cheesy, and featured music mostly from the One Tree Hill Soundtrack. I just love this song:


It's probably what encouraged me to make a mixtape for anyone in the first place. Now that Liz has inspired me, I may just have to go and make another.
     Have you ever made a mixtape for anyone? Who was it for?

Review of Parenthood: Man vs Possum

Can I say yesssss! Finally a show with an introduction again! I actually enjoyed seeing pictures of everyone when they were younger.

Sarah (Lauren Graham) was so on key in the beginning when she sent her kids to a new school. I felt embarrassed. Her interview was kind of awkward as well, but in a good way. And what kind of search engine is "Find Now Go?" They wouldn't have given her a schedule and then randomly pulled her out to tell her that. I felt bad for her :( Not surprised she didn't get the job.

Poor parent's who are just learning that Max has aspberger's. That must be really tough, especially when it seemed really scary when they visited with that family and all they did was talk about the billions of specialists they had to see. But, I love how this kid knows Bob Dylan never had a number one song.

Ugh. I can't imagine being in Dax's characters position. He has no idea what he's doing. But he sucks for lying to that girl. He should tell her he has a kid.

I don't understand what the deal was with the possum. It's not like it was interrupting their sleep or destroying their home. He said the possum was mocking him? Guess it was just an excuse so he could find the pot. I want to learn more about their father especially if he's being smoking pot lately. I liked that the daughter confessed to the pot, although it's kind of cliche that so-called "good kid" ended up with the pot.

And can they even just randomly tell a kid that they're being held back like that? I feel bad that Sarah and everyone always accuses her of being the bad kid.

I liked the end. I always enjoy when all the parents get together. And it's just funny that they started smoking pot.

Sorry if this is kinda jumbled because I wrote it as I watched it. Did anybody else watching it and what did you think? Or what did you spend you Tuesday nights doing otherwise?

Guest post: Review of ABC’s Cougar Town

By: Liberty Kontranowski
Don’t let the name Cougar Town scare you away. This fabulously witty ABC show is not just about old grandmas chasing down teenage love interests and shouting about it from the rooftops. It’s about so much more. Friendship, wacky relationships and finding oneself in the midst of a jumbled world are all central plot themes. We can all relate to those, right?

In the show, Jules Cobb is the main character (played brilliantly by Courteney Cox of Friends and Dirt fame.) Jules is freshly divorced, though her down-on-his-luck ex-hubby, Bobby, is a constant fixture at her house. She has a teenage son, Travis, with whom she has a very open and gray-area relationship with, and a couple of best friends whose sole source of fun is to duke it out with each other over Jules’ affections.


Add in her hottie singleton neighbor, Grayson, with whom constant barbs and personal jabs are the norm and you’ve got one lively neighborhood. And despite all of their dysfunctionality, the crew meets up at Jules’ house with such regularity, you’d think her kitchen was the local java joint where they all surf the web and read the Viamedic blog together every day.

Now, while Jules dabbles in sexcapades and frivolous relationships with fresh, young Floridian meat, she also has her eye on Grayson, who kind of digs her back. Except neither of them will admit it. She embraces her singleness one minute and laments it the next. It’s that push and pull feeling most of us encounter at some point in our lives, only for most of us, our lives aren’t nearly as funny, glamorous or well-cast.

The laughs come often and plenty in this show. The writers did a great job giving each of the characters distinct personalities (and quirks!) and the actors are so convincing, you’d swear you know these people on a personal level.


Whether it’s Ellie and Laurie (Jules’ besties) bearing their claws to each other, Ellie and hubby Andy exchanging snippets about their somewhat mechanical sex life or Travis’ embarrassment over the fact that his dad cuts the lawn at his school for a living and his mom brings home random guys only a few years older than he, each episode is bursting with plot advancement and side-splitting one-liners. It’s a great show to unload the day’s stressors with.


With characters that are so varied in age and many different relationship combos to explore, there seems to be a plethora of avenues this show can travel down. I, for one, am super excited to see what the writers do next. If you haven’t given Cougar Town a chance yet, you really must. It won’t be a waste of your time, I promise (so long as you have a sense of humor, that is.) Warning, though: there is some strong sexual language and connotation to this show, and you’re sure to hear and expletive or two in nearly every episode, so this is not something you want to watch with the whole fam. Make it your time to get away and have a good laugh solo or with some pals. And laugh you will.

For more info on the show, including a cast list and full-length episodes, visit Cougar Town’s official website. Drop us a comment here to let us know what you think of the show and any predictions you may have for future episodes and seasons. Enjoy!


Liberty Kontranowski is a freelance writer and blogger with hundreds of health, sex and lifestyle articles published online and print. She contributes health articles to Viamedic, a safe and secure online drugstore. 

Image courtesy of http://www.entertainmentwallpaper.com/.

Lazy Sunday

How has everybody's weekend been?

Mine's been alright. I haven't done much TV watching (half an episode of Secret life, some of my Life As Liz--I know. I'm pathetic). I've been watching movies instead, including Star Trek and The Hurt Locker.

Coming up this week I've got a myriad of guest posts I have to write, and a couple of upcoming blog posts on this blog.

Shows I plan on watching this week:

HIMYM
My Life As Liz
Parenthood
The Office

And I'm sure I'll hit something up on the web since I'm off all week for spring break. What show are you looking forward to this week? (Comment here and check out my poll!)

Edit: Can't believe I didn't mention it, but who's watching the Oscars tonight?

Some Glee News

I feel like any news I can give you guys regarding Glee (which doesn't come back to April--boo!) you've already heard. But, since I'm super excited for some guest stars, I figured I'd post something here about it. Since it has some spoilers (I know some people hate to be spoiled) I'm putting up a cut so you don't immediately see the info.

Just a few things....

I'm featured on Blabbergirl's blog! Go check it out at Blabbergirl Blog.

In other news, not quite so sure if I'm keeping this blog design or redoing it. This is pretty much the first layout I had. I feel it's kind of better then what I had before, but I'll probably still do some messing around with it until I'm completely happy.

What did you guys think of the Office? I was kind of distracted and talking through a lot of it, so I'll be giving it another view once its online.