SecondCitySaint.com It's About Me http://secondcitysaint.com/ All material copyright 2004-2008 Mike Maloney <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=241">Personal - Starting a new chapter...</a> ]]>
My company decided earlier this year to restructure how our U.S. field offices were organized. It was set up so that all of our offices were split up into five different 'zones' around the country. So the structure changes basically involved going from five zones, to two 'territories', East and West. This is one of those shakeups that affects pretty much everyone, because there are many jobs in our different SBUs that are set up as zonal positions, not to mention the general structure of all of the SBUs has to change.

My department is a little unique in its setup, as there are only 15 or so of us out in the field, but since I've only been in my current position for about a year, I was at the bottom of the totem pole as far as seniority goes. Turns out they had to trim down on the number of jobs they had out in the field and in Home Office, which basically meant my position was being eliminated. I guess I had kept the possibility in the back of my head when I first heard about all of these changes, but at the same time, our Chicago office is one of the biggest offices in the field, so I thought I might be safe so that they could have a presence here. Considering the two other people they got rid of were in L.A. and Boston, clearly having a body in our big offices was not a priority.

So, that's the bad news, as I really enjoyed my job and felt there were a lot of things that I had wanted to do with the position that I never had time for. The good news is that I was able to secure another position in my company in a different department. One of the nice things about working in an office with hundreds of employees is that there is usually a few open positions available at any given time. I don't think my new job will be as challenging as my current job, but at the same time it's in a very different area from where I'm at now, and I will get to learn a lot about the underwriting side of the business. Plus, I think it will be nice to actually have a team of people in the office to work with again, instead of my job now which is very isolated.

As it's set up now, I'm scheduled to finish up my current job on Wednesday, and I move into my new position starting next Monday. It's disappointing to have to leave my current job, but on the bright side, it's good to have any kind of job at all considering how things are going these days, especially with our newly acquired mortgage to look after.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=241 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=240">Rant - Jumping the Shark</a> ]]>
However, VH1 just couldn't stop, and decided to overexpose the series. First was "I Love the 80s 3-D". Now, it's entirely possible that three hours may have been enough time to spend on a particular year, but watching some of the shows, the content definitely came across as pretty weak compared to what we saw in the first two incarnations. Then they came out with crap like "I Love the Holidays" and "I Love Toys" which were either just bad, or had a very hollow feel to them.

While we're on the subject, all the "I Love" series shows led to the creation of "Best Week Ever", which was a similarly formatted show to all of the "I Love" series, only it was a weekly show that discussed the latest goings on in pop culture. Good show at first, but definitely unable to maintain its momentum, and any time I watch it now, I feel like I'm watching Talk Soup, which makes me sad, because Talk Soup was a pretty funny show back when it was just John Henson by himself with the crew for the show serving as his audience as well. Now, it just sucks. That's kind of how "Best Week Ever" is.

But anyways, we're talking about the "I Love" series jumping the shark. It may have already occurred with the 80s 3-D, but if not, it definitely did this week. Because VH1 has decided to debut "I Love the New Millennium". So, what's the problem with this? I mean, they've done the 70s, 80s, and 90s, the 00s are the next decade up, right? Yes, I suppose that's true. Too bad the decade isn't over yet! So what's their solution? They've only produced shows for 2000 to 2007. Nice. Way to capitalize on the popularity of the series by completely screwing up the premise of it.

Honestly though, it's not even that part of the series that drives me nuts. I tried watching an episode last night, I think it was 2003. At the start of my post, I talked about why the series was successfull: nostalgia. For a lot of people watching "I Love the 80s/90s", it brings them back to another time, most likely when they were kids, or growing up. They can reflect fondly about that time in their lives. When I'm watching a show recapping 2003, it's not really doing it for me. Many things they talk about are still prominent today. For example:

-The O.C. - Okay, this isn't on TV anymore, but it was up until last year.
-Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Okay, this movie was part of a trilogy, and the last part of the trilogy came out last year.
-Arnold Schwarzenegger - Yes, he became the Governator in 2003. Newsflash, still governor.
-Chappelle's Show - Only lasted from 2003 to 2006, but is still in heavy syndication.
-Michael Jackson accused of child molestation - Boy, good thing Michael Jackson jokes have really died down...
-Joe Millionaire - Okay, this show isn't around anymore, but why the hell are they bringing it up anyways? Considering how easy it is to put together a successful reality show these days, the fact that this show bombed in its second season probably means it isn't worth remembering.
-Paris Hilton's sextape - Again, good thing Paris Hilton being a slut isn't ever talked about in today's media so that we can reflect on the good ol' days.
-McGriddles - um, what? I love me a McGriddle, but I must have missed the part where they were ever a dominant part of pop culture. Not to mention, they're still a commonplace item on the breakfast menu at McDonalds.

Really, the only item that they talked about that should actually have been on the show was Saddam Hussein getting captured, since that was a moment in history that everyone can reflect on.

If there's no nostalgia feel to the show, then what's the point? That's what the show is there for, people aren't going to feel nostalgic about crap that happened a few years ago. You have to give a decade a few years to get settled and establish an identity before you start revisiting it and making people feel all warm and fuzzy.

The basic principle of the entire "I Love" series is completely missing in "I Love the New Millennium", and as a result, the series has officially jumped the shark. But considering how much the entertainment industry loves to run ideas into the ground until no one cares about them anymore, it was really only a matter of time before it happened with this show.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=240 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=239">Entertainment - Fun with search engines</a> ]]>
-"lying out your ass" will find a post written by me as the very first result, lol. It's actually a post where I discuss the prospects of someone playing 100NL poker online full-time asa job.

-"'playing draws' poker shoving" doesn't really have anything interesting as a result, aside from the fact that my site shows up just before Alan's, just to provide a little bit of evidence that I am, in fact, better than him.

-Probably my favorite, "bill simmons jackass" was a post I made after Bill Simmons decided to write this retarded piece comparing the 2007 New England Patriots to a championship Boston Celtics team...before the New England Patriots had even made it to the Super Bowl. Well, we know how well that turned out. Nice to see my post is the top result, although a little surprising, since it's not like the internet hating on Bill Simmons is anything new.

-"福留 孝介 jersey". Fukudome, whoot! I'm fairly surprised that this is the second result, since it's not like Kosuke Fukudome is the most obscure name ever.

Okay, those were just a few I wanted to share with you.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=239 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=238">Site Update - Leaving comments</a> ]]>
]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=238 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=237">Poker - Mookie Recap</a> ]]>
First significant hand for me was actually a laydown. It was probably during the 40/80 or 50/100 level, I raised in MP/LP with JJ and had a player to my left jam for about 3,000 (I was a little below the starting stack, 2,700 or 2,800). The player had been fairly loose in his range, so I thought there was a good chance I was ahead. I tanked and ended up folding because it was still early on in the tournament. I think that's the right play there, because I only want to call if I'm fairly certain he's holding a mid-pocket pair, and honestly I wasn't totally sure. I think it's equally likely that he has AK/AQ, maybe QQ, probably not KK or AA though. I dunno, I just didn't think Jacks were very strong there.

I chipped up a bit when I got it all-in on the flop with Fuel, who was a short stack at the time. I raised in MP with 99, and the two blinds called (Fuel was in the SB with about 650 left). Flop was K-6-8, and Fuel checked, which really bothered me since he called the preflop raise for about 25-30% of his stack, then he just checks the flop. But, with a third person in the hand, and it checked around to me, I felt like I had to bet there. Fuel jammed, and I was already priced in to call, so he flipped over 6-8 for two pair. However, I think we hit runner runner fours to send Fuel home. Wheeeeeeeee!

Second big hand was when I had As Ks in MP and raised it up, only to get re-raised from the button. I raised up to 300, he re-raised to 1,000, which was a third of his stack, so he seemed to be pretty committed. I thought about it, and decided this was a good time to take a stand and pushed. He actually called pretty quickly, but only had AQo, which I think is a bad hand to play that hard. If I had been very loose with my preflop raises then I get the desire to play back, but I had been very tight. Anyways, my AK held up and I was up to around 6,000 in chips.

I pretty much stayed around that level for a while, although I did get up to 8,000 or so after re-stealing in the SB with A-x. This led to the next significant hand, I think blinds were at 150/300. CO+1 raises up to 900, I'm in the CO with JJ, so I re-raise up to 2700. I thought about pushing, but didn't. CO+1 flat calls, then jams the flop which comes down Q-A-Q. Pretty much a bad flop for me, but is there any way you call that jam here? I couldn't justify it, so I ended up folding and losing a third of my stack. That was a tough hand, as I went from a top 10 stack to down near the bottom of the pile. I ended up trying to re-steal in the SB with A-4, but I didn't have the fold equity that I was hoping for, and the button called with K-J. Flop was Q-10-x, turn was a J, and the river was an Ace to give him the straight, and IGH in 20th.

Tough way to go out, but as I said, didn't get much to work with, card-wise or position-wise, so my opportunities were limited. There were some sick hands last night, though, I forgot how brutal these things are sometimes. LJ had a hand where she got it in preflop with A8 against KK. Opponent flops a set, LJ pairs her A, turn is an 8, river is an A for the better full house. So crazy.

I felt like I saw too many people getting it all-in with TPTK. It's like, once people see that TP drop, they completely forget about how the rest of the hand played out, and they just can't fathom that they might not be ahead. I also saw someone call off over half their stack, then fold the river on what appears to be an obvious busted flush draw. Lots of -EV plays, with people not being careful enough with their stacks, and willing to give up large portions of their stacks with draws, or TP. Gotta be smarter than that.

It was nice to get back into the blonkaments, and I even got a couple bounties, which was nice, as I do not appear to be very conducive to picking up bounties in knockout tourneys for whatever reason.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=237 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=236">Entertainment - LOST 4.13/4.14 Thoughts</a> ]]>
As much as I always loved 24's format of nonstop shows every week, it always makes the offseason that much harder, because it's so long. Now we'll be seeing the same thing with LOST, as it goes on hiatus until February or so. Fortunately, I still have to re-watch Season 3, as I sort of took a break after re-watching the first two seasons, and I'm sure there are extras on all the DVDs that I haven't watched yet, so not all is lost. Ha, I'm so punny.

I actually didn't get a chance to watch the season finale until Sunday because Melissa had some family in town. I managed to avoid any serious spoilers (I think I read that we would find out who was in the coffin, which I had assumed we were going to find that out anyways, although thinking back, the title of Julius' LOST post pretty much gave that away, although it never dawned on me when I saw it in my Google Reader). I was a little worried, however, because I had been getting this opinion from people who had either read spoilers or watched the episode that the show had done that dirty little thing called "jumping the shark. I thought that probably wasn't the case, because often times I find critics of LOST don't really understand what the show is about, but it definitely got me a little anxious. Fortunately I didn't really have anything to worry about. I thought the episode was great, and I love that the season finale can literally set up the last two full seasons of a show. One of those nice things about having an endpoint in place, and more importantly, having the company airing your shows (ABC) in agreement.

It was an interesting season finale, because, due to the constant flash forwards, most everything on the show played out how we expected it to, and even the surprises weren't that surprising. But...that's not a bad thing. As I said, the finale was a set up for the next two seasons. Honestly, I have no idea where we will be when Season 5 rolls around, as in, what time will be "the present" during each episode. We have seen different times in the flash forward, but apparently the most significant time period is a few years after the rescue, where Locke, under the name of Jeremy Bentham, appears to the survivors, and then inexplicably dies. So, does that time period at some point become the present, and everything we missed inbetween is shown to us in flashbacks? Or do we continue on our normal time path, and witness more of the future in our flash forwards?

It doesn't seem to me that it is very feasible for the show to continue on it's present timeline. Once they are off the island, aside from smaller incidents (Hurley going back to the mental hospital, Sun having her baby, Kate's charges being dropped, etc.), it appears to be business as usual for the survivors. Jack and Kate, who live together and raise Aaron, don't seem to encounter issues until Locke shows up and says something to Jack. Sayid starts getting into it the earliest, as he begins working for Ben as an assassin, but we can learn more about that from flashbacks, and things change for him too because of Bentham, as he goes to get Hurley out of the hospital. Sun seems to be living her life, raising her child, owning her father's company, when an appearance from Bentham suddenly draws some interest from her to seek out Mr. Charles Widmore in a possible alliance.

So, it's not that nothing happens in the three years between the rescue and when Locke shows up, but it seems to me that the important stuff that can carry the rest of the show happens down the road, with the Survivors, Ben, and Locke. Everything else that we've missed, the fate of those on the island, the battle between Ben and Widmore, how many babies Penny and Desmond have, we can get caught up by flashbacks. Nothing more than a hunch, but it would seemingly make sense to pick up the show in the future when it returns next year.

Let's get to some quick hits:

-Well, we know Locke is going to get a name change, then he's going to get dead, and no one besides Jack really seems to care. What could he have possibly told Jack that could affect him so much that he would all of a sudden believe that they were supposed to stay on the island, that Locke was right, and even make him contemplate suicide? I personally can't wait for that confrontation, because it's going to be awesome. What happened on the island that caused Locke to leave? It was mentioned that things had gotten bad on the island. Because of Locke? Very interested to see what becomes of Sawyer, Juliet, and the rest of the Others.

-Ben moved the island (After stabbing Mr. Green-Beret-bullets-don't-stop-me-only-slow-me-down Keamy in the neck). The obvious question is, where, and when, did he move it to. And was he telling the truth when he said he couldn't come back after he moved it? That's the thing about Ben, you always have to take anything he says to Locke with a grain of salt, because ultimately Locke enjoys sitting right in Ben's pocket, and Ben feeds him little morsels of information every once in a while, and Locke takes them and is just happy to be along for the ride, even if it's not all true. One thing that seems to fit together, though, is that Ben has his winter parka on, the same parka he showed up in when he appeared in the desert. So...perhaps he does leave the island, and goes to the desert..

-Jin. :( I was really holding out hope that he would end up on the island. I guess it's possible he jumped off before the ship blew up, but I'm not exactly holding my breath. I can certainly see why Sun was a little cold to Jack after they got back to the US.

-Another plus to moving the show into the future? You can show Walt on TV again without having everyone giggle about how he's gone from being 10 to 19 over the course of several months.

-I love in Jack's bitterness that he tries to claim that Locke/Ben didn't move the island, and then Hurley totally owned him in the process.

-I'm sure we haven't heard the end of Mr. Faraday. Certainly interested in hearing what happens to him. Probably didn't get back to the island before it disappeared. So...what does that mean for him? He's a fairly frail guy, so if everyone in the boat turns to cannibalism, I don't like his chances. He certainly didn't fare too well the last time he was put in that situation.

-Another advantage to putting the show in the future? We don't have to look at Aaron, the hulking three-month old anymore.

I'm sure there's plenty more I could discuss, but this is probably long enough already, so I will stop for now. I might post my findings during my Season 3 review, we'll see.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=236 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=235">Personal - Quick Update</a> ]]>
But, June is a new month. No travel is scheduled (Well, maybe a work trip to Des Moines), very few visits by friends/family, and in general I hope that we will be able to sit back and relax and enjoy our new place and the nice weather. That being said, I do have a few posts up my sleeve that I would like to get out this week:

-LOST, first and foremost. I missed out on the last couple of recaps, but I did watch the Season Finale on Sunday, and will have some thoughts on that.

-Poker. As anticipated, I have had absolutely zero internet problems at our new place, which is great news, and has allowed me to play poker once again. My poker game has been absolutely atrocious lately, so I'll discuss that a bit, but also, I took down a 90-person S&G last night (A huge $1 90-person S&G, btw), and I want to do some analysis on that, for my sake if nothing else.

-Photos. I have some photos of a couple of Cubs gams I need to put up on my web album. Some of them turned out pretty cool I thought.

Okay, I think that's it for now.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=235 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=234">Personal - Mother's Day</a> ]]>
Mother's Day


Been a while since I've had any good pictures to post. We went to the Shedd Aquarium with the family for Mother's Day. The fish and the dolphins and the Beluga whales and the penguins were all cool and everything, but I was only really excited for the Komodo Dragon exhibit they had there (A bunch of lizards at an aquarium??). It did not fail to disappoint, as not only was it cool to see an 8-foot long 150 lb. dragon, but there were a bunch of cool looking lizards to check out, too.

I absolutely love our new camera, too. No flash opportunities, and taking pictures through glass and dealing with crappy reflections, I'm pretty impressed with how well many of the photos turned out.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=234 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=233">Entertainment - LOST 4.10 Thoughts</a> ]]> Grand Theft Auto IV on Wednesday. To say it's very engrossing is a mild understatement. I was so into it that when I stopped playing to eat dinner, Melissa mentioned something about LOST and I had completely forgotten it was going to be on last night. Yikes. Melissa's birthday is at the end of the month, let's hope I don't forget that too.

Well, I did manage to catch LOST last night, and it was about what I expected, although there were some nice bonuses placed throughout the episode. The 'Jack is sick' plot line was one of the weaker stories they've had going this season. One of the drawbacks to having flash forwards is that you can't tease the audience with character deaths anymore. We know Jack survives. We've seen it. So you can't have him develop appendicitis and try and draw any drama out of having to perform this life-saving surgery on him, because everyone knows he's going to survive. And the story didn't serve as a vehicle to deliver some side bit of information, aside from dealing with the Jack/Kate love affair, which, again, not really that important. It wasn't as over the top dramatic as the previews made it out to be, but it was still a pretty lame story to put in the show. But, we had other stuff that did a better job of piquing my interest:

-Christian's back. Whoo! Easily one of my favorite characters, the way he is seemingly intertwined with so many people on this show, and is constantly showing up in the most random of places, despite, ya know, dying. Too bad those bastard writers just teased his appearance, having him appear for all of ten seconds on the show. I guess they still know how to reel me in.

-So first we have Christian showing up to haunt Jack after Hurley tells him that Charlie said someone was going to visit Jack. Interesting that he and Charlie have regular conversations, as opposed to just the one off that we saw in the season premiere. He also mentioned that Jack "shouldn't raise him", presumably talking about Aaron. Interesting tidbit, and could go back to the fortune teller's warning to Claire about how she must raise Aaron, and that he can't be raised by another (Unless he said an Other, which carries a whole different meaning to it).

-Our other Jack flash forward showed Jack as a depressed, drug-addicted, alcoholic, etc. doctor, contemplating suicide and clearly wanting to go back to the island. After seeing him at Kate's trial, it seemed as though this was significantly further into the future. However, after watching this episode, it might not be as far ahead as I thought. I like the irony of his father of all people driving him into this drunken downward spiral. Obviously this thing with Kate isn't going to last, but I'll be interested to see what it takes for him to find his desire to return to the island. Whatever it is, it better involve Christian Shepard.

-Jack mentioned that Sawyer made the choice to stay on the island. So perhaps he's not dead?

-Claire is now officially recognized as Christian's daughter. We've been lead to believe that ever since Christian went with Ana Lucia to a house in Australia to see his daughter, but now we have some confirmation. Some very interesting things about that brief confrontation:

*Claire recognizes who her father is, despite the fact that Christian lived and worked in Los Angeles. Australia isn't exactly a quick trip around the block, and yet he must have had some semi-frequent contact with Claire. I had just assumed that he hadn't seen her since she was an infant.

*It would seem that the drama behind who is the baby's daddy is going to be revealed to Jack and Claire (or at least Jack) at some point in time, since he seems to be aware that Aaron is his half-nephew.

*Here's the real kicker: Miles saw Claire walk off with Christian in the middle of the night! Now, we have to remember that Miles has some weird mental ability that we don't completely understand, so this may have something to do with that, but still, the fact that he actually saw Christian, wow. I don't even know what to make of that.

-As I mention constantly, Sawyer is totally under appreciated and is a totally awesome character. He's a very protective guy, despite what people may want to think of him. It's very endearing to see him protect Claire and Aaron the way that he did. Of course, Claire's gone now, so I guess he's not that great at it.

-I wonder if we'll ever see Claire again. There has to be some kind of resolution to her story, you can't just go from her wandering off into the jungle with her father and leaving her baby behind to Kate claiming the child and raising it as her own.

-Last week we discovered that Dr. Bernard knows Morse code, this week we learn that Charlotte knows Korean. Oh, snap. Nice job by Jin to totally call her out on it. It also looks like we're setting up our separation of Sun and Jin, with Sun getting off the island, and Jin...well, not. As long as I can still hold out hope that he survives on the island, and doesn't die.

-Kate looks completely out of character trying to be Suzy Homemaker. It's probably because I've grown to distrust her so much over the course of the show, but she just looks like someone who is always on the run (And given her flashbacks, they certainly seem to back that theory up), so the idea of her just hangin' at home with her kid is amusing to say the least. Jack trying to read a kid bedtime stories is almost as awkward, but not quite.

That's everything I can think of for now. Next week's episode looked bizarre. Was that guy they showed Ben's father? Or was it Jacob? Whoever it is, no wonder poor Hurley ends up in the nuthouse when he gets rescued.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=233 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=232">Rant - Poker Advertising</a> ]]> that I'm not the only one who gets annoyed at the ghey ass poker advertising blogger posts. You wanna get paid to have that crap on your blog? Fine, go for it. I just think it's awful, and I'm with Astin, it just makes me want to avoid places like BetUS.

Static links and ads on your page are one thing, although I've discovered some bloggers have no concept of page layout whatsoever, and the result is something I would expect from a Myspace page, and just reminds me to stick to reading their posts in Google Reader. Any time I get offers for text ads on my site, I usually respond with some ridiculous fee, because I spent a lot of time on my site, and I'd rather not have some schmuck's advertising being a nuisance.

That's all, just wanted to rant for a second.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=232 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=231">Entertainment - LOST 4.9 Thoughts</a> ]]>
So, LOST is finally back for another 5 episodes (Although I don't know how many hours that translates to because I heard the finale is something like 3 hours). Let's all do a happy dance!

They certainly kicked off the return with a bang, giving us one of the biggest, most significant episodes we've had in quite some time. I'm glad my other respected LOST buddies also appreciated the episode's importance. LOST has always been about more than just people stranded on an island trying to get off, that's been clear since the first episode. However, getting off the island has always been the overall primary purpose of the show. Until this season, that is. With the introduction of the flash forward concept, we now understand that there are survivors who get off the island, and there are others who do not. We are still learning bits and pieces of everyone's fate, but now that we know that there are in fact survivors who are rescued and taken off the island, that aspect of the show has really ceased to be its primary driver.

Benjamin Linus, and really, the island, have taken over the show. This is now what LOST is about. It's about the island, it's about Ben, and it's about Charles Widmore. It's Ben vs. Charles in a war over the island. The survivors are still present, and they still play a role in the story, but the focus is no longer on them. Will they ever get the focus back? I'm guessing not, but it's possible. Last week's episode really hammered home the point that this new path is what the show is going to be until its story is completed. The episode featured Ben, and we saw our second fast-forward involving Ben (We previously saw that Sayid was working for Ben in the future as some kind of hired gunman). The fast-forward opened many questions, but also served to provide us with some much needed exposition regarding the afore mentioned battle between Ben and Charles.

I really feel like this episode was the foundation for the rest of the show. Just something to keep in mind going forward.

-It appears that Mr. Keamy is, in fact, one bad dude. As we learned from Ben, the guy is a textbook mercenary, and appears to be a pretty good one at that. I've always referred to him as Test, because he reminds me a lot of ex-WWE wrestler Andrew "Test" Martin:



although I like Goat referring to him as a roided up Matthew Lillard:



We find out his team was responsible for offing Karl and Rousseau last week, not the Others as I had speculated, and then to really put him over the evil edge, he executes Ben's daughter right in front of Ben. That's some cold-blooded stuff right there. It looks like Keamy's not done yet, so it'll be interesting to see going forward just how much of a bad guy he turns out to be. All I know is that I hope Ben gets the opportunity to mess him up.

-Okay, I don't know what the LOST writers were going for during Sawyer's big heroic scene, but it ended up being completely hilarious. The endless stream of people coming out of the house to see what was going on, only to get shot in the chest, followed by Sawyer taking cover behind a fence post, reminiscent of Tom Arnold hiding behind a street light in True Lies (Which was meant to be a joke, by the way), and then saving Claire (Who did not die when her house exploded), all without getting nary a scratch on him. So...yeah. I know Ben said that the mercs wanted Sawyer to throw Ben out of the house, which is why he was still alive, but come on, I'm not buying it. Just an odd over-the-top action scene that seemed out of character for the show.

-Jack, tired of everyone lying to him (Because they figure if he's going to be an asshole either way, why tell the truth?), gets Dr. McCoy to help interpret some Morse code so that we can find out that Daniel Faraday isn't telling the truth (I know, I'm shocked too). Faraday lets us know that they were never there to rescue the survivors (Shocker #2). So we know why Keamy & Co. were recruited...still trying to figure out what the 4 weirdos are doing there.

-Enough about everyone else, let's talk about Ben. First, I hope everyone is okay with the idea that Ben's a good guy. As I said, this show has moved past the survivors, where Ben was a bad guy. It's now about the island, and in that story, Widmore is the bad guy, Linus is the good guy. Yes, Ben is creepy, deceptive, manipulative, and dangerous. He also cares about the integrity of the island, and will do whatever it takes to protect it, and that makes him the good guy.

-So, Ben can time travel. Neat. He also seems to be able to go to "arrive" at different places in the world. Again, going under the assumption that this theory is some semblance of the truth, it certainly seems feasible for Ben to be able to do these things. It would also explain the Dharma polar bar in the Tunisian Desert. Now, how he goes about doing these things remains to be seen, but the key thing right now is that he can. Also, depending on what his options are as far as traveling through time goes, it would certainly explain his seemingly endless wealth. It would also explain why a greedy millionaire like Charles Widmore might be so interested in Ben's island.

-Didn't take much to recruit Sayid, did it? I don't know how strongly I should feel about this, but my initial impressions are that Ben could have easily hired this guy to kill Sayid's wife, all so he could ultimately recruit Sayid to help him. What motivation does Widmore have to kill his wife? Anyways, nothing to base that on but speculation, just something that made sense to me.

-We get our first Ben vs. Charles showdown in the episode, which appears to be their first face-to-face meeting ever, and I doubt will be their last. Ben "can't" kill Charles for some reason, he mostly seems to be there to let him know that he's pissed about Keamy killing Alex, and he's going to kill Penny in a turn of sweet revenge. I thought the show did a great job of making you feel the magnitude of this scene. Reminds me of Carnivale (*tear*), when Ben and Brother Justin had their first (and sadly, only) encounter. It just 'felt' big. That's how this felt.

-Then of course there is the smoke monster. We discover that Ben has some ability to control the smoke monster, although we don't know to what extent. When he left to summon the monster, he definitely came back looking noticeably disheveled and dirtier, which is odd. So the smoke monster is still a big mystery, but at least we have been given our first clue as to its operation. Also makes sense why we haven't seen it for a while.

I think that's it for this week. Next week's preview looked beyond lame, with a big "Oh no Jack is sick and dying" teaser. I really hope that doesn't take up too much of the episode, because it really does look awful. Especially since I know there's no chance of him dying.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=231 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=230">Poker - Getting back into the swing of things</a> ]]>
My Internet, despite previous reports to the contrary, has been noticeably better as of late. It's still not perfect, but my disconnects are infrequent enough that I have been able to partake in the occasional poker playing.

Before my internet issues began, my bankroll had taken a pretty significant hit. Mostly due to poor cash play on my part, and it was also a low point for me from a variance perspective in a lot of the MTT/S&G tournaments I was playing. Once I ran into internet issues, me being blinded out of tournaments coupled with the tilted attitude I would frequently develop from my frustrations really dropped my bankroll to next-to-nothing.

Now that we are past that, I have an opportunity to sort of start over. It's frustrating from a money standpoint, because I would like to be making more money at the moment than I am, but at the same time, it's good for my patience level, and will ultimately result in me playing better. Something I was having some real issues with at the beginning of the year, mostly at the cash tables but really everywhere, was my lack of patience. I knew what I needed to do, but I didn't always exhibit the patience and control to execute properly.

So like I said, I'm starting over. I'm hitting the 25NL tables and keeping my S&G buy-ins to around $5 for the most part. I've actually had a strong desire to sit down at the cash games a lot and see what happens, which is definitely different from my normal MTT-first mindset. Part of this is probably because how ridiculous the play at 25NL is, but part of it is that my MTT-game right now is very rusty, and I need more of a bankroll before I'll really feel comfortable jumping head-on into it.

I've got a few goals to focus on at the moment. One is to get in a good number of hands at 25NL and maintain a high enough ptbb/100 that I feel confident enough about moving up to 50NL. I don't think this will be an issue, I just need to get the hands in, since I'm not enough of a degenerate to consider working all weekend and only fitting in about 7 hours to play poker a "small" amount. I would like to try and be more consistent about playing for about 60-90 minutes a day, not much, but enough to get in a couple hundred hands or so.

My other goal is to figure out how to play these damn turbo S&Gs. It drives me nuts to no end that I can do fine at regular S&Gs, but the Turbos just kick my ass constantly. I think I played about 8 or so of the $6 turbos for a profit of about -$8. A couple I was bounced from overplaying my hand, which is really something I need to do a better job with. I need to find the balance between being aggressive because of the structure of the tournament, and not overplaying my hand because I feel rushed. I think I'm getting to a better place to be able to handle these, but I'm going to keep at it and see if I can improve my results.

So that's kind of where I'm at right now; just hanging out in the low stakes area of Full Tilt, rebuilding my bankroll and getting back in touch with my game. Maybe after May is over and we've closed on our place and moved in and are all settled down I can really put some more focus on poker. Well, if I'm not still playing GTA IV all the time. Damn video games.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=230 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=229">Poker - Can you fold here?</a> ]]>
Some backstory on the villain, this guy was awful, and I made a note early on that I would have to take advantage of his donkery. Looking at some PT stats, this guy had a VP$IP of 68%, and a PFR of 21%, so needless to say, he was playing most hands. I doubled up against him earlier when I flopped TP, rivered a straight as he rivered two pair.

FullTiltPoker Game #6088266721: Table Sterling Silver - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:33:17 ET - 2008/04/18
Seat 1: rugfiend ($18.50)
Seat 2: adanthang ($25.10)
Seat 3: spencercue ($39.60)
Seat 4: Schroeder33 ($64.60)
Seat 5: Stealthed2 ($25)
Seat 6: Qinshiyou1 ($5.45)
Seat 7: 6610tarheel ($22.15)
Seat 8: Mike_Maloney ($38.10)
Seat 9: PattyHere ($10.10)
PattyHere posts the small blind of $0.10
rugfiend posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mike_Maloney [Qc Qd]
adanthang folds
spencercue calls $0.25
Schroeder33 folds
Stealthed2 folds
Qinshiyou1 folds
6610tarheel folds
Mike_Maloney has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney raises to $1
PattyHere calls $0.90
rugfiend folds
spencercue calls $0.75
*** FLOP *** [3s 3c 5s]
Qinshiyou1 has been disconnected
PattyHere bets $1
Qinshiyou1 has reconnected
spencercue calls $1
Mike_Maloney raises to $4
PattyHere calls $3
spencercue raises to $38.60, and is all in
Mike_Maloney calls $33.10, and is all in
PattyHere calls $5.10, and is all in
spencercue shows [3h 4c]
Mike_Maloney shows [Qc Qd]
PattyHere shows [5c Kh]
Uncalled bet of $1.50 returned to spencercue
*** TURN *** [3s 3c 5s] [6h]
*** RIVER *** [3s 3c 5s 6h] [9s]
spencercue shows three of a kind, Threes
Mike_Maloney shows two pair, Queens and Threes
spencercue wins the side pot ($54.50) with three of a kind, Threes
PattyHere shows two pair, Fives and Threes
spencercue wins the main pot ($29.05) with three of a kind, Threes


Honestly, based on what I had seen, I gave the guy no credit for any kind of hand. I thought some kind of middle pair was likely, maybe a draw of some sort. I just couldn't put him on 3h 4c. I mean, honestly, how can you?

I eventually doubled through him again when he decided to play Ks 9s and got in all-in on the flop against my Jacks on a 9-high board. He's so goot.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=229 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=228">Poker - About my internet connection...</a> ]]>
]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=228 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=227">Sports - and#31119;and#30041; and#23389;and#20171;</a> ]]>

I wish I could get a Cubs jersey with that (or just 孝介, either way) on the back instead of "Fukudome", that would pretty much be the coolest thing ever.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=227 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=226">Poker - The rare triple up in a cash game (aka Snowmen are gold)</a> ]]>
FullTiltPoker Game #5835731889: Table River Valley - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:23:53 ET - 2008/03/29
Seat 1: JensPikenes ($29.30)
Seat 2: shombe ($24.40)
Seat 3: Falar KO ($30.40)
Seat 4: Mike_Maloney ($25)
Seat 5: bradbo ($4.85)
Seat 6: hicky24 ($14.35)
Seat 7: coachny ($81.15)
Seat 8: fyrefli ($9.25)
Seat 9: no_bien ($32.75)
Mike_Maloney posts the small blind of $0.10
bradbo posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mike_Maloney [8s 8c]
hicky24 folds
coachny calls $0.25
fyrefli folds
no_bien folds
hicky24 stands up
JensPikenes raises to $1.50
shombe folds
Falar KO folds
Mike_Maloney has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney calls $1.40
bradbo folds
coachny has 15 seconds left to act
coachny calls $1.25
*** FLOP *** [8h 3s 3h] (Yahtzee!)
Mike_Maloney checks
coachny bets $2.50 (woot)
JensPikenes raises to $7.50 (woot again!)
Mike_Maloney has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney calls $7.50
coachny calls $5
*** TURN *** [8h 3s 3h] [6d]
Mike_Maloney checks
coachny bets $10.50
JensPikenes raises to $20.30, and is all in (Please give me all your mobneys)
Mike_Maloney calls $16, and is all in
coachny calls $9.80
JensPikenes shows [Qs Qh]
Mike_Maloney shows [8s 8c]
coachny shows [Th Kh]
*** RIVER *** [8h 3s 3h 6d] [4c]
JensPikenes shows two pair, Queens and Threes
coachny shows a pair of Threes
JensPikenes wins the side pot ($8.60) with two pair, Queens and Threes
Mike_Maloney shows a full house, Eights full of Threes
Mike_Maloney wins the main pot ($72.25) with a full house, Eights full of Threes

I thought it was pretty obvious that there was an overpair out there. The flush draw also makes some sense, although the bet out on the turn after getting raised on the flop seems stupid and basically forces him to call after the two pushes. Not to mention how awesome Th Kh is. I checked the flop since it most likely didn't hit anyone and I wanted to keep everyone in the hand, but I guess it didn't really matter.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=226 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=225">Poker - Some AK hands</a> ]]>
So I've been able to play a little poker over the weekend, the first serious poker I've played in probably a couple months. Just playing some 25NL to get my rhythm back, and I ran into an interesting hand with AK, and since that particular hand has been discussed at length recently, I figured I'd get in on some of that too.

FullTiltPoker Game #5833453428: Table Cool Water - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:11:45 ET - 2008/03/29
Seat 1: RefoldEr ($5.80)
Seat 2: ReechX ($29.80)
Seat 3: homicha4144 ($5)
Seat 4: Bretbb1 ($25.25)
Seat 5: Mike_Maloney ($24.75)
Seat 6: NickNamel3ss ($29.90)
Seat 7: phAntOm AcEs2 ($25)
Seat 8: Stefan19781 ($4.30)
Seat 9: phrunky83 ($15)
ReechX posts the small blind of $0.10
homicha4144 posts the big blind of $0.25
phrunky83 posts $0.25
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mike_Maloney [As Ks]
Bretbb1 folds
Mike_Maloney has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney raises to $1
NickNamel3ss folds
phAntOm AcEs2 folds
Stefan19781 folds
phrunky83 calls $0.75
RefoldEr folds
ReechX raises to $5
homicha4144 adds $0.25
homicha4144 folds
Mike_Maloney has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney calls $4
phrunky83 calls $4

So here's decision #1. We've got a new player in LP, so I make my standard 4bb raise, and face a re-raise from the SB. I was pretty close to just laying down the hand, to be honest. I figure his range is JJ-AA and AK (This is 25NL after all). I end up making the call, knowing I have to be cautious about what hits on the flop.

*** FLOP *** [Kd Td 4c]
ReechX has 15 seconds left to act
ReechX bets $6

Pretty good flop for me, I thought. I doubt he has 10 10, so I'm behind AA and KK and ahead of QQ and JJ and tied with AK. I am curious to know what people think of my opponent's flop bet, because it would certainly appear that I misread it. He bet $6 into a $12 pot, which seemed a little weak to me. It made me think he was betting out with QQ or JJ, sort of c-betting. I thought if he had AA he would be more likely to check-raise me or bet more on the flop. I guess I had considered KK, but with one in my hand and one on the flop, it didn't seem to likely. So I pushed.

Mike_Maloney has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney raises to $19.75, and is all in
phrunky83 folds
ReechX calls $13.75
Mike_Maloney shows [As Ks]
ReechX shows [Kh Kc]
*** TURN *** [Kd Td 4c] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Kd Td 4c 3s] [8c]
Mike_Maloney shows a pair of Kings
ReechX shows three of a kind, Kings
ReechX wins the pot ($52.05) with three of a kind, Kings
Mike_Maloney is sitting out

Was this a big mistake? If so, where was my mistake? Should I have just folded preflop? Was my postflop analysis wrong? Should I have been more cautious with taking TPTK to the felt? It seems a little over aggressive on my part, but I'm not sure. I'd appreciate anyone's comments on the hand.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=225 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=224">Poker - Freerollin'</a> ]]>
Battle of the Bloggers


Brought to you by the Online Poker Room Full Tilt Poker and the Dead Money Poker Blog by AlCantHang


]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=224 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=223">Entertainment - LOST 4.8 Thoughts</a> ]]> when watching current episodes).

This week wasn't exactly like that, but it was along the lines of "The Other 48 Days" where we have a character who has existed for the past season whose whereabouts have been previously unknown, and now we get to spend some time getting caught up to speed.

-Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but you have to love Sayid busting Michael to the captain because he's working for Ben. Oh Sayid, if only you knew...

-This island is quite the interesting entity. Last season we saw Jack contemplating suicide now that he's off the island, and he wants to go back. Now we have Michael, off the island, with his son, everything he wanted, and we see him also at the point of committing suicide. Hurley thinks they should go back to the island, Sayid is working for Ben to (seemingly) protect the secret of the island. It sure seems to me like maybe the island's not such a bad place to be at after all.

-Along those lines, I find myself starting to really become sympathetic towards Ben's cause. Sure, the guy's a bit of a mass murderer, and he isn't the most lenient person I've ever see when it comes to dealing with punishing those who have wronged him, but still, I can't help but feel that he's right about everything that's going on with this ship and Charles Widmore. Ben is a master of survival, and while I think his actions help himself survive most of the time, I also think he cares about the island and his actions are also with the intention of saving it as well. I guess the real question would be where do the survivors fit into his plans? How willing is he to kill the survivors in order to save the island if it came down to that? Hopefully we don't have to find out.

-Last piece about the island: Tom's statement to Michael about the island not letting him kill himself...interesting. We have some other evidence that what Tom says is true; obviously there is Michael trying unsuccessfully to kill himself twice, once by crashing his car, once by putting a loaded gun to his head and pulling the trigger. The first, okay, I could see how that might not work, but the second? The gun just happened to jam when he pulled the trigger, and when he went back to do it a second time, news about Oceanic 815 just happened to show up on the TV in order to distract Michael? Plus, what about Jack? He was getting ready to go all George Bailey on us, did the island pull a Clarence and cause the car crash to save Jack's life because it wasn't his time? We know Locke and Eko have expressed the desires of the island before, and you can't help but wonder if that's how Jacob directs Ben, as well, based on what 'the island' wants.

-I was hoping to find out how Michael was rescued. That boat doesn't have much of a range on it, so that means he was picked up by someone. I suppose it's safe to assume that the bearing Ben led him to resulted in him getting picked up by some of the Others, I doubt he could have been picked up by anyone else and been able to stay hidden. I wonder if we'll ever see Walt again, or be able to learn more of his story. I hope so, he always was an interesting character.

-Ben says the people on the boat are more dangerous than he is. I don't believe that for a second. The people on the boat might be the bad guys, but I don't know if it's possible for anyone to be more dangerous than Benjamin Linus.

-When Karl, Alex, and Rousseau were heading towards the Temple and stopped for water, I made a comment about how funny it would be if the big death this week was Karl...then he died about 20 seconds later. Then I started laughing before I said Rousseau was probably going to die too...then she did. I rule. Honestly, though, it would have been much funnier if it was only Karl that died, just so everyone watching the show could feel completely ripped off. Rousseau isn't the most significant of deaths, but she has been on the show since the beginning, so you still have to consider it pretty major. I didn't see it coming, but it does make sense, since her major obstacle as a character was seeing her daughter again, which she was able to do.

-An item that's currently up for debate, obviously, is who killed them? My initial thought was that this was all a setup by Ben. As I said before, he certainly won't hesitate to have someone killed if it furthers his agenda. It makes perfect sense for him to off Karl, who's a traitor in his eyes (not to mention he's dating his daughter), and Rousseau probably isn't someone who trusts Ben all that much, plus she means to take Alex with her, which Ben probably doesn't want.

That being said, after an alternative theory was mentioned, and I gave it some thought, I actually like the idea that it's people from the freighter instead. While I have no idea how they would just happen to be in the right place at the right time to catch the three of them, we know they seem to have plenty of guns, and Ben hinted at Alex's importance earlier when he mentioned that if they captured her they could use her to get to Ben. Certainly sounds like proper motivation to me.


So, as we head in to a 5-week break (boo), some of our big questions are

-What's going to happen to Alex?
-What's going to happen to Michael now that Sayid has outted him to the captain?
-Is the captain's crew going to survive much longer?
-Is Ben going to pony up the $3.2 million for Miles?
-How exactly does the Oceanic Six get off the island (To be determined after the break)

Some things I'm curious to know is what does the survivors getting off the island mean to the credibility of the staged wreckage of Oceanic 815, as well as if it is in fact Widmore who staged the crash (The file Tom had on him was pretty comprehensive, so that has to be the most credible option at the moment). Guess we'll find out later. Stupid break.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=223 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=222">Entertainment - LOST 4.7 Thoughts</a> ]]>
-The list of the Oceanic Six is out, and it looks like it's Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Aaron, and Sun. Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't other people from the island who get off of it, and it really doesn't even mean that there aren't other survivors that get off the island, it just means the public doesn't know about them.

-Sun is the last member of the Six, although the flashforwards confused the hell out of me. We see Sun is pregnant, and goes into labor. Meanwhile we see Jin rushing around trying to get a big stuffed panda bear so he can get to the hospital. It seemed like a bit of a swerve at the end when it turned out Jin was at the hospital to deliver the panda to a potential business partner (And was he in China?), but it didn't really seem like Jin was aware that Sun was in labor during his scenes, so I wasn't too surprised when he showed up somewhere else.

But...that's obviously not the big story here. Sun has her baby (Which I'm happy about, I was a little worried that she might die because she conceived on the island, so that it might not matter where she went after that, she would die anyways), and Hurley shows up at her place later, so they can go see Jin. At the cemetery. Whoops. Didn't see that one coming.

So that brings up a couple significant issues:

1. The date of death on Jin's tombstone is 9/22/04, aka the day of the plane crash. So, in the grand scheme of things, the lie from the survivors is that only 8 survived the crash and 6 made it out alive, clearly Jin was not counted among the 8.

2. Is Jin really dead? Were we not also watching a flashforward of Jin? It couldn't have been a flashback. He said he had only been married for two months at the very end of the episode, but we know he works for some auto parts company or something along those lines. Well, when Jin and Sun were married, Jin worked for her father, so whatever time period we're watching Jin in, it's not then. And he seemed to have little trouble throwing around money, so it really couldn't have been any time before he met Sun. Therefore it seems like it pretty much has to be in the future. But what does that mean? It would seem that the general public does not know that Jin is alive. Does Sun know? Is Jin working undercover? Could this possibly have something to do with Ben? Does he have another employee? Very mysterious stuff that I'm sure we'll get more pieces to down the road.

(EDIT: In discussing with other people, they seem to be under the assumption that the clips of Jin were a flashback, not a flashforward. It seems very bait-and-switch to me if that's the case, kind of a cheap swerve from the writers. I hope that's not the case, because it was incredibly pointless to include if it was. They could have made Jin dying a surprise just as well with Sun constantly asking for Jin like she did.)

-I think Jin would have felt better about the whole "Sun cheated on you" bit if he had known it was the same guy he threw out of a window. Man, Juliet can be an ice cold bitch when she wants.

-My big 'WTF' moment on the show was when Desmond and Sayid met with the Captain. He talked about Mr. Widmore, how it's his boat, how he funded a salvage operation to recover the flight data recorder from the plane, etc. But here's the big one for me...he talked about how the crash was obviously staged, and wondered where someone like Ben would get 300 dead bodies to stage something like that.

Ben? How did I not think of that before? I've been operating under the assumption that Widmore staged this whole thing, because he has the resources, and it would allow him to focus on finding the island without people worry about what happened to flight 815, etc. But Ben? That actually makes a lot more sense when I think about it, because Ben has more to gain from faking the crash. He wants the island kept a secret, if people find the crash, then that case can be closed and the danger of the island being found/exposed lowers dramatically.

That being said, there is some serious money involved in putting something like that together. And there's the question that the captain asked: Where do you find 300 dead bodies to stick at the bottom of the ocean?

-Michael's the spy on the boat after all. In retrospect, now that we know the plane crash wasn't Widmore's idea, it seems a little more plausible that someone like Michael could work undercover without being discovered.

If Michael's working for Ben, it makes you wonder if this was Ben's plan all along when he let he and Walt go. I can only assume Ben is in control of Walt, which is why Michael is doing what he's doing. God knows he's not doing to try and save the other survivors, it's not really how he rolls. Did he open the sickbay door? Did he give Sayid and Desmond the note about not trusting the captain? Initial guesses would be yes, but you never know with this show.

-Where'd Frank go? Back to the island I assume (Where the hell else is he going to go?), but did he go by himself?

-So first we have this chick reading a book upside down, next scene she has a bunch of chains wrapped around her and she jumps off the side of the boat and kills herself. Doesn't really seem like the same symptoms as the time distortion Desmond encountered, does it? What's her story?

-Speaking of people dying, what's with the big blood stain on the wall of the room where Sayid and Desmond are staying? Looks like a shotgun blast through the back of the head if I had to guess. Definitely more going on aboard this ship than we know.

Next week I believe is our semi-finale before the break (*tear*), but at least it's only for a few weeks. ABC tells us someone's gonna die, so now we get to play the guessing game of who it is. We can already rule out the Six, plus Ben. Claire has to be a prime suspect, since Kate has to gain possession of the baby some how, and what better way than to have Claire die and Sawyer, Hurley and Locke standing around awkwardly trying to figure out what to do with the baby before dropping it off in front of Kate's tent, ringing the doorbell and then running away. Sawyer's another good candidate, because we know he's not one of the Six, and ever since he killed Locke's dad (You know, the one driving goal he had in his life) I've always worried about his longevity. Along those lines I worry about Desmond's future as well after his big reunion he had with Penny (Although I'm not as worried about him because I feel like there is still some unresolved business with Widmore). Michael's certainly a possibility, considering most of the survivors probably wouldn't mind seeing him dead, and Sayid has easy access to him. Not to mention the crew that's going to be very pissed off if/when they find out that Michael's a spy.

I think it's going to be one of those four. Claire's gotta be the frontrunner, but any of the other three would make sense as well. Or maybe Miles will finally drop that grenade and blow himself up.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=222 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=221">Entertainment - LOST 4.6 Thoughts</a> ]]>
-I like flashback episodes when they are productive and give us something to work with. As I've mentioned about Season 2, some of the flashbacks for characters the second time around ended up being mostly worthless and did nothing to progress the story of the character or the show (See: Hurley and the skinny kid from Road Trip showing us that Hurley doesn't like change, or Rose and Bernard using up an entire episode to tell us that Rose has cancer and the island has cured it, like they couldn't have just done that in five minutes). The flash-forwards are a good change of pace, and open up a whole new avenue that we knew nothing about. However, variety is the spice of life (Or so "they" say), and there are currently a number of characters on the show (Juliette, Ben, the freighter people) that we know little-to-nothing about as far as their backstory goes, which means flashback episodes are in order.

The Juliette story was helpful, because while we know how she got to the island, we don't know a whole lot about her on the island, outside of not doing a good job of preventing pregnant women from dying (ouch, harsh). One of the things LOST loves to do, and I enjoy watching, is recapping something that happened in the past from a different view. Here, we were able to get a little bit more information about what the Others did after the crash. We already knew that Ben immediately sent Goodwin and Ethan out to spy, but now we learned that Ben sent Goodwin out on purpose so that he would stay away from his woman (I don't think killing him was his initial intention, but something he realized was an option later on). It makes me wonder if Ethan did something to draw Ben's ire as well (He did seem to be their only doctor/surgeon, right?).

-Not that Jack needs much more of a reason to hate Ben, but Juliette getting in the middle of the two of them could make for an interesting confrontation down the road. Ben is normally a pretty level-headed calculating guy, but introducing someone like Juliette in to the equation might get him a little off his keel.

-Who does Juliette look just like? Was Ben involved with someone who got pregnant and died? Is that his motivation for bringing Juliette to the island?

-Just as a bit of storyline continuity (Because I love shows that make a point of something and then reinforce that seasons later), Ben told Juliette that Goodwin was staying with the tail section because he thought Ana Lucia might be a good person to bring on. Now, since you never know with Ben, you'd be likely to pass this off as a lie, and it very well could be. However, something to keep in mind, when Ben was captured in Season 2 and was talking to Ana Lucia, he mentioned to her that Goodwin wanted her to join the Others, and about how he was wrong about her. Again, it could still be a lie, but if it is, Ben's pretty consistent about the whole thing. Thought that was neat.

-Juliette's therapist: Was she really there? Or was this some incarnation of Jacob or the smoke monster? Ben clearly had something to do with this, because Juliette was right, he knew how to get to her, she was going to kill Faraday and Lewis thinking they were trying to kill everyone instead of save them. But how does Ben have the ability to do that?

-Kate's a psycho. You know when Jack is acting more rationally than you are (Jack: I'll take their word for it) then you have problems.

-Juliette's pretty hot. This isn't exactly news, just thought it was worth mentioning.

-I love that Jack is being is usual spastic self about Faraday and Lewis taking off in the middle of the night, and Jin comes through as the voice of reason about how they're supposed to be 'friends'. Eat it, Jack.

-Alright, so Charles Widmore has officially been revealed as the person in charge of this 'expedition' by our four freighter friends. How much does he know about the island? He clearly knows about the power station and its capabilities, he even had some kind of a crude map for Faraday to follow. What is his ultimate plan for Ben?

-Speaking of Ben, I think his reveal of Widmore was said in truth. However, I don't believe for a second that it was his 'only' barganing chip against Locke. I'm not sure I believe that Widmore's sole interest in this island is exploitation. It certainly could be, he's very clearly a money-driven individual, but the whole power station incident makes it seem like he knows a hell of a lot about the island. Maybe there is some ulterior motive going on there. I still want to know how he picked the four (Well, five including Naomi) people to go on this mission to the island.

-Is Locke ever going to smarten up and stop letting Ben completely screw him over? Ben did nothing but play mind games with Locke when he was first captured back in the hatch, and all he's doing now is playing more mind games, and Locke's just eating it all up. Any time Ben can sense he's losing Locke's interest he just slips him a little bit of vague information or answers one of his questions, and Locke just keeps following him around like a little puppy. Now he's managed to bargain his way out of captivity by giving Locke some information along with convincing him that his people have no interest in him any longer. It just amazes me that Locke is so desperate to know more about this island, basically to be what Ben is, that he constantly lets Ben get the best of him. Of course, as we've seen with his father, that tends to be one of his weaknesses.

-Any guesses on who Ben's man on the boat is? People say Michael, but I don't think that works. Michael was on the plane, I'd be willing to bet he's too recognizable. If the ship really did come from Widmore, and if Widmore faked the plane crash (Certainly seems feasible considering his motives and resources), then putting a survivor on the ship as a spy doesn't seem very discreet. It certainly appears to be someone we are already familiar with, and possibly someone Locke is familiar with. An older Walt? I know Walt was a survivor, but who knows what's going on with that kid as far as time goes, and if he is older, he becomes much less recognizable. Christian Shepard? Why not, the guy seems to be intertwined in many stories, and with this show I hardly consider death to be a huge road block. Besides, didn't we already see him walking and talking in the first season, not to mention in Jacob's cabin? Is it that much of a stretch to think he might be alive? An island that can cure cancer and get people to walk again, why can't it bring someone back to life? I honestly have no idea who it is, just throwing some ideas out there.

I think those are all my thoughts for this week. Our final member of the six is showing up this week (See, told you Aaron counted), and I'm actually going to guess it's Locke. I know that doesn't make much sense, since no one wants to stay on the island more than Locke, but I feel like there has to be some significance to these characters getting off the island, and honestly, who cares all that much if Jin or Sun or Rose or Bernard get off the island? They don't play a significant role in the LOST story, so them getting off the island just doesn't seem very interesting. I guess it could be Sawyer, but I'm a little surprised that Sawyer would leave and in two Kate/Jack flash-forwards he hasn't even been a topic of conversation (Well, unless he's in the casket). But who knows, if this show is anything it's unpredictable.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=221 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=220">Poker - Nothing New</a> ]]>
Needless to say, this has made poker playing absolutely infuriating lately, and as a result, I have wasted pretty much whatever I have had left of a bankroll. I would try and get through tournaments, but it's pretty hard to do when you're constantly disconnecting and sitting out and getting involved in hands that you end up folding because you aren't there to play them. I've only been able to play in the Big Game so far in the BBThree, and that involved me missing probably about 30% of the hands I played, so I literally won no significant hands and the one nice starting hand I did get was AK which I laid down on a K-high board in what was probably a weak fold since I'm playing with a bunch of bloggers. I think my reasoning for folding was sound, but sometimes I give my opponent too much credit for having a hand. Maybe I should post the HH some time, get some thoughts.

So, I'm hoping my internet issues get resolved soon, because I really wanted to dive headfirst into the BBT. In the meantime, don't expect much in the way of poker content from me.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=220 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=219">Poker - BBT3</a> ]]>

And the prizes are even more disgusting this time around...Full Tilt is giving away 2 seats to the WSOP Main Event, and 5 more seats to other WSOP events! That's $30k right there. So sick.

The BBThree is even bigger this time around, comprising of 55 blogger events. 55! This should be nuts.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=219 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=216">Entertainment - LOST: Season 2 Revisited (Part 1)</a> ]]>
-I really liked the title of the season premiere, "Man of Science, Man of Faith". When I initially saw the title, I just went on the assumption that it was about Jack and Locke, since in the season finale Locke went so far as to label them such. And after watching the episode it's still probably that that's who the title was describing. However, the interesting thing is that there were several "Men of Faith" that interacted with Jack in this episode.

First was his father, Christian, for a brief time. Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say Christian Shepard is a man of faith, but he did speak to Jack about the importance of hope when dealing with patients.

Second was Desmond. When Jack first meets Desmond, he speaks of faith and hope in response to Jack's story of Sarah in the hospital. Jack, being a man of science, says it's impossible for Sarah to ever walk again, and that if she were to walk again, it would be a miracle. Desmond, as a man of faith, believes this is a possibility. So, fast forward several years, and here is Desmond, the man of faith, pushing a button every 108 minutes for who knows how long, with no concrete explanation, no absolute knowledge in the consequences of not pushing the button, and really the only thing that continues to drive him is faith.

Third is Locke, who we don't need to go into, but given his faith in the island, his faith in the hatch, his immediate faith in the button, it's very clear that he is indeed a man of faith.

I just thought it was interesting to see Jack having to fight all those characters of faith.

We also managed to see a possible transformation in Jack. Being a man of science, he felt the button-pushing was ludicrous, the explanation ridiculous, and pretty much refused to take part in the whole issue. But there was one thing he couldn't get past, the thing that makes me think perhaps the title of the premiere wasn't about Locke after all: Desmond. Desmond and Jack had met before, in the real world, and not only that, but their previous conversation surrounded around miracles, the impossible, faith and hope. So now, Jack survives a plane crash on a deserted island, finds a hatch within the island, and goes down there to find the very same Desmond in it, pushing a button every 108 minutes to 'save the world'.

He wants to pass the whole button situation off as something stupid and arbitrary, but the science in him can't get past the fact that Desmond is there. Someone that he has actually met before has somehow appeared in this hatch on a deserted island. This causes him to maybe let his guard down just a bit, and come to terms with what the hatch is, so much so that he is actually willing to press the button. I can't remember for sure, but I hope this leads to a little bit more of an open-minded Jack and a little bit less of asshole Jack.

-Just something I've been keeping an eye out ever since my LOST blogger buddy brought it up is the character Sayid. From Goat:

**Contains thoughts from last week's LOST episode**

"Let's also take a moment to appreciate Sayid, probably the most under-rated character on the show. With all the back and forth for leadership between Jack and Locke, I've always wondered why the most resourceful, practical, and sensible person, not to mention the least easily distracted (that's Sayid) hasn't been in charge. This is the episode where I realized that he actually is in charge. He never asks permission for his actions, he always just does what he thinks needs to be done. Alone among the crash survivors, he's the only one who doesn't need leadership, and thus doesn't look for it. He's the guy you most want with you on a mission. He's the professor, and Jack and Locke are just arguing over who has the Gilligan hat and who has the Skipper hat. (Sawyer is Ginger, of course.) He's not the Economist of the title, but he always knows what the math is, and he almost always makes the right play."

It's an excellent point, and something I've decided to keep an eye on as I re-watch these old episodes. He's not always perfect (His incident with Sawyer in the first season springs to mind), but he really is his own man. Jack is the man in charge, Locke is the man who knows things about the island, and everyone else follows, but Sayid is kind of just there, not leading anyone, not following anyone, fairly neutral in what he does unless he has a concrete opinion on it.

-I really liked the way the tail section was introduced. We were swerved and led to believe they were Others for the first few episodes, but I don't even care, because it was a great swerve. The image of Mr. Eko without his shirt on coming at you with a big ass stick in his hands was intense! After Jin ran out of the jungle and Sawyer and Michael look up to see this dark group of figures all holding pointy weapons with Eko leading the way, that's just a great visual. Now, of course the Others don't really look that tough, and really Ben just looks like a geek, but that's not really the point.

-I'll have to revisit this at the end of the season, but I know Season 2 is regarded as fairly weak overall by most LOST viewers. I have that in the back of my head as I watch so that I can try and formulate some ideas as to why that might be. So far, there are a couple things that seem apparent to me:

*The entire tail section save Bernard is either captured or killed by the end of Season 3. What does that mean? It means that most of the characters introduced end up being fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Ana Lucia serves as a sympathetic death given the way that she was killed, but other than that, what purpose did her character serve as far as the LOST story goes? None, really. Libby was an interesting character, and seemed to have some kind of a backstory with Hurley at the mental hospital, and Desmond with the boat, but neither of those two stories went anywhere, and unless they do somewhere down the road, she too is a wasted character. Bernard is still alive, but not worthwhile enough to really matter. The important part of the couple is Rose, who had cancer but is now in remission on the island. Mr. Eko was along the lines of Libby, very interesting backstory, and a seemingly deeper understanding of the island, kind of like Locke, only he died fairly abruptly, and so his story, along with the story of the beachcraft that his brother was in, faded away. So in the end, you are left with a number of flashbacks, and a number of episodes dedicated to these people that ultimately end up dead and insignificant.

*A lot of flashbacks in the first season really gave us some insight into the history of the characters on the island. We learned about where they come from, what brought them here, and sometimes, how they knew each other previously. Knowing all that, the flashbacks in the second season so far don't seem to have that same 'source of important information' feel to them. Everyone Hates Hugo spent most of the episode with Hurley trying to figure out what to do with the food, and his flashbacks were nothing but him keeping his lottery ticket a secret from his family and friends, because he doesn't like change. Okay, we get it. Don't need to spend an entire episode focusing on that. The episode with Locke, where he dates Peg Bundy and has issues with staying away from his father's house, that didn't tell us anything new about Locke. We know he has abandonment issues and that he can't stop thinking about his father used him, we don't need to spend an entire episode of flashbacks on it. Basically, the flashbacks that were new and interesting in Season 1 turned into flashbacks that just rehashed and reinforced what we already knew about the characters in Season 2.

-I had forgotten what a crazy psychobitch Ana Lucia is. I remember that she was a pretty hatable character right off the bat, and over time she warmed up to everyone else and you saw a likable side to her, and then of course she died. But man, when she kills Shannon, she really goes off the deep end. First she knocks out Sayid while he's fighting with Eko, then takes his gun, and starts pointing it at everyone, including the other members of the tail section. Then she decides that no one can leave, and that they have to tie Sayid up, instead of continuing on to their camp. She contemplates killing Sayid, because killing him on purpose would certainly be much more understandable to all the other survivors than the fact that she killed Shannon on accident. Finally, she comes up with her grand plan: She'll let Sayid go in return for supplies so that she can go off and survive on the island by herself. I swear, if Eko wasn't around that whole group would have been dead by now.

Speaking of Eko, I can't get over their relationship. She's the dictator in charge, and she certainly leads by force. Eko is the passive guy behind the scenes, who lets her do what she wants, until she goes too far. Then he speaks up, and she pretty much always does what he says.

-Eko's first interaction with Jack is priceless. First Jack has this complete look of bewilderment on his face when Eko comes rumbling through the jungle with Sawyer over his back. Then, back in the hatch, Jack goes through his normal 'flipping out when angry' routine because Sayid is being held captive and Shannon is dead, instead of acting in a normal, rational manner, and Eko won't talk to him because "Anything I say will only make you more upset". See Jack, guy's known you for five minutes and he already knows how you tick.

-How the hell is Kate a better golfer than a doctor? I can't possibly think of how this would make sense.

That's all for now. I've made it through the first third of the season. Pretty good so far, but definitely a slower pace. I'm mostly just biding my time until Ben shows up.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=216 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=218">Sports - ESPN is so cute sometimes</a> ]]>


So, after freaking out for a second, I click the link about DeRosa, and find out he was released from the hospital after complaining about an irregular heartbeat. Well played. Assholes.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=218 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=214">Entertainment - Awesome LOST Theory</a> ]]>
LOST on Earth's Mirror Matter Moon

This is a pretty complex LOST theory, but it's nothing short of fascinating, and honestly, the best looking one I've ever read. Pretty neat idea, and I wouldn't be surprised if the truth were somewhere along these lines.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=214 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=213">Entertainment - LOST 4.3 Thoughts</a> ]]>
-So, we have Jack, Kate, Hurley, and now Sayid as four of the Oceanic 6 (I guessed they would reveal Sayid this week by the way, whoo!). I loved Sayid's flash forwards, because the idea of him as a hitman was something I had a hard time believing. Granted, Sayid is certainly capable of killing people, but it's not something he willingly goes out of his way to do, so it's certainly not a profession I would expect him to jump into after the plane crash.

The first guy he killed was clearly concerned once Sayid identified himself as a crash survivor, although I didn't really think much of it at the time. The woman that he then killed was interesting, because he spent however long setting her up so that he could (presumably) kill her boss, but it turns out she was expecting it the whole time and almost killed him in the process. I was really looking forward to seeing who her boss was, but I guess that will be revealed at a later date.

That being said, Ben being revealed as Sayid's boss just blew me away. It was a cool reveal, too, letting you hear his voice and make the realization before seeing him. It also helps explain why Sayid is doing what he's doing. It appears that he is killing people that I assume are associated with the boat. Ben says something about Sayid protecting his friends or the others or something, makes me wonder if he's talking about the other Oceanic 6, or if he's talking about everyone on the island. Certainly a very interesting situation, and I'll definitely be looking to some more Sayid flash forwards.

-Speaking of Ben, certainly looks like what he tells the truth about and what he lies about is even more fuzzy than before. When we first met Ben, he claimed to be a guy that found the island after he crashed his hot air balloon. Obviously that was true and he was identified as one of the Others. Then he told us that he was born on the island, and that he had never left it. Well, as we saw from Ben's flashback, he wasn't born on the island, he came to the island when he was about twelve. And from last night's episode, it would appear that he not only has left the island before, but actually seems to travel a lot. This would help explain the picture Miles has of him, because the picture doesn't look like it was taken on the island, and even if it was, how did he obtain it?

The suits, the passports, the money, what does it all mean? It has to explain why these people are after Ben, doesn't it? What is this secret other life that Ben has? I thought that was a HUGE new story to introduce.

-I'm glad Desmond's getting some more screen time. He's a great character, but didn't have much to do last season aside from tell Charlie how he's going to die.

-Very cool, surreal scene with Sayid and the helicopter leaving the island.

-Awesome set up by Hurley to trap Sayid. It's funny, when they untied Hurley and he was stumbling around his words, I was thinking that it was a great idea to leave him, since he wouldn't really be all that useful in giving helpful information.

-I wonder why they made Kate stay at the barracks. Locke didn't really seem to have any interest in the other group, he really only wanted to keep Charlotte for collateral purposes, so I don't see why Kate didn't come back. Sayid said she decided to stay, but that's obviously not true. Maybe she just thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of the opportunity to have sex with Sawyer on an actual bed, probably an upgrade from a cage.

-It took me a little while at first, but once Locke started talking to Sayid I realized Sayid's plan to exchange Charlotte for Miles. I had remembered thinking it was a little odd how explicit Sayid was about setting up a deal with the pilot if he brought back Charlotte, then it all kind of fell into place.

-So Faraday has someone on the boat shoot over a rocket with a stopwatch or some kind of a clock in it, and in some bizarre Back to the Future moment he compares the clock with his watch and realizes the rocket arrived a half hour after it was supposed to land after being shot off from the boat. What the hell was that about? There has been discussion about some kind of effect on time with the island, and we've seen some suspect examples, like Richard not aging over the past twenty or thirty years, possibly Walt's age increase, and now a blatant and real disruption of time involving this rocket. However, the fact that Charlie was able to communicate with Penny in real time, the fact that Mikhail was able to keep up with the outside world in real time, and the fact that the conversations on the sat phones could take place in real time all seem to contradict those time issues, at least from an electronics standpoint.

-One last thing: what's Sayid's fascination with Naomi? He took her bracelet, insisted her body go on the helicopter back to the ship, but it doesn't seem like he's going about it in a caring way, it's like he suspects something, or knows something about her that we don't. I mean, it could be nothing and I could just be looking into it too much, but I got an odd vibe the way he was going about all of that.

We're getting the fifth of six next week, and I can't really think of who it might be. I still don't think Michael is one of them, I don't want to suggest Jin or Sun unless they both get off the island because I hate that idea, Locke leaving doesn't make sense. I'm still kind of up in the air about Sawyer, it seems like the whole thing with Kate makes it too obvious to be Sawyer, plus he seems to want to stay. It could be Claire, but her character's main purpose was Aaron anyways, I don't know how much use she would have post-island. I don't think Rose and Bernard are big enough characters. I think that's everyone. They could throw us for a swerve and re-introduce one of the survivors who was captured. That would be interesting. So, I guess for lack of a better option I'll go with Claire, but I really have no idea who the last two will be.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=213 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=211">Entertainment - LOST : Season 1 Revisited (Part 2)</a> ]]>
Upon re-watching the whole Ethan Rom angle, I thought it held up pretty well and was a great introduction to The Others. Creepy, very dangerous, with some mysterious ulterior motives that leaves the audience baffled. The one thing I wasn't really a fan of was when Ethan came back for Claire. So, Ethan tells Charlie that Claire has to be alone and he will take her, otherwise people will die, etc. But...doesn't it seem kind of dumb on Ethan's part to actually show up by himself, completely unarmed? Is he actually expecting Claire to be there by herself? It just seems like a blatant setup for Ethan, and he's come across as a very intelligent villain so far, so I don't like the blatant character misstep. But that's a pretty minor thing overall.

So I ranted a bit last time about what a worthless character Boone was and how it was pretty obvious that if anyone needed to die, it was him. His only foil on the show was Shannon, and Shannon ended up finding Sayid. So he assumed the role of Locke's lackey, really contributing nothing to the show and just acting as an extension of John, and ultimately, a sacrifice. Really, Boone's greatest contribution was the rift he created between Locke and Jack when Jack was unable to properly treat Boone (He would have died anyways, but whatever) because Locke disappeared right after the accident. Oh, sorry, he "lied" about what happened to Boone (Not really, he did fall off a cliff, he just neglected to mention that he was in an airplane when it happened). But I'll refrain on that for now, I have a big Jack rant saved up for later.

I love the idea of the hatch. The discovery and subsequent excavation just led to a great "wtf" moment for the show (Because they don't have enough of those). It also was a good opportunity for some character development for Locke, as we learned a little bit more about his connection with the island. But I think my favorite part of it is how completely baffled everyone is when they come in contact with it. Sayid and Jack don't know what to do with it, hell, even Rousseau, who's been on the island for sixteen years, A. has no idea what it is, and B. looks totally perplexed when she sees it. I mean, I would have to imagine that after all this time it would take quite a bit for her to get surprised by anything. Also, great end to the first season with Jack and Locke staring, bewildered, down the open hatch after they just blew it open with dynamite.

Switching gears, I can't get over how much of an asshole Michael was for the first half or two thirds of the season. He has his moments, helping get Jack out of the caves, the idea about creating showers, etc., but man, that guy is as stubborn as anyone, and if you do anything that he disagrees with, he will be all up in your face about it, and god forbid he actually listen to what anyone else has to say. Remember how I said no one ever even gave Sawyer a chance? That's pretty much how Michael is with everyone, particularly Locke. Although they did have a bit of a reconciliation when Locke helped him save Walt from the gigantic polar bear. That's polar bear #2, by the way.

The funny thing is that the thing that ended up really calming Michael down, was Jin. Jin, who has been public enemy #1 in Michael's eyes since, oh, like the third or fourth episode of the season. Michael was convinced that Jin burned down the first version of the raft, which led to Sun revealing to everyone that she speaks English. In an interesting chain of events, this led to Jin separating himself from Sun, effectively isolating himself from everyone, and eventually, to him helping Michael build the new raft. For whatever reason, the two formed quite a team, working well together, and eventually building a bit of a friendship. Michael was noticeably less of a jackass for the remainder of the season, although he still had his moments with Sawyer (Shocker!).

Speaking of Michael, I had forgot what an awesome character Walt is. Season 2, the only time we see him is briefly at The Others' "camp", and the rest he appears in the woods briefly speaking backwards or whatever. Then he leaves, and I think we see him all of twice during all of Season 3. During that time, you tend to forget about the things that make him special. Of course there's the bird that flies into a window and dies while he's reading about birds, because his parents won't listen to him while he's trying to talk. Then there's the polar bear that manages to show up after Walt was reading Hurley's comic book with the polar bear in it, only Walt got mad after Michael threw the book into the fire. Then he was talking to Locke, and Locke touched his arm, which caused Walt to urgently tell John not to open the hatch, which of course Walt didn't even know anything about. He's just a really fascinating person, and honestly, I hope that he comes back and has a significant role on the show.

So, something I've come to realize is how unlikable Jack is. I talked a bit about Michael's stubbornness, well, Jack's got it in spades. He is a man very set in his beliefs, and it takes a hell of a lot of him to change his views on anything. This results in very unfriendly interactions with those that don't share the same views as him (Sawyer, Locke, Kate on occasion...but she gets a pass because Jack wants to see her naked). When I talked about the treatment Sawyer receives from people, it all begins with Jack and his attitude. Then later, after the whole Boone incident, Jack goes off the handle angry at Locke, and it has a ripple effect on everyone else. And it doesn't really matter whether Jack is right or wrong, he's just so dead set in his ways that there's no other way around it. The situation with Boone was a perfect example. I mean, really, Boone was going to die. His leg was screwed, his lung collapsed, he lost a ton of blood, not to mention he was on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, as opposed to a hospital. But because Jack is such a control freak, and because he has to fix everything and everyone that he can, when he fails, beware his wrath. He goes so far as to call Locke a murderer. The funny thing about his hatred for Locke is how similar the two are in many aspects. I love the parallel they pulled with Locke on several occasions yelling at people not to tell him what he can't do, only to have Jack bust out the exact same line later on. I mean, I'm glad Jack is there, because he is a doctor, and his knowledge and abilities are great to have. However, he often times is a stubborn asshole who ends up picking fights with people unnecessarily and does what he says, despite it probably being a good idea to listen to what others have to say. I'd like to think it gets better as the show goes on, but we all know that's not true.

Okay, this is starting to get long-winded, just a few more points I wanted to make:

-I've been looking forward to seeing Arzt explode pretty much since I started watching the season. Honestly, next to the meteor blowing up Hurley's chicken restaurant and the reporter in front of it, this scene is the funniest damn thing this show has done. It's just so over-the-top shocking that it is completely hilarious. I freakin' love it.

-I want more of the smoke monster. I want to know who controls it, where it came from, what it does, the works. That thing was a tour-de-force in the first season, and I want more.

-I thought the numbers were great, but honestly, I don't see why everyone thinks they should have some ultimate meaning. They keep showing up because the overall theme in the show is about how many different things are related to each other. The numbers were technically explained as part of the Valenzetti equation, so really I don't know what else people are looking for. I do like how they tied into things in Season 1, and it'd be fun to see them pop up from time to time, but really, what else do people want?

-There were some amazingly touching moments during the finale. First was a shirtless Sawyer and a teary-eyed Jack. Honestly though, it was a great moment with Sawyer telling Jack of his encounter with his father, and what Christian had to say about Jack. I'm sure it helped their relationship in the future, but it was just nice to see them connect on that personal level. The other moment was Jin and Sun reconciling. What a tear-jerking scene. Jin and Sun have always been my favorite characters, and I just thought the whole dialog between them was amazing.

I think that's all I've got. I'm going to try and split my thoughts up evenly for next season, it got too hard to try and remember the little things I wanted to talk about after 16 episodes. I'll probably try and start Season 2 later this week. I'm excited for this week's episode, along with news that the writer's strike is over and we may end up getting a total of 13 episodes this season instead of just the 8 that have been filmed so far! Whoo!

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=211 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=210">Entertainment - Lost 4.2 Thoughts</a> ]]>
On a side note, I have three more hours (2 episodes) left in Season 1, so I'm hoping to finish that up this weekend or early next week and then post some more observations.

But, back to the topic at hand, the start to Season 4. LOST is back to doing what it does best, coming up with new ways to confuse the hell out of you and get you to stare dumbly at the TV screen. We've got four new characters on the show, and they brought with them a whole lot of questions for the viewers.

-First off, who the hell are these people? I had read that Season 4 was going to feature both flash forwards and flashbacks, and I'm really glad they did it that way. The flash forwards are certainly a nice change of pace from three seasons of flashbacks, but I never felt like they should abandon them completely. It was nice to see some brief flashbacks for all four crew members, although we didn't get a ton of answers from them. We do know that they were seemingly recruited by the creepy guy in the black suit who visited Hurley last week. We know that they're not professionally trained for their mission, and that it doesn't appear that they even knew each other before they were assigned to this project.

Daniel Faraday got very emotional when he found out about the wreckage of Flight 815 (more on that later), but we don't know why. Miles is some sort of ghost whisperer, we don't know of any connection to the flight. Charlotte's an interesting case, we saw her track down the skeleton of a polar bear in Tunisia with a Dharma collar(!) next to it. Can't remember the pilot's name off the top of my head, but he claims that he was originally supposed to be the pilot for Flight 815, but wasn't for some reason. So we learn little tidbits about each one, but still no idea on their true purpose, or their motivation for each even being a part of this project.

-Okay, I guess we know a little about their true purpose: they're after Ben. Bet Jack's wishing he hadn't let him go with Locke right about now. Charlotte is currently a semi-captive with Locke's party, the other three are with Jack. All Jack/Kate/Sayid/Juliette know is that Miles has a picture of Ben and that he's why they're there. Locke's party has discovered that Ben, as usual, is just full of all kinds of information, and in this case seems to know every little detail regarding Charlotte's life, including the fact that she is here to find him.

-Ben is an interesting case himself. You can never tell with him when he's lying and when he's telling the truth. He knows a lot about many things, but that doesn't always mean he's going to tell you the truth about them; it really all depends on what the impact of knowing that information means in the big picture. For example, he says the people on the freighter are not who they say they are and they bring danger to the island. Now, while it's true that they're not who they say they are, was Ben saying that to protect the island, or was he saying that to protect himself, since they seem to be there because of him? He did shoot Charlotte after all, who was fortunately wearing a bulletproof vest (Speaking of which, what the hell was that about?), so he must honestly believe they present some danger.

Locke asked him about the smoke monster, Ben said he didn't know what it is. Again, is that the truth, or is it just in his best interest to not tell? And if he really doesn't know what it is, who does? Jacob, perhaps? I just think it's interesting that Ben knows so much, because of Locke's curiosity, it would be pretty tough for John to just kill him.

-Ben said he had a spy on the freighter. Can't help but wonder who that might be. It could just be someone we don't even know, or it could be a recurring character. Michael? Walt? Penny? Jack's dad, just so we can give him another role on the show?

-Touching back on last week's episode, we met a creepy guy in a black suit. He was in one of Hurley's flash forwards after Hurley got himself back into a mental hospital. He claimed to be from Oceanic, but Hurley got a bad vibe from him and got him to leave, but not before the man asked him if they were still alive. Cryptic, and it makes you wonder who "they" are. Now, with this week's episode, we see him in a flashback, with Naomi, going over the four crew members. We still don't know who he's working for, but he seems to indicate to Naomi that there were no survivors from Flight 815. Whether he actually believes that or not I have no idea. However, since this crew was his idea, it makes me wonder if "they" isn't the other survivors as most originally thought, but possibly his crew instead. It also makes me wonder what Hurley and the other "six" aren't telling people. Clearly the man in the black suit knows Hurley is hiding something, Jack even checked on him to make sure he didn't talk.

-I don't want to speculate too much about the "Oceanic 6", because I honestly have no idea who they are all going to be. We don't really even know what that means, although it would be fair to assume that there are only 6 of them that leave the island. It would also seem that the 6 were all from the plane, hence the nickname. So far we've got Jack, Kate, and Hurley, which only leaves three spots for a lot of people that seem to want to get off the island. Kind of depressing to think about, really, and it makes you wonder what happens to the non-plane island inhabitants.

-The plane wreckage was very interesting. One of the big question marks for people (one of many) is how the rest of the world reacted to the plane crash. When Naomi was first introduced last season, we discovered that the public opinion was that the flight crashed, everyone died, and that they saw the wreckage, bodies, etc. Well, last night we saw some video footage of the wreckage, and the body of the pilot. Now as the crew pilot hinted at, the footage he saw of the airplane's pilot's body, he didn't believe that was really the pilot due to a lack of a wedding ring. So this leads to speculation that this is some kind of coverup. But by whom? Oceanic? The creepy guy in the black suit? Why would you fake a plane crash? Why not just say you never found the plane?

-It was nice of Locke to bring up his lack of a kidney saving his life. It was discussed amongst the fans, glad the writers just threw in a brief acknowledgment.

-Yeah, did I mention a Dharma polar bear in fucking Tunisia? Last time I checked, Tunisia was nowhere near the Pacific ocean. Not to mention, it's a skeleton, which would imply it's most likely been there for a while. So...what the hell? How many Dharma polar bears are there anyways? We know Sawyer killed one, another one attacked Walt, the Others used to keep them (or Dharma) in cages, but who knows how many there actually were. This one is just baffling to me.

-I still think it's a little odd that Desmond didn't go with Locke's group. He was the first one to get Charlie's message, but he stuck around anyways. I wonder if it's due to the fact that Naomi had Penny's picture, and is too curious to leave. I also thought some more about what this guy had to say about how he doesn't understand why any of the survivors would ever go with Locke. I said it made sense, considering they were going with him because of Charlie, not because of Locke. On top of that, some people obviously don't trust Locke because of what he's done. But I don't think that includes everyone. Just because we know the whole story with Locke doesn't mean everyone does. Think about it. Sayid, Kate, Jack, all probably feel they have valid reasons to not trust or go with Locke. And none of them did. Hurley, Sawyer, Claire, what reasons do they have not to trust him? Anyways, just something I wanted to touch on.

-Anyone else think that they've been putting Michael's name in the credits the past two weeks just to screw with us? I initially thought he was in the credits last week and didn't appear because he was going to show up this week, and since I think this was originally going to be a two hour episode, etc...But now? I wouldn't put it past JJ Abrams & co. to think it would be hilarious to mess with everyone's heads since we all get way too obsessive with the show as it is to sit there and get us to speculate about the return of Michael, only to not even have him show up. Sneaky bastards if that's why.

-I still can't believe Jack tried to kill Locke last week. What an asshole. Actually, I have some more thoughts on Jack and his often ridiculous behavior, but I'll save that for my Season 1 thoughts.

Well, I think that's all I've got for now. Next week I guess we get to find out the fourth member of the Oceanic 6. Like I said, I don't have a clue who it will be, but just for kicks I'll say Sayid. I almost said Sawyer, but since he's accomplished his big purpose in life, I'm still not convinced he's going to be alive by the time everyone's ready to leave the island.

]]> http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=210 <![CDATA[ <a href="http://secondcitysaint.com/index.php?id=209">Poker - Easy call with middle pair?</a> ]]> that I called on the button after three limpers. I'm really not happy with the way the hand played out, but I can't figure out what my play should have been. Here's the hand history:

FullTiltPoker Game #5152720778: $28,000 Guarantee (38434871), Table 14 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:14:14 ET - 2008/02/06
Seat 1: Petie_BigStacks (2,400)
Seat 2: RefuseTwoLose (5,700)
Seat 3: Chad N Freude (8,830)
Seat 4: kalterrell (8,667)
Seat 5: BradyKO (5,200)
Seat 6: sloman113 (4,555)
Seat 7: Mike_Maloney (3,035)
Seat 8: bXb0mber (3,585)
Seat 9: Konquist (2,955)
bXb0mber posts the small blind of 60
Konquist posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mike_Maloney [Ac 9c]
Petie_BigStacks folds
RefuseTwoLose calls 120
Chad N Freude calls 120
kalterrell folds
BradyKO folds
sloman113 calls 120
Mike_Maloney calls 120
bXb0mber folds
Konquist checks
**