The Three Rs is a primarily British viral entertainment site, with standings in many niche interests and involved in a variety of different groups. Topics range from gaming to adulthood to the latest fashion.
I, am bored. And, dearest reader, what does Melaisis do when he is bored? Why develops an extended stream of consciousness (which is aptly the title of our newest member's former blog) of course! Now, as usual, I would specifically choose a subject to rant about - in order to live up to the name of The Three R's. However, since nothing really has come to mind over the duration of the past week or so - you'll find this post covering various subjects to certain degrees. For a first example, I'd like to discuss Pandora. No, not the mythological, Greek figure of Pandora (although disputedly called 'Panadora') who opened the box given unto her by the gods and let the evils of Man escape into the world - but rather, something quite the opposite. For Pandora is a website which has been recommended to me on a few occasions over the past month. The great thing about Pandora, is that almost anyone will enjoy it.
That is because Pandora (http://www.pandora.com;By the way) is a all-music site which caters for the needs of every person who visits it. That is, because Pandora allows you to search for a song or artist that you enjoy listening to - and then recommends and streams entire other songs which are (apparently) like the aforementioned artist and/or song, with the assumption that you will enjoy the suggested song just as you enjoyed the sourced subject. It sounds complicated - but it barely takes thirty seconds to get started, assuming you have the Oh Holy Flash up to date. In many ways; it is a great way of expanding your music library and learning about more music which you will apparently enjoy. But this isn't without constraints.
These said 'constraints', at first, appeal to be merely technical. Whilst in the original scheme of things, the easy-to-use layout seems simple enough that any Chav wishing to search for Justin Timberlake can use. That part, is fine. However, because Pandora is stuck under some deranged mutation of the Creative Commons - a listener can only skip six songs per hour. There are ways to overcome this quite simply, of course - as you'll quickly discover when using the site regularly. This initial restriction is really bothersome at first - as you really don't have a choice to what you listen to. Sure, you can state which bands you listen to and everything - but the streaming of the music is constant and automatic - with the next track being played at random (within certain limitations like 'genre of music' - but I'll get to that in a moment) and, if you've used up all your skips for that hour - you are reduced to either using a workaround, putting a 'thumbs down' with the hope that the song won't be played again later. Vice versa, you can signal that you like a certain song with a 'thumbs up' - but you cannot force Pandora to play that single again. This can get annoying very quickly - as you've probably figured. However, there's nothing to stop you going out and 'buying' the songs you like, after all, some only see Pandora as a one-stop recommendation service prior to going out to Virgin, HMV or even Limewire... er... iTunes to buy a single they enjoy. Somewhat like a self-catered radio. Others, however, see Pandora as a cheap way to get legally streamed music and thus when a chain of bad songs occur without the ability to skip them - it is like being spawn-killed over and over again on Counter Strike - with your only option left at the end to quit the server.
"But Melaisis! You said that Pandora recommends you music that you'd like depending on your original tastes!"
It does, Timmy. It does very well - for the most part.
"Then how can they ever come out with bad songs?"
Ah - this is where people can be extremely picky with their music taste - depending on the sort of music you like. For a personal example, I enjoy OK Go. In fact, even more than a year after I first saw 'A Million Ways' on OKGo.net (no, I'm not going to hyperlink you, fools) - I still enjoy their music (albeit slightly... old nowadays). OK Go, to me, is a harmony of electric guitars both on rhythm and lead, backed up by a bass which is effectively used to set a deep-heated atmosphere in the slower songs and a filling of drums which are not haphazardly thrashed around. All of this is finished off with a sugarcoating of light, well-ranged vocals and lyrics to make two highly successful albums which can pretty well tell anyone's life story - and more. I am somewhat infatuated with the band - because it works so damn well. Can we expect Pandora to understand this when it searches for songs by similar artists? I doubt that. Y'see, Pandora judges what to play next by the structure of the song you originally entered. Just because Muzzle have the strong, lower-key guitar riffs that are prominent in most Ok Go songs does not mean I will enjoy their music automatically. As is with a lot of bands - they can, by many degrees, sound like the original by Pandora's standards - but all the same, the categories they are judged by are still finite and still a bore. The voice of Duncan Sheik is not that of Damian Kulash - despite how similar the melody to 'Invicible' Sheik's 'Bite Your Tongue' may sound. It is probably because of the given example's (OK Go) nature to be rather borderline with genres (Power pop, slightly New Wave, alternative and classic rock all at once) that probably gives Pandora the most confusion. There is no denying, of course, that the program spits out some real lyrical miracles from time to time which get searched and stuck directly to Patrick Swang's MySpace on music. And, it all depends on the user's pickiness and willing to be patient with Pandora until, indeed, you really find some music that you do like. After all, it is only a beta concept which, already, is working miracles for my Windows Media Player.
For those of you wishing to look up my hastily-applied account on Pandora; my username is Melaisis@Gmail.com; but you probably could of already guessed that. My current 'stations' are based off the songs Jerk It Out (by Caesar's Palace), Flathead (by the Frat... Frattelli... the song off the iPod advert), I Don't Like Mondays (Boomtown Rats) and Vampire Love (by Ash; probably by least popular, as it has been throwing up all kinds of thrash metal of late). Pandora is with faults; but the overall service it provides is almost considered invaluable in improving music likes and expanding collections.
Now, staying with the music-related theme; I think it is that time again to plug a few bands.
Now, a few of you will know that I have somewhat of a hidden fetish for power pop. After all, the last time I did one of these posts - I featured the infamous creator of SomethingTasteful.com, Billy Reid, with his own power pop-esque ballads. Well Mr. Reid has fallen out of favour of late - As I branded his lyrics not too long ago to be 'too childish' and his melodies 'too repetitive'. So, at completely the other end of the spectrum, we have PlayRadioPlay!
Yes, that is the real band name. Yes, it is all one word. And yes, it does have an exclamation mark at the end of the name. The grammatical incorrectness struck me slightly - as it did with similar bands as HelloGoodbye and Panic! At The Disco. Well, it could be easily said that PRP! is a mixture of the two. Although, to call PRP! a band is actually, rather incorrect. You see, PlayRadioPlay is the single brainchain of this adorable scruff:
This Man, is Dan Hunter. And despite his awkwardly messy hair and strange, overly-casual style of clothing - Dan, is a genius. Barely turned 17, he has come up with some of the most radical tunes I've seen this side of Russia. For those of you wishing to have some sort of evidence to back up by outrageous (although they are typical by my standards; so not so outrageous anyway) claims, here is PRP!'s MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/playradioplay
The re-make of 'Confines' is probably the best hit by far. Now, I am struggling to put myself in your position, reader. You, as I was, are probably finding it difficult to concieve how one man can produce so much... music. Half-decent stuff as well! Not the utter cack that overly-arrogant people like Mr. Pendelbury produce by twanging on his guitar for a few nights a week and then spending more time editting it to sound alright, upload to his 'well kool myspaz' and basking in the 'fame' than he actually does recording the bloody thing. PRP! is by far no way the best artist I've heard within the past decade - in fact, it is a far stretch from that; but the astounding amount of time and effort Dan puts into the project is shown simply by the high quality of 'tuneage' the man produces. I would more than happily see this man in concert - not only the satisfy my curiousity of actually how he performs live without it sounding rather... different to the studio (after all, how are you supposed to keep up that high of a voice and that amount of great echo effectively without backing vocals?) - but also to see what other fans of his music think. Some of the ideas Dan expresses in his vocals are some which make little sense, and I can find hardly relavance to my own life. Dan's lyrics, it could be argued, are sometimes very childish ("I wanna be an astronaut!") - yet, of course, this is somewhat refreshing, but makes his music difficult to listen to for long stretches (and indeed, his voice does, very slowly, turns awfully whiney after about an hour).
Yet PRP! is still in the opening stages. Despite how... strange Dan Hunter's music may sound to an untrained ear; it still has time to grow to the standard of such as Daft Punk, or indeed, HelloGoodbye.
I thought how else but to celebrate getting a new member then to review the new episode of Lost! After all tehprodigy may even be adding his review to this episode. So it makes sense to me...I think. (But I can recall him wanting to start doing Prison Break reviews instead.)
So the turn of Island "new comers," Nikki and Paulo.
Extremely interesting flashback this week, gaining Arzt's dieing wish, from the season 1 finale, in the process; "You people think you're the only ones on this island doing anything of value. I've got news for you. There were 40 other survivors of this plane crash. And we are all people, too." So Nikki is pretending to love old guy "Mr Zuckerman" with Paulo getting a job as his chef. They poison Zuckerman, steal the key around his neck open his safe and leave with millions of pounds worth of dimonds. Right here's where the flashback gets interesting. The plane crash, we see the pranecrash sequence from the Pilot episode from Nikki and Paulo's point of view. They begin looking for there bag, which contains the diamonds, when Ethan tries to lure them into the jungle. They pass, not knowing that Ethan was going to either use them as bargaining rights or kill them to scare the survivors. They arrive upon a beechcraft lodge in the trees, Paulo dismisses Nikki demands that he should climb it, stating it would tip and plummet down the cliff side. (Which ironically happened to Boone days later.) They also notice a oddly suspicious muddy patch and uncover the Pearl station. They don't climb down. Later, still looking for there bag, Nikki asks for Azrt's help with trajectory. Arzt then commenting about 20 new spices of spider and what it does. Following Arzts notes they come along the waterfall Kate and Sawyer found. Paulo dives down and finds the bag but swims to the surface and tells Nikki the opposite. Paulo takes the diamonds and goes down the pearl station and places them in the toilet tank. Ben and Juliet come in and check on the habitants of the swan station commenting how they will use Micheal to capture Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Later on the beach Nikki and Paulo talk but Paulo accidentally leaves his nicotine gum on the beach, Nikki knows the bag has been found. The events of The Cost of Living takes place. We now know why Paulo went to the toilet, to retrieve the diamonds. Further on in time, Nikki confronts Paulo about the diamonds using a paralysing spider to paralyse Paulo and steal the diamonds. Nikki is then bitten by the spider.
WOW!
Flashback Rating: 5/5 - Bow down.
Realtime now. Erm Nikki stumbles out of the jungle after being bitten by the spider. Sun says the others did it, because "they attacked" her. Charlie tells Sun that he was the one who did it; that attacked Sun, put a bag over her head and dragged her into the jungle. They begin digging graves for the paralysed Nikki and the, now found by Hurley, Paulo. Just as the grave is being covered up, Nikki opens her eyes. Nobody notices. Nikki and Paulo are now buried alive.
INTENSE!
Realtime Rating: 4/5 - The ending was great, but the real time was just to short to give 5.
Episode Rating: 5/5 - Just the episode need at the moment in time and gives answers! (I think...)
It struck me, as I was sat here, at half eleven in the evening, listening to Iron Maiden scream about running towards hills; that I haven't done a post about a video game in absolutely ages. In fact, I think it is probably near-accurate to say that the last dozen posts around PC games have been linked - either directly or indirectly - to the great World of Warcraft; and either me attacking it, or defending it. Quite ironically, many of you will realise that I don't actually play WoW still - especially after the coming of The Burning Crusade. In fact, I've been playing a very different game entirely:
Just Cause.
Yeah, I realise it's pretty old. Around six months old now actually - but I only picked it up the other week after playing a few rounds on the PC Gamer demo. Suffice to say; the demo satisfied me, and the actual game itself did nothing but pleasure me more in great and mystical ways. Some may call it a rip-off of other 'free-roaming games' (more specifically of late Grand Theft Auto, to which this bares great resemblance) - but I've grown stick of such games, to be honest. There's only a limited amount of times I can stand committing a car-jacking or shooting at police before it grows old. It doesn't matter whether the game I do it in is Grand Theft Auto, LA: True Crime or Just Cause itself. There is nothing really original about that aspect of game play. In fact, Just Cause lacks originality in many ways. The mission system (Albeit a different story line: You play as an agent, Rico, in his attempts of overthrowing a oppressive government in an Hispanic island) is simply a replica of those to come before it: Drive to mission start. Do mission. Save. Free-roam. Drive to mission start. Et cetera. In fact, this system lets the game down in many ways. The missions are occansionally buggy and hastily put-together. I'm not saying they are not fun to play; just sometimes it can be painful and confusing when you complete one objective, and the cut scene which follows bares no or little relavance to what you were doing three seconds ago. The side-quests (which consist of you helping the local guerillas and drug lords take over certain areas and fight against the government, but in no big way) can be slightly... 'liberating' (hah!) at points, but, again, it is frustrating to take over a town and then see the millions of police you were just fighting suddenly disappear because it is now 'Gurrilla Controlled'. An annoyance which disrupts the immersion incredibly at points.
But then, something kicks in and I remember why I choose to love this game. It is the same thing which happens upon starting and ending the game. When we first see Rico, he jumps out of the back of a plane in order to drop to his first meeting point with the CO of the entire operation. At the end of the game, Rico is, again, dropped out of a plane, free-falling thousands of feet as he persues the antagonist of the storyline; El Presidente. As the two fall, side-by-side (Rico trying to plant a bomb on the president's back), a classical score kicks in and, a swift glance down makes the great selling point of the game so apparent. The landscape unfolds beneath the beautifully-rendered clouds like a painting which grows more and more detailed - more and more epic with every passing second of diving through the twlit sky. It is a beautiful moment; when the power of the JC graphic engine really becomes obvious and, quite simply, goregous. It is worth suffering all the bugs, harrassment and mysterious instant-deaths just for moments like those.
Just Cause, is simply one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. Not because of the 'stunning storyline', which sounded good as an idea - but was pulled off terribly by 'half-decent' acting and dodgy cut-scenes. Not because it features all sorts of cliche car-chases and helicopter dogfights. But because it simply looks awesome.
So then, 300, how can I sum up this film? Lack-of-story-full-on-action. I don't even think the film had a story, but who cares? Right? The fighting was so...organic. Not a phrase usually heard when talking about fight scenes. Despite magical appearing Apples and disappearing Horses all of the visuals were spot on.
The musical score was perfect, the first time I have been in a film and thought "MUST - DOWNLOAD BUY - THIS - SONG." And it was recorded in England at the classical Abbey Road Studios, so maybe a special episode of "Live at Abbey Road" on More4...but I digress, this score was perfect.
Now...the dialogue. What were the writers thinking?
Persian Emissary: This is madness! Spartan King Leonidas: Madness? This is Sparta!
Excuse me? That's such a lame, corny line. Take this one for example...
Persian Emissary: Our arrows will blot out the sun! Stelios: [grins] Then we will fight in the shade.
This line isn't cool. Cool lines in films ain't cool, and that's what makes them cool; not being cool. Uncool lines trying to be cool is uncool, hence the smiling, backwards, uncool logic of this statement makes it uncool. Take this uncool line...
The Architect: Denial is the most predictable of human responses.
YUCK! That line is so uncool...but that's what makes it cool. See, it's simple. I hope the writers, *checks Wikipedia,* Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad are reading this and take this into mind for their next film, *checks Wikipedia,* Watchmen.
REMEMBER - UNCOOL=COOL: PSEUDO-COOL=UNCOOL.
Movie Rating: 4/5 - Because of the fight scenes.
Review by Melaisis
For the last time! I will not review this movie! All it is, is basically a three-hour long version of the Battle of Helm's Deep of Lord of the Rings fame. Heck, even Bugsy Malone has more depth than this! I can see how the original idea of three hundred men going against an entire army in hopes of coming out on top can seem like a promising idea... but Christ; that isn't exactly Rocky, is it? I mean, I could take my time out in order to critise the acting in 300 - how poorly well put together it was, how, despite there being some great characters in the lead roles - everyone else seems so fucking bland about everything. I could do that - except there was even little acting to go by! 'There is passion!' Yeah, the great passion that is two thousand, CGI, half-naked men running around a barren wasteland and screaming madly at one another. Now one has to admit the sheer determination of these Spartan blokes; but really, why are they all so filled with optimism throughout the entire movie (albeit filled with corny 'action film' lines)? These guys are basically marching to their deaths - yet at the same time, the actors and directors feel it alright to portray the men almost overwhelming joyous about the fact.
It just doesn't make sense.
Review by Wombatlord
I'm a sucker for stuff like this. Epic, historical (kinda) battles about honour and glory and the like.
Yes, I'm one of those people that enjoyed Troy.
As such, this will be short, and in disagreement with my fellow bloggers.
Awesome.
And Dee. Those lines are cool. Don't even pretend like they aren't, you're fooling no one buddy, after all...
'Tactfilled'? Is that even a word? Regardless, the issue of 'tact' has been playing on my mind of late. As many of our readers will know, or at least realise; Bugsy Malone - the local production - has not been the only thing playing on my mind of late. Indeed, for it was us - the small yet dedicated crew for the said musical which were amongst the first (albeit rather unnecessary and irrelevant) to hear of the said problem. For those of you who have no idea as to what I refer; it is to the death of Aiden Thomas, aged 12 or 13 (I forgot which specifically) who hanged himself at home. Sorry to bring it up again kids; but his death came at the most awkward time for us - as we were just setting up for the set for the said show within school when the entire thing was almost (but not quite) called off. The whole morbid thing put us back a few hours; which then had to be made up later in the week. I didn't even know the kid; but apparently it had 'effected the community' enough for emergency essemblies (assemblies?) to be put on in the same fucking place where we were working. I do indeed sound like a selfish bastard, perhaps, but the stress of the last seven days has been great. Heh. A week. It has passed like a bad movie montage, possibly with music being provided by Aqualung. One grand rollercoaster ride of literally blood, sweat and tears. This, gentlemen, is the story of our production of Bugsy Malone:
As previously mentioned, the death of the poor child came on the first day of 'rigging'. We, the twelve of us on the crew, stormed into the local school hall on the Friday, filled with optimism and hope for the coming days. There of course, was little reason not to be. Bugsy Malone was planned to be one of the most elaborate schemes ever presented to the willing people of Temple Moor. Personally, I had seen the film many years ago - and my memory didn't serve me too well as to the actual plot, aside from that it was some sort of astranged 1930s gangster-style musical featuring such 'classic' hits such as 'So You Wanna Be A Boxer' and 'My Name Is Tallulah'. It was fortunate that I didn't recall the plot, really. I had appeared to have forgotten how utterly crap the thing was. After all, how many of you have actually read the script of late? I spent four days of this past week reading and re-reading it - and it, at most points, is fucking hard to follow. The first scene is essential to the plot of the rest of the play: Roxy Robinson getting owned by Dandy Dan's mobsters and thus sparking a gang war between Fat Sam and Dandy Dan himself in which Bugsy Malone - the protagonist - gets himself caught up in due to his love of the local speak-easy and women. Most of this is done very subtly, and I personally believe the acting should have originally been assigned to people older than their teenagers. Bugsy Malone is not, in any way, a charming musical for all the family. It is anything but that. During the course of the show; many people complained how shit it was and/or how hard it was to follow because of varying reasons. But heck, people could say that the Dracula Rock Show was hard to follow - and that went done a rip-roaring sucess compared to BM, apparently.
So yes, back to the point. Bugsy Malone is not the greatest show to bring your children to. The acting in it should of been that of a sort of Scarface/Children of Men/The Departed-esque style, in which people don't have to say anything but yet the emotion, purpose and storyline is still allowed to sink in with the audience. That simply didn't happen with Bugsy. Heck, the lead role was played by a thirteen year old. No one is denying that Stefan is a good actor - because he is. Just trying to play a war-torn, poverty-stricken, heart-broken mobster is a task which any young teenager would find hard to do. I still argue that the only purpose behind schools still runing the said play is because of it's simple traditional... ness as a child-starred musical because of the film. That is all. As I said prior to this paragraph - even the writing is shite. There are scenes (such as the one with the many news reporters - some foreign) which make no sense and bare absolutely no use except to confuse the audience even more!
So regarding the play itself; I found it to be rather shit. However, that's not to say that our school - us crew especially - gave a good stab at it before giving into futitily. Overall, we spent over three thousand pounds on the entire project - about thirty times more than any usual school play. Did it pay off in the end? Arguable. Personally, I would of rather spent the money on a more... 'worthwhile' production (Rocky Horror? Little Shop of Horrors? Crew!?) instead of... well, something we could of cooked up in around two months; not the seven months it actually took to completely compile and run.
I must say, I'll miss the good old *deep breath* Lord Of The Periodical En Masse Rants but hey, I suppose this is that most fearsome of entities "they" deem progress.
Who are "they" I hear you ask? It matters not, perhaps all shall be revealed in time, perhaps not, who knows if I can muster the energy required to exasperate myself in such an exuberant fashion.
But I digress, now that the formalities of the introductions are done away with what are we left with?
I'll tell you what.
Music.
I've recently found myself in a most disadvantageous position, that is to say, I've become stuck in the proverbial rut that often plagues those deemed to be "Human".
It was a most odd occurrence, I was simply sitting, lucidly dreaming of my next fanciful venture when I found myself surrounded by silence (a most uncommon occurrence as my private orchestra will attest to). Unamused by this state of affairs I proceeded to attempt to remedy my predicament.
Cue Windows Media Player.
And so I stared at my most recently created playlist, cunningly titled "Current Tastes" so as to fool the culinary students that often plague my computer when I'm not looking, however, little did I realise at the time that the list at which I was looking did not carry many, if any, of my current tastes, food or otherwise.
This my friends was due to one simple reason. I am totally unaware of what my current tastes are.
I attempted to cure my ailment with some traditional metal, on went the Black Sabbath but woe friends, not even Iron Man could save me. Onto the classical rock and not even the might of Led Zeppelin or The Rolling Stones could hold my musical fancy for more than 5 seconds.
Unamused I proceeded to my more unconventional choices of audio-orgasms.
First up was Simon and Garfunkel, the folk duo responsible for such wonders as Mrs. Robinson, but alas, not even Mrs. Robinson's pantry with the cupcakes could hold my attention.
I swiftly proceeded to hip-hop, communicating with my inner-urban child through the harsh beats of the street yet he was apparently uninterested, I guess it's just like that, and that's the way it is. He be 'illin.
Onwards then...and it gets a little gritty here...
Hardcore Drum n Bass. Pendulum began blasting into my mind, I was informed that in the jungle the sound carried for miles, and was eventually asked, most likely as a rhetoric, if any bad boys had heard us...I had no answer.
I had no answer.
It was with this that I decided to step into a brave new world, I threw off the vestments and constraints of genre and style and began my grail quest, a quest for the aforementioned audio-orgasms.
You know, Symphonic Structures and Such.
And so the search began, surrounded by the sounds of silence I began my search for this NMO. My New Musical Order.
Apparently the future is somewhat indie.
And so here we have it...laid bare for all to see, the sounds currently pleasuring my inner-ear, stroking it in just the right way that it gives me such good, good, good, good vibrations.
First up is the wonderful Naked As We Came by Iron and Wine, something about this track I just love, it's calm, flows nicely and probably sends an important moral message...maybe
Next we have Lonely Day by System of a Down. Now, this one I feel requires a little explanation, a little exploration, a little less conversation...
I'm by no means a S.O.A.D fan, in fact I dislike practically everything else by them (no slight against their musical talents, I just don't like their material) but something about this song I truly enjoy, so much so that I'm willing to forgive the perplexing grammatical inaccuracies of the line "The Most Lonliest Day of My Life". Suffice to say I'm vexed.
I suppose it's because I'm very much in the mood to hear such romanticisms as "If you go, I want to go with you. If you die, I want to die with you". Lyrical beauty and all that I presume.
A quick mention must go to one of my favourite tunes at the moment in relation to romanticism...
Kiss Me, Hold Me and Eat Me by Ballboy
An absoloutely fabulous song that is as equally beautiful as it is amusing, it's a love song you see, a love song about cannibals.
I'll not ruin it by divulging it's details here, but if you are worthy, you will be enlightened.
And that brings us to a band that I think fellow blogger Melaisis would enjoy...
Mr. Hudson and The Library.
I find it to be a breath of fresh air in the current world of "indie" where messy hair, messy clothes and messy music are evidently the order of the day, I'm yet to find a song by these boys that is comparable to another, while there are running themes with the style each song is unique and memorable, more than can be said for such indie acts as Razorlight or The Killers who also seem to believe that constantly looking high and / or drunk is part of the indie kids prime directive.
And so I shall leave you, having said what I want to say...with this.
Yeah that's the right face for that statement. (But we do now have a snazzy Lost banner!)
Wehey! It's a Locke episode.
Flashback
It's been a long time coming but yes we finally saw Locke being paralysed. Was it worth it? I would say so. Locke's dad is at his suspicious con man ways again and Locke is have none of it. Locke's dad is conning a family out of everything and the family's son is suspicious. The son meets Locke about Locke's dad, but Locke gives nothing away, in a John-Locke-type-of-way of doing things. Locke meets his dad and begs him to leave this family, don't con them. Then suspiciously (I over use suspicious,) the son is murdered. Murdered? How suspicious? Locke, feeling suspicious, meets his father with one question, "Did you kill the son?" As Locke reaching for the phone his father runs straight into him and Locke smashes through the glass walls, 8 storeys up and crashes into the ground.
Even if the picture below doesn't give it justice...
Flashback Rating: 4/5 - Suspiciously very epic for a flashback.
Real Time
What could happen next? Especially after seeing Jack at the end of the last episode. Well keep reading...obviously.
Rousseau does a runner. Leaving Locke, Sayid and Kate to enter Jack's house. Kate enters first, she sees Jack playing the piano and they talk. Jack indicates the house is full of cameras, when 2 Others run in and take Kate to the ground at gun point then bringing Sayid in and doing the same. Kate tells them there is no one else. SMASH CUT! Ben hearing noises, turns his light on revealing Locke demanding when the submarine is. Alex enters. Locke uses her as leverage for his demands. The door in the other room slams open. Locke and Alex go in the closet leaving Ben to talk to the Others who have stormed in. Ben asks them to get "The man from Tallahassee." Locke makes Alex take him to the dock which the submarine is held. He goes inside and plants the C-4 he took from the Flame station. Locke gets out is assaulted on the dock. The Sub goes Bang! Locke is taken as a prisoner. As Alex and co walk past, Danielle stares from the bushes at her daughter... Locke awakes with cuffs around his hands and hung on a pipe. The door opens Ben is there he releases him and begins to ask him questions about his father. He opens another door revealing "The man from Tallahassee" battered and bruised tied to a chair. The man...is Locke's dad.
Real time Rating: 4/5 - Very good...suspiciously good
Episode Rating: 5/5 - The writers are really on a roll!
So then, this isn't a rant or a review (or a red head for that matter) its just a coming together of plans and such.
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Erm...WELCOME TO THE THREE R'S
Yeah! I really wanted Scott or Jordan to do this but anyway...We moved, and this will most likely be a massive blow to the blog but...things can only get better right? Right?!
Brand new...I have created a "History" of Lord of the Periodical en masse Rants. It's not just a story of bullshit, it's a chronicle of our rise...TO POWER! The second tab, slide it and enjoy!
Next...I have added a universal review ratings meaning that you can put a meaning behind the rating. (This is a common complaint...apparently) So the seventh tab, slide it and enjoy!
I have also added a counter, I can't remember if it is a hit or unique visitor counter but whatever it is...it works. The Eight tab, slide it and enjoy!
Now, with Scott being in the "Dracula Rock show" last year, and me getting an exclusive review of the show and exclusive interviews with the Cast, he managed to bag a slot on the schools new performance "Bugsy Malone." Hopefully I will get to see it early and grab you a decent review if not I'll get Scott or Jordan to it. But I will still do some interviews, (By some I mean Scott.)
THE STORY! I pleaded, publicly, to my fellow bloggers to get the go ahead and after negotiation, all I can say is keep your eyes peeled.
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Now time for that Plea. We need a skilled Photo shopper, the top of this blog is a big gap full of green and it looks odd and really boring. We need a striking design, we're thinking our heads...your thinking...
If you think you could be the girl or guy for the job, email: the-3-rs@hotmail.com.
You know the blog action is down when two Lost reviews are next to each other...but anyway at least its not nothing being updated. (Or is it?)
This week was a Claire (*drools*) flashback.
Flashback first. Lets see it starts with Claire being in a car accident and her mother has gone through the window and is dead on the road. Claire later shes her mother in the hospital only to see a tall, balding man stood over her. This man is Christian Shepard. (Or as most people call him, "Jack's Dad".) Lindsy (Or as most people call her, "Clarie's Aunt") beings to have an argument with Christian, until it is revealed that Christian is Clarie's Father.
WOAH WOAH WOAH!
Jack's dad is Claire's dad!?!
Jack and Claire are Half-Siblings!?!
Flashback Rating: 4/5 - Quite cool...even for a flashback.
Now the real time, on island, now but really 3 years ago action. Erm Claire has an idea to tie a message to a bird as she notices the birds are tagged. She does after finding out about Desmonds brain thing and Charlies coming soon death. And thats all the Claire action decent on the island. OK then. Syaid, Locke, Kate, Rousseau and Mikhail are heading towards the barracks. Mikhail then begins to show his "Others" side to him, revealing full names and knowing Locke was paraylsed. They then find a barrier surrounding the Barracks. Locke throws Mikhail through it and a loud sound is heard, he froths at the mouth and his blood vessels begin to explode. He dies...I think. Anyway the climb over the barrier and head to the center. Where they find a village, the Others Village. A familer voice is heard. It's Jack playing, happily, with Tom and some other Others. Good Ending.
Real Time Rating: 5/5 - The writers are really on form at the momment.
Rating: 5/5 - Erm...What the above one says. (It's correct)
Next Week - Episode 313 - The Man from Tallahassee
A Sayid Episode. Which is really great news if you are a Sayter, like me. (A Sayter is a fan who wants Kate to go with Sayid, same as for Jaters for Jack and Kate and Skaters for Sawyer and Kate.)
OK then, we start and the above motley crew stumble across a small farmhouse with a satellite. Upon entering a Man with an eye patch, aka that guy from the Pearl feed, shoots Sayid while claiming he is "the only remaining member of the Dharma Initiative." He reveals this farmhouse to be the Flame Station. Erm things happen...then Locke finds a computer which plays chess and is told it cheats, Locke becomes determined to win the computer. Meanwhile Sayid and Kate are venturing around the Flame and notice the station is wire with C-4 plastic explosives. Kate is attacked by an unknown figure which is then revealed to be Ms Klugh of the Others. Patchy under threat reveals he is one of the Others. Patchy kills Ms Klugh to stop her from being tortured by Sayid. When leaving Locke claims he knows why the computer cheats...The Flame Explodes!
In June last year; I decided that I would choose to persue a career in standup comedy and acting. Yet since then; these past months have been somewhat of a stalemate in both of those fields. The nearest I've come to 'acting' per say is helping with this year's production of Bugsy Malone (which I can safely say, ten days before the opening night, is looking pretty crap; but we'll change that) as a sound techie. Oh, and the great 'Rockotorio' at Christmas - but that is an entirely different scene hardly worth the mention in this entry. So, I'm thinking, what will I do this year to make a difference to the world? Well, let's see:
- Set up a 'Perverted-Justice.co.uk'-esque site or system; where I go around the country hunting paedophiles now that I am offically old enough to do so.
- Do some more freelance work; as last year, to fund my ever-increasing antics.
- Help plan Ian and Nick's 'GREAT MASTERPIECE OF A CONCERT', which basically involves two schools uniting as one to put on some sort of wonderful musicial.
- Get a meaningful girlfriend. Although my Inner Circle will probably contradict this, and state that it 'isn't practical' because of my age. Whatever, it can be a summer of love.
- Join a new band.
- Perform with said band.
- Set up a real MySpace.
And finally:
- Expand the C-R-A-P network.
Big plans, eh? I'll probably expand on each one in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
OK, It's a jack episode...so right there you know what is going to happen. A flurry of Jackfaces! Anyway I think it would be alot safer to say it was Jack's Tattoos flashback or as I would call it, a cheap attempt to give a cameo to Asian mega queen Bai Ling. Basically the only info found is that Jack's tattoo mean "He walks among us, but he is not one of us." Apparently it's "ironic" I don't understand...but am sure, knowing Lost, it will be resolved and explained fuller!
Episode Rating: 2/5...what were the writers thinking?
Tricia Tanaka Is Dead
Much Better, although it's the usual mid season clarifier. (Which means it ends the arc of the first half and sets up the final half arc.) Anyway, Hurley is the flashback candidate in this episode, and the on island comic relief matched perfectly. In the episode Hurley finds a car in the jungle and enrolls Sawyer, Charlie and Jin to help him to get it going. They do. But the curse of the numbers are pushed by Hurley who drives the car straight towards a large rock formation. He survives...obviously and he is now convince the curse has been lifted or at least weakened. Erm the end is quote cool with Kate getting Rousseau (The old one) to get Jack and Rousseau (The young one) back! Actions coming at full speed.
Episode Rating: 3/5...Good episode, but didnt really push the story on.
All spiders, and more generally all arachnids, have eight legs. An octopus has eight tentacles.
Timothy Leary identified a hierarchy of eight levels of consciousness.
As of 2006, in our solar system, eight of the bodies orbiting the Sun are considered to be planets.
The atomic number of oxygen.
The Eight Immortals are Chinese deities.
Blogging. 8. In tarot, card No. 8 is "Strength". In numerology, 8 is the number of building, and in some theories, also the number of destruction. (Keep this one in mind)
In Astrology, Scorpio is the 8th astrological sign of the Zodiac. A symbol of power and destruction?
In chess, each side has eight pawns. Power.
8 apparitions appear to Macbeth in Act 4 scene 1 of Shakespeare's Macbeth as representations of the 8 descendants of Banquo who will be king. Destruction.
War of the Eight Princes, a war in Chinese history. Power.
"88" is the abbreviated terminology used by the Aryan Brotherhood for the Nazi salute, "Heil Hitler"—"H" being the eighth letter of the alphabet, repeated twice. Power.
On January the 8th, 1998:
* Ramzi Yousef is sentenced to life in prison for planning the World Trade Center bombing. Destruction. * Cosmologists announce that the universe's expansion rate is increasing. Power.
On April 8th of the same year:
* Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM reports to the UN Security Council that Iraq's declaration on its biological weapons program is incomplete and inadequate. Destruction. * Birmingham Tornado of April 1998: An F5 tornado strikes the western portion of the Birmingham, Alabama area, killing 32. Destruction.
June 8th, same year:
* Actor Charlton Heston becomes president of the National Rifle Association. Power. * President Sani Abacha of Nigeria dies of apparent heart failure. Destruction.
December 8th, same year; Tadjena massacre in Algeria: 81 villagers are killed. Desutrction.
January 8th, 1988. The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 140.58 points, or 6.85%, to close at 1,911.31 in a mini-crash. Destruction.
March the 8th, same year. Two U.S Army helicopters collide in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, killing 17 servicemen. Destruction.
May the 8th, same year. PEPCON disaster in Henderson, Nevada: A major explosion at an industrial solid-fuel rocket plant causes damage extending up to 10 miles away, including Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport.
August 8th - 8888 Uprising: Thousands of protestors in Burma (now Myanmar) are killed during anti-government demonstrations. Power, destruction. This is the most unnerving one.
November 8th - U.S. presidential election, 1988: George H.W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis. Power.
Heck, even look further back in history:
January 8th, 1908 (I don't need to tell you that 9-1 is 8...) - A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains. Destruction.
8 is the 'infinity' sign, upwards.
8, AD: Wang Mang seizes power in China and establishes the short-lived Xin Dynasty. POWER.
Mountain has 8 letters? Power and destruction.
Hurricane, 8 letters. Destruction.
'King' is 4 letters - half of 8. Power.
6 is the number between these two numbers. Destruction.
There are 8 electrons on each outer shell of atoms, after the first. Power?
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