Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, RIP

She's with the real angels now.

I can remember watching Charlie's Angels when I was a kid. I hated Farrah Fawcett because she was so beautiful. More beautiful than anyone I had ever seen. My big sister looked like her. This was my only reason for hating Farrah Fawcett. But then something interesting happened that changed my opinion of the actress. She starred in a mind blowing movie about domestic abuse, the lack of help in society and the results of what happens when a woman is pushed to the limit. The Burning Bed made me realize that Farrah Fawcett was an amazing woman and really could act. Also, she didn't look like my big sister anymore. I learned to love them both eventually.



I am having a more difficult time accepting the news of Michael Jackson's death. While I didn't really like him, I really loved some of his earlier works up to and including Thriller. I recognize that he was an amazing talent; writer, singer, choreographer, director, etc. His list of accomplishments are long and well earned and he deserves to go out with the respect due to him.

His gifts to the world are endless and his fan base equally unending. His fans range in age from 1 to 99 and they all shout their support at the tops of their voices.


I truly hope that he has found the peace that he never seemed to achieve during his living years. I also hope that his family understand that we mourn along side them and offer our love, support and gratitude in these the most difficult of times.

I would like to think that Farrah's spirit stopped to collect MJ's and they proceeded to the Pearly Gates together. The Angel and the King of Pop, hand in hand strolling lightly up the Stairway to Heaven, neither feeling the pain or sorrows of their earthly shackles any longer. Yeah, that's how I'd like to remember them both.

I choose to remember the positive impacts they have had on our lives.

RIP

LOST the Re-Watch

I hadn't planned to begin re-watching my all time favorite series until mid July when I had returned from a planned trip to Alberta. My aunt and uncle are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and we've planned a little side trip to Vulcan and a stop in Calgary to visit a new friend I have met on the message boards. But the weather has been grey and cool, forcing me to remain inside and not floating in my pool.



So fasten your seat belts and put your trays in their upright position. We're about to have a bumpy landing.

This was the fourth time I've seen the Pilot episodes, and each time I found myself enraptured. If we didn't already know that there had been a plane crash, I would have wondered why a man in a suit was waking up in the middle of a bamboo forest.

The scene when Jack emerges from the forest onto the beach and it is silent with the sea lapping against the sand. It was such a serene scene that belied the tragedy that had, and was, unfolding. I still get chills as Jack turns and runs and the noise grows louder and louder until there is no mistaking the calamity.

Jack afforded himself a few seconds to gather his thoughts and then took off running. He ran from one catastrophe to another saving lives and preventing needless deaths. On after he was certain that everyone who immediately needed help had been taken care of did he find a quiet spot to tend to his own injury.

The visual shocks to the viewers just keep coming as we begin to meet the people we will come to know and Losties. Boone. Shannon. Claire. Charlie. Kate. Micheal. Walt. Locke. Sawyer. Sayid. Sun and Jin. Hurley. I know they are not in order of appearance and, in my defence, I didn't keep track of who showed up when. I claim laziness.

We all know the story, so I don't want to just do a rehash of the episode, but I'd like to point out a few things I noticed.

1. Vincent was really creepy. For a dog that had just survived a traumatic event and was separated even more from his people, he didn't seem in any hurry to find his boy. He seemed as if he had places to go and people to see. Things to do, if you will, before returning to his boy's side.

2. When Kate took the shoes from the dead body, I got the sense that she was doing what she had to do. This is important for later when we see what she did to warrant being chased around the world by the Marshall. She did not want to take the shoes and it's not like the dead body was going to be using them, right?

3. I'm not going to talk about Locke's weird orange smile. It still creeps me out and it was the scene that began my growing distrust of the character.

4. Sawyer is seriously suffering from a major inferiority complex and dislikes and distrusts authority figures. How ironic considering he becomes Head of Security for Dharmaville. A position steeped in authority. I didn't dislike him but I didn't like him either. I'm sensed his early scenes, shooting the polar bear, fighting with Sayid and butting heads with Jack, were forced and awkward. Almost as if he wanted to agree with them but just couldn't bring himself to do it on principal.

5. Jin was a real jerk to his beautiful wife and I loved the scene when he takes the sliced urchin and offers it to the other survivors. Sun glares at his back and undoes the button. It was our first hint that this was a woman who didn't like the man who was her husband. I wondered why she was married to him and tolerated him.

6. Hurley is just so affable. The exchange between Sayid and him was classic. It revealed to us the scope of Hurley's nature. His acceptance is personal and not based on outside influences. I think he also liked Sayid because Sawyer didn't, and Hurley was not feeling the love for our future LaFleur after the sweet nothings he had sent his way.

7. When I first saw this show I knew there was something off about Charlie but until I actually saw him with doing heroin I didn't guess. Watching again, I kicked myself for missing the obvious clues.

8. This is my last point. The trek to the cockpit and then the trek to send the SOS transmission was indicative of what was to come. As our survivors spend more time on the island they will venture further into the jungle. They will encounter beings that defy the bounds of their reality, meet Others who will terrorize them and, as time passes, they will come to think of the island as their home. Some will make it. Some will not. Some will get to go home. Some will not. But until that point I'm going to enjoy the ride.

I have a few questions and if anyone can answer them, please do so.

Why didn't any of the passengers know that the plane had changed course? Wouldn't they have felt the plane banking and turning? I don't fly very often, but I certainly feel it when the plane banks either left or right.

Why didn't anyone see Sawyer taking the gun and badge off the injured Marshall?

Did they take the bodies off the beach and put them back into the plane for safe keeping?

That giga spot light that Sawyer used to seriously tick off the boar, where did it come from?

Why didn't Gary Troupe have a red shirt on when he was sucked into the engine?

Happy Birthday...

to me! June 17th is my birthday and I want this cake. Since Charm City Cakes is on the left side of the continent, and I live in the right side (tee hee) I'll have to settle for the picture. I just know that's the only cake I'll be getting unless I bake one for myself.

Hmmm, I think I'll eat Locke first and save Jack for last.

I'd also like a new pair of dolphin earings. I lost one of mine last weekend while swimming in the pool at the hotel.

Something ironic. While I was swimming I stepped on something and had my daughter swim down to retrieve it. It was a beautiful gold hoop earing. I actually managed to find the owner. Unfortunately, no one has found my lost earing.

If anyone is swimming in the Delta Grand Okanogan swimming pools and finds a silver dolphin with a european hook, it's mine. Would you please turn it in to the front desk? It's not worth a lot of money, but it would mean the world to me if I could get it back.

I feel so naked without my dolphin earings.

Jeff Dunham is Jacob!

Well, not really, but this guy is the funniest comedian I have seen in ages. My daughter and I had the good fortune to catch his show last night in Kelowna. It was the first of our series of day trips to fill the summer holidays. Unfortunately, she's not quite finished school until June 25th, so she played hooky with me. Anyway, we had seats on the floor and an excellent view, yet we found our eyes glued to the giant screen above the stage. Talk about "Larger Than Life!" I had left my camera in the hotel because I didn't realize I could take photos during the performance. I'm really kicking myself.

Jeff's first puppet was, of course, Walter. I love this character and he reminds me of my own sometimes curmudgeonly father. They both seem to voice the same opinion of marriage, although I know they both really love their wives. Walter has an old man's opinion on everything, only with a twist that makes us all realize that we take life too seriously.

According to his puppet Peanut (my favorite of the puppets) he plays with dolls. Peanut, if you haven't met him, reminds me of a teenager with a skewed view on life. Sometimes my daughter tells me that Peanut reminds her of me. I'm not sure if it's a compliment, but I'm starving for compliments from her so I'm taking it as such. Often times, I think of my daughter when I hear a priceless pearl of wisdom from Jeff Dunham and Peanut. Maybe when I refer to my daughter as my clone isn't as far fetched as I thought.

The show wasn't exactly "family friendly" and contained some cursing and references to drugs and sex, but most of the kids attending were either old enough to shock Mom and Dad with their laughter, or too young to understand. By the way, I was surprised by just how many young people made up the audience. I only hope their parents have had the "what's appropriate and not appropriate in mixed company" chat that I had with my daughter.

Achmed is my daughter's and father's favorite puppet. He's a failed suicide bomber that believes he's suffering from a flesh wound. I am fascinated by his eye brows as they wiggle. I can't help it. His eyes dart back and forth and those brows wriggle up and down and I can't seem to stop myself from giggling. His signature "Silence, I keel you!" elicited many laughs. I had tears in my eyes as he described his first date with a girl on a camel.

Brian "Guitar Guy" Hener, opened the show (which started late) and had the sold out crowd at Prospera Place almost rolling in the aisles! I'm not sure if he writes his own stuff, but he was great. If the merchandise booth had taken credit cards I would have bought his CD (and one each of the talking Peanut and Achmed dolls). He's a guy who's been enjoying an overnight success that's taken thirty years to achieve. He'll tell you about his son who became a real rock star in just nine months. No, he's not bitter (I'm nodding my head here). He'll also tell you about his twelve year old daughter and her attitude, to which I truly can relate having my own twelve year old daughter, and his lovely understanding wife. She must be a saint.

The show ran an hour later than scheduled and we had the added treat of seeing Bubba J. As we walked out of Prospera Place our sides ached, our rear ends were numb from the seriously uncomfortable chairs and we couldn't stop giggling for the entire walk back to the hotel.

Thanks to my mother's generous donation of her Air Miles, my daughter and I stayed at the Delta Grand Okanogan Hotel. An apparent 4 1/2 star resort that is situated on the waterfront of Kelowna's Lake Okanogan, and conveniently across from Propsera Place, we thought it would be the best place for us.

Although it was a lovely hotel, everything was high end from the lush lobby area right down to the valet parking, I was somewhat disappointed. I must have had outrageously high expectations for a resort that charges $400 per night for a room, because I certainly didn't expect to be charged $12.00 a day to park my Jeep in their parkade! Nor was I expecting to have to pay $3.99 per hour for internet services!

I'm glad I took my own shampoo and body lotion because I wonder what they would have charged me for using those itty bitty bottles they had in the bathroom (which I packed and brought home anyway). In my opinion, the Delta Grand is far too fancy for me and not kid friendly. And the bathroom door was a pocket door that grated every time it was opened or closed.

There were two pools. One completely outdoors and the other half in half out. I enjoyed the pools, but my daughter found them boring. No water slide, which was not the icing on the cake for her. She certainly will not be recommending this Hotel anytime soon and neither will I. I learned that we are not resort people. Give me the Best Western or Holiday Inn Express any day.

Claire's Return!

Team Darlton have assured us that Emile deRavin will be back as Claire Littleton in season 6 and I've been thinking about how she will return. So, as I was crawling beneath the pool deck to remove the corner caps....well you just know where my mind went.

Here's a blazingly brilliant idea for you.

What if Claire is the new Jacob?

Now, don't start thinking that I've sniffed too much of the vinyl glue again, because I promise you I haven't been near it for days.

Think about this for a minute or two. That's all I ask of you.

Christian Shephard's ghost, or whatever you want to call it, lured Claire away from the people who would lead her to rescue. We've all been wondering why. What if Christian took Claire to a safe place (think temple) until it were time for her coronation as the new Jacob? If not Jacob, perhaps she has an important role in the up coming war.

Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking. Jacob never visited or touched her as far as we know, yet I can't help but find a tie in for the fact that there are two of Christian's children on the island. Not to mention Christian's essence (I'm not liking the whole ghost thing). The Shephard family has a connection to this island that we have yet to discern. Why, even Grandpa Ray seems to have a need to leave his rest home for something better. I have a feeling that they are as important to the island and the island appears to be to them.

Christian's children have been woven into Jacob's tapestry of the the island's future, both as individuals and perhaps as a family unit. Brother. Sister. Son. Nephew.

You didn't think I'd forget about sweet little Aaron, did you? I think his future will bring him back to the place of his birth. I'm just not certain when. I'd love to see the children of Lost reunited with their parents. Yes, I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Claire, Kate and Jack all need to be in Aaron's life just as much as he needs to be in theirs. Baby Ji Yeon needs her mommy and daddy, and Jin really needs to know the miracle that is his daughter.

I'd even like to see Waaaaaalt return and take his place in the family of survivors that has been created. And that is exactly what our beloved survivors have become, complete with their own style of dysfunction. I can almost see our Losties, arm in arm, strolling down the beach and belting it out at the tops of their voices on their way to the foot.....

We Are Family!

Ma brothers, sisters an' me!

Okay, okay, I changed the words a little bit. I'm claiming poetic license.

Did I mention that I'm a sucker for a happy ending?

Okay, I'm off to remove what's left of the old pool liner and re-rake and shape the sand at the bottom. Then I have to attend the Clone's concert. She's playing clarinet and I'm a typical proud mother. I also have to pick up the new liner, install it and start filling the pool before a wind comes along and ruins this one too. Oh, and attend a second, and final concert this evening.

Wow, looks like life is getting rather busy! But, I'm so attuned to Lost that I'll definitely be posting. I'm planning to re-watch all the episodes and post about my new thoughts and ideas. I have a feeling some of the things I see will have a new light.

About The Loophole

This entire loophole mystery has begun to consume me. I have tried to figure out exactly what the loophole was and why it would enable Anti-Jacob to kill what is obviously the yin to his yang. I really don't think Jacob is gone as in Dead is Dead. He isn't human and neither is his nemesis.

There is a great deal of speculation on various blogs, web sites and message boards about the loophole. Mostly they state that the loophole was Anti-Jacob finding a human body in which to kill Jacob. I admit that I was leaning the same way as that thought. But then, as I was crawling around on my hands and knees cleaning the floor of my pool (and we won't go into the pool saga right now) my mind, as it is want to do, wandered to Lost and its many twists and turns and finally the inevitable loophole.

The general consensus is that Anti-Jacob needed a human body that had recently died in order to take corporeal form. Only the corporeal form could kill Jacob. I can only imagine that it would be the same if Jacob wanted to kill his nemesis as well. I was thinking that the body needed to be recently dead because the "essence of the soul" may not have yet departed it's earthly host, thus Anti-Jacob would be able to take on the characteristic traits and memories of that person.

But as I patched the holes in the bottom of the pool I replayed the scenes featuring Fake Locke and Ben from the Incident in my mind. One thing that has been niggling at my brain is how Locke repeatedly stated events that occurred in the past. It was as if he were trying to convince Ben and Sun, the two people there who truly knew a great deal about the real John Locke, of whom he was. He also claimed that the island was telling him things, yet he had to have Richard show him where Jacob lived. Not to mention the fact that, throughout the episode, he was slowly bringing Ben's resentment toward Jacob to the point of eruption. To be honest, I was disappointed that Ben didn't explode like Krakatoa. But that's not important right now.

What is important is that, while I was inhaling fumes from the vinyl bond, I had an epiphany of sorts. Anti-Jacob didn't really need a human form in order to kill Jacob. He needed the leader of the Others to kill Jacob as only the true leader could. Now, before you order the psychiatric assessment for me, hear me out.

We now know that John Locke has been used and manipulated almost from the point of his birth. I suspect that even his premature birth was an event initiated by the forces at play. Someone has spent a great deal of time handing John one proverbial beat down after another, and yet his spirit has prevailed. A severely battered and beaten spirit, but there was just enough to keep him from hanging himself in a hotel in Sydney before the flight home.

And then, in the blink of an eye, it all changed. Oceanic 815 broke apart in mid air and crashed onto an island that should never have been there. When John regained consciousness, he realized his legs worked for the first time in years. I can't even imagine what went through his mind other than "Holy cow! I can walk! It's a miracle" The island had given him a gift almost as valuable as life itself and John Locke was willing to return the favour any way he could, even kill for it.

It must have been like giving candy to a young child, for Anti-Jacob as he played upon John's desire to be a leader and created the entire mythology of his fate. Every season we have watched John espouse his faith in the island as we watched the story of Lost unfold. He believed he was destined to be a great man and a great leader, and the island appeared to reinforce that belief.

Okay, if you've hung in there, I'm going to give you the icing on the cake I just baked. John was never destined to lead the Others. Yes, that's the icing. The prophecy of his leadership was created by Anti-Jacob during the time flashes, specifically the one when Richard was sent to remove the bullet from John's leg, to start the road to ruin for both John and Jacob.

Would you like the pretty gum paste flowers and fondant frills that decorate the cake now?

Sure you would, since you're probably thinking that I've gone and inhaled way too much of the vinyl bond glue stuff. Don't worry, I haven't. I hardly slept a wink last night thinking this through.

Flowers. Yes. I think that Jacob could only be killed by one of his own people, namely the leader. It's one of the rules that are totally unknown to us. Speculation on my part, but it makes sense to me. Since John Locke wasn't the true leader of the Others his corporeal being could not effectively kill Jacob. This is where the fondant fills come in, folks.

I realize that when I stated that Ben should never have been the leader of the Others, I was wrong. Yes, W R-O-N-G! I allowed my belief that Ben was evil to cloud my judgement. Ben really was supposed to be the leader of the Others until the new leader arrived. And I'm sure the new leader did arrive on Oceanic 815, but I'll talk about who I think the real new leader may be another time because I think this is important.

When Sayid shot young Ben and Kate took him to the Hostiles to be miraculously healed, he was reborn. The same skinny kid who suffered the resentment and misdirected anger of his abusive father. The same kid who wanted nothing more than to be loved and appreciated. But different. I think that from the moment he was healed he was subconsciously given his purpose on the island. As he grew and lived his double life until finally becoming entirely a Hostile, he worked toward one goal. He literally woke up and knew what he had to do. Jacob's been spinning his threads for a very long time and the tapestry he has been weaving tells the tale.

Anti-Jacob took over John's body as he had planned for many years to do. He took pains to ensure the one person who seemed to know him better than anyone else, did not suspect. He made sure to evoke memories of past conversations and events. He made sure to point out all of Ben's shortcomings and his tragic losses. He made sure to plant the seed of doubt in Ben's mind and watered it regularly to ensure that the anger grew. And when it was harvest time, Anti-Jacob gave it one last shot of fertilizer that resulted in a furious explosion as Ben thrust the knife into Jacob.

The loophole Anti-Jacob searched eons for was Ben. He just used John's deep seated need to be more important than he truly was as a vehicle of destruction. He drove Ben to the point of no return and presented him with the weapon with which to eliminate his counterpart.

So there you have it. Cut the cake, take it apart and enjoy nibbling. Let me know what you're thinking. I'm working on a few thoughts and ideas, but have had to take time to deal with other things. Like the previously mentioned pool.

It's been a battle this year to get it ready for summer and now I'm in need of a new liner, so I'm still in the middle of costing out that lovely unexpected bite in the financial bottom.