Petals to the Wind

Petals to the Wind

:: 2003 9 November :: 8.46 pm

The first half sucked and had me rolling my eyes. I hate Lauren, Yes, I'm biased toward Vaughn and Syd, as is the rest of the world, but there's been nothing put in her character for me to like her. I hate every second she's onscreen because she's taking up valuable time from someone else more important. The first 30 mins had me wishing, not for the first, second, or thirtieth time, that we had the characters from second season again. The episode was pretty much all about Lauren, and her asinine (new favourite word) attempts to find Julia and take her down. Snore. I HATED Vaughn's "I'll kill you if you hurt my wife" shit, and was seriously reevaluating my love for this show. The Sloane and Syd mission was tedious, and too long, no fun. Yes, WE GET IT. YOU HATE SLOANE AND WANT TO SEE HIM DIE. Quit paraphrasing yourselves every week, writers. HATED the smarmly Chinese ambassador dude. Jeez, I hate when the male cameo characters oogle Syd like that. These people are supposed to be in a position of respect and power. The only cool thing was when Jen Garner was twirling those sais (or whatever) fighting two guys at once. And the rope improv. Very nice. Excellent choreography; it must have take a very long time to learn. Yay!

I started to become invested in the episode when Sloane gave her that key. Finally! It's about fucking time we advanced that 2 year shit somewhat, considering that plotline completely fucked up my beloved show.

Jack was finally more active this episode, although his purpose is and will always be all about protecting Syd. Sneaky bastard, that Jack. I love how he brushes Vaughn off like a mosquito every time that boy tries to get all up his grill (hee! Black tawk, yo. Heehee. I've been wanting to use that expression for some time now).

So, the second half. You know I liked the second half when I bothered to single out the first to bash. I really liked the second half. Not love, but solid like. That, my friends, is a good thing (tm Martha Stewart). I was contemplating before this taping the show and watching it later so that I wouldn't have to sit through the commercials and boring shit. That was a grave, sad state.

Oh, Vaughn. He was looking HOT tonight. Yum. Michael Vartan does angry quite well. And by that I mean he looks especially handsome when he's super pissed off. No naked people tonight, of either gender. How unfortunate.

So, the scene I've been waiting for all season long. Vaughn admits he still lurrrrves Syd! Yay!! "Some things don't change." EEEEEEE! "I'm not oging to lose you twice." EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Glad that Lauren fucked up. Excellent, now Vaughn and march up to her with divorce papers and kill this contrived marriage and have hot makeup sex with Syd. They both nailed that airplane farewell scene. Aw, I was feeling the love. Also loved the smackdown Vaughn gave to Lauren right before that, and the Sark-Lauren scene in the car. I love Sark's snarky tone. I'd love to see a direct confrontation between Syd and Sark. I'd like to see that boy to show emotion of any kind. Just a flicker, to confirm my theory that he's got a heart of gold, to justify my marriage proposal to him.

I'm very interested now. Sreiously, I enjoyed the hell out of the last 20 minutes or so, and finally got the feeling of "no....it can't be the end of the ep!" I was full of anticipation for that apartment scene, hoping we'd come to a huge revelation, but I was happy with the way they did the exploration of it. I was actually nervous for her, and I loved the ending. THAT is a cliffhanger. Not the "She did it, I know she did it" crap from last ep. I can't wait to see Lauren crucified for her decision, and for her heart to be smashed in a million pieces. I'm compassionate like that.

The best feeling I got from this ep is that I'm invested again. We can finally progress the story arc, and ditch the fucking triangle. I love that Dixon is in trouble, and is kicked out. I hope he never gets that director's chair back. I hope they'll finally give him a storyline, and he'll finally do something interesting. I think I'm looking forward to the assy NSC guy to come back and create all sorts of tension. I love that Jack and Vaughn are a team now, and that Dixon looks to be joining them. Now I can fully love that side and unabashingly hate the enemy.

Trivia:
I had tons of trouble thinking up questions, guys. tmx is annoying. ;)

What's the location most visited on Alias thus far this season?

What's the Elektra shout out in this ep?

What's the assy white guy's name?

How many different languages were spoken tonight?

And specifically, by Vaughn?

How hot is Vaughn? And Sark? Hee. Those were rhetorical questions. Unless, of course, y'all want bonus points.

Sorry, I know. Not too many questions. Oh, and are there any grammar errors in the update? Where?

No Alias next week guys. The nice string of consecutive eps had to end sometime. There'll be a new ep in 2 weeks, another the week after, and after that, and I believe after that as well, and then Christmas break for an eternity. So I think we'll have 10 eps aired before the new year, which is right where we've been the previous seasons too. Come new year, new eps will be very very sparse for you newbie addicts. February sweeps usally have 3, May sweeps 2, so that means only 7 for January, March and April.

Miss Williams called today! Yay!! Muah!

PS. I totally forgot about the intro. Ew. And ew. And ew so more. That's SO sick!! At least they address the scar again, finally. But gross! Oh, and I also like that the dreams aren't used at plot contrivances at convenient times. Thank you writers.

13 comments | leave a comment

:: 2003 8 November :: 1.00 pm

I haven't written in a long time. Sorry! I had 2 midterms last week: French and Bus. I don't think I got over 90 for either of them, unfortunately. Whatever.

Regarding Alias. I may type up a review, but if I don't have time to rewatch tonight, I won't. I'll type up a review for tomorrow episode, I swear! Even if the epioside is the worst ever and pissed me off to new heights.

I went to the mall yesterday and saw a movie. Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Yes, I know. Shut up. I was originally going to see Revolutions, but it was sold out. I wasn't disappointed over that, seeing as how I hated the second. I was extremely disappointed to find that Texas wasn't sold out, and therefore the group of us could buy tickets and watch it. Dammit.

Y'll know me, a huge HUGE genre snob. I HATE gory horror moives with no plot, character or thought, with huge chase scenes and bloody set pieces. Ew. Suspense? Only the cheap kind. Yes, I was scared for a few parts, with the music going BOMP from silence. Mostly just disgusted. So many plot holes, no purpose, no motive, nothing. The whole, I'm convinced, is to show off Jessica Biel's nice boobs, ass and abs. And to promote American Eagle clothes. Seriously, you could freeze frame a ton of non gory shots from the movie and have an over glorified ad with hot, sweaty, angsty teens in tight jeans and tank tops. HATE.

My movie wishlist: Lost in Translation, Mystic River, Human Stain, Shattered Glass, Veronica Guerin. For the movies playing now, that is. Now who the fuck is going to see any of those with me at Western?? Western's favourite is Scary Movie 3. Good god.

I was incredibly bored yesterday, talking with a bunch of people who I went out with. Such stupid, empty conversation. It's not that all of them are stupid people (well 2 smart out of 5 ain't bad), but I was totally wasting my time. I waste lots of time, but preferably doing enjoyable things, like bridge and similar games, movies, and just chilling with good conversation. Shopping is a nightmare with these people. Slow, thinking the dumbest shit in the world is cool and proceeding to spend 30 minutes oogling over it before walking out. Sigh.

I'm referring to the blonde in my suite as Barbie from now one. She's SUCH a ditz. In the most extreme, stereotypical way you could imagine. She's not mean, or academically lacking. She does alright in school, is here on a huge scholarship, but as a person, she's honestly the most empty person I've ever met. Vapid, airheaded, selfish, grating, oblivious, ignorant fool on the planet. I don;t believe there can exist person more lacking in substance, more obsessed with style. I HATE her voice, her laugh, her exaggerated reactions. She believes that everyone in the world exists to help her, to listen to her self centred stoies, laugh with her, compliment her, and help her with her hair. She's ALWAYS BLOWDRYING HER HAIR!!!! I wake up, I heard her blowdryer, and sleep to the sound of her blowdrying, and she blowdrys her hair everytime she goes out. It doesn't even look good, EVER. She whines and hisses over the dumbest things, and makes everyone help her with her asinine issues. What should she wear? What nail polish looks good? Should she go out tonight and party? Does this top look good? Isn't her hair just a disaster? Oh, should she get blonde highlights? Or low lights? Oh, how is she ever going to pass this exam? Poor Barbie, so stressed! Isn't this top the cutest thing ever? Doesn't she look amazing in this picture? Oh my god, Barbie's mom wants Barbie to dye her hair brown! Barbie doesn't like it, and so she proceeds to cry and through a fit over the phone with her mom!! Really! You think I'm kidding! JUST KILL HER ALREADY!!! Her voice is THE most cheerleader ditzy blonde voice on earth; imagine an extreme valley girl, and that's what you get. She never picks up after herself, never cleans anything for the suite, never asks after other people, helps anyone, listens to anyone, and if she does show any interest, our stories are only told to amuse her, make her laugh. No concern for other people, and when told to do some fucking chore, says yes and laughs, and does it FIVE FUCKING DAYS LATER. GOD. She always has THE most annoying anecdotes, and laughs them off, as if we were extremely special to be privy to her marvelous exploits of the day. She passes annoying habits off so flippantly, saying that she's done these things since she was a little girl, as if that makes everything acceptable. Well, honey, I've been murdering annoying little blondes like you all MY life, since I was a little girl, so I'll chainsaw you tonight, if that's alright with you. Okay, baby doll? Oh, and your hair SUCKS. Your makeup sucks. Your eyelashes are hideous with all that mascara goop. You'd be passably pretty and moderately respectable if you weren't such a self-absorbed, spoiled, little buffoon.

Here is a gem:

"Alitar, can you put styrofoam in the microwave?"

Good lord, I was tempted to say yes, dear, of course you can! She tried to put a cookie still in its plastic wrap in the microwave, and of course the plastic melted. She was shocked.

Oh, but it's alright. I'm fine with it. Because I happened upon a juicy little secret last night.

Come closer, I'll whisper it to you.

SHE ISN'T A NATURAL BLONDE!!!

So HA!

3 comments | leave a comment

:: 2003 2 November :: 11.58 pm

OMG, that episode sucked shit. I'm contemplating not typing up a review for it, it sucked so much ass. All the naked boyfriends in the world couldn't have saved this piece of crap.

A nipple shot, but no ab shot on Sark? WTF??? AND, they talk like robots, Allison and Sark, so no chemistry, no heat. You need to get a girlfriend with a personality and verve for that boy, not RoboAllison who talks in monotone.

Vaughn was pretty, though, and cute.

Oh, fucking blah.

5 comments | leave a comment

:: 2003 2 November :: 2.06 am

Regina's recap is up.

www.televisionwithoutpity.com

top right, go trace to Alias. You guys know the drill, right? I can stop with the urls.

"If it's important, somebody nudge me. I'm too busy wondering when they're gonna make Djimon Hounsou take off his shirt. Come on already!"

"Ouch. Sark just watches with disinterest. Take off your shirt!"

"Yawn. Somebody take off their shirt or I'm going home. No, not Sloane! I've seen him shirtless! Gah!"

"I mean, Killjoy and Syd fight and bicker, again, some more, about the whole thing, and they both have valid points, but who gives a shit? Sloane's a double agent, okay? Can we move on now? And I believe I ordered some shirtless men? Hello?"

"What, so now Sark's an ERRAND BOY for CHAVEZ? Jesus. TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT."

"Next on Alias: I don't care. If Soymoan is gone, I just don't care. Unless there's a naked Djimon Hounsou in my future�"

Oh yeah. That Regina, she's feelin' me. Hee!

Oh, grad rocked pretty hard. Full thoughts tomorrow, when I'm feeling coherent.

3 comments | leave a comment

:: 2003 31 October :: 6.18 pm

OMFG, I just spent 5 fucking hours sitting on a fucking bus. I'm in a horrible mood.

In other news:

http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20031030-094631-2843r.htm

2 comments | leave a comment

:: 2003 31 October :: 12.11 pm

I'm going home in about 30 minutes. Whoo!

The grammar error is within the following:

Sloane has fewer scenes this year, but each of them are loaded.

We're going to turn this exercise from a fairly difficult one ("Find the grammar error in this long passage") into a super easy one. This game is now called "Go here, stupid." I'm kidding, guys. But seriously, WHAT IS THE ERROR??

Whoever wins gets to be town crier!

Isn't that exciting?

4 comments | leave a comment

:: 2003 30 October :: 3.27 pm

Miss Williams called me out of the blue yesterday night, and we talked for more than an hour. I miss her. A lot. Yay for Nov. 1st!

So, I agreed to go to Las Vegas. I make that sound like a chore. It's not. :) I would just prefer to go with people my age.

I miss my friends. It's so different, the conversations I have with people here. They're so empty somtimes, filler. Polite, fun maybe, but really boring. I'm bored here.

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:: 2003 28 October :: 3.57 pm

My new bio prof sucks. He's SO slow and dumb. And occasionally WRONG. Omg, hate him. I can't take an entire term of this.

I failed my MIT essay. I got a horrible mark. Fucking TA. HATE.

3 comments | leave a comment

:: 2003 27 October :: 10.53 pm

ROTK's running time is 210 minutes.

Holy shit. I have to dehydrate myself the entire day. LOL. But otherwise - EEEEEEEEE!

I like the vowel E. It's sexy.

4 comments | leave a comment

:: 2003 27 October :: 11.32 am

Holy shit. I got 96% on my MIT exam.
AI YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Ok. Cool. Back to work.

8 comments | leave a comment

:: 2003 26 October :: 9.59 pm

YEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAW!! THAT'S what I'm talking about! That episode ROCKED. I watched the first 40 minutes of it at 7, went to get pizza, waited till Queer Eye for the Straight Guy ended, and then watched the last half an hour of ABC. I was high on it for the first 40, and I thought the last 20 I hadn't seen was good, but I'm mad I didn't get to see it all in a continuous hour, because I would have loved it even more. Dammit.

I loved the beginning. The right amount of tension, action, great pace. Justin was growing on me. I don't think of him so much as a sex symbol as a really interesting, strong, crass villian with whom I would have loved for Sydney to develop a relationship. (See that, tmx? We talked about that little grammar rule last night) It's too bad that he's dead. He was starting to get really interesting. I don't know if that's how the character read on the page, or if it's Justin's excellent presence, but great, great job. Too bad, man. You don't fuck around with SpyDaddy like that. Every scene with him left an impression on me, and that's the strong interesting presence that I want more of on the show.

I love Sloane. I love this storyline. This is the stuff that makes this show great. JJ said that he wanted the two year jump specifically to tell Sloane's story, and I imagine this is the material to which he was referring. Very interesting dynamic. Sloane has fewer scenes this year, but each of them are loaded. Oh, the irony. Delicious irony. Thank you, writers, JJ. I haven't forgiven you for the 2 year gap just yet, but throw me a couple more bones like this one, and you'll redeem yourself. :)

Marshall, again, bringing the funny. Good stuff. Marshall's so much cockier this season. My goodness. They cut off Vaughn's balls and gave them to Marshall! I hope that girlfriend of his gets continuing cameos.

Sark. Sigh. Ok, you're still hot. At least you got more appearances this episode. More airtime is a step forward. BUT, I need the writers to give me layers, dammit. Hello? He's down with every mission, working with every villian in town, and wearing smoking designer suits, but that cool, aloof gig only works for so long. Dave Anders can only do so much with the perpetual lackey role they've given him before it gets dry. I'm intrigued, but if I'm not rewarded by revelation, I'll lose interest.

FlatJack again. Fuckers.

CardboardDixon. You know, if you're going to let Dixon get 2 exposition lines per ep, you might as well let him go, and get some untalented hack at a cheaper deal. Because with this? You're just wasting Carl Lumbly's time. Enough is enough.

Lauren. You still bug, but you're less offensive as this goes along. I get that we're not going to like her. And I'll give the writers credit for not shoving it in our face that we must LOVE her. They've made her human, and annoying, but they're starting to give her layers. I'm not invested, and don't see myself invested anytime soon, but I like the beginnings of something not so fucking contrived and based on jealousy as we saw tonight, for just a second. I hated the vapid "transfer out, now!" shit - extremely unreasonable, but I like the spark of respect Lauren showed for Syd in the car chase, and a willingness to accept as a woman, coworker, not just a rival. This could work. Lauren now has an arc. She'll be field rated soon enough. I like the thirst she'll have for the adrenaline rush; it'll solidify her understanding for Syd and Vaughn as people, and allow her to connect with her husband on that level. I'm grudgingly accepting this marriage now. Fuck. :)

Syd-Vaughn dream sequence rocked. Oh, that shit was GOOD. THAT's the type of emotional acknowledgment, I want from Vaughn. Just, a little affection, and a touch of warmth in his eyes. I began suspecting something was off with the kiss - Vuahgn may still carry a torch, but he didn't do adultery, too much of a noble, straight arrow. I LOVE the contrast between warm, loving Syd, and aloof Lauren. And Lauren, way to lie down on your husband's WOUND. Dumbass.

Djimon Honsou was the black new baddie tonight. He'll be back. You may recognize him from Gladiator as Russell Crowe's character's best friend. I liked him there, and I like him here. He's got a wicked quiet intensity. I highly enjoyed the scenes with Sark and Djimon together. *cackles* Two very handsome men.

Speaking of, I really enjoyed Sark and Simon collaborating. Or the idea of it - didn't intrigue as it might have. Again, I'm sad Simon's dead - he was a powerful foil. If those 3 (with Djimon) men had worked together, ooh my goodness. I think my television would have exploded. Power, ruthlessness, greed, intensity, and glorious foreign accents.

I loved the setups, and the way I kept going "oh shit" as the plot revealed that these characters were going to intersect paths. This is fun again.

Other:
- Marshall's high school picture!!!
- blackjack with Marshall
- oh, hell, the entire Marshall sequence at the Oops centre
- Jennifer's makeup rocked tonight. Really, the makeup artists are on fire. I LOVE the Electra look.
- Too bad we're losing Julia. I loved wickedSyd. Hopefully, she'll have to don that persona again sometime.
- Justin Theroux served us well. Thanks!
- Jennifer looks good in all kinds of ridiculous hair. She pulled that unflattering one off very well.
- this needs a second mention: Double agent Sloane. Ooooo, this is sick. I can't wait.

I loved Jack's line "you lose rational thought after a loved one's death." Oooh, that was loaded with subtext. Jack's drinking binge after Irina's "death," Vaughn's alcoholic conversations with dead Syd, Dixon's suicide moment at the bridge after Diane's death, Sloane's crazed revenge scheme for Dixon after Emily's demise. Wow. THIS is fabulous writing. Ahhhh, my precious layers! I loved these storylines, how these emotionally charged actions drove the story. In the end, it's not about the sex, the violence, the explosions or the gadgets, it's about desire, and anger, and passion. That's the stuff that I'll feel and remember.

Getting off my soapbox.

Trivia time! tmx is being punsihed for telling, inadvertently or otherwise, that Justin died, between my two segments. That moment lost its impact. She starts in my kingdom as a lowly peasant woman. DA, since he's slightly more with it, has a post as...hmm...a town doctor. Highest is prince and princess. gbk is an honarary member of the royal family. Unless she wants to play, too.

What regular component was missing in tonight's ep? Vague, intentionally.

There was an intentional grammar error in my entry. Where is it? HAHAHA

Any insightful comments and linkages not mentioned above. Hee! This is like English class.

Post your thoughts, guys!

18 comments | leave a comment

:: 2003 26 October :: 3.47 pm

Okay, so that crappy news overshadowed an otherwise fantastic day.

I killed the Bio exam. At least I hope I did. Really, I had no issues. Plenty of time. I knew all the answers. The only thing I'm worried about is if I read a question wrong. I was going through some old exams and their questions were really hard, surprisingly. Really anal and very out to get you. So, I had a major freak attack right before the exam, but thankfully, I was in an excellent frame of mind - very clear, focused, calm. I was Zen.

We went out to the mall afterwards, just to get out of the university for awhile. I had a Comp Sci exam on Friday (that's right 2 exams in 2 days) and I didn't like a bunch of the questions. Really anal, picky, and badly worded. And, there were so many details that they tested which had no use whatsoever, and I didn't bother memorizing. That's ok, I'm fine with an 85-90. I'm hoping for the 90, of course.

So, anyway (no s people, especially chau! You commit this sin a LOT), we went to the mall like a bunch of grade 7 losers because we were all underaged. LOL. Had dinner, walked around, wanted to see the new Anjelina Jolie movie Beyond Borders which has a good premise but from the reviews sucks ass, but the times didn't work out. Misfortune? Or fortune? Heh. We went back to campus at 9.

At midnight, left again to go out to Demetres for ice cream. Yay! Had amazing cheesecake and ice cream. A bunch of drunk guys came in sat down, hitting on us group of 6 girls and taunting a group of guys across the restaurant. Things were heating up pretty quickly between the 2 guy groups, and as we were leaving, a fight broke out! There was in your face glowering, and shoving! We left before things got too scary. LOL. Imagine that, a fight in an ice cream parlor! We weren't even at a bar or a club! It was ice cream!

Came back. Chatted with tmx over grammar at 2 am, and then headed to a room down the hall for a pj party. Hee! Dudes, skip to the next paragraph, or you'll start freaking out. Scat! We all had brushes and combs and used them as mikes and started singing all these old, shitty pop songs. LOL. It was SO MUCH FUN. So not UTS-like. Girls? We should totally do that one day. Sleepover party at my house! Alias, bridge, and pj party! LOL

Sunday afternoons really suck. All I want is for 7 pm to come, because all the boards I visit, well, ok, only TWoP, have spoilers all over. I get so damn tempted to highlight the invisible text. But I can't! Must.....resist.....

Sark's in this one, though. Not only a cameo. The ladies in his Harem over at the Sark thread are excited. So am I. Hee!

Happy Alias Day, everyone!

As always, a review will be posted shortly after the second airing. :)

1 comment | leave a comment

:: 2003 26 October :: 3.22 am

Shit
Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz are dissolving their partnership.

http://www.tsn.ca/figure_skating/news_story.asp?ID=57905

Shit. This is a shock. I am extremely upset. I can't imagine how my Williams friend feels about this. Shit. They were planning on continuing for at least 4 more years on tours.