Friday, February 19, 2010

The Amazing Johnny Weir was Robbed!!!




Words cannot describe how beautifully Johnny Weir skated tonight. This was only the second time that I have seen him skate; the first time I became obsessed with him and the second time I fell in love with him. I have not found a skater whose grace and beauty on the ice has moved me since Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton, Katarina Witt, and Kurt Browning took to the ice in the 90s. Johnny Weir has done for me what those skaters did, he has reminded me why I love figure skating and that is why I am so ANGRY right now!

On Tuesday Johnny skated a beautiful short program but the judges underscored him and he ended up in 6th place. Tonight he went second to last. The three skaters before him all fell and made major visible mistakes during their performances. Johnny skated beautifully and did amazing jumps with perfect landings. He only made one minor mistake on a spin but he did not fall. "So why was he in 6th place behind all of the men that fell?" you ask. I will tell you why, because he was robbed!!! There is nothing more for me to say. He should have at least gotten the Bronze medal. His underscored short program performance made it almost impossible for him to get the silver or gold, but he deserved the bronze.

The judges have no clue what they are doing. I am trying to find contact information for the IOC but there is none on their website. I think that someone does not want to hear that the citizens of the world know that these competitions are rigged. I will stop here because I will go on a long rant otherwise.

I have become a lifelong fan of Johnny Weir. I only hope that one day I will be able to see him skate live.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

XXI Winter Olympics: Part 2

Tonight's games were frickin AWESOME!!! I have never watched snowboarding before but after tonight I am a HUUUUGE fan of Shaun White! He just made it look so easy and that is really when you know that someone is good at what they do. The other riders were falling down and being boring and he just showed them that he is on a whole other level. I wished that all of the athletes could just have fun. After he realized that he won his coach told him to just have fun (he also said s*** on live network television) and that is what he did. By just enjoying himself he did even better than his first run. On his first run he got a 46.8 but on his second he received a 48.4 out of 50 possible points. It just goes to show that when people have fun they do so much better than when they are stressed out.

The other two big American winners of the night were Lindsey Vonn and Long Track Speed Skater Shani Davis. Davis was the defending Olympic gold medalist in the men's 1000m and world record holder. He is also the first African American to win a gold medal at the Olympics in an individual event. His race was really good! He was so fast that he just smoked the competition.

Lindsay Vonn's win was very emotional. She was skiing with a bruised shin amongst her many injuries and her joy when she crossed the finish line reverberated through the television screen. I was genuinely happy for her. She worked against all of her obstacles and she prevailed because she wanted the win.

Tonight's game were amazing and with tomorrow's men's figure skating final I know that it will be another exiting night of sports.

On that note I just want to say that watching hot guys figure skate is really kind of cool.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

XXI Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics have been absolutely fascinating. I have not seen them, really, since the 90's. My favorite event has always been figure skating, more on that later, but first I want to discuss Apollo Ohno. Apollo is a short track speed skater. I have never seen the sport until a few days ago and I have to say that it is absolutely fascinating. The way these guys skate is unbelievable, Apollo in particular. In his semifinal race he was in last place for about the first ten laps (there are 15 or 16 laps) until he made his amazing pass into FIRST place with five laps to go. I became a fan at that moment. It is something that you have to see to believe. The other American competing was J.R. Celski and he was quite amazing as well.

Both Apollo and J.R. made it to the finals. Unlike his semifinal run Apollo did not stay in the back for most of the race. He and J.R. tried to make their moves early on but they had three fierce South Koreans to contend with. Apollo would pass the but at the next turn they would get back in front. It all came down to the last lap. I was rooting for Apollo and J.R., Apollo almost passed the South Koreans but the three of them were in the top three positions. The skater were coming to the final turn, the South Koreans were in the medal positions with Apollo and J.R. in fourth and fifth, respectively. It looked as if the South Koreans were going to sweep the medals when making the last turn the two in second and third wiped out giving Apollo and J.R. the silver and the bronze. I could not believe it they actually got the silver and bronze! I was screaming and jumping for joy. It was at that moment that I realized how unpredictable this sport could be and I became a fan. I urge everyone to at least watch one game, you will not be disappointed.

On to figure skating. The first skating competition was the pairs. I know that I have not seen the games in a while but the skating sure is much different that it was in the 90s. I swear I have never seen so many people fall in one competition in my whole life. I love the figure skating for the beautiful art on the ice but while watching this competition I began watching to see who would fall. The pair that won, Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China, really deserved to win. Their skating was beautiful and you could tell how passionate they were. Not only that but you could tell that they wanted to win. I think that when you have the talent and the drive there is nowhere to go but up. Their win also brought an end to the Russians' 46 year reign as the pairs champions and the first gold for China in Olympic figure skating. Pang and Tong from China won the Silver, their first ever Olympic medal. I am watching the men's short program now and it has been interesting so far.

The reason that I was compelled to write this blog is because of the NBC commentators. If I had the choice to send one group of people to a cave on an island in the middle of the ocean never to be seen again they would be in strong contention for first place. If the world was not full of murderers and child molesters the commentators would be in first place. I swear that these people are some of the most negative that I have ever had the displeasure of being forced to listen to in my life. There is a big difference between stating facts and being downright negative. I am so happy that the athletes can not hear what these people are saying about them because if they could it would seriously mess up their mental state during competition. When I am watching the Olympics I just want to watch the athletes perform, I don't want to hear about how awful they were in the last Olympics or their last competition. I don't want to hear about all of their technical difficulties the last time they skated. When I watch these performances I just want to see these athletes in the moment that they are competing because the only thing that matters is what they do in that moment. If a speed skater won their last ten competitions but they fall on the track during the one they are competing in then they lose. Nothing they did prior to that moment matters. The thing that I hate is that I can not watch the skaters and hear the music that they are skating to because the commentators talk and drown out everything else. I want to hear what is going on in the area that the competition is taking place and be able to feel the atmosphere. I just wish the commentators had an off button. I am done with my rant about them for now.

As I am typing this I am watching Johnny Weir skate and he is amazing. He is so cool on the ice and flawless. Once again the judges try to mar his performance with snide little remarks. I googled him before he skated and discovered that he is not liked by his peers but has a huge following all over the world. His fans were out in full force and he was very gracious to them.

I will probably write more about the Olympics in the coming days, until my next post, goodbye.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Inagrual Post: Lost

I would like to welcome the one follower I may have. Who am I kidding? I will be the only person to read this blog and that is fine with me, I'm used to being the only person who hears my thoughts. I decided to start this blog because if there is one thing in the world that I do very well it's watch t.v. I love watching t.v. it is like escaping to another world and living vicariously through these wonderful characters on the screen. I hope that anyone who reads this will be at least mildly entertained. Now on to what this blog is about.



Lost is one of the most amazing shows that I have ever watched. I have been hooked from the very first episode. The story has continuously moved forward with each season, despite what the naysayers tell you. On the subject of naysayers, I have a big problem with those who say they never get answers and that Lost is just one big mystery. The thrill of Lost is the mystery and unpredictability. I love the fact that it is unlike anything that I have seen before. In some shows the predictability factor is a good thing. I love Friends and I knew that Ross and Rachel would eventually live happily ever after with one another, but the road traveled to that point is what made the show so amazing. It seems to me that Americans want a quick fix for everything. People wanted to know the answer to the Island mystery on the first episode and they were seriously angry that they did not have their wish granted. I believe that the suspense in watching the mystery unfold is one of the best things about Lost. Watching these characters evolve and not remain one-dimensional is so fulfilling and thrilling. I believe that people need to learn patience. In this world of instant messaging, texting, cellphones, and airplanes people need to remember that when things are fixed quickly corners are usually cut. I prefer that my chickens are able to walk longer than a few seconds.

Back to tonight's final season premiere of Lost. I watched the whole retrospective from 8-9:00p.m. because I wanted a little refresh, it has been off for some time now. I must admit that I watched it on delay so that I could watch the actual season premiere and fast-forward through the commercials. I thought that it was great how the retrospective ended with the final scene from last season because I thought that it would move right into the new season. It would have been perfect, Juliet making the bomb go off, white flash, and then what happens after that. Of course things can never be as wonderful as we want them to be. Instead of having that perfect transition into the episode they destroyed it by showing a recap of last episode instead. Many viewers probably watched the retrospective right before the episode, so we did not need to see that scene for the millionth time. We waited all of these months to see what came after that, they just irritated me with that bit there.

After Juliet makes the bomb go off we see Jack on Oceanic flight 815 sitting across from Rose when the turbulence hits the plane. The plane is fine and then the camera go down from the plane through the clouds and into the ocean below where it makes it journey pass a school of fish and the seabed to show Dharma houses and the foot of the statue sitting on the bottom of the ocean. Then we see the opening title. SHOCKER!

The one problem with having a time-travel plot in a TV series is that people age and change their hairstyles. Roses hair was much shorter than in the pilot episode and Sawyer's was much longer. I figure they couldn't cut his because it wouldn't work with the Island scenes, I get that.

I knew that it wouldn't rip in half this time and with that came a twinge of sadness. The experiences that these people have had these six years the show has been on the air have been thrilling. Thankfully, my sadness was soon replaced by joy when we were shown Kate in the jungle reunited by the whole gang not too long after. Sawyer wanted to kill Jack because the explosion did not work and Juliet was dead for nothing. All of a sudden we and Kate hear Juliet's voice calling for help beneath the wreckage of the Swan station. I was so happy the Juliet was alive because I had really grown to like her character. Sadly, her life ended not too long after Sawyer finally got to her. Right before she breathed her last breath she told Sawyer that she had something important to tell him but she did not have a chance to say it to him. She did however say to him that they should have a cup of coffee sometime and go dutch. I think this may be very important but I may be reading too much into it.

Back on the plane we see the characters we fell in love with, with some major or minor, however you look at them changes. Arntz is there talking to Hurley. Poor, poor Arntz. That scene where the dynamite blew him up and Jack had a piece of Arntz on him will always stay in my mind. Arntz wanted Hurley to say in an Australian accent his line from his chicken restaurant chain. Arntz told Sawyer, who was sitting across from Hurley, that Hurley was the owner of Mr. Clucks and that he was awesome for flying coach. Arntz then asked him how he came to own the business and Hurley told him that he won the lottery and he loved chicken so he brought a chicken restaurant chain. Arntz walked away in disbelief. Sawyer told Hurley not to tell people that he won the lottery because they would take advantage of him. To this Hurley replied that nothing bad ever happened to him. This is a far cry from the Hurley I've come to know and love who did not hesitate to tell others that he was cursed.


The happiest moment of the episode for me came when we cut to John Locke and his row mate who happened to be Boone. I couldn't have been happier, it was BOONE! Ian Somerhalder reprised the role that informed me of his wonderful presence on earth for a few brief moments. When Boone was killed off in the first-freaking season I was devastated. I couldn't believe that I would no longer see him on t.v. every week. I seriously wanted to write Cuse and Lindelof a strongly worded letter on why killing Boone off was the wrong decision. He was not accompanied by Shannon who it was explained did not want to leave her bad relationship. Locke went on to tell him that he went on a walkabout in Australia. Given what Hurley said I thought that perhaps he was not paralyzed. Maybe his deadbeat dad never pushed him out of the window, but this was not the case. When the plane landed he was one of the last to get off because he had to be put in his wheelchair.

We also see Charlie in this episode. He has locked himself in the bathroom and the stewardess, who happened to survive the plane crash and became an other, called for a doctor. Jack came as did Sayid who kicked the bathroom door open. Jack stuck his hand down Charlie's throat to find a bag of drugs. When Charlie came to he told Jack that he should have let him die because he was meant to. Charlie is handcuffed and as soon as the plane lands the authorities board the plane and take him off. I was happy to see Charlie, I really missed him. They have been killing off the original cast members one by one.

**** Instead of writing a new post I will continue from here.


Back on the Island Hurley is alone in the woods with Sayid, unconscious from a gunshot wound, when Jacob appears to Hurley. Jacob tells Hurley that he died two hours ago, something that shouldn't have surprised me since Hurley talks to dead people. Jacob tells Hurley that the only way to save Sayid is to have Jin lead them to the hole in the ground at the temple. When everyone is together Jin leads them there, but Sawyer stays behind to bury Juliet and asks Miles to help him. When Juliet is buried Sawyer ask Miles to talk to her and ask her what was the important thing that she needed to tell him. Miles is reluctant at first but he does as Sawyer requested. He tells Sawyer that "It worked." Sawyer is confused and Miles tells him that Juliet said "it worked."

I think that this means that time was reversed but in an alternate reality. This reality on the Island is the first reality. The bomb caused a parallel universe to be created where no one came to the island because it was consumed by the sea. This is just my theory.

The group goes into the hole in the ground and one by one they disappear until we see a group of people get Jack. We then see everyone being led through what I believe to be the temple until the end up outside. There is a lake and on the other side of it we see a huge temple. These folks in this temple are the other-others. Their leader is a Japanese guy who won't speak English so he has an American translate what he says to everyone.

The Japanese guy gives the other-others the order to kill them but Hurley speaks up and tells them that they were sent by Jacob. He gives them the guitar case that Jacob gave him and when they open it it contains the cross that the statue was holding before it was more than a foot. They break it open and pull out a rolled note and proceed to ask their names. When they give their names they put down their weapons. Hurley tells them that Jacob said they could save Sayid. They take Sayid inside where there is a pool/stream. They remark that the water is not clear. The Japanese guy cuts his hand and puts it in the water but it does not heal. They warn them that to try to heal Sayid will be risky and his friends tell them to try. A group of men take Sayid into the pool and hold his head under. Sayid wakes up and struggles to get up but they hold him under until he stops moving. They take him out and confirm that he is dead.

Hurley is later taken to have an audience with the Japanese guy and his translator. Hurley remarks that the translator is not translating what he says to the Japanese guy. To this the Japanese guy says, in English, that he doesn't want to dirty his mouth with English. They ask him about Jacob and Hurley tells them that he is dead. They immediately go on alert. They put this black ash around the temple and send up a flare to alert the others.

Last season ended with Jacob being murdered by Ben with the urging of Locke, who really turned out not to be Locke but the Man in Black in Locke's image. For our purposes I will refer to him as Not-Locke. Jacob's bodyguards, minus Ilana, come in and Not-Locke tells them that Jacob is dead. They shoot at him and he walks behind a beam in the room. When they look behind it he is not there but they find bullets with the tips flattened like they hit something hard. Then we hear the ominous rattling, and I was like "oh my gosh, the Man in Black is the smoke monster." The smoke monster comes and begins killing the men, but one of them take out a pouch and pours a circle of the black ash around him and we find that it created an impenetrable field against the smoke monster. That would never stop the smoke monster he knocks a piece of the wall behind the man that hits him and knocks him out of his force field. The smoke monster immediately grabs and kills him. He then leaves then Not-Locke walks in and says to Ben "I'm sorry that you had to see me like that." I was like "I knew it. The Man in Black is the smoke monster." I couldn't believe that the first mystery of the Island had kind of been solved. We still don't know what Jacob and the Man in Black are.

After this shocking revelation Not-Locke tells Ben to go tell Richard that Jacob would like to speak with him. Ben goes out not letting on that he just murdered Jacob and Not-Locke everyone else and tries to get Richard to come inside. Richard tries to get the truth out of him because they've been friends for a long time. Ben is Ben and Richard has to take him to Locke's dead body on the other side of the box he was in. Ben is shocked. Richard looks up and sees the flare that the other-others sent up. He turns around and Not-Locke comes walking up to him. Not-Locke says that it's been awhile since he last saw Richard and that it's nice to see him not in chains. He then knocks Richard out and throws him over his shoulder.

In the other reality Kate escapes from the cop who arrested her. Still in handcuffs she makes it outside and jumps in a cab with none other than Claire. We haven't seen her in a long time. She holds Claire and the cab driver at gunpoint in order to escape the airport and the cop.

Jack on the other hand is told that his father's body has been lost. He ends up in a room with a wheelchair bound John Locke. Locke is there because they lost his knives. When Jack tells Locke that they lost his father's body Locke tells him that his father isn't lost because he was never gone. Jack inquires as to how Locke ended up in a wheelchair and tells him that he is a spinal surgeon. Locke tells him that he has been to many doctors and his condition is irreversible. Jack tells him that nothing is irreversible and hands Locke his card offering him a free consult.

Thank you whoever reads this for going through this first blog post with me. This blog is an experimental work in progress and I appreciate you taking the time to even read the title of the blog and this post.

Arrivederci!