I've just realised I'm going to be posting about LOST again. Even though I can't type, and I can't see into the future

Okay, now that sloe gin has made me dizzy. I have pinched vision. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone, but that's how alcohol makes me feel. My arms are floppy, too. Wait, Claire has skinny jeans?! According to Kristin at E! she does, anyway. Yaay, and she agress with me taht the girlfight between Charlotte and Juliet was awesome. God, she's so right; Kate needs to get involved in one of their scraps too. Also, she has a girlcrush on Rebecca Mader. She admitted it in that video lower down on this apge ...

"Harper says Ben fancies Juliet because, she says, "You look just like her." Um, who? Who's running around with Juliet's face? And where can I get one? That girl is purty."

Yaaay.

• "It's very stressful being an Other, Jack." —Juliet
• "This rabbit didn't have a number on it, did it?" —Ben
• "These people base-jumped out of a helicopter. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt." —Juliet
• "You're MINE!!! [Beat.] Take all the time you need." —Ben
• "Gaaaah! Keep your creepy hands off of her, Ben! She's MINE!!!" —Kristin (shouting at TV)

I love life. Even though I can't see properly in it. Oh dear, i Can't type either. All the keys get pressed even though I don't rmember putting my ginfers onf them. Ginfers?! what?!
Wheeee!

Baby don't sleep, baby don't eat, baby just like to do the boink boink

On Friday, I slept in first period, and came in for second to discover that Wilson wasn't in. So, I spent almost an hour talking to Charlotte Wright and Grace about our Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, my grandfather, our parents, and Charlotte's friendship group, which has split, and then Chess came in to bitch about Sammie Eastwood, so Grace instead read us a story that she and John had texted to each other the previous night, whilst bored.

Not really important, I know, but I enjoyed that hour, so I want to remember it. Those two can be annoying at times, but they mean well, and they're nice to me, so I'm cool with them.

I went downstairs just now to make a cup of tea, and discovered Coco in the middle of the room, hunched over a chicken leg. @___@ She must have somehow opened up the bin and pulled it out. Thing is, not only is it dangerous for animals to get hold of chicken bones, but it was my one, and if you know me, you'll know how much I demolish my bones in my meal. I strip all the meat and gristle and skin off and eat it all. There was nothing on there for her to eat! So yeah, mum has put the really heavy frying pan on the bin lid, so that she can't open it up again.
On my desk, I have a shot glass filled with sloe gin, which I will drink after my cup of tea. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the point in drinking it will be; I made the tea to keep me awake, but the alcohol will just make me sleepy again. Oh well, it tastes nice.

Okay, I know I've discussed LOST a lot these past few days, but I really can't get this out of my head, and I've been playing their exchanges over and over in my head, and - yes, I know I'm an obsessive - but I have to speak my piece. I have to talk about Harper. I mean, she was horrible to Juliet right from the off. Presumably she felt jealous of her or something, possibly because she was 'being treated like a celebrity'. Let's look at this first:

HARPER: Let's talk. So ... you've been here a week. And what's your least favourite part so far?

JULIET: I don't like being treated like a celebrity.

HARPER: And is that surprising? You're big news right now.

JULIET: Yes, I know. I guess I don't like being the centre of attention. It makes me feel isolated ... alone. (Chuckles nervously)

HARPER: Well, maybe you feel that all eyes are on you, but you're not a celebrity, and soon enough, you'll realize that you're no different than anyone here.

JULIET: Oh, I-I know. I-I never meant that I...

(Knock on door)

Poor Juliet really didn't mean to suggest that she was superior to the others, and yet Harper leapt to that conclusion, which really does make me think that she'd noticed the attention everyone - especially Ben - was paying her, and envied her because of it. Now look at the other flashback scene they later share, after Ben has started to get a hint of the affair:

HARPER: So, Juliet, what do you think of Ben?

JULIET: He's great. Uh, very smart ... and intense. Challenging. He's been really good to me.

HARPER: Of course he has. You look just like her.

JULIET: I'm sorry?

HARPER: And I see you and my husband have become friendly.

JULIET: ... Yeah. He's great. He's been really helpful.

HARPER: When did you start sleeping with him?

JULIET: What?

HARPER: Look, Juliet, I'm not an idiot. So just tell me. When did it start?

JULIET: Okay. (Stammers) I'm not doing this. We're done.

HARPER: No. Please respect me enough to spare me the pretense that you are actually offended. I know. I followed you. Watched you.

JULIET: (Whispers) I'm sorry.

HARPER: It doesn't matter anymore. But what does matter is that you listen to me and that you believe me. And if you continue to have a relationship with Goodwin, there will be consequences. I don't want him to get hurt.

JULIET: I would never hurt him.

HARPER: Look it, I am not talking about you. I am talking about Ben.

I just can't help but feel insanely sorry for Juliet, even in this scene. I mean, yeah, she's messing up a relationship, but from what Goodwin later says, it seems his marriage was already failing even before he and Juliet got together; he'd been sleeping on the couch for a year, he says. Despite this, Harper still seems to care for him - she doesn't want him to get hurt. But still - she watched them having sex? There's something creepy about that, other than just in the voyeuristic sense. The atmosphere in that second therapy scene was absolutely palpable, until Harper eventually confronted her about it, and then it was just ... terrifying. It doesn't help that she looks scary. I mean, she has a harsh face. She's not ugly. In fact, the casting call described her as 'beautiful in an unadorned way'. But there's something taut about her, with her hair pulled up, and her brows slanted. It's the way she always rises them. Questioning, almost as if she's always about to admonish Juliet. And look how upset Jules is by the whole confrontation. Here's the casting call for an actress to play Harper. Note that the character name has changed since this was released, but the description still seems to match exactly. Also, the possibility of her being a recurring guest star is intriguing to say the least; naturally, I am all for every episode being a Juliet-centric one, although that - unfortunately - is not going to happen. Still, it will be interesting if Harper makes a reappearance. Considering her very sudden exit, when Juliet and Jack came across her in the jungle, and the fact that she somehow managed to get a message from 'Ben', despite him being locked up by Locke (although not any more, of course), I think there is a fair bit we have yet to learn about her. And however much it destroys me, I still want to see more exchanges between she and Juliet. They provide great drama and angst.

[CHANDLEY PRICE]
mid 30s to early 40s. Female. She is tough, no-nonsense and beautiful in an unadorned way. She is a therapist by profession and yet could benefit from some therapy herself. The qualities that make her a leader and effective at seeing into other people also cause her problems in her own life -- she can be overly controlling and obsessive. Her strength of personality is undeniable. GUEST STAR/RECURRING

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A prince is a pauper, babe, without a chick to call his own

Considering it's International Women's Day (apparently, anyway), I've decided I'm going to share with you all my favourite fictional women, as a sort of celebratory hallmark of strong females. There are going to be quite a few lasses here, no doubt, so I hope I don't forget any of them. There's no way I could order these in terms of preference. They're all so great, so I'll just leave it as it is. I'm going to limit it to TV show characters and book characters, otherwise I could go on about films and their actresses for all eternity.

Name: Nina Myers
From: 24, seasons 1,2 and 3
Pictures: One (tying Teri up, shortly before she kills her), Two (Possibly at her coolest-looking, here), Three (Jack points a gun to her head. He doesn't even know Teri's dead at this point, so Nina's lucky really, 'cos he would have squeezed that trigger without a single ounce of apprehension), Four (promotional image for season one), Five (working with Tony)
Why I love her: She managed to convince Jack (and thus every single viewer, no doubt) that she was on his side, and managed to maintain her cover until the very end of season one. Considering she'd been working for Jack for a couple of years, and had been involved in a relationship with him, she did that pretty well. She is simply the epitome of feminine cool. She's tough and capable; she stands up to Tony and pulls rank on him whenever he starts getting antsy about Jack, which also shows that she can separate feelings (she was involved with Tony at the time) from her work; and she's also not afraid to stand up to her superiors, and totally ignore their orders in order to show her complete 'loyalty' to Jack. However, I constantly found myself feeling sorry for her. When Teri found out that Nina had been involved with Jack while he and Teri were on a break, you could feel the tension in that room between the two women. When Teri started making jibes about it, I wanted to run up and hug Nina. Then later, when that Alberta cow reminded her that you can "let them screw you, but don't let them screw you over", the look on Nina's face drew such sympathy from me. The thing is, I've no idea what her true feelings regarding the whole thing was. Considering she was a traitor for all those years, for all we know, the entire life she'd built up around her was all an act. Regardless, her betrayal cut me deep. I don't care about Jack or about the US government, but in that last minute of episode 23, at 2.30 in the morning, or whatever ridiculous time at which I was watching it, my heart pounded faster than ever before as the camera zoomed out to reveal who 'Yelena' really was. Now whenever I watch an episode of 24 with her in, my mouth goes dry and I get this overwhelming feeling of panic and worry, as I watch, helpless, knowing that her betrayal is now inevitable and there's nothing I can do to change it. She appeared in seasons 2 and 3, but as a character that is constantly shown to be 'bad' in those seasons, she's just not the same (and her hair was longer - it's much cooler when short). There's a great bit in season 3 where she has Jack tied to a chair, and kisses him to see if he can prove his point, but when he eventually kills her, I was able to cope. Just.

Name: Michelle Dessler-Almeida
From: 24, season 2,3,4 and 5

Pictures: One (in season two, she fancies the pants off of Tony. Despite the silly plot, at least it gives her an excuse to engage him in a secretive passionate kiss), Two (I really doubt she's enjoying her stint out in the field here, in season three, considering she gets kidnapped soon after), Three (and yet she still manages to take charge in Tony's absence - look at how everyone is looking to her), Four (season four promotional image. She wasn't in this season enough, quite frankly), Five (a lovely moment at home with hubby, just minutes before she gets killed by the bloody car bomb)

Why I love her: Well, season 2, she's got a new job at CTU, she's just starting to get along with her colleagues, she's got a lovely big crush on Tony, and she finds herself suddenly trying to save America from nuclear bombs. Anyone who does well under this kind of pressure deserves a commendation as it is. Okay, let's see what problems she and Tony have gone through. They had to save America/the world from various attempted terrorist attacks; Michelle had to continue working even after Tony got shot in the neck, then she had to work under quarantine in the hotel because of the high risk of her contracting the virus that had been let out; Michelle was then kidnapped and Tony had to betray government secrets to get her back, resulting in him going to prison for treason; when he was released from prison, he turned to alcoholism, resulting in Michelle leaving him; when Jack calls him in for help, he then discovers that Michelle has been seeing Bill Buchanan, even before they were divorced (but we later find out Bill is a lovely guy, and he lets Tony know that Michelle has still loved him all this time); then Tony gets kidnapped and Michelle finds herself in the same situation that got Tony put in prison several years beforehand - except she can't bring herself to do the same. It's alright, though - Jack and Curtis rescue Tony and he and Michelle are reunited and decide they will quit their job if it means they can be together. Then they bloody frickin' DIE. Well, Michelle does in the first few minutes of season 5, and Tony 'dies' later on in the season (when season 7 finally gets released next year, we will discover that he is in fact alive, and very very angry).
Now how's that for a sucky life? And yet love prevailed.
Michelle is beautiful; she is capable, even in the field, where she is not fully-trained to work; however emotional a day she is having, she can still just about keep herself together; and she has a sense of loyalty - just before she died, she and Tony had a small argument about going to help CTU. As soon as they heard the news about David Palmer being assassinated, she knew that CTU would need the resources she and Tony could provide, in order to deal with the situation; Tony didn't want to become involved with them again. It was his reluctance that meant he was not caught in the immediate bomb-blast that killed Michelle. I really would not have Michelle any other way. Well, except, y'know, alive still.

Name: Juliet Burke
From: LOST
Pictures: One (Jack starts off as her 'prisoner', but she makes him nice food, and - er - saves him from drowning), Two (Unfortunately, she cries a lot, because she's constantly hearing bad news or having nasty things happening to her. This is in Ben's kitchen. She threw a glass on the floor, and then collapsed on him. He looked very bemused.), Three (Ben, being the bastard that he is, has just shown her the corpse of her lover Goodwin, in order to inform her in no uncertain terms, of what happens to those men that 'take her away' from him. She starts crying again in a minute.), Four (I had to include this one because it has Charlotte in it as well. Juliet has accepted what C.S. Lewis and Daniel have informed her about Ben, much to Kate's chagrin; she wants a bit of revenge for being knocked out by Charlotte. So, Charlotte goes back in the The Tempest with Kate, while Jack and Juliet spend a little alone time. I love the expressions on their faces here: Charlotte's ready to mouth off against Kate, if it comes to a sarcasm battle, while Juliet's all calm and collected, despite the fact she's got a million dents in her head from her recent fight), Five (Ben has informed Juliet that if she lets Kate and Sawyer escape back to their island, he will let her finally go back home. So, determined to complete her task by whatever means necessary, Juliet kills Danny. Can you imagine if Miami-Juliet found herself in that situation? "I knew I shouldn't have gone to Portland!"), Six (this is when Ben first shows her her house in Otherville. What I don't understand is where was she sleeping for her first week spent on the island?! This scene is fairly awkward, but not as awkward as the one they later have, where she has dinner at Ben's.), Seven (Crying again. Even the best fertility doctor in the world can't save the pregnant women on the island, but that doesn't mean she should stop trying already.), Eight (She meets Goodwin for the first time, which seems to immediately cheer her up)
Why I love her: She is the epitome of epitome. She's like Michelle and Nina combined, but blonde. She's got Nina's edge, determination, and mystery (is she good, has she got Jack wrapped around her little finger, what is her ulterior motive?), but she's got Michelle's softness too, and emotional vulnerability. She's been used and manipulated, taken advantage of, and betrayed. It's no wonder she cries so much (I think she cried in at least three of her flashbacks in the latest episode, even when she was confronted by Harper about having an affair with the latter's husband). Words cannot describe the extent to which I love this woman. Feelings cannot describe it. She is extremely capable and will do literally anything to get off the island (like killing her own kind). She's gone through such a transformation since she arrived on the island, which is instantly obvious when we compare her present-tense scenes with her flashbacks; she's stronger, more ruthless, and doesn't let her emotions get to her so easily. Character development is very very important to me, and her arc shows how much change she has gone through. This would be my desert island character. Mainly because I know she'd be determined more than anything else to help me get back home.

Name: Nynaeve al'Meara
From: Wheel of Time book series
Picture: One (there isn't a lot of fanart, but this is one of the best pieces I've seen of her)
Why I love her: She's a good poster-girl for feminism. She's bossy; smart; doesn't take any nonsense from anyone (remember the scene where she shoved Elayne's head in a barrel of water when she got drunk?); she's the most powerful wielder of saidar there's been for many Ages; and she'd like nothing more than to give Rand and Mat a good, well-deserved switching, which I am all in favour of. For once, men are the subject of sexism, thanks to Nynaeve, as she continually complains about and proves how pathetic, hopeless and annoying they can be. She shows she's not just a cold bitch like the Red Ajah, though, as she quickly falls in love with the lovely lovely Lan al'Mandragoran, despite the fact he's Morraine's Warder. Her insane power and ability to heal means she performs various acts that had previously been thought to be now impossible; she healed Siuan, Leane and Logain, all of whom had been stilled, so that they were once again able to draw on the One Power; she defeated one of the Forsaken, Moghedien, in battle, making her the first to do so since the time of Lews Therin Telamon, and then imprisoned Moghedien in Elayne's latest contraption.
When she first discovered from Moirraine Sedai what her healing abilities were all about, her fear of her power increased, and so she could only draw on saidar when extremely angry. If that's not a character flaw, I don't know what is. This bloody woman's feats have made me cry tears of joy (and I don't cry easily), and because she wasn't available for me to hug, I had to hug the book instead. It was an impulsive action, without premeditation. She is my love.

Name: Lilah Morgan
From: Angel
Pictures: One (Having a drink. This is when we first meet her. She's mysterious, beautiful, and we don't yet know whose side she's on. You know what's even better? She turns out to be a bit of a femme fatale, in this episode, and we all know how much I love those lasses.), Two (Wesley has rescued her, and now she's with the Angel Investigations gang, much to Fred and Cordy's chagrin, as can be seen.), Three (Angel, possessed by a perverted old man, seduces Lilah in his office, and they almost end up having sex on his desk. Seriously, they would make the hottest pairing ever.), Four (she stars placing bets when Angel's in the fighting ring, and this is still in her first episode), Five (she manages to hold her own against Faith, even, despite being shoved up against a chain-link fence by her, and threatened. What does she say? One of the best lines ever: "Green ... is my favourite colour. I look good in diamonds and I love riding in limousines."
Why I love her: Like Nina, she's bad-ass, but with Lilah there's absolutely no question about it; we know she's evil almost straight from the start. She's ruthless and will let anyone take the fall for mistakes, even if she was the one who made them. She might find herself stuck in a fight, but she would never sacrifice herself for anyone else; all she cares about is her own survival. And yet, when she starts having one-night stands with Wesley, a slight change appears to come over her. Wesley doesn't think she's capable of loving anyone but herself, but even she seems surprised to find herself grateful of his efforts to save her. I like to think she did like him. Considering the ridiculous number of dealings she had with various demons, and how often she got into fights with Angel, as well as other dangerous situations, it's surprising really, that she survived for as long as she did. In the end, it was Cordy who killed her, or rather, Cordy possessed by the demon Jasmine, as a result of her brief stint in the realm of the Powers That Be. Now she resides for all eternity in the Wolfram and Hart branch that is situated in Hell. No jokes. Lawyers go to Hell.

And now that is it. There are plenty other female characters that I love, from various books, TV shows, films and so on, but these are the five key ones that really make me feel something. I'm aware that it is now Sunday, and thus technically no longer International Women's Day, but I'd only finished Nina's profile by 12:30 this morning and I wanted to go to bed, so that's why this is a little late. It shouldn't matter.

Share the love!

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Pooh got stuck in Rabbit's hole

Rebecca Mader, who plays the awesome freighty, C.S. Lewis, in this season of LOST has to be one of the funniest people ever. Watch the above video. She cracks me up.

There's another video interview with her; she is talking about her dog, about spending Valentines Day single, and about what she looks for in a man. Even when she slips up and misunderstands a comment or question, she still manages to just smoothly laugh it off.

Anyway, I'm really happy, and she's partly the reason. Last night's episode of LOST was the Juliet-centric one that I've been eagerly awaiting for several weeks now. Well, it lived up to my expectations. Almost immediately, I felt really sorry for the lovely lass, as the beginning was set just a week after she arrived on the island, so she was still meek and submissive and just ... so lovely. She has a therapy session with a woman named Harper, who is instantly portrayed as a bitch, and I'd already figured that she was the wife of Goodwin, with whom Juliet had an affair (that's really not the sort of thing we expect her to do, now, is it? Just goes to show how much the island changed her). In her next flashback, she was crying again (okay, so first time in a while, but she always seems to be emotional in her flashbacks), and I just wanted to hug her. And then she met Goodwin for the first time.
Meanwhile, in the present, she and Jack are chasing down C.S. Lewis and Daniel, who have taken the gas masks and appear to be heading to a new Dharma Station, for some supposedly nefarious purposes. Kate comes across C.S. Lewis and Daniel, and gets knocked out by the former, which - as I mentioned in my previous LOST post - is just a hilarious concept. Jack and Juliet eventually find her, and while Jack is tending to her wounds, Juliet suddenly runs off (she has received word from Ben, through Harper, that she must kill the two freighties. Of course, this is a very sneaky tactic on the part of Ben (would we expect any less of him?) as Juliet probably would not have paid attention to the instruction if anyone but Harper had delivered it).
We find out about Ben's obssession with Juliet, which, frankly, I'm not all that surprised about; we've been getting hints about it for a while now. The scene where she goes over to his for dinner, to discover that it will be just the two of them there, was really really awkward for a moment, although - of course - she managed to keep her cool.
Anyway, what made me really happy about this episode was the scene where she and Charlotte had a big fight in The Tempest, the Dharma station where it turns out C.S. Lewis and Daniel were trying to remove the threat of Ben using some crazy biochemical weapon against everyone on the island. In the end, realising she'd been set up by Ben to kill them, Juliet let the two be, but it was awesome to see a girl vs. girl scuffle for once, in something, especially between two such cool characters. Too often we get men feeling a need to unleash their endless supplies of machismo on each other, simply to prove who's boss. This fight wasn't about ego. It was about being rivals, and having something to fight for that they both believed (I think it's just their personalities that clash, really. The way they treat each other just cracks me up). And Juliet won ^_^. She went back to shoving a gun in Charlotte's face - as you do - and then let Daniel get one with what he was doing anyway.
Then there was the Jack/Juliet moment, though the kiss was nowhere near as passionate as everyone was hyping it up to be. And now I've no idea what she's doing with him (although we can see by the grin on Ben's face at the end of the episode, as he wanders around Otherville freely - much to Hurley and Sawyer's chagrin and confusion - that he so has Locke wrapped around his little finger).

So why am I so happy? Well, because I love Juliet (even though she makes me so sad), we got to see more of Charlotte in this episode (PLUS BIG FIGHT WITH JULES), and because Rebecca Mader is hilarious. She giggles at everything, and makes a joke about everything. She's like me, but cooler. And she's right when she says a sense of humour is the most important thing in a guy. If he can't be arsed to laugh, then nothing's gonna be very fun, is it now?

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The other woman

Last night I watched the latest episode of LOST, which was very very sweet at the end. I've always loved Penny and Desmond, so the ending of The Constant made me very happy, but I was also shaking from worry. What's more is that Desmond's time-travelling took him back to when he was in the army, and thus lovely and clean-shaven and short-haired. He just looks a bit weird with his skin-tone, considering he's spent most of his life in rainy ol' Scotland, but I guess Henry Ian Cusick can't help being part Peruvian now, can he? What I don't get is how Daniel would know that Desmond would be his Constant. I mean, if Daniel were to time-travel back to a point before 1996, then he wouldn't remember Desmond back then.

I'm also really excited about the next episode, mainly because it is Juliet-centric. It seems that in her relationship with Goodwin, she was 'the other woman'. One of the things I loved about this week's episode, though, was her bluntness with C.S. Lewis. I mean, I'm loving Charlotte at the moment too; she's got a lovely British accent (and Rebecca Mader's from Cambridge, so not far away at all!) and she's tomboyish, so no doubt she can kick a bit of arse. But Juliet was totally impatient with her (while remaining so serene, of course) in the last episode, and it cracked me up.
Anyway, I'm all psyched up for a lovely Jacket moment in this next episode, quite possibly in the middle of a nightly rainstorm (from what I've seen of the sneak peeks, but that could just be to mislead me), and even though I'm determined to maintain that Juliet is on the Losties' side, I still can't help but think that she's simply got Jack wrapped around her little finger.
Also shown in one of the sneak peeks was Kate becoming very very suspicious of C.S.Lewis and Dan, finding them still holding onto the gas masks and about to question them when Charlotte knocks her out with the butt of her gun. Let's face it, Kate is no wuss. She's the most action-oriented female on the island. Juliet is very capable (she shot Danny; yaay!), but Kate's the one most likely to shoot some dude in the kneecaps as a torture method, so considering C.S.Lewis knocks her out ... well, Kate ain't gonna be happy about that. That just has me craving more information about Charlotte, too. Like, what the hell is she playing at, and what 'work' does she have to do on the island?
Last thing I have to mention about this upcoming episode; Juliet's flashbacks all occur on the island, so why the hell does Charles Widmore, Penny's father, appear in them?! Not only was he a bastard to Desmond, but he clearly has more to do with the story than that.

Right, that's enough LOST-ness, I swear. I just had to get it out of my system, and at the moment, Elliott and Andrew are the only people I can talk to about it. Seeing as they're not here ...

So, how has everyone's Saturday been so far? I was asleep until midday, when I went downstairs to discover Dad and Alec were just about to leave for Cambridge. I asked Dad to get my some shampoo, conditioner (mum's refusing to buy it for me, saying that I should spend my own money on it *shakes head*) and some more of my seaweed facial wash from Body Shop, as I've a feeling I'm gonna run out soon. So, I got back into bed and read book 10 of the Wheel of Time until about 1:45, then eventually got out of bed just after 2. Both kitties were in my room! That is a privilege.

Also, am I the only person who wants to be able to sit/sleep/live in a washing machine? They should make really large ones so that that would be possible. I remember always being really fascinated by our washing machine at the flat in Croydon. Those things are so cool.

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