Ara Jo

Ara Jo is a recent graduate of Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design. The designs posted above are from her graduate collection ‘Hypnosis’. We can’t wait to see more from her in the future because Ara Jo is LIVING FASHION.

Kevin Williamson created this engaging drama, which chronicles a group of young friends’ passage from adolescence to young adulthood in the small coastal town of Capeside, Massachusetts. based on Williamson’s own experiences growing up, “Dawson’s Creek” focuses on fifteen-year-olds Dawson (James Van Der Beek) and Joey (Katie Holmes), who have been friends since they were five and are trying to cope with the way their relationship is changing now that their hormones are raging. Add to the mix their friend Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and the new girl in town, Jen (Michelle Williams) and you can count on extra twists to their drama in their already turbulent lives.

Episode 01: Pilot
It is a shame this show came much too early in my life. Or I was just born way too late for it. While Dawson’s Creek took a tiny small place in my life, when I went to high school, I never saw the first season until I bought the DVD collection. And it is time for a rewatch and a few flashbacks of earlier moments of my life.
The pilot was good, though James Van Der Beek overacted a bit in his own show (especially when Dawson surprised his parents while making out) and it is a bit unbelievable that the teens (who are not even 16 years old in here) already have such big minds (especially Pacey, who says to Tamara [Leann Hunley] that he was the best sex she never had). This was one of the biggest problems I had with this show during the first four seasons, though I pretty much got into it very fast and wasn’t confused anymore with the start of the second season.
Other than that: It is really authentic. And even with the age the show already has, it is still realistic enough to be the love guide for every upcoming teenager in a small town somewhere on the east side of America. Van Der Beek overacted a bit and Dawson’s Spielberg obsession already sucks balls, Joshua Jackson was good, as well as Katie Holmes and Michelle Williams. The rest of the cast didn’t really have much screentime, and they are the adult ones in here, so they have to develop during the next couple of episodes.
The stories for the pilot were alright. Joey says that puberty hits, and they aren’t kids anymore, love comes into play, together with the talent of flirtation and all the rest. And of course Pacey had to kiss a MILF in the pilot, even the truly authentic teen series needs a bit of sex in the story – even though we didn’t see anything, and nothing happened. 7,5/10

Episode 02: Dance
Another good episode, and this time it is working better than the pilot. The “a little bit too much” from the pilot loosened up a bit in the second episode and made much more fun. Though some moments were really stereotype.
So, Dawson’s lands in film class due to a backdoor, while he is trying to get into the neighbor girl’s pants without screwing with her. The story couldn’t be more stereotype, but at least James Van Der Beek wasn’t overacting here and Michelle Williams was a really sweet girl with the feeling of her character. Also, Katie Holmes managed to get her role into realism, switching perfectly between having a secret involving Dawson’s mother Gail (Mary-Margaret Humes) and not showing her true feelings to Dawson, because she said herself, everything is changing for all of them. Or being honest to each other about their feelings. For that, Dawson’s “trouble” with Jen and her being “stolen” by Cliff (Scott Foley), wasn’t really interesting, it remains still the beginning of a bigger story, but it doesn’t feel like that.
Pacey’s flirts and kisses with Tamara was only a side plot, and I truly don’t know why Tamara – as a teacher – is about to ruin her career. But today there are a lot of teachers screwing around with their students; Dawson’s Creek was pretty much a harbinger, though there were cases, before the series went on the air.
Dawson’s parents are loving, but the secret Gail has isn’t moving and makes their relationship more and more unbelievable. But we are just in the second episode so far… 7,5/10

Episode 03: Kiss
Good episode, and again: better than the episode before. This time all the stories are working, though one is a romantic cliché, and the other was almost a waste of time.
If Dawson was only busy with the film shooting and the writers would have cut his “search for a kiss with Jen”, then this would be a Joey show, and the episode would have been a foreshadow of what Dawson’s Creek was during the last season: more a show about Joey than about the title character. And it was interesting to put another character beside Dawson in front of a story and actually having a lot of screentime (which isn’t happening to Pacey – he has only one storyline right now, and the writers only spend four minutes per episode with it).
The film shoot at the high school was partly interesting, though it brings Dawson a few winning moments; but his moments with Jen were great, and finally they kissed (this was the waste of time, one episode looking for the kiss can be too much sometimes). It just seems a coincidence that Pacey lost his virginity with Tamara at the same place (by the way: nice acting by Leann Hunley in that scene, in which she wasn’t sure about what she did at that moment), and what a coincidence Dawson filmed it.
Joey’s romance with the guy from New York was nice, though stereotype. Who doesn’t lie about the own name, age and background to have a nice time with a guy, who won’t even have interest in little high school girls? And, seriously, Katie Holmes was more than sweet in here – how could she marry Tom Cruise later on? 8/10

Episode 04: Discovery
Another good episode, though slightly weaker than the last one. At least it looks like the stories are up and running, together with Gail’s affair, from which Dawson finally knows about (he didn’t just have the guts to tell his father Mitch [John Wesley Shipp] about – which is totally authentic, btw). And the lovely relationship between Dawson and Jen gets better as well. Basically: I really liked the episode for its story continuing – they are told not too fast, not too slow (except Gail, but I can live with that), and they have always a bit of heart and emotion in it.
I am happy to see that Pacey had a bit more screentime in this episode, which results in Dawson filming his tete-a-tete with Tamara, which again results in Pacey telling Dawson about his “I got the girl this time” – very nice scene, showing that Joshua Jackson can act, and James Van Der Beek not so really. His reaction of Pacey’s confession was just… argh. And it seems like the story with Pacey and Tamara grows bigger, when he is starting to get jealous, as Tamara is hanging around with men her age… Well, it is a bit funny, but it is a storyline for Pacey and I don’t think the writers had something different in mind for him at that time.
Grams (Mary Beth Peil) has increasingly more screentime as well, and I like that. Though she could stop worrying about Jen, because she of all people should know that Capeside isn’t suitable for bringing kids on the deeper and uglier roads of life. But Jen and Grams have interesting talks together, which develops both characters – nice writing.
Dawson being felt betrayed by Joey was the weakest storyline in here, because it was predictable and a cliché. But it was necessary for him to learn more about Jen, so it was not that bad after all. 7,5/10

Episode 05: Hurricane
A strong episode with lots of stuff happening. Gail tells Mitch the truth and nothing but the truth, and leaves Mitch and Dawson back to let them think of their own. Though it was good to see a proper adult storyline for the first time of the series, it would have been nice to see Dawson thinking about his parents’ problems, even though he already was dealing with that topic in the last episode. But it seems to separated that first Dawson deals with his mother’s affair, then he drops it to do other business, and
when Mitch learns about it, he is the one dealing with this. What great moments would have been in the episode, when father and son trying to react together to Gail’s affair. But the scene with gale and Mitch was just awesome – really authentic and believable.
The rest of the episode was good as well, though I find it curious that Pacey’s brother Doug (Dylan Neal) develops interest in Tamara, and why the story about him not getting out of the closet, because he is scared. Sure, this storyline begins here and
develops with the time of the series, but it came too suddenly. We never saw Doug before and with his first appearance he already gets a story? Because I don’t think this will effect Pacey very much. But it means one thing: The writers tell stories not only for the teenager.
And Dawson and Jen having a break? Didn’t they just start dating? This seems like a stereotype storyline, but it was good that this didn’t take the bigger part of the episode. 8,5/10

Episode 06: Baby
Nice episode with interesting topics. The birth brings together all the storyline Grams had with the others, especially her “racist” opinions about Bessie (Nina Repeta) and her relationship with Brody. The scene in which Grams made kind of peace with Bessie, while she is in labor, bleeding and scared about everything was written very good and brought the two characters closer to the audience. And even with Joey worrying about the situation, remembering her mother, this story had even a more interesting meaning. Lifes are changing right now, and it is only a simple birth (exclude the small problems Bessie had) in the living room of the Leerys.
The rest of the episode, which includes Pacey and Tamara, was partly interesting though. Of course, somebody heard the conversation between Dawson and Pacey and of course the rumors are spreading like a virus. And of course everybody of Pacey’s surrounding learns about it (even Doug) and of course it was supposed to be funny, until the school board comes and threatens Tamara’s job in the high school. It just seems unbelievable that the school board is meeting that fast and that they don’t do any investigation, just because Pacey stormed into the session and told everybody that it was just his fantasy… Yeah, of course. Nice try.
The ending was nice, though. Tamara is leaving Capeside, Pacey says goodbye and Joey holds the baby on her arms – very sweet moments, but they don’t make the episode better. 7/10

Episode 07: Detention
Best episode so far – my a mile. Obviously a rip-off of The Breakfast Club, a nice copy of John Hughes’ film and lots of emotional stories in here. and with Abby Morgan (Monica Keena) the series introduces us to a new character. Like in every high school there is one real hard-ass bitch, doing everything for herself, not having friends for this and being the mean bitch everyone from the main character list hates – there are some nice stories coming up with her.
The detention episode was awesome. Finally everybody knows every feeling about anybody. Joey is in love with Dawson, while Jen thinks he is the right one for her compared to her past relationships in New York, and Pacey whacked off, because he has too much pressure going on “down there”. Most of the story could be considered funny, but honestly, this was just the next important step to the character’s relationship. And it was very nice from the writers not to include other stories, especially something with Doug, after we saw him the last two episodes, and maybe something about the failing marriage of Gail and Mitch (which I miss btw, this topic was missing last episode as well – and I miss Dawson reacting to the upcoming break-up of his parents).
The one think I didn’t find very amusing was the kind of overacting in some scenes, especially James Van Der Beek again. But I blame that on their not existing experience in the TV business and hope, this one gets better in the next season. Other than that, this was an almost excellent hour of television. 9/10

Episode 08: Boyfriend
A necessary episode for separating Jen and Dawson, so Dawson can be with Joey at the end of the season. And of course, after the little “break” they had a couple of episodes ago, their relationship is troubled again, after Jen’s ex Billy (Eion Bailey) comes from New York and wants her back. First: Why wants Billy Jen back at all and why was he coming from New York to do exactly that? Any reason at all? While Jen and Billy are flirting, Dawson and Joey are flirting and getting more and more together, so it was predictable that Jen wants to break up with Dawson, because she sees that life in Capeside is the same like in New York. Despite the predictable story, I liked the break-up scene between Jen and Dawson; this was one of the scenes James Van Der Beek actually acted well.
The side plots were a bit uninteresting, though. Joey can’t sleep because of “Rosemary’s baby” (hilarious) and gets drunk because she doesn’t get what she truly wants and what we know since the Breakfast Club episode. Nice that the series is handling alcohol as well in their stories, just the moral of the story was… yeah, where was the moral of the story?
The other plot with Gail and Mitch trying to find something to do was alright; after their story was absent for a couple episodes it was necessary to bring it back. But it just was free of highlights. Of course they are trying to save their marriage, of course they can’t trust each other right now, and of course they have troubles to find back to each other – predictable storylines, but authentic enough to look not stupid or boring.
Okay, it was a necessary episode, but it was a kind of boring one. 6,5/10

Episode 09: Road Trip
The episode was good and had a nice aftermath of Dawson’s and Jen’s break-up. While the boys go with Billy (surprisingly is he still there and wants Jen back, even though she said no to him) on a road trip, into a bar and trying to have fun with women, Joey has different problems with another guy and starts to revenge back – together with Jen, but the plan backfires. Both stories were interesting. Dawson and Pacey had a trip as real friends, which doesn’t happen very often, and both of them trying to find a way out of their teen life for a couple hours, which they managed to do so. Just Dawson’s flirt with Nina (Melissa McBride) was a bit stupid. Not only did Nina look like a 40-year-old, masked as a teen, but her interest in Dawson was way too unbelievable. And I would have wished to see Pacey in a little adventure; after his fail with Tamara and everything what came after he needs a little love story again – or at least a story.
Joey’s and Jen’s plan to humiliate Warren (Eric Balfour) was alright, though I hoped it would be more hilarious. When Joey talked to Abby, this was hilarious, but the rest was pretty boring. When their plan backfired, Jen and Joey didn’t seem to learn from their actions, and instead they are talking about Dawson. But after all they managed to be friends again.
The episode could have been better, when there weren’t some unbelievable stuff in it. 7,5/10

Episode 10: The Scare
A good episode, which actually had some suspense in it, not only because it was Friday, the 13th. Though the fact that the writers built in the story with the Ladykiller was really stupid and predictable. Of course the guy who talked to Joey was the Ladykiller, no wonders there. But their faces were hilarious at the end of the episode.
The rest was alright. Dawson’s séance in his house, together with friends and a stranger (where do all these one-episode characters come from – first Dawson’s flirt last episode now the girl who gets… troubles from her boyfriend) and all of them trying to put some relationship troubles into the night of scary happenings. Dawson’s night was well planned, and there was always the question of what he did to scare his friends and what didn’t he do (e.g. the calls and the letter for Jen). Only a bummer that the girls didn’t took revenge for one time and that Pacey didn’t do anything at all. The story with the “abusive” boyfriend was awkward, though. I don’t know why the writers put that in here (as opposite to all the fake scary moments?).
At least the little date story with Jen and Cliff is over now. Not only is Cliff a boring character, but it is realistic that Jen doesn’t want to be in a relationship now. 7,5/10

Episode 11: Double Date
A good episode and in one storyline a big foreshadow of what’s to come. This episode was evidence for the fact that the writers always wanted to bring Joey and Pacey together, even though they didn’t start that story here. But it will be necessary for later to understand why Pacey even likes Joey that much. Their story was interesting, because it was not only clear that Pacey has problems in high school (another on-going storyline during the next seasons), but their little trip into the nature was
interesting – both characters had a slight development and have to bring Dawson to choose over Jen and Joey, after Pacey told him he has to.
The double date story was good, too, but predictable. With Mary Beth (Meghan Perry) we have another one-episode character (and – again – connected to Dawson, this is not a coincidence anymore), and I thought Jen’s and Cliff’s date story is over – looks like it isn’t. But now it – again – looks like it’s over, after Mary Beth had the hots for Cliff. It was nice to let Jen and Dawson really talk with each
other, so that the season cliffhanger can be prepared – together with Pacey’s words to Dawson that he has to give himself some answers.
If you think about it, this could basically be the episode before the season finale, and I wished it would be, but there are two more episodes coming. 7/10

Episode 12: Beauty Contest
Excellent episode. Though it doesn’t really fit as the episode before the finale (like I said the previous episode suits better as the pre-finale), the beauty contest was a great story for character development and Pacey being a comic relief. And fortunately the writers choose to bring all the characters together in one story, instead telling their lifes apart from each other in different stories and locations. With everybody having the same story the episode is working way better.
I am curious why Joey is thinking that she will be stuck in Capeside and wants to get out of this miserable place – her feelings about her home didn’t come through before, so this comes a bit too fast and too suddenly (though her reasons were partly explained in the last episode). But with Joey being in the competition she had nice moments to think about her life in Capeside, together with her sister, together with what the others thinking about her, and together with her dreams. And her speech on the stage during the contest was really interesting. More breathtaking was her performance of “On My Own”, though I had to think of Rachel singing this song in “Glee”, but this just for the side.
Pacey as competition in the contest was hilarious. First he thinks that he can be funny, then he wants to win (but can’t, the judges won’t let him win, because… they don’t want him to win – nice view on favoritism and sexual racists), and then he gives his William Wallace impersonation – hilarious. 9/10

Episode 13: Decisions
Interesting episode, and kind of “spoof” of all the season finales offering a cliffhanger to let the viewers guess. How funny would it actually be, when Dawson’s Creek had a cliffhanger in its first season? But for that the series does take itself seriously and can’t bring any ironic episodes (The Scare was probably the only almost ironic episode in this season), which is a shame. So I have to rely my hope on Buffy again.
The episode was good. All the stories were concluded, before Dawson’s Creek doesn’t get a second season. Dawson’s parents are into their newfound relationship (already seen in the last episode); Jen’s grandpa dies (a story which I never saw in this season), but gets closer to her Grams; Pacey is still “just” the friend for everybody and risks his relationship to his family for just driving Joey to the prison to visit her father Mike (Gareth Williams); Joey talks to her father, both love each other (and the writers prepare something for the next season), while Joey and Dawson take the next, better first step, into their relationship. All in all, this season has a happy ending, it is the beginning of the friends finally really growing up and the end of the steps they took to start growing up. The first season was partly too brave, but now the characters can live the lives of adults-to-be.
What makes the episode really good is the fact that almost every story told during the first season gets the proper ending. Everybody was waiting for Dawson and Joey to happen, and everybody was predicting that Dawson and Jen won’t be holding much longer, while Pacey didn’t even had a real story in this season (except his “The Graduate” with Tamara, which was a separated story after all) and nothing needs to be concluded with him. And the fact that the writers wrote Joey’s father into the episode (to give her a closer, if this was the series finale, and to bring him into the story, if there is a second season), makes the episode even more important. Not just as a cliffhanger-free season finale. 8,5/10

Season average is 7,77. I rewatched this season in three days, thanks to the public library and much time right now for that. The second season is on my waiting list, as well as the rest of the series, which DVD collection is waiting for me at home. A rewatch of Surface is coming up and I hope to finish Nurse Jackie sometimes soon. The fall and winter breaks of all the current US shows is coming up as well, which gives me time to pick up my archive and get to a few British shows I have on my list.

“Fizbo” and…

“Here Comes My Girl”

November 25th, 2009

Thanksgiving is a holiday about family, which when deployed in television does one of three things. The first is to emphasize the cohesiveness of a particular group of characters who work seamlessly when brought into the same setting. The second is to emphasize the sheer chaos that results from the show’s personalities coming together, to either comic or dramatic purposes. The third, meanwhile, is to demonstrate that the show is a convoluted mess where bringing the characters together is a futile exercise that will fail to provide interesting television.

What’s helpful for ABC’s 9pm comedies is that both of them have built their identity around the idea of family, to the point where bringing the gang together is like second nature to the two shows. Cougar Town has really started to charm me as of late, and “Here Comes My Girl” is yet another fine episode that brings together this group of individuals into a family of sorts that’s just an enormous amount of fun to watch bounce off of each other. And “Fizbo” is perhaps my favourite Modern Family episode yet, taking advantage of the chaos at the heart of this family and bringing things to a satisfying (and also sort of sweet) conclusion.

It made for a really comforting hour of television comedy, which is what the timeslot has been providing (on average) all season.

Perhaps the strongest individual element of the episodes were the show’s fully taking advantage of the strengths of a pair of supporting characters, in this instance Dan Byrd’s Travis and Eric Stonestreet’s Cameron. The two characters have been strong overall, but this episode allowed them to take things to another level. With Travis, this means going beyond his sarcasm and awkwardness to the heart of his relationship with his mother, resulting in Jules losing her sense of self-control and failing miserably at being anything close to “cool.” The result is a really honest, but funny, story of a son coming to terms with the role his mother will play in his adult life, and while it had its broader comic moments (the balloon gag) and its quippy one-liners (the rolling pin would make me feel self-conscious too) it was more about that moment at episode’s end (set to, thanks to the sleuthing skills of Mrs. Sepinwall, Noah and the Whale’s “Give a Little Love,”) where Jules and Travis share a quiet moment preparing Thanksgiving dinner. It was a wonderful piece of acting from Cox and Byrd, and totally sells that Travis is more well-adjusted than Jules but is nonetheless believably awkward. It was a heartfelt and funny little story that really sold me on the relationship.

As for the genius of Fizbo, I don’t really know where to start. Stonestreet’s Cameron has become the show’s breakout character: while Ty Burrell’s Phil stole the pilot (Lion King moment notwithstanding, even, I’d argue), Cameron has been able to show more dimensions and has a slightly better foil in Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Mitchell. Fizbo was a stroke of genius because of both the sheer commitment of Stonestreet and some legitimately amazing directing choices. Look at the dramatic angles the show uses to introduce the character as Cameron puts on the nose/eye makeup, or the amazing shot of Fizbo’s foot stepping out of the car when Mitchell’s about to get attacked at the gas station. The show worked to create the legend of Fizbo, and while Stonestreet was nailing the smaller moments (like the “something”/”nothing” gag with Jay) the direction was establishing just how epic this ass-kicking, balloon-animal machine really is. It didn’t have the emotion of Cougar Town’s storyline, but it didn’t have to: who needs sentiment when you have legend?

Cougar Town was less interested in creating such a huge sense of destiny, but I thought the comic rhythms the show has established in recent weeks were working in overdrive: there were a number of fantastic scenes with Ellie and Laurie playing off of one another, the dynamic between the three men was as strong as it always is, and both broader scenes (the “Hi Kylie” song and the basketball games) were executed to their full effect. I also like that they came right out and pointed out that both Bobby and Grayson are at the point in their lives where Jules is the perfect woman for them, and that they used this for both comic and dramatic effect. There was a joke to be had in Grayson’s suggestion of buying it deep inside and avoiding it, but it’s also kind of true, and the characters have a strong enough dynamic for me to buy things going slowly. Some shows I’d wish that they’d get the usual storylines out of the way, but I’m so enjoying just hanging out with this family that a Thanksgiving dinner can simply hint at some things before just being about spending time together.

And perhaps the best thing about “Fizbo” was that this same theme wasn’t hammered into our heads. The conclusion did end on a note that Luke got a great birthday after all, one where he (and not the holiday) was the center of attention and where the whole family came together, but it came to be through a series of hilarious circumstances. After complaining about V’s in media res opening this week, it was great to see one where the views into the hospital scene made us on alert for potential maladies, and the result was a lot of brilliant comic tension as you had both legitimate threats (the scorpion, Dylan’s mayo allergy, the crossbow) and hilarious phobias (Phil’s fear of clowns, which was a great piece of acting from Ty Burrell) pulling us in various different directions. When things eventually go terribly wrong, with Manny becoming the great hero (“My dog’s still in there” was a cute touch) only to have Luke end up breaking his arm after slipping on Claire’s “comb sheaves” beads was the sort of wonderfully fitting climax that the show should do more often. The show earned that scene in the hospital in a way that previous episodes haven’t earned their tidy endings, and the result was a really great half-hour of television.

Overall, two families I’d be glad to have Thanksgiving dinner with, so long as there’s no crossbows involved and Fizbo is invited.

Cultural Observations

• Want to take this chance to wish all of my American readers a Happy Thanksgiving – sure, it’s not as good as the real CANADIAN Thanksgiving, but I hear it’s still a pretty big deal and all that jazz.
• There were a number of great Fizbo sight gags, but I think the battle for me is the post-badass novelty clock pullout and the running away from the scorpion like a small child. So different, and so amazing.
• Although there were a few too many Michael Scott style “Make joke and mug to camera” moments for Phil in this one, I liked that the show continued last week’s trend of Phil making fun of Claire as opposed to vice-versa.
• Andy’s “I’ve got a secret” heartburn was a fun bit of comedy from Ian Gomez, and Christa Miller is as lovely as always in twisting the knife.
• My one question from the show: while Bill Lawrence’s usual signature touches (the use of music, the oddball comedy, the physical comedy, etc.) are all in place along with a sense of sweetness that the show was lacking in the pilot, I do wonder if the show is interested in investigating actual sadness or tragedy at all. Scrubs, as a medical show was forced to confront it, but these characters are relating to the point where something happening to a distant relative could be played emotionally, but it definitely feels more resistant than Scrubs (or, for that matter, Spin City) to the idea. Just a thought.

Hellz Spring 2010 Collection

Hellz is hot and getting even hotter with their Spring collection for 2010. Hellz Bellz is an incredible label that does a great job of adding a feminine touch to urban streetwear.

Photos: limite magazine

“Hairography”

November 25th, 2009

Last week, I had an extensive Twitter conversation with Jace Lacob about Glee, and the argument boiled down to the question of whether or not the show’s characters were one-dimensional. And what was interesting is that Jace and I don’t disagree: the show’s characters are, on occasion, blindly one-dimensional. However, I argued that the show is still in its infancy, and that considering its identity crisis it’s actually doing a decent job of slowly sketching out its characters.

However, I do think that one of the show’s problems is its decision to have characters waver between substantial character development and broad archetypes week by week. While a show like Friday Night Lights, with a similar ensemble cast of characters that often move in and out of the show’s narrative, is dealing with fairly grounded and realistic characters, Glee is slowly humanizing caricatures. And as a result, you have a character like Artie fluctuating from a handicapped student struggling to relate to his classmates to a random background character in a wheelchair, which feels false. Rather than the character development compounding over time, changing the way the show’s dynamics operate, the exact opposite is happening: while individual episodes give Kurt or Quinn or Puck storylines that expand on their identity, outside of the main serialized storyline (Finn and Quinn’s baby) they revert back to their original modes.

It creates a sense that, for a show which is at its best when characters are being developed and explored in a concentrated fashion, the plots of the show itself don’t actually seem to be changing in kind, and the show reverts back to a farcical comedy more often than not. At the heart of “Hairography” is the fairly simple premise that beneath the distractions we create for ourselves is a sense of our true identity, as various characters test out potential distractions only to find that their heart takes them in a different direction.

However, Glee is a show that is all about distractions, and while this individual episode may have peeled everything back to show the supposed true colours of the various characters the show is never going to stop delivering show-stopping musical numbers or interjecting random musical sequences into largely unrelated scenes. The result is an episode that, rather than representing a legitimate step forward for the series, only draws attention to some of its long-term, cumulative limitations: it can tug at the heartstrings and build character when it wants to, but this is never going to start being a show about twelve kids singing on stools.

Especially not with a fake pregnancy storyline hanging over it.

Now, I am aware that this show (as Twitter user Genshikenn points out) is never overly subtle, so I shouldn’t be annoyed that “Hairography” throws the distractions narrative done our throats with numerous mentions of the term (Quinn wanting to distract Finn, Terri wanting to distract Will, Kurt self-identify as a distraction, Sue talking about being distracted from winning, and of course the eponymous hairography). But when your central theme is the idea that things should be simple and clear, stripped down of the big hair and the crazy dancing in order to fall into a natural pattern, and your episode works for every second of that emotional impact without an ounce of subtlety, that’s problematic for me. Ian Brennan’s script argues that no distraction will ever truly satisfy you, and that you’ll always return to what feels natural and right; however, while I thought the episode resulted in a number of compelling moments (especially the Sign Language collaboration on “Imagine,” which went for the emotional jugular), it never felt particularly natural in the least.

It’s an episode that also demonstrates that the idea of developing each character individually isn’t actually improving on their overall dynamic, as the Glee Club itself felt bizarrely splintered in this episode. When Kurt commented that this was the first time Quinn had ever spoken to him, it reverted back to the stereotypes (Kurt as the social outcast, Quinn as the stuckup and opportunistic cheerleader) that have largely been written out of the two characters through episodes like “Preggers” and last week’s “Ballad.” It’s one thing if every episode doesn’t feature a scene that clearly shows an evolution of a particular character, but Quinn and Kurt could have had this conversation five weeks ago and it would have been just as relevant. In fact, the entire episode could have taken place after “Preggers” and it wouldn’t have been that much of a stretch. And while I understand it’s still early in the season, a lot of substantial character development has happened since that point that should be reflected in how these characters act that just isn’t. Yes, we read Quinn’s efforts to distract Finn and get to know Puck as less problematic since we’ve both seen Quinn humbled (in “Ballad”) and Puck humanized (in “Mash-Up”), but the episode did nothing to reflect this (especially in terms of turning Puck into a complete and total cad).

There was a lot of criticism of “Mash-Up” (where Puck and Rachel got together, and where we saw the Emma/Will story front and center), which was also written by Brennan, but I liked the episode at the time because it showed different sides to characters and connected the three stories together with a central theme that made sense for each of them. However, now I realize that what really made me like the episode was that Terri Schuester was entirely absent from it. I like Jessalyn Gilsig, but this episode reminded us why we were all so glad they put the storyline on the back burner for a while. Not only is Terri’s sister unquestionably the worst character on the show (compared to her, Terri’s downright compelling), but the storyline is the ultimate sort of distraction from where the heart of the show really lies. And perhaps what made Brennan’s theme fall so far short here was that there is no way he is capable of convincing the argument that there is an honest, heartfelt reason why Terri continues to fake a pregnancy considering the potential long-term ramifications. The show has shown us too much of Will and Emma’s flirtations for us to actually root for this marriage to survive, and any chance of having pity for Terri was gone the moment the character was conceived as a shrill drain on Will’s spirit. There’s no redeeming this storyline, no matter the amount of times the theme is drilled into our heads, and it certainly coloured my opinion of the episode considering its prevalence.

There were, of course, elements of the episode I quite liked. I thought that meeting the two other Glee clubs was a solid extension of the show’s world view, and both Eve and Michael Hitchcock (who I recognized most as Ira Gilligan from Arrested Development) were strong as their respective leadership. The scene with Hitchcock’s Dalton Rumba (which is an amazing name, by the way) and Will going back and forth with the partially deaf Rumba misinterpreting what Will is saying is a very simple comedy scene, and with Hitchcock’s timing was really well done. I thought getting a preview of the other schools ahead of Sectionals is also smart in terms of making that event seem like an actual event, as “Sectionals” has seemed like an ambiguous goal up to this point. The episode also nicely used the schools to provide the episode’s broadest storyline, as the Jane Adams Academy girls provide the inspiration for hairography and the Academy for the Deaf provides the impulse to switch to something much simpler.

And if the episode had just been about that idea, perhaps it might have been a more consistent episode, but it just tried to do too many things. Sue suddenly back and gunning for Glee club came out of nowhere, and although it creates tension for Sectionals it never really fit into the episode other than some great delivery from Jane Lynch. And when you pile in Rachel and Kurt’s love for Finn, Quinn’s concern over Puck, Terri’s attempts to distract Will, and then try to throw them all together, you realize that nothing really got accomplished: Quinn’s back where she belongs, Will is still devoted to his child, and Finn and Quinn are still together with Kurt and Rachel still pining after him even while acknowledging they don’t have a shot.

Brennan’s approach to the script seemed to be that they had the central idea (dictated by the big musical numbers), so what they needed was ways to tie the characters into that idea in order to effectively fill time. There was no specific character development that needed to happen in the episode, and you could sense this as the stories were happening. Twitter user ageekinthepink notes that it seems like the show keeps raising the same issues as if they are new, and that nothing ever seems to conclude, and while I’m not sure the show is going to be able to “wrap up” storylines just yet (Terri will be the first real test) I do agree that it seems like an episode like this one invented or repeated conflict to fill time more than letting things follow through naturally. It went into characters’ heads to show them hatching crazy schemes in a way that kept things moving but that never felt natural even when everyone got together and sang a stirring version of “True Colours” in the end.

As a result, “Hairography” is unfortunately devoid of the quality that made me argue the show’s merits with Jace in the first place. Its sense of incremental character development requires an acknowledgement that some things have changed, and for episodes to give a clear sense that our changing perspectives on these characters are in some way reflected in their behaviour (as none of the character beats have taken place entirely isolated from the show’s other characters). Instead, we get an episode that in an effort to fill out an intelligent story decision (previewing and setting the stage for Sectionals in two weeks’ time) reverts the characters to their original archetypes and accomplishes nothing substantial in the process. It’s as if any time the show tries to move the show’s plot forward it has no idea how to move the show’s characters forward at the same time, a sort of stop/start mentality that will only hurt it in the long run.

Cultural Observations

• Brittany is really coming into her own: she looked smoking hot (yeah, I said it) with her hair down, and “it’s like cool epilepsy” was the night’s most wrong, and thus most right, one-liner.
• When I heard they were doing “Papa Don’t Preach,” I was all excited about seeing more of Quinn’s family situation and the show using the song as an emotional look into her emotional state as she considers keeping the child. Instead, she performed it for a set of pre-teen triplets in an effort to calm them into submission, which is officially the weirdest application of that song I could possibly imagine. It’s a great song, and a great version from Dianna Agron, but its placement in the episode is token to the point of being utterly worthless.
• I’m officially over mashups for this show: I get that it allows them to introduce two different songs or contextualize a song young viewers might not be familiar with (“Hair”) with one they are (“Crazy in Love”), but this one never really came together. The show already did embarrassing with “Push It” much better, and musically I was left wanting more of Mercedes’ Beyonce impression and more of the cast breaking into the counterculture classic.
• Take being said, Artie as Jay-Z? Inspired. I wanted more.
• The show occasionally makes Kurt out to be extremely intelligent, so how do they justify his claim that he and Rachel are equally unlikely to ever be in a relationship with Finn? I get that he’s a dreamer (he’s not the only one, after all), but it makes the character seem blind to the point of incompetence.
• So, question of the week: how do they get out of this Terri situation? My current bet is a double miscarriage, in that Terri chooses to fake a miscarriage to stop the ruse and tell Will the truth only to have Quinn have a miscarriage at the same time leaving everyone childless and sad, which would have Will falling into Terri’s arms if not for the fact that he learns about the fake pregnancy and the pressure she placed on Quinn and murders her for it. Like?

“It’s Only the Beginning”

November 24th, 2009

“Is this the real life / is this just fantasy … open your eyes / look up to the skies and see”

In addressing the fall finale of ABC’s science fiction series V, I quote Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody for two reasons. The first is an excuse to link to the gleeful and wondrous Muppets version of the song released to YouTube today (if you need a better justification, let’s go with corporate synergy). The second is that the opening lines of this classic song feel like they capture the basic condition of most of V’s characters when these spaceships descended upon them. The very nature of science fiction that is roughly set in our own world is the question of whether the supernatural elements are “for real” in the sense that they should be trusted, which is perhaps what V has been missing since it debuted a mere three weeks ago. For a show about a race of aliens descending on humanity, the show has jettisoned the period of reflection in favour of drawing a line in the sand between skeptics who form a resistance against them and believers who freely choose to walk among them.

The logic behind the relative speed at which this has been accomplished is found within “It’s Only the Beginning,” which lives up to its cheeky title by confirming that, yes, this four-episode premiere event of sorts hasn’t actually managed to accomplish much of anything. In the show’s haste to define the characters quickly in order to bring in enough plot to tide people over until March (when the show is most likely to return), they forgot to show these characters struggling to come to terms with the Vs and the promises they offer to the world, and as such this finale has nothing to fall back on. The plot twists we see are intriguing (as the premise has not been the show’s biggest problem) if we care about the characters, but by separating the interesting individuals from the interesting stories (outside of Morena Baccarin’s Anna) the show has never tapped into the binary between these two cultures and the potential that lies within this premise.

Accordingly, it’s a good thing for the show’s creative future that it is only the beginning, although whether the series’ ratings future will be able to survive a rocky start is yet to be determined.

The purpose of the “X Hours Earlier” Chyron is to create suspense, wondering both how the episode gets to the moment in question and wondering how the moment is resolved. It’s meant to make an episode feel more exciting by providing an immediate sense of suspense, or showing a character acting in a way that makes you really curious just what we’re about to see. So, when V is trying to take what would normally be just a simple episode and turn it into a fall finale that will need to sustain the show for months, it makes sense for them to use a device like this (likely instituted in post-production) in order to manufacture some additional interest.

However, this particular example is over in only eighteen minutes, and it ends up more a sort of narrative shortcut than anything else. The episode partly resolved around a lack of trust between the members of the resistance, in particular Erica and Ryan, so the brief glimpse of Ryan apparently shooting down Erica previews this theme. However, this early in the show’s run, we don’t care enough about these characters to find this overly concerning, and we certainly weren’t overly concerned about whether Georgie was going to die. This device is potentially effective, sure, but it requires that we care enough about the characters and that we see enough plot to make it worthwhile. And this example failed on both of these fronts, as there wasn’t enough surprising about Ryan and Erica’s situation (they barely know each other) to make it really stand out, and the rush to get to that moment made it even more worthless.

That’s how I felt about a lot of what V offered in these first four episodes, sequences that would be far more compelling if we cared about the people taking part. I think the idea of an impressionable teenager being sucked in by the aura of the Vs would be compelling had they cast an actor with range and given them realistic scenes to play with the characters around them, as opposed to simply falling in lust with a P.Y.V. I think the idea that there are traitors within the V, forced to turn against each other to maintain their secrecy, would have been far more effective if we hadn’t just met those characters last week and this week respectively. And the idea of a LIZARD BABY would be intriguing if it wasn’t the only interesting thing to come from a character who I refer to as “Ryan’s wife” because even remembering his name is a relative challenge.

In an interview I read earlier this week, new producer Scott Rosenbaum indicated that he intends to maintain the general trajectory of the series when it returns in the new year, but that how it is executed will be significantly darker. And I think this is the right trajectory, as the problem with the show is more in how these stories are being executed than in the basic premise. The idea of the Vs using our paranoia over vaccines to their advantage is an intriguing idea, but it was so poorly executed that it had almost no impact. The storyline made no sense: as I understood it initially, the idea was that the Vs were infiltrating the flu vaccine supply in an effort to stir paranoia that would drive people to get their own vitamin shot instead (which laid some sort of groundwork for future research or something). However, instead, the show argued that the vitamin shot was a placebo, a smokescreen to keep health officials distracted while the R6-tainted vaccine went out into the public and created chaos. The former is a bit overly complex, but it at least feels like a necessary means towards an end. The latter is a small scale attack when we know a large scale attack (see: the collection of Flying Vs in the conclusion) is possible, which makes it convoluted to the point of frustration.

There are scenes here that are quite effective, but almost all of them surround Morena Baccarin’s Anna and the V’s technology that the show isn’t interested in really investigating that carefully. While we’re watching Scott Wolf get checked out, it’s obvious that he’s going to have some sort of medical condition, but when they eventually announced that they have added the fourth dimension to the medical process (time) it made me imagine more enjoyable applications of that technology within this world. It’s not a good sign for a show when I’m wishing that we could have a Minority Report-style medical procedural, but I kind of wish we had more time there and less with the FBI-style investigations. The elements of the show that have the most potential interest are to this point out of the reach of every human character but Tyler, and considering he is the least interesting character that does the show very little good.

Any show that deals with a duality as clear as human/V is going to need to investigate the differences between them, and the problem right now is that the middle ground (the point of conflict or convergence) is a long-term goal for Erica and a convoluted grand scheme being kept a secret for Anna. And while it might eventually be really engaging, the show is currently not situated to actually show us that conflict, spending too little time amongst the V society (where Baccarin is the show’s strongest link) and not working enough to connect the humans together in a compelling fashion. Learning that Tyler is Ryan’s wife’s patient is the sort of thing that the show tried to play as a reveal, but was just a contrived way to pretending as if the show really had its ducks in a row, a point which I would most likely contend.

This is not a terrible show, nor is it one without redeeming qualities. “It’s Only the Beginning” features some legitimately compelling scenes, like the great sound design in the skinning sequence, but it never feels like it stops on them long enough to really make a difference. In all fairness to the show, the four episode opening meant that it would likely have never had enough time to really get me involved with the show and its characters, but those four hours were not particularly well-executed even within that context. If this was a four-hour long presentation pilot, designed to convince a network that there is potential here with some production changes, then I’d call it a success. As it is, though, it’s a show that never quite understood its appeal, and has no clear sense of identity to fall back on.

As such, when we leave on a cliffhanger of a series regular bleeding out, the suspense isn’t in whether he’ll live or die but rather whether the show will sink or swim.

Cultural Observations

• There was a lot of talk about how the show is becoming more overtly political, with health care being used as a weapon much as critics of Obama’s health care stance argue it will be should the bill before Congress goes through, but I thought that the V strategy is so convoluted that even their dabblings into human society seem hokey and supernatural to me.
• The sequence of Anna offering “Bliss” to the Vs around the world (and some humans as well, it seems) was sort of just “there,” which makes me think that it, like LIZARD BABY (must always be written in all caps), was a callback to the original series.
• Personally, at this point, I would have made Tyler’s role in the larger V plan apparent so that a) we can figure out what it is that they see in him that we as an audience don’t and b) so that the character can have something interesting associated with him, as opposed to just some vague strategy.
• The idea that the V ships fly in Flying Vs immediately made me think of another more interesting story about V/Human integration: The Mighty Vs. Make it happen, people.

Emma Bell S/S 2010

Emma Bell S/S 2010 collection exemplifies fashion in a perfect world of teas partys, kaleidoscopes and sweet confections. I can only hope that the upcoming season is as bright and fun as Emma Bell’s playful collection.

Sweet Like Candy

CANDY 2009 A/W Vol. 2 collection is the reason why I love Tokyo street fashion. Yes, the the designs are insane but so wearable. I got my eye on the long sleeve gray dress with frills. Thanks Tokyo Dandy for putting me on.

My Work with Ezo Magazine

I recently did this fashion spread in Ezo Magazine along with Rapper Mickey Factz for their current issue. The issue just dropped last night and has singer Fefe Dobson on the cover, so go download your free issue today.

Erica joins forces with an ally to investigate a biological threat. Elsewhere Anna visits a special guest. Chad has second thoughts about the V’s after some disturbing proof from a report.

Watch V Season 1 Episode 4 It’s Only The Beginning Online

Chad reports on 100 diplomatic visas issued to the first wave of American Visitors, with Anna getting the 1st, however there are some opposition against this decision. Erica is assigned to protect the V’s from death threats with her paired with a V officer.

Watch V Season 1 Episode 3 – A Bright New Day

Dozens of UFO’s suddenly appear on Earth, hovering over major cities around the world and claim that their objective is to help the Human race, providing vastly superior intelligence and technology in exchange for water and minerals only found on Earth. The leader of the V’s (Visitors) Anna uses the popular TV anchor Chad Decker to deliver her messages to the Humans but suspicion arises from FBI investigator Erica who believes that the V’s have different intentions to what they claim. Erica and Father Jack find themselves being tracked down by a seeker.

Watch V Season 1 Episode 2 – There Is No Normal Anymore

An image of Anna, the leader of the V’s, is projected worldwide as she talks about people joining together; the V’s are Tyler’s ticket to being a part of something big, egotistical newscaster Chad gets an exclusive interview with Anna.

Watch V Season 1 – Episode 1 – Pilot Online

History repeating

This eppy sees a new teacher arriving in town, and is willing to give Jeremy a second chance. One that he is actually willing to take. Good on him!

It also sees Bonnie getting caught in the middle of Damon past with it coming to a terrible end. I can’t believe that Stephan just walked away at the end after everything that he and Elena have been through. No fair. Clearly to all is fair in love and war.

Rowshana Jackson’s Interview with inCOLOR

Today I’m featured in the lifestyle magazine inCOLOR.net . The feature includes an interview where I’m asked several questions concerning my role as a stylist, my personal style and this season’s fashion must-haves. To read the complete interview click here.

Watch The Vampire Diaries season 1 episode 10-S1E10 online video stream for free. You can watch The Vampire Diaries Free Streaming Video here. For you that always been waiting for this TV show, now the newest episode of this television series has been aired on 19 Nov, 2009 (11/19). Title for newest episodes of The Vampire Diaries season 1 episode 10-S1E10 is “The Turning Point”.

Episode Synopsis : Stefan and Damon discover they have some competition to deal with, and Elena makes a devastating discovery

Watch The Vampire Diaries season 1 episode 10-S1E10 online video stream here

Don’t worry if you had missed to watch this TV show at the aired date above or outside U.S and can’t watch this TV Series, you can still watch online live streaming video of  The Vampire Diaries episode here for free. Taken from updated and working video hosting like Hulu, Sling, Megavideo, Zshare, etc.

Don’t miss to watch The Vampire Diaries season 1 episode 10-S1E10 Free Streaming Online Video, and also you can watch all Full Episodes of The Vampire Diaries  TV show and other popular TV series

Watch Glee Season 1 Episode 10 (S1E10) online video stream for free. You can watch Glee Free Streaming Video here. For you that always been waiting for this TV show, now the newest episode of this television series has been aired on 18 Nov, 2009 (11/18). Title for newest episodes of Glee Season 1 Episode 10 (S1E10) is “Ballad”.

Episode Synopsis : Mr. Schuester has the Glee Club split up into pairs to sing their favorite ballad, but when one kid gets sick, he’s forced to step in and winds up in a sticky situation. Meanwhile, Finn has dinner with Quinn’s parents.

Watch Glee Season 1 Episode 10 (S1E10) online video stream here

Don’t worry if you had missed to watch this TV show at the aired date above or outside U.S and can’t watch this TV Series, you can still watch online live streaming video of  Glee episode here for free. Taken from updated and working video hosting like Hulu, Sling, Megavideo, Zshare, etc.

Don’t miss to watch Glee Season 1 Episode 10 (S1E10) Free Streaming Online Video, and also you can watch all Full Episodes of Glee TV show and other popular TV series

WOW what a season 1 finale. As you know Before starting I knew just about nothing about LOST (save they eventually get off the island, numbers are important and the island maybe a government or alien creation) so there were quite a few things I did not see coming. Everyone got a flashback (which was awesome). Frenchy pulled a rope-a-dope and kidnapped devil baby (Erin!) in order to swap for her 16 yr old son. The Others were really after Walt and it looks like they have a motorboat (why are they still on the island then!). Jack gives Sawyer a gun and Sawyer tells Jack about his encounter with Jack’s father (it’s like the writers read my last post). Hurley saw the numbers on the hatch. The Prof blew himself up with dynamite in a wicked cool scene (I’m sorry that the Prof died, esp since I’ve taken the trouble to give him a cool nickname). The invisible-dino is really a defense system which appears to be mechanical. Jin and Sun reconcile. Sticks shows heart, Charlie finds the heroin, the US marshal put the toy airplane in the safety deposit box, Jack is no longer married, Sayid uses gun powder to fix Charlie and the list goes on and on…

As I said before I really loved how this episode gave everyone flashbacks. They really made you feel how how much the characters have changed in the last month. The theme of the flashbacks seemed to be how the main survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 almost didn’t get on the plane but fate stepped in and assured they were. Interestingly enough we had our survivors sitting in rows 23,16,42, etc. And who is that hott chick that was hitting on Jack who just happened to be sitting in row 42 (last row in the plane). Would they bring her up and make her sit in that row if she wasn’t important? Could she be alive on the island and hanging out with Rose’s hubby??

All in all I am loving LOST right now. Season 1 had a tight the story and everything felt connected and purposeful. They probably gave us enough answers in the finale but I would have had trouble waiting between seasons to find out what happened to the folks on the boat and what’s in the goddamn hatch!! I think the next thing I need to explore is…what is the island??..because like Sawyer said, it’s too big to not have been discovered.

Next up on Finally Lost, I’m really wondering how they will bridge the time gap between seasons. So far only roughly a month has gone by. Will we pick up hours, weeks or months later? How the hell are Michael, Jin and Sawyer going to survive being 15 miles out with no boat? Will we EVER find out what’s in that damn hatch. Are the survivors going to start figuring out how they are all connected? Is hott girl #42 going to come back?

Round on Both Sides

I was hired as a stylist and make-up artist for a film called “Round on Both Sides“. The movie is in post production and stars Tami Jordan & Brandon Young. Also, check out my daughter, she plays the little girl in the movie.

.
- Atta. Chuuut… T’as rien entendu ?
  Ecoute bien… Tiens là… cette voix… et une autre, là… J’ai pas rêvé, hein ? 

- Ben nan. Hé, on est tous seuls au milieu de nulle part, tu sais ça, mec ?! Y’a RIEN à entendre.
  Ah nan mais “i” va pas nous la jouer Jeanne d’Arc maintenant ?! Mmm… je crois qu’il a un sacré un pétokaske, LeGamin…
  Va vraiment falloir qu’”i” se fasse examiner de près.

- Pfff… c’est sérieux, Bro.

Elles m’appellent, je te jure. Elles disent que je DOIS retourner là-bas…
…qu’elles seront au RDV de Lutèce pour RE4 en Octobre 2010…
… et même qu’y aura leur grande copine ZeV…

.

  & 
   TM ® AOC
  BeGood

.
Que s’IL y va, NOUS aussi !!!

_______________________

2 more episodes down and still NO idea what’s in the damn hatch! I only have the 2 part season finale left and there are still so many unanswered questions however this time we were given a few morsels of answers. Mystery 1 solved: John Locke knock out Sayid and destroyed his equipment. I KNEW it! Wait let’s go back to the record…”Locke is very suspicious because he does too good of a job convincing Sayid it was Sawyer (even though the audience knows it wasn’t) and I’m not sure he wants to be rescued from what he dubbed “magic island” because unlike at home he has a role and is respected. That being said, I’m going to pin it on a yet to met character.” Good reasoning but went with unknown character who turned out to be Ethan. I’ll give myself half a point for reasoning, for narrowing it down to 2 good guesses and for identifying that there was someone already on the island that was going to cause them problems. Fair?

And we got some answers about Kate in her flashback. Kate did kill the man she loved and predictably it wasn’t at her hands although clearly it was her fault (BITCH that’s why no one’s voting for you on my poll!). We found out the significance of the plane!! Now that I know it, am I really expected to believe Kate would risk everything by breaking into a bank to get a toy plane? How did it get in that safety deposit box anyway? We still don’t know what Kate’s original crime was to set the law after her but maybe in her next flashback. I’d also love to know what she did to her mom to piss her off so much. PREDICTION: Kate was molested by her step-dad and ended up killing him by accident. That seems to fit and still keeps her hands relatively clean…

Before I get to Sticks I need to say something to the on the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815: can you PLEASE tell each other more about yourselves! In honor of Walt telling his dad that he burned the raft I have my list of top info that would be really useful if shared:
- Hurley’s numbers (then maybe they’ll notice they’re on the hatch)
- Hurley’s numbers (it’s f’n important!)
- The fact that Locke can now walk
- Whatever the hell Locke knows about the island
- Prego’s psychic setup
-  The story of Jack’s father and Sawyer (this isn’t really important but it would be really nice for Jack and maybe him and Sawyer could then be bff’s)
- Am I missing anything???

One last thing about Walt. I’m starting to think he really does have some sort of super power. He touches Locke and then has a bad feeling about the hatch. In the past there was him always rolling the correct dice against Hurley and that bird showed up at his house when his parent’s weren’t listening to him. His step-dad DID call him the luckiest man alive…

And finally Sticks. What the hell were you thinking girl Locke’s the bet shot you got!? And how the hell did you know about the secret guns and that Jack had the key? Something was very odd about the shooting scene. I kept replaying it and it looked like she shot Locke in the stomach. Can anyone confirm? Is the island trying to protect Locke? Why did he get the use of his legs back again? Did it have something to do with the Hatch? I don’t think I like Sticks very much but Sayid is the man. His flashback was a great story and it made his scene with Frenchy more significant when he talked about giving up on finding his love. I really don’t see why he likes Stick’s other than she is pretty hott. But I guess on a deserted island that’s probably enough…

Next up on Finally Lost I get to see the Season Finale of Lost Season 1!! I’m predicting 4 answers and 2342 more questions. By the way today is the last day to vote for your favorite character, so please vote and I will do a write up on the winner.

Iris Van Herpen S/S 2010 Collection

Live Fashion loves when fashion crosses paths with art. We’ve been very eager to blog about designer Iris Van Herpen S/S 2010 Collection. Finally, we get a chance to sing her praises and present her fantastic creations. The garments are covered with meticulous detailing that look carved out of clay instead of fabric. Iris Van Herpen’s collection is definitely a beautiful sight to see for fashion couture lovers.

EYOLA TARCOTSIRA OCTETTE

EYOLA designs are clearly inspired by the Victorian era with great use of bold jewel colors. Everything in this collection is rich and full. My personal favorite is the lengthy black long sleeve dress with a split down the front. I love something black and sleek with strong detailing.  The blue dress is beautifully vibrant and the red dress is perfectly dramatic.