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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!!!


Well, it's that time of year again. Where adults hand out cany, kids go trick or treating, and houses are decked with orange lights, tombstones, and cobwebs.

No matter how fun the holiday may be, the evolution of Halloween is pretty cool. The Halloween we know is a combination of traditions from different places and just a smidge of commercialism. The anicient Celts believed that on Halloween Night, the two worlds (this world and the Underworld) were closer together and spirits could travel into this world. Good spirits, such as deceased family members were welcomed while bad spirits were warded off. So, they disguised themselves so only the good spirits would recognize them. During this time, there were bonfires and celebrations.

The term "Halloween" was derived from Hallowe’en, which was short for "All Hallows' Even". "Even" was short for evening. As you can see, the Celts really liked to shorten things. It was considered pagan, so Christians decided to move All Saints day to the day after Halloween to make it less pagan.

But how did Halloween turn in to the big event it did today? Well, the belief in withces, goblins, ghosts, and all these other things have been around for thousands of years. And it only makes sense to associate these supernatural beings with Halloween.

Today, Halloween is a day of having fun. For me, it marks the begining of the end of the year. It also marks the begining of the Holidays Season, with Thanksgiving and Christmas following weeks later.

So I wish everyone a Happy Halloween. Have fun!

Friday, October 30, 2009

FF: 1.6- Scary Monsters and Super Creeps


*Editor's Note: I hope my schedule will be better now. Also, I will try adding some images all my posts, making the page a bit more interesting. Enjoy!

Well, my prediction was right about Janis. After she was rushed to the hospital, she seemed to stablize, but there were some complications involving her uterus making the chances of her carrying a child slim at best. But, her vision showed her being pregnant. It appears we found a vision that won't come true. Which might be good news for Mark and Olivia. But we'll get back to that a little later.

An investigation is now underway as to who caused the attacks in LA and DC. n the mourge, a mysterious blue hand is uncovered in one of the Asian atackers. "Blue hand" was also one of the clues on Mark's board. And now Demeteri, the person who doesn't believe in the flashforwards, wants to follow it. In the flashforward, the Blue Hand was also related to Baltimore. Well, there's a Baltimore Street close by. Why not start there?

Oh, did I mention it was Halloween? I love when TV shows do Halloween episodes, it's always fun. So, they head there and find another body with a blue hand. His name was Rutherford, the same case Al would be investigating in his flashforward. Hmm....

During this time, Mark and Aaron take Charlie trick or treating and see that mysterious kangaroo again. He also sees several people in masks, masks similar to what the people were wearing in his flashforward. Turns out they were merely some kids doing some tricking on Halloween.

Meanwhile, Lloyd's son Dylan walked out of the hospital, got onto a bus, and went to Olivia's house after his father told him they were going to live together. He comes into the house past the babysitter saying "It's my house, too" because in his flashforward, Charlie was telling him it was his house, too. The babysitter notify's Mark, and he comes home. Lloyd also arrives to get his son, and realizes this was the house in his vision. Olivia also comes, and he realizes she was the woman in his vision.

Mark tells him to get lost and never come back. Mark also admits to Olivia that he was drinking in his vision, and their trust is broken further. Could these visions be causing the demise of their marriage?

Throughout the show, we meet Physicist Simon who is on a train to LA. He meets a woman, seduces her with a theory about the blackout, and has sex with her. Afterwards, he sits in a srtrange sex pose telling her he saw himself strangling a man in his flashforward. After he arrives in LA, he jumps out of the back seat of Lloyd's car, scaring Llyod (and my brother, lol) and says the have to talk. Lloyd responds "Our experiment killed 2o million people. What is there to talk about". So, they caused the blackout?!?!

Like I say in every episode, FlashForward keeps getting better and better.

I'd also like to take this time to inform you that I will begin doing V updates on Wednesday. Stay tuned...

Monday, October 26, 2009

Mr. Monk and Sharona

*Editor's note: Forgive me. With the Yankees winning the penant, I was to happy and excited to do my Monk and GH columns. Never fear, they will be up today!

Well, I knew it was going to happen. Sharona and Natalie battling it out. But the episode still did take several intersting twists. So, let's solve this week's mystery!

This week's murder actually involves Sharona. Her Uncle supposedly tripped on a golf course and died. Sharona was in town to collect the money from the country club and decided to stop by to see good 'ole "Adrian". This is where Natalie and Sharona meet for the first time. Things go well and they discuss Monk, making him uncomfortable.

But why did Sharona leave? She explains it: she seperated from her husband for good and returned to nursing. Her son, Benji, is also preapring to go to college. And now she can use the money she got from the country club to pay for it!

At the country clu, Monk looks at the pictures of the place where the accident occured. However, it doesn't add up to him and he further investigates the area where Sharona's uncle died. This is where we meet Perry Walsh, a pro golfer and his wife. We also meet Perry's caddie. Both Perry and his caddie saw the death, and assured Monk it was an accident. The caddie ran for help while Perry tried to do CPR. Sitll, it doesn't add up for Monk. He concludes that the uncle could not have been playing golf at the time of the incident. This worries Sharona because this means it was not the country club's fault, and they won't have to pay for it.

This also causes a rift between Natalie and Sharona's freindship. Natalie believes it's not right to ignore the murder for money. But Sharona needs the money to pay for Benjie's college. This seems pretty selfish of Sharona, I must say. I'll be going to college in 2 years and I would never choose money over justice. At least, I hope I wouldn't.

Upon further investigation, Monk finds out that Sharona's uncle has been hurt before and has settled out of court. When the arrive at his apartment, they see a lot of bills indicating Howie was broke. They also see evidence that the uncle was practicing falling, so Monk comes to the conclusion that he must have wanted to trip and fall and sue the place to get money.

Along the way, Natalie and Sharona clahs over the different styles they have. Sharona was far more mean and not as understanding as Natalie, where as Natalie is more catering towards Monk's needs. Granted, there was a time when this is what Monk needed, but not so much anymore.

The trio arrives at Perry's house and investigate. After putting some peices together, Monk solves the case. He goes into the closet to tell Sharona and Natalie what happened.

Here's what happened: Perry's wife was having an affair with Sharona's uncle and planned revenge. When the uncle came to him to help fake a lawsuit, he saw this as the perfect way to get back at him. On the day of the murder, the unlce faked the fall, and as the caddie went to get help, Perry slammed his head into the stairs and kileld him.

Unfortunately for Monk, Perry heard him and gets lawyered up. Stottlemeyer and everyone argues about the case, and Monk slipps away to go to Trudy's grave. During his absence, Natalie and Sharona make up and admit they were wrong. They decide to go after Perry with full force. Upon further investigation, they realize Perry had the cabbie's phone battery with his fingerprints on it and use this as evidence. Natalie and Sharona are able to get Perry and the caddie's phone while Monk watches.

Everything is fine right? Well, as they walk home, Sharona falls down the same stairs her uncle fell down and breaks her arm. Now she will be able to keep the money after all. In the final scene, she leaves but promises she will be back in a few weeks (for the finale, maybe?). She then kisses Randy and gets into the car. Wow.