LOST returns.

my relationship with LOST was not an intentional one. i started watching sophomore year for two reasons:

1. some of my new compadres at k-state watched every week on wednesday night and i wanted to fit in.

2. a total babe asked me if i wanted to watch the first season with her.

i didn't watch much television when i was a kid (and by kid i mean before i turned 20) and i had only been committed to one other television show prior to 2005, so when she asked me if i wanted to watch i didn't really know what i was getting myself into. i assumed that i would sit down and enjoy the show, but never did i realize that i would be enthralled as much as i was. i ended up taking the first season home, turning the couch in my living room so that it was about 6 feet from the tv, and parking myself there until 5 am until john, jack, hurley and kate busted open the hatch (only to find out later that there was a secret backdoor the whole time).

since that day the relationship has been rather hot and cold. i started watching the show every week at first, but it became so frustrating that i had to stop. so many questions and never an answer. so i quit watching until season two came out on dvd. my roommates and i pooled our money very unevenly (40-40-10-5-5), bought it, and watched it in a week before season 3 started up. cue relapse and bring on the addiction.

and so it goes with season 3 and now season 4. get bored with it on tv, wait til the next season is about to begin and frantically catch up. addiction, dissatisfaction, relapse, addiction.

so i'm all caught up and fully expecting a moment of dissatisfaction just around the river bend*, but here are the few things that will forever ring true in the world of LOST for me:

- the moment that will forever stand as the Greatest LOST Moment Ever: when Arzt blows himself up at the black rock while lecturing about how temperamental dynamite is. also wins Greatest Insignificant Character Development and Greatest Character Death Ever on Television**.

- there has never been a better show to sit down and watch back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-etc than LOST.

- best decision the writers ever made: killing off shannon. her voice is like an alarm clock with no snooze button.

- never has there been a show to cast more awful female actresses than LOST. examples: maggie grace as shannon, michelle rodriguez as ana lucia, elizabeth mitchell as juliet, shannon again.

- walt will always be the coolest character on the show.

- best use of dramatizing various shrill orchestral noises on a television show ever.

i think that's the list. or at least a few points that i find extremely important to the success of the show. i'm glad that LOST is back in my life for the time being. hope i didn't throw out any spoilers by mistake...knowing that shannon dies isn't necessarily a "spoiler" though. more of a "sigh of relief" so that you know she'll get what's coming to her at some point and you can look forward to it.

-ap.

* - beyond the shore. somewhere past the sea. ** - not to be confused with Greatest Character Death Ever in Cinema - that would go to the guy who gets another guy's throat chucked at his face and then stabbed in the chest in the pinnacle battle in the original Blade.

the resurrection of "the OC".

it is freaking freezing in kansas.

granted most of you know this. 90% of my frequenters are from kansas, and the other 10% are mostly comprised of iowa, oklahoma, missouri and utah - the first three due to friends and family, the last one due to my recent interest in absurd religions. whether this is old news or not, the fact still remains that it is currently 4 degrees and 11 degrees in manhattan and kansas city respectively.

i hate cold weather. it makes me want to do nothing. like at all. which is most unfortunate considering the amount of school work i've had to generate in the last 2 weeks. but i'm almost done. after noon today - just two more exams to go. and then just one more semester to go and i will have graduated college. it will likely be around 75 degrees outside the day i graduate. how pleasant. i will not be avoiding the outdoors in may like i have been this december.

however, one perk to nasty cold weather: plenty of time to watch the best tv show to ever air: The OC.

don't you dare knock it if you haven't tried it. yes, i will concede, i have a history of hating on things i haven't tried (i.e. tumblr, the twilight series, green beans, etc.), but this is different. okay. no. it's not different. but i'm begging you - give it a shot.

reason #1 to love the OC: seth cohen. adam brody's character is easily the funniest television character ever. terrific sarcasm coupled with a never-ending wit. he is the source of an endless supply of one-liners. he jokes at inappropriate times and makes light of situations far more serious than he lets on. and he has an unbelievable wardrobe*. also he has great hair...but i'm probably biased.

anyway. since a winter wonderland has manifested itself outside and has brought with it nearly sub-zero temperatures, i have been able to watch the first three discs of season 1 in the past 4 days. i'm productive while i do this (usually) - reading, studying, eating, cleaning, etc. there are few things i enjoy more than the never-ending emotional turmoil and excessive hoots of laughter spurred by seth cohen love triangles.

i have a history of converting people too. i think my OC conversion count is somewhere around 15 people. all haters turned obsessive lovers in the course of a few hours. never will a show capture me like this one. not even the office, lost, arrested development, project runway, heroes**, jonny quest, or any other show i've ever watched on a regular basis. the OC easily beats them all. i'm not even sure pat sajak and vanna white can trump this one. okay maybe them. but game shows are a totally different arena.

so thank you to the cold weather for resurrecting my love for the OC.

-ap.

* - it may by unknown to many, but seth cohen is the source of my love for the puffer vest. (see espisode 1.12 "the secret") and then kanye west and pharrell williams copped his style, confirming my love for all three individuals as well as their wardrobes.

** - for the record: heroes is the only one on that list that i did not enjoy.