American Idol 2009

On a night that I go three for three in my bottom three predictions and get my bottom Idol prediction right, the judges go ahead and use their "coveted" save. Glad we got that garbage over with. From the very beginning I thought that the whole idea of saving someone was stupid. Well by the hair on his chinny chin chin Matt Giraud lives to see another week of competition. I think Simon summarized the entire feeling at the end of the show when he said that there were two bad pieces of news he had to relay, "Next week two people go home, and next week is disco week!" Oh Simon!

American Idol 2009 Top 7 Show Reaction

American Idol 4/14/2009
Reaction

This week's song category was "Idol at the Movies." The contestants had the opportunity to sing a song that had been used in some sort of Hollywood film. The celebrity guest that they had on last night was Quentin Tarantino, which made absolutely no sense to me? Sure it was cool and he is a big name in the movie industry, but what sort of insight could he have given the singers? It would have been a better idea if they had pulled in either someone like Howard Shore (famous movie score composer, Lord of The Rings) or someone who had sang a memorable song in a movie (Whitney Houston, Mandy Moore, etc.). I was also a little disappointed that the songs that the contestants chose to sing were mainly songs that were played in the background of the movie. Nobody sang a song from a musical like Grease or Hairspray. That would have been cool. Sidenote, I went to the Twins game last night (great game!) and forgot to record the show so I had to hurry and find the videos on YouTube last night before they started pulling them down due to copyright infringements. I did find them however they were not of the high quality variety so keep that in mind when reading my critiques.

Allison Iraheta - I Don't Want to Miss a Thing (Aerosmith) from Armageddon
Along with many of the other contestants, Allison was showing her age with the song choice of I don't Want to Miss a Thing. This was the biggest movie song from the 90s and for good reason. Allison's rendition and performance of the song was just OK. I am starting to get bored with Allison. Yeah her voice is good, yeah she's got some stage presence, but she is not engaging at all and all of her performances sound the exact same each week. She's got enough of a following and is good enough to keep going on into next week but she needs to spice things up a bit if she truly wants to be part of the top 5.

Anoop Desai - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You (Brian Adams) from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Just the fact that the song Anoop picked was from Robin Hood makes me want to vote for him! Based off of his performance he won't need my vote, but based on the way that Idol fans vote he probably will. For the second week in a row Anoop borught his A-game, this puts him right on schedule to completely suck it up next week. I hope, I hope, I hope that Anoop has realized that this is the type of song that he needs to sing if he truly wants to continue in this competition. Not that he deserves it but only because there are only 7 left, I think the Anoop will find himself in the bottom 3 this week.

Adam Lambert - Born To Be Wild (Steppenwolf) from Easy Rider
Adam was back to his punk rocker ways last night and it "sort of" worked for him. Singing Born To Be Wild he screamed, he high fived the fans, and pumped his fist with the bass beat. Adam is a showman, there's no denying that. As the competition gets tougher and the number of contestants dwindles, people begin comparing these amature singers now turned celebrity to music legends. Most recently I have stumbled upon a bunch of people comparing Adam to Freddie Mercury and Axl Rose. In my humble opinion I think it is a stretch to jump out and compare these singers to legends of music past. Adam is not ever going to compare to Freddie Mercury and does not have the swagger of one Axl Rose. He's fine this week and is well on his way to the top 5, but let's not get ridiculous.

Matt Giraud - Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman? (Brian Adams) from Don Juan DeMarco
Matt Giraud's performance was just OK this week. However, not like Allison, Matt cannot afford just an OK performance. With the grinder that he has put himself through by picking poor songs, he needs to come out and blow people away each and every week. I really like Matt's style and his voice but for some reason he has yet to develop much of a fan base. Unfortunately Matt will find himself in the bottom 3 this week and potentially could be sent packing.

Danny Gokey - Endless Love (Lionel Richie and Diana Ross) from Endless Love
If there is one thing that has remained constant throughout the entire season it is this. After every Danny Gokey performance one of the judges makes a comment that goes a little something like this, "I saw that you were singing this song and I was like, wow that's a big song, be careful." And every time they say this they follow it up by saying that he knocked it out of the park! At this point in the race anyone who doesn't have Danny Gokey in the final 2 is flat out beind obsurd! Danny's performance last night was great and he seems to be hitting his groove. People are frowning on Danny because they don't think that he will be a successful pop artist if he wins the competition, yet based off of the competition there is no way that he won't get a shot at it! I think that Danny could find his niche in contemporary Christian music and could even see him cracking the pop charts. Danny will be safe this week and should cruise into the Top 5.

Kris Allen - Falling Slowly (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) from Once
For the first time in as long as I can remember Kris struggled a little bit with this song. He was away from his guitar and it just seemed weird. This was disappointing for me because I felt like this could have been a GREAT song for Matt Giraud or Danny Gokey to perform. Kris has built up enough equity to be safe but for the first time in a while he may be sweating bullets regarding the bottom 3

Lil Rounds - The Rose Lover (Bette Midler) from The Rose
Lil brought it a little bit tonight. There were more glimpses of the potential that Lil Rounds holds tonight than there were in the last 4-5 weeks! As she sang the song all I could think about was Napolean Dynamite and the performance of the Happy Hands club. Back to the task at hand, Lil put a lot of soul into her rendition of this song and it worked out very nicely for her. Sadly the last few weeks may have already sealed Lil's fate. I think that she will surely find herself in the bottom 3 this week.


Overall Predictions: after the 04/14/2009 performance show
Last week I went 3 for 3 in my bottom 3 predictions but missed with Scott getting voted off.

1. Danny Gokey
2. Adam Lambert
3. Allison Iraheta
   
4. Kris Allen
   
5. Anoop Desai
6. Lil Rounds
   
7. Matt Giraud - his rollercoaster trip will end on a low note tonight. Matt's going home.
   

LOST - What is the Smoke Monster?

What is the Smoke Monster?




Here it is, the big grand daddy of all LOST theories. These are my ideas about the
Smoke Monster from my research on the internet.






From their first night on the island, the "Losties" have experienced some sort of monster amongst them and within the jungle. Everybody knows it exists, some have even seen it, but nobody, not even Benjamin Linus, knows what it is! There are certain things that we do know, there are certain things that we don't know, and as the show winds down its final two seasons, we continue to learn more and more about one of the biggest mysteries that the island holds. For the benefit of us all, I have done my fair share of research on the monster. I'll outline some of the things that we know about the monster, starting with some characteristics of the monster. I'll then move on to highlight some of the times that we've seen Smokey. This will include the different "forms" that we have seen Smokey take on during our time on the island. Finally I will end this post with my personal theory on what I think the scoop is with the island's smoke monster.

Characteristics Of The Monster
There are certain characteristics that make the smoke monster unique from all of the other smoke monsters that we come into contact with in our daily lives. The first time that the monster appeared to the Losties, we never saw it, only heard it as it was rummaging through the forest. The sounds the smoke monster makes sound very unique in this situation, but there are strange elements of these sounds that are familiar to us. There are four main sounds that the monster makes. There is whisping sound that the monster makes as it is traveling through the forest. This sound reminds me of the evening hours of the summer when you walk through the long grass and hear all the grasshoppers jumping and flying around. Then there is the cracking sound that almost sounds like lightning striking a tree. This is the sound that we hear while the smoke monster is seemingly scanning a victim’s memory. Along with this noise, we see flashes of light very similar to actual lightning. It's interesting to note that in episode 1.01, Pilot part 1, Rose commented that she recognized the sounds that the monster was making. The producers have confirmed that the actual sound they used for this effect was the sound from a taxi cab receipt printer in New York City. Maybe this can help shed some light on the origin of the monster. The third sound that the monster makes is the roaring. We've heard this sound from the monster a few times, mainly while the monster is in attack mode. We've heard this when the monster killed the pilot, Eko, and when it went after Keamy's men from the freighter. We also heard this sound when the smoke monster seemingly was hurt from the dynamite that Kate threw down the hole when the monster was trying to take Locke. This sound is similar to a Tyrannosaurus Rex's roar from Jurassic Park. It's a mixture between a lion's roar and an elephant's "honk". The final sound that we hear is the most mysterious one to date. This is the sound that the monster makes when it is "reeling" something in. Most of the time the smoke monster can travel at its own leisure, leaving the ground, separating into three parts, and basically just floating around the island. But when the monster grabs onto something, it is restricted to traveling along what seems to be a distinct path, mainly along the ground, and makes a noise that sounds like a chain being reeled back into the holes on some sort of track.

To date the smoke monster has taken a total of seven lives. Seth the pilot (episode 1.01, Pilot part 1), Mr. Eko (episode 3.05, The Cost of Living), Nikki and Paulo, (episode 3.14, Expose), Mayhew (episode 4.11, Cabin Fever), Nadine (episode 5.05, This Place is Death), and Montand (episode 5.05, This Place is Death). Also noteworthy, the monster attempted to pull John Locke down the hole and was only stopped when Kate threw a stick of dynamite down the tunnel. I wouldn't say that the monster is necessarily a violent thing, yet it seems to have the island's best interests in mind and will do whatever it takes to protect it.

The only person on the island who seems to have known what the smoke monster actually is was Danielle Rousseau. Danielle simply referred to is as a security system for the island. Unfortunately, Danielle was killed last season by Keamy and his men so we are forced to postulate our ideas from tiny pieces of the puzzle. There are a few other things that we know about the characteristics of the smoke monster. Apparently the smoke monster can be "summoned" by Ben Linus through the secret door in Ben's Dharma home. To date we have seen this happen twice, one time successful the other time not so much. There is some sort of physical matter to it which allows it to grab on to things and hold them captive. It also has the ability to separate into multiple streams of smoke as we saw when Juliet and Kate were handcuffed to each other (episode 3.15, Left Behind). The monster seems to have the ability to judge its victims and scan their minds or memories. We've seen this happen three times so far on the island. The first time we saw this happen was when Locke was tromping through the jungle and saw the smoke monster (episode 1.04, Walkabout). Viewers weren’t able to catch a glimpse of the monster, but we knew that Locke was having a face to face encounter with it. Next time we saw this occurrence was in season two when the monster approached Eko and we saw flashes in the smoke from Eko's past (episode 2.10, The 23rd Psalm). Up until recently, this was our best look into what the smoke monster was doing. It appeared as if it was downloading memories from Eko's mind. More recently, we saw the monster do this memory scan to Ben Linus when he went to the temple with John Locke to be judged for his transgressions (episode 5.12, Dead is Dead). We got a "hi-def" view into the memory scan as Ben was engulfed by the smoke and memories of his daughter, Alex, were replaying amidst the smoke. We then see Ben's daughter, Alex, alive and well. But was this really the same Alex that Ben raised from infancy???

Manifestations of the Smoke Monster
There's something strange that happens to the people who have come into direct contact with the smoke monster. Jack, Kate, Charlie, Locke, Eko, Juliet and Hurley all experienced some sort of hallucination after coming in contact with the monster. Jack saw his father, Kate her old black horse, Charlie had hallucinations having to do with Aaron inside the piano, Locke saw Walt standing over the mass grave as he was about to commit suicide, Eko saw Yemi and the altar boys, Juliet has seen Harper, and Hurley sees the deceased Charlie and has an encounter with the infamous "Hurley Bird". There has to be something to these people’s suffering from hallucinations after encountering the monster. When Ben was being judged by the smoke monster (episode 5.12, Dead is Dead), he immediately encountered his own "hallucination", but in this instance, he knew it to be very real. He encountered Alex, who instructed him to follow John Locke, but this wasn't really Alex. In fact, this was a mere manifestation of the smoke monster as Ben's daughter Alex.

Through a multitude of podcasts, press releases and the producer’s manuscripts from expos such as Comic Con, we were able to confirm that the smoke monster has the ability to take on the different forms of animals and people, both living and deceased. Thus far in the series, we have seen the monster take on the following forms:

• Walt to Shannon - episode 2.01, Man of Science, Man of Faith
• Kate's Black Horse - episode 2.09, What Kate Did
• Yemi - episode 2.21, ?
• Ana Lucia in Eko's dream - episode 2.21, ?
• Emeka and the Altar boy - episode 3.05, The Cost of Living
• Yemi Eko's Brother - episode 3.05, The Cost of Living
• The venomous spiders - episode 3.14, Expose
• Walt to John Lock - episode 3.22, Through the Looking Glass
• Charlie to Hurley - episode 4.01, The Beginning of the End
• Libby to Michael on the freighter - episode 4.08, Meet Kevin Johnson
• Ana Lucia to Hurley - episode 5.02, The Lie

The bolded items above have been confirmed in one way or another by the producers of the show, while the un-bolded items have not been confirmed, but hold many of the same characteristics of previous encounters with smokey. One of the theories with these hallucinations has to do with the memory scanning that we touched on earlier. It is thought that potentially the smoke monster holds ability to scan a victim’s memory during their first encounter. Then the monster tests his or her character by manifesting itself as a person or animal from the individual’s past and putting the victim in a sticky situation to see how he or she will respond. I will go into this idea a little more later on.

Blast Door Map
In episode 2.17, Lockdown, we saw John Locke get trapped underneath the blast door in the hatch. While trapped, a black light turned on and revealed a map that had been painted on the inside of the blast door. Since then, this map has been referred to as the "blast door map". We've since learned more about the blast door map. We learned that Stuart Radzinsky was the illustrator behind the creation of the map. Radzinsky was a member of the Dharma initiative and seemed to be very involved with the architecture of the Dharma stations. Radzinsky basically exposed all he knew about the happenings on the island and about the Dharma stations on the blast door map. There are also some interesting markings on Radzinky's map that appear to be in-concurrent with the Dharma Initiative. There are a few phrases on the map that mention something called "Cerberus". There are also four spots listed on the map marked as "CV I" through "CV IV". We have been told by the producers that CV stands for "Cerberus vents". These Cerberus vents are located in the same spots as 2 of the smoke monster holes, which we have already seen. Most likely making the holes in the ground that we have seen, the monster pulled Locke and Montand actually into the Cerberus vents. Knowing these things, LOST fans have pieced together the idea that Cerberus = the smoke monster. Even the producers and some of the actors have begun to refer to the smoke monster as Cerberus. Looking a little deeper into the idea of Cerberus, you can find that in Greek and Egyptian mythology Cerberus was the three headed dog-beast that guarded the gates of Hades. The dog was set there to prevent people from escaping. We have also seen other elements pointing toward who may have been the early inhabitants of the island.

Hieroglyphs
Throughout the show so far, we have seen a heavy ancient Egyptian influence within the suspected origins of the island. We have seen the back of what appeared to be an ancient Egyptian statue, we've seen images of an Egyptian Ankh, and we've seen hieroglyphs multiple times scattered around the island. Some of these hieroglyphs have translations that may have something to do with the ancient Egyptian Gods. On the temple wall, the Ajira Airways boarding pass and the donkey wheel, we have seen glyphs depicting the Egyptian god of the sky, Horus. Also in episode 5.12, Dead is Dead, we see glyphs on the wall which seem to be a depiction of Anubis bowing down to Cerberus (smokey). Anubis is also another Egyptian god, the god of the afterlife and underworld. Relating to the smoke monster, our first glimpse of hieroglyphics has proven to be the most interesting. The first time we saw any hieroglyphics was in the Dharma station known as The Swan, more commonly known as "the hatch". In episode 2.23, Live Together, Die Alone, we got a clear view of these hieroglyphics during the failure sequence in the hatch. At Comic Con 2006 producer Damon Lindelof translated these glyphs to mean "underworld". With this translation and the Dharma Initiatives dubbed name of Cerberus, there may be a little more to the guardian of the underworld theory.

Popular Theories
Originally, the most popular theory regarding the origins of the smoke monster was that it was a million tiny nano-bots that were being controlled by somebody on the island. With the popularity of this theory quickly growing, the producers came out and squashed this idea in one of their podcasts. In 2007 the producers of the show, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, opened a question directed toward LOST fans, asking them what they thought the monster was. After receiving over 8000 responses, they chose this to be the best answer:

"I think the Monster was originally a highly advanced security system designed to separate participants in the experimental DHARMA hatches. I think it was an effect that was designed to frighten people (smoke, noise) if they strayed too far from their experiment location. (A bit Wizard of Oz like) However, the electromagnetic force has mutated it - in the same sense as Desmond experienced time travel and can now see the future after exposure - and made it malevolent and able to physically grab things in its force (Eko, the Pilot, Locke). So in theory it may be able to be deactivated, if they can find the control room for it (which would be another hatch somewhere yet undetected)."

They responded to this theory by saying,

"We were amazed at the imagination and prodigious creativity applied to answering the question, what is the Monster? We have chosen our favorite answer. Not that's it’s the right answer. Sorry, but we can't really give away the ultimate secrets of the Monster quite yet. The answer we selected might be somewhat right, totally right -- or completely off-base. But we liked it and found it very cool and intriguing. Thanks to everyone who took the time to write in. We loved reading your thoughts -- and thanks for watching! -Carlton and Damon "

My Theory
Well, with all this information compiled and laid out for you to observe, I would like to share with you what my personal theory is for the origins of the smoke monster. Starting with the main points, I think that Cerberus is controlled by someone, but not necessarily completely and wholly controlled. I think that somebody has directed what it was/is to do and the monster does that by using whatever means may be necessary. I think that way long ago, Jacob and Richard Alpert were buddies who crashed on our island while sailing on the "Black Rock". While on the island, they started discovering certain properties that were only present on this particular island (electromagnetism etc). Somewhere along the line, Jacob learned too much about the island and something happened, trapping him in some type of spiritual form and also causing Richard Alpert to cease from aging. While being everlasting may be nice and all, Richard has been trying to save his buddy Jacob for hundreds of years. Richard and Jacob know how to save themselves, but they do not know entirely who can save them. This is why they have been searching for a leader throughout the years (Widmore, Linus, now John Locke). While they have been waiting to find the "chosen one", people would come to the island in search of things that are not necessarily in the island's or Jacob's best interests (Dharma, Widmore's Freighter, etc.). This is where Ol’ Cerberus comes into the picture.

Being stuck in his spirit-like state, Jacob and Cerberus have become great pals and Cerberus was asked or directed by Jacob to protect the island while they look for the "chosen one" who will be able to free them and thus save the island. To do this, Cerberus judges people's intentions and tests them. Lurking through the forest, the monster is watching the Losties and anyone else who manages to find their way to the island. It observes them and tries to figure out their intentions on being on the island. If it deems them a threat to the survival of the island, it attacks them (like it did with Keamy and his men). If it sees you as a friend of the island it, "tests" you. As we talked about earlier it has the ability to scan your memory and manifest itself as other beings. These hallucinations by the Losties, or manifestations of smokey, are a final test put on by Cerberus to judge the person's character. If it finds that the individual fails the test, it kills him or her, much like it tested and killed Mr. Eko (episode 3.05, The Cost of Living). If you pass the test, it tries to "convert" you. I think we saw an attempt by the monster to convert John Locke in episode 1.24, Exodus Part 2. Prior to this episode, we saw John Locke come face to face with the monster and Locke then claimed that he had "seen into the eye of the island" and what he had seen "was beautiful". I think that this was the point at which the monster scanned Locke's memories and judged him. Later during that season, the monster grabs Locke and drags him to one of the Cerberus vents. It would have pulled Locke down the vent, had Jack and Kate not fought it off by chucking a stick of dynamite down the vent. If you remember, after Locke was saved he said something along the lines of, "I don't think that it wanted to hurt me." My theory on this is that by pulling people into the vent and subsequently to it's home, under the temple, it converts people into pod people whose only desire is to protect the island and do whatever it takes in doing so. These people are also known as the "Others". The monster seemingly converted Ben into a heartless pod-person in episode 5.11, Whatever Happened, Happened, and it also converted the male portion of Rousseau's scientific team in episode 5.05, This Place is Death. Remember, Rousseau claimed that when they came out of the temple they were different and that they were "sick".

I know a lot of you are confused right now with what I am saying, so I will summarize my theory right here for you...Cerberus (the smoke monster) is not "controlled" by Jacob, but they are on the same team. The monster is indeed a security system that is trying to protect the island's special abilities and ultimately protect the hope that Jacob and Richard Alpert have of being saved. Cerberus kills those who pose as a threat to the future of the island and pulls those who have certain positive characteristics down the Cerberus Vents, where it converts them to pod-people whose only purpose is to protect the island. They are then willing to do anything to protect the island, as they are now part of Cerberus' "army" which protects the island, they are also known as "the others".

I know that there are some holes in this theory, just take it for what it's worth. Hopefully, as the season begins to wind down and next season when the series comes to an end, we will have more of our questions answered. I encourage you, please hit the comment button below and let me know what you think of all this mess! What doesn't make sense? What do you agree with? What might you disagree with? Please let me know...

This is a compilation of research that I have found on various websites put together to formulate my original theory for the monster. To make your own theories visit lostpedia.com, darkufo.blogspot.com and other LOST themed websites!

American Idol Top 8 Show Reaction

American Idol 4/07/2009
Reaction

This week's song's were a choice of any song from the year that the contestant was born. When I heard this I thought to myself, "OK, this is going to be awesome!" You've got every contestant aside from Allison falling in the 80s and 80s music rocks. Then the show started and overall again I was very disappointed with the song selection. There has to be something that the public does not know about the songs the artists can pick from. I am going to do a little research and throw out what song I think the artist should have sang based on their birth date.

Danny Gokey - Stand by Me by Mickey Gilley
Danny was one of the exceptions to my comments above. I wasn't crazy about the arrangement that Danny performed but he is so good that he made it really enjoyable. Danny continues to top the competition each week and has yet to pick a song that is really bad for him. This is a huge key as certain contestants have been voted off due to their poor song choice. Danny will easily make it to the next level and has nothing to worry about this week. Again I am not disappointed with Danny's song choice here but if I were advising him I would have suggested that Danny sing Shining Star by The Manhattans.

Kris Allen - All She Wants to Do Is Dance by Don Henley
To date Kris has been the most consistent performer, however last night he made his first mistake of choosing a song that was out of his wheel house. It was a risk that he thought was necessary to take and it wasn't awful, but did not pay off. This song reminded me of a cover band's performance on ladies night at the club. One thing that I really like about Kris is that even when the judges rip into him he takes it for what it is. You won't hear him rattling off excuses about why he did what he did and when people are criticizing you that's tough to swallow. I would think that Kris has the potential of being in the bottom three this week, but judging off of the screams that Kris received after the performance and during the judging he will probably be safe. Chris was born in 1985 and I think that he would have been able to come up with a really cool version of either Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go or Can't Fight This Feeling.

Lil Rounds - What's Love Got to Do With It by Tina Turner
As of last night, I have officially given up hope on Lil Rounds. When she first came on to the scene in Memphis I had the highest of hopes for her in this competition. She has suffered from some poor song choices the last few weeks and seemingly made a good choice this week with Tina Turner, but it still wasn't happening. I've come to the conclusion that she just is not the singer I thought she was. I'm not sure if she is cracking under the pressure or what, but since the top 13 she has not wowed anybody. That last note that she hit to end the song last night seriously hurt my ears. I am predicting that we see Lil sitting on the stools of shame this week and she has a good chance of heading back to Memphis after tonight. Looking at the list of top songs from 1984, Lil picked the right song, just couldn't bring it.

Anoop Desai - True Colors by Cyndi Lauper
Anoop's inconsistency continued this week as he had an above average performance, however any performance compared to his Usher last week would be considered above average. This song was soft and smooth, perfect for Anoop's voice. The judges all applauded Anoop and Simon had a wonderful analogy calling Anoop a "singing yo yo, one week your up and the next week your down." Anoop seems like a good guy but I'm not sure that Anoop's following is strong enough to keep him out of the bottom 3. Anoop was born in 1986 and in looking at the list of top songs in 1986 I think Anoop did well picking this song. Most of the others are upbeat or power ballads, and as we've seen those are the types of songs that Anoop struggles with.

Scott MacIntyre - The Search is Over by Survivor
It was really fun to learn a little bit about Scott's childhood. It really gave you a glimpse into what it would be like to live with a musical genius. On stage, Scott was the one to whip of the guitar this week. Scott handled the verses of the song very well, but the as most power ballads roll the chorus got a little too intense for Scott's voice. As the judges stated when Scott attempted to hit some of the high notes it sounded like a poor attempt at Adam's screech. 90% of the song was really good, but towards the end it tailed off. When I listened to it for a second time I actually thought it was a lot better than I originally thought. Unfortunately, solely based on the level of his competition, Scott will find himself being awkwardly escorted across the stage by Seacrest to the bottom three. Scott's personality and overall likability will keep him around one more week though. I think that Scott could have put together an amazing piano rendition of Careless Whisper by Wham.

Allison Iraheta - I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt
This song choice really surprised me coming from a little spunky Allison, but she handled it very well. I think that the judges hit the nail on the head in their post performance critique of Allison. They all agreed that her personality was lacking. In my mind this lack of personality has come off on the stage as arrogance. This is something that I think Allison will be able to fix fairly easily but if she can't figure it out soon it could cost her a chance at the competition. The youngest person in the competition, Allison was born in 1992. I'm not sure how she would have handled it, but I think it would have been really cool to see Allison tackle Mariah Carey's I'll Be There.

Matt Giraud - Part-time Lover by Stevie Wonder
Oh man, how funny was it to see the video of Matt when he was in the angel play at church! Matt could also be called "the singing yo yo" because he had a great week this week. He brought the style back to the bluesy Giraud Squad style. Matt is in the middle of an identity crisis and thinks that it is more valuable for him to be multi faceted. But when you are so good at one genre, as Matt is with the bluesy jazz, you need to stick with it. Matt has found himself in the bottom three a couple times to date and if he would prefer to avoid that he NEEDS to stick within his genre and continue to impress. His performance did bring on Paula's stupid comment of the night, "Two words...Standing O!" Oh Paula. I liked Matt's song tonight but I feel like he could have been the one contestant that could have tackled Take On Me by A-Ha. That would have been very impressive.

Adam Lambert - Mad World by Tears for Fears
Adam tapped right into his fan base this week by picking this song, more famously known for being the theme song for Donnie Darko. My DVR cut out so I did not get to see Adam's performance but found it elsewhere online. I was not as impressed with Adam this week as I have been in weeks past. As he was singing the only thing that I could think of was that creepy old man from Family Guy, you know "Hey there muscly arms..." that guy! That's what he sounded like. Adam will inevitably be safer than safe this week but it was not his best performance to date. I'm not sure why Simon gave him the standing o that he did? I think that Adam could have done a cool rendition of Abracadabra by the Steve Miller Band.

Overall Predictions: after the 04/07/2009 performance show

1. Danny Gokey
2. Adam Lambert
3. Allison Iraheta
4. Kris Allen
5. Matt Giraud
6. Anoop Desai
7. Scott MacIntyre
   
8. Lil Rounds - should go home this week, she has officially worn out her welcome
   

LOST Theories - "The Island's" Agenda

LOST Theories - "The Island's" Agenda


It's been a while since my last theory post on here so I'll do my best to make up for the absence this week. I am formulating a theory on what the deal is with Smokey. Should have that ready sometime this week.






"The Island's" Agenda
As I mentioned in my What Happened, Happened - Recap post that it seems as if things on the island are running by the "Island's agenda." Here is what I mean by that. Because Farrady went rogue on the world and Hurley and Miles didn't help us much, we are still pretty confused as to what can and cannot happen with all this time travel stuff. The title What Happened, Happened should have seemingly shed some light on this issue. I think a lot of us went into the episode assuming that Farraday's statement, whatever happened happened, meant that if one of our characters were to die in 1977 they would cease to exist in the future (like Charlotte did), but I think that we read into that incorrectly. I think that whatever happend was referring to whatever has already happened on the show or whatever happened in the year 2004 (prior to time traveling) has to happen.

Hopefully you are still with me here. Let's think of the things that have already happened on the island in 2004 (Oceanic flight 815 crashing, Locke finding the hatch, Ben being leader of "The Others," etc), let's refer to those as CONCRETE TRUTHS, or things that HAVE to happen. Ok so after all of the time travel escapades Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, and Jin ended up stuck in 1977. Ultimately this messed up the timeline that our CONCRETE TRUTHS set into motion. Now since these were CONCRETE TRUTHS, "the island" has to do whatever it took to get this timeline back in order by the time that 2004 came around. This could be an explanation as to why Hurley, Jack, Kate, and Sayid were sent back to 1977 while Sun, Frank, Locke, and Ben were sent back to 2007 (present time).

There were four of the Oceanic 6 that were sent back to 1977 (Hurley, Jack, Kate, and Sayid). These four were specifically picked by "the island"to go back while the other four former Losties were not. "The island" picked these four because they all served a purpose, a purpose that would help the timeline get back in tact. Quick recap, Sawyer and his gang messed up the timeline by getting stuck in '77 and Jack and his gang are setting in motion to get things back in order. As mentioned above each of these four have their own purpose for coming back, it's not necesarrily their purpose but a purpose set in motion by "the island." Here are my ideas for what these purposes may be.

Sayid's Purpose
In He's Our You, Sayid told Sawyer that "he knew why he was back." He thought that his purpose was to kill young Ben Linus because old Ben Linus basically ruined his life. "The island's" actual purpose was to get Ben Linus delivered to the others and turn him into the heartless jerk that he is today. We just saw Ben delivered to "the Others" and taken into the "Temple." To heal young Ben I think that Richard is going to take him to Smokey and Smokey will turn him into a heartless "pod" that does all the islands beckoning. Sayid's purpose was to get young Ben turned into the Ben that we saw in 2004.




Kate's Purpose
Kate reasoning for returning to the island was to find Claire. But she did not desire to go back to 1977. I think that Kate's purpose has something to do with the island's women inhabitants losing the ability to bear children. Remember we saw baby Ethan born in 1977 so the women are still able to have babies at this point. Since Kate's recent story has had so much to do with her love for children and her goal is to find Claire, I think that we will see her purpose having something to do with the women's loss of the ability to have children on the island.




Hurley's Purpose
We don't yet know why Hurley showed up on Ajira 316 and what made him decide to return to the island. But we did see him carrying a guitar case on the plane and clinging to it in the lagoon. I think that "the island's" purpose for bringing Hurley back to 1977 has something to do with the contents of the guitar case. There is something in there that is probably not just a guitar that will set something in motion to fix the timeline. We haven't really been given anything to hypothesize his purpose by on a long shot I think that Hurley will have something to do with either the construction or purpose of the Looking Glass, the underwater Dharma station where Charlie died.





Jack's Purpose
Jack's purpose for returning to 1977 is the toughest one yet. We have really been given any clues as to why he came back. The only thing we know is that he is no longer a man of science and is now a man of faith. Hopefully in the next few episodes we figure out why Jack returned.





In conclusion, Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid were brought back to 1977 according to "the island's" agenda in order to restore the CONCRETE TRUTHS and the timeline that we have already seen throughout the course of the show. I hope that I haven't confused you too much! Please let me know what you think about this theory.

Please, if you are interested I encourage you to participate and share your thoughts. I would love to get some feedback and hear what each of you took from the day's topic. Just click the comment button at the end of each blog and let me know what you think!

LOST 011 | Whatever Happened, Happened - Recap

LOST 011 | Whatever Happened, Happened - Recap



After a disappointing episodes last week LOST came back strong this week and seems to be setting things up for next weeks episode which looks AWESOME!





Off The Island
The show actually begins on the island but we will save that more interesting piece for the end. We finally find out what Kate did with Aaron and why she did so in this episode. We also find out what Sawyer whispered to Kate before he jumped from the chopper in the end of season 4. It was something along the lines of "take care of my kid." Not sure exactly how it happens but Kate is able to hunt down Cassidy (Sawyers baby mama) and we finally see Sawyer's daughter Clementine (pictured to the left). Kate sits down with Cassidy and sort of lets the cat out of the bag regarding the Oceanic 6 lying about what happened on the island. This was sort of weird since it was such a big secret but we're led to believe that Kate spilled the beans to let Cassidy know that Sawyer was actually still alive. Somewhere along the line Kate and Cassidy become BFFs and Cassidy finds out that Aaron is not really Kate's son. She tells Kate that she is holding on to Aaron for her own selfish reasons and needs to give him back.
Kate and Cassidy part and we next see Kate and Aaron in the grocery store because Aaron is thirsty. The are walking around the store looking for juice boxes when Kate stopped to ask the stock boy where the juice boxes were. When she turns around Aaron is gone...Kate freaks out and runs around the store yelling and looking for "her son." When she finally finds him, he is walking towards the exit with a women who looks eerily similar to Claire (see screen cap on left). Kate's heart drops as she sprints towards them grabbing Aaron's hand. Turns out the women was helping Aaron find his "mommy" and just so happened to look like Claire. But this really got to Kate. She decides that she is going to give Aaron to his grandmother Claire's mother who we last saw in LA when she was suing Oceanic Airlines. Well apparently she is still in LA and still living in a hotel which is kind of weird, but we'll run with it. Kate fesses up and tells her that Aaron is really Claire's son, Grandma is confused but ecstatic and then Kate spills the beans again and tells Claire's mom that Claire is still alive and Kate is going to go back to the island to find her (remember this). This is pretty much the end of the off island story.

On The Island
Back on the island we picked up where we left off last week with little Ben being shot by Sayid. However this time the situation is a little different this time around. When we saw Ben get shot last week by Sayid, the gunshot wound was on the left side of Ben's chest seemingly right through his heart. This time, as you can see in the screen cap to the left, the wound is clearly on the right side of his chest and apparently less lethal. This brings up a new theory that some people are running with. It is thought that there the island may be playing mind tricks on the Losties. In Sayid's mind he shot Ben through the heart and killed him, but that wasn't why the island brought him back. Through Sayid's perception of reality he shot Ben right through the heart and killed him, but in actuality he did not. He just thought he did. The theory behind this is that the island is playing mind tricks on Sayid so that the "island's agenda" can come to fruition (more on the "island's agenda" in future post).
Back to the story, Jin comes to and quickly gets young Ben back to Dharmaville where Juliet immediate begins an attempt to save his life. The actual doctor is out of town and young Ben needs surgery to stop the bleeding. Juliet sends Sawyer off to get Jack so that he can help stop the bleeding. As Sawyer is running off to get Jack the scene cuts to a Dharma house where Kate, Hurley, and Jack are being held by Miles under house arrest. We see a hilarious scene between Hurley and Miles regarding the laws and rules behind the time travel. Hurley is staring at his hand (left) making sure that he doesn't start to disappear like Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future. Miles calls him a doofus and the two begins bantering back and forth about what can and can't happen under the laws of time travel (they were basically reflecting all the confusion that we fans are experiencing as well!). Hurley ends up putting Miles in a box and the conversation ends with nobody shedding any more light than we already had on the properties of time travel. Sawyer arrives and asks Jack to come and help Juliet but Jack refuses and says that he already saved Ben once and he's not going to do it again. Jack goes on to get reamed by Kate and Juliet and now both of his previous love interests don't want anything to do with him.
Kate and Juliet realize that without Jack's help there is nothing they can do to save little Ben. They decide that the only option they have is to take Ben to "The Others" and see if they can save him. Sawyer eventually catches up to Kate and to every one's surprise ends up helping her deliver Ben to "The Others." They get busted by some of Richard Alpert's stooges and the deliver to two and dying boy to Alpert. Richard all of the sudden comes out of the woods which caught Sawyer by surprise (makes me think there is something mysterious about Richard and how he knew exactly where to find them). Sawyer and Kate explain the situation and Richard agrees to take the boy, but gives them this disclaimer. "If I take him, he'll never be the same again...he'll forget this ever happened and that his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us." Confused, Sawyer and Kate look at each other and realize that this is their only option. They hand Ben over to Richard and one of Richard's lackeys steps up and reminds him that he shouldn't do this without checking with Elly and Charles (Hawking and Widmore). Richard blows him off and says "I don't answer to them" and walks off with the boy into the jungle. Next we see him he comes into a clearing in the jungle and we see the "Temple", but this time it is fully in tact and in one piece (screen cap on left). Richard hesitates and then walks into the "Temple." At this point the scene cuts to 2007 Ben who awakes from his unconscious slumber to find John Locke staring him down. John looks at him and says, "Hello Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living." The End...

Next Week's Preview

America Idol Top Nine Show Reaction

American Idol 3/25/2009
Reaction

This week's song choices were left up to the contestants to pick any song that they wanted as long as it could be a top seller on the digital charts. This left the doors wide open for each contestant to pick a song that would really highlight their strengths. Unfortunately there were only a few of them that used this choice to their advantage, while the others miserably failed the test.

Anoop Desai - Caught Up by Usher
After two consecutive solid weeks Anoop took a step back this week. The judges compared him to a frat boy who was trying to be a pop star and that about sums it up. Anoop's voice range was not on par with Usher's and his dance moves are completely non-existent. He needs to stretch out a little more and take a few risks if he wants to stay in this competition.

Megan Joy - Turn Your Lights Down Low by Bob Marley
The past two weeks I have held out hope that Megan has a lot of potential. Her voice tends to sound like Adelle and Duffy yet she continues to have a poor song selection. Kara even called her out on this and suggested Adelle. However I am starting to lose hope and beginning to think that she just is not that good. She may have a chance to stick around another week but her time is running out quickly.

Danny Gokey - What Hurts the Most by Rascal Flatts
What a good song choice for Danny! This song really builds itself up as the song goes on and it really works to Danny's advantage! Simon said that it was his best performance thus far. I personally think that I have seen glimpses of a better Danny, but this was a great performance. Danny has raised his value a little bit after this week and will have no reason to fret tomorrow night.

Allison Iraheta - Don't Speak by No Doubt
We got to see Allison rock a guitar for the first time this week. It was pretty interesting too since I feel like it was more of a prop and as the song went on she stopped "playing" it and just wore the guitar like it was an accessory. I'm going to have to disagree with most of the judges critiques of her. I think that this was a great song choice for Allison and that she performed it very well. After a few weeks of sub par singing Allison picked it up this week and should be safe.

Scott MacIntyre - Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel
Scott looked like he had been rehearsing this week with Danny Zucko and the rest of the T'Birds! I like the new look Scotty ;) This was a really good song for Scott. Being a singer/songwriter and piano player Scott must have loved the opportunity to sing some Billy Joel. Scott didn't have an overpowering voice at all but that's not Scott. He totally stripped the performance down and got rave reviews from the judges. Because of his past performances Scott may find himself in the bottom 3 but should stick around for next week.

Matt Giraud - You Found Me by The Fray
Matt Giraud was also rocking a new look this week. He lost the wavy hair and spruced it up a bit. I wish that his song would have been as fresh as his new hair style. I really like what Matt did with the chorus, slowing it down a bit, but the rest of the arrangement was not well done. It almost seemed like someone along the line thought that Matt hadn't changed the arrangement enough yet so they forced in some variations throughout the 1st verse and "bridge" if you will. For whatever reason the fans have not latched on to Matt the way that they have adopted Danny Gokey or Adam Lambert. Matt NEEDS to stick with the more bluesy songs that really bring out the best in Matt. He very well may legitimately find himself in the bottom three this week.

Lil Rounds - I Surrender by Celine Dion
Week after week Lil continues to lose points in my book. Again it was the song choice issue, she keeps picking poor songs. She sang well tonight but during the past few weeks when people like Danny Gokey, Matt Giraud, and Adam Lambert find their fan clubs growing, Lil continues to see her fan club dwindle. I'm really having a tough time deciding what will happen to Lil this week but I think that she will narrowly escape the bottom three.

Adam Lambert - Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry
I'm confused with Adam's choice of song here? I was under the assumption that the songs had to be from the digital charts today? Oh well, Adam threw it back to 1976 with his song tonight but kept his more preppy style from last week. But jeez this dude has some pipes! His rendition of the song was not my favorite but that doesn't mean that it wasn't good, it was really good. He even found a spot to bring the scream back! He also brought the screams of all the emo-girls back this week too (you could really hear them in the crowd). Paula made a comment regarding Adam that just drives me nuts. She said, "that there are artists that have longevity in this business because of their unique and riveting performance." She then went on to list a few, "Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, and Adam Lambert." The part of this that bugs me is that those are the two people that everyone says Adam sounds like. For them to be the only other two people that have riveting longevity is obviously correlated to Adam's sound. People like Madonna and U2 also have staying power but she neglected to mention them...weird?

Kris Allen - Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers
Kris Dumped the guitar and whipped out the piano this week and was very impressive. His rendition of Ain't No Sunshine was very well done and he performed it almost flawlessly. Kris' stock continues to rise in this competition and he consistently rocks the stage. No joke he has become the new Dark Horse in this competition. Week in and week out he does great yet his humble personality allows him to quietly squeak into the next round. He will be fine this week.

Overall Predictions: after the 3/31/2009 performance show

1. Danny Gokey
2. Adam Lambert
3. Kris Allen
4. Allison Iraheta
5. Lil Rounds
   
6. Scott MacIntyre
7. Matt Giraud
8. Anoop Desai
9. Megan Joy - I don't think her looks can help her anymore, she was that bad tonight. Megan will be going home tomorrow.