UConn James

Was. . I only recently caved and got "Sketches..." and I could see why he wanted to erase those. The Live in Chicago DVD is awesome and I'm glad it was done; I've been meaning to do a write-up on it in my blog. Personality-wise he seemed like someone who'd be a kick to know in real life, if you could manage get close to his Salinger-like ass for two seconds together. I've been told I'm a lot like him in that way (and when my hair was longer, got a few "Wow, you look like..."'s too) only more focused. But I could never be a musician; you're talking with someone who has a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time.

You're officially in. (And they'll tell stories about me and an inflatable Kate doll at the LOST party. Don't believe them; I never saw it in my life!) BTW, do you like Buckley for the quote or the music, too?

In that case, why isn't he seeing the situation where he gets a note back from the State Dept., 8x11 plain white paper in a manilla envelope, and in the center, on the back, in 4-point Helvetica type, italicized, the words, "HA! --- Best, Condi".

Whoever it is, I don't envy them. It's going to be like trying to steer a boat that's taking on water and no one's bailing. The Chinese kids are smarter (science & math) and more determined and their country is fast upgrading their technological ability in industry after industry, while let's face it, we're getting fatter (see that report this week? ) and stupider where it really matters. In 20 years, maybe even 15, if nothing drastic changes, we will be among the also-rans. And people will wonder where we went wrong, as they masturbate to a 40-year old 80%-plastic Brittany Spears.

Are you sure it was "solar" and not "solo." W/ Desmond's accent.... Did you turn on the CC? I've never heard of a solar-powered ballon; it's hot-air or propane. But I admit that I tuned out those last few times those rich guys tried it.

Depends on the prognosticator. You can never really tell with FBs, but he is the best out there, and probably the best in the past several years. 2nd or 3rd might not be a stretch. I think FB is a stand-along with the OL, besides the obvious differences, physical and tactical. Both have essentially the same job when they're at the LOS; running plays, they're opening holes, passing plays (if they're in) they're usually back to protect the QB.

Matt Bernstein has been blowing open holes for Wisconsin's ground game. Nasty streak and he is a mauler. Not sure where he'll be drafted, b/c a 1st is a lot for a FB, but if he drops to the 2nd I'd grab him. Having a guy liek him might help mitigate failings on the OL. Definitely should grab a LG or LT in the first tho. Will we? Who knows. Shelton isn't the weakest link on the team, but he has been whiffing too much for comfort and is getting up there in age.

Rock, the leaves don't change b/c of temperature drop-offs, it's actually to do with the ratio of far red light. As the duration of this light changes (increases IIRC) the chlorophyll in the leaves is drawn back into the tree (the chemicals that chl is composed of are scarce/hard to draw up into the tree so they are saved and reused), leaving the original pigments of the storage -phylls. Those other -phylls aren't needed anymore and an acid (ascissic?) is released that detaches the leaves so new ones will have space to grow next year. Lots of people attribute it to the weather, but it's false cause. Such is life when you're an autotroph --- no one understands you! The leaves have just started to change here. We're getting some of the yellows and oranges right now, but lots of green still. We live on a lake and I'm building a stone wall at the waterfront in lieu of rent. This weather is my absolute favorite time of the year, and a big reason why I want to stay here. Yesterday there was a stunning red leaf from a maple tree in the water surrounded by yellow. That color's not abundant right now, but it soon will be and then shortly after that there will just be branches. A bowl of Trix! That's a great description.

Right. It will probably have some kind of significance in a future ep. I didn't either. I thought he said something about a solar race. But then again, I couldn't understand half the things that came out of his mouth with that heavy accent. Kept having to ask "What was that? What'd he say?" Like when he said "I don't know, but every time I walk past [the electromagnet], my fillings hurt." I was like "Feelings, what?" Is his accent Australian? That's what I've been told, but I don't know, it sounds a little Irish-y.

Does it even matter if they don't trade us their entire OL? Living in Patsie-land, I saw all of the Pats preseason games (scouting the enemy), and Cassell looked good for a rook. Granted he was playing against fellow 3rd stringers, but he was connecting on passes and was in the flow of the game, dictating what happened. Which is more than you can say for some other QBs. The Pats could put Dolly Parton at QB and still have a high-quality O. That even with two rookie starters on their OL. It's almost not fair how other teams can plug in people and be really good, and we're left with rejects who can't pass-protect for their lives.

Chocolate = brown brown = poop Do you realize what you've done? As for Moulds, if this is the attitude that he gets when things don't go right for 4 games, he'll find out the same way that Rueben Brown did that we don't need that sh-- here. $9M and he can't be bothered to help out the essentially rookie QB? On that overthrow INT vs. the Saints, he never even looked back.

Present and accounted for! Lana, I think you should go in for a Kate avatar.

Looking at that picture closer.... anyone think Desmond looks a little like RJ? When did the ignominy of ignominies happen and he got a Super Bowl ring then dropped off the map? Wasn't that three years ago? We now know what he's been doing since.... 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42, EXECUTE.

Except for the little detail that most, if not all, people who are against benching JP now were never calling for Holcomb to start. He was to be a back-up in case JP went down. That's the only scenario I would have accepted for the likes of Kelly "cross-field-throw INT" Holcomb starting. He's not much better than JP and has no upside. Does it make you feel better to live in a fantasy world where you can make up your own facts in order to use the smilie and look down on other people for being fickle, when they aren't?

Actually, it would make a stay about 1 1/2 years. But, Desmond did say that Kelvin was there for a while. So, averaging b/w them.... They also never said what would happen to the replacee; how they would get back to civilization or if they would just stay on the island until they died.

That "security system" might not be to keep people out, but to keep number-punchers in. That part of the DHARMA plan to send a replacement.... they never say they'll be sending a boat or something with a willing participant. It would stand to reason that such a person wouldn't need an orientation film on what was happening. Maybe the 540 days are how often the electromagnet or whatever causes a shipwreck with a survivor who will take over, just as Desmond did. Anyone find it strange that Desmond asked what happened to the girl (Sarah)? It seemed like an odd question....

Didn't the film say "Part 3 of 6"? I loved the Locke-Jack quote: L:"Why do you find it so hard to believe?" J:"Why do you find it so easy?" I also think there was a serious connection b/w Locke's need to sit outside of his father's (tho this is questionable -- the guy was rich; he could have found out who was a possible match and devised the con) house and his desire to sit in front of the computer. It's not for nothing that they showed that flashback. Some people, like Helen, believe that he is brooding with anger. That certainly is part of it. But there is an air of Locke wanting to take control back, but the manifestation of which just has him just sitting there in both scenarios. The wheelchair is the perfect euphamism by the writers for the character's personality.

Of course, it changes things a little when you note that I am NOT advocating that he abandon the plan of starting JP. MM's letting the pressure get to him this year. I don't know if the leash was shortened in the offseason in a "you may not be working here anymore" way, but he's caving. He's going to lose control if it keeps going this way, and it's not going to be pretty. At least the rumored fight in the locker room and Rueben's outburst against GW happened in the last game of the season. We're only 4 games thru and the wheels are in motion.

All the respect he built up last year when he told RW to (respectfully) STFU when things didn't start out very well... it's all gone. This is an admission that he didn't know what he was doing when developing the plan, which is bad, or that he has now turned into a cut-and-run artist w/o a spine, which is worse. If there's something the organization needs, it is stability and knowing what course the ship is sailing. We were expecting a letdown while JP was developing, but we got that he was developing. Now MM is chasing the wind and you don't get to your destination any faster that way, only at the end you have no idea how to make things go your way.

Yeah. That guy looked too ominous, and intentionally shadowed, to not be behind some seriously dark stuff.

Yeah, I had grad students like that.... But they were never half as bad as one guy I had in a history gen-ed. Ralph Ferraro for anyone who ever runs into the biggest a--hole alive. I wouldn't be surprised if it is just a teaser.

For the countdown, I was with Jack. The Institute (what was the name for it? DHARMA Institute?) did research in psychology. One of the widely known experiments in that field was to see how far people would go in doing their job according to explicit instructions --- they had to shock people with electricity when they answered a question wrong. The "subject" being shocked would yell, scream, or say they had a heart condition and it was amazing to see how many people continued to shock them at higher and higher levels. For one guy, he kept doing it after a person that yelled and complained of heart trouble fell silent. Perhaps this is a just a big experiment in seeing how far someone who may not know the whole story will go (that countdown buzzer is a classic pressure-inducing variable) when they think they're saving the world or themselves from imminent destruction; and the DHARMA people either set up the electromagnet to pull people onto the island or they set it up on this shipwreck-prone island. They also called this the third one. I think Locke just called the phone lady "Helen" just because he wanted to pretend it was Helen. It wasn't Peg Bundy's voice, and that would be a major error. For Phunix's theory regarding the record player setup, it's weird, b/c this week had the records lined up and the chrome player, not the wood one. I can't offer an explanation other than a goof or that Desmond, in all his spare time while holding hostages and being held hostage, changed his stereo system to accessorize in the current silver TV and kitchen appliance craze. Jokeman, what do you know about Analucia? Label it SPOILER and put it in yellow text. It caught me by surprise that she was a plant. And it also kind of makes you wonder about the "Others" if they even are the same Others that took Walt, which I have doubts about. We're so caught up in them being 'the other' that it seems a conceit by the writers to show that 'others' aren't always evil, just that they're from a different group that is very similar to your own. Is anyone trying to say that beat-downs didn't happen on the beach last season? So Jin can speak English. That puts a change of perspective on everything that happened last season. I wondered last year why a guy would go to America and make no plans for how to get by in language.

Forrest Gump played table tennis by himself by turning the other half of the table in a vertical position.... Who mentioned time travel? If he's still playing records, I doubt he's got a time travel machine. The creators said it would be sci-fi, but a grounded version of sci-fi. I thought he did recognize Jack, just that he wasn't surprised at him being there. Did Desmond somehow collect everyone on the plane? --- Thanks for pin status! but would it be possible to merge the 2.01 thread in with this and simply call it "LOST: Season 2 Previously Aired Ep discussion." Then someone can create a thread for this week's episode, and next week that one can be merged as well? Just in the interest of keeping it neat. I'm going to scour the Internet for Apollo candy bars for this week's LOST party. Someone on this green earth, someone's gotta have a stash they're willing to part with.

Or a Steelers jersey with "Kristacovitchlalinski, Jr." on the nameplate.

Thing is, he looks more like Adam Sandler that way.