NINE

NINE was good. So good that I just might be Penelope Cruz's Carla for Halloween next year.

Much love,
Jono

Ho ho ho?

Thanks to Casey for this link!

Check this out: Sketchy Santas!

This will be your new favorite site, right up there with Cake Wrecks, Awkward Family Photos, and People of Wal-Mart.

Here are some examples of what this site has to offer:

Is is me or does this Santa look kinda...dead?

Who would EVER want their picture taken with this Santa?!!!

If you do not see what is wrong with this picture, click on it for a closer view.

Much love,
Jono

Bit of Inspiration

Check this out: ESPN did this story on Jake Olson. I won't say anything about it. Just watch the video. It will inspire you to no end.

Much love,
Jono

Boing!

I'd like to bring your attention to the greatest find in the year 2009:

I heard a rumor of such items, but I didn't know they were so close to being on the shelves!

May I present...

LOST BOBBLEHEADS!!!

These are the only four they've released (or soon to be released), but you can purchase and pre-order them here!

Oh, and LOST Legos! AHHHH!

Much love,
Jono

The AIDS Initiative

Today is World AIDS Day.

Check this out: Until There's a Cure
This foundation supports HIV/AIDS awareness. They sell an assortment of really beautiful bracelets and the profits go towards AIDS research. I bought two of these bracelets a few years ago and I still wear them today, they hold up very nicely.

Check this out: Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Website or Store
BC/EFA has been around for years. Most Broadway shows conclude their performances, this time of the year, to take up donations and auction off cool items for this organization. If you go to this website, you can check out their current auctions or buy really awesome Broadway merchandise only sold through the website.

Check this out: ONE.org- Global Gift from President Obama
I'm passing this link along from my friend India. It's a request to ask Obama to support the Global Fund by including a budget request to congress, to support the fight for AIDS, tuberculosis, and Malaria. All you have to do is sign your name, enter your email address and zip code. It's that simple!
Much love,
Jono

The LOST Phenomenon

Well, here it is. Out of sheer boredom and absolutely nothing else to write about, I'm going to write an entry entirely about LOST. Actually...I lied. There are plenty of things to write about; November has been a very anxiety-filled month. But I'm going to save those stories for another day because I'm back on another LOST binge and I'm super pumped about the final season starting in nearly 2 months.

After season 5 concluded in May, I took a break from the show for a few months. I re-watched all five seasons in August and now I'm re-watching all five seasons again. Why? Well, no reason, really. The season 5 DVD set comes out in a week and a half and I would like to be able to watch those DVDs on my television, as opposed to ABC.com.

Here are some observations I've been making, throughout the years, on where I stand with the show:

My top 10 favorite episodes:

*This is excluding the Pilot and Season Finales because it's a given that they're amazing.

1. "Deus Ex Machina" -S1,E19 - Odd choice for number one, but I will always remember that this episode made me fall in love with John Locke. He is the best damn character on the show. I'm a sucker for tragic story lines and his is, by far, the worst. (This was the episode where Cooper stole his kidney.) The ending was AWESOME with Boone dying and Locke pounding on the hatch door. The music swelling, the light comes on...OH MY GOD!!!

2. "One of Us" -S3,E16 - When Juliet was introduced in the season 3 premiere, I knew she'd be my favorite female character. Bad guys rock, but bad girls rock even more. Although she turned out to be good, "One of Us" was in the middle of the season when Juliet kept flip-flopping back and forth between good and bad. (This was the episode where she joined the castaways and saved Claire's life.) It also delivered one of the best flashbacks to an episode EVER: her sister's pregnancy and her rivalry with Ben.

3. "The Shape of Things to Come" -S4,E9 - Oh God, this was Michael Emerson's Emmy worthy episode. So good, from beginning to end. Ben had already established himself as a badass, but at this point, his character was still mysterious because he had only one centric episode, thus far in the series. (See next episode on this list) But this was the episode where Alex was killed and he unleashed the smoke monster in New Otherton. His flash-forward showed us where he ended up after he turned the wheel at the Orchid Station. His confrontation with Widmore at the end of the hour was the icing on the cake.

4. "The Man Behind the Curtain" -S3,E20 - Ben's very first flashback episode. I think everyone remembers this one. The first look at the Dharma Initiative in action, "Jacob"'s first appearance, and Locke getting shot by Ben. When he fired that gun and Locke fell in the pit, I will never forget how shocked and pissed I was. At this point in the series, Locke's importance wasn't as defined, so I didn't know if he was truly being "killed off". I called all my LOST friends bitching about how amazingly shitty that ending was.

5. "The 23rd Psalm" -S2,E10 - Oh, Eko, why were you on this show for only a season and 5 episodes? I really like to imagine where he would have ended up, if the actor had stuck around on the show for a bit longer. He was the most compelling character introduced in season 2. This episode answered many questions concerning season 1's drug plane, through Eko's backstory. It also showed us the smoke monster (in the full) for the first time. His other two flashbacks weren't as juicy as this one was, but this episode solidified him as the show's resident badass mother fucker.

Runner-Ups:
6. "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" -S5,E7 - Locke's tragic life gets even worse.

7. "The Constant" -S4,E5 - Desmond contacts Penny. Simply amazeballs.

8. "Solitary" -S1,E9 - Rousseau's first appearance and Sayid's very first badass flashback.

9. "This Place Is Death" -S5,E5 - Charlotte dies, Locke leaves the island, Rousseau's story is FINALLY told.

10. "Ji Yeon" -S4,E7 - Saddest ending to a LOST episode EVER!

My top 5 least favorite episodes:
1. "Stranger in a Strange Land" -S3,E9 - The episode where Jack got his tattoos. Did anyone really care? Nothing really happened on the island except Jack befriending Juliet. Also, nine episodes into season 3, this was Jack's second centric episode of the season. Why not give other characters like Sayid, or Claire, or Charlie, or Sawyer, or Ben, or Hurley some more spotlight? By the end of season three, Jack will have had 3 episodes to himself. Ew.

2. "Fire + Water" -S2,E12 - This was when Charlie went mental and stole Claire's baby. Locke punched the shit out of him and Charlie burned down the camp. Just bizarre. Even in the darkest of LOST episodes, there's a little bit of light and humor. This was just gloomy and depressing.

3. "The Long Con" -S2,E13 - What's sad is that this episode followed "Fire + Water". I was never really partial to Sawyer's episodes because they each show...the same thing. Who's he conning this time? But the island story was really dark too, when he stole the guns from the group. Although, these two episodes followed a string of really great episodes; it was destined to drop to lower standards at some point.

4. "Outlaws" -S1,E16 - Remember when Sawyer spent an episode tracking a boar? And when he and Kate played "Never have I ever..."? And when Locke told them the story about his little sister? Yeah... zzzzzzz...

5. "Further Instructions" -S3,E3 - As previously stated, Locke's episodes have ALWAYS been my favorite. HOWEVER...this one was just weird. It was the one where he lived at that hippie ranch and made a sweat lodge. On the island, he fought a polar bear to save Eko. Didn't make any sense AT ALL...

My favorite seasons of LOST in order:
1. Season 1 - Re-watching the first season is weird. The show's pacing has picked up SO MUCH, it makes the first two or three seasons go slow as hell! But if you go back and watch season one with a clean slate, it's a very perfect season. The writers certainly knew what they were doing. There are so many layers to this season, and ironically, a lot of answers are given as well. This was before the show became convoluted in its storytelling by introducing 100 questions in each episode.

2. Season 4 - The shortest season of LOST because of the Writer's Strike, but in many ways, it made for a tightly-wound season. Off topic, one of the reasons why I LOVE the show Dexter is because each season is 12 episodes long. They don't have time to waste on "filler episodes", they just cut right to the answers, while giving mysteries and awesome cliffhangers. LOST's fourth season was short and sweet, but so much happened that you can't just skip over it. This was also when they were permitted an ending date for the show. So, with an ending in sight, they could cut to the chase with better writing and storytelling. The freighter folk were awesome too.

3. Season 2 - Many folks would disagree because I have read a lot of opinions that season 2 was "boring, slow, etc." Certainly, if you look back at it...yeah, not much happened on the island. They finally get into the hatch...and they push a button ALL season long. But this was following a perfect freshmen season and the show was starting to dig into the mythology and history of the island. I think was made this season so great wasn't what happened ON the island, but what happened in everyone's flashbacks. The characters were still fresh and, of course, Michael Emerson made his debut as Henry Gale. Every season introduced new characters to the principal cast (season 2- the tail section survivors, season 3- the Others, season 4- the freighter folk, season 5- DHARMA). In my opinion, the tail section folk were the most well-rounded group of new cast members of any season.

4. Season 5 - I go back and forth between this season and season 3 as my least and next to least favorite seasons. There was something about season 5 that was inconsistent with its storytelling. You can read my mid-season rant on it, here. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED LOST this year; it answered so many questions and it certainly prepped season 6 to be awesome as hell. It's a personal choice, but I just wasn't a big fan of the DHARMA timeline, it was kind of slow. The time traveling was amazing and the finale was definitely one of my favorites.

5. Season 3 - I feel like Juliet, Ben, and Desmond saved this season from being a drag. This was the season when the writers were persuading ABC to set an ending date for the show, otherwise LOST would go on forever becoming more and more monotonous with it's mythology. I REALLY enjoyed season 3 when it was airing, but the question "What does this have to do with anything?" comes up A LOT when re-watching it. It certainly wasn't bad or even fair because the quality of the worst LOST episode is probably the best episode for many other television shows. But remember when Jack got his tattoos? Remember "Expose'" with Nikki and Paulo? Remember when Claire made it her mission of try to rescue everyone by capturing a bird? Yeah, not LOST's finest when they were stalling for an ending date.

Agree? Disagree? What are your opinions and your top favorites? Honestly, mine change every day so this will be completely different, a year from now. Damn. I LOVE THIS FUCKING SHOW!!!

Much love,
Jono

Titanic

Searching for dead babies on Google is tough. I'm trying to find a picture of that frozen baby from Titanic.

I found this, though. HA!

Much love,
Jono

Away We Go

October. Thank you for being a good month to me. Many great things happened in October. I feel like a lot of my bitterness and anger went away. I'm very happy right now, mainly because the source of all my troubles is gone.

I hope everyone else has had a great month as well. Believe it or not, I've found out a lot about myself within the past few months. Positive or disheartening, I know exactly what and who to focus my time, love, and energy on. It's time to get down to business. I'm focused, driven, and completely over a lot of shit.

More bloggies to come. I haven't forgotten about you, virtual diary.

Much love,
Jono

Finding Neverland

I want to run outside and scream at the top of my lungs!

I want to release all of my energy to the winds. I'm not mad. Actually, I'm far from mad. I'm pretty happy. For the past two months, I've wanted to just go through a fairly typical week of work. The past few weeks have been better or, dare I say, normal. But with birthdays, shows, and traveling, there hasn't been much time to focus on the jobs at hand.

So I'm coordinating my schedule, last night, and realize that there aren't any shows go see, far away friends I've promised to visit, or conventions, conferences, or auditions lined up for the next 7 days. This is awesome. Can't get used to it, though.

Welcome to Life, Jonathan. Ha! :)


Much love,
Jono

Rafflelicious!

Tomorrow night, I will be celebrating Day 4 of my week-long birthday extravaganza. We will be partying it up at the Sports Page in Columbus, GA. Since I will be seeing MANY friends before, during, and after this event, I thought it would be fun to hand out party favors and raffle off some goodies, brought to you by Bath & Body Works.

As announced earlier, the first 15 people I bump into will receive a sample bottle of the newest fragrance- Twilight Woods (see below). Well, I'm tweaking this giveaway to make it more fair. The first 16 people to be AT the Sports Page will be the lucky recipients of this handy dandy little lotion. Party begins at 9:30pm.

Twilight Woods - Body Lotion
Our Signature Body Lotion takes ultra-pampering to the next level. Now fortified with Aloe Vera,Grape Seed Extract and vitamins C and E, it glides on easily and evenly to condition and hydrate skin. This non-greasy, sheer formula absorbs quickly to leave skin soft, smooth,and beautifully fragrant.

• Key fragrance notes: Juicy Berry, Soft Mimosa, Apricot Nectar, Warm Woods
• Indulge your senses with our exclusive Twilight Woods, a hypnotic fragrance inspired by a romantic walk in enchanted woods.

There will also be a raffle going on, throughout the evening. All attendees will receive a piece of paper with a number on it as they enter. If your number is drawn, you could win the following items. Colors/items are exact.

Rubber Duck - Silver
She's one lucky duck and our favorite bathtime friend.

Back Brush - Red
This skin-silkening body brush will help you achieve a new level of clean. Soft bristles work up a rich lather while they scrub away dirt, impurities and complexion-dulling dead skin cells.

• Convenient strap for holding or drying
• Pairs perfectly with your favorite Bath & Body Works Shower Gel
• 15" x 2 3/4" x 1/2"

Lounge Shea Socks - Green with Snowflake
These super-soft, ultra-pampering socks are made twice as thick for extra warmth. Contains enough shea butter to last up to 25 washes.

• One size fits most with non-skid bottom
• Machine wash cold, gentle cycle; use only non-chlorine bleach when needed; tumble dry low; do not iron or dry-clean
• Ultra-hydrating shea butter should last up to 25 washings
• 83% nylon, 14% polyester and 3% spandex

Lounge Shea Socks - Multi Stripe
These super-soft, ultra-pampering socks are made twice as thick for extra warmth. Contains enough shea butter to last up to 25 washes.

• One size fits most with non-skid bottom
• Machine wash cold, gentle cycle; use only non-chlorine bleach when needed; tumble dry low; do not iron or dry-clean
• Ultra-hydrating shea butter should last up to 25 washings
• 83% nylon, 14% polyester and 3% spandex

Gel Eye Mask - Blue
A cool way to chill out tired eyes in a fun, festive holiday look. The look is blue gel with metallic snowflakes.

I hope you all can make it. If you need the address, see below. I cannot wait to see everyone and I'm stoked beyond belief. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Sports Page - Restaurant & Spirits
5736 Veterans Pkwy
Columbus, GA 31904
(706) 641-9966

Much love,
Jono