UConn James

Ms. Underwood wasn't anything special, either. All sizzle, no steak. She was doing full finger curls on the microphone every two words to the point I thought she was going to drop it. As with the point about the ear monitor, she was WAAAAY off key on "and the home of the brave." It was loud in the stadium, granted, but it's still a testament to the lack of musical talent (not saying singing talent; there is a difference) that she couldn't close her eyes and stay on key for 3 more seconds. There's nothing in trying to "make it your own" as many singers do with their flourishes, their get-up, and their Elmer-Fudd-on-a-blender vocalizations ALA Whitney Houston. The last televised anthem that I remember being really good was Sheryl Crow at the MLB all-star game... might be 2 years ago now. Which surprised me, b/c I think most of her music sucks. As Garrison Keillor says, the anthem should take ~50-55 seconds to sing. Longer than that, you're just calling attention to yourself, when the emphasis should be on the words of anthem.

Let me clarify: I am not a blind follower of any QB who's come through here. After so many games, they need to produce or at least show progression. The point is that it's something about the Bills franchise & fanbase that kills QBs. Whether it's getting a QB not fit for the system; one who's too inexperienced and not being able to develop them; not getting them a serviceable OL; getting a QB who's past his prime; having a long string of OC who, even if they are good scheme designers and play-callers, are handcuffed by either lack of talent or ordered to be lackluster; or are undercut by coach, GM and/or owner. The problem is systemic. For one reason or other, or a combination of all, QBs don't succeed here. And it would take the second coming of Kelly to solidify QB or the Offense in general.

It's always amusing to me to see the people who think a specific player's progression on one team would be exactly duplicated were he to play for a different team. People who ought to know better apparently think the real world operates like Madden. If Brees had been picked by Buffalo, he probably would've been out of the league 4 years ago. That's what this franchise does to QBs post-Kelly. Sorry, but it's the truth.

In essence, I suppose it would be like Buffalo's "Creep" defense vs. a squatting OL. Not sure how they'd figure a way for the Center to not be in a three-point stance... but there would likely be a dispensation and special contact rules for that position.

Link

Pennington gets rattled by contact. He goes in a shell after the first big hit laid on him, or the first two generic sacks. Gregg and Mularky at least understood this and went after him, and we generally didn't do too badly on D against Pennington teams. Jauron, over four years, seemed not to want to spoil the after-game tea and scones with such ungentlemanly conduct. Final word: I don't want a kitty at QB. And most not with this OL situation.

Some good critical discussion: EW | LOST: Your mythology-free review of the premiere Jeff "Doc" Jensen's Lost Recap Haven't perused this yet (it's quite long), but for the past few seasons, these recaps have been required reading for this thread.

Like I wrote, it was like a drainplug that Ben pulled out in the secret chamber, and the muddy water ran out down a hole. Where did it (and presumably, more) go? In an island fraught with connections, this would be my best guess. In other thoughts, it's just a little disconcerting that in the ALT-world, people we've come to know will be totally changed without their island experience. They don't get the redemption the island afforded them: - I suppose we had seen Kate be like that in flashbacks, so her beating up the marshal and commandeering the taxi with Claire inside didn't come as a surprise. But from her current path, she doesn't get to stop running and be a positive force. - Sawyer was back to being the con man... seemed interested once he heard about Hurley winning the lotto. Covered for Kate in the elevator. All the personal growth, and being a better man is gone off-island. - Jack & Locke is an interesting scenario. Their ALT experience in Jack potentially treating Locke might be the ALT of their acrimony on the island. - Sayid off-island might find the love that eluded him on-island. It will be interesting to see if and how they plan to make these characters likable again. Heck of a risk to totally throw out characters that had so much development time. Tgreg, you say it's heading for convergence.... I hope so.

1) Or it could be that MiB had been in the cabin, unable to get out beyond the ash. 2) Yeah, if time had been altered, then there would have been no 815 crash to mention. And Cindy wouldn't be there.... Which makes me think back to one of Faraday's lines --- that light is really weird on the island... that it comes from different angles. I think the island acts as a kind of absorber of things that happen in all timelines. So, even if/when 815 doesn't crash, the graves will still be at the beach. It also absorbs the sunlight from different timelines. The show just seems to have a different feel now, judging from the premiere eps. It's the difference b/w the action-oriented and the storytelling-oriented. But there's also our own input and excitement of watching. Since the Incident, it's been edge-of-your-seat & no time to relax... just watch things as they happen. Good point in the second graph. Not sure there's a hard-and-fast rule about body possession vis-a-vis that the body must be a duplicate. There will be a Richard-centric ep in 6.09 where we get info on his past in what has to be flashback form. I believe the 'no more flashbacks' thing was for the Lostaways proper --- not MiB, Jacob or Richard. Had a new thought this morning... Re: the water in the Temple's spring going all brown and the Japanese guy and the hippie being absolutely surprised at this... Where else have we seen muddied water? Ben pulling the plug in the secret chamber within the secret chamber off of his Barracks house. That happened in the 2007 universe last season in "Dead is Dead." What was the deal with the spring? I didn't catch it b/c it happened quickly. Did the Japanese guy's hand heal when he stuck it in the (brown) water? Also, is ABC going to show repeats of the previous ep right before the new ones? ON EDIT: To answer my own question, yes they are. We'll get "LA X: Part 2" next Tuesday before "What Kate Does."

Darlton said on Jimmy Kimmel last night that the Sayid=Jacob idea is basically right, but there will be some fine-tuning of this yet to come. Some things that have bothered me a bit... 1) Rousseau's baby was stolen from her in 1988, by Ben and Ethan. Ben was then back in Dharmaville in 1992 for the Purge. What's up with that? Was it like a Others Reserve weekend for Ben? 2) There's also Faraday's assertion that exploding the H-bomb over the Swan will stop the freighter from ever coming to the island. Is that necessarily so? Or could all of what happened with the O6, etc. --- all of it --- been part of the "secondary protocol"? I dunno what to make of the situation of the island being underwater in the Alt world. W/Could Widmore's intentions still be accomplished? Also, it seems a pretty good guess now that the box Ben took out of the motel vent before 316 left was his ankh.

To some degree, he may be. From Flocke's talk with Ben about Locke's life and his "I don't understand" thought as he died, it's like he was lurking inside of Locke from the beginning. Add in his "Do you have any idea what I've been through to be here?" and I suspect that at least a part of the smoke monster/MIB has inhabited Locke since his birth. It's not like it took over Locke completely. Iit was like... a virus. But it did seem to influence Locke's enjoyment of games, history, hunting, and his anger.

- On 815, Jack has noticeably longer hair than in the original pilot ep. In a show as meticulous as this wrt appearance, this can't be accidental. - 815 still shakes before the pilot says it was "rough air." Was it just turbulence? Island is now ~20 ft. underwater in this Alt World. I don't get how that could happen. - Des on 815. Holy crap! I'm thinking his appearance may be similar to how Eloise Hawking showed up to him in 1996. Or how Ethan walked past Juliet in "Not in Portland." Something weird to it... My thoughts at the time were that it creates a constant to prevent the aneurysm effects. - "I'm sorry you had to see me like that." If there was any doubt left that Flocke = Smoke monster = MIB, that doubt was removed. - Why does Jack linger on 815? It's almost like he and the other Losties sense something, but they don't remember... at least not yet. It'd be disappointing if all the histrionics of the past 5 seasons are gone. But, as it's happening, these peoples' lives are interconnected. There's nothing they can do to change their paths crossing. I guess we'll just see if they can "change the equation" now that they have a second chance. - If they're "back" in 2007(?) why did Richard tell Sun last season that he 'saw them all die' in 1977? - How did Juliet know that the bomb worked before she died... right after she said that it didn't work? "Fickle B word" even in death? ... Or was that sentence she said about "Let's get a cup of coffee sometime. We'll go Dutch" a bit of 'course correction'/temporal shift talk? e.g. how Charlotte said she "couldn't have chocolate before dinner" during the flashes, and then we later saw young Charlotte say that line to Daniel. (Her mind had to catch up with what was changed in the timeline). - MIB - "I want to go home." Where is home? Maybe more importantly, when is home? He kicks Richard's ass, and from the comment, it appears that Richard was on the "Black Rock" in some capacity or other. - I think it's fairly obvious, but Sayid = Jacob. We've finally seen some of the interior Temple.

Also, a bit of shop talk, Matthew Fox has announced that post-LOST, he will not be doing TV work anymore. And Evangeline Lily has announced that post-LOST, she will be walking away from acting, totally.

The disclaimer is the key to my thinking. Fast-forward to the run-up to the next Jets-Dolphins game. No doubt it will be a featured item, at least in My-ami. Not for nothing that The Herald columnist's name literally translates to "The Bastard." I normally try to be courteous to those in the profession and follow my mother's advice for when there's nothing nice to say, but this guy is a complete *. Fans tend to take things personally when birds and insults are thrown their way.... Whereas for players & coaches in the league, this drop of water has already rolled off their backs. As I wrote, it's pretty lame at this point. Nowhere near the Bills-Dolphins '90s rivalry at this stage. But it's got potential, especially if the first game b/w the teams next year is @ the Phins' stadium, and their fans take it to the next level.

Well, here we go with the guide listing...

Hmm. You should send that memo to Titans owner Bud Adams and his double-bird (with thumb emphasis, also). Adams was fined, and it was forgotten in about two days. The Johnsons knew what Ryan was when they hired him. He's a guy who says things like this and does things like this. Complaining about it would be like Ralph complaining a year from now that Buddy Nix has a strong Southern accent. I don't think they have a problem with it. This is the stuff that breeds rivalry, which breeds higher ticket prices. This is a media-generated controversy. And a pretty lame controversy at that.

19 1/2 hours! Didn't realize that the premiere party was so well-attended. Quite a few who flew especially for it. Hawai'i is really going to miss the show, economically. The millions spent on production, etc. You'd be surprised how many tourists it helps attract, or at least puts people over the tipping point of deciding on it over, say, Florida. Also, the Top 25 "LOST" quotes, according to some dude. My personal favorite?

There is now a fuller S6 preview video available. This was released by ABC yesterday, but it's located on a spoiler site, so don't say I didn't warn you. I would expect that it will be the after-ep 'next week' preview. After hearing so long that no one was going to see a bit of the premiere until 2/2, this is a bit discombobulating. There's now a big part of me that's saying not to snoop around any more, and enjoy each bite we've got left w/o getting a look at it being made in the kitchen. But then, there's the part of me that figures I'm already 'LOST Impure' so I might as well go for broke. I'm pretty sure I'm going to avoid the Web stuff from this point on. It just makes discussion easier not to be full of spoiler material that I'd have to hold back on.

Ehhh. I wouldn't wade into the water too far, Simon. Parody does provide a protection, but it has its limits. Using an original Kane artwork cell in its entirety, then followed by a cell that's still ~90 percent the same drawing, then changes the underscript to play off of the original script.... I just don't think there's enough changed material for the parody-er to claim the work as substantively his/her own.

Just caught ~ the last 15 minutes of the season 6 premiere. Yeah, you read that right. Someone put up a crappy internet feed of the "Sunset on the Beach" LOST premiere party in Hawai'i. A big screen was set up. 'Course, somebody had to keep revving up their friggin' motorcycle during a 5-minute span. Probably Lindelof! It was kind of what I expected, and then again, it wasn't. W/o giving away its context, the highlight quote of this ep: "I'm sorry you had to see that."

Early adopters usually wind up getting royally screwed.

Awesome. Yeah, without question, that's a MAJOR spoiler. But I want as many freakin' spoilers as I can get. Spoiler-y discussion yellow-fonted: This was something I've read about for a while now --- that the explosion resets the timeline. As Faraday explained in the DVD bonus 'extended scene,' all of the Left Behinders are variables. Anything they do affects the future (and with that, Sayid shooting Ben, etc. didn't happen originally)... But most of the things they do aren't big/important enough to change the course of events. As Faraday draws the metaphor, it's like throwing a pebble in the stream --- its effect is minimal. But destroying the Swan site/energy is like dropping a huge boulder in the stream --- it's effect on the course of events is a major "course correction." This clip still introduces some questions in the meantime. 1) Why did the plane still shake at that moment? 2) Do Jack et al remember what happened in the alternate timeline? I believe the answer to #2 is yes... for those Losties whom Jacob touched, if only b/c a blank slate at this point in the series is a total cop-out. I would also guess that Juliet's prolonged absence (in the real world, for her new show, "V") will be explained by her being transported akin to when Ben and Locke moved the "frozen donkey wheel." Altho her exit point will not be Tunisia, like it was for the Orchid's energy. In one way, Juliet's story might be similar to Desmond's when he turned the Swan key (since Juliet is over the Swan's energy). The "exit" for the Swan appears to be the island. When she will show up is the question.

Having been subjected to ~ 4 months of TV ads, and watching the debate, I can attest to this. As much as the Brown win was about the health care bill, there were significant side issues as well. Not the least of which was Independents' resentment of giving full constitutional rights to foreign terrorists, and bringing them to our shores. As much as Obama got the Indie vote in '08, his policy direction lost them in a short timespan.

Apparently, the originator of the thread believes that having one common ancestor from 400 years ago makes two people 'close family'... to the extent that the Brown win is likened to English lines of royalty / War of the Roses. Biologically (mitochondrial DNA, to be exact), over 90% of European-heritage people can be traced back to one of 7 women who lived roughly 40,000 years ago. As the tree of human fecundity branches wider and wider, there's a lot of intersecting points. This is a trivial factoid, and really has next to no meaning.