Who's LOST?

Eight months. Eight. That's how long it has been since we last saw Jack whimpering, "We have to go back! We have to go back!" in yet another cliffhangery type, flash-forward ending to last season's finale of Lost.

Before you start squirming in your seat, no, I am not going to sit here and try to give you my interpretation of the show as so many internet people have no doubt done before me. No, I dare not ask about that whole deal with Locke in that cabin (Jacob?); or why there's people sitting at the bottom of the sea (Charlie?); or...

No, I can't go on. I still have questions from season one: Polar bears? Smoke monster? Black Rock? Come on! (Why do I watch? Why am I still tuning in? Is this my Guiding Light? My Days of our Lives?)

Anyway, Season Four starts tonight. In yet another attempt to keep us from straying, the folks at ABC chose Thursday night this time around. I swear this show is bordering on desperation to keep its viewers. They're doing everything except giving us answers. Last night I noticed they were showing season three's finale, BUT instead of just showing the episode outright, they had little scrolling bits of information along the bottom of the screen. To Lynette's amusement, I kept singing, "Pop Up Video!" I mean, seriously, any fool who tries to get into the show now without knowing what's going on in previous seasons is surely a glutton for punishment. So ABC thought, "We can just tell them what's going on via little word balloons."

In each scene, a little scroll of information regarding the various back stories appeared a la CNN news ticker. For example, if Juliette appeared on screen, a little scroll would appear: "Juliette was with the Others, but now she's with Jack. But some don't trust her." It was very funny. I kept imaging someone like my dad sitting in his living room, trying to decipher this rambling string of sentences for some show about a bunch of people trapped on a tropical island.

Regardless, Lost is back. I'll be watching. For those of you concerned about the writer's strike, ABC has said that Lost will air 16 episodes, but only 8 are in the can. So expect another Lost-hiatus sometime in March.

Plunging Back in The 'Lost' Maze - An Ominous 'Uh-Oh' Kicks Off The Castaways' Fourth Season (Washington Post)

A Caravan of Recaps, Sent to Rescue 'Lost' Viewership (Washington Post)

UPDATE:
ABC reveals first images of the monster on Lost. Link

Music Appreciation

Ceremony by New Order as covered by Radiohead. I've never been much a fan of Radiohead, but any band that covers this beautiful piece of music is all right in my book. Take a few minutes and listen to it.

S U P E R Friends

New Pepsi Super Bowl Ad

Pepsi unveiled this awesome Super Bowl ad. Do not adjust your speakers. There is no sound. It was created by deaf people, starring deaf people.

Family Guy Blue Harvest

Here's a clip from the Family Guy Star Wars episode. The DVD became available yesterday. I suggest you run out and purchase it (unless you're one of those people who doesn't like Family Guy and therein doesn't fully understand true comedy... too harsh?)

Stephen Colbert More Popular Than Abe Lincoln

Recently, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC decided to display the portrait of Stephen Colbert. In the restroom. See the clip here. It's pretty funny.

And now the gallery is having an increase in attendance. Go figure.

Batten down the Hatches!

Snow!

It's coming!

Run for your life! The Washington area is predicting a "wintery mix" today with an accumulation of 1 to 3 inches of snow. You know what that means... martial law.

For a couple hours today, bread and milk will be used as currency as people stock their alpine strongholds. Store shelves will go bare. People will be fighting in the streets over toilet paper and bottled water. Rules of the road will be no more as we struggle to survive in a world covered with 1 to 3 treacherous inches of snow. It's survival of the fittest now, folks. I pray you have enough Fruity Pebbles and low fat cream cheese.

See you on the other side!

If I don't make it, tell my family I love them!

H-Day

Greetings, fellow humans. I would like to inform you that Jason and Lynette Dot Com has been updated with new features. There's a Photo of the Day! And dictionary! And a monkey!

Well, American Idol started last night. I know it's an easy show to hate. And it's not like the show is generating actual American idols. To be honest, I'm only in it for the first month to see the kooky auditions. What can I say, I like staring at the freaks.

So Cloverfield opens Friday. So much hype, JJ Abrams better deliver or his minions may riot (Still don't know what the smoke monster from Lost season one is yet... or the four-toed statue... or...)

Speaking of Lost... oh never mind.

Seriously, I support the writer's strike, but TV is really struggling right now. If you don't like reality shows you might want to crack open a book or converse with your family or play a board game. I hear Boggle is fun.

Golden Globes Results

Best Motion Picture

Atonement
American Gangster
Eastern Promises
The Great Debaters
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Motion Picture (Musical Or Comedy)

Sweeney Todd
Across The Universe
Charlie Wilson’s War
Hairspray
Juno

Best Foreign-Language Film

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The Kite Runner
Lust, Caution
Persepolis

Best Director

Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Ridley Scott - American Gangster
Joe Wright - Atonement

Best Animated Feature Film

Ratatouille
Bee Movie
The Simpsons Movie

Best Actor (Drama)

Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
James McAvoy - Atonement
Viggo Mortenson - Eastern Promises
Denzel Washington - American Gangster

Best Actor (Musical or Comedy)

Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl
Tom Hanks - Charlie Wilson’s War
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Savages
John C. Reilly - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Best Supporting Actor

Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson’s War
John Travolta - Hairspray
Tom Wikinson - Michael Clayton

Best Actress (Drama)

Julie Christie - Away from Her
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Jodie Foster - The Brave One
Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
Keira Knightley - Atonement

Best Actress (Musical or Comedy)

Marion Cotillard - La vie en Rose
Amy Adams - Enchanted
Nikki Blonski - Hairspray
Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd
Ellen Page - Juno

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett - I’m Not There
Julia Roberts - Charlie Wilson’s War
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

Best Screenplay

Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Diablo Cody - Juno
Christopher Hampton - Atonement
Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Aaron Sorkin - Charlie Wilson’s War

Best Original Score

Atonement
Into the Wild
Grace is Gone
Kite Runner
Eastern Promises

Best Original Song

“Guaranteed” - Into the Wild
“Despidida” - Love in the Time of Cholera
“Grace is Gone” - Grace is Gone
“That’s How You Know” - Enchanted
“Walk Hard” - Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Happy Friday, Everybody!

It's Friday. And it's raining. Sort of. It's like that half rain/half mist where it's too little for the windshield wipers, but too much to see. I know, I could use the delay feature on my wipers. But I don't.

BTW, in case you were wondering how R2-D2 got his name... click here.

We're going to have company this weekend: Joe and Karen, the parents. They weren't able to get here on X-mas morning so here we are, two weeks later. I think I'm going to make a nice, big pot of chili. I'm sure my dad and I will watch football, so it seems appropriate. Plus, the chili I make is out of this world. The secret recipe was handed down to us from Lynette's father, Jim. We call it Healin' Chili because it is the cure for any ailment, physical and psychological. If we had a horse-drawn wagon and a bunch of little bottles, I'd call it elixir and sell it from town to town: "Step right up, folks!"

Our dog, Leia, has been doing great. It's still early, but we're learning about each other and trying to develop our routines and peculiarities. She stays home all day alone without a peep (we record her on a web cam). She sleeps probably 22 hours a day. Or at least it seems that way. Soon we'll be weening her out of the crate (though she surely seems to like it in there).

Have a good weekend. Stay strong. Be humorous. Eat some fruit.
JC

IKEA Code Cracked

Not that it was much of a secret, but the mysterious folks behind Wikipedia (read: anyone with an internet connection) discovered how IKEA comes up with those funky item names:

Upholstered furniture, coffee tables, rattan furniture, bookshelves, media storage, doorknobs: Swedish placenames (for example: Klippan)

Beds, wardrobes, hall furniture: Norwegian place names

Dining tables and chairs: Finnish place names

Bookcase ranges: Occupations

Bathroom articles: Scandinavian lakes, rivers and bays

Kitchens: grammatical terms, sometimes also other names

Chairs, desks: men's names

Materials, curtains: women's names

Garden furniture: Swedish islands

Carpets: Danish place names

Lighting: terms from music, chemistry, meteorology, measures, weights, seasons, months, days, boats, nautical terms

Bedlinen, bed covers, pillows/cushions: flowers, plants, precious stones; words related to sleep, comfort, and cuddling [cuddling?]

Children's items: mammals, birds, adjectives

Curtain accessories: mathematical and geometrical terms

Kitchen utensils: foreign words, spices, herbs, fish, mushrooms, fruits or berries, functional descriptions

Boxes, wall decoration, pictures and frames, clocks: colloquial expressions, also Swedish placenames

My next goal in life: Meet someone from Ektorp, Sweden - which is also the name of my couch.

Buck Gets Down

Saw this on Bloggy, Bloggy, Dew:

Good Morning, Monday

Hi.

Mornin', y'all.

Looks like this is the first official full week of the new year. I tried really hard to figure out a way to not work, but short of faking an illness I came up with nothing.

I had a very nice weekend. You?

We utilized our new gym over the weekend. It's small, but the equipment is top notch. And more and more people are discovering that it's open.

Watch any football? Not very exciting if you're a Bears fan. Since I live in your nation's capitol, I had a Redskins game to watch on Saturday. But they lost. At least the Bears and Redskins have one thing in common: They both suck and have sucked for years. Ho hum.

You Suck at Photoshop

This is hilarious.

Boy, 11, Uses Toy Lightsaber to Defend Mom From Attacker

Ha! In your faces, naysayers! This lightsaber hanging from my belt doesn't look so silly anymore, does it?

Thursday, January 03, 2008

An 11-year-old boy demonstrated The Force when he defended his mom by hitting an attacker with a toy lightsaber.

The man, in his 30s, fled after being confronted by the youngster outside a bakery in Swardeston, near Norwich, England.

Police said the boy hit the man with his toy after the man had punched and verbally abused his mother as she approached her car.

Officers are appealing for witnesses to the Dec. 22 attack.

Allan Jennings of the Norfolk Police said: "The incident caused quite a commotion and it is unlikely it would have gone unnoticed."

Leia and the Rosetta Stone

Our dog's name is Leia. She's white with brown ears. She's calm and affectionate and, most importantly, able to stay home alone without barking and crying. We like her. We're keeping her.

I am going to learn to speak Spanish. I recently obtained computer software called Rosetta Stone that will help me learn it. There is no reason for learning this new language other than adding to my long list of skillz. Obviously, it doesn't hurt to know another language, but I'm doing it to keep my brain in shape. As humans age, their minds tend to become mushy and lethargic. Just like with physical exercise for the body, the brain needs to remain challenged and active. This is part of the reason why I took up the violin two years ago. And why I play video games at age 34. And why I taught myself how to create web sites and use Photoshop on the computer. All things I don't necessarily have to know in order to get by in life.

Plus, bi-linguals make some serious cash, no? Maybe I can teach English as a second language or something.

So how was everyone's Christmas? Santa bring you everything you wished for? On behalf of the crew working on the Capitol J Blog, I'd like to welcome everyone back to their realities and routines after a successful holiday season. It's good to be home.

Michael Cera is the future.