duck ramp

Stuff is just pouring off the trees, being blown by the wind. I now know the taste of pollen—bitter, metallic. No ducks climb up the ramp. The fountain is off, the water still.

the redbuds are coming, the redbuds are coming . . .

Actually these fabulous trees are starting to wane.

They replaced the cherry blossoms and the dogwoods and lilacs are now replacing them.

But they are still gorgeous, purple/pink flowering trees. Spring, spring, spring.

girl power?

I don't want to squash a young artist, but every time I hear this song by Orianthi on the radio I am befuddled. It at first sounds like it's supposed to be rock 'n' roll girl power, but the message, the message . . .

She may sound  strong and angry, but she is trading one guy's (admittedly negative) opinion about her:

According to you
I'm stupid
I'm useless
I can't do anything right

For another guy's (more positive) one:

But according to him
I'm beautiful, incredible
He can't get me out of his head
According to him
I'm funny, irresistible
Everything he ever wanted

How is that girl power? Or rebellious? It sure ain't feminist. Why is she defining herself by what some guy thinks about her?

Everything is opposite
I don't feel like stopping it
So baby tell me what I got to lose
He's into me for everything I'm not
According to you

Please continue to strap on the guitar and cry out to the wilderness. It's a good impulse.

I need to feel appreciated
like I'm not hated
Oh, no
Why can't you see me through his eyes?
It's too bad you're making me dizz-ay


But throw away the need to define yourself through other's eyes. Kick ass. Be yourself.

Now that's rock 'n' roll.

whole lotta love

Everybody Loves Hugo. What's not to love where Hugo's concerned? The real Pierre Chang (not the puppet) introduces Man of the Year Hurley. His mom is still harping, complaining that he can't get a girlfriend. What's a multi-bajillionaire supposed to do? She sets him up on a date where he is stood up (is the luckiest man on earth's luck about to run out?)

Hell no, here comes . . . Libby. It's love at first sight, even with her weirder than usual déjà vu story. The fact that she is physically pulled away from his table and loaded into a van destined for a mental hospital depresses our usually happy-go-very-lucky Hurley and drives him straight towards the waiting arms of a bucket of chicken, where he meets . . . Desmond, who chats him up and talks about the power of love while waiting for his order in Mr. Clucks. He shakes Hurley's hand, a la Jacob. Is the touch of Jacob love? Desmond now seems to know exactly what's going on—Sideways and on the Island. Take that, Eloise (and Smokey)! But the handshake is just that—a handshake, although it does send Hurley to the mental hospital, checkbook in hand, to bribe his way in to talk to Libby again.

Libby and Hurley have crazy sweet chemistry.  They finally get to have their picnic ("Like a date we never had"). This time, this life, Hurley remembered the blanket (and six different kinds of cheeses.) So far Hurley is the only one Sideways who appears to be blocked from glimpses of his alternate Island life. He doesn't get a Through the Looking-glass reflective moment. It doesn't seem as if he can speak to the dead Sideways, either. That is . . . until their mind-altering, flashing-before-their-eyes kiss. Desmond looks on—guardian angel, spirit guide, constant?




On the Island, Team Good Guys is still all about blowing up the plane. The moment Ilana said she was going to the Black Rock I knew she was going to go the way of Arzt, but still, it was a shock when it happened. Ben: "The Island was 'done' with Ilana." I always felt she was a red shirt, but still, RIP Ilana. We might still see her again. It's LOST, you know.

Michael appears to Hurley, not too differently from the way Smokey travels, but still . . . different. Hurley figures out that Michael is one of the "whisperers." They can't move on because of bad things that they have done. Can a cork be purgatory? I still think it's all a bit more than that . . . Michael is no longer looking for "WALLTT!!!" He wants to help his friends not die, and insists that blowing up the plane will do just that. Does that mean that Lapidus will be saved from red shirt status by virtue of his piloting ability? Hope so. Hurley believes Michael and blows up the Black Rock to protect everyone. "Dead people are more reliable than live people."




Poor Richard. He just got his mojo back and now this. The Losties split up again. Jack believes in Hurley. Jack what are you doing to me? I'm starting to love ya, dude, and it's freakin' me out. Richard, Ben and Miles set off to blow up the plane. I watched them go and was thinking, "dead, dead, dead," but upon reflection I hope that I'm wrong. Maybe they will become the left flank that comes in at the end of the battle when all looks lost and help our castaways when they need it most. That's my theory  at the moment. Hurley, Jack, Lapidus, and a still notepad-scrawling Sun are off to talk to "Locke."

At Camp Smokey Sawyer and Kate are getting sick of waiting . . . for what? Smokey says the candidates are on their way. Kate is sure that will never happen. Zombie Sayid shows up, and like a cat, wants to show Smokey the mouse he has caught for him—Desmond—tied up to a tree. Smokey pats his zombie pet on the head and sends him away, untying Desmond, who says "he has nowhere to run to." Desmond on Island seems clear with what's happening, has happened and is going to happen. Is he beyond time itself? Smokey takes Desmond to a well, one of the pockets of magnetic Island energy, apparently. On the way he and Desmond see another young boy. This time Smokey is less freaked out than he was by the blond boy he saw with Sawyer. I suspect that this kid is Smokey, as a boy. Maybe when you are so close to the power source time gets all wonky? Smokey probes and banters and then shoves Desmond into the well, a true GASP moment. But it looks like this isn't the end of my beloved Des yet. I'm still not sure he won't have to make the ultimate sacrifice before this all plays out, however.




Sideways, Desmond has some moves of his own. He waits outside the school where the substitute John Locke is teaching. Desmond believes (as I have wondered) that Smokey has substituted himself for John Locke to live out a Sideways existence off-Island. Desmond hits the gas and plows down Sideways Locke. Was Desmond trying to kill him and destroy Smokey, or is this his way to give Sideways Locke his moment of clarity? Will he now see the Island world? Not quite as nice a way to wake up from the dream as Hurley had . . .

On the Island, everybody follows Hugo, even when he has no idea where he's headed. I believe in you, dude. The good guys arrive at Locke's camp. Sun is visibly upset to see that all the Losties seem to be there, except for of course, Jin. But the big reveal moment is Jack finally setting eyes on Smokey. Is he gobsmacked to see  the body of John Locke apparently alive again? Or does he look at him and see the smoke monster? We shall see . . .

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