Well, loyal reader, it’s been quite a while since I last updated this journal. One season of Survivor has ended and another is about to begin, and Smokey the monster made its first appearance on Lost. So here are my thoughts.

Survivor: Well, Danni won, and I’m glad. I always like to root for the underdog (GO PANTHERS!!!), and she definitely qualified, she outlasted all the others from her tribe who came into the merge, and she won the right immunities at the right times. And she didn’t stab anyone in the back. I do have to say, however, that Rafe was an idiot for letting her out of her promise to take him with her to the final 2. But oh well. I have to say that the gimmick for the new survivor “Exile Island” does not really do anything for me. I mean, it might be neat, I’ll just have to wait and see.

LOST: Much more to talk about here, though I’ll keep it brief. I like the addition of the tailies (the survivors from the tail section), I think they’re all interesting and that a great bond can be formed between the new characters and the old. We finally got to see the big monster, which it turns out is not a dinosaur but in fact an sentient tentacle/cloud of black smoke (the Abyss, anyone?). It has stared down Locke and Eko once each, and left both alone to continue their lives. It does seem to support the Purgatory theory of Lost, in that it judges those who should remain or those who should move on. However, I’m puzzled as to why it grabbed Locke a while back and tried to pull him down the rabbit hole. I guess we’ll get some answers eventually. We also found out that Jack’s wife/former patient left him for another man, and that he “always needs something to fix” (there’s a great oversimplified character summary). Oh, and we got to have a nice little chat with the Others. The scruffy guy, Zeke, is pretty creepy… (in the credits he’s listed as being named Mr. Friendly, though I don’t know how we know the name Zeke or the name Mr. Friendly). They warned Jack et al. to stay off their turf. They made the analogy that you don’t go to someone’s house for the first time and kick off your shoes and put your feet on the table, but also, if someone comes to visit your house, you don’t steal their children and shoot them, so I think that was a crappy metaphor. I hope Michael gets Walt back eventually, and that Sawyer gets to meet up with Zeke again. And I hope that Locke figures out the mystery, and that Jack gets some faith, and that Charlie and Claire get back together, and that Sun and Jin stay together, and that Sawyer and Kate get together, and that Jack and Ana Lucia get together, and that peace and harmony will live forever on the island/experiment/purgatory/planet/place. But I don’t think that’ll happen, and I can’t wait to see what does.

Yeah, so sorry it’s been way too long since my last post. The last week or two have been crazy. So yeah here it goes.

LOST: I didn’t get to see Lost last week, because I’m a retard and forgot to tape it… twice… but I read the update and it looked pretty awesome, and I guess I’ll have to wait for a rerun. But it turns out that Desmond ran away, that the “Others” encountered by the raft survivors are actually people from the tail of flight 815, and that they are complete jerks and liars. That’s all I can say about last week since I didn’t see it.

Survivor: Well the shakeup finally happened. I knew it was coming (and not just because the preview said it was). One tribe had been dominating so the producers had to even it up (though it’s still not very even). The reward challenge wasn’t really a challenge after all, but that’s ok, because it was all a setup for the juggling of tribe members. Gary got screwed, though. He’s now on the tribe with the sportswriter lady Danni, who totally called him out on being a former NFL QB. But he made the smart move and stuck with the lie, even though he’s an awful liar. Bobby John and Blake had a disgusting urinating alliance talk, followed by an even more disgusting handshake… ewwww… gimme the jibblies. In the end, poor Stephanie still lost, and perhaps she is cursed. In the end Brooke was voted out. She would not have been if Judd hadn’t been an idiot and flip-flopped on his original tribe. Now no one will be able to trust him, and he’ll still be the first one voted out of his “alliance”. Real smooth.

LOST: Last night’s episode of Lost was another good one. Many people seem to be of the opinion that the episode was a waste, and that it did not progress the story any. This episode was more important for mood than anything else. It allowed for two of the raft explosion survivors, Michael and Sawyer, to connect, and deeper develop their characters. The classic Sawyer moment came when he removed the bullet from his shoulder with only his fingers, without asking for help, as usual, and then he sarcastically asked Michael if he had a Band-Aid before he passed out. However, we’re starting to see a deeper side of Sawyer. He’s no longer the anarchist/rebel who cares for no one. He’s starting to attach himself to those around him, and reveal his inner self, without having to hide it so much. In this episode we also got a glimpse at the function of the computer down the hatch, and its connection to the numbers. It also seems that Desmond has been lied to, in that he thinks everyone on the island is sick, and that he’s probably been injecting himself with that stuff from the previous episode to keep himself healthy (or so he’d been told). Either that or there really is some disease or something on the island. But most of all, the next episode looks to be spectacular. Savage other survivors of the plane crash and a deeper faith exploration into why some find it so hard to believe and others find it so easy. Me, I’m a believer.

Survivor: So tonight’s episode of Survivor was rather short on tribal drama. That was not necessarily a negative for me. Drama at this point in the game is still rather uninteresting, though it will be better later. What I like most about Survivor are the challenges and the struggle for food/water/shelter etc. And as far as challenges go, tonight’s were awesome! The blindfolding challenge that they have every year is always a good one. This one was no exception. I loved seeing Judd whack his teammate in the head twice with a pole, and good planning by the challenge producer to make the ropes connecting the players shorter than the poles they were carrying. The 2nd challenge was one I’d been waiting for since the location for this season was announced. It featured one of the oldest team sports in all civilization, and the sport that greatly influenced basketball. It was so nice to see a challenge come straight from the culture surrounding the survivors. I have to hand it to the producers for making the tribes so even this season. Every challenge has come down to the wire and has been very close. Just when you think one tribe is doomed, they turn it around and win. It’s very exciting, and I can’t wait for next week.