LOST - 4 8 15 16 23 42

Lost is either the greatest show on TV right now or the worst. I am addicted to the show like all of my co-workers. We debrief the show every Thurs after a new episode airs on Wed - the producers need to start airing more new episodes by the way. With each new episode more questions are posed and a few questions are answered. There are so many storylines going on that it is hard to keep up with all of the nuisances that go on in each show. It is easy to miss the little "clues" that pop up in each show.

I do like some of the back stories better than others - Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke. I don't really care about Charlie and his drug problems or Hurley and the lottery or Sun and Jin and their marital problems. The best story lines revolve around Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Locke and I even like Mr Echo from the back of the plane. Ana Luica is also interesting but I think her character makes you not like her and the fact that she got a DUI and denied while on the set.

In case you need something to discuss around the water cooler, the newest mystery on the show is the map that was drawn on the doors that came down and trapped Locke. Here is a good link to the map.

Movie Reviews

I have seen a few movies lately that I thought I would report on...

Failure to Launch - 3 stars
This movie is pretty much what you expect it to be. You go to this movie because you know it is a "cute" love story and that in the end Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parket will end up together. You don't go to this movie to stretch your mind or to come away with some new thought to ponder. It is a feel good movie that gives you hope in "love" and "happily ever after". The movie is on the shorter sign and has a few wierd scenes where one of the characters is bitten by a chipmunk, bird, dolphin, and maybe on other animal - kind of wierd.

End of the Spear - 2 stars
I was expecting more out of this movie since it was about missionaries in Equador. I thought the religious exponent of the story line would be more of a prominent theme but instead the relationship between the missionary's son and the tribe leader seemed to be the central story. This movie was also on the shorter side and I think the storyline could have gone in more detail instead of glossing over the 10-20 years betweeen when the tribe was first contacted by the missionaries and how they evolved into accepting the Christian religion. This movie opens it up for good conversation after you go to see it. It is also interesting to get a view of life in the jungles of Equador.

Pride and Prejudice - 4 stars
I loved this movie. It had everything a good movie needs - good character development, good storyline and on top of that it is a romantic period-piece set in Georigian England. From the beginning of the movie you want to travel the journey as Lizzy and Mr Darcy fall in love. I enjoyed 1700/1800's setting and the relationships between the 5 sisters and of course the romatic links between Jane and Mr Bingley and Lizzie and Mr Darcy. This movie was definitely Oscar worthy and Keira Knightley gave a memorable performance as the most forward thinking sister. Although the movie helps foster Americans misconception of "love" even more, it is a cute story that makes you "believe in love" and "happy endings". In real life, a man wouldn't ask you to marry him after a few chance convesations and you wouldn't say yes but in this movie that is "romantic" and your marriage won't begin while you both sit on the balcony at your castle while looking over miles and miles of gardens that you own. While things may be happy most of the time, you will always encounter bumps in a relationship and in order for that relationship to grow, those in love must grow and change together. Of course, that doesn't sell movies! A must see movie that opens up the chance for good thought-provoking conversation as the credits roll.

Dearailed - 3 1/2 stars
I am not sure why this movie received such bad ratings and did poorly in the theatre. The only reason I can come up with is because there were such high expecations set on a "Jennifer Aniston" movie and given her personal situation at the time of the release, maybe critics weren't kind. Jennifer Aniston only played a supporting role. Clive Owen was really the main focus of the entire film while Jennifer and Melissa George (you may recognize her as Lauren Reed from Alias) played supporting roles. This movie has a good twist (similar to The Sixth Sense but not near that dramatic, more of a mystery/cops&robbers kind of twist) at the end that catches you off guard. I would say the movie could have been about 10-20 mins shorter and I would have been happy - the ending is sort of dragged out. This is a good rental for a rainy night.

US Debt

I saw this on Yahoo Most View Pictures and thought this is good food for thought. To think each family is responsible for almost $90,000 of the national debt! Good times. See article on yahoo.

St Patty's in Chicago

I know that most of you won't believe it but the river in Chicago really is dyed green for St Patrick's Day. Here is a picture of the river from my recent trip to the Windy City. It was a gorgeous day and we were able to enjoy the parade, walking downtown, and a private room at a local Irish Pub (can you believe that on St Patrick's weekend!). It was a ton of fun, mostly because of the great weather. Looks kind of like powerade or anti-freeze, huh? People have asked, "why is the river already dyed green and it isn't even the 17th?". Well, apparently Chicago always dyes the river green and holds their celebration before St Patrick's Day so since it falls on a Friday this year, all the festivities were the weekend before. No worries, there are still activities on the 17th. Just no green river.

Divorce

Divorce...it is followed by a deathly silence, a sense of shock and disbelief and this sick feeling in your gut. When there are no outside influences and someone all of a sudden tells their mate that they don't love them anymore, there are a lot of questions. How could I be so blind? What will happen in the future? Even though it isn't my divorce, it rocks the whole family unit. It affects everyone and you think about how it was your "last" Christmas together, you think of the "last" time you saw them, the "last" conversation you had - which was a text message where they were giving you love advice. You think about how they comforted you when you went through a horrible break-up. You wonder if they thought through all the things they said to you when you were going through a break-up. When they were comforting me after someone lost their love for me, were they already loosing their love for him? When they said "there must be someone else", you wonder "well, there isn't with you, right?". Did you try to go to counseling? Did you try to work it out? How you could you not? And most importantly, where did the love go? How does is just disappear? How do you just stop loving someone? Divorce...it is hard for all. It tears famlies apart. You can't take sides (not in this case) and you want to reach out to the other side because they have always helped you but not all of a suddent your relationship has been thrown out of balance. A simple phone call to see how they are doing is no longer "simple". After the "hello", you have nothing to say and don't know what to say. You just hope that the words will come. You hope that you will wake up and it will be a bad dream and that everything will be back to normal and everyone is still in love.