Lost Wednesdays: The Last Recruit

WARNING: CONTAINS EPISODE SPOILERS

Underhelmed? Me, too.

I understand that this episode was all about setting up the action to come, but when is the action actually going to get here? Why are they hoarding it? There are only a few episodes left. Spread. The. Love. I imagine the writers huddled together with all the good stuff clutched to their chests, parcelling out bits and pieces, probably saving the very best for May sweeps. Ugh. I'm impatient on a good day, this is just driving me bananas.

How much did I want to hit Jack when he was talking to NotLocke? A lot. I know LOST is famous for characters who never ask the obvious follow up, but this was ridiculous. Can someone please, please, please find out what this thing is? You would think someone would be a little more interested in the provenance of a smoke monster who can shape shift. Maybe its just me? Of course all Jack wanted to know was whether the MiB was Christian. WHO CARES?!

I did like how everyone was coming together in the flash sideways, although some things were just weird. Ilana The Lawyer seemed to assume that there was only one Claire Littleton in all of Australia. Loved Sawyer and Kate at the precinct, loved Sawyer arresting Sayid (great garden hose bit), and it was great to see John on Jack's operating table. It wasn't a surprise, but I wonder if Jack will be able to "fix" John. (I think it was fitting when MiB said Locke wasn't a believer he was a sucker, was probably true.) I would totally watch a Sawyer-Miles cop spinoff.

So I'm thinking that, for once, Jack is probably right. The Losties are not supposed to leave the island. I hate that Sawyer is wrong, but I can't blame him because he doesn't know that one of them is supposed to be an effin' cork or whatever. No one on this island talks or explains so how are they supposed to know? Jack jumping off the boat seemed to echo Sawyer jumping out of the helicopter. Wonder if Sawyer will end up wanting to get back as badly as Jack did.

How creepy was it when Locke was all like, "You're with me now." Yeesh. Talk about deal with the devil. So is Jack all claimed now like Sayid? And Windmore revoking his deal with Sawyer was not cool, Charles, not cool at all. Wonder how long before Tina Fey/Liz Lemon/Zoe bites it. And no way Sayid killed Desmond. I'm just surprised MiB is so easy to lie to. I guess he can't scan people in Locke form?

I was dying when Sawyer said that Frank looked like someone who just walked off the set of a Burt Reynolds' movie. Dying.

Nice Jin and Sun reunion, finally, although the way they shot it I kept thinking one or the other was going to get zapped by Widmore's electric fence thing. Strange that they chose to speak English to each other, but whatevs. Stranger things have happened on this show. Glad Sun doesn't have to cart around pen and paper anymore.

So maybe meddling Desmond as the new Jacob and Jack as the new MiB? Ah, who am I kidding. I don't know what the hell is going on here.

Some Wedding Stuff

Several of my lovely readers have asked to see elements of my wedding, especially the invitations. So here are some photos--I apologize for the delay!

Menus (also served as table numbers)

Part of Our Favours - Donations to

the Canadian Cancer Society

Another Part of the Favours: Chocolates in the shape of Cancer ribbons and confetti--my nonna (grandmother) insisted on the last part. The box and ribbon is the same as the menus and invites.

Unfortunately, we got no pro photos of our invitations but here they are:

The Programs, one of my only wedding DIY projects...

(sorry again about the picture quality)

Thanks to all who were interested in seeing a part our day!

Book of the Week: Girl Crazy

Girl Crazy, the new novel from Russell Smith, is fast paced and just a little disturbing. Justin Harrison is a thirtysomething, educated hipster-type and nowhere near where he wants to be in life. Harrison lives in a cramped apartment, works at a dead end teaching job at a community college, and has recently split from his prim and proper girlfriend Genevieve. On a stifling summer day Justin comes across damsel in distress Jenna who he seemingly charms with his gentlemanly behavior. For Justin their meeting is the beginning of a dizzying ride into obsession and the seedier side of life.

Reading a book with a male protoganist, especially one written as honestly as this one, takes some getting used to. Justin's thoughts are permeated by sex and violence and video games. At the beginning of the book Justin reeks desperation and weakness. Even when ogling women Justin is acutely aware that he doesn't have the upper hand. Enter younger Jenna, who is both less educated and less refined than Justin, and enthralls him with her sexuality and the excitement she brings to his life. The anticipation Justin feels between meetings with Jenna is palpable on the page, especially when compared to the dullness of his job and the rest of his life.

Even where his career is concerned Justin is impotent and unfufilled, playing second fiddle to an annoyingly self important boss more concerned with boosting provincial test results than really educating students. It is only when Justin becomes increasingly drawn into Jenna's world, one filled with drugs and thugs and the smell of violence, that he begins to find himself and his backbone. At the same time it is nearly impossible for Justin to see through the fog of his lust to recognize Jenna for the flighty, self-absorbed, unbalanced person that she is.

Smith seems to have a lot to say--about relationships, society, and education, but I'm not entirely sure there's a moral to this story. Perhaps that's the point. Either way I found myself drawn into Justin's world and his evolution.

Browse inside the book here.



Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for the review copy.