WWE Friday Night Smackdown – November 27, 2009

Alright, this is strange but I can’t find Superstars or Impact, yet I found tonight’s Smackdown. Guess I’m going to do Smackdown first and the other two on the weekend. After three great shows in a row, can WWE keep the momentum going or will Smackdown be the speed bump of the week? Let’s watch and find out.

We start with a recap of Sunday night’s Survivor Series followed by one of my least favorites opening theme songs ever. I miss when they had good opening themes, of course they also had the same music for pay-per-view every year and that was better. Let’s not even get me started on ring music. Nowadays everyone has the same sounding generic ‘alternative’ rock theme and it sucks. The old theme songs were so much better, all you needed to hear was the first couple notes and you knew who was coming.

1. Anyway, back to the show, we open with one half of the tag champions, and your wrestler of the year, Chris Jericho out for his weekly insult the crowd-a-thon. Chris starts with the hype for the TLC pay-per-view, stupid name for a PPV, but whatever. I can’t believe another PPV only three weeks after the last one, this is why there is so little buildup for these matches, and they have no time to build up storylines. I wish they’d cut back to 6 or even 8 PPV’s a year, 12+ is too many. Chris says there has only been 8 TLC matches in history, really? I thought there was less than that actually. There must’ve been some lame ones only on RAW. Crowd chanting “you suck” and Jericho saying no, that’s hilarious. I love his interaction with the crowd, like Sunday at PPV when someone in the crowd told him go back to Toronto and he yelled back I’m from Winnipeg you idiot. This man puts on some of the best promos in this company and never seems to get any respect. Jericho demanding to be the number one contender to the world title, and I have to agree with him. Here comes Theodore Long to rebut what Jericho said. Teddy says he’ll give Jericho what he wants, and Jericho gets all smug, a little too soon for that Chris. Teddy continues by saying tonight Chris Jericho will face Undertaker in a non-title match. Nice, they’ve never faced before and now they’ve faced each other twice in less than a month, why the first meeting between them was not on PPV is beyond me.
2. Cryme Tyme v. Hart Dynasty. Well nice to see the only two real tag teams get some TV time. Does Natalya get better looking every week or what? Good thing she didn’t get her looks from her dad! Someone tell me why Hart Dynasty is not the champs, makes no sense to me. These two are so talented. We start with JTG and Tyson Kidd, and JTG gets the early lead. Kidd with a low dropkick and a tag to the power man. I just don’t see why Cryme Tyme got rehired, they have Mark Henry syndrome, and they stick around but never improve. WWE really needs more real tag times, maybe the Briscoes? Briscoes versus Hart Dynasty would kick seven layers of ass. JTG has unable to make the tag, thus keeping the match watchable. JTG is the better of the two, but that’s like saying I’d rather drink gasoline over urine, know what I mean? Well, so much for that here comes Shad and the quality plummets. Shad gets distracted and DH hits what looked like Kurt Angle’s Olympic Slam for the win. Not a bad match, nice to see Natalya of course, and at least Shad was kept out of the ring for the majority. 3.25/5
3. We go backstage to Teddy Long who’s with John Morrison, John requests a match with Miz, Sheamus or Drew. Vickie sticks her nose in the conversation and says she wants Eric Escobar to face John Morrison for tonight. Teddy says Eric has not earned it; I have to agree as the man has been lame so far. Vickie threatens to call Vince, so Teddy gives in. Crap, I hate to say but I have a feeling JoMo is going to lose the belt to this scrub.
4. CM Punk v. Matt Hardy. CM Punk comes out with a paper bag and some big guy. Recap of last week with Punk and Truth, can’t believe they want Truth to be a main event guy. I don’t think that’s going to work very well, Truth just doesn’t strike me as the guy to main event PPVs. CM Punk has the microphone and once again does a great promo of preaching the evils to people. I’d love to see Punk bring out Brother Love one time for his preaching, that would be great. CM Punk introduces his friend Luke Gallows? Holy crap! That’s freaking Festus, OK this is good, now we’re finding out Festus was a druggie who has been saved by Punk, awesome. What’s Punk going to do next, bring out Jake Roberts! Punk says a new drug will be available on December 1^st; he reaches in the bag and pulls out the Jeff Hardy DVD, legend….wait for it…dary! Punk buries Jeff Hardy as the crowd chants Hardy. Matt has had enough of Punk’s insults and comes out to defend his brother’s honor. Matt has a microphone too and calls Punk a cult leader. Festus gets out the ring as the bell rings, and Festus stays normal! As the match starts, we get a commercial break, nicely timed WWE. Come back from commercial and Punk has the advantage working over Matt’s arm. Punk goes for a springboard move and gets hit with the Side Effect, cool counter from Matt as Matt takes the advantage. Luke “Festus” Gallows grabs Matt from behind for the disqualification, Gallows with a hot shot and the starts pounding on Matt. Gallows holds Matt up and Punk with a vicious spin kick, Gallows holds him in the corner for Punk to hit the knee to the face. Punk says it’s not over till I say it’s over. Gallows locks an odd looking submission hold then drops Hardy down. Why is no one coming out to save Hardy? I was waiting for Truth to save, that never makes sense to me. 1.5/5 match was too quick but the pre and post match stuff was gold.
5. We get a recap of the disgusting humiliation of Mickie James from last week. That was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, there was no reason for that at all. I wish she’d just leave and go to TNA where she would be used properly. We get a Mickie interview and she looks amazing as always. Mickie says she’s not going anywhere and she worked hard to get where she is. She should’ve never been moved from Raw to Smackdown, Mickie’s the most talented diva in WWE.
6. Batista v. Kane. Well this is going to be a bad match looking at who’s in it, and this is for number one contender. Seems like a lose-lose situation for the fans ordering the PPV. Undertaker vs. Kane for the millionth time or Undertaker vs. Batista again. Neither match seems appealing to me, no matter what they do. The match starts as expected, a brawl, Kane has the advantage in the start. Batista rakes the eyes to get the advantage and powers Kane into the corner with a series of shoulder blocks.  Batista uses a rest hold, happens when you have such little stamina. Crowd pretty much dead for this match up, what’s that tell you Vince? I’m sure Kane would be the one to get blamed for that, it can’t be Batista, who does a couple moves and back to the chin lock, yawn.  All we need now is special guest referee Great Khali, and the match will officially enter a new level of suck. Kane goes for the choke slam and Dave grabs the ropes, kick to knee and attempted Batista Bomb fails. Kane goes for the bomb and Batista counters, Batista works over Kane’s knee. Batista with the advantage as we go to commercial, we come back to Batista with a single leg crab. Kane makes the comeback with a series of clotheslines in the corner while limping, hits a big boot for a two count. Kane misses the clothesline from the top rope, Batista with a spear, for a two count. Crowd finally wakes up as Kane hits a backbreaker and gets yet another two count. Kane climbs up top and hits the clothesline this time, Kane readies for the choke slam. Batista blocks and does his Ultimate Warrior impersonation, followed by an attempt at Batista Bomb, Kane reversed and hits the choke slam, Batista lucky to get a foot on the rope. Batista rolls out of the ring; Kane goes after him and gets caught. Kane reverses an Irish whip over the barrier. Batista hits Kane with a chair behind the barricade, ref didn’t see it and Batista wins by count out. 2.5/5 Match picked up at the end but the stuff at the beginning was abysmal. Smart finish with Batista getting away with cheating to win. Batista vs. Undertaker at TLC sounds like a crappy match to me. Thank God for Christian vs. Shelton, that’s going to save the show.
7. Eric Escobar v. John Morrison. Vickie Guerrero comes out to do her catch phrase, who knew “Excuse Me” would become a catch phrase? Vickie introduces Eric Escobar, I think Drew should’ve got this match instead, Eric has not impressed me so far, and at least Drew has been impressive. Cue the music and wind machine as the IC champ, John Morrison, is introduced. This man is the future of the business, but a DVD set is just way too soon. Eric starts with his power advantage pushing John to the corner; Morrison pushes Eric to the ropes and hits a perfect dropkick. Morrison hits an amazing Asai Moonsault to the floor and lands on his feet, is there anything this man can’t do. Vickie grabs John’s arm to distract him, Eric with a baseball slide and then works over John’s back. Eric goes for the pin and John kicks out, OK, I admit it, I’m impressed so far. Escobar continues to work over the back; John hits a high kick to get the advantage back. Morrison caught in the corner and Eric goes for the charge, Morrison moves, hits the kick followed by Starship Pain, Morrison wins and keeps the belt. Whew, glad for that, way too soon for Morrison to drop the title, especially to Escobar. 3.75/5 A very good match, John carried Eric to a very impressive outing. After the match Vickie is in the ring and she doesn’t look happy. Eric tries to explain, and Vickie starts screaming at him, we can hear her loud and clear with no microphone, what a set of lungs! She then slaps Eric in the face and leaves, guess the honeymoon is over! Maybe that’ll be the last we see of both of them, but I doubt it.  We come back from commercial and Vickie is still yelling at Eric, Eric starts insulting Vickie now. Eric says we are done and walks away as Vickie is still seething.
8. Chris Jericho v. Undertaker. Before either man is introduced out comes Batista, still in his gear. He takes a seat and refuses to talk. The match starts with Undertaker powering down Jericho and throws him into the turnbuckle. Jericho taking an early beating, as Undertaker goes for Old School, Jericho kicks Undertaker and Jericho gets clotheslined over the top rope. Commercial break, we come back and Undertaker still has the advantage, is this just going to be a squash match or what? Undertaker drops the leg from the ring apron and glares at Batista, who has yet to say anything. Batista gets up and Undertaker turns to look at him, neither man makes a move. Undertaker comes back in the ring and gets hit with the triangle dropkick. Jericho finally getting some offense on Undertaker, and gets him back in the ring. Jericho hits a missile dropkick from the second rope for a two count. Jericho locks in a rest hold, as silent Batista continues to look on. Undertaker starts to make a comeback and Jericho hits a dropkick for another attempted pin. Jericho locks in a sleeper hold, like anyone submits to that anymore, what does Jericho think he is Brutus Beefcake? Undertaker counters out with a belly to back Suplex. Undertaker with a series of punches to the head, followed by a splash in the corner, snake eyes, big boot, leg drop. Great now Undertaker thinks he’s Hulk Hogan? Undertaker gets Jericho in the shoulders, Jericho slides down, hits a bulldog and lionsault. Undertaker no sells, hits a choke slam then goes for the tombstone. Batista slides in with a chop block, knocking the dead man down. Batista goes outside for a chair as Jericho hits the code breaker. Batista back in with the chair and lays a beating on Undertaker. Undertaker pummeled down by The Animal who stands over Undertaker’s fallen body. 4/5 Very impressive match, would’ve been higher had we had a finish. At least Jericho got some offense in and didn’t look all Barry Horowitz like as it started to look like.

Match Recap:

1. Hart Dynasty over Cryme Tyme 3.25/5
2. Matt Hardy over CM Punk 1.5/5
3. Batista over Kane 2.5/5
4. John Morrison over Eric Escobar 3.75/5
5. Undertaker over Chris Jericho 4/5

Overall not a bad show could’ve been a little better had Matt and Punk had more time and scrap the Batista v. Kane match.  I’ll be back once I find Impact and Superstars, thanks for reading.

Live from Washington, DC these are my thoughts on Survivor Series 2009…

- Loved the opening to the show. The historical look back at past SS events was great as well as how it tied into today’s product. The production team are the MVPs of WWE, I think. They always deliver the goods. They had the three man announce team of Cole, Lawler and Striker leaving The Grish to do backstage duties. They were fine, but I miss JR. Get better, Jim.

Team Miz (Miz, Sheamus, McIntyre, Swagger & Ziggler) d. Team Morrison (Morrison, Hardy, Finlay, Benjamin and Bourne) (**1/2)
From my preview: “The heel side should win. It makes more sense. It would be foolish to have guys like Sheamus or McIntyre get pinned in a match like this.” I nailed that pretty well. Those two survived along with Miz. I was pleased that they got just over 20 minutes. Ref Scott Armstrong got legit hurt here. They showed the replay where he took a knee to the head by Sheamus although he might have slipped and hurt his own knee too. Morrison’s team of jobbers lost as expected while he squared off 1 on 3 against Miz, Sheamus and McIntyre (why does Ziggler lose so much?). I thought he might pin Miz. Didn’t happen. Sheamus got the win with his Razor’s Edge like finish that needs a name. Good booking. Predictable, but it was the right call.

- Team Kofi had a skit backstage with my boy Christian mentioning he’s different from then. No not because he is white, it’s because he’s in ECW. He’s also the only one that’s a champion, but that would actually put over the ECW belt. Can’t do that. Christian did a R-Truth like rap rhyming fight with white as the black dudes thought it was pretty lame. Then they all drank Kool-Aid. Oh wait, that was just Mark Henry. It was decent comedy although that’s to be expected with Christian. He was funnier as a heel though. Can’t top the classic E&C stuff or his work with The Rock when he was calling himself Captain Charisma.

Batista d. Rey Mysterio (*1/4)
This was more of an angle than a match. I hate to toot my own horn, but check this out from my preview: “I would be surprised if this match is anything but a brutal beatdown victory by Batista. The strong rumor is that Mysterio’s going to need knee surgery again and it could be as soon as next week. I can see him doing a stretcher job here. It will put over Batista huge as a heel monster while Mysterio’s the perfect guy to sell a beating. What’s interesting is that this PPV is in Batista’s hometown of Washington. Are the fans going to cheer him even if he’s a heel because it’s his hometown? I think they might. I nailed this one too even calling the stretcher job. Not sure if he’s having the surgery, but I guess it’s possible. The beatdown was good with Batista hitting multiple powerbombs and also a spinebuster on a chair after the match. I liked that they want with the KO victory too. The announcers pointed out that he never went for a fall, which is a good way to put over just how much of a monster he was here. Well done. Of course, the crowd cheering for him wasn’t the reaction that Vince probably wanted. That’s what you get for turning the guy the month before they have a show in his hometown. The announcers basically ignored the cheers, which is the right move long term. By the way, when Rey was getting loaded on the stretcher guess what we heard? Yep, the dreaded SERIOUS VOICES~!

- Randy Orton talked to his team. He expected more out of them in the weeks leading up to Survivor Series. Then he told some jokes. Okay, he didn’t, but what a nice surprise that would have been, huh?

Team Kofi Kingston (Kingston, MVP, Henry, R-Truth & Christian) d. Team Randy Orton (Orton, Dibiase, Rhodes, Regal & Punk) (***1/4)
It was a good match, better than the first one. Orton pinning Henry in about a minute was fantastic. I cheered for that. The match was basically two halves with different stories. The first 13 minutes saw the elimination of everybody except Kingston, Punk and Orton. I really hope we get a Christian/Punk feud in the future because I think it could be great. The next five or six saw Punk work over Kingston while Orton stood on the apron cheering him on. They made Kingston look like the underdog in that 1 on 2 scenario, then he countered a Punk rollup with a pin while using the tights. Everybody was going nuts for that. Then Orton comes in and Kofi KO’s him with the Trouble in Paradise spin kick for the pinfall. I marked out legit. I’m a huge Kofi fan. And Orton sold it great. My prediction? I think the babyface side is going to win this one because Kingston getting the upper hand on Orton is the right way for this to go heading into what is likely going to be a singles match next month. Another one right for me. It’s nice to come up with logical booking decisions and then to see it come through. I’m looking forward to more Orton vs. Kingston going forward. It’s the best thing in WWE right now.

The Undertaker d. Chris Jericho & Big Show to retain the World Title (**3/4)
Fan: “Go back to Toronto.” Jericho: “I’m from Winnipeg, you idiot.” Best in the world at what he does. It’s true. This was my only incorrect prediction of the night. I had Jericho for the win although that was more of a desire on my part because I think it’s something of a crime to see him without a world title win this year (tag belts don’t count). This was booked pretty evenly with the announcers putting over the Undertaker’s toughness. Is that there way of mentioning that he moves slower in the ring these days? Lucky for him, Big Show was in the match too, so he wasn’t the slowest guy out there. Jericho was all over the place, doing his best to score the victory. I really liked the spot where he missed the Lionsault, then turned it into the Walls and when Undertaker was reaching up for him he kept tilting his head back. That was a little thing that he added for those of us that saw Undertaker make him tap in that same position. Well done. I love things like that. The finish was the typical triple threat deal with each guy countering something with their finish. Show knocked out Taker, then tried to pin, Jericho broke that up, then they had a little squabble, Show KNOCKED HIM THE FUCK OUT~! Show went for the chokeslam, Undertaker countered with the Hell’s Gate submission and Show tapped out like a little bitch. Solid match. I understand Undertaker winning since his next feud is probably Batista with the rumored Batista title win coming at the Rumble. The question is, what will they do at TLC before that?

- They had Josh Matthews interview Miz, Sheamus & McIntyre about their win. They all bragged basically.

Team Mickie James (Mickie, Kelly, Gail, Melina & Eve) d. Team Michelle McCool (Michelle, Beth, Jillian, Layla & Alicia) (*3/4)
It was what I expected it to be. The crowd wasn’t that into the match although that’s to be expected considering they were following a World Title match. There were lots of quick falls early. Why did they re-sign Gail only to have her lose matches on a regular basis when she’s arguably the most talented in-ring woman on the roster? I don’t understand. They had Beth do some power moves in eliminating Eve & Kelly, but then she got pinned by my beloved Mickie James-Canton. That left a two on one situation with Melina & Mickie against Michelle. I thought Mickie would score the pinfall to set up the obvious feud with Michelle. Didn’t happen. Melina got it. The match was just okay. Aside from Mickie looking lovely in a new outfit (I notice these things), I thought Eve looked fantastic too. Maryse is probably back on Raw tomorrow most likely. Looking forward to it.

- They did an interview with Batista talking to The Grish. He said he was embarrassed for Rey. I think Batista’s heel gimmick is that he doesn’t talk much. He lets his violence do the talking. Or something.

John Cena d. Shawn Michaels & Triple H to retain the WWE Title (***3/4)
I got the match at ***3/4 out of 5, which is what I expected for it. It went 21 minutes. That was fine. They followed the WWE formula for triple threat matches to a tee. They had HBK superkick HHH early on to take him out for a bit, then they had it just Cena vs. HBK for a while. Just as Cena was going to finish him, Hunter saved Shawn and then put him through the announce table with a spinebuster. Ouch. Now it was Cena and HHH’s turn to fight with Michaels breaking that up. They then did a three person submission spot, which was okay, but the crowd wasn’t that into it. See what I mean about the WWE formula? The crowd knows the finishers are coming. They did a triple KO spot with HBK & Cena trying to pin HHH after hitting finishers, but that only got two. The crowd did react to that one. As for the finish? Let’s go back to my preview one last time: I think Cena wins clean with the Attitude Adjustment probably on Michaels. Well, I was right about Cena winning and hitting the AA on Michaels, but he ended up pining HHH, who was knocked out after HBK superkicked him. He kicked him while HHH was going for the Pedigree. That’s how they book a lot of these triple threats. Finisher on finisher on finisher. It’s too repetitive. I’m fine with Cena winning. It’s nice to see a champion actually retain. I’m not sure if it’s going to lead to DX splitting up soon, but if it is the beginning of a heel turn for HHH then I will strongly support it. For those wondering, Cena’s now 6-0 at Survivor Series (thanks to Travis for that research). I’m not sure if they’ll even mention that, but it’s worth noting.

The show ended with Cena on the ramp with the belt in hand.

Three Stars of the Show
1. Shawn Michaels – He was the glue in the main event. He hit a lot of superkicks, didn’t he?
2. Kofi Kingston – His star continues to shine brightly. I’m very excited about his future.
3. Rey Mysterio – Really did a great job of selling the beating. If he does have the knee surgery soon I’ll miss him.

7 out of 10.

The show was good. Not the best PPV of the year (Summerslam), yet it was still one of the better ones. The results of the matches were predictable (I got 5 out of 6 correct), but that does not make it a poor show in any way. It was right for Kofi, Sheamus, McIntyre and Miz to the be the stars of their matches. They’re part of the future. I’m not that crazy about Undertaker and Cena retaining the belts, but at the same time I’m the guy that wrote a column bitching about all the title switches. I’d like to say thanks to WWE for not booking title changes here. It’s refreshing to see that they’ve actually come to their senses just a little bit.

There are a lot of questions that can be asked after this show: What’s next for Orton vs. Kingston? What about the futures of both DX and Jerishow? Is Batista vs. Undertaker next? Who’s next for Cena? Will tonight’s strong performances lead to sustained pushes up the card for Miz, Sheamus and McIntyre? I think we’ll get some answers on tomorrow’s three hour Raw. With the Royal Rumble fast approaching it’s getting to be that time of year where it’s the best time to be a WWE fan. They need to deliver the goods going forward to not only keep the interest of those of us that are watching, but also to bring back viewers that may have stopped watching.

——

Remember to check out the blog here for a blog exclusive post from Sunday morning where I wrote about the Hulkamania tour, UFC from Saturday night and a quick comparison of WCW to TNA. The blog’s been doing while. I appreciate the support. I promise even more content in the future as I start posting some of my older work there too.

I’ll be back on Tuesday for the Raw Deal. It’s a three hour Raw with Jesse Ventura as the guest host. My column could be posted later than normal due to the longer show although I might sacrifice my writeup for it. Three hours is a lot to write about. We’ll see how it goes.

Thanks for reading.

John Canton – oratoryjohn@gmail.com
Visit the blog: johnreport.wordpress.com
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Visit My Archives to view ten years of The John Report columns.

I got to shoot with Mark Salling (aka “Puck” from Glee) this past week. Can’t show you the end result just yet, but for now this little behind the scenes teaser image of Mark being styled by the great Jessie from House of Infinite Radness.

You can buy Mark’s CD on his website: MarkSallingMusic.com and on iTunes as well

MarkSallingMusic.com

Survivor Series as most of you know is tonight, so for those of you who aren’t knowing of the card, click more to see it.

Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship

John Cena (c) vs Triple H vs HBK

Triple Threat Match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Undertaker (c) vs Chris Jericho vs Big Show

Rey Mysterio vs Batista

Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match

Team Kofi (Kofi Kingston, Christian, MVP, Mark Henry, R-Truth) vs Team Orton (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Ted Debiase, CM Punk William Regal)

Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match

Team Mickie (Mickie, Melina, Gail Kim, Eve, Kelly Kelly) vs Team Michelle(Michelle Mccool, Beth Phoenix, Jillian, Layla, Alicia Fox)

Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match

Team Morrison (John Morrison, Shelton Benjamin, Finlay, Matt Hardy, Evan Bourne) vs Team Miz (The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Shaimus, Drew McIntyre)

I have gotten a bit behind with my write-ups on Flash Forward since I have been out of town. I visited the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio in San Francisco on Friday and will be blogging about that over the next few days.

Jeff “Doc” Jensen of Entertainment Weekly has some theories about Flash Forward. I loved to read his theories on LOST each week, so I am leaving you with his latest musings on Flash Forward.

Enjoy!

In the new issue of Entertainment Weekly now on newsstands, you’ll find a story written by yours truly in which I geek out on my new TV obsession, the ABC sci-fi drama FlashForward. If you’re new to the show, here’s what you need to know: On Oct. 6, the planet blacked out and for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, and everyone on earth saw a brief vision of their respective futures. The saga’s center is FBI agent Mark Benford (Shakespeare In Love’s Joseph Fiennes), who during his brief quantum leap saw himself investigating an elaborate conspiracy behind mankind’s perplexing power nap. The day glimpsed in all the flashes: Thursday, April 29, 2010. (Yep, the show will air that night.) Will Mark’s faithful wife Olivia (Lost’s Sonja Walger) find herself in bed with another man? Will vaguely sinister scientist Simon Campos (Dominic Monaghan, another ex-Lostie) strangle a dude to death? And will FBI agent Demetri Noh (Star Trek’s John Cho), who saw only darkness during his flash, be (gulp) dead? “The high concept pitch is simply this: if you were given a glimpse of your future, what would you do with it?” says FF’s exec producer David S. Goyer. “If you see something bad, can you change it? If it’s good, how do you make it come true?”

One of the things I love best about the series is the explicit and implicit references to science, literature, philosophy, and pop culture. When investigated, these references suggest all sorts of possibilities about what’s really going on in the saga, or at the very least add some cool or ironic shading to the story. For example: we’ve been told that Agent Noh will be killed on March 15. That also happens to be the date of Julius Caesar’s murder. More on the nose with FlashForward: Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, in which a seer tells the Roman leader to “beware the Ides of March,” i.e. March 15. Is that just the writers having some smarty-pants fun—or are they planting a cue that a Brutus-like colleague will betray Agent Noh?

Here’s another example—a little more tenuous, but if you follow my Doc Jensen work on Lost, you know that making pseudo-intellectual leaps are part of what I’m all about. In FlashForward’s third episode, Agent Benford traveled to Germany to interview a Nazi war criminal who claimed to know something about the true nature of the global blackout. The old Nazi was being held at Quale Prison, and as it happens, the word quale is directly linked to a philosophical term dealing with—in wikipedia’s words—“the subjective quality of conscious experience.” (The fact that FlashForward would name a prison after such a heady concept is pretty provocative. Is the show trying to suggest that objective reality is unknowable and mankind is fundamentally at odds with each other because we are locked into our unique, idiosyncratic perspectives of the external world?)

Are you with me?! I hope so, because in the weeks to come, I plan on doing even more obsessing about FlashForward here at EW.com, beginning with a complete TV Watch recap of the next episode, airing Dec. 3. Until then, here’s are some additional references (legit and perceived my crazy eyes) that FlashForward has made during its first nine episodes—and some theories about what they could mean.

Lost
Of course, Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) and Sonya Walger (Penelope) are living, breathing embodiments of Lost. Both actors played characters linked to Desmond Hume. During the show’s third season, the ex-Hatchman became super-charged with The Island’s electromagnetic energy and began having flash-forwards of Charlie’s death. He also went back in time and tried to change his destiny. David Goyer—a big Lost fan—slipped a billboard for Oceanic Airlines into the pilot, inspiring fans to wonder if both shows exist in the same universe. At the very least, they may share a similar philosophical idea: that no matter how much you try to change predestined events, fate will get what it wants.

“Across The Universe” by Rufus Wainwright
Like Lost, Cold Case and so many other shows, FF has a penchant for episode-ending slow-motion montages, set to rousing score or a thematically loaded pop song. One of my faves was Wainwright’s cover of this classic tune by The Beatles, heard in the Oct. 29 episode “Scary Monsters and Super Creeps.” In the 1999 Robert J. Sawyer novel that inspired the series, the blackout/flash-forwards are caused, in part, by an anomaly in deep space—literally “across the universe.” Coincidence? Nay! I say: Synchronicity! As in…

“Ghost In The Machine” by The Police
Agent Benford is a fan of the band and wore a T-shirt featuring this album’s artwork to an undercover operation—infiltrating an underground club catering to “ghosts,” people in the FF universe who didn’t see anything in their flash forward and thus believe they are destined to die before that date. According to band lore, the album was inspired by Sting’s fixation with Arthur Koestler, an egghead who postulated that people, events, and time are psychically linked via the concept of Synchronicity described by Carl Jung. (The Police song “Synchronicity,” from the album of the same (also inspired by Koestler), is a FlashForward theory unto itself; check out the lyrics here.) Koestler’s books include The Ghost In The Machine, The Roots of Coincidence (a book that has had a big influence on sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book writers), and Janus: A Summing Up, an exploration of systems theory that says that a larger whole or “holarchy” is make up of individual components called “holons” that also contain systems within themselves, or something like that, or maybe nothing at all like that, and yes, I don’t have any clue what any of this means. Bookmark that Janus name—we’ll be coming back to it in a minute.

Jericho
In FlashForward, Jericho is a military contractor that provides private armies to the highest bidder. Their soldiers apparently played a role in the attempted killing of Aaron Stark’s daughter, Tracy, in Afghanistan. I also suspect they are providing goons to the conspiracy that perpetrated the global blackout. Of course, Jericho was also the title of the short-lived, intensely loved cult drama that imagined the aftermath of a cataclysmic nuclear attack on the United States.

David Baldacci
Trying to make sense of Jericho’s treacherous attack on his daughter, Aaron likened the situation to a “Baldacci novel.” David Baldacci is the best-selling author of hugely successful books like The Collectors and Absolute Power, political potboilers that usually involve elaborate government conspiracies. Application to FlashForward: I’m thinking President Segovia (played by Peter Coyote)—who is (or was) tight with Assistant Director Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance)—knows much more about the global blackout than he’s telling. And remember Senator Clemente (Barbara Williams), the congresswoman who was leading the subcommittee investigation into the flash-forward event? She was no friend to Segovia and Wedeck, yet the president made her his new vice president—presumably to stifle her persecution of Wedeck’s Mosaic team. No, it’s not very realistic that a president would appoint a hated political rival as his No. 2—unless, of course, Segovia and Clemente aren’t the bitter enemies they appeared to be. I’m thinking that yes, Senator Clemente is in on the conspiracy, too. So what’s the conspiracy? Here’s the clue that sketches the big picture:

“D. Gibbons”
The “bad man” from little Charlie Benford’s spooky vision and one of many cryptic clues gleaned from Agent Benford’s flash forward. The name undoubtedly refers to Dave Gibbons, co-author of the subversive superhero saga Watchmen, whose intricate mystery plot concerns (SPOILER ALERT!) a conspiracy to encourage world peace by staging a fake alien invasion. And like FF, Watchmen stuffed coded clues and tell-tale non-sequiturs in the margins of its story. I’m thinking that the power players behind the global blackout were attempting to do something similar—usher in a new era of world peace by staging a global cataclysm designed to cause everyone to rethink their lives, the way they live their lives and the political, religious, and philosophical barriers that divide us. The bipartisan union of President Segovia and Senator Clemente is symbolic and representative of the narrative the conspiracy was/is trying to promote throughout the world. The two-faced, double-edged nature of this scheme to engineer planetary rebirth via planetary catastrophe is reflected in our next clue…

Janice/Janus
Janice is the name of the FlashForward character who saw herself having a baby on April 29… even though she’s a lesbian who is currently not in relationship and had been deeply ambivalent about even having kids until recently. Janice sounds exactly like Janus, the two-faced Roman deity of open gates and closed doors, of beginnings and endings. Janus is a deeply ironic, very paradoxical dude—both hopeful and ominous. That’s very Janice. Speaking of double-sided clues…

Beilby Porteus
Mosaic’s search for “D. Gibbons” led him to Pigeon, Utah, where he encountered a mystery man, coined “The Chess Player” by fans, in an abandoned doll factory. Before escaping, the chess player said, “He who foresees calamities, suffers them twice over.” That’s a famous quote from Porteus, an 18th-century English clergyman and noted abolitionist. His other major claim to fame was introducing something called “The Sunday Observance Act,” a “blue law” that regulated the ways people in England could spend their recreational time on Sunday. This is could be a double-faced clue. On one hand, we have an ostensible bad guy, quoting a guy linked to a righteous cause (ending slavery) and famous for forcing a righteous way of life on society (the Sunday Observance Act)—another possible proof on the aforementioned world peace conspiracy. But is The Chess Player part of The Blackout Conspiracy—or working to subvert it? The Porteus quote is darkly ironic. And coming from The Chess Player, it sounds like a warning or threat. Possibilities: If The Chess Player is trying to promote the conspiracy, he might have been trying to tell Benford that trying to solve the mystery of the blackout calamity will only produce another calamity—the ruin of its peace-promoting effect. But if The Chess Player is trying to fight the conspiracy, he might have been trying to tell Benford that flash-forward event had backfired—or will backfire when it reaches its fulfillment on April 29. FYI: Porteus is associated with another ironic quote that could be applied to FlashForward and my “Conspiracy of Peace” conspiracy theory: “War its thousands slays; peace its ten thousands.”

White Queen
The Chess Player left behind some clues for Mosaic, including a chess piece—the white queen, which provocatively intersects with all sorts of fantasy and geek pop. The White Queen is a character from Through The Looking Glass—a scatter-brained figure that lives her life backwards and struggles to live in the present. (“Jam-yesterday or Jam-tomorrow, but never Jam-today.”) That’s fitting for a show whose people got mind-scrambled during the global blackout and are now playing out futures that may have already come to pass—who are constantly being reminded and challenged to bravely defy fate by “living in the now.” However, “White Queen” is the handle of several prominent characters in comic book land, including the morally ambiguous X-Men foil Emma Frost (who can see into other people’s heads) and another baddie, Sat-Yr-9, an unhinged femme fatale from an alternate reality Earth. Yes, it is unlikely FlashForward was deliberately trying to forge a connection to the latter character. But she does embody a high concept theory in quantum physics that was explicitly referenced by Dominic Monaghan’s Simon Campos character: the idea that all possible realities actually exist. (See: the Schrödinger’s Cat thought experiment, used by Campos to seduce the blonde lady on the train.) I won’t beat this dead (Schrödinger’s) cat further by bringing this full circle and explicating the link between Alice In Wonderland and quantum mechanics, or how the whole notion of white and black chess pieces illustrate the binary either/or dynamics of alternate reality logic. However, and fittingly, I will ask you to entertain at least two possibilities: 1. That what everyone saw in their flash-forward was actually a peek into an alternate reality; and 2. That per the implications of Schrödinger’s Cat, which says that reality isn’t created until directly observed by the viewer, that the future sketched by the flash-forwards is now locked into place as a result of being directly observed by everyone in the past via the global blackout. Got that? Thought so. Also see: A Christmas Carol SPOILER ALERT! David Goyer says Charles Dickens’ classic novel—about a grinch who’s shown a vision of his (possible) future—looms large in the Dec. 3 episode.

Smackdown was very entertaining this week with the highlights of it been the 2 out of 3 falls match between John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler, another great promo from CM Punk and the Main Event which was The Brother Of Destruction vs Jerishow, setting up the Triple Threat Match at Survivor Series very well.

The first match of the night was Batista vs Matt Hardy in a good little match making The Animal look dominating, and was pretty much a squash with very little offence from Hardy.

The match following was Finlay vs Drew McIntyre, with Finlay beating on McIntyre from the get go, but gets poked in the eye. McIntyre eventually gets a Double Arm Underhook DDT for the win. Poor Finlay!!

Then we saw a very good match from 2 up and comers Ziggler and Morrison. Lots of back and forth action with Ziggler going after the injured ribs of Morrison for most of the match. Morrison Got the 1st pinfall with a roll up early on. Ziggler would eventually get the 2nd fall after going after the ribs and delivering the Zig Zag. Despite this Morrison fought through the pain and went on to successfully defend the title after taking Ziggler out with Starship Pain.

(Morrison with Intercontinental Title)

Divas match kept the storyline between Micke and Mccool and Layla going, but other than that, didn’t interest me.

CM Punk did another great promo about being straight edge by pretty much throwing everything that can poison you (Cigarettes, Pain killers, Alcohol) in to a trash can in the ring. R-Truth would eventually come to the ring and talk Punk down and take him out with a DDT and empty the trash can of drugs and smokes all over Punk. This was an amusing promo.

Rey took on Tyson Kidd in a decent match with Batista at the announcer’s table to watch the match (he didn’t speak throughout the match). Batista would interfere causing Rey Rey to lose by disqualification, which would cause Rey to take Batista down with a seated senton, embarrassing The Animal a 2nd time.

The main event which seemed to go to a non finish was a fun match with plenty of action setting up the triple threat match very well. The end kind of came when Jericho is in the ring been doubled teamed by The BoD, but Big Show would help Jericho by Choke-Slamming Taker. But when Show went to help Chris up, Chris would deliver the Code Breaker to Show and runaway with Takers World Championship. Will this be the scene at Survivor Series?

]]> http://icalendarstore.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/watching-jericho-on-cbs/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:49:18 +0000 icalendarstore http://icalendarstore.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/watching-jericho-on-cbs/

I have been really into the now defunct Jericho series.  Do a google search for “Jericho and CBS” and you will find the entire first year online as well as all of the 2nd season that is still available.  This show is by far one of the best shows I have seen in a while.  You can also buy all of the episodes from ITUNES to move to your Apple TV or watch on your iPod or iPhone.

The show begins when Nuclear bombs start going off inside the continental USA and get’s more interesting show after show after show.  If you are looking for a good show this may be one for you.

In a city that’s not short of beardy, alternative types the Oxford Canal still sticks out as a haven for stubborn liberals. Line after line of permanently moored narrow boats stretch out along the towpath from the canal’s stubby end in the city centre to well beyond the ring road with only the occasional break for bridges, locks and the occasional spur. There are ageing tubs that are struggling to stay afloat, swish new vessels coated in bright pink paint and one boat that seems to be suffering from an invasion of cats.

It’s like someone built a community inspired only by the most right-on Guardian columns. Leo Hickman made into boat form.

All along the towpath

And despite being sneaking right into the centre of town this alternative paradise is all but ignored by the student population. No punts, y’see. Which is a shame because even discounting its ultra-liberal permanent residents it’ is pretty quirky – surrounded by curious side channels, oddly placed locks and a towpath that cuts through the city.

Part of the problem is that there’s no visible sign of the canal in the city. Supplies from the Midlands used to idly drift down the 70+ miles of waterway via Tamworth and arrive at the foot of Oxford Castle. But then William Morris, he of motor companies rather than pre-Raphaelite trash, decided to use the money made from building fast cars to buy the rundown and sparsely used canal basin. In the 1930s it was filled in and Nuffield College was built on part of the site – the other is stuck as a car park.

So instead the canal ends in a stub on the other side of Hythe Bridge.

Cats on a boat, yesterday.

Heading north from the centre the canal acts as a thin margin between the Victorian mansions of north Oxford and the new redbrick developments that hug the railway line. At the start it hugs the back of Worcester College’s endless sports grounds with Isis lock and a wrought-iron bridge connecting it with the Oxford segment of the Thames.

The large marshalling yard for the railway pushes close but housing has been squeezed onto even the smallest strips of land in Oxford. And while people are finally moving back alongside the canal it’s also a threat. The endless appetite for development has combined with a government edict for British Waterways to flog off as many assets as they can. A fair cause, except when that involves flogging the site of the only boatyard for a hundred miles, essentially threatening the sustainability of the entire canal community.

Except this group of belligerent boatmen and women wouldn’t give up, fighting a damaging PR battle with the authorities that culminated in occupation of Castle Mill boatyard and a photographer-friendly eviction by the police. They also had Philip Pullman on side to kick up a fuss about the site that helped inspire chunks of the ‘His Dark Materials’ series.

Now it’s just boarded up and the outcome remains uncertain. Temporary measures means that life is continuing as normal for the boatmen. British Waterways have had their plans for sixty-odd flats refused and are chastened, appearing to give up on the whole development. But they still want a few million quid for the site and the council’s too skint to help them. The boatyard remains boarded up.

The boats continue along the towpath for well over a mile past the old Eagle Ironworks as the houses on the other side get bigger. These chunky semi-detached houses of Jericho have gardens that run down to the water, often with painfully tasteful summerhouses or little piers sticking into the canal. Since it was built on the cheap the Oxford Canal lacks permanent crossings and relies on some ageing swing bridges to get you across.

Then without any warning you’re in open countryside. It’s only about twenty minutes walk from the city centre but there’s nothing left around you, just the hint of the village of Wolvercote and the vast expanse of Port Meadow to your left. Nothing disturbs you until you follow a slight meander and an enormous viaduct looms ahead. It turns out that they’re replacing a key part of the ring road, building a new crossing next to the old one and ripping up half the surrounding countryside for the hell of it. The canal plods on through the middle of this enormous building site, the one part that JCBs haven’t flattened to the ground.

Concrete hell versus Industrial Revolution class

Rural Oxfordshire was more forward-thinking than you might think. There’s little specks of old industry all along the canal and disused railway bridges criss-cross the water. The lock-keeper’s cottage south of Kidlington gives you another chance to join the Thames well out of the city but more interesting is the shabby younger brother of the Jericho Boatyard, Alchemy Boats. It’s more Swiss Toni than the bespoke repairs offered at the former site but it looks like that’s the only choice available to Oxford boaters. It’s also implicated in this sorry tale of a sinking home.

I was off to watch some shit football Hellenic Premier League action at Kidlington F.C. and rattled along the bumpy towpath, just about avoiding diving into the water when I hit a few stones in the patchy late Autumn light. Time to get off that route and cycle back on the road. But you should get out there. The Oxford Canal is an amazing, overlooked bit of the city that hides so much. In addition to the boatyard, bridges and locks there’s some great little sights from this old industrial artery. Jericho has the Italianate church of St. Baranabus and St. Sepulchre’s graveyard (more of those in a future post) while the mix of leafy waterway and new houses mean that the area isn’t some grim decaying backwater. Up in the old village of Wolvercote there’s decent pubs and cute cottages. Then there’s the endless meadows. It’s the most pleasant way to escape the bustle  and speed out to the countryside while avoiding the busy roads.

Hey! Students! Get out of the city and into the sunshine!

Alchemy Boatyard, Kidlington

Number 147 (Lennie James) and his wife, 21-16 (Renate Stuurman) in The Prisoner. Photo copyright of Granada/AMC

When some people arrive in a new city or town, one of the first things they do is jump into a taxi. After all, the person behind that wheel knows all there is to know about the local main streets and back roads, right? Nowhere is that perhaps more important than in AMC’s six-part miniseries The Prisoner. As a cab driver in The Village, Number 147 is the one to seek out when looking to go from A to B in this exclusive community. There is so much more to him, though, than just his driving skills, as actor Lennie James, who plays 147, explains.

“At the start of our story, my character is absolutely content and accepting of the rules of The Village in which he lives,” says James. “He is a guy who will gladly tell you what you can and cannot say, where you can and cannot go, and what you can and cannot do. And within the confines of The Village, this man has found complete happiness with his wife [12-16. played by Renate Stuurman] and their child. 147 can’t believe how lucky he is to not just love his wife, but have his wife love him and then bless him with a child.

“In some ways it was a challenge to play a guy who is so content, but what I enjoyed most about the role was playing someone who really has no knowledge of his potential. 147 has no sense of what he can and cannot do, and from early on in the six episodes, is a man who constantly surprises himself.”

The original 60s Prisoner series focused on an ex-Secret Service agent (Patrick McGoohan) who wakes up in a remote seaside locale called The Village. His name has been replaced by a number, Six, and those in charge are intent on finding out the truth about why he resigned from his job. This re-imagined version of the program has its own Number Six (Jim Caviezel), who, like his predecessor, has a profound impact on certain villagers that he meets, including James’ 147.

“Besides 147’s wife and child, my character’s other main relationship is with Number Six,” notes the actor. “When Six arrives in The Village, 147 acts as his guide in more ways than one, and his relationship with Six becomes, literally, life-changing. It changes everything about what he thought his life was and what he comes to realize his life could be. It’s all due to the chance meeting, really, of Six getting into 147’s taxi as opposed to 135’s as it were.”

Keeping an eye on everyone in The Village, especially Six, is Number Two (Ian McKellen). Like his fellow villagers, he makes use of the local taxis, and at one point calls upon 147’s services. “One of the scenes I really enjoyed shooting is one with myself and Ian McKellen, where his character is in the backseat of my character’s taxi,” recalls James. “The whole thing is played through the rearview mirror, and technically it was tricky because you have to look as if you’re not looking at each other. Our two characters communicate exclusively through that mirror and have quite a bit to say to one another. I loved doing that scene, not only because I loved working with Ian, but also because of what was going on in it, which was something worthwhile.”

The Italianate resort village of Portmerion in Gwynedd on the coast of Snowdonia in Wales served as the setting for the original Prisoner. Going for a very different type of look, the producers of the 2009 remake chose to have James along with the rest of the miniseries’ cast and crew shoot in South Africa.

“The location was absolutely fantastic for the story, but it did hold some challenges for us as a cast and crew,” says the actor. “We filmed all our exteriors in a place called Swakopmund, a turn of the century village where the desert meets the sea in Namibia. As Portmerion was in the original Prisoner, this place was very much an extra character that gave the miniseries a particular type of feel.

“Swakopmund is a holiday destination, mostly for Germans, but when we were there it wasn’t holiday season, so we were shooting in a sort of ghost town. There were a lot of empty houses and empty streets, all of which certainly added to our head space as far as playing the villagers. Again, though, there were times where everybody just felt like they were a long way from home.”

How familiar was the actor with Patrick McGoohan’s incarnation of The Prisoner before he began working on this version? “I’m not old enough to have seen the series when it was first broadcast, but it was on a loop, it seems, during my childhood,” he explains. “So I was very aware of it and must have seen, if not all the episodes, most of them at various times while growing up.

Number 147 finds his life of contentment in The Village turned upside-down. Photo copyright of Granada/AMC

“I didn’t go back and revisit the series for this production, though, because Bill Gallagher’s [miniseries writer] scripts were so specific as well as different and I didn’t want to put anything in the way of that.”

Born in Nottingham, England and having spent many of his younger years in South London, James once dreamt of giving a very different type of performance in front of an audience. “Like most English boys, I wanted to be a rugby player,” says the actor. “When I was growing up, rugby wasn’t a professional sport, but it was something that I wanted to play at the highest level I could. However, when I realized that I wasn’t good enough, and before acting came into my life, I wanted to at least pursue a career that was sports oriented, such as a physiotherapist or occupational therapist.

“As far as acting, I actually followed a girl who I really fancied into an audition. She wanted to be an actress and the director said I couldn’t stay in the room unless I auditioned.  So I did and I got offered a role.”

A Raisin in the Sun, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Macbeth are among James’ theater credits, while on the big screen he has starred in such films as Outlaw, Sahara, Snatch and Les miserables. On TV, the actor has appeared in several made-for-TV movies as well as guest-starred in shows on both sides of the pond including A Touch of Frost, Cold Feet, Spooks, Lie to Me and Three Rivers. James is probably best known for his regular roles in the British series Out of the Blue and the apocalyptic U.S. drama Jericho.

“Out of the Blue was an ensemble cop show and I loved it,” he enthuses. “It was one of my first big jobs and the first time I worked with Bill Gallagher. We did two seasons of it and, as I’m going to go on to talk about Jericho, one of the things both shows have in common is that they ended, I think, before their time. I’m guessing that whoever made those decisions, in retrospect, probably wouldn’t have done the same thing again.

“My character in Out of the Blue was a guy called Bruce Hannaford, who was kind of an uptight detective and a perpetual bachelor who dressed well and had a rather inflated opinion of himself. It was a great part to play in amongst a terrific cast including John Hannah [D.S. Frank Drinkall], Neil Dudgeon [D.C. Marty Brazil] and John Duttine [D. I. Eric Temple]. I had a wonderful time doing the series and made some very good friends along the way. The same can be said for Jericho, which was, again, a gift of a part for me, in amongst some fantastic actors.”

Of all James’ roles, The Prisoner was one of his easiest to have booked. “The part was pretty much offered to me,” says the actor. “I met with the people I would be working with just to see whether or not we were on the same page, and we were. As I mentioned, I worked with Bill Gallagher before, so it was one of those really nice audition processes where your prior work is taken into consideration and people are gracious enough to offer you the role and not ask you to jump through too many hoops.”

With some people in the entertainment industry, making sure they are always in the public eye is the definition of having a successful career. James, however, is among those who prefer to take a more down-to-earth approach to the profession.

“For me, it’s about the job,” he says. “These days there is a generation of actors, some of whom seem to be getting into the business for the perks as opposed to the actual work. I very much enjoy the moments between the director calling, ‘Action,’ and, ‘Cut,’ when you’re making the [acting] choices. And the actors who I admire and aspire to be like are those who enjoy that, too, and for who fame and celebrity are by-products and not the aim.

“I truly love what I do and feel blessed that I’ve been allowed to continue doing it for the past 20 or so years.”

Steve Eramo

The Prisoner continues tonight, Monday, November 16th @ 8 p.m. EST/PST and concludes at the same time on Tuesday, the 17th. Watch for an interview with Jamie Campbell-Bower (11-12).

As noted above, all photos copyright of Granada TV and AMC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Joshua obeyed the Lord and ordered his people to march around the walls of Jericho. They carried the ark of the covenant with them and followed seven priests who blew on trumpets.

The rest of the Israelites made no noise as they marched around the city, just as Joshua and the Lord has ordered them.

“Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” (Joshua 6:10)

They did this for seven days, and on the final day, after circling the city seven times, Joshua gave the order to his people that they should all shout.

“When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” (Joshua 6:20-21)

Thus Joshua, successor to Moses as leader of the Israelites, brought them their first victory in the Promised Land due to his faith and obedience to God.

Joshua and the Israelites march around Jericho

Joshua and the Israelites came upon the city of Jericho while carrying the ark of the covenant.

The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark.’

On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.” (Joshua 6:2-5)

They had to carry the ark of the covenant

Greetings from Jerusalem. To catch you up, dear reader:

…The Holy Land first welcomed us with lush greenery and bucolic countryside—the Galilee of the Lord’s youth. Traveling south, we came to harder country. Then we entered one of the tensest cities in the world.

One could ask: Where on earth is there a place so beautiful and peaceful that it would be a suitable location for the Son of God to teach and to heal? The shores of the Sea of Galilee are certainly beautiful and peaceful enough.

But one also must ask: What city on earth is such a jumble of antagonisms, long-standing grudges, and self-righteousness that it could kill the Son of God? Jerusalem is such a city.

…Yesterday we left Nazareth. We headed south. We renewed our Baptismal promises on the bank of the Jordan River.

Stepping into the Jordan River

We came to the place where the ancient Israelites entered the Promised Land after their journey back from Egypt. This is where the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant into the Jordan, the water piled up like a mound, and the people walked across the river bed with dry feet.

They headed for Jericho, and so did we.

In hardscrabble Jericho

The Lord Jesus passed through Jericho a number of times, when He Himself was on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

His most famous parable is about the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. We ascended to the Holy City on this pilgrim road (now paved)…

…This morning we visited the Upper Room, where: 1) The Lord Jesus instituted the Holy Mass, 2) He appeared after He rose from the dead, 3) the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in tongues of flame.

Trying on the kafiyeh

Then we left Jerusalem and went out to the Judean hill country, to visit the church built where Zechariah and Elizabeth lived. This is where our Lady came to help her cousin—the Visitation.

From there, we entered Bethlehem. After eating delicious falafel sandwiches, we entered Manger Square, the sight of so much Christian piety over the centuries.

In the hill country of Judah

We recalled the words of Popes who have come on pilgrimage here:

Pope John Paul II was here in 2000:

In Bethlehem it is always Christmas. ‘Here Christ was born of the Virgin Mary’: these words, inscribed over the place where Jesus was born, are the reason for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. They are the reason for my coming to Bethlehem today. They are the source of the joy, the hope, the goodwill, which, for two millennia, have filled countless human hearts at the very sound of the name “Bethlehem.”

People everywhere turn to this unique corner of the earth with a hope that transcends all conflicts and difficulties.

Bethlehem – where the choir of Angels sang: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men” (Lk 2:14) – stands out, in every place and in every age, as the promise of God’s gift of peace. Bethlehem is a universal crossroads where all peoples can meet to build together a world worthy of our human dignity and destiny.

Pope Benedict was here in May:

“Do not be afraid; for behold I proclaim to you good news of great joy…today in the city of David a Savior is born for you” (Lk 2:10-11). The message of Christ’s coming, brought from heaven by the voice of angels, continues to echo in this town, just as it echoes in families, homes and communities throughout the world. It is “good news”, the angels say “for all the people”. It proclaims that the Messiah, the Son of God and the Son of David, has been born “for you”: for you and me, and for men and women in every time and place.

In God’s plan, Bethlehem, “least among the clans of Judah” (Mic 5:2), has become a place of undying glory: the place where, in the fullness of time, God chose to become man, to end the long reign of sin and death, and to bring new and abundant life to a world which had grown old, weary and oppressed by hopelessness.

Looking up at the Basilica, we could see that “the great church built over the Savior’s birthplace stands like a fortress battered by the strife of the ages,” as John Paul put it.

The main basilica, under the care of the Greek Orthodox, is in rough shape. Our visit to the grotto of the Nativity was very moving. Then we went to the cave of St. Jerome to celebrate Holy Mass.

From there we descended to the Shepherd’s Field, where the angels announced the birth of Christ to the humble men watching over their flocks by night.

Barluzzi church on Shepherds' Field

The town of Jericho is thought to have been founded around a spring – head by early Natufian settlers, c 8500 B: C: because of its extreme age, archaeologists have been forced to refer to this little – known epoch of human evolution as “protoneothithic” in other words, those who came just before the start of the Neolithic explosion.

So who were the protoneolithic people of Jericho?

All we know is that they made and used notched arrowheads probably with bows. They did not have pottery of any sort, but instead used plates and dishes beautifully fashioned from flint. Their augers, knives, saws and scrapers were also either carefully carved from flint or made of black obsidian.

Over the next thousand years Jericho grew to become a major citadel of an extraordinarily advanced nature. Its half – shaped mad – brick houses were protected by tree enormous superimposed town walls sixteen feet hitch, which were themselves encircled by a deep ditch gouged out of the hard bedrock. Dominating the fortress soaring defenses was a colossal stone tower thirty feet in diameter, complete with an internal staircase, which would seem more in keeping with a Crusader castle of the Middle Ages than a protoneolithic township of 7500 B. C … Edit

Why did this very earliest of cultures need to construct such monumental defenses, which must have required the long´ term cooperation of many hundreds of individuals under a very strong hierarchical leadership ?
What possible culture could have wanted to opposite them so early on in the history of our civilized world?

The rocks tumbled, as the mortar crumbled,

As the walls came down.

And what was that, made them fall flat?

Israel with a mighty sound.

Jericho.                

                -eab, 11/70

Arabah Mineral Skin Care offers a great line of cosmetics and skin care.  Jericho by Paloma was created in 1982 as a high-end product that today is used by customers from across the world.  Even corporations such as Hilton International & Wella Cosmetics are utilizing Jericho.

Jericho products are the finest and most pure ingredients coming straight from the Dead Sea.  Jericho promises to soothe the skin and ease the mind.

I was very excited when I received and nice package to review from Arabah.  I received Jericho, Dead Sea, Black Mud Soap.  I liked the Dead Sea Black Mud Soap because I felt clean but my skin wasn’t left feeling dried out.  Dead Sea Black Mud Soap is helpful to acne suffers and other skin disorders.

I was also given a bag of bath salts.  I sit on the side of the tub when shaving my legs and fill the tub with just enough warm water to cover the bottom and pour the salts in and my feet get to soak while I shave.  I have to stay on top of moisturizing and taking care of my feet or they get dry and cracked.  These made my feet feel so good.

The last thing I received is really not the least.  The Jericho Hand Cream is enriched with Dead Sea minerals.  This is Hypoallerenic and Paraben Free.  When you pur it on your hands it hydrates and soaks in immediately.  You do not have any greasy feeling.

This is a great group of products and the people at Arabah Mineral Skin Care have agreed to give one of our Networking Witches Readers the same items I received.

Win It!

Arabah Mineral Skin Care is generously supplying on Networking Witches reader a bar of Mud Soap, a bag of Bath Salts, and a tube of their fabulous Hand Cream.

Mandatory Entry

Go to the Arabah, Jericho Skin Care site and tell me what item besides the ones I mentioned you would like to receive and why.

Extra Entries:

1.  Check out Jericho Dead Sea Products blog and leave a comment.  Come back and leave me the user name and post link.  (1 entry)
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8.  Twitter this giveaway feel free to copy and paste this:  Jericho Skin Care is giving away a nice package on #NetworkingWitches  http://wp.me/ppVmm-DE  (1x daily entry)
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11.  Add our text link to your blogroll and leave us a link to it. (1 entry)
12. Blog about this giveaway linking to Networking Witches and the sponsor. Come back and leave us the direct link.  (5 entries)
13.  Stumble this post not the site.  (2 entries)

Giveaway Ends 11/28/2009 @ 2 pm EST

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Our Disclosure

Winner Whitney (Confirmed)

Após o cancelamento de Jericho, milhares de fãs ficaram aborrecidos com a CBS pelo cancelamento da mesma. Para quem não sabe, Jericho foi protagonizada por Lennie James e Skeet Ulrich e relatava a história de um grupo de pessoas que moravam em Jericho, Kansas e depois de um ataque nuclear se viram isoladas no pequeno local. A série foi cancelada em sua primeira temporada, mas á pedido dos fãs, a CBS deu um nova chance para a série, a renovando para uma segunda temporada, que não deu certo e foi cancelada novamente.

Agora, depois de duas “mortes”, a série retorna, mas não no formato antigo. A série vai voltar em forma de banda desenhada escrita por Dan Shotz e vai se chamar Jericho Season 3: Civil War. Os livros começarão a ser lançados no fim do mês que estamos, tendo sua data prevista para o dia 25 de novembro. A história irá girar em torno de Jake e Hawkings no meio de uma segunda guerra civil nos Estados Unidos da América.

Happy National Cat Day! Well, to you readers in the States in any case. October 29 has been declared National Cat Day, and as a blogger who has frequently posted on ancient cats, I feel a sense of duty to include our feline friends in today’s entry.

Elsewhere on this blog I have extolled the divine nature of cats. The Egyptians revered them to the point that killing a cat was a capital crime, but the evolution of domestication was probably very practical. Domestic cats appear in the archaeological record along with the advent of grain silos, also an Egyptian invention. When the grain attracted rats, the rats attracted cats, and the cats stole Egyptian hearts. Even before the Egyptians, however, archaeology points to associations of cats and humans in Neolithic Jericho, perhaps the oldest city in the world. As early as 9000 years ago, cats were stalking the allies of the city of the moon god. They have been among our most loyal companions.

The domestic cat’s spread into Europe only began in earnest, it seems, when Christianity reached the continent and the cat was no longer considered divine. Perhaps cats had to be profaned before being admitted to the church’s roster of approved animals. Nevertheless, under the influence of a predominantly Christian milieu, in the Middle Ages Europe had come to see cats as the demonic companions of witches and vampires. Did some memory linger of the divine cat of Egypt? Did those dark days of suspected sorcery glance back to the magicians of Egypt and their suspect pets? We will never know the answer as to why cats, long encouraged to join human households, became evil in superstitious Europe. Even my stepfather in the twentieth century America counted to ten after spotting a black cat, and followed the count with a solemn cuss each and every time.

I, for one, cast my vote on the side of the felines. I don’t have cats (allergies and irate landlords, and such), but I enjoy them when I visit those who do. Sure, they rip up furniture and bring unwanted gifts of dead things to you as a kind of feline worship, but with their loving nature I simply can’t see a devil in our everlasting cats.

(Swiped from Dr. Jim’s Thinking Shop)