Lost Season 5 - Recap

In short, I loved this season!! It was great. There were a lot of answers, a lot more questions, some mythology was flushed out, and it had tons of action.

My thoughts on the finale are: WHAT!?!? I have no idea what's going on any more - which is exactly when I love this show the most. It really makes you think...

Here a dozen things I'm thinking about going into the final season...

1. Locke isn't dead? I was blindsided by that one. It seems someone or something had taken the form of his body. Is it the same thing that appeared in the form of Christian, Eko's brother, and possibly Claire (which I previously thought to be the smoke monster)? Right now, it doesn't look like the cabin was Jacob's after all - is "fake Locke" really the dude who want's to kill Jacob and who was actually living in the cabin all this time? And who kicked the ash to set whatever was in the cabin free?
   
2. Is this the same cabin Rose and Bernard are living in? Nice to see them again. I was hoping they didn't get hit with the flamming arrows. Was there any significance to Bernard asking Juliet if she wanted tea? That seemed a little weird. And didn't she hint a little at being pregnant by touching her stomach afterwards?
   
3. A big shout out to Miles for finally asking the question, "don't you think that by acting we may be cause the exact events we are trying to prevent?". This seemed obvious for some time - from when Sayid shot young Ben to when Eloise shot Daniel (who I'll miss). I mean if Dan just stays away, he never gets shot and Jack would have a near zero chance of getting her to lead him to the bomb, right? And how does Dan have such good notes about things that haven't happened yet?
   
4. What is the smoke monster - really?
5. I'll be kind of angry if the bomb does place the survivors back on the plane with no recolection of any of these events and the plane doesn't crash. That would be obvious and lame.
6. Is Juliet dead? There was reference a while back to her looking just like someone Ben knew so maybe she'll be back. Or maybe she just looks like a picture of Ben's Mom.
   
7. What's Jacob's discussion with that other dude all about at the start of the show? Are they some mystic beings who experiment with humans in an attempt to find the good in man? And didn't Jacob die a little too easily. Was that really kind of a sacrifice (like Ben Kenobi or Jesus) - time will tell.
8. Are the other people on the plane who keep asking about the shadow of the statue timeless as well - like Jacob and Alpert.
   
9. When will we finally find out what the Others wanted with the kids? What are Walt's special abilities and does he have a role in the show's final chapter?
10. Who's coming? (in reference to Jacob's last words).
11. Will we find out why Radzinky is destined to work in the hatch pressing the button and what leads to his suicide?
12. Where's Desmond and what role does he have yet to play?

Finally, it was cool to finally find out how Chang/Crandle lost his hand.

I have no idea how they'll answer all of these "big" questions in the one final season, but I'm already looking forward to it.

Fanny's (Amherst, NY) - Review

I dined at Fanny's on May 2nd 2009. It was not at all what I expect from a fine dining restaurant. For the price you're going to pay here, you want a great atmosphere and the food to be exquisite. I experienced none of this.

My wife and I had a special occasion and made reservations for a booth (which we had on a previous visit and was quite nice). The maître d' said he would do the best he could to accommodate our request. Upon arriving at the restaurant, we saw that main dining room with the booths was completely filled for a private party. We were relegated to the "auxillary" dining room. This thing was hideous - there was a bad mural on one wall, faceted mirrors on the other, the lighting was beyond bad (way too bright), and the chairs were horribly uncomfortable. The atmosphere was a complete bust! Strike one.

Since we made reservations that same night, we know the maître d' had to be fully aware of the party and of the zero chance for us getting a booth - but he lied to us to get us in the door and that was upsetting. Strike two.

Finally, the food was just so-so. The calamari was uninspired and had ranch dipping sauce. I expect a restaurant of this caliber to be more creative than serving anything with ranch dip. Our Caesar side salads with dinner were $8, which were grossly overpriced. Finally, I had trout which had *way* too much lemon sauce and overpowered the dish. So-so fare is a definite strike 3 - especially at this price point.

In addition we had to ask for the bread that was supposed to be served with our dinner and our waiter reaked of cigarette smoke.

The lying about the availability of the booth was the absolute worst part and I'll never go here again.