Croc Killer presents: A Pop Culture Extravaganza!

Fall Fashion 2010

2010-08-10T12:09:00.000-04:00

Even though it's approximately 162 degrees outside, it's time for fall fashion! The fall fashion season has always been my favorite. Maybe it's my love of the season itself, but I always like fall clothing the best. This year, I particularly like some of the trends and I'm happy to report that many of them aren't so new or trendy. This fall, there's a nice return to classic wardrobe staples (like tweed! I love tweed.) but there are also some rather quirky ideas floating around on the runways, as well. From the cool of my air conditioned house, I give you my take on some of the biggest projected trends for Fall 2010.

Camel

That's camel the color, not camel the animal. This is a gorgeous, classic neutral that works with everything. I love the combination of camel with gray and I also love it with deep reds and plums. (Plum is another huge color this season.) A few of my favorite camel pieces:

This Michael Kors skirt ($1,395) is gorgeous, but who can afford that? Not me. For a better budget pick, though, skirts like this, in varying lengths, should be easy to find at better-priced places like Ann Taylor Loft or H&M. My camel skirt from a few seasons ago (It's a classic, so I will never get rid of it.) was a lovely wool and cashmere piece from J. Crew.

To the right is a must-have for every woman (and man, really). The classic trench coat. This will NEVER, EVER, EVER go out of style and it's a classic silhouette that flatters every figure. This one is in camel from J. Crew in wool and cashmere. J. Crew has also brought back their Icon Trench in cotton, for a less expensive and more lightweight classic. You can't go wrong with either trench. If you aren't ready to invest in a lifetime trench yet, try a less expensive version at places like Target. I got a trench there last year for about $35. These aren't meant to last for years, of course, but they'll get you through until you have that big girl job and can buy something that will last the rest of your stylish life!

Camel can be brought in from pretty much every area of apparel. The sweater here is a perfect, timeless fall staple. I've seen camel in boots, flats, pumps, dresses, coats, and everything else. Camel accessories are also a great way to add a fall color palette to season transitional pieces.

Fur + Leather

This is not my favorite fall trend. The combination of leather and fur was widespread on the fall runways, but I'm having a hard time seeing how most women are going to translate this to real life. The solution seems to lie in accessories. Are most of us going in to the office or out to dinner in leather pants and a fur coat? Of course not. But it is completely feasible that you might throw in a bit of the trend here and there, with a subtle fur trimmed bag or a leather jacket (another thing that pretty much always stays in style.) While the ensemble to the left probably isn't for you, here are a couple of ways to incorporate these trends if you like them:

A great leather jacket (leather blazers are also awesome)
Leather bag or leather boots
Fur (or faux fur, of course) scarf or wrap
Fur trim on any leather accessory (This could get ugly quickly, so proceed with caution!)

Tweed

Oh, tweed, how I love you! I adore tweed and, though I wear it every fall, I'm pleased to see its stylish
potential really being fulfilled this season with a big crop of tweed clothing that goes beyond the standard blazer or suiting skirt. I'll be breaking out some of my current pieces, as well as purchasing some new ones, I'm sure. Among my current favorites is a tweed fitted jacket with suede elbow patches in a camel/espresso tweed. I also have a green tweed pencil skirt that I'm dying to get back into for the season. Here are some new things I've seen that are great, but still classic, way to incorporate tweed into your fall wardrobe.

I love these tweed flats. They have a great color palette, with a little teal and gold thrown into the subtle pattern, which will add some great interest to any outfit. Tweed can usually be used as a neutral, so don't worry about trying to pair these with an outfit of the same colors. Like Stacy London always says, it doesn't need to match; it just need to GO.

This jacket is my dream tweed blazer for this fall. Another piece from J. Crew (I am not usually such a huge J. Crew fan, I swear, but their fall collection is so gorgeous!), this is Harris tweed at $595, but I think it's worth the investment. You could seriously wear this for decades. The fit is impeccable and the quality of the Harris tweed will keep it from looking old for a very long time. (And how fierce does it look with that sequined skirt? I'm in love.)

Other places I've seen, and loved, tweed so far this season:
Bags! I must have a tweed bag. But DON'T carry your tweed bag when you're wearing tweed. That's too much. Also, be careful that you don't get a tweed bag with too much embellishment. The tweed speaks for itself, so go easy on the hardware.
Shoes: There are the flats above, but I've also seen some tweed-trimmed above the knee boots that are pretty fab.
Hair accessories: Tweed headbands run the risk of looking Catholic school girl, but done well with the right chic look in the clothing, it's a very nice fall look.

Gray on Gray

The big colors for fall, as I've already mentioned, are camel and plums and purples. All gray ensembles are also out there, though, and I must say, this is one trend for fall I'm really looking forward to. I adore gray and love some of the looks I've seen. The key here is not to wear a bunch of clothes that are the exact same color. You want to find some grays that vary in shade and texture. Texture is really important here! You might wear dark gray courdroy pants with a lighter heather gray sweater or tunic, then add a pair of gray pumps. (Note: I have somehow lost all my great photos of gray on gray in all its beauty. I will add them as soon as I find them!) Another thing to note about this trend: gray is the fingernail polish color for fall 2010. It's similar to this spring's putty color, but a little lighter with less brown.

Shoes

What fashion post from me would be complete without a shoe update? For the coming fall, shoes are going to be really similar last fall, actually. The oxford will make a comeback, but this time around it should be bigger than it was last year. Here's the pair I have my eye on, for $59.95 at DSW:

If you want a cute (albeit disposable after one season, I'm sure) alternative that is really inexpensive, check these out from Target. Adorable and only $19.99. I think I'll pick up a pair of these as well, in the brown:

As always, fall is boot season. This year, the trend of over the knee boots continues, as well as the trend for flat or low-heeled riding boots and boots with western inspiration. I like these, also from DSW at $149.95, in distressed brown-gray leather, that encompass the best of a riding boot and a western boot. (These will be arriving on my doorstep soon!)

The other big shoe trend this season is the bootie. These made an appearance last fall, but they are coming back with a vengeance this year. Booties are everywhere! I'm sure lots of people will want to buy them and keep up with this trend, so here are some things to keep in mind. Don't wear your booties with skinny jeans unless you can carry that trend with your body type (and the body type for that is very slim). Otherwise, it'll just make your upper half and midsection look wider. Also, don't tuck your pants into your booties unless they are jeggings or very skinny jeans. A denim balloon coming out of your shoe is not attractive.

Final Notes on Fall Fashion

Jeggings are back! That's right, I said jeggings. Jeans that are leggings. Please be careful with this one. While it can be absolutely adorable, with a tunic and high boots, for example, it can also be horrific. Don't pair jeggings with tight fitting tops or anything that could be called cropped. Keep it balanced! If you're on the biggger side, jeggings can make you look bigger than you actually are. Make sure this style is good for your body type before you pick up a pair of jeggings.

Fair Isle sweaters made an appearance on the fall runways this season. These can either be pretty or hideous. Use your own judgment and remember that you should never sacrifice fit for a trend. These sweaters can get really bulky and shapeless, so try to steer away from ones that render you shapeless.

Ever the trendsetter in nail color, Chanel has released two great fall colors, seen here:

Paradoxal, on the left
and Jade Rose, on the right

There are a few more trends I'd like to mention, so keep looking for a Fall Fashion 2010 Part II!

For parting words today, please remember: UGGs are HIDEOUS. I don't care if they're comfortable. You know what else is comfortable? Those gorgeous tweed flats I showed you! Throw the UGGs away. That's the best fall fashion advice I can give, probably: Don't wear UGGs.

Strange Fashion Trends from Stone Mountain, Georgia

2010-07-21T10:33:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Stone Mountain, Georgia for the day. In the evening, we went to a Laser Light Show Spectacular (that's the actual name) and got to hang out on a wonderfully cool grassy knoll waiting for the extravaganza to begin. During this time, there were lots of children and pre-teens running around. And by running around, I mean line dancing to the music blaring from the giant speakers before the show started. I saw a LOT of Cupid Shuffle. Great stuff.

But what was so strange about it was that tons of these kids were wearing socks with no shoes. I first noticed it on a girl who was wearing one blue sock and the other foot was bare, but with an ankle bracelet.

Then I started noticing that children and pre-teens everywhere were wearing ankle socks with no shoes. It was really strange. I'd estimate that around 25 to 30 of the young people around us were wearing socks with no shoes. So, at the risk of looking super creepy, I started taking some photos of their feet to share with my readers. This is what it looked like:

I decided that the socks-sans-shoes phenomenon was the equivalent of one of those strange fashion trends that gets started in rural communities. Most likely, someone cool took off her shoes at Stone Mountain one night, but left her socks on so her feet wouldn't get dirty or something, then someone else did it. Now it has become the cool thing to do and they're putting twists on it, hence the one blue sock one bare foot. This is certainly not a negative criticism of the fashion sense of people who live outside the city, but I think it helps to explain the sock thing. Or, at least, I hope it does, because otherwise I have no clue. I've never seen this happen anywhere else and I got the feeling that a lot of these kids were hanging out at the laser light show the way my friends and I used to hang out at the skating rink or the ball park. You get your parents to drop you off and you just run around and chill in a fun, contained environment. So I'm guessing the Laser Light Show Spectacular is a skating rink situation for the young folks of Stone Mountain, Georgia, and what the cool kids do on Friday night is wear their socks without shoes and do the Cupid Shuffle on the grass.

Anyone have any idea what's going on with these socks? I had never seen it before and haven't seen it since. But I'd love to know what the deal is.

SYTYCD Emmy Nominations 2010

2010-07-08T21:51:00.003-04:00

Ah, the Emmy Awards. I think I enjoy them more than the Oscars. They're more laid back, the fashion is usually more fun, the stars are drinking more, and I usually have much stronger opinions about who or what should win. This year, happily, "Lost" got a lot of nominations, as did "Friday Night Lights," another of my favorites. "Modern Family" also got several nominations; what a fantastic show! I love it. For the full list of nominations, click here.

Of course, "So You Think You Can Dance" got several nominations in Choreography for this year's Emmy Awards. I'm not at all surprised about Mia Michaels' Addiction piece (danced to "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles) making the list this year. It's an amazing piece and I can watch it over and over, and have done so ever since last year! It's great. The other nominations are Mia Michaels again for her group routine to "One" from "A Chorus Line" and again for her "Koop Island Blues" piece, plus a nomination for Stacey Tookey for "Fear." Videos of all four dances are below.

I am a little surprised (and disappointed!) that Tyce Diorio's "This Woman's Work" piece wasn't nominated. I'm going to put the video for it below the nominated ones. It's definitely worth watching. He was inspired by a friend of his who had breast cancer. When the dance was performed a second time at the end of the season, he was able to announce that his friend was in remission. It's really lovely, so watch it, too. Enjoy!

"Addiction/Gravity" - Mia Michaels

"One" - Mia Michaels

"Koop Island Blues" - Mia Michaels

"Fear" - Stacey Tookey

"This Woman's Work" - Tyce Diorio

A "Twilight" Alternative Reading List

2010-07-01T15:19:00.001-04:00

I am not a fan of the Twilight series. Yes, when I read the first book, I was captivated. I devoured that book in a day and rushed out to buy the next two in the series, which I read just as quickly. By the second book, I was disappointed and still thoroughly annoyed by Bella and Edward, but I kept thinking, "This has to get better!" I thought eventually Bella would stop whining and become a real person, stand up for herself, and do something about her ridiculously codependent relationship with Edward that borderlined on domestic abuse. I thought Edward might realize how creepy he is and quit it. I thought people would stop trying to commit suicide over each other. I thought someone in this book might go to college! I was wrong, of course, and I found out just how wrong I was when the fourth installment, "Breaking Dawn," was released.

I literally threw that book down when I finished it. What a piece of crap.

When I finished sulking about how poorly written it was (My friends Jennifer and BJ have some sort of app that searches to see how many times words are used in it. I think "tremble" was toward the most frequent.) and how terrible the plot was (I mean, let's face it. That last book is a giant piece of fan fiction.), I considered the more serious side of the popularity of that series. Would I want my pre-teen daughter to read this? Absolutely not. I shudder to think at all the millions of young girls (and adult women and men) who have read those books and see Bella and Edward's relationship as some sort of ideal model.

According to this series, the weaker you are, the more boys will like you. The best way to get the attention of the boy you like is to constantly put yourself in grave danger. Hell, just jump off a cliff and try to drown yourself! It worked for Bella. She almost died, but she got Edward back. (It's really sickening how romanticized that scene is online. See image on left.) Getting married right out of high school? According to this book, that's the way to deal with your hormones. While the marriage part isn't horrendous, it's not what I want for my daughter (or son!). Then it got worse. Spoiler alert here, but Bella being beat nearly to death during sex, then begging for more was enough to make me sick. And that was in the first part of the book. By the time Edward had ripped their child from Bella's womb with his teeth, I was beyond horrified. Then there's Bella's former love interest "imprinting" on her infant daughter. A 19 year old man in love with an infant? Why am I the only one who seems to see how disgusting this is? I worked with a woman who used the series as a model for abusive relationships in the college sociology course she taught. She said it worked really well as a model, but the students were too in love with Edward to see it clearly. Anyone seeing my issue now?

That being said, I want to clarify that I have no problem with people waiting until they're married to have sex. I don't have a problem with vampires having sex with humans, so long as no one is bruised and broken afterward. I don't even have a problem with Meyer pushing her pro-life agenda during the part about Bella's pregnancy. (I'm definitely pro-choice, but Choice is the key word there and, in a rare moment, Edward actually sort of allowed Bella to make one.) I do have a problem with a huge group of impressionable teenagers, particularly the girls, thinking that Bella + Edward = what love should be and that jumping off a cliff is an effective way to deal with a break-up.

Needless to say, I hate the influence of the Twilight series. It is one of the most anti-feminist things I have ever read, not to mention from a book critic view that the series leads to a giant battle. . . that never happens. My ideas about society aside, what a crappy ending! In the words of a piece of facebook flair I saw after the release of the last book, "WTF, Stephenie Meyer?"

The idea of this series is great. It's fascinating and romantic and thrilling. I was actually pleased to hear the books were being adapted to films because I thought it was a chance for a director to take a great idea that was a terrible series and make it back into a great idea on screen. Of course, that didn't happen. I watched the first movie, full of hope, until my dreams were crushed. The movies are just as bad! But this post is about books, so I'll save my film woes (and suggestions!) for another day.

I worked at the public library last summer, and after I witnessed the public's obsession with this series firsthand, I sought alternatives. And I found some great ones! I found vampire love stories written for young adults (which adults will love, too!) that have strong, awesome female characters. There are books that have diversity (several of them have gay characters, as well as ethnic diversity), they have interesting folklore, and they have great storylines. These books are all written for a young adult audience, so they're super fun and easy to read. I've read a lot of books in this genre over the past year or two, so I have a good idea of what's out there and what's good and what's not worth your time. I've read tons, but what I'm listing here are my favorites.

So I give you my list of Twilight alternatives. Some of these are about vampires, some about other supernatural stuff, and a few are about futuristic dystopian societies, which is probably my favorite YA genre. Keep this is mind when you need a blooksucking thrill/romance fix and you've run out of Buffy episodes.

These are in no particular order.

**The House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast**

Written by a mother and daughter duo, the House of Night Series stars Zoe, a new teenage vampire being trained in a bording school for vampires. The series has great characters and a great plot, and there are 7 of these books out now and the series still isn't complete. There's love, sex, magic, blood (of course), and humor. Zoe is a strong female character who makes mistakes and learns along the way. These books are full of strong women! A big highlight is Zoe's grandmother, a Native American with amazing courage and wisdom.

**The Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith**

I read the first of these when I was in high school or middle school; I can't remember. Since the resurgance of vampire teen fiction, Smith has written two new installments. This series was also turned into a TV show for the WB. While the relationship between the main character and her vampire love is a bit cheesy (and a little codependent - lots of "soul mate" stuff), she's a strong character with power of her own. Worth reading.

**The Secret Circle series by L. J. Smith**

In my opinion, these are far superior to the Vampire Diaries. I read these when they first came out, as well, and read them again a couple of years ago. I still love them! This one isn't about vampires, but witches, and the girls kick ass. It's excellent.

**Evernight series by Claudia Gray**

Another vampire boarding school novel, these focus on Bianca, a teenage girl whose parents make her attend the Evernight Academy, weird stuff happens, she starts figuring things out, you get the idea.

**Blue Bloods series by Melissa De La Cruz**

This series focuses on Schuyler, a girl who is just finding out what her heritage is along with a bunch of other teenagers in NYC. This is one of my favorites because it's heavy in "Paradise Lost"-type lore.

**Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead**

Another vampire boarding school series. This one has lots of strong women, too! I love this one because merges vampire lore with new ideas about other mythological creatures.

**The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins**

SO "Lord of the Flies," this trilogy is probably my favorite of the dystopian society novels. It's about a society long after the fall of the USA, where once a year a lottery is held to put children in a contained environment where they have to kill each other. BRILLIANT series. Only the first two are out, so I'm anxiously awaiting the third and final one, which comes out in August.

**The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare**

This is a series about vampire hunters! The main character and her friends set out to hunt and kill demons, save the world, etc. And there's a great teenage love story with a twist. Again, lost of strong women and diversity in this one.

**Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr**
A series about faeries! These faeries are pretty creepy, though. These are page-turners.

**Uglies series by Scott Westerfield**

A dystopian society series about what happens when society makes everyone beautiful. GREAT stuff.

**The Maze Runner by James Dashner**

Another dystopian society book, this one is about boys trapped in a maze. It's also very "Lord of the Flies." It's a series, but only the first one is out so far. I'm looking forward to the next ones.

**The Iron King by Julie Kagawa**

A totally fun fantasty novel about faeries. This one gets extra points for including several characters from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and, I would guess, helping lots of teenagers digest Shakespeare a little easier. I loved this one.

**The Forest of Hands and Teeth
and The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan**

These two are pretty creepy. The second one takes place a long time after the first. It's a future in which most people are undead and they're infectious. Excellent.

**The Giver by Lois Lowry**

A classic, and required reading in some schools, this is a novel about another dystopian society where everyone is the same, except our main character and his mentor, the Giver. I read this book in about two hours. Well worth my time.

So enjoy these! Anything here would make great summer reading. They're easy to read, but a lot of them are hard to put down. And I would love to hear anyone's comments about these or suggestions for a series I may not have discovered yet!

I also want to say that, if you are an adult and you enjoy Twilight just because you enjoy it, I think that's awesome. There's nothing wrong with that. And certainly not every young person who reads the books will see this as a model for anything. I am against censorship of any kind, so I would never say Twilight should not be read. I just think there are better things out there.

To end, just for fun, here's something I found that cracked me up. Don't take offense, people; it's all in good fun.

USA in the World Cup: Final Thoughts for 2010

2010-06-30T11:26:00.001-04:00

I haven't posted anything about the USA v Ghana game yet, partly because I was too sad to write about it and partly because I was riding roller coasters. (True story.)

I am sad about the USA's early exit (I consider it early.) from the World Cup. Watching the game against Ghana, the US was clearly the better team. Things just didn't come together for them in the end and that wasn't helped by the shameless time wasting by the Ghana team. So my last post about the US in the World Cup is not about the goals scored or not scored or scored then disallowed, but instead about the men on the US team. I think I can say, even without my American bias, that the US men's soccer team was the most sportsmanlike and classy team to play in the World Cup this year.

Let's look at a couple of examples of what NOT to do in a World Cup. Screaming at your coach until you get thrown off the team is a good example. How about refusing to practice in protest of a player being sent home? Sure, because when your country is counting on you to play well so you can win games so you can do well in the World Cup, as you have historically proven you can do in the past, it's a great idea to not practice, right? Ridonculous. Add to that that the same team's coach refused to shake hands with the coach of the team that won the match and you get the award for Worst World Cup Attitude. That's an official thing. I'm mailing the trophy to France any day now.

Dives are no stranger to the World Cup, either. I remember being furious with Christiano Ronaldo in 2006 for falling down and screaming in agony, any time an opposing player came near him. This year, Ronaldo couldn't pull it out for Portugal against Spain, but at least he wasn't falling over at the slightest breeze in his direction. And, sure, there have been many dives this World Cup. But the beautiful thing is that you haven't seen them from the US team. You have, however, seen the US players get beat up quite a bit and not really whine about it much. Case in point: Clint Dempsey gets elbowed in the face, has a really bad bloody lip, and when the refs did nothing, he wiped his face and kept taking shots on goal. Clint Dempsey got particularly beat up this World Cup, actually. He took tackle after tackle, including some pretty nasty fouls, and he kept playing, and playing well. He looked amazing against Ghana! And let's not forget that "off sides" goal against Algeria. Totally on side, but whatever. Let's move on. The point is that the USA didn't dive and whine and hold their faces for no reason while pounding on the ground demanding a foul.

If you need another example of annoying conduct on the pitch, check out Ghana at the end of the US v Ghana extra time. Sure, any team in that position would be praying for the clock to run down, but these players took it too far. They were falling over left and right, lying on the ground, writhing in pain, and generally wasting as much time as possible. My favorite moment of time-wasting shenanigans was when a player for Ghana sprawled on the ground for as long as it took for a ref to notice him and stop game play, then he continued to lie there being "examined" by the med staff, then was carried off the pitch in a stretcher, only to get off the stretcher, by himself, the moment is was set on the sidelines. It's a miracle! I'm so glad those 3 minutes of play time were taken away from my team's players so that this guy could make such a miraculous recovery. The US players were visibly upset by all of this, and who could blame them? I was furious and the announcers weren't happy, either. Finally, the refs started telling the toppled-over Ghana players to quit, but that didn't stop them. Then there was the Ghana substitution that was for the player furthest away from the sideline. And the player walked over. Slowly. So. Very. Slowly. When he finally got there, the other player slowly walked on. It was infuriating! And we didn't get enough extra time to compensate for all those "injuries."

So, speaking of the refereeing, good stuff, yeah? I don't need to go through the specifics of how many times the USA players were the victims of terrible calls. But, in case you missed it, we weren't the only ones! The call that England's goal against Germany wasn't over the line was horrifying. Unfortunately, it cost them the game. But, and no offense to the English, terrible calls like that didn't keep the USA down. The US players didn't let those bad calls and opposing team tomfoolery get in the way of what they were there to do. They played and they played hard, no matter what. With two disallowed goals (for not reason!), they still fought and pushed and didn't give up and I find that incredibly inspiring.

My final note on the USA v Ghana game is that the US outplayed Ghana for all but 2 minutes of that match. The other day I heard someone say the US got lucky when Donovan scored in the 91st minute. My reply to that was that Algeria got lucky that that game wasn't 9 to 0. But, this is how it goes with soccer, and so we have four more years to get pumped up for Brazil. (And my trip to the World Cup! We're going!)

So, even though the team has already left South Africa and Landon Donovan was kicking soccer balls at moving taxis on Letterman last night, I am very proud of the way my country was represented in the 2010 World Cup. The US players didn't dive, they didn't give up when they got bad calls, they fought every minute of play (Remember Tim Howard up on the offense? Chills!), and they didn't whine or blame things on other teams or referees. They were a class act the whole time.

I'm going to do another post to address my thoughts on American reaction to the World Cup, so stay tuned for that!

The world is a vampire.

2010-06-28T13:24:00.000-04:00

If you've never watched Whale Wars, I just don't know where you've been. The scientist and I got addicted last season and now that the new season is in full effect, it's even better than last year!

Here's the rundown: The Sea Shepherds are a group of conservationists who make Greenpeace look like comatose sloths. They go out on to Arctic oceans in their ship, the Steve Irwin, and they literally try to stop Japanese whalers. They throw stink bombs, the tangle ships' propellers with giant ropes, they get all pirate with it and jump on the Japanese boats, they ram their giant boat into other giant boats. It's really fantastic. So Animal Planet just follows them as they go on their annual mission during the whaling season. And the theme song is "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" by the Smashing Pumpkins. (Hence the blog post title.)

It's a great show because not only is it exciting, but it's incredibly interesting. I have learned so much about whales by watching this show, as well as stuff about international waters, international law, Japanese whaling, and Greenpeace. For example, did you know these whales are endangered, but the Japanese are allowed to harpoon them because they claim to be doing scientific research? In actuality, the whales are worth millions of dollars for their meat. It's a messed up thing. The Japanese self-determined quota includes 50 endangered humpback whales. Humpback whales! Unbelievable.

The footage of the whales is beautiful, too, and I always feel like they're super smart and they're so graceful. It makes me think about vegetarianism. But, then again, I've never had that "smart and graceful" vibe come at me from a cow. And cows aren't endangered. Things to think about...

Hey, want to laugh until you think you might throw up?

2010-06-25T10:55:00.000-04:00

My buddy Jennifer Butler Keeton and I discovered this at Slayage, the academic conference on the works of Joss Whedon, a couple of years ago. I was thinking about it today when I saw an Avenue Q billboard. If you're a Q fan or a Buffy/Angel fan, or just a fan of things that are awesome, check this out:

Naming Flannery's Peafowl - A Success Story!

2010-06-24T15:12:00.003-04:00

A few months ago, I submitted name suggestions for the new peafowl at Andalusia Farm, home of Flannery O'Connor, the writer I study. If you've never read any O'Connor, get on that right now! You probably had to read the short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find" in high school or something. It's an amazing story and probably her most famous. But all of her work is wonderful. It's dark and weird and usually ends with an act of violence that brings about revelation. Completely amazing.

So after my trip to Andalusia in January, I suggested they name the new peafowl from characters is the O'Connor short story "Good Country People." I suggested the peacock be named Manley Pointer, and the peahens (there are 2) be named Joy and Hulga. (There is a character in the story whose name is Joy but she prefers to be called Hulga. Don't you want to read this right now?)

And my name suggestions won! They merged Joy Hulga to one peahen and they named the peacock Manley Pointer. The other peahen is named Mary Grace, which is fine, but I really think it would have been better if all 3 peafowl names had come from the same short story. But okay. I'm just so stoked (yeah, I said stoked) that my suggestions made it!

I have to give some props to my friend Candace from grad school who, when I was trying to decide about my nomination, reaffirmed by Joy Hulga suggestion.

Check out the info here and check out all the cool stuff about Andalusia. Also, if you're able, please consider making a donation to the Andalusia Foundation. It's an amazing thing they do and they work really hard to keep O'Connor's former home in great condition. Be sure to visit if you get the chance!

Here's the link:

Andalusia Farm -
The peafowl have been named!

The shot heard 'round the world: USA Wins Group C!

2010-06-23T13:08:00.002-04:00

How are there people out driving around? How are people at work today? Don't these people know what just happened?!?!?

Today was an amazing day for USA soccer. I watched the game at home with the scientist. We were both pretty confident, as were most USA fans, that we would win this game. But when, early in the game, Dempsey scored a goal that was disallowed for a bogus offsides call, I started feeling queasy.

What is it about USA soccer that apparently makes referees hate us? Sure, we're often referred to as the underdog, but I think this World Cup proves that label doesn't necessarily apply anymore. Team USA performed really well this World Cup, and I'm certainly not the only one who thinks so.

Other things to note are players whose names were little known until now. Most people have heard of Landon Donovan (most people who are soccer fans, at least), and maybe they've heard of Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, and Jozy Altidore, but this World Cup gave us shining performances from players like defender Steve Cherundolo, a 31 year old player for German club Hannover 96. Cherundolo has looked great this World Cup and fans who may not have known his name before certainly know it now.

Then there's Michael Bradley. I've already mentioned his amazing goal from last week against Slovenia, and that he's the coach's son, but he's only 22 years old and currently playing for a German club (Borussia Mönchengladbach). He's played really well this World Cup and that goal from last week was pricless. I don't think he'll be with that German club much longer. No offense to the German clubs, but I think we can look for Bradley and maybe even Cherundolo in the English Premier League before too long. On loan to Fulhmam perhaps? Or Everton? Those are my 2 favorite teams in the Premier League because of their American players. (For example, Dempsey plays for Fulham and Howard plays for Everton. Donovan also played for Everton on loan from the Galaxy.)

Clint Dempsey had so many shots today that I just couldn't believe he didn't get a goal. Of course, as far as I'm concerned, he DID get that first goal. Sorry, ref; he was not offsides. And if you need another to reason to love Clint Dempsey, did you know he's a rapper? And that he goes by the name Deuce? Four years ago, he put out a video for Nike of his rap song "Don't Tread" which refers to the USA soccer slogan, "Don't tread on me." And, of course, Landon Donovan was amazing today. Again. (My USA jersey is Donovan's.) Like I said before, I wanted Landon to get a goal in the World Cup and, not only did he get one, but he got two. And not only did he get
two, but he got two amazing, game-saving, history-changing goals. So let's get on to that part!

Back to today's game: I spent 90 minutes literally on the edge of my seat. Actually, I spend probably 30 minutes on the edge of my seat, 10 or so minutes jumping up and down, and the rest of the time bouncing from foot to foot while standing in front of the TV. The USA had so many chances for goals today, not to mention the one goal Dempsey DID get, which wasn't allowed (Deja vu, anyone?) and I was so nervous. The scientist had given up hope, I think, around the 85th minute. That's when I started thinking, "What am I going to do if we lose? The rest of this day will be unbearably depressing." But I just kept thinking that something was going to give. US players kept getting shots on goal, kept getting chances, all through the game, especially the second half, and I just couldn't believe that one of them wasn't going to get in the goal. (A couple of times, I think I slapped the scientist and said things like, "One of them has to go in! It's like math!" Whatever that means.)

And then Landon Donovan started that gorgeous run that ended in a goal in the 91st minute. Beautiful. I burst into tears. I screamed and hurt my throat. I jumped around. The scientist ran into the kitchen and almost fell out in the floor, then ran back to the TV, freaking out. The dog started barking. (True story.) I cried some more. It was truly amazing.

So if you weren't a fan of USA soccer before, what more do they have to do to win you over? How could a game be more dramatic? I don't know that it could. As one of the announcers put it, Hollywood couldn't write a more dramatic ending for a game. If we had lost, we would have been out of the World Cup. Then we got a goal, literally in the final minute of the game (before extra time), and became the winner of Group C. People who say soccer is boring are INSANE.

Next up: On Saturday at 2:30, we play the 2nd place team from Group D, and we'll find out who that is this afternoon.

Until the Ghana v Germany game comes on, I'm going to keep watching the commentary on today's USA game and I'll probably keep crying every time someone talks about it. But that's okay. Something this monumental deserves a few tears of joy.

A Top 100 Films List!

2010-06-20T13:19:00.001-04:00

This is a list compiled by my good friend for many years, Morgan. Morgan is the person who introduced me to some of the best movies I've ever seen. For example, he's the person who showed me "Waiting for Guffman." (If you haven't seen it, you're crazy. Watch it immediately.) When Morgan and I were in high school, there was a Top 100 list taped to the wall of his bedroom, with an ever-revolving number 1 and number 2. I think 1 and 2 switched between "Star Wars" and "Short Cuts." Correct me if I'm wrong, Morgan!

We used to go to the movie rental place where we could get 3 movies for 3 dollars for 3 nights, but we would watch all 3 in one night. This was also when Pizza Hut was making their Sicilian pizza. What happened to that? It was amazingly delicious. Anyway, we made our way through some classics, as well as some B movies, and had lots of good marathons, like watching all of the "Friday the 13th" movies. Over the years, I've had many movie milestones with Morgan. (Check out that alliteration!) Some of the films we got to experience together were American Beauty, The English Patient, Magnolia, Reanimator, Good Will Hunting, and even Titanic (though the best thing that came from that was the development of our interpretive dance to "My Heart Will Go On"). We also had a many-years-long tradition of watching the Oscars together. Needless to say, Morgan's opinions on movies really matter to me.

Recently, Morgan went public with his Top 100 list, over a decade in the making, though this time it's not a countdown, but listed in alphabetical order. It is my mission to make it all the way through this list, as there are a few (just a few!) I haven't seen. I'm posting it here because Morgan has the best taste in films of anyone I know and he's more knowledgeable about films than anyone I've ever met. So here is Morgan's list.

Happy viewing!

by Morgan:

The following is a list of my Top 100 Favorite Movies, in alphabetical order. I've been working on this since college, and it is constantly evolving. Please post comments.

21 Grams
12 Angry Men
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
A Streetcar Named Desire
All About Eve
Amadeus
American Beauty
American Graffiti
Amores Perros
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
Babel
Boogie Nights
Braveheart
Brazil
Breaking the Waves
Casablanca
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Crumb
Dancer in the Dark
Das Boot
Deliverance
Do the Right Thing
Dog Day Afternoon
Double Indemnity
Dr. Strangelove
E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial
Ed Wood
Fargo
Forrest Gump
Glengarry Glen Ross
Gone with the Wind
Goodfellas
Grave of the Fireflies
Halloween
Hannah and Her Sisters
Harold and Maude
Hoop Dreams
It's a Wonderful Life
Jaws
JFK
Kramer vs. Kramer
Lawrence of Arabia
Magnolia
Mary Poppins
Million Dollar Baby
Monster's Ball
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mulholland Drive
Nashville
On the Waterfront
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ordinary People
Patton
Psycho
Pulp Fiction
Raging Bull
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rain Man
Rear Window
Requiem for a Dream
Return of the Jedi
Rosemary's Baby
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
Secrets and Lies
Shane
Short Cuts
Sideways
Singin' in the Rain
Sling Blade
Slumdog Millionaire
Star Wars
Stop Making Sense
Taxi Driver
The African Queen
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Deer Hunter
The Empire Strikes Back
The Exorcist
The Godfather
The Graduate
The Grapes of Wrath
The Last Picture Show
The Lord of the Rings
The Shawshank Redemption
The Silence of the Lambs
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Wizard of Oz
The Wrestler
There Will Be Blood
This is Spinal Tap
To Kill a Mockingbird
Tootsie
West Side Story
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T01:08:00.000-04:00

For Father's Day, I'm posting a great father-child moment, and a great moment for American soccer. This is some footage of the Michael Bradley goal against Slovenia in the World Cup on Friday. The Father's Day element comes in if you watch the clip to the end and check out Bob Bradley's face. (Bob Bradley, the USA coach, is Michael Bradley's father, if you didn't already know.)

Happy Father's Day!

Josh Rouse - El Turista

2010-06-18T23:00:00.000-04:00

Josh Rouse is one of my favorite musicians. My favorite album is "Nashville." Get it immediately. It's wonderful and the pedal steel makes me want to weep at the beauty. Seriously. (I have a strong reaction to pedal steel.) So his new album is out, "El Turista." Awhile back, Josh moved to Spain and this album is a mix of Spanish and English. Surprisingly, my favorite songs on the album are the ones in Spanish. Even more surprisingly, I know what he's saying and I can sing along! Crazy!

The album has been reviewed as being a mix of influence between Gilberto and Paul Simon. As for the Gilberto, sure, but that seems to me like the obvious comparison because the second track, "Duerme" (which means "Go to sleep!"), is a bossa nova and pop listeners don't always have the jazz chops to refer to a bossa as anything other than Gilberto-esque. Which is totally fine, but the Gilberto influence is light, I would say. The Paul Simon reference is more concrete, particularly on the song "I Will Live on Islands," which sounds like a mix between "Kodachrome" and half the tracks on "Graceland."

Highlights of the album are "Duerme," a traditional Spanish lullaby reworked by Rouse and his band, and "Valencia," which Rouse sings with a great Spanish accent, including the ceceo (that's the lispy-sounding soft 'c' in Spanish from Spain accents). The other highlight is that my LP of "El Turista" is signed by Josh Rouse! I met him at a record store a few weeks ago, after seeing him play an amazing set with his band.

Whether you speak any Spanish or not, this is a great album and it's perfect for summer, especially if you're near some water. I highly recommend this for your summer playlist.

So You Think You Can Give Me Chills, Alex Wong?

2010-06-18T20:36:00.008-04:00

SYTYCD kicked off its official competition numbers this week and Alex Wong, the judges' heavy favorite, outdid not only himself, but everyone else who has ever thought about dancing. So far this season, the guys are seriously kicking butt. As my BFF and I have discussed, we can't even pick a favorite girl contestant because all the the guys are so amazing! Here's the clip of Alex and Allison dancing to Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah."

Unhappy Town

2010-06-18T18:42:00.005-04:00

ABC, say it ain't so! But it is. "Happy Town" was canceled today.
If you haven't been watching (and obviously you haven't, nor has anyone else but me), this show had the potential to be really great, not to mention enormously creepy. Since the first episode, I've compared it to a watered-down "Twin Peaks." While "Happy Town" certainly wasn't as good as "Twin Peaks," it was some great television, especially for summer. The series revolves around the mystery of the Magic Man, who kidnapped a bunch of people several years ago and appears to be making a comeback in a tiny little town. Sound familiar? Yeah. But it was really great! I loved it. A guy hammered a railroad spike through another guy's forehead. Seriously. And Amy Acker is on as the wife of the small town sheriff and, of course, she is fantastic, as are many of the other cast members.

Apparently, ABC doesn't even know if it will air the last 2 episodes that have been taped. My DVR says no, no more "Happy Town" for me. I haven't watched last night's episode yet. Looks like now I'll be saving it for a rainy day.

World Cup - USA v. Slovenia

2010-06-18T17:07:00.002-04:00

You know, things are pretty bad when I think I could have refereed a better game than the guy who was hired to do the job. And all the commentary about this a-hole's terrible call is simultaneously fun and heartwrenching to watch, so I suggest you tune in and/or read about it online. Good stuff.

But, rather than focus on the glaring horror that was the idiotic call on Edu's goal, I'd like to focus on two moments that definitely qualify as FREAKIN' AWESOME.

1. Landon Donovan's goal:

I have been praying for Landy to get a goal this World Cup. He's earned it. He's worked so hard for American soccer, so he deserved it on an emotional level. But, more importantly, he deserved it based on skill. Donovan is a brilliant player and he is partially responsible for most goals the US gets. So it was really nice to see him score a goal, not just set one up. (Not that he doesn't get many goals; he's the US's lead goal scorer for the national team, if you didn't know.) And that goal! Holy crap! Gorgeous.

2. Michael Bradley's goal: (What else would it be? Come on.)

Beautiful on many levels. The US almost never comes back when they're getting beat, so this second comeback goal was amazing. Also, Bradley is the coach's son (Coach Bob Bradley), so that connection was nice. When he scored, I was up jumping around, freaking out, and then I had a total emotional reaction and started crying. It was great! Crying over sports when it's a happy cry is awesome.

So, after a run to Target because I needed a couple of things and also (well, okay, mainly) because I wanted to run around town in my Landon Donovan jersey, we settled in to watch the England v. Algeria game. And it was a tie! Amazing! So, call it Freaky Friday or whatever you want, but the US is not out of the World Cup running by a long shot.

Congratulations! You are the Smoke Monster.

2010-06-18T16:00:00.007-04:00

A few weeks ago, I, like (almost) every other smart and interesting person in the world (my Dad, for example, is smart and interesting, but doesn't watch LOST for some unknown reason), was glued to my TV, having wave after wave of emotional nausea as the series finale of LOST was aired. The next day, I posted my thoughts in a Facebook note, and I'm including that note on this blog. Keep in mind that a lot of the things I wrote here evolved over the next couple of weeks as I got to talk with a lot of brilliant people about it and I got to spend more time with my own thoughts. But most of what I was thinking when I wrote this hasn't changed.

(May 24, 2010)

Welcome to my thoughts on the LOST finale! There are million of them, so I've tried to prioritize here. I don't need to mention all the wonderful, sad, moving, hilarious things from last night's extravaganza. You all saw it, so just know that I loved those moments, too! So here are the thoughts I've had since last night that I'm finally able to attempt to articulate.

**First of all, let me get this out of the way:

Dear Shannon Haters,

Please give it up. Yes, we all know how much you hate Shannon. Yes, Shannon was annoying. But they key word there is "was." Shannon is eligible for island redemption, just like everyone else. I never saw Shannon as a passing whim for Sayid, or as something to fill the hole left by Nadia. You'll notice that Sayid chose to be with Shannon (Immediately!) in a world where Nadia is still alive, in the same city, in an unhappy marriage! This is not a mistake. I always believed in the love between Sayid and Shannon. In fact, one of the most heartwrenching moments in all of Lost, for me, was the moment when Shannon died in Sayid's arms. Shannon learned to love on the island, and she and Sayid helped each other. Sayid was really changed by that relationship. It wasn't a one-way street. I am apparently the only person in the world who thinks this, but I thought the sideways awakening of Shannon and Sayid was absolutely beautiful.

**Okay, moving on (forward, not sideways):

Who cares what happened in the last fifteen minutes of the show (though I'll get to that soon), when we had that gorgeous, perfect last minute? I have been thinking for awhile now that the last shot of this show would be Jack's closing eye (That's about the only prediction I had, so I'm proud of it!) and the addition of Vincent was perfect. It not only brought things full circle for the series (the bamboo, the dog, the eye), but Jack didn't die alone! Dog lovers the world over rejoiced in that moment and, if you don't think sweet Vincent lying beside Jack counts as "not dying alone," you make me sad. Then there was the lovely "ping" instead of the "BONG!" as the LOST logo filled the screen for the last time. So lovely. I just sat in my chair, stunned. And I'm so grateful to ABC for giving us actual credits, with music and scenes from the island. I was shocked enough; going straight from that moment to a Bud Light commercial or something would have been traumatic. Speaking of commercials:

The Target commercials! Those of you who know me well know how much I freaking adore Target. As if I needed another reason, those commercials were the best! I never watch commercials when I watch TV, but I had to last night (there was no way I was waiting until an hour end so I could FF the commercials for a 2.5 hour episode), so the Target commercials were a great addition. Did anyone else feel like you were watching the SuperBowl? That being said, having to watch commercials absolutely enraged me. I would pause the TV, then go out on my balcony, where I would be so confused to see people in the courtyard below, grilling ribs. Don't they know what night it is? What's wrong with these people?

The Last 15 Minutes: There seems to be a lot of controversy about the ending, as expected. Some loved it, some hated it, some are so confused that it's like they're refusing to acknowledge it happened. I have refused to read anything other than facebook status updates, with the exception of one blog, Nikki Stafford's. I'll read Doc Jensen's when it's up, but I've just been hanging out with my own thoughts so far. I spent much of the night (until I finally fell asleep and, I'm pretty sure, had Lost-infused dreams) processing, processed all day today while I was teaching (my class discussions on "Lord of the Flies" were REALLY interesting today!), and I'm still processing. But, for me, it boils down to this: The Island was real. Sideways world is a holding cell for revelation. After revelation, you get to spend the ever-afterlife with the ones you love. What could be better? I am among those who liked the ending. Did I want answers? Of course I did! But, as a graduate student of literature, I am more than accustomed to having to interpret and not have things handed to me. For that, I thank Lost, for giving me a great, huge, excellent text to examine for a long time! It's like a giant project that I'm really excited to dig into. The idea that the writers left things open to interpretation, to all faiths, all religions, all belief systems or non-belief systems, was a beautiful thing. Think of how much it would have sucked for us to be handed a neatly-wrapped box of answers. Everyone would have hated the answers! (I agree with Nikki Stafford, who is right in her assertion that what I can make up in my brain is better than what they could have shown me.) And this is a show that is beyond handing answers to the audience. Besides, most of my lingering questions have to do with the Dharma Initiative. What were they up to? I still want to know. But the great thing about Lost is how much it leaves for you to learn or to speculate, or both. For example,though I live with my scientist boyfriend who gets asked lots of questions, by me, about science stuff on the show, I now have even more questions about electromagnetism. Luckily, light reading around here consists of books titled things like "Principles of Quantum Mechanics," to name one I'm looking at right now. So there's lots of science for me to ask him to explain, especially concerning the cave, the light, and the big stopper. Having a live-in scientist is great for things like this. After all, he was the one who said, after he had stopped watching the series (he gave up in season 3, but that's mostly due to the demands of computational physical chemistry), "Did they just call that guy Farraday?" and then he explained the name to me. I've always loved this show for that, and the last episode isn't going to stop that at all. If anything, the last episode gave me more things to think about and, if I didn't enjoy thinking, I wouldn't do what I do. So, yeah. Terrific! I mean, I'm still in love with Jacob reading "Everything That Rises Must Converge."

Kate + Jack = LOVE. IT. This is an interesting thing. I have always been pretty neutral about Kate, but I've always liked Sawyer more than Jack. He was just a better character, I thought. Therefore, I probably would have leaned Skater, if I had to lean. I also always disliked Juliet. There wasn't any particular reason for this, but she really got on my nerves. I can't explain why. So when she and Sawyer got together, I hated it. It seem unrealistic to me (you know, because Lost is so realistic) and unbelievable and I really didn't like them together, until. . .Juliet fell down the A-bomb hole. Sawyer in that scene, and the scenes that followed, was positively heartbreaking. So when Juliet and Sawyer had their awakening together, I cried. I was so happy! It was beautiful. As for Kate and Jack, I always thought Kate and Sawyer had something great, but that it wasn't the kind of true, soul-wrenching love that she could have with Jack. The thing is, I don't think they really had that love yet until the final season. Then I believed it. So I was very pleased with the way things ended up in sideways world. Jack and Kate's kiss on the cliff on the island was also really powerful and I was moved by it. I could sum it up by saying that I cried during every single awakening in the finale. Charlie and Claire? Wonderful! Hurley and Charlie? Even better! The whole thing was amazing. But you already know that; you saw it.

Don't you think Bernard and Rose were probably the very first people in sideways world to be enlightened? I think they were the whole time, in the plane and everything. Rose even told Jack, "You can let go now." I love them so much!

Did anyone else think the blood in Flocke's mouth looked a lot like the orange in John Locke's mouth from season one? I did!

Here's a tiny question that I found a bit unsettling: What's up with poor David, Jack's sideways son? I know he served a purpose in sideways world, but does anyone else find it sad that he isn't a real person? He doesn't even exist.He's just wandering around with his teenage angst and his piano-playing, serving to help his fake dad make the move to the afterlife. So is he really a non-person? Everyone else is sideways world was a real person at some point. Was David never real? How sad. . .

People missing from the church at the end: It's pretty clear that this is Jack's journey. As Christian told him, everyone there was integral to Jack's journey or is closely linked to someone who was integral to Jack's journey. I know the people trapped on the island were the whispers, but I don't think they're there anymore. I mean, we already know that Hurley is the new Jacob and he gets to make new rules (Hooray! Jacob's rules were lame and kind of mean.) so I'm assuming he and Ben did away with this trapping-folks-on-the-island business. I don't see Hurley keeping Michael around like that. Plus, the island is a place for redemption and we know that Michael was driven solely by his love for his son. I'm solid in my belief that Michael was allowed to awaken in his own sideways holding room and move forward, with Walt. The other big missing person for me was Daniel Farraday and I love the hinted explanation at why he wasn't there. Sideways world is where Eloise gets to be with her son, where she hasn't unknowingly murdered him, where he doesn't have a destiny other than to be loved and happy and play piano and wear hats. Notice that Desmond said something to Eloise to the effect of "Take him with me?" and then he said he wasn't going to do that. I'm latching onto the "with me" part of that. Daniel isn't going where everyone else is. Daniel is a part of his own sideways world, and that world includes Eloise. Somewhere in another church room, Daniel might awaken and then end up with his mother, with Miles, and with Charlotte, of course, This is what I mean by the beauty of this interpretive ending. Other reunions! Gorgeous! My number one for Person I Most Want to See Have a Sideways World Afterlife-Bound Reunion? Mr. Eko! (Thank you, Nikki, for your mention of him, as well. I love your idea that the childhood soccer game was his sideways world.) Aside from gracing my window in my office and telling students, "You live in a world where righteousness and evil seem very far apart, but that is not the real world," Mr. Eko was probably my favorite Lost character and embodies so many of what I think are the main ideas of Lost: Love, loss, redemption, forgiveness, sacrifice, faith, etc. I'm making up a church scene for grown-up Mr. Eko in my head right now. Trust me; it's really good. As for another one, Ben says he's going to stay in sideways world for awhile. I think this is because he needs his own journey. Sure, he's a big part of the world of Jack and everyone else, which is why he shows up outside the church. (What would we do without that amazing scene between him and John? Chills everywhere!) But Ben's journey isn't over. We know he serves as Hurley's Number 2, but he also needs those connections to be rebuilt in sideways world. And at some point, I'm sure he'll be in the church with Alex and Rousseau and maybe even Jacob or the MIB. I mean, now that someone else has taken over, those two are only human, right? And they're the biggest part of Ben's journey. I have long loved Ben and rooted for Ben and seen the good in Ben, so I was pleased by the ending that suggested that Ben's journey isn't over, that he was great at being number 2, and that he is eventually going to have one of these great church reunions of his own and then he'll move on, most likely with his daughter, who will finally get to understand him and forgive him. So beautiful.

The Light: We know that there is a little bit of the Light inside all of us. We know that the Light can produce murderous, horrifying evil. We know that the Light can also save the world.Those of you who know the kind of work I know have to know that I have been EATING. THIS. UP. from the moment John Locke showed Walt the two pieces: one light and one dark. It's all about the capacity for every human to have goodness and evil. (See again my all-time favorite Mr. Eko quote.) There is the capacity for all of us to do harm and to do good and, as made evident by the characters of this series, no one is completely evil and no one is completely good. Not even the MIB. I can't be the only one who saw the good in him, can I? Why does the Light have to be all bottled up in a cave? That I don't know, but I'll put forth my very early idea. The Light, the Heart of the Island, the Soul, whatever you want to call it, sort of has to be protected from itself. We don't know what would happen if the big stopper were removed and not replaced, but we've been told that everyone in the world would die. Since the beginning of that idea, I've been yelling, "The Island is a Hellmouth!" But it's not a hellmouth. It's the anti-Hellmouth. Or it's an everything-mouth. Honestly, I just don't even know that Jacob knew what would happen. Perhaps it's just that the MIB, after leaving the cave in his big puff of smokey Big Badness, was so evil that he would leave the island and destroy everything else just because he could? Perhaps he would kill everyone the candidates cared about because he hates them? I don't know. Luckily, there are a lot of ideas and papers in here for me! Hooray!

So here are some of my top unanswered questions that remain and what I think about them at this point. (This is all, of course, completely subject to change after more contemplation, research, and discussion. But here are some preliminary thoughts for now.)

4) Waaaaaaaaaalt!: I'm filing Walt in the category of "special." The Others apparently didn't even know he was special when they took him. The Others just like to kidnap children. After all, they had already taken the children from the tail section of the plane and Ben says Walt was hard to handle. Walt is special, like Hurley and Miles are special. walt's feeling can make birds commit glass door suicide. Miles hears dead people. Hurley sees dead people. It's all related to death, but it's all very valuable on the island. Walt didn't get to make much of a contribution with his special abilities, but he was a child. Maybe he just hadn't recognized that he was special yet? The Island (and Jacob?) draw in special people for a reason. Desmond is another special person, even before he turned the failsafe key. So there really isn't any lingering mystery about Walt for me. was Walt special? Of course! Was he a candidate? I don't know. I want to get a better look at that cave. Was his last name different from Michael's? Does anyone know this already? If so, please holla. Either way, I'm at peace with the Walt situation.

8) The Dharma food drop: I got nothing. (Except bad grammar.) I guess it's just pretty obvious that it was the Others from Other-ville? We know they had all kinds of stuff going on (the people in the town didn't even know about the ladies of the Looking Glass), so I'm guessing Ben was having them drop big tubs of Ranch dressing on Desmond.

15) Polar bears: Where did they come from or why did the DI bring them to island? My answer to that is: They were studying them. I don't see how the answer has to be more complicated than that.We've seen the fish biscuits. If we want it to be more complicated, I would suggest they were there because of the super cold place where the donkey wheel was or of where the donkey wheel turning sent people at some point (obviously, it was originally somewhere cold, hence Ben's huge parka. I'll also add to this a thought on the Hurley Bird. I never really cared too much about it, but I know a lot of people did, so I want to throw out the tidbit I recently learned that, on the English subtitles of the DVD, apparently the bird's screech reads, "HURLEY!" So there you go.

16) The Temple. And the people in it. And the big pool that changes color and then brings people back from the dead. I still don't know what was going on there. I need a serious three-watch (I already did a re-watch) for that. And why was Drogan in sideways world? This one makes my brain hurt. It's going on the shelf for awhile.

23) The Dharma notebooks: Again, I say, the DI was studying stuff. That's what they did. Would I still love to know what they thought the purpose was? Yes. Do I care very much right now? No. But I'll still keep thinking about it. In case you can't tell, most of my questions are about the DI. Oh, well. I'll just have to rely on the Dharma worker in my brain. Related to this is also The Quarantine. I'm guessing this was a big long con put in place to facilitate the Dharma psych studies being done all over the island (hence the notebooks). It's also possible that it was an old legend from the days of the "sickness" of the Smoke Monster turning people evil, in the style of Claire and Sayid. Of course, we know this sickness is temporary.What can save you from it? The Power of Love. (I like to throw in Back to the Future references whenever possible.)

42) The Purge: There are still some questions about the Purge, but I think we've gotten a big answer here, which is fantastic! We know that Ben was never really taking orders from Jacob; he was taking orders from the MIB. And yet the Purge seemed initiated by Richard and the Others as a way for Ben to finally join them and we know that Richard has had direct contact with Jacob. So who ordered that? Richard? Jacob? The MIB? It's an interesting question and, for now, I think the Purge may have been simultaneously ordered by Jacob AND by the MIB. We know that Jacob isn't just some fluffy kitten; look at all the pain he inflicted on his candidates. So my likely solution is that Richard got the order from Jacob, a la the OG purge from "Across the Sea" and this was Ben's initiation as leader. The Others do defer to Ben when the Purge is over, though, so maybe it was the MIB's call. But, since the Dharma Initiative folks were all about messing with the island's magic hidey-holes, I'm guessing Jacob had a hand in that.

108) The MIB's name: He doesn't need one. Because he's everyone. He's me. He's you. We're all the MIB, just waiting to either choose the light stone or the dark one, or to choose one and then swap it later for another, rinse and repeat. (That's pretty weak right now, but it's the beginnings of my ideas about a name for him, so I wanted to put it out there.) Names are very important on the island, as we know, so it has to be really significant that the MIB doesn't have one. Rather than chalk it up to him being so evil that he isn't worthy of a name or his adoptive mom was so jacked up that she didn't give him one, I choose a more contemplative approach. So congratulations! You are the smoke monster.

I know I'm missing a lot of things I wanted to say, but I'll just store it up for another installment maybe. I need more processing time, but these are the things fresh on my brain, as promised. I hope you all enjoyed the finale as much as I did. It was truly moving and definitely thought-provoking. I'm really looking forward to all the awesome discussions we're going to get to have about it soon!

I'll end with the fact that, as you most likely know, "Namaste" loosely translates to mean, "The divine light in me salutes the divine light in you." I don't even have to explain how appropriate that is.

Namaste.

Spring = Putty? Apparently so.

2010-03-09T08:48:00.001-05:00

Every season, everyone is all a-flutter waiting on Chanel to debut its newest nail polish color. While the color for summer, debuting in May, is a very bright blue (inspired in part, like many other summer trends, by Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland"), the spring color is putty. Yes, putty, as in clay or that stuff that comes in a red egg and can be used to make copies of newspaper type.

I was at first apprehensive of this, but I decided to give it a try. Chanel's color is named Particuliere, but it's already sold out and backordered. You can get a bottle of it for a ridiculous price on eBay, if you like, but I chose to find a cheaper alternative.

After much comparison and deliberation (and magazine research and about an hour of wandering around ULTA), I chose OPI's "You Don't Know Jacques." I got home and discovered it was the matte polish (Yuck!), so I returned it. They didn't have it in original, so I got Rimmel London's Lasting Finish Pro Nail Enamel in Steel Grey. I painted my toes and fingers with two coats each.

Here are the results: (photo coming in about ten minutes)

I really like it! I wore it all weekend at a Film Festival and got several compliments. It's a great neutral and because of the "putty" color works really well with blacks or browns (though I love mixing brown and black anyway). It also did last about a week before chipping and it was less than $4.

So if you want to try a runway-worthy trend, I would recommend this one. It's cheap and easily removed if you don't like it. I loved it and I'm about to paint my nails again in the exact same color. While I'm out today, I'm going to look out for a couple of other cheaper versions of the Chanel: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polish in "Commander in Chic" and the elusive OPI I mentioned before.

Hot Messes of Hotlanta

2010-01-09T22:43:00.001-05:00

If I'm going to keep this up, I promise to get a better camera phone. In the meantime, here is a photo of someone who would be a Hotlanta Hot Mess, no matter the weather, yet the circumstances of this photo really heighten her Hot Mess status.

For the past couple of days, Midtown Atlanta has been damn near crippled by an ice catastrophe, which caused all the schools to close, tons of people unable to travel anywhere around the city, and literally hundreds of car wrecks. In the midst of this, I, of course, went to Target by Atlantic Station. The ice wasn't too bad but the wind chill was 2. (Literally, the wind chill was 2.) This woman was walking down the street wearing, get ready, JORTS. Jean shorts. It was a ridiculous look on any day, but yesterday it was just beyond horrible.

I apologize for the bad quality, but it's the best I could do from three lanes away at a red light.

As if this weren't enough, we had to go back to Target today for the dog food that I forgot yesterday. On the way, we saw a woman slowly navigating the icy sidewalk wearing a sleeveless dress and white sandals. There was no sweater, no jacket, no tights, no covering up at all; it was just bare arms and bare feet, inching her way through the snow and ice. I was driving, so I didn't get a photo, but trust me on this. It wouldn't have been appropriate in January if it were 73 degrees out! It certainly isn't appropriate when it's 22 degrees.

What's going on, Atlanta? Put some damn clothes on.