[Picture courtesy of Lao Cook.]

I finished watching the Beijing Opening ceremony tonight, and gave a little cheer when the Laos delegation (of four) entered.  Matt Lauer’s commentary was,

“A lot of people back in the States refer to “Lao” as Laos.  The people there do call it Lao.  It’s a communist nation, [and] a hub for eco-tourism.”

Yeah, we call it “Lao” but it’s usually “Muang Lao,” with muang roughly translating to land.  The Thais call their country “muang thai,” which translates to “Thai-land.”

Just because Italy calls their country “Italia”, Germany calls their country “Deutschland”, and Korea calls their country “Han gook,” doesn’t mean that’s what I would call it when talking to other English speakers.  Read more about this topic here.

Anyway, wasn’t the opening ceremony freaking gorgeous?  If you didn’t watch it in HD, you don’t know what you were missing.  The Chinese really know how to do fireworks, don’t they?  Hehe.

Tonight I watched new episodes of two regular TV shows I used to watch before the strike – CSI New York and Criminal Minds. They were both a little lack luster, but hey, I can’t complain too much.

As I wait for new episodes of my favorite shows, here’s some TV gossip.

Question: What’s this I’m hearing about a major kiss in Lost‘s season finale? — David

Ausiello: More like a “spectacular kiss” — Damon Lindelof’s words, not mine. In the new issue of Lost magazine, DL teased, “Romance is always blooming on and off the island. And I hereby promise you one of the most spectacular kisses you’ve ever seen on the show in this year’s finale.” Naturally, I pressed DL’s partner in crime, Carlton Cuse, for further details on the earth-shattering smooch, to which he replied, “I can disclose no more details other than to say it’s one of my favorite moments of the whole series so far. And contrary to some speculation, it is a male/female kiss.” OK, so it’s not Mr. Friendly and his little Rent Boy. Who does that leave? Oh, right: Pretty much every other couple on the frakkin’ show! Damn you, Team Darlton!

Oh no! Guess what was my first thought was after reading this: “Romance is always blooming on and off the island.” I read it as Sun and Hurley getting it on! Remember when Hurley met Sun to visit Jin’s grave? He asked her if anyone else was coming, in which she replied, “No.” Hurley then said, “Good.” That coupling has an ick factor doesn’t it? Like dating your cousin, or something. Right now, I’m waiting for my co-workers to catch up to this season’s Lost and when it returns, hopefully Ras and I will host a Lost viewing night. So far, the people I know who watch it are Dave, Peter, Bart, Thomas, Melissa, and Nathan. Thomas just finished Season 2 and now thinks Rousseau is the key to the island and there’s no way she would die. Bhahahahaa! (You’d know why I’m laughing if you’ve watched the latest episode.)

Question: I just picked up the new issue of TV Guide so I could learn about all of my returning favorites, and I nearly stopped breathing when I read the CSI: NY update. Danny and Lindsay are going to cool off? What does that mean exactly? — Andrea

Ausiello: I’m hearing something about another woman. And possibly [Don't shoot the messenger!] some sex.

 

Question: Any new scoop about the third season of Heroes? — Sasha

Ausiello: Someone may be moving in on Mohinder’s narrator turf. Tim Kring is said to be seeking an Australian Aboriginal actor in his fifties to appear in multiple episodes as a storyteller with great wisdom and a soft, soothing voice.

 

Question: NBC’s Thursday-night lineup returns in a month! Any scoop yet? Especially for Ben Silverman’s favorite (and mine), 30 Rock? — Matt

Ausiello: Look for Liz to channel her inner Angelina when she decides to adopt a world-weary Russian kid in an attempt to ease her misplaced liberal guilt. And this adoption may take: I hear the kid could be around all next season!

 

Question: Battlestar Galactica returns this Friday! Have you seen the premiere? What can you tell us? — Brian

Ausiello: I have seen the premiere and, unfortunately, I can’t tell you much. Sci Fi made me sign a confidentiality agreement in which they threatened to castrate me if I spoiled any aspect of the episode — particularly the last 15 minutes. So I’ll just say the episode is awesome (particularly the last 15 minutes) and leave it at that. Luckily, the spooky legal document didn’t say anything about revealing future spoilers, but just to be safe I’ll cover my naughty bits as I relay the following intel about the second half of Season 4 (airing whenever): Starbuck will become inexplicably drawn to a handsome, charismatic, slick and mysterious piano player over the course of two episodes. The two will become so connected that she’ll find herself telling him things no one else knows. Like, for instance, what her relationship with Michelle Ryan was really like. I kid. I think.

The best part of the article are all the comments at the bottom.  Comic book fans have some pretty strong feelings about who plays the characters they’ve grown up with.  The following made me laugh.  So, what are your thoughts?  Who’s your favorite X-Men character?

Posted by: jake on February 19, 2008 at 08:04:45

I’m sick of all the complaining where Gambit is going to fit in to this story. First, you all complain that Gambit isn’t in any of the movies. And now, he is in this movie, and you’re still complaining! You should be thankful he’s even in this film. You ever think the writer and director did this for you guys? It’s either this or no Gambit. So stop complaining and be thankful for this. 

Posted by: raybia on February 19, 2008 at 09:14:51

Oh my god, taylor kitsch is Gambit?! TAYLOR KITSCH IS GAMBIT!!
Who in the hell is Taylor Kitsch? 

We also talked about our love of Juno‘s soundtrack. Here are some songs from the album.

Barry Louis Polisar – All I Want Is You

The Moldy Peaches – Anyone Else But You

The Ansy Pants – Tree Hugger

This is the second online petition I’ve ever signed.  (The first one was to save internet radio, and I actually got an email from my congressman.)

More information and links at Pop Candy.  You can also stream all episodes from both seasons at NBC.com.  Unfortunately, this only works for viewers in the U.S.

Part 1

Part 2

The five of us went out to dinner and hoped the download would finish by the time we got back. We went to my favorite bosaam restaurant, which is a two minute walk from my apartment. This is the same restaurant we went to with Bart on a different occasion.

There were a lot of stories told throughout the meal, with dongdongju flowing freely.

A: How did you manage to smoke weed every day when you were 12 years old!?!

B: I had a paper route.

Greg also celebrated 100 day of not smoking cigarettes, so I gave him a 100 won coin to commemorate it. One of the reasons he quit was because his wife recently gave birth to a new baby girl – Jina.

After dinner, we went back to our place to watch Lost. The four of us were so excited (Jenay had never seen the show before). It’s been on hiatus for, like, five years. Click to continue reading my thought and SPOILERS for the upcoming season. And by spoilers, I mean, I know who the Oceanic 6 are!

In my opinion, I think the Oceanic 6 left the island but made a pact not to tell that there are others who survived the plane crash and are still on the island. That’s why when Ana Lucia’s partner asked Hurley if he had seen her on the plane, he said no. In last night’s episode, it was a flash forward, but not as far ahead as when Jack was talking to Kate in the end of Season 3. Jack had talked about hopping on a plane and hoping it would crash so he could find the island again. I think he feels guilty for leaving the others behind. I was also reading some forums and this was an interesting theory:

• “OK this is a stretch. But what if the ‘rescuers’ say they can only take 6 off at a time and they choose based on seat numbers from the flight or numbers drawn… 6 rescued… 6 numbers; 4,8,15,16,23,4.

You want to know who was in the rocking chair in Jacob’s cabin? Go HERE to find out.

Click HERE to find out who the Ocean 6 are. I can’t believe one of my favorite characters isn’t part of the six!

There are only eight episodes this season, and here are who the stories concentrate on.

4.1 “The Beginning of the End”: Hurley
4.2 “Confirmed Dead”: The “Rescuers”
4.3 “The Economist”: Sayid
4.4 “Eggtown”: Kate
4.5 “The Constant”: Desmond
4.6 “The Other Woman”: Juliet
4.7 “Ji Yeon”: SunJin
4.8 “Meet Kevin Johnson”: Michael