Hey Little Sister, Who's Your Superman, Hey Little Sister, Who's the One You Want, Hey Little Sister, Shotgun!

(Billy Idol, White Wedding)

Third post in one day. I'm really burning it up, here. Let's roll...

Ace and Gary start the episode with a little rolling around in bed in their pajamas, mourning the loss of New Zealand, until Andrew realizes Spike no longer has a roommate, and enthusiastically moves into the room, taking over New Zealand's bed, presumably so he won't have to sleep so far away from Spike.

Quickfire Challenge: The guest judge this week is no guest judge. Colleccio joins Padma in the kitchen, possibly because he was lonely after eating all of the meals by himself last week. They will no longer get immunity for winning a Quickfire, and they split into two teams. They have to do a relay race of chopping, slicing, peeling, etc, and as part of it, they have to clean a monkfish, which just looks disgusting. Antonia, Stephanie, Richard and Andrew are on a team together, which is strong to quite strong. The other team is Nikki, Spike, Lisa and Dale, who hates Lisa and Nikki. Things should go well for them. Lisa narrowly avoids slicing her own hands, thank God, but that doesn't mean I like her. I don't. I hate her. Andrew makes up some time by dismantling his artichokes in record time, and Colleccio is getting a little whistle-happy, like he's some sort of high school track coach. Stephanie and Nikki are in a race for the mayonnaise, and Stephanie comes through for the win! Nice work.

And...Dale's profanity outburst makes its appearance. Right before commercials, he mentions that nobody likes each other on the team. That's gonna make it tough, I think.

Elimination Challenge: Everyone is excited for restaurant wars, since they all want to open restaurants (duh), and they seem to be sorely let down when told they're not doing that today, by Padma, who's wearing some sort of jacket like she's in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Their challenge, for the teams, is to cater a wedding (including cake!) for two people who happen to own a restaurant and a wedding venue. Spike's excited that the other team picked the bride, which makes sense, because in my experience, the groom's much more laid back about the wedding planning.

And...Andrew's comment regarding his culinary boner makes its appearance. Always classy, that Andrew.

The groom likes Italian food, and Nikki is Italian! The bride likes Southern food because she's from Marietta, and Richard lives in Atlanta! It's amazing! I didn't catch much else from that segment, other than they both like cake. And soup. And they could talk, or not talk, for hours. Gonna be a great marriage.

Antonia says they shouldn't risk crispy chicken because you never know if it will hold up, but then she says, "whatever, we'll survive." THAT does not bode well for Antonia, because confidence usually equals being in the bottom three on this show.

Wait, they're buying the food AND the flowers? If that's true, this is gonna be one crappy wedding. They're probably going to have Spike officiate the ceremony, and Colleccio is going to be the musical entertainment at the reception (seriously? that picture is hilarious!). Richard and Andrew are working together at Whole Foods, and with a budget of $3,000, that's going to be almost enough for a dozen tulips.

Nikki inexplicably says, "I seriously can't believe I'm making pasta again." Yeah, right. That's all she knows how to do! I haven't seen her do one thing this whole season that didn't involve pasta. She then inspires confidence in her entire team by not making a single decision, and answering "I'm not sure" to every question they ask.

Lisa thinks Dale's doing a crappy job. I knew they were going to work together well. The rest of the team seems to agree with her, though. Nikki's making pasta at 4:17 a.m. and looks like she's been smoking meth. Man, she needs her beauty rest in a bad way.

Colleccio saunters in after a good night's sleep, and for that, everyone hates him, as they have been up all night cooking. This does seem like a really hard, really cool challenge. Much better than the block party from a few weeks ago. He says Lisa's groom's cake is ugly and looks like a battleship, which isn't the worst description. It looks like a 4th grader's art project, or a science fair volcano that happens to be square.

The wedding arrives and they're all zombies, except Padma, who should spend more time attending formal events, wearing that dress, on TV. The appetizers look pretty good so far, especially the pulled-pork sandwich with a homemade pickle. That sounds awesome. Meanwhile, the bride and the groom haven't spoken to each other yet during the entire cocktail hour. I hope they at least sit next to each other at dinner. The bride's team has decided that Andrew will stay to work in the kitchen, so he's not allowed to talk to the guests. Solid strategy.

Judges' Table: First up, bride's team. Man, I hope they win. And they do! Nice. Andrew dodged a big bullet, because they didn't like his chicken or his spinach. The winner is Richard. Boring. He wants to give it to Stephanie, though, since she made the wedding cake, which is actually a very great gesture, and she gets a Crate & Barrel gift certificate for $2,000. That's awesome. The groom's team comes out to take their lumps, and there's gonna be a lot of tired, frustrated bitching by some of these people, most likely Dale and Lisa. Nikki throws everyone under the bus right off the bat by saying that although they looked to her for guidance on the Italian-style menu, she was in no way the leader of the team. Nice backbone, Nikki. Dale and Spike have it out, and this is falling apart quickly. I hope Dale started packing his knives already, so he can just get the hell out of there when they announce the loser. I hope he doesn't lose, I'd much rather see that honor go to Nikki or Lisa, but he seems resigned to it, and he seems to be telling everyone where they can stick it before he leaves.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. (Paul McCartney) Oh, and in the end, Nikki gets sent home. Amanda called it. She's a genius, and much better at predicting this stuff than I am, which is weird, because I watch WAY more tv than she does, so you'd think I'd have an easier time with it.

Dark in the City, Night Is a Wire, Steam in the Subway, Earth Is Afire (Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do)

(Duran Duran, Hungry Like the Wolf)

After reading this post over at Burnt Orange Nation earlier today, regarding the "Mount Rushmore" of Austin restaurants, and discussing our favorites (naturally) with Micah, I decided I'd have to delve a little deeper and really put some thought into this. We both had some obvious, no-thought-required favorites, but were having a hard time narrowing it down. Micah thought it needed to be broken down into two perspectives, "Student" and "Resident." I believe it must go one step further, adding a "Weekend Visitor" category, because there are places I might feel the need to go with only 48 hours in town that, given all the time in the world, might not be as high of a priority.

So (and this is a bad idea to do right now, considering the fact that I have not yet eaten dinner and might well devour my own right arm), below are my "Mount Rushmores" of Austin restaurants. I've tried to make sure each category has a good variety of cuisines, which, given my affinity for breakfast foods, tex-mex, and barbecue,

Student Rushmore
1. Salt Lick. Let's be honest, you knew this was coming. Not the highest quality barbecue meat I've ever had, and it would be great (or deadly) if it took less than 30-45 minutes to get there from central Austin, but this place is just awesome. If you ever have the chance, trust me. Take it. The sauce is so good, it's almost drinkable. And as a student, I could handle the all-you-can-eat situation with no problem whatsoever, really getting the most sauce for my dollar. I'm already starting to drool.

2. Trudy's. Trudy's is just about the most perfect place I've ever been. The food is really good (but not great), it was pretty close to everywhere I lived in Austin, and it's always packed with people having a great time. The bar area includes a big outdoor deck area, which, given the beautiful weather in Austin, is a must.

They also serve the legendary Mexican Martini. This is basically a really, ridiculously, overwhelmingly, knock you on your ass margarita that they serve you in a full shaker, with a martini glass. You can generally get about 7-8 martini glasses out of one shaker. Then you order another one. After your 15th or 16th glassful, you're done. Literally and figuratively. They will only serve you two Mexican Martinis, and then you're cut off from anything else at the bar. And they don't mess around.

One afternoon in my senior year of college, I was there with some friends in the afternoon and had my dos Martinis Mexcianas, and I was feeling pretty good. Then we left, went somewhere else for dinner, and ended up back at Trudy's later that night (of course). I sauntered in and tried to get a beer, and the bartender somehow remembered that I had my limit on Mexican Martinis earlier that day, and would not serve me a beer. How this is possible escapes my understanding, because they must have had hundreds of people in there that day, but after about 45 seconds of being pissed and trying to convince him to pour me a Shiner, I realized that's probably the mark of a really responsible bartender, and I walked away beerless but satisfied, my faith in humanity reaffirmed.

3. EZ's. This place, I would probably never go back to, but when I was in college I ate there ALL the time. They had just about anything you could imagine: pizza, sandwiches, burgers, chicken tenders, salads (yeah, right). And the food there was definitely inexpensive. But the main draw was that if you showed them your University of Texas student ID, you got a $2 discount, which usually knocked your meal down to around four or five bucks. Can't beat that.

4. Crown & Anchor Pub. Just a good old fashioned crappy bar with a ridiculous beer selection by the pitcher (no liquor or wine), pool tables, dart boards, an outdoor patio, and a $2.75 burger and fries. Need I say more? Fine. In addition to being really cheap, the burgers were awesome. They also had good tacos. This place was about 3 blocks from our apartment junior year. Russell and I once went there on our way home from the gym, for burgers and beers. You can tell we were real serious about our workouts.

Resident Rushmore
1. Salt Lick. Yeah, it's that good. And if I lived there, I'd be much less concerned with the trek out there.

2. Guero's. We ate at this tex-mex joint a few years ago on a trip to Austin, and everybody was really happy. They had great margaritas, and really great food. Bill Clinton ate there once (or so we were told), and the restaurant was also prominently featured in the movie Death Proof. This may have been in my Student Rushmore, but I never ate there as a student, so that settles that.

3. Kerbey Lane Cafe. This is a great breakfast place, but what immediately comes to mind when you mention it to anyone who's been there is "Kerbey Queso." Not traditionally a breakfast food, but it's Austin, and every restaurant in Austin also serves tex-mex. Their queso is awesome, loaded con carne, which is a welcome appetizer, even for an omelet or migas (migas!) or some of their awesome gingerbread pancakes. This place probably would have been in my Student Rushmore as well, but when I was there they only had one location, on Kerbey Lane, which wasn't nearly as close as the location they have since added right next to campus.

(By the way, I just put salt and ketchup on my right arm. I'm not lying when I say that this is driving me crazy with hunger. Could get ugly.)

4. Huts. Edging out Handy Andy's in Oxford, Mississippi, this might be my favorite hamburger place ever. (Which is saying something, because I do love a good burger.) And for some reason, I ALWAYS forget about it when I'm visiting Austin and never consider it for a meal. However, if I lived there, I'd probably remember to go there more often. This needs to change. I vow, this day, that on my next trip back to Austin, I am going to go to Huts and order myself an Allen Freed buffalo burger (bbq sauce and cheddar). 2 for 1 on Mondays!

Weekend Visitor Rushmore
1. Salt Lick. Only two days in town? Go to the one at the airport as soon as you get in, or on your way out of town, and you don't have to worry about that long drive!

2. Texadelphia. This is the home of the cheesesteak in Texas, and is the best hangover cure known to man. You're gonna have to trust me on this one. However, usually when I eat there, I don't get the cheesesteak. I go for the turkey sandwich. Strange, I know, and I don't quite know how to explain it, but their turkey sandwich, with the mustard blend sauce, is just amazing. If I lived there, I probably wouldn't eat there with great frequency (except for maybe those Sunday mornings when I needed a cheesesteak to get me through), because there is no shortage of amazing restaurants in Austin, but going back for a weekend, it's a tough one to pass up, if for no other reason than the nostalgia factor (and the mustard blend).

3. Trudy's. See above. I don't think I have been back to Austin and not gone to Trudy's ever. And that's a streak I'd like to see continue.

4. The Omelettry. This place is a diamond in the rough. I didn't discover it until late in my senior year of college, and I could never convince any of my friends to go there with me, so many of them have probably never heard of it. It's out of the way (over on Burnet), and it's largely visited by locals and people who live in that neighborhood. It is, however, very close to the Top Notch, which everyone remembers from Dazed & Confused. They have amazing omelets, pancakes, migas, anything you could want. But don't go there if you're in a hurry, because they don't care. And they're not a very big restaurant, so there's usually a bit of a wait. But it's worth it. Interestingly enough, this restaurant is also featured in a very long scene in Death Proof, though it is only seen from the inside, and appears in a part of the movie that supposedly takes place in Tennessee. I took Amanda, Brandy and Robert there on our trip to ACL a few years ago, and everyone loved it. Robert's been talking about it ever since.

Anybody out there agree/disagree with my choices? Anybody out there reading at all? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know your favorite Austin eateries.

It's Not Going to Stop Till You Wise Up, No, It's Not Going to Stop, So Just ... Give Up

(Aimee Mann, Wise Up)

Last night was a good night, thanks to North Carolina and Indiana voters. With strong results in Kentucky and West Virginia in the next two weeks, it seems like Obama might be able to get the Supers to start sacking up and finally making some decisions, so the party can stop tearing itself apart from within.

Undaunted by yet another disappointing showing at the polls (and unwilling to stop tearing the party apart from within), Hillary Clinton remains committed to beating a dead horse, giving us the following display of delusion from her "victory speech" in Indiana, where she picked up three more delegates than did Obama (who outgained her by 20 in North Carolina):

"I believe that Americans need a champion in their corners," she said at a rally in Indianapolis. "For too long we've had a president who has stood up and spoken out for the wealthy and the well-connected, but I don't think that's what Americans need."

Because nothing says opposite of wealthy and well-connected like a woman who had an income of $110 million over the last 7 years, and is the wife of a former president.

You Think You're a Radical, But You're Not So Radical, In Fact You're Fanatical, Fanatical!

(Flaming Lips, Free Radicals)

And now for more LOST ramblings.

I'm going public with my new radical theory that I developed (and then immediately discredited) this morning. I watched last week's episode again on Sunday, b/c Eric and Shari hadn't seen it yet, and they came over to watch. I know I said it wasn't that good of an episode, but after re-watching it, I definitely enjoyed it more, and started thinking a little more about it. Here's the new radical theory (discrediting to follow):

Jack is dead (or in a coma) and the flash-forwards are his "life" flashing before his eyes (or his coma-induced dreams).

Jack either did not survive his appendectomy procedure, or slipped into a coma during it, as it wasn't exactly done under the most stable or sterile conditions. First of all, like Rose said, people don't get sick on The Island, they get better. So, if Jack's sick, there's a reason, and it's probably pretty bad.

The flash-forwards are a product of Jack's subconscious, either how he thinks things will play out, or, more likely, how he wants things to play out. Think about this. The people who get off The Island are all people Jack likes. Kate, he's in love with. Hurley, he has always liked. Sayid has always been loyal to Jack in times of trouble (when they had Ben as their prisoner, and when Jack and Locke split off into separate camps at the beginning of this season), and Sun he wants to get off The Island so she doesn't die during childbirth.

Conversely, look at the people, by and large, who do NOT get off The Island. Juliet, who is Kate's rival for Jack's affection. Sawyer, who is Jack's rival for Kate's affection. Locke, who Jack clearly hates and even tried to kill earlier this season.

So, Jack's subconscious creates this future where the people he cares for get rescued and the people he doesn't care for do not get rescued for one reason or another. He said in the last episode that Sawyer made a choice to stay on The Island? That's very convenient, and probably would make Jack very happy, but Jack, due to his surgery, didn't yet know that Sawyer has realized that Locke is completely insane, and is helping Claire make their way back to the beach to be with the rest of the group. To me, that doesn't sound like someone who wants to stay, it sounds like someone who wants to be rescued when the time comes.

Now, because it's his own subconscious, all of his demons are still there in the future. He still sees visions of his father, and he still develops the pills/drinking problem (which he inherited from daddy as well). His subconscious also invents a reason for him not to trust "future Kate" (she's helping Sawyer!!) and be too controlling (which was the same problem he had with his first wife before the plane crash). His guilt over Charlie's death explains why his subconscious led "future Hurley" back to the nuthouse with visions of Charlie telling of bad things to come. His subconscious is also so untrusting of Ben that "future Sayid" is now working for Ben as an assassin, putting his torture/weaponry skills to work.

Now for the discrediting:

"Future Jack" made a point of telling "future Kate" that she's not even related to Aaron, implying that he knows he is related to Aaron. That realization has not yet happened in Island time, unless it has happened and we don't know about it yet, and it might be revealed to us in an on-island flashback. If that is the case (which it probably isn't), then add Aaron to the list of people Jack cares about, since he's his nephew. Or maybe even wants a little kid to be taken to safety - could you blame him for that?

I know that the producers have said that the explanation of the Island is not going to involve being in someone's dreams or in someone's head. BUT, this theory isn't an explanation of The Island, it's an explanation of the future events we've seen. Still possible that it could happen.

The Light Was On But It Was Dim, Revolver's Been Turned Over, and Now It's Ready Once Again, The Radio is Playing Crimson and Clover

(Elliott Smith, Baby Britain)

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everybody. In keeping with the festivity of this joyous occasion (and just to make sure this blog doesn't become a vehicle solely for Lost and Top Chef ramblings), I've decided to write about some of the new music I've been listening to lately. (I know that doesn't seem very festive, but I have a strange interpretation of some holidays. A few years ago, I joined a gym on Martin Luther King Day.)

A buddy of mine at work gave me about 4G worth of music a few months ago, and I've been slowly digesting my favorites. Most of the bands are ones I hadn't heard of at the time, which automatically makes them cool, however, some of these albums are at least a few years old already, which makes me decidedly less cool. I've also posted a song or two for each of the bands, so you can consider this your indie music sampler, courtesy of the good folks here at Deep Chrome Canyons (i.e., me). Most of this music is on the mellow side, so if you're looking to get your socks rocked off, you should look elsewhere.

Ambulance LTD (Ambulance LTD)
Ambulance LTD put out their self-titled first album 7 years ago, and they have already changed over most of the band at least once, which makes me a little late in getting around to listening to them. I dig their laid back sound, and I appreciate that you can hear the Velvet Underground's influence, especially on "Primitive (the Way I Treat You)".

By the way, and this is almost entirely irrelevant, but I just finished reading a book called "Please Kill Me: An Uncensored Oral History of Punk," and although it ended rather abruptly without covering anything in the past 25 years (and barely even getting into the 1980s at all), it was a really great account of the late 1960s-early 1980s punk scene. It focused heavily on the Velvet Underground, MC5, Television, Patti Smith, the Heartbreakers, the New York Dolls, and Iggy and the Stooges, with not enough coverage on the Ramones, and not NEARLY enough coverage on The Clash or the Sex Pistols.

Anyway, it's basically sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I mean, it's a cliche for a reason, right? Everybody was shooting up, and everybody was sleeping with everybody, men, women, it didn't matter. And I kind of figured that it was a very free-spirited era, but I was fairly shocked by some of the accounts, especially some of the stories about Lou Reed. Dude was a freak.

Ambulance LTD - Primitive (the Way I Treat You)
Ambulance LTD - Michigan
Buy Ambulance LTD on Amazon.com

Beach House (Beach House)
I was excited to get ahold of Beach House's first album (also self-titled, also a few years old) after reading about them in The Big Takeover, which happens to be the best music magazine I have ever laid my eyes on (subscribe for 2 years for only $20!!). This magazine, which I've been a devoted reader of for about 3 years now, has introduced me to a host of new music, including The Decemberists, who are one of my favorites. So, when I read a feature or an interview of theirs about a band I've never heard of, I tend to give it a lot of weight, and more often than not, it's worth a small investment to be able to give a listen. Luckily, this was in the trove of music I got from Louie, so my investment was unnecessary.

They're MUCH more mellow than I was execting, though to be fair, I was reading a review about their new album (released in February of this year), and I haven't heard that one yet. I like it, but it's not something I could listen to over and over again, for fear that I'd slip right into a coma. One thing I like about them is that they have a female singer. I really dig a rock band with a female singer. And I'm not talking about "chick music" like the Indigo Girls or Tori Amos (who I also like). I'm talking about chicks who rock, like Ann Wilson of Heart, Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney, and Beth Gibbons of Portishead. Now, Beach House isn't anywhere near the thunderstorm of rock like Heart or Sleater-Kinney, but Victoria Legrand's Nico-inspired vocals (and I promise I'm going to stop referencing the Velvet Underground) really blend well with their slow, sometimes eerie keyboard-based songs. Give them a listen, it's free. If you don't like it, you can turn it off. (Oh, and they don't start off all of their songs by counting, but these two happen to do that.)

Beach House - Apple Orchard
Beach House - Heart and Lungs
Buy Beach House on Amazon.com

The Dexateens (Lost and Found)
This is not one of the albums from my friend's stash. This one I downloaded a few months ago, legally, of course, and you can do so yourself right here from the band's website if you like what's below! The Dexateens are probably the hardest rocking band I'm writing about tonight. They're a throwback to classic rock, with a Southern edge. Sort of like, two parts Skynyrd, one part Faces (Yeah, Rod Stewart used to be a badass. Hard to believe nowadays, but it was definitely true.).

Lost and Found is the fourth album for this Tuscaloosa, Alabama, based group. They've been around for 10 years, currently on Birmingham-based label Skybucket Records. I'm going to have to check out some of their other acts, because this album is right up my alley. Hopefully they'll be in the ATL soon, because this band seems like they'd be awesome to see live.

This album is probably the reason for this entire post, because after I first downloaded it and listened to it back in February (or March?), I considered writing about it, but I just hadn't fully digested it yet, and I wasn't sure if there was really enough to say. I mean, I love music, and I love writing about music, but I'm no Lester Bangs. Anyway, after getting all this other music from my buddy awhile back, and listening to a bunch of it enough to get a feel for what I liked, I decided I'd revive my idea of writing about the Dexateens, but expand it into this longer, more comprehensive idea of writing a little bit about a bunch of bands. And since Amanda's still in New Orleans until tomorrow night, and I've got nothing but time to have a few beers, grill some hamburgers, and listen to music, I figured I'd put that time to good use.

The Dexateens - Lost and Found
The Dexateens - Enough of Nothing

Great Lake Swimmers (Ongiara)
Sort of a "Band of Horses lite," Great Lake Swimmers are one of Canada's great exports, along with Steve Nash and maple syrup. Oh, how I love the maple syrup. Any band that can pull off prominently featuring a banjo is alright in my book. They're folky, sort of Sufjan Stevens-esque, which I love, but without the very strange storytelling. They also have a bit of Neil Young in them, which is probably a prerequisite for any up and coming Canadian rock band. This album (their third) came out in 2007, and truthfully, if I'd heard it last year, it probably would have cracked my top 10 for the year. "Changing Colours" is a beautiful, beautiful song - probably my favorite from this album. This is also a very mellow album, but not quite as mellow as Beach House. More folky-mellow, whereas Beach House was more sleeping-pills-induced-mellow. Both are good, but in different ways.

Great Lake Swimmers - Your Rocky Spine
Great Lake Swimmers - Changing Colours
Buy Onigara on Amazon.com

I'd planned to write about a few more bands (Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, Jamie Lidell, to name a few, though I probably won't get around to it anytime soon, because I already did my favorites of the bunch), but I'm getting kind of tired, so I'm going to go watch the Spurs/Hornets game. I've been living the bachelor life all weekend, and I've got one more night to lie on the couch with a Rolling Rock and watch basketball, so I'm gonna take advantage.

LOST In Love and I Don't Know Much, Was I Thinking Aloud? I Fell Out of Touch.

(Air Supply, Lost In Love)

Happy?

I was nowhere near as captivated by this episode as I was by last week's, when Ben "don't call me Henry" Linus went all Jason Bourne on those dudes in the desert. We did get some minor answers, but I think I like it better when they introduce more mystery, and there wasn't that much mystery introduced last night. Although, to be fair, I was still in a bit of a food coma from the steaks and grilled veggies Amanda and I had for dinner.

1. Jack proposing to Kate might have been the single most boring moment of this entire series that didn't involve Nikki and/or Paulo. I don't need non-stop action all the time, but if I wanted to watch a chick flick, I'd pop in my You've Got Mail dvd. (Disclosure: I don't own You've Got Mail on dvd. I own it on vhs. But I don't have a VCR. Life's funny like that sometimes.)

2. I certainly did not mind Kate's casual wear. That is one smokin' hot someone-else's-baby-raising woman.

3. Speaking of raising someone else's baby, in the beginning, before we saw Kate in the shower, Amanda nailed that Jack was at Kate's house, but how awesome was it that Jack stepped on one of Aaron's toys and it just happened to be the Millenium Falcon?? For those of you who are inexplicably not Star Wars fans, what I'm referring to is that Luke Skywalker was raised by his Uncle Owen after his father was "killed in battle". Raised by his uncle? Sound like someone else who got off the island and calls Kate "mommy?"

3a. At some point, my guess is before they leave the island, Jack finds out that Claire is his father's daughter. (Christian Shephard sure has spread his seed, hasn't he?) That's why Jack didn't want to be with Kate (and see Aaron) after the trial, which Kate conveniently alluded to last night with her "I'm so glad you changed your mind" comment. Snoozeville. Now go get me a beer so I can wash down these painkillers.

4. I almost crapped my pants when drunk Mel Gibson ran out of the jungle with the first aid kit. I like that guy, though, and the tension between the helicopter people and the rest of the boat people is good drama. Sawyer should have taken out that Keamy guy while he was hiding in the bushes.

5. The scene when Jack went to visit Hurley would have been the creepiest scene in the show, if it wasn't for the creepiness of Claire waking up and seeing Christian Shephard cuddling with Aaron in the jungle. Seriously, that gave me the willies. He looked like he was some sort of zombie or something, like he was about to eat the baby. I couldn't tell if he was holding the baby because he knew it was his grandson, or because he was hallucinating and thought it was a candied ham.

5a. And how about that scene with Hurley? "You're not supposed to raise him?" We're to assume that he's referring to Aaron. Either way, Hurley's not doing very well.

6. I love that Sawyer sleeps with a gun in his hand. And Sawyer chose to stay on the island! So, we know that it wasn't necessarily a case of the Oceanic 6 saving their own asses at everyone else's expense. What was it that Kate was doing for him, though? (I was hoping she'd say she was doing something for Ben. That would have been jarring, to say the least.) If he chose to stay on the island, what could he need her to do back in the real world? Maybe something regarding his daughter? I never really thought there was a daughter, I totally thought he was getting conned by that chick and the warden, in that episode where he was in prison last season, but maybe there really is a daughter.

7. Miles has turned out to be a pretty cool character - his "I see dead people" thing is not bad at all. I thought it was awesome how he heard Rousseau and Carl when they came upon that clearing in the jungle. He's slowly taking over from Daniel "this tie must be double-knotted, otherwise I'd have taken it off by now" Faraday as my favorite of the four helicopter people. Bringing up the rear, again, is Charlotte Staples Lewis, despite the fact that she speaks Korean and evidently has no control over her facial expressions. Seriously, what was she doing with her face when Jin walked away after their little discussion? I've never seen anyone make that expression before. If anybody has this episode on their DVR, go back and watch this part, and tell me if you can figure out what this is supposed to be.

8. Who is this Bernard dude? He's a dentist, right? I get that he would be helpful in a surgical procedure, but last week he's deciphering morse code, and last season he's a sharpshooter in the beach attack?? A dentist? Got to be some more to that.

Next week should be good stuff. Btw, check out that picture of the Lost character toys at the top. Hurley's accessory is a scale. Hilarious.

Let's Go Down to the Sunset Grill, We Can Watch the Working Girls Go By

(Don Henley, Sunset Grill)

You can't buy happiness like this. Actually, you can. It's on sale at Home Depot. Big BIG thanks to Andrea, Michelle and Justin for this big-ass grill they gave us for our wedding gift. I don't think Amanda quite knows what's in store. Our dinners have just been revolutionized. I am now one step closer to becoming Bobby Flay.

That's right. Ribeyes and grilled veggies, for the inauguration. Meet the new boss. And a flip-up beverage holder.