Zoey: In Memorandum

Author's Note: Usually I do a lot of fun/silly notes on this blog, but for the first time in a long time I wanted to drop a serious entry. In the book "Me Talk Pretty One Day", Author David Sedaris, mixes the funny with the sad. Inspired by his essay "The Youth in Asia" where he recounts a few family pets and their lives, I found it fitting to throw in an inspired serious entry between my LOST fandom and movie/pop culture/ random complaining entries. Plus, I think this is my own personal way to deal with the loss of a pet. So this really is more for me than anyone else, but if you happen to read this, I promise my next entry will be funny.

Zoey entered our lives just a little over a month ago. A friend of Stacey's was looking for a home for her since Zoey didn't quite get along with her bunnies. We weren't looking for another cat, but we decided after weighing the pros and cons to take her in. Not so much because we wanted another cat, but mostly so that our cat Gilbert could have a playmate that wouldn't mind his sneak attacks as much as we did. Within a few days, the two were great friends (that's all they'd be since Gilbert is neutered and didn't care so much about her looks). We'd occasionally be woken up by the playful hoots between the two cats who decided playtime would begin once the lights go out rather than during the daytime when they would take a 2o hour nap instead. The impact of introducing Zoey into our lives was immediate. Our arms and legs would no longer bear evidence of a Gilbert mauling and we were able to get a collection of funny and cute pictures of the two together.

With no name besides "Kitty" or "the cat", we decided to pick a name for her and even reached out to our facebook friends to help pick a name between "Zoey" or "Isis". She technically would be known as "Madeline" at the Denver Dumb Friends League, but her previous owner and us did not enjoy the name so much. So we compiled a list of possible names. We had a few fun and pop culture inspired names like "Petra" or "Ripley" were eliminated earlier. It was a close call but in the end the name "Zoey" became the winner. The name Zoey, by the way, came from the TV show Firefly. She also subsequently earned a few nicknames in her time. Zoe-bot was a common one for her, and I likened to calling her "Ol smokey-face" due to her gray face. Had she lived longer, several more would likely follow as we call Gilbert several things depending on the mood of the week, that's just how Stacey and I roll.

Zoey fit into our family rather quickly. Soon she would give "nose kisses" to us when parting or greeting and sometimes for no reason at all. And like Gilbert, she was intrigued by the mystical world of the shower. She was a little more adventurous about trying to enter the "magic rain-box" and even got a quick splash or two when we decided to turn on the shower head. After that experience, she'd hold off her investigation into the shower until after it was used and the water was off. She was a quick learner, she also picked up on the fact that when treat time came, we liked to make the cats do a small "trick" and put their front paws on our knees before being rewarded.

Zoey often would like to engage in long conversations with us (usually whilst doing her crazy "exorcist kitty" head spin). We didn't have much to talk about really, but she did like meowing "answers" to us. Since she officially became a part of our family, we bought her a kitty bed and new collar. When Stacey would have to go to work she often enjoyed exploring the balcony while I'd wave goodbye to her, but since it was too cold we had to compromise on cold nights by having the fireplace going. She would often be found sleeping in front of the robust fire I started, I believe this was a fair compromise to her.

Although she wasn't as mischievous as Gilbert, Zoey often found her way into mischief. With her being so tiny and light, she found that she could stealthily jump on top of the fridge without us knowing until something would move, or Gilbert would express his jealous meows "to tell on her". She was also responsible for our impromptu pillow barrier in front of our couch after she had a expedition not under, but INSIDE the couch, causing one major headache rescue mission for Stacey and I.

Zoey became sick on Sunday and threw up her food from earlier in the day, in the past Gilbert would do the same thing but we were recommended to not feed him for 12-24 hours, then try a small amount of bland food. So we did this and Tuesday it seemed she started to show signs of recovery by playing with Gilbert. That night she even tried to sleep in bed with us...which we allowed until it became uncomfortable. By Wednesday she seemed extremely bad and would not eat at all despite what was offered to her, that night she slept between Stacey and I all night long. Thursday we took her to the vet where it was discovered that she was in really bad shape and we elected to try to save her by paying for an overnight visit and an IV line. The outlook seemed very grim and it was doubtful she would make it throughout the night. Knowing that in all likelihood, that she would probably die overnight, Stacey and I did a few farewells to her before leaving. Zoey managed to survive overnight and shortly afterward the vet gave Stacey a call saying that Zoey is getting worse and needed us to approve euthanasia and invited us to say our goodbyes. I was unable to go to work due to running a few minutes late and not knowing if I could afford another "late occurrence" following the snow delays the week before. I didn't want to take a chance so I called in absent (better a day's pay cut than a permanent one). On the way home Stacey phoned me and told me the news and I met with her at the vet office. After having Stacey sign the paperwork for the euthanasia , the Vet brought Zoey in to spend a little time with us before having to euthanize her. She was heavily sedated and swaddled in a few blankets to keep her warm and comfortable. We didn't want to spend more time to delay the inevitable but we both sadly held and caressed her assuring her that we love her and will miss her. She would just stare up at us, which I believe she knew that this was our farewell to her. I didn't want to stay for the actual euthanasia, so I said bye to Zoey and despite her heavy sedation, she managed to lift her head high enough to give me one final "nose kiss".

I made a B-line to my car where I cried for the first time since Stacey and I were going long distance with our relationship 2 years ago before moving to Colorado. I was done for the moment when Stacey came back out. I was assured that Zoey went peacefully and didn't have any convulsions or show any pain. Being a student at a Vet Tech school, Stacey was asked if she'd be interested in attending Zoey's autopsy. She was able to attend and immediately got into "work mode", so to everyone and later, my surprise she was able to go through it without crying. Which is good, since she'll have to deal with this sort of thing after she's done with her program and this was a good test for her. The autopsy would reveal that Zoey had abnormally small kidneys, which she was born with. Because of this defect she was not able to handle things most cats could, the non-toxic flower we noted she chewed on from a bouquet I got Stacey for Valentines Day could have been too much for her, making it one of several possibilities. This was comforting to know, since she was born with this, she would have inevitably been in this position later in life or have suffered a chronic kidney disease. We also realized that in all likelihood we'd probably have not been able to save her anyway as she died of (or was dying of) acute renal failure and we did and paid for everything we could to possibly save her. In the end, hard as it was, I was glad to say goodbye to her, rather than get a voicemail and immediately having to deal with customer's complaining about a 2 dollar increase in their bills for the rest of the day.

Although she was with us for a month, Zoey was a major part of our family and we were glad that her final month she had a playmate and enjoyed her final days before growing ill. She leaves behind a void which will be very hard to fill and will be missed.






Zoey Bagby
Dec 22, 2008- Feb 26, 2010

The Netflix Expirement

So for Christmas, my sister-in-law Stephanie got me 3 months of Netflix for free. Having never used the service, I've decided that this would be the best way to catch up on my "To watch" list. So here's a few reviews of movies that I finally got to see (some are old, some new).

The Third Man (1949) starring Orson Welles
Harry Lime isn't too far behind Charles Foster Kane in my book! This movie is extremely close to topping Kane in quality. Set in Vienna post WWII, this thriller/mystery is worth watching. Although Welles doesn't show up until well into the last 1/3rd of the movie, when he's onscreen it's awesome. The rest of the cast are entertaining as well. This is one that definitely stands the test of time. 5 of 5 stars

Blade Runner (1982) Starring Harrison Ford
This one has been on my list for a very long time, so naturally I made it part of my first batch. Sadly I wasn't captivated by it as expected. I liked the storyline, but just something about it didn't just click with me, which makes me sad. However I do believe that part of the reason is that I've seen references in movie magazines and such that make reference to the is "Deckard really an android?" question, and I guess i was expecting a "I am Tyler Durden" moment instead of the subtle moment at the end of the movie. However I do plan to give it another try eventually to see how i ultimately feel about it. 3.5 of 5 stars

Ghost World (2001) Starring Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi
I've seen this one before, but Stacey hasn't and for some reason I brought it up a few days before setting up the Netflix account. It's a pretty fun independent comedy (with Scarlett Johansen before she became a big name) and I didn't know until recently it's based on a graphic novel (probably b/c the ones i read are about superheroes and stuff and not teenage girls facing post-High School Life). 4 of 5 stars

UP (2009)
Freaking Pixar! They know how to make cartoons for all ages, but they also know how to make you sad. The first 10 minutes of this movie were so depressing. But with that said, this is a toss-up with Ratatouille as my favorite Pixar movie. 5 of 5

Extract (2009) Starring Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis
The last good Mike Judge movie made was probably Office Space, so it was nice to see his workplace humor and memorable character form show up in this movie. The whole plot of the movie is about sexual frustration basically and we all know that's freakin hilarious right? What i loved about the movie though is the guy who played Champ on Anchorman plays probably the most annoying neighbor ever , it was one of those characters that you want to stab in the neck with a pencil, but yet probably the best part of movie (just like Milton in Office Space). However long-hair and bearded Ben Affleck and Mila Kunis were pretty annoying so that knocked a few points down. 4 of 5 stars

Day That the Earth Stood Still (1951)
This movie had the Blade Runner effect on me. I expected myself to like it but it just didn't do wonders on me like I was anticipating. For the time it was made, i agree it was pretty good, but it just didn't captivate me like i wanted it to. 3 of 5 stars

RocknRolla (2008) Starring Gerard Butler
This took a bit of time to get into but then it becomes a lot like Snatch. Although not as good as Snatch, it was still pretty cool. Guy Richie once again makes a invincible Russian antagonist which makes me now think Russians just can't get killed no matter how many times shot or ran over. This is supposed to be the first of a trilogy but with Sherlock Holmes doing pretty good, I'm not sure we'll see "The Real Rocknrolla" anytime soon or at all. 4 of 5 stars

Observe & Report (2009) Starring Seth Rogen
A few funny parts, too many parts that aren't and try too hard. 1 of 5 stars

The Wrestler (2009) Starring Mickey Rourke
Bravo! Mr. Rourke. It doesn't take long to see exactly why Mickey Rourke was nominated for an Oscar. Great storytelling. 4.5 of 5

Bottle Rocket (1996) Starring Owen & Luke Wilson
Thanks to this movie we were introduced to Wes Anderson and the Wilson Brothers. Not nearly as good as Rushmore or Life Aquatic, it's still pretty fun to watch. 3 of 5 stars

Miller's Crossing (1990) Starring Ethan Coen
This was one that Stacey and I were split on. She hated it, I very much enjoyed it. I really think i've seen this before, but it's a fun Italian mafia vs Irish mafia flick. Fun as a movie it is, I'm pretty sure when people with machine guns are shot, they probably won't stand around shooting the gun for 30 seconds in every direction....but it's funny. 4 of 5 stars

Green Street Hooligans (2005) Starring Elijah Wood
Pretty much Fight Club in England. it's a decent film and some good fight scenes show up. Do hooligans really hate journalists though? That's the only thing i sort of scratched my head over. I thought they'd hate people on opposing teams a lot worse. 3 of 5 stars

Ronin (1998) Starring Robert De Niro
I love Robert Di Niro. And he's probably the only thing i liked about this movie. That and the car chase. Could have been cooler but then again I may be expecting too much after seeing Heat.
3 of 5 stars

A Scanner Darkly (2006) Starring Keanu Reeves
This was pretty interesting and it's the second Phillip K. Dick movie I watched this last month. Filmed and then animated over, it was a interesting watch. The movie itself was alright and Robert Downey Jr. was awesome anytime he was onscreen. Although the movie was alright, what's really cool is the story behind the story it's based on. This was Phillip K. Dick's semi-autobiographical story about living in LA during a time he was pretty heavy into drugs. The excerpt at the end of the movie lists people "who were punished entirely too much for what they did" that lists people who died or suffered permanent damage b/c of drugs came right from the book. Pretty cool and makes me want to read it. 4 of 5 stars

Haven (2004) starring Orlando Bloom
The cover of this DVD makes it look like another "Crash" and the film kind of steers that direction, however a lot of sloppy editing kind of ruins it. 3 of 5 stars

Away we Go (2009) Starring Jim from the Office!
Pretty much a grown up version of Juno which substitutes weird made-up slang, hamburger phones and cross country running training for a weird Maggie Gyllenhaal, and a bearded Jim from The Office. 4 of 5 stars

Getting "Lost" again Pt 5 of 5

It has finally come to this, the massive 103 hour project of re-watching Lost seasons 1-5 before the sixth and final season have officially ended for me moments ago with just a week to spare. So here is my last entry with a look back at season 5. Remember to read this blog on http://bradsasylum.blogspot.com so that you can see it in the way I want it to be read (pictures look better, no cut-off sentences by facebook, ect)

Overall, Season 5 was probably my personal favorite season, Season 4 was good and sometimes I feel that season 4 may be the better of the seasons, but with all the sci-fi elements mixed into Season 5, I'm pretty sure it's my favorite most of the time. It begins a little confusing enough with all the time traveling shenanigans but it comes into it's own once the time traveling stops during the time of the Dharma Initiative (aka the group of people living on the island before the crash that Ben Linus & the others wiped out, they also built all the hatches on the island).
So lets kick off with what i consider my favorite episodes of Season 5

"Jughead"- Within a few moments of this episode Daniel Faraday (aka Twitchy) goes from a Swiss cheese-memory addled physicist to a major power player (although his rocket test in season 4 was pretty important). We learn that Charles Widmore was an other, "Jughead" is introduced, and Richard Alpert looks the same in the 50s as he does in 2008 (He's totally going to be revealed as a Highlander.) Present day we learn that Desmond named his son Charlie (aww) and that Oxford pretty much covered up Faraday's time travel experiments after he went from rat testing to human testing. Plus as a bonus, I'm pretty sure one thing i missed the first time around or didn't read into was when the Others first catch Faraday & Co. Ellie asks Faraday "You just couldn't stay away could you". Naturally, I assumed with the jumping back and forth through time they'd encounter the Other's at an earlier time to prompt her saying that, but not the case as they only bump into the Others at a later time period, so I'm thinking crazy ol Faraday has done this dance before, hence why he was crying at the Oceanic 815 crash discovery footage on his TV and not knowing why, or even why he knows so much about the Island.


"LaFleur"- I love everything about this episode. Sawyer finally becomes a leader without Jack or Locke getting in the way. Being the skillful conman he is, Sawyer is able to safely con his way into the Dharma Initiative where he, Juliet, Miles, Jin and Faraday spend 3 years with pot brownies, Geranamo Jackson playing on the airwaves and that paranoid Crazy Bastard Radzinsky. Plus Sawyer gets to shack up with Juliet for 3 years, who's considerably much better than Kate, thus making Sawyer the character who gets laid the most on Lost (Juliet, Kate, Ana Lucia, and pretty much everyone he conned pre-crash, including his baby-momma Cassidy, who is also Kate's friend...i wonder if Kate ever told her?)


"The Variable"- After being gone for a good portion of the season Faraday returns to the Island on a mission beginning with wanting to know how in the Hell the Oceanic Six were able to return to the Island in the same time period they are living in. Faraday then goes off the rails and decides that whole business of "whatever happened, happened" is a crock and decides that he can prevent Oceanic Flight 815 from ever crashing by detonating "Jughead" (whom he instructed the Others to bury), which would create a chain of events that will domino effect to the point where 815 never crashes, so the frieghter never comes, the smoke monster never gets explained still, and everything is cool and people won't have to die (which sucks b/c that means Artz, Nikki, Paulo, Boone, and Frogurt will get to live on to annoy the piss out of everyone.). Daniel's plan was great and everything except for the part where he goes into the Other's camp to get killed by his own beastwhore mother. We also learn Widmore is Faraday's dad. Worst.Parents.Ever.


Season 5 VIP
This is probably the easiest choice in this series of blogs, hands down Sawyer owned season 5. We saw him go from a scavenger, conning, sort of a jerk survivor to a much more mature character. His years as "Jim LaFleur", Dharma's chief of Security were probably his best. Secondly, he beats the bloody hell out of Jack in a fight I've waited 5 seasons for. Don't get me wrong I like Jack, but he has moments where he needs a beating and Sawyer was there at the right place at the right time to deliver. No other character except Faraday came close to shining as bright as Sawyer this season.

Re-evaluated Characters
Ok it's painful to admit, but I didn't find Kate annoying this season. It took me 5 long seasons to admit that. I really can't find a reason to not like her this season (and trust me I tried). Other seasons she would get caught by the Others, having her longtime boyfriend killed in police shootouts, and she poisons Captain Mal from Firefly (who's a cop she married while on the run, which makes her a helluva master of disguise or makes Nathan Fillion's cop a idiot). Anyway she turned out to be a decent person after leaving the island and taking care of Turnip-head (aka Aaron) as her own child since Claire's MIA, she also takes care of Sawyer's daughter, and even makes Jack happy...but then also helps create my favorite lost character "bearded pill-popping depressed Jack" when their engagement is called off.

Also I found Crazy Bastard Radzinsky to be worse than that weasel Phil (I purposely capitalized "crazy" and "bastard" as this is a more fitting first name than "Stu"). Initially Phil annoyed me but second time around Crazy Bastard Radzinsky was a lot worse. As weasel Phil is just annoying and an inconvenience mostly, Crazy Bastard Radzinsky is crazy, stubborn, and mean. I think I liked him more when he was just a blood splatter on the ceiling of the hatch. I did however cheer when Phil got skewered in the season finale.


And Now For Something Completely Different.....
That's it for this blog series looking back at Lost. The season begins next Tuesday and so far from promotional pictures this final season should be fun and we'll see a few old friends along the way. Plus I'm glad it's starting now with the whole Conan vs. NBC/Leno mess, it'll be good to see quality TV that won't get pulled off the air by airheaded executives....even though they may have Lost: The Next Generation when they start to miss the ratings in a few years, but as far as the castaways we know and love now, it's better to end now than to be a watered down show after a few seasons and for that I'm happy. With a week to spare, there's a ton of special features on the DVDs that I've been wanting to get to so now I'll have time to watch bloopers, deleted scenes and the "Mysteries of the Universe- Dharma Initiative" sounds particularly interesting.
Anyway below is how I think this is the best way to end this blog series.
Remember to drink when you see a "Jackface"!

Getting "Lost" again Pt 4 of 5

In my continuation of my look back at "Lost" I have now finished Season 4 of Lost (didn't take nearly as long and still one of the better of the seasons). Again, I must remind you that if seeing on Facebook please go to my blog's homepage at http://bradsasylum.blogspot.com/, the reason being that all the cool pictures I pick and so on, show up much, much better on the actual site.

So looking back at Season 4 the gameplan changes for our Lost castaways as "Rescue" comes. From Hurley being arrested in present day LA saying he's "One of the Oceanic 6" to Locke moving the Island, this season was pretty consistant in quality, there were no B-squad special episodes like Nikki and Paulo's episode featuring Artz, Shannon & Boone, nor were there any episodes dedicated to Jack's Tattoos, everything was straight-forward. Now that Darleton had a end date, they could move foward and not have to stall anymore and the result was a great season.

Looking back at Season 4, here is my top 3 picks for the best episodes of Season 4:

"The Constant"- Without a shadow of doubt, this is probably the best episode of Lost to date and resides at my personal favorite episode. Centered on Desmond, this episode followed our favorite Scott as he becomes unstuck in time transferring between the present 2004 and 1996. Very reminiscent of "All Good Things...." (aka last Star Trek: The Next Generation episode) this one is a classic and also mullet Faraday is a classic too. Plus crazy confused Desmond is awesome!


"The Shape of Things to Come"- Everyone's favorite lying salamander-esque villain Benjamin Linus is in full geared bad-ass mode in this episode. Was it just me or did this feel like a Indiana Jones feeling episode with the globe-treking that Ben does and the Smoke Monster filling in as the God Storm at the end of Raiders of the Lost Arc. Plus we get to see Ben and Sayid team up and that was pretty awesome. But what really should be worth noting is that Ben does have a heart when his "Daughter" Alex gets a metal slug in the brain from Keamy.

"Cabin Fever" - Locke, Ben and Hurley go searching for Jacob's cabin, but to be honest everything in this episode doesn't hold a candle to the flashback meeting between child Locke and Richard Alpert in what should be a recruiting attempt. I firmly believe that this moment will play out really big in season 6. Richard shows John a set of items including a compass, a vial of sand, a baseball glove, a book of laws, a comic book and a knife apparently belonging to Locke in a past life. It would seem Locke chose the sand (from the island?) and the compass correctly, but instead of choosing the book of laws as the scene (and most likely Richard) suggests should be the right option, little Locke picks the knife causing a hasty exit from Richard. Also worth noting is that Christian Shepard appears in this episode for the first time not in a suit suggesting that "Cabin Christian" may not be Christian at all (my guess is that it's the "Man in Black", who appears to be Jacob's enemy).

*Bonus* "Ji Yeon"- Lost knows exactly how to pull a sucker punch. This entire episode made us believe that Jin & Sun made it off the Island together since it showed Sun about to give birth and Jin making a mad dash to get a present before going to the Hospital. But it turns out that the Sun story was a flash-foward while Jin's was a flashback with the episode ending with Sun and Hurley "visiting" Jin.....AT HIS FREAKING TOMBSTONE!!!


Season 4 VIP(s):
To be perfectly Honest I could see a few people at this spot. But the two that stood out most this season was Ben and Sayid.
For Sayid, he secures his place as the man to go to when you absolutely, positively have to kill some bad guys. His flashfowards are intriguing as he starts killing off possible Charles Widmore associates at the order of Ben. Later we see him busting Hurley out of the mental institution. On the Island, Sayid teams up with the Others to rescue Ben and to take out Keamy and his men.

Ben on the other hand is hard to turn down and deny the honor of being a standout this season. But after seeing he somehow can summon the smoke monster, that makes him awesome. Also he shoots Charlotte (who's a bitch pretty much) and that was awesome, but she had a bulletproof vest. Also we learn that in the grand scheme of things everyone is Ben's bitch even when he's handcuffed and getting the crap knocked out of him. Finally you know you have a good character when his "I wasn't telling the full truth" moment never ever gets old and anyone that can take out armed guys with a collapsible baton is awesome.

PS: I wish they had more drug-riddled Jack, I think that's when I best enjoy the character. The first disk menu on the DVD for this season has him soaking in all his craziness with maps of islands and such...it's glorious.



That does it for my look back at Season 4. Just one more season to finish before the final season begins!

Getting "Lost" again Pt 3 of 5

In my continuing blog series, I am taking a retroactive look back at the show Lost in celebration of it's last season (until Disney/ABC decides to make Lost: The Next Generation). I'm mostly doing this for myself and my fellow Losties who routinely get into Lost conversations. If you are just now getting into the series and stumbled across this keep in mind this is very spoiler filled. Also, as before please see http://bradsasylum.blogspot.com/ for the real post, formatted in the way i intend it to be...facebook always screws these up.

Overall season 3 was a mix for me. Usually Season 2 gets a bad rap as being the worst season, but as mentioned in my last installment, I really don't think it had as many black marks against it as Season 3 does. Look at it this way, Season 2 gave us Desmond & Benjamin Linus as well as the tail section survivors. Season 3 did give us Juliet, Richard Alpert, and the unkillable cycloptic Russian Other Mikhail. But at the same time they solved the baffling mystery of what Jack's tattoos mean (I'm being sarcastic), and who could forget Nicki and Paulo (actually now that i think of it, pretty much everyone can). However this season had some amazing moments which came after ABC gave the go-ahead to set an end date.

As before I'll break down my top 3 episodes of the season, reveal my pick for that season's VIP, and finally re-evaluated characters.

First of all let's take a look at what I consider the best of Season 3.

"The Man Behind the Curtain"- Definitely in my top 5 lost episodes, this episode shows the previously unknown history of Benjamin Linus as well as the Dharma folks. I personally think this episode will be essential in Season 6 one way or another. So much mythology in Lost was dropped here. In the Ben flashback we meet Annie, Ben's childhood girlfriend, who has yet to pop back up. Personally I think Charles Whidmore killed her or she died in childbirth causing Ben to be the person he is today & it could explain his hellbent quest to find out why women die during childbirth on the island. Secondly, We find out that Richard Alpert is ageless!!! Interestingly though, this is the first time we see him not clean cut and wearing all black (could this be an alt-universe Richard since he was clean cut when Sayid shoots Harry Potter...er...a Ben?). Finally worth noting is that in Ben's classroom the children are learning of Volcanoes (which maybe why the statue is only a foot now, and may caused the Adam & Eve skeletons in the caves found in S1). The present day storyline also "shows" us Jacob for the first time. (but is it really Jacob?).

"The Cost of Living"- This is the Swan Song for Mr. Eko. It's such a shame that the actor wanted to leave Hawaii because all 3 Mr. Eko centered stories are some of the best and strongest stories ever to show on Lost. It seems that Ol Smokey wasn't too happy about losing his staredown with Mr Eko last season. Even with the cheeseball line at the end, this episode was pretty much a fitting farewell to one of Lost's better characters.

"Flashes Before Your Eyes"- Oh those kooky Desmond-centered episodes. Apparently when he turned the key at the Swan Station, Desmond seemingly traveled back in time with a sense of Deja Vu of his time on the island. Here we meet Mrs. Hawking, who seems like a interesting Character until the beastwhore killed Faraday down the line. None-the-less, this was an important episode, especially right before seeing the 5th season.


Season 3 VIP:

This was a little bit of a challenge but I think we have yet another tie on our hands. Charlie was fun and all in the past but desperately needed a "Even though you're on the B-squad, you're the B-squad Leader" talk. However in his last moments he made a selfless sacrifice to save everyone...or did he doom most of them? Anyway aside from the fact that he could have easily escaped out of the underwater hatch and had a bottle of MacClucheon whiskey on the beach with Desmond, but that didn't happen. Either way, good job Charlie, you're dead but you're not worthless anymore.

Ben on the other hand, while creepy as "Henry Gale" in season 2, was at his best this season. From conning Sawyer to putting a bullet into Locke, Ben was probably the most fun character to watch this season. And as stated in the top episodes portion, Wizard behind the Curtain, is probably going to be essential to the final season. Also Ben single handily takes out all the Dharma Hippies as well as his daddy in one afternoon.


Finally
Fun Fact: Did you know that Rob McElhenny (aka Mac from It's Always Sunny) was one of the others? Here's the link . In past seasons I would indulge in the occasional set report, but I've mostly avoided it this season. However it's nearly impossible to not hear a few whispers of the upcoming season, including that many past characters will be returning. So hopefully we'll see Aldo show back up even though he's not an important character, but it'll still be funny to see him pop up again.

Fun Fact: When "A Tale of 2 Cities " came out, not only did it kick off season 3, but it kicked off the birth of "Jackface". The popular meme involves all the crazy faces Jack makes while acting like a 2 year old in the empty shark tank he's being held captive in. This is also a fun drinking game as well where you drink every time a "Jackface" shows up. more info here

Getting "Lost" again Pt 2 of 5

***if seeing on Facebook please go to http://bradsasylum.blogspot.com/ instead, facebook never publishes these the way i want and messes up the pictures. Also for those of you that are Lost Virgins, this contains spoilers.****

In my ongoing mission to re-watch all the seasons of Lost before the final season drops on Feb 2nd, I officially have a little over a month to watch the next 3 seasons. Fortunately, season 3 is the last of the long seasons, so seasons 4 and 5 will be easy. This season for me was a little under-rated, for some it's the worst season, but it's the season that gave us Eko, Ben, and Desmond so it could be argued as one of the most important seasons.

Once again, I'll start off with the top 3 episodes of season 2.

23rd Psalm
Easily my favorite episode thus far in Lost history. This episode makes me sad that Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje didn't want to stay on the show because I'd love to have seen more Mr. Eko episodes. Darleton had big plans to make Eko stick around longer and to even be the recipient of the visions Desmond gained in Season 3 ( such a shame.) This episode is by far one of the best stories in Lost. Eko being a merciless drug dealer turned priest was every bit surprising as it was good. We even got to see Eko 1-up John Locke's Season 1 staredown against the smoke monster... Plus that plane that rid us of Boone? Yeah that was Eko's dead brother's plane!

Two for the Road
I liked the shock factor at the end of this episode. For the most part I didn't care about Ana Lucia being chaperon for drunk Christian Shepard in Australia (even though it showed us that Claire and Jack are half-siblings). Funny as it was, I wasn't surprised about Sawyer and Ana Lucia's fling (which Sawyer would later so delicately put as "I screwed her" when having a moment of bonding with Jack). The real shock came at the end when Bernard and Eko become the last of the Tail Section survivors and Micheal cements himself as the biggest douche on the show.

Live Together, Die Alone
Finally! We get to see Desmond's story. So many cool parts, Ben being shown as the leader of the Others, Locke getting hit with the Jesus stick and crying about it, we learn why Oceanic flight 815 crashed, the four toed statue is shown and not brought up again until 3 seasons later and finally, The Kurrigan being shown as Desmond's Dharma Hatch buddy....if you didn't catch that reference you need to rent Highlander immediately. (Also did you know that Clancy f'n Brown does the voice of Mr. Crabs???)




Season 2 V.I.P
A very very hard choice, Locke had some great stories, Eko won fans with his backstory and Ben went from being a guest star to a main character with a very awesome line about milk.
Being the indesisive person I am, I can't choose between Locke and Eko. I know Ben had some moments but He really came into his own in the next 2 seasons so we'll leave him off this time. Locke was at the center of all the Hatch mystery moments, had some great moments with Ben/Henry Gale and his incident with the blast doors gave us a cooler map than the one Sayid stole from the French Lady's lair (where he was probably raped...just saying). Eko was a welcome addition and had the strongest and most appealing backstory in the series. Plus it's fitting that the two people who had a stare-down with Smokey and lived share this spot (although Eko doesn't go 2 for 2 later). Finally the Eko & Locke scenes are awesome.

Re-Evaluated Characters

Didn't really have any this season. I did hate Rose & Bernard and got mad that they got their own flashback episode and then I kind of liked them but then again I got more happy about seeing Vincent (the dog) than I was to see them after they were MIA for the full season last year...so maybe that doesn't really count.

Overall, fun season despite the WAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLTTTTT cries. Thankfully that didn't get dragged out into the next season. Best of all this season gave us mysteries such as the food drop that have yet to be answered. Also like WAAAAAAAAAALLLTT, Libby and the flight attendant seems to have a bit of significance, but with only 16 episodes left, kinda doubting that we'll find out what is going on with them.

Now time to kill off Season 3
Brad

A Few Must See Christmas Movies

Lately I've been in the Christmas mood. Between buying movie themed ornaments, gearing up for our trip to Abilene in a few weeks and probably this being our first Christmas married, I'm just a few degrees away from Clark Griswold (but without the lights) when it comes to being excited about Christmas. Plus we get to begin several of our own traditions.

Speaking of Clark Griswold here are some of my recommendations for movies to watch this time of year to get into the Christmas Spirit (which with me movies will always make the traditions list). Plus I'm intentionally leaving out old classics like "it's a wonderful life" and so on..leave those movies for your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Scrooged- Sure you can watch the hundreds of adaptations of "A Christmas Carol" or you can watch Bill Murray in his prime as a very Scrooge-like TV Network Executive. Plus with an abusive Ghost of Christmas Present and a shootgun toting Bobcat Goldwaith, what's not to love about this great flick.


How The Grinch Stole Christmas- Not talking about the Jim Carrey live action movie, I'm meaning the very old cartoon. If you don't watch this you might as well not celebrate Christmas. (on a side note: Have anyone else noticed how stores seem to not have the Mike Myers live action Cat in the Hat? Did they pay a lot of money to make it simply disappear out of embarrassment? I don't even think the Guru is on shelves either, perhaps Mike Myers is more powerful than imagined.)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation- This is probably my favorite installment of the Griswold's Vacation movies. From the oversized tree to the excessive lights and decorations, all the way to Cousin Eddie showing up. This is probably one of the best Christmas comedies made.


Elf- I almost forgot to add this one on, this is one of the last great Will Ferrell movies and plus in a few years time it could maybe surpass Christmas Vacation.

Home Alone- Yeah yeah this movie was freaking awesome as a kid because it would inspire you to actually make traps like this...I didn't since my mom told me that the robbers would have really died and I wouldn't want that grief on me so i refrained. Now in retrospect, Kevin has horrible parents and the robbers were wusses to get schooled by a 8 year old...or however old Mcaully Cullkin is in this movie.

Nightmare Before Christmas- Before it was a Hot Topic staple, this was a pretty fun christmas movie



A Christmas Story- Ralphie's quest for a Red Rider BB gun is definitely a must see staple for Christmas. In recent years TNT have been airing it on 24 hour straight marathons and as many times as I've seen it, this one never gets old I still laugh at the frozen flag pole dare, the really mean Santa, and "Ralphie's Pink Nightmare."




A Charlie Brown Christmas- Like "The Grinch..", this one is an oldie, but goodie. Plus that poor poor tree always seems to work it's way into holiday conversation without fail (ie: "I wish i had a charlie brown tree, this one we have is too much work..")


And finally my personal pick for the best Christmas movie and a must see:

DIE HARD!!!

Looking at the cover, it looks like a shoot-em-up action movie. But that's not true. It's really a story about a New York Cop trying to go Home to see his family but then some terrorists try to eff that up for him...but this is John "yippi ki yay motherf***er" McClain and that's not happening on his watch. So it's really about family which is what Christmas really is all about. You may want to watch Die Hard 2 after this one because it totally happens again...geeze this family has the craziest Christmases.



Bonus:
"A Star Wars Christmas"


This is a very very hard to find movie, George Lucas became so embarrassed with it, that a dvd or video has not and probably never will see the light of day. Anyone who knows where to find the full length show online will be my hero. From what I gather it's about the Star Wars gang trying to get Chewbacca and his family into the spirit of "Life Day" and Leia sings some stupid song to the tune of the Star Wars Theme. Clips are on Youtube and they are hilarious but man i want to see this trainwreck in it's full capacity.