the incident, part 3.

well here we are, standing on the precipice of the final season of lost. what can we expect? what should we be afraid of? how many things will remain unresolved?

i think i am going to approach this last season of lost the same way i approached the final harry potter book: hope for the best, anticipate the worst, and make sure my theories are publicized so that i can feel awesome when i am right. (this also held true for my theories about the sex and the city movie, but i'm not even attempting to decipher the possible "plot" of the sequel.)

so - back to lost.

season 6 theories:

• the entire original cast will be back. or at least the ones who aren't currently working on some other more lucrative project.
• we will be back to pre- and/or during crash time. but the characters that have time traveled will have the knowledge of all that has come after them.
• the time travel plot will still have many holes and not quite make sense with all we've learned about the space time continuum.
• charlie won't die this time.
• jacob will become creepier, but perhaps more vague rather than more well-defined.
• desmond better have some major plotlines. (this is more of a hope than a theory.)
• john locke will mess something major up and then save all or most of the survivors, or will be martyred.
• kate will have to choose between sawyer and jack for once and for all. (again, more of a hope than a theory.)
• SUN AND JIN WILL BE REUNITED!!!!!!
• there will be some major reveals that none of us were expecting.

as of right now, those are the theories i am working with. (please feel free to comment yours, or thoughts about/corrections to mine!)

as for that other show that i write about sometimes. (yes, you, gossip girl.) i think i may be officially over it. we didn't even get a christmas episode this year AND we have to wait till march for any more mediocre/unfathomably unbelievable action. so boo.

shows that have filled the gossip girl naughty pleasure void:

• mad men (give me some chain-smoking, martini drinking chauvinists and some sexy period costumes any day.)
• true blood (this show doesn't get all victorian about vampire/human relations. or human/human relations, for that matter.)
• jersey shore (even leonardo dicaprio likes it. need i say more?)
• teen mom (the fact that both lost and the reunion show are on this tuesday night makes me uber excited.)

that's all for now.

chuck&blair: my otp.

i know, c&b, this season has been trying. i can tell you feel the same way because of those pained looks on your faces. between the odd b-list celebrity cameos and the seemingly endlessly muddied/vague plot lines, it seemed like josh schwartz had finally lost touch with his audience and the show was destined to do as most shows do when the cast goes to college: epic fail. but with this week's episode's fabulous outfits, lack of aforementioned b-list celebs, quick plot tie-ups and chuck/blair massage bedroom scene, things are looking up.

i'm too tired for a realer/faker tally, but i'm sure the folks at the daily intel will have a more than sufficient list up tomorrow. enjoy!

grapplings of a "glorified state school" grad.

after a very long hiatus (i'm sorry, i was in 4 shows and had to graduate from college, and unlike serena i HAD to wear my damn cap.) the blogger is back for the season finales of lost and gossip girl. ok, here goes...

ohh, jj abrams how you tease. i think i'll list what was positive (+) and what was negative (-) about this season finale... and what made me go WTF. (?)
+ meeting jacob, omg THANK YOU.
- he appears to just be some dude who likes eating fish?
? who is the guy who wants to kill jacob?
+ BERNARD AND ROSE ARE BACK!
+ jacob visiting everyone at integral moments in their lives.
- i miss desmond.
+ bye bye juliet.
? john locke's corpse? then who the hell is the guy we've been following?
? can jacob really be killed that easily?
--/??? um... the last moment? this feels like the last moment of season 1, and we all know the fan backlash that resulted from that. (even the nytimes was peeved.)

of course they can't give too much away, they've still got a season to go, but come on. we've been such loyal fans, we deserve some answers.

predictions about next season:

i've been giving this a lot of thought and i honestly have no idea. if the bomb worked then i'm not sure if they'll be on the island in modern time or if they'll be on the plane or what. if they were on the island, then there would be all sorts of conflicts with locke/fake locke and jacob and richard and the new survivors and all that jazz. this is pretty basic, i hope it isn't that easy. i just don't know what they would do if the flight landed safely in LA. so help me if sun and jin don't have a reunion within the first three episodes, i might just burst.

and now for gg. any non-believers in the church of OMFG must have not been watching the final moments of this sesason's gossip girl finale, because i think it would bring a tear to even the most cynical eye.



realer than blair's prom dress being ruined at the cleaners and getting an immediate couture replacement from paris:

• serena didn't wear a cap. just her tassle tied in her hair. plus 2.
• jenny's hair is hideous. this is nothing new, just accurate. plus 3. 
• jenny's ban on headbands. plus 10.
• eleanor prepping blair to win chuck. touching and accurate. plus 15.
• of course chuck traveled to europe to get all of blair's favorite things to present to her when he tells her he loves her. plus 20.
• blair's coat perfectly matches the pink flowers chuck brings to her. plus 10.
• CHUCK TELLS BLAIR HE LOVES HER. MULTIPLE TIMES. AND THEY GIGGLE TOGETHER. PLUS 10000000000000. OMFG.

faker than rufus being able to afford nyu:

the gay boys hacked into GG and don't know her IP address? minus 50, because computer hackers are usually neither that gay nor that cute and would definitely know how to track someone down that they had hacked into so thoroughly.

because it needs repeating, rufus humphrey can't afford yale, but he can afford nyu? the most expensive school in the world? minus 20.

even with his money back dan chooses nyu over yale, his dream school? minus 10.

since when is serena looking for her dad? and she could hire a PI and get that info fast without sketchy carter. minus 5.

lily would never openly disclose her relationship status in public, even to eleanor. minus 5.

serena's plan to expose gossip girl ends with all the kids together at the oak room. minus 20, because that's pretty queer and it would definitely be at buddha bar or something like that.

um, georgina is going to gallatin? fyi - you canNOT just show up at the bursar's office and say oh hi i want this person as my roommate. minus 30.

predictions about next season:

ok so obviously all the kids have to stay in new york, so my current guess is that serena finds out her dad is a professor at nyu and ends up attending, as well. (you know, to get close to him, 'cause that's what college is for.) or maybe it'll be up at columbia, so that nate won't be the lonely little petunia uptown alone. unless chuck ends up going to columbia to hang with nate or nyu to be with blair. goergina and blair will come up with all sorts of schemes to destroy each other's clean slate reputations at nyu, but will end up befriending each other. i hope and pray for more eric plotlines next season.

sawyer named himself "the flower." that's funny.

so this week's episode of LOST was relatively mind-blowing. i know my friends and i had been grappling with the 3-year time difference between the events happening in the real world and the events happening on the island, and last night's episode started to answer our burning questions.

thoughts/theories:

• finally, sawyer/juliet!
• i laughed out loud when sawyer noted richard's use of guyliner.
• i think amy & horace's baby is going  to be someone we know.
• i think paul's ankh necklace has some greater significance, and it has something to do with the statue we briefly saw.
• i agree with the folks over at the lost diary, i think there is a definite reason they are in the 70s on the island with the dharma initiative.

questions:

• who the hell is amy & horace's baby?
• who will sawyer choose... juliet or kate?
• WHERE THE HELL ARE ROSE AND BERNARD?
• when will jin & sun finally see each other again?
• what is the connection between the egyptian symbols (the statue, the ankh necklace) and the island?

all in all, a great week with lots of questions. i just hope some of them eventually get answered.

bye bye, bentham!

lost this week... what can i say? i think i gasped audibly about seven times during this episode. 

thoughts/theories:

• desmond is going to get shipwrecked on the island, just like he did the first time. (only this time he will be with penny and li'l charlie.) this goes back to ms. hawking telling desmond "the island isn't done with you yet" and the fact that they need to recreate the situations under which they first arrived on the island. so it totally makes sense that desmond wasn't on the plane.
• caesar is going to try to be the leader and locke is going to have to fight him. et tu, brute?
• i really want the farraday/hawking/widmore saga to be solved. at this point it is possible that farraday is widmore's son, and that charlotte is widmore's daughter. but i don't think both could be true...
• i think it's so interesting that good and evil keep being skewed. i don't think widmore or ben are all evil, but it's hard to see the good in either of them sometimes.
• i don't know what i think of the theories over at the lost diary... i don't think either theory about locke/ben is true.

questions:

• why did ben kill locke? 
  
• what was it about mentioning ms. hawking that sent ben over the edge?
  
• why did they show walt for .005 seconds? is that all we're ever going to get of him?
• is michael still alive?
• is abbadon gone forever?

it's like where's waldo, except it's me.

so i was an extra on the collegehumor show on mtv. see if you can spot me! (hint: i am wearing two different outfits.)

The CollegeHumor Show - MTV Shows

milking the case of the slumdog frost reader.

so i realized that i never talked about LOST this week. how silly of me! i agree with the folks over at the lost diary, i think this was a strange yet wonderful episode. ms. hawking's pendulum room--aka the lamp post--was creepy and cool, just like her.

thoughts/theories:

• ben didn't tell hurley to be on the plane. hurley had a guitar with him. i think ghost charlie told him to be on the plane, and he was carrying charlie's guitar.
• i think sayid's arrest has something to do with recreating the circumstances of the flight. (re: kate in handcuffs.)
• i still think boone and shannon will be back, mark my words.
• who built the lamp post?

questions:

• where the hell are bernard and rose? i've been wondering it for like 3 episodes now.
• why was jin in a dharma outfit?
• what happened to aaron?
• who beat up ben?

and now for un-LOST related  news: the oscars are on tonight!

oscar predictions:

(the * indicates who i think will be the winner.)

Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor"
Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn in "Milk"
Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" 

*Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler" 

i wish this was going to sean penn, but it seems like mickey's gonna take it.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Josh Brolin in "Milk"
Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt"
*Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" 
Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road" 

sad, but definitely deserves the recognition.

Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married" 
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" 
Melissa Leo in "Frozen River" 
Meryl Streep in "Doubt" 
*Kate Winslet in "The Reader" 

love of my life. i can't wait to see her win.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Amy Adams in "Doubt" 
*Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" 
Viola Davis in "Doubt" 
Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" 
Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler" 

this one i'm not positive about, but i'll be happy with any of these ladies winning.

Best animated feature film of the year:
"Bolt" 
"Kung Fu Panda" 
*"WALL-E"

duh.

Achievement in art direction:
"Changeling" Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"  Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
"The Dark Knight" Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
"The Duchess" Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
"Revolutionary Road" Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

Achievement in cinematography:
"Changeling"  Tom Stern
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"  Claudio Miranda
"The Dark Knight"  Wally Pfister
"The Reader"  Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
*"Slumdog Millionaire"  Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design:
"Australia" Catherine Martin
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Jacqueline West
"The Duchess" Michael O'Connor
"Milk" Danny Glicker
"Revolutionary Road" Albert Wolsky

Achievement in directing:
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"  David Fincher
"Frost/Nixon"  Ron Howard
"Milk"  Gus Van Sant
"The Reader"  Stephen Daldry
*"Slumdog Millionaire"  Danny Boyle

i think daldry and van sant deserve recognition, but this is just a landslide.

Best documentary feature:
"The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)"
"Encounters at the End of the World"
"The Garden"
"Man on Wire" 
*"Trouble the Water"

Best documentary short subject:
"The Conscience of Nhem En"
"The Final Inch"
"Smile Pinki"
*"The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306"

Achievement in film editing:
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
"The Dark Knight"  Lee Smith
"Frost/Nixon"  Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
"Milk"  Elliot Graham
*"Slumdog Millionaire"  Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year:
"The Baader Meinhof Complex"  - Germany
"The Class"   - France
"Departures"   - Japan
"Revanche"   - Austria
*"Waltz with Bashir"  - Israel

Achievement in makeup:
*"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Greg Cannom
"The Dark Knight"  John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army"  Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

it should be "the dark knight."

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score):
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"  Alexandre Desplat
"Defiance"  James Newton Howard
"Milk"  Danny Elfman
*"Slumdog Millionaire"  A.R. Rahman
"WALL-E"  Thomas Newman

i'm relatively obsessed with the soundtrack.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song):
"Down to Earth" from "WALL-E"  Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
*"Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire"  Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
"O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire"  Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

Best motion picture of the year:
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" 
"Frost/Nixon" 
"Milk" 
"The Reader" 
*"Slumdog Millionaire" 

it should be "the reader" or "milk," but it won't be.

Best animated short film:
"La Maison en Petits Cubes"
"Lavatory - Lovestory"
"Oktapodi" 
*"Presto" 
"This Way Up"

everytime i watch "wall-e," i get excited to watch "presto" first.

Best live action short film:
"Auf der Strecke (On the Line)" 
"Manon on the Asphalt" 
"New Boy" 
*"The Pig"
"Spielzeugland (Toyland)"

Achievement in sound editing:
*"The Dark Knight" Richard King
"Iron Man"  Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
"Slumdog Millionaire"  Tom Sayers
"WALL-E"  Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
"Wanted"  Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing:
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"  David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
"The Dark Knight"  Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
*"Slumdog Millionaire"  Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
"WALL-E"  Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
"Wanted"  Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects:
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
*"The Dark Knight" Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
"Iron Man" John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

Adapted screenplay:
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"  Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord

"Doubt"  Written by John Patrick Shanley
"Frost/Nixon"  Screenplay by Peter Morgan
*"The Reader"  Screenplay by David Hare
"Slumdog Millionaire"  Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

let's hear it for the playwrights reppin' at the oscars! repruhzent!

Original screenplay:
"Frozen River"  Written by Courtney Hunt
"Happy-Go-Lucky"  Written by Mike Leigh
"In Bruges"  Written by Martin McDonagh
*"Milk"  Written by Dustin Lance Black
"WALL-E"  Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

if the people in the academy read the new york times review of "wall-e" then it would win. it is absolutely brilliant.