Flash Forward

I'm really enjoying this series so far. The first episode established the worldwide blackout for 2 minutes and 17 seconds and led us on our merry way to see if everyone will be trapped in the future glimpse they saw, or if they can change their future now that they know what might be.

In addition to the issues of free will vs fate inherent in the storyline, we have the intriguing video showing someone in Detroit stadium walking around awake and casual during the blackout, and the revelation that someone in Pigeon, Utah was apparently calling the man in Detroit during the blackout.

The FBI agents are taking the stance that these wakeful people may have had something to do with the blackout, and that the blackout could re-occur.

Agent Mark Benford and his family are at the center of the drama in a way, because Mark saw an entire bulletin board of clues he had put together about the blackout and it's causes and the bulletin board is shaping up with those same clues even after just two episodes.

His very likeable wife meets the man in episode two that she saw herself having an affair with. She is so horrified to meet him and I like her so much for being honest with her husband about her vision and the fact that the man has come to the hospital where she works.

Her husband has not been honest with her at all about returning to drinking in his vision, and you can see he thinks her guilty already of the affair. The future seems inexorably to be set in motion.

Their little girl Charlie is not so likeable, seeming very whiny and pouty. She does give a clue or two to her vision by being upset that Dylan, the autistic son of Mr. Affair has been hurt, implying she and he are close. She also tells her father D. Gibbons is a "bad man", belying the idea that the cupcake lady named Dee Dee Gibbons who seeks out agent Noh in episode two is the D. Gibbons of the Mosaic board.

So...is the cupcake lady all a part of some larger plot, is she trying to drive the team towards a solution or put them off of the trail?

Agent Noh, who saw nothing, puts his name out of the Mosaic Bulletin Board and he gets a call saying he will be killed March 15th, 2010. This would explain why he saw nothing in the vision, but if he knows how and where he is killed, can he avoid his death?

Click to enlarge comics!







Dying to know even more about Flash Forward?

Flash Forward Official site
ABC's official page. View episodes, character biographies, episode guides, topical discussions (for instance, do you think Dmitri will die as predicted?)

Robert Sawyer's site. He is the author of the book Flash Forward upon which the series is based, and many other novels.

Wikipedia for the television show, episode descriptions, overview of series and plotting, cast.

Another Flash Forward Wiki This one includes forums and a blog (not updated since June 10th as of today however).

Flash Forward Forum (The Fansite and Forum for ABC's television show Flash Forward) A place to discuss episodes and your theories as the plot unfolds.

FlashForwardBlog A personal blog by someone with the clever byline Flashforward. He includes forums, polls, video clips.

Survivor Samoa Bouncing Bennie

Hillbilly Ben got tossed last night through the efforts of Jaisson, a truly elegant and gracious man who just would not put up with the vile piggish Ben any longer. It was painful to see the Foa Foa side floundering under the influence of two completely awful human beings, Ben and Oily Russell. I never root for the villain, I don't find them to be entertaining, and I always want to see them get tossed as soon as possible.

The Galou side, which has won every challenge so far, is not getting any coverage at all, so we don't even know those people. All we can see so far is that the women think they're at a spa, and Lawful Russell, the Galou leader, has some bizarre need to further pamper them.

Shambo, who has been very likeable up to this episode, was sent to the other tribe as a spy (they've done away with Exile Island) and she sort of caved in and gushed that the Foa Foa people were so nice(!!!!!!)unlike her own yoga/zen/slacker/Beverly Hills 90210 tribe. She really needed to treat her own people the same way she approached the Foa Foas, age difference or not, so that she did not make herself an outsider. It really was her own doing, she didn't like the they operated right off and she needed to handle that another way. Tsk.



I thought it was very interesting that they showed her greeting and interacting with every Foa Foa except Oily Russell. What did she say to him, and how did he react?

In the previews for next week they show Oily Russell talking with Jaisson and they make it look like Jaisson is suddenly all weary of the game and ready to give up, and Oily Russell is ready to give him the boot, of course because Jaisson forced Oily to vote against Ben, not in The Plan, at all. Maybe Oily gets nailed next week and that is why they show him so much. Bleh.

The Forgotten (Season Premier)

This is one of the new television series that I thought looked promising. As it turned out, it was a good mystery show.

The volunteers of the "Forgotten Network" pick up where the Chicago police are forced to leave off on unidentified murder case victims. They have a limited time to find the identity of the victim, and hopefully find the killer. The time frame is determined it seems by the closing of the case by Chicago police and the time of the funeral in a "Potter's Field" grave.

Members of the Forgotten Network in Chicago are:

Alex Donovan (Christian Slater) who leads the group and is a former cop.

Candace Butler (Michelle Borth) who has a mind-numbing day job.

Lindsay Drake (Heather Stephens) A High school teacher whose husband is in prison for murder.

Walter Bailey (Bob Stephenson) a gentle giant who works for the phone company and who has a picture of himself and Dennis Franz of NYPD Blue in his car for inspiration.

Tyler Davies (Anthony Carrigan) an artist who reluctantly helps the group re-create the victims faces from what remains as part of a community service sentence.

Alex Donovan's contact at the police department who shows up whenever he needs a practicing cop is Grace Russell (Rochelle Aytes).

I feared this might be a little grisly, as these shows can be these days, but except for quick shots of the victims, emphasis is on solving the puzzle of the victim's identity and not on the crime itself.

It is a quirky but so far effective plot device to have the victim narrate their own story.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

This wonderful sequel to Suzanne Collins "The Hunger Games" finds Katniss and Peeta living in the Victor's Village along with Haymitch, their drunken mentor.

Katniss tries to live as she always did, sneaking out into the forest, hunting and trading what she acquires there in District 12 proper. Her friend Gale is now working 12 hours a day in the mines and can hunt only with her on Sundays.

There is no time to settle in to life in the Village, as she and Peeta, her co-victor in The Games, are scheduled to go on a Victory tour of the districts, stopping in each one and paying homage to the fallen players from each area.

Before the tour begins, Katniss has a visit from the serpentine President Snow, who tells her he is not convinced of the love Katniss and Peeta supposedly share, and he lets her know that her every move has been watched since her return to District 12. Coldly he tells her that she must convince everyone in the Districts as they tour and especially that she must convince him of the great love she and Peeta share in order to avoid any further spark of dissention with the government or the games. He hints that there have been uprisings already and she must help quell them.

The Tour shows just which districts are in or near revolt, and Katniss is as careful as she can be. The presence of Peeta and Katniss in some places only fuels the flames, unfortunately.

Upon their arrival in the capital, there is a stunning announcement, there will be a new game called The Quell and it will feature past victors from all previous games from all Districts. It is sort of an All-Star Game of previous victors, of all ages and abilities. With two chosen from each District, it is a foregone conclusion that Katniss and Peeta will once again be thrown immediately back into the Arena to fight for their lives.

This has all of the elements of the previous novel, the purely entertaining Arena challenge, the relationship of Katniss and Peeta, and the added romantic element of Gale, her old friend who finally lets her know he loves her, and rumbling through it all, the possibility that the entire structure of the totalitarian civilization is about to fall.

Great characters, great novel.

Survivor Samoa Episode 1: The Devil and the Deep Blue Innocents

SHE'S OUTTA HERE!

We're off to a great start. Tribes had already been split up by the time they got to the island and the first order of business was to have each group vote for a leader. They didn't know names so everyone wrote down descriptions of what the intended chief looked like, which was humorous.

Zooming right into the first challenge, the chief had to pick:

The best swimmer
The strongest
Most agile
Smartest

This all without knowing anything at all about his fellow tribespersons. They had a huge coil of rope which they carried over a set of three tall steep ramps (the entire tribe had to go).

Tribe Galu led by Russell the Lawful (a lawyer, and a good guy as opposed to Russell the Oily, our robber baron oil exec) worked together pulling each other over the ramps nicely.

Tribe Foa Foa led by Mick the Doc sort of had an everyone for themselves thing going until Jeff shouted out how much better the Galus were doing working together.

Next they pulled a heavy box of wooden puzzle planks up a ramp. On the Foa Foa side Russell the Oily looked like a caricature of a wild orc trying to pull the rope up seemingly on his own. He honestly looked like he was being filmed in fast motion. Most entertaining of our little troll.

The puzzle contest was won out by the cooperative Galus and they won reward. This was particularly satisfying since during the challenges and in the opening Russell the Lawful was being such a nice guy and saying encouraging things about his tribe to the sneers of a few Foa Foas...so needer, needer the nice guys finished first.

Standout personalities were:

Mick the Doc




Russell the Lawful




Russell the Oily




Hillbilly Ben




Shambo



For more Survivor Samoa tidbits:

Entertainment Weekly's interview with Jeff Probst.

Survivor Samoa.com

TV Grapevine Recap

Survivor Fever Site

CBS Official Survivor Page

Heaven's Keep by William Kent Krueger

I happened to have had the opportunity to read all day long today. Lucky I had my copy of Heaven's Keep by William Kent Krueger along.

Krueger's books are always beautiful, thoughtful and suspenseful. This one is that, plus it's a page turner from the start, and it never stops till the end.

Cork O'Connor's wife Jo has left on a chartered plane, accompanying clients to a summit of sorts on Indian Casinos and gambling laws. Before leaving, Jo and Cork argued over Cork's proposal that he apply for an open deputy position.

When word comes that the plane has gone down in an area near Hot Springs, Wyoming, but the plane is lost, all Cork can think of is not saying goodbye, and not saying he was sorry.

With his son Stephen, he goes to Wyoming to try to aid in the search. Although local law enforcement are not comfortable with their intrusion into the search process, they allow Cork and Stephen to take some harrowing helicopter rides to help search.

In the midst of another storm they fly through Giant's Gate, Baby's Cradle and Sleeping Baby Lake. Don't you love the names?

Months after all hope is lost, there comes word that it is possible that the plane did not crash after all, but that it landed someplace. This sends Cork on a deadly trail back to Wyoming in the hope of finding his Jo alive after all.

Krueger is such a master of characterization that you feel you know everyone he meets, and you want to trust everyone though you know some among his new friends are part of the unsolved tragedy.

One character, whom I never trusted and who I kept expecting to take off his mask of civility and reveal himself a villain is Hugh Parmer, a wealther developer who drops everything to put himself and his monies at Cork's disposal. He just sticks to Cork's side like glue, and as the plot unwinds and we see there is some larger force for ill at work in this plane crash, I really thought ok, say he's it, but nooooo.

This is maybe the last Cork O'Connor story, but I don't think so. Hugh needs to be unmasked.

Pretzel Jello...eeek!

I've just started helping with donations. Ladies Church Cookbooks are hot items for the booksale, I'm betting, because of recipes like this:

1 1/2 cup crushed pretzels
1/2 cup melted margarine
Mix margarine and pretzels together and press in 9X13 pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool.

Mix together and spread on cooled crust:

1 8 oz. pkg softened cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 8 oz. container Cool Whip

Mix and stir till set:

1 6 oz. pkg. strawberry or raspberry Jello
1 cups of boiling water
2 small pkgs. frozen strawberries or raspberries.

Pour over cream cheese mixture in pan. Chill.

Which Betsy-Tacy Character Are You?

Via the Book Club Girl Blog, one of those irresistible quizzes.

Which Betsy-Tacy character are you? Your Result: Betsy Ray   As a child, Betsy is lively and imaginative, a story-teller and a ring-leader. As she grows up, Betsy is popular with both boys and girls because of her fun spirit and love of a good time. She loves traditions, having fun, parties, and boys, but she sometimes undervalues herself and her talents. In the end she learns to love her true self and comes to realize and value her love of writing, and makes her dream a reality. Although she has had many beaus, she ends up with the one best suited to her (Joe Willard!), who understands her love of writing and encourages her to be her real self.
Tib Muller
Emily Webster
Tacy Kelly
Carney Sibley
Irma Biscay
Winona Root
Julia Ray
Which Betsy-Tacy character are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I get to be the heroine of the tale! I've never read any of the books, but they are always right up there on my "I should read these" book list. At least this time I didn't turn out to be some simpering side character. There's hope yet.

Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow

This month's local mystery book group selection was Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow. Though it was published in 1987, it is not dated in any way.

The essence of the story is that a female prosecutor has been found dead in her apartment, bound and bludgeoned. In classic mystery fashion, there are many possible suspects. The actual killer isn't someone you'd guess until you're told in a rather nonchalant manner at the end of the novel. None of us guessed who it was in advance, in any case.

The protagonist and teller of the tale is accused of the murder based on evidence found at the scene. It is very clever that he does not convincingly let himself off the hook. He could be guilty.

A large portion of the book, and the most compelling reading in it involves the court room testimonies. Here all of the foibles of the victim and the suspects are revealed, question by question.

I personally disliked most or all of the characters, including the accused and the victim.

(Side note: I did not see the movie version of this before reading the book because no way was I going to think Harrison Ford had done anything wrong. I do wonder if they chose him for the role because otherwise the Rusty Sabich character is pretty unappealing.)

I still wished to see justice done. In a way it was, because the innocent man went free.



Justice was not served by the real murderer going free, and there was no censure for the crime. No guilt, no consequences at all. Given the killer's identity, there should have been loads of fallout and consequence.

I can see that legal thrillers aren't for me, but they are wildly popular. If legal wrangling, bending of facts, and the crisp dialogue of a trial setting is for you, here is a list of legal thriller authors you may wish to read:

David Baldacci Non-series writer his first book was “Absolute Power”

William Bernhardt Ben Kincaid series begins with “Primary Justice”

Michael Connelly Mickey Haller series begins with “The Lincoln Lawyer”

William Diehl Martin Vail series begins with “Primal Fear”

James Grippando Jack Swytek series begins with “The Pardon”

John Grisham Non series writer, his first book was "A time to kill"

William Lashner Victor Carl series begins with “Hostile Witness”

John Lescroart Dismas Hardy series begins with Hardy as a bartender in Dead Irish. He becomes a lawyer in book three “Hard evidence”

Philip Margolin Non-series writer, his first book was “Heartstone”

Steve Martini Paul Madriani series begins with “Compelling Evidence”

Brad Meltzer Non-series writer, his first book was “The Tenth Justice”

Perri O’Shaughnessy Nina Reilly series begins with “Motion to Suppress”

Richard North Patterson Christopher Paget series begins with “Degree of Guilt”, and the Kerry Kilcannon series begins with “No safe place”

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg Lily Forrester series begins with “Mitigating Circumstances”

Lisa Scottoline Rosato & Associates series begins with “Everywhere that Mary went”

Scott Turow Non-series writer, his first book was “Presumed Innocent”



Scott Turow, unlike his characters, seems very likeable. Visit him at his site.

Picking your own assigned reading: the Reading Workshop approach to literature

From the New York Times, The Future of Reading: a new assignment: pick books you like

In a novel approach to teaching literature, educators are allowing kids to read books they like for credit rather than having the entire class read and discuss the same set of books for coursework.

I think this is a great idea. We all have books and authors who we were required to read in school which we now despise. For readers and non-readers alike, having this school experience of reading literature and having had a bad experience of it does noone any favors. The non-readers come to hate reading even more, and the readers suffer silently.

Avid reader though I have always been, never mention Bartleby the Scrivener or The Red Pony to me.

Teaching method does play into this hugely, of course. A really excellent teacher might have made even Bartleby bearable...Nah! I would prefer not to even think of it!



They are talking about middle grade level readers in the article, so do not think high school or college students are what is being discussed. This age is one where kids can just abandon reading for the many other activities available. If you can let them read fun and engaging material, but require the same literary analysis that you would expect if they were reading more traditional texts, you might just hang onto alot more readers.