CosmicBills

If this story is accurate, and he was brought in for more than just a meeting it is very interesting. Most top 15 picks don't work out when they visit clubs, it's just not worth the risk. So it makes me wonder a bit about the reasons why the Bills are doing this. Sounds like it could just be a smoke screen from OBD to throw teams off their scent.

A couple things based on your post: 1. Locke said a few interesting things. In summation: "I don't want to leave, I'm going with them", to Kate, "I tried to fight for you, told them you were reliable and a standup person, then they told me what you did ... forgiveness isn't one of their strong suites", and "Jack is staying behind with you, good luck". The fact that now Locke knows what Kate did (when only Jack refused to know before) is a bit interesting. But the most interesting part of that exchange was Locke talking about forgiveness -- considering his father (who is now somehow on the island), maybe Locke does indeed have more in common with the Others than we knew. He was born to be on this island, whereas Ben was born on the island. Not sure if Locke is playing the Others or is genuine about his desire to be a part of their tribe. This was the only part of the show that irked me simply because Locke has always been one of my favorite characters, but his 180/crazyness the past few episdoes has been wearing on me -- hopefully there is a bigger game at foot and we aren't going to get the weak, push over John from the end of season 2. 2. The monster: going back to our discussion last week, it was further proof that the monster is infact controlled by another group. We know from season 1 that the Monster is mechanical and not really a "monster", it's a "security system". The "Others" have their own security system (the fence) which, as Juiliette admitted after it crashed into the gate, "Okay, we've seen it before but we don't know what it is we just know that it doesn't like our fence". So the "Others" are aware of its presence, but the fact they don't know what it is shows me that my hunch is close to the truth ... there is a war going on between two sides and the Lostaways are caught in the middle. Your comment on tying it to nature is interesting. The bird certainly did say Hurley's name and the spiders made the sound -- which makes me think the Monster can change "forms". It is, afterall, a nebulous cloud of black smoke. It can do what it wants. We know that it appears differently to different Lostaways -- remember Locke described it as a "bright, beautiful light" (close to what we saw last night) whereas Eko and Charlie saw the black, scanning smoke. What was most interesting to me was that it appeared to "scan" Juliette and not so much Kate. Not sure if that means anything, but it clearly was most interested in Juliette. If it can take the shape of "creatures" it goes along with the theory that there is another group opposed to the "Others" -- ones who deal with nature and supernatural elements rather than cold, hard science.

(Best Mr. Burns voice): Excellent.

If this wish comes true, LSI, I expect you to start an extra special thread on draft day for the board to celebrate. Don't let me down

Thoughts on tonight's episode? Personally I dug it. We got a bit more info on the monster (which seems to fit my assumption/theory). This episode set up a lot of future stuff and, as always, left us hanging on a couple big points (ie Locke and his father?!). Still, for me this episode was about the performances and the writing. I know people are down on the show this season, and some of it is certainly warranted -- but for the past few weeks the show has really been back to form with great acting and writing. I didn't really see any sort of "clues" in the traditional Lost sense -- though part of the code to turn on the fence was 1623 -- for whatever that's worth.

Sorry, RB by committee ... just felt lazy for a second.

IMHO, you're wrong. There will be a day 1 RB taken. No one knows what Jackson can do and Williams is a scat back at best. A-Train is solid, but if he goes down, who does that leave to carry the load? Factor in the staff's preaching of RBBC and it's clear that there is a huge, gaping hole at RB and you better believe it will be addressed within the first three rounds.

Sure is. I fear they are going to screw up this movie. It could be bloody brilliant (pun intended) but it appears to get too slashery-serious at the end of the trailers. We'll see though.

As shocking as some of the celeb's salaries are for VO, it's even more shocking to hear how much the professional VO actors get paid. It's a very, very well paid gig.

I have no idea about that, it's a good question that we'll have to refer to one of the lawyers on here. But I do know from reading the trades that at the very least, the spots you mentioned, are the real deal since they are being paid. There's a great episode of Entourage on celebs doing commercials and how that is viewed in the industry. It's worth checking out.

That's a very good point too -- you can't impersonate a voice without having a disclaimer. You'd be running the risk of a lawsuit which would be more expensive than paying the guy you want to impersonate.

They are the real McCoys. At least the ones you mentioned. They do get big contract dollars for the endorsements, but most of the top VO guys (the two guys who do movie trailers or car commercials) command even bigger bucks. VO work is highly paid in the industry and there are very few "top" people who do it. And the companies that are beginning to use actors, aren't small companies. They are huge advertisers with dollars to spend. I really think Mastercard with their Billy Cudrup ads started the trend for actors doing VO work. They saw that he was able to be a part of a huge campaign and still be an "it" actor for a time. It opened the doors. Though, it may have predated that, I'm not sure. That's the first big campaign I remember with a named actor.

I'm confused ... are you saying the ones you listed are impersonators or the real McCoy? The reason why actors do VO work for commercials in the states rather than use their actual faces is because it gives them distance from the product. A film star doing commercials is reserved for C listers in the past -- but VO (Stanley Tucci does Cingular, Kiefer Sutherland does Apple sometimes and Kevin Spacey does some car ads) seems to be becoming more "acceptable" for A/B Listers these days.

I know that played a part -- I'm just going off what was told to us. And, for what it's worth, they weren't producers on the show. They were the network execs for the film department, not OP. So it could be a bit of both.

That was discussed too. It happened. But they still were on track for an earlier release than April.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a spoiler but just in case, I'll put it in yellow: I had a meeting at HBO a couple weeks ago and got to watch some of the trailers for the last season in their screening room and talk with some people there about the show. I was told me that the season was pushed from January to April due to Chase finally agreeing to do one (possibly two) feature films. This decision forced Chase to "rethink" the ending of the series he had already scripted and shot (parts of). They had to re-tool it to leave open the possibility of a film franchise. What this means, I'm not sure. But it probably means Christopher, Tony, Medow and Carm all survive -- if not more. I wouldn't be surprised to see the show go out on a cliff hanger now. Which personally would annoy the hell out of me.

Good point as well ... I bet dollars to doughnuts that the Bills don't get Briggs or Turner. Just a hunch.

I'm not sure the Bills would have the cash to sign both Briggs and Turner and still have enough left over to sign a top 10 pick in Willis. Not to mention, how would the Bills manage to move up to get Willis if they have to give up more picks to get both Turner and Briggs in the door?

Turner's agent

About a week ... but to be fair it took me 6 days to come down from the peyote.

Stupid Samsung calculator! I knew I couldn't trust this thing!

Well I wasn't going to bring it up ... but when I was flying home the other weekend, I got stuck in a long security line. I was worried about missing my flight when this shady character in sunglasses called me over. He told me about a secret room in the Buffalo airport that allows you to cut through security! I took him up on the offer (even though my mother said to never talk to strangers) and wound up in a smoke filled room with George Seifert, Mike Sherman, Michael Turner, a cab driver with a Boomer T-shirt on and some guy with a name tag that said SOPRANO. Anyway, after offering me some peyote, Seifert explained to me that Marv and Ralph call this room often to ask for advice. And they are currently advising OBD to trade the #12 pick to SF for Ronnie Lott's severed pinkie and a bag of what Sherman called "the sticky-icky". Then, Soprano told me that they are going to use the severed pinkie to entice the Chargers to deal Turner to the Bills for a 5th round pick in 2010. Apparently AJ Smith has a thing for severed digits. No one told me where the "sticky-icky" was going, but based on Sherman's glasses, I'm assuming he has issues with glaucoma. I'll keep you posted if they give out any more inside info.

The closer the draft gets, the more apparent it is that the only shot the Bills have at drafting Peterson is to move up into the top 6. There is a 0.0001% chance (mathamatically calculated) that he slips past 6. Either someone will take him despite other needs, or a team will trade up to grab him. He just won't fall to 12. That being the case, I do not advocate the Bills trading up to get him. He isn't worth the cost. Of course, that's JMO.

Ah, but if he gets drafted at 12, he'll be Po' No Mo'

Followed by ... Hmmm ... sounds like some one is flip flopping on the whole "faith in God" thing. I'm not sure that's the sort of high character Marv or Jesus H. Christ wants on this ball club.