-Drama A plane crashes on the way from Sydney to L.A., landing on an uncharted island, leaving a group of survivors to fend for themselves. Sounds like “Castaway”, right? Wrong. Lost, the groundbreaking drama from ABC, manages to reinvent the stranded on a desert island wheel, combining adventure, drama, sci-fi and horror to produce one of the most captivating television experiences in years. Mystery abounds, dense as the island’s forests, not allowing viewers to miss a single second of action on Lost.
I don’t know whether to jump up and down in excitement or cry into my beer now that the final Lost episode of 2008 is upon us. As the credits rolled on the first part of "There’s No Place Like Home," our castaways were split up and spread out all around the island. Locke and Ben were attempting to bust into the Orchid station, while Jack and Sawyer were on their way to rescue Hurley. Kate and Sayid were captured by the Others in the middle of the jungle. Sun, Jin and Aaron were on the freighter, and everyone else was still stuck on the beach. We were left wondering how the Oceanic 6 would possibly come together, and tonight we’ll finally get our answer.
One of Lost’s best seasons ever is coming to a close tonight, and I’ll be here during the entire two hour extravaganza with my live thoughts. Just be warned that I might need comforting if anything terrible happens to Sawyer (Josh Holloway) or Jin.
The episode begins right where the final season 3 flash-forward left off. Kate (Evangeline Lilly) hears Jack’s call of "We have to go back," stops her car and confronts him. She mentions the obituary for Jeremy Bentham, and explains that she knew he was crazy when he came to them. Jack, on the other hand, believed him. After giving Jack a smack across the face for not being there for Aaron, she tells him that he has no right to ask her to return to the island.

buddytv.com

The puppy dogs of America have aged seven or eight years since the exhaustingly long Democratic primary opened for business, and in that time a niche artform has blossomed in the black diaspora: the Barack Obama Praise Song. The rhythms and melodies range from Jamaican Reggae to Kenyan Benga, but that pulse of a people’s collective hopes racing into the ether is unmistakably familiar: “Yes, We Can” sounds the same in Luo as it does in English. By the time Puerto Rico puts a wrap to this extended season of American Political Theater with its June 3rd primary, some globe-trotting multi-cultural record label—say, Putumayo or Mango—should have the goods for a compilation titled “Obama-mania: World Music Edition.”
Track one could be the latest endorsement ringing out of the Black diaspora: “Barack Obama”, a hastily assembled hard-steppin’ reggae chune by the aging yet ever-irie crooner Coco Tea. The 48-year-old’s grizzled lilt is a voice from a lost generation of digitized mid-80s pop, a period in reggae history that rarely gets its dues outside the island. In an upside-down, more imaginative world—a world where Nancy Pelosi spends her afternoons holding bull sessions in a sweltering tenement yard while Jamaican artists draft legislation—Coco Tea’s single would have been a campaign shake-up on the level of a Kennedy endorsement. Heretofore, the closest the singer ever hot-stepped towards politics was his seminal satire, “New Immigration Law”, an enduring acknowledgment of what every ex-pat Rasta knows: “The government you just can’t depend on.” Documenting offense after offense, the song’s ultimate message is less apolitical than anti-political—the singer is in line with a long Rastafarian tradition that views the Western political system as irredeemably corrupt.
So to hear this chap waving hosannas for the “next president of the United States” is a bit of a shocker. Watching the video, there’s something blasphemous and confounding about Coco Tea’s turbaned bobo dread sidekick exclaiming the name of a plausible president of America. On a religious level, it feels like stumbling upon a late night “What Happens in Vegas” commercial starring Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger winking over a craps table. And as far the song goes… well, you’ll dig it exactly as much as you dig the junior senator from Illinois. The riddim bobs along like a casio “reggae” preset, and the musical euphoria flows from Coco Tea’s zealous repetition of the words “Barack Obama, Barack Obama, Barack Obama”. It’s a few clichés shy of a Saturday Night Live skit, but more importantly, it’s a testament to the pervasive, border-leaping intensity of Obama’s message—and sign that the rock-hard forces of reggae cynicism and disillusionment can indeed brought low.

popmatters.com

In a week marked by papal pre-emptions and viewership declines, CBS’ top talker, Oprah, saw its ratings dip 2% to a 4.6 live-plus-same-day national household rating for the week ending April 20 and 21% for the past two weeks, according to Nielsen Media Research, after scoring a ratings high with its April 3 episode featuring the so-called pregnant man .
That left Oprah vulnerable, with CBS’ Judge Judy — on a certifiable roll for the season — beating Oprah in households with a 4.7. This marks the fourth time Judy has beaten Oprah in the weekly household ratings since Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, CBS’ Dr. Phil narrowed the gap between him and his one-time mentor, scoring a 4.2, up just 2% on the week. Oprah’s next big shows come Friday, May 2, and Monday, May 5, when Winfrey does a two-day interview with movie star Tom Cruise . Cruise’s last visit with the talk-show queen became infamous after Cruise jumped up and down on her in-studio couch, oddly proclaiming his love for then-girlfriend/now-wife Katie Holmes.
Most syndies struggled for the week due to TV audiences dropping by more than 5.8 million average viewers over the past month. Meanwhile, many shows were pre-empted due to coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s first U.S. visit.
Accordingly, the rest of the talkers’ ratings were mostly down, although CBS’ Rachael Ray joined Phil in providing a bright spot, jumping 6% to a 1.8. Disney-ABC’s Live with Regis and Kelly tied its season low, dropping 4% to a 2.6. Warner Bros.’ Ellen DeGeneres slipped 5% to a 2.1.
NBC Universal’s Maury fell 11% to a new season low 1.6. CBS’ Montel Williams and NBCU’s Jerry Springer each were flat at a 1.3 and 1.1, respectively. Twentieth Television’s rookie, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, pre-empted in 11 of the top 50 markets on one or more days due to papal coverage, fell 9% to a 1.0. That tied Warner Bros.’ Tyra Banks, which also fell 9%. NBCU’s Martha Stewart, also pre-empted in some large markets, dropped 10% to a 0.9, tying NBCU rookie Steve Wilkos, which was flat.

broadcastingcable.com

Paradox Interactive, in cooperation with FilePlanet, aims for the stars with the exclusive launch of its Lost Empire: Immortals demo.
Budding galactic warlords can experience a host of game features within this limited version of the full game. Play as the Humans against the Megalanians and Horde factions. Explore and colonize across the boundaries of a single galaxy, for a massive 350 turns. Players are limited to constructing destroyers only, while multiplayer, custom options and main game storyline are disabled.
Lost Empire Immortals will be available for download on GamersGate from March 11, 2008
Read more about Lost Empire: Immortals on the official website
Release: US March 11, 2008, Europe March 14, 2008
Suggested retail price: 29.99 USD/ 29.99 EUR
About Paradox Interactive
Paradox Interactive has been a leading publisher and developer of strategy games for the PC platform since 1999. Well-known worldwide for their strategy titles, the company has a particularly strong presence in Europe and the US. The steadily growing publishing portfolio includes in-house developed titles such as critically acclaimed franchises Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron; as well as an extensive third party line-up of titles that include Tarr Chronicles, Penumbra: Black Plague, Supreme Ruler 2020 and Lost Empire: Immortals.
The experienced development team recently announced a new Q2, 2008 title, developed under the world-renowned brand Europa Universalis — ROME. Visit http://www.paradoxplaza.com for more information.

pc.gamespy.com

Day to Day, March 11, 2008 · New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is under fire today after he was accused of involvement in a prostitution ring. How did he become a target? Anthony Brooks gets the latest from NPR’s Mike Pesca, who’s in the state capital of Albany.
The increasingly nasty and personal battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination has led many in the party to express nervousness about how the fight could jeopardize their chances of winning the White House in November. Not a few e-mails have suggested that if there was any year tailor-made for a Democratic victory, it’s 2008, but if any party can fritter away potential success, it’s the Democrats.
The pessimism isn’t only about the presidential race.
The Democrats won a special congressional race on Saturday, and not just any race; it was for the seat held for the past 22 years by Dennis Hastert (R-IL), who just so happens was the longest-serving Republican House speaker in history until the GOP majority ended with the 2006 elections. He resigned his seat in November.
We can argue (and we will, later) about the significance of this special election. But for all the celebrating that the Democrats were doing over the weekend, the mood in the party dramatically changed with Monday’s news that Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New York and a leading progressive voice in the party, was embroiled in a prostitution scandal.

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Eminently rewatchable, a near-perfect slice of California cool versus East Coast paranoia, dancing on the edge of the truly ridiculous, The Lost Boys neatly captured the zeitgeist in 1987. Pitting a gang of ultra-hip young thrill-seeking vampires against a town that epitomized Middle American values was a master stroke. As Scott Weinberg commented more than a year ago, fans have been clamoring for a sequel ever since. Scott reported that a sequel was finally in the works, but that it would be direct to video, filmed in sunny San Diego, and revolve around Surfer Vampires.
Monika Bartyzel told us that Autumn Reeser (my favorite cute, insecure wisecracker from The OC) had been added to the cast as “a girl who moves with her brother to Trinidad, California and is seduced by the leader of the vamp surfers.” Erik Davis broke our hearts with the news that Corey Haim would not be appearing in the film * (see update below), though Corey Feldman is still intact (phew!) and the production had moved to Vancouver.
To whet your appetite further, ShockTillYouDrop has an exclusive look at a new fang-tabulous still from The Lost Boys 2: The Tribe. You can check it out in all its full-blooded splendor at their site, where you can also see who’s underneath the bloody vampire. Shock also lists Tad Hilgenbrink (American Pie Presents Band Camp) and Angus Sutherland as additional cast members. P.J. Pesce directs. Look for it to hit DVD shelves this July.

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Wait! What year is it? Last night’s Lost has me all kinds of confused. Lets break down some of the clues. (Spoilers full steam ahead).
The Black Rock diary, which was found with pirates seven years after the 1845 ship was believed lost at sea, was bought by Penny’s dad at a 1996 auction. It was sold by Tovar Hanso — head of the Hanso Foundation? What’s the connection here between Penny’s pops and Hanso? Is this going to become like Heroes, where everyone’s parents are somehow involved in a conspiracy?
The next item to be auctioned after the Black Rock diary are some Charles Dickens’ belongings. Desmond has said that he’s read almost everything Dickens has ever written, with the plan to have Dickens’ last book, Our Mutual Friend, be the last thing he’ll ever read.
Dearly departed Minowski is played by Fisher Stevens. Besides once being linked to Michelle Pfeiffer (yeah, sit on that for a while), Stevens was in a show called Early Edition, where he played the sidekick for a guy who would get "tomorrow’s newspaper today," and then would attempt to stop the bad events mentioned in the paper from happening. He was also in a 1985 Sci-Fi film My Science Project in which the main character accidentally falls through a trap door into an old underground fallout shelter (hello hatch!). He finds a strange glowing plasma lamp that in actuality is the engine of a crashed UFO. Somehow the lamp has the appropriate power plug attached to it so naturally the high schoolers plug it into an outlet. The lamp then starts to materialize objects from other times and dimensions. The film’s science teacher, played by Dennis Hopper, decides to plug it into the main power grid, which starts a chain reaction where past, present and future collide (hello Desmond!)
In the film Donnie Darko,"water is the element used to construct a portal for time travel. Desmond seems to time-switch when he is around water (sink, rain, ocean)," according to lostepidia.
Speaking of water, Lost producers have said in the past that Miles Straum’s name is meant to sound like maelstrom, a massive whirlpool in the middle of an ocean. Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly thinks this is an analogy to wormholes, which are " a theoretical phenomenon in space-time that can connect one point in time to another."
When 1996 Desmond comes back to the future/present (?) he sees a calendar on the ship. The calendar has days marked off with either black or red Xs, while four days in October are marked in yellow. Why the color differentiations?
On the calendar it’s Dec. 23. Since the Losties are somewhere in the South Pacific, will they be affected by the the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia on Dec. 26, 2004?
There’s a lot more to talk about in this episode, but I’m going to stop here.
Photo courtesy ABC.com

blog.wired.com

One tip that freshman forward Aaron Palushaj hears from longtime University of Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson: Stop beating the puck up.
Palushaj, who leads the No. 1-ranked Wolverines with 24 assists, loves to stickhandle at a hypnotizing speed, trying to create space and options for himself and teammates to score.
With Michigan playing at Michigan State at 8:05 p.m. today, Palushaj’s 31 points are fourth-best in the nation among rookie scorers.
“I try to be really creative with the puck,” said Palushaj, a Northville native. “I’ll stay out there after practice and stickhandle. It gets the defense thinking and the goalies aren’t real sure what you’re going to do with it if you keep the puck moving.”
After a final junior hockey season of 22 goals and 45 assists with the Des Moines Buccaneers, the St. Louis Blues selected Palushaj in the second round of the NHL Entry Draft during the summer.
Believing that Palushaj wouldn’t be out of place playing with good players, Berenson immediately placed him on one of his top lines and on the No. 1 power-play unit.
“He’s a hungry hockey player,” Berenson said. “You can tell it by his work ethic on the puck. He
really wants the puck. He’s a puck hound. When he gets it, he makes good plays with it.”
Palushaj said he’d like to have more goals than the seven he has now, but he’s happy to make a nice play that results in a goal for someone else.
In last Friday’s home game against Lake Superior State, Palushaj ducked into the zone on a power play, darting past the defense and getting off a good shot that allowed Chad Kolarik to score on the rebound.
“It’s been great to be able to come in and contribute to the team,” Palushaj said. “I’ve had a great opportunity to play on the first power-play unit. My line is pretty solid this year. I’m getting a lot of chances, and I’m just taking advantage of them.”
Palushaj catches grief from teammates for his near breakaway chances that sometimes result in stickhandling shows instead of goals.
“He’s having a tremendous freshman year,” captain Kevin Porter said. “I think he needs to shoot a little bit more - I tell him that all the time - but he likes passing the puck, and he’s good at it.”
Palushaj’s second choice during the recruiting process was Michigan State. In his first experience in the rivalry four weekends ago, the Wolverines lost the series opener at home and tied in East Lansing.
“They’re going to be a hard-hitting team, and they’re
going to line four people up at the blue line,” Palushaj said. “We’re going to have to come into that game and compete. It’s not going to be easy at all.”
Two wins in the final four regular season games gives Michigan the Central Collegiate Hockey Association title. It would be another notch in what has been a dream season for Palushaj and the other 10 freshmen.
“With all our new freshmen, I guess we really didn’t know what to expect,” Palushaj said. “It’s a surprise for us, and I’m sure it is for the older guys. We just come out here, have as much fun as we can and compete.”
Also, Palushaj earned CCHA Rookie of the Week honors for registering three assists in No. 1 Michigan’s weekend sweep of Lake
Superior State. Palushaj was the only Wolverine to record points in both weekend games and leads the team with 24 assists for the season. Palushaj also earned the award on Nov 12 for earning three points in a sweep over Alaska.
Antoine Pitts can be reached at apitts@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6819.

mlive.com