Lantern7

So . . . that happened. Gotta echo the appreciation on the love-making session. Seriously, sex with Ollie probably tops Ray any day. I reckon that Ray and Felicity bumped heads at least twice during their romp, and that he forgot to take her glasses off. I don't think he shouted his dead love's name at a key moment, but I wouldn't put it past Ray. And I gotta give Felicity credit for having the onions to want to sneak Oliver out, Weekend At Bernie's style. Good episode . . . between the sex, lack of Laurel and an upsetting episode of Survivor, I'm content. It would be nicer if the remnants of Team Arrow stomped Malcolm in the nuts for setting the wheels in motion, but I'm content to have what I got now.

Not much I can add. I'm officially on Team Shirin. Fuck Will. "YouTube Sensation" can get fucked. Ears, eyes, nose, throat. Shirin may have been out of line in being paranoid about how trustworthy Will was, but he played some shady cards. And I clapped when she scuttled Will's attempt to play Let's Make A Deal with Probst. Really, it's a pity that there's no $100K fan vote, because I'm sure Shirin would win. Who else can a viewer pull for? Will is an asshole. Rodney is a bargain basement Boston Rob. Dan is what happens if Norm & Cliff have a baby. Mike is slowly losing his mind. The cool people are on the jury. And nobody else is special enough to stand out for me. And fucking Dan gets the extra vote. I wished Mike hadn't backed down, because maybe he could have saved Jenn tonight. Instead, Dan is going to fuck things up at the worst possible moment, and the only solace I can take is that Jenn and Hali will look good together on the jury. Seriously, there's gotta be a better way to decide who wins an auction than drawing rocks. Maybe the auction could continue after the advantage has been awarded. Fuck Will. That is all.

I feel bad for Cal. He needs a hug. With his luck, it'll be from Raina, and it'll take hours to get the quills out.

So-so episode. Laurel dragged, though not as bad. I guess that is Cisco's true power . . . to make the unlovable lovable. But I kept wanting her to mention her sister. You know, the real Black Canary. As opposed to the Whack Canary. Cisco is such a nerd. Nice that Caitlin isn't chugging Eobard's Kool-Aide. Things were moving too fast, and we needed a skeptic. Liked her reaction to "Barry" kissing her. Also nice: shoutout to Coast City. Is it too much to ask for a Green Lantern that's not a crushing disappointment? BTW, I'm betting two of the pies are for Barry, minimum. As much as I'm liking the stingers . . . we're not gonna see Grodd until S2, aren't we? I guess we can settle for Reverse Flash . . . for now, anyway. ETA: I think the "Bates" part of the guy's name is a shoutout to writer Cary Bates. ETA2: I think it's odd to see Quentin without him carrying the hatchet he wants to bury in Oliver Queen's back.

In case anybody is roaming this area. . . . Melissa reflects on her RW life, meets a fellow alumnus on a similar path.

Anybody else disappointed by the sketch of Jason/Ogre? I guess I got spoiled by Tim Sale's art on Heroes. And damn, he really did look like an ogre before the surgery. Good episode. Shame that Cat Tween got a crappy dress, but she wasn't in her element. I was relieved to see her with the leather and goggles at the end of the episode. And Barbara wasn't sucky this week. . . tis a miracle. Yeah, it was funny that Jim didn't think of her until the very end. Damn, when Eddie snaps, he doesn't fool around. Now it's only a matter of time before he succumbs to a wardrobe with question marks..

I gotta get to Citi Field. I always mean to go, but I never find time to see the Mets. I don't need a promotion like May 2, which is (I kid you not) Jacob deGrom Garden Gnome Night. In the meantime, here are blog posts I made about my last trips to Toronto and Baltimore. Two more things: 1. Is there a minor league baseball thread? The "Baby Bombers" don't kick off near where I live until mid-June. I need to go see them . . . and maybe the Cyclones, if I'm feeling adventurous. 2. Is it off to rank the Nationals ahead of the Mets, given that New York has the best record in the National League (I know, it's early) and the Nationals aren't even at .500?

I like traditional nicknames. And maybe you should get a free sandwich if you had to endure a 0-0 tie. Bear in mind, I'm an American . . . the NHL got rid of ties with shootouts, MLB and NBA games can go on forever with overtime, and draws are pretty rare in the NFL, let alone games with no scores. I think if an NFL game ended 0-0, the head coaches would probably commit hara-kiri on the 50-yard line. One thing I'm learning from ESPN2's coverage (or at least the halftime show) are trademarks of MLS However, as a comic geek, I'll think of this first whenever I see "Doop Doop Doop" associated with Philadelphia Union.

Thanks, Sandman87. Apparently, Mako's family really is poor. Probably for the best, but damn, you'd think the father would get into a better line of work than "back alley doctor." The new girl has something over one of her eyes. Is it kanji? If so, what does it mean?

I don't follow MLS, though I do have NYCFC's game on right now. I have two ideas, and I'd like some opinions from the experts . . . or, at least, from those who watch the game beyond the World Cup . . . 1. Proper Nicknames Am I too ugly an American to want traditional American nicknames? Sure you have "Fire," "Crew" and Galaxy, non-plural names that are passable . . . but New York City Football Club? Real Salt Lake? Sporting Kansas City? By the way, I know that Red Bull New York was originally called "New York/New Jersey Metrostars," and that reeked of focus groups. Also, NYCFC isn't as odd as "Knicks" or "Mets." 2. Scoreless Ties I like ESPN2's policy towards 0-0 draws . . . no highlights from those games during halftime. Would it be too much to expect a partial refund for games with no offense? Disclaimer . . . I do think of soccer/football as perhaps the fan-friendliest sport, given that a typical game is over in two hours. Oh, and I would be going up to the bad Bronx (I'm a Mets fan, lapsed as I may be) to join NYCFC supporters in watching a game. Anybody up for joining me?

Question: Would it be a bad thing if a "blind date" couple wins? Short answer: Yes. Long answer Allowable if one remembers the Stink and the Pink (Eric & Danielle) lucking ass-backwards into a TAR11 win. Also, Freddy & Kendra in TAR6, capping perhaps the worst season in TAR history without a gimmick. Here are the leg averages after eight episodes (in seven weeks): 3.50 Laura/Tyler 3.64 Jelani/Jenny 4.13 Hayley/Blair 4.88 Matt/Ashely 5.25 Mike/Rochelle 3.75 Aly/Steve You know what would be nice? If I knew who Laura & Tyler were. I don't think they're distinguishable from Matt & Ashley, though I will admit that I can be very lazy. I hear Tyler can be a dick, but that's small potatoes compared to the Category 5 misery storm that is Hayley. Say what you want about Flo, but I don't remember her trying to tear down Zach every other minute.

No big results this week, aside from Sanji's dramatic entrance and road to redemption from going out like a punk at Kalifa's manicured hands. Luffy still can't make any progress against Lucci. Ditto Zoro with Kaku. Spandam uses his elephant sword (?!?) to subdue Robin, then starts dragging her by her hair. I feel we need a countdown to when he gets his, because it's painful seeing somebody as powerful as Robin get treated that way.

Did anybody else look at the credits and mistake Kirito for Asuna because of the long hair? I'm not sure we needed the ambiguity, but dang, SAO added a new level of weirdness. Anyway, he meets Sinon, and they spend quality "girl time" with each other. Kirito beats a game using his l33t skillz, gets himself a photon sword (because the writers can't just say "light saber"), and shows his incompetence with a gun, which probably makes his photon sword his go-to weapon for the duration of the series. ETA: Another "dang" goes to Sinon's backstory. I get the gun phobia, but would you really want to mess with a girl who killed somebody during her first time with a gun? Stupid teenagers . .. .

Why do I feel that a lot has been dropped in our laps? Some new character comes in, slices up Sanageyama's uniform, then tells Ryuko that she killed her father Holy crap.

I was looking around Cheezburger.com, and I found something interesting. . . Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is coming to Toonami. I don't know when it'll happen or what slot it'll occupy. All I know is that it's pretty weird. Would anybody like to expand on this?

Well, that wasn't a bad way to kill two hours. I don't think there was much movement among the teams, and the animals at the end of the second leg seemed tacked on, but it wasn't the worst episode(s). I can't believe Aly & Steve are out. They had the best leg placement average going into this episode, and they more or less spun out of contention. They're probably a shoo-in for an "All-Star" edition . . . they're not exciting to watch, but they're competent. Hayley didn't outright suck this week. Nice of her to play with the local kids, though she's lucky they can't sense shrews. I see the credits got revamped. The only change that stuck out was Harley & Jonathan in their water mushroom hats. ETA: Just checked Wikipedia . . . with the exception of the top two, none of the teams changed placements. That's a little impressive.

I think he was the guy that brought Finn's hat to life.

Funny how life works out. I knew that the first trade paperbacks for Ten and Eleven's respective series were out, and I looked for them at a comic show and at a shop. No go. Then I went to a library the following day, and two copies of each were available on the shelves. I read through Eleven's collection, "After Life." Interesting to see the Doctor get hitched with a new supporting cast outside of the Ponds and River. The timeline mix-up was pretty neat, though I did tire of John Jones being a David Bowie expy, to the point when a "THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE DAVID BOWIE" caption was expected by me anytime the character appeared.

lathspel . . . Nami likes to channel her inner weather anchor anytime she fights with the Clima Tact.

Adventure Time returns with no Finn nor Jake. Instead, we got Ice King creating friends from inanimate objects using the talents of Life-Giving Magus. The result . . . deeply philosophical "people" that are way beyond Ice King's level of humor. It's probably beyond the minds of the kids that watch this. On the bright side, I think we got Dana Snyder as the hapless Magus.

Regarding the teaser . . . I am prepared to root for Shirin in her argument against Will. I mean, Will is just there, like so much flotsam. I can't imagine a scenario where he wins, or gets to Day 39. Shirin probably has less of a chance of doing either of those things, but at least she's interesting to watch.

Notice that we didn't see Probst throw Joe's idol into the fire. I may have been wrong about him crushing on Joe, but I think he wanted to keep the fake. Amazing what Joe could do with a little time and a secret stash of supplies. Rodney was funny. That was a bit jarring. Nice impressions of Mike and Dan. As far as Bostonian realty folks go, he's still not as fun to watch as CT or (ugh) Rob. I can understand where Jenn is coming from. I hope she finds motivation to not check out. Is there a penalty for outright quitting? Still pulling for Shirin. Maybe she can get invited back. Hey, if Tyson could get to play three times . . . Anybody else cringing about the reward? I have a nut allergy, and most of the products either have nuts or are produced in places that handle nuts. I would've been miserable at the "candy bar."

Wow Like mother, like daughter. Damn, poor Thea. Lots of manpain tonight, with no respite. At least The Flash has a sense of humor in between touching and traumatic moments. Roy's gone, Thea's dead (or has a really big boo-boo), and Ray is still inept in so many ways. Still, Brandon Routh is better as Ray than as Superman. Then again, I think Todd Ingram has both characters beat. Damn, Lance is gonna outlive Team Arrow. So much for him keeling over from a weak heart. Still not as bad as his (still living) daughter, though. Yeah, Laurel, you still suck. Cisco and Ray need to team up more often. They were good last night, and it was good tonight . . . though I think Carlos Velez should not have been featured in the credits. I kept expecting Cisco to pop up to offer advice, not just to be there when Ray dumped Deathbolt in the Pipeline. Speaking of Deathbolt . . . is it really that far-fetched for metahumans to not be related to the particle accelerator incident? I mean, isn't Brick bulletproof to some extent?

Wow. That was traumatic. May's nickname gets revealed, and all she had to do was kill an evil girl to acquire it. Creepy child was creepy. Anybody else expect the chorus to chime in with, "Are you my mummy?" Also traumatic: Raina's gift getting revealed. It doesn't seem like a fair trade . . . you become a human porcupine, and you get the mojo of the dude from Heroes who got whacked in the first season. Oh, and she doesn't get Tim Sale's art skills in the process. Ah . .. Mystery Sock. Good times. And Skye remains the daisest daisy ever. I don't mind, but I can see where it would grate. With the big-time Inhumans years from being cast (let alone seen), this is the best we can do. Not too bad . . . I feel that Skye has grown as a character, as opposed to being merely the most special of snowflakes.

I understand why Iris is written the way she is. Having people keeping secrets from her is getting a bit tiresome, though. And, natch, Ray gets in on the big secret. BTW, is it me, or is it hard to work this episode in the continuity of Arrow? Good episode, even with Iris getting shut out. When "Wells" inevitably falls, I vote Cisco becomes science bros with Ray. They work well together . . .. it's not a "bromance," but it's cute to watch. Ray is an even bigger dork than Cisco. Liked them both bypassing "Queen Bee" for "Bug-Eyed Bandit." Another question: is Joe becoming too complacent in "using" Barry? Felicity is always welcomed on this show. So much sunnier than the stuff going on in Starling City.