Odyssey 8.1

Smallville Season Eight Premiere

Okay, so we got a recap of the events leading up to the season eight premiere (My only chance to see Michael...so dreamy...) I had forgotten about the Dear John - I mean, Dear Whitney - crap! - the Dear Clark break up video Lana left behind.

As for the opener: We pick up four weeks later from where season seven closed. Who cares that in seasons past we never saw "Luthercorp VP" Tess, but how come we never heard of her until now? Could Lex have name dropped somewhere? And how many times must the Fortress be in peril? (Was this common in the mythology? Don't know?!)

Opening Credits, you ask: They were just not the same. But totally thrilled Allison Mack gets second billing! It would have been extremely disappointing with 'Lex' and 'Lana' now out of the picture to put someone other than A. Mack in their place...And, I guess I'll just have to get used to seeing Justin Hartley (aka Oliver Queen/Green Arrow)...glad he's a series regular. :)

Some observations/questions: How many times will Clark loose his powers/die? (Again, was this common in the mythology? Again, I don't know.) Am I the only one who found it strange that Lex had only been missing for four weeks and everything in the mansion was covered in sheets? At that, is Tess going to be living in the mansion? If not, what was she doing there - and if so - again, why was everything covered up?

Other issues: Was it just me or was there an obnoxious amount of commercial breaks? Seemed there was more than usual. My response: REDUNK!

I was excited to see members of the JLA come together in the search for our missing Clark. Yea for the Justice League! I'm kinda hoping with Oliver/Green Arrow being a series reg that we'll see more of the JLA throughout the season.

Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders (not to mention Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer) have done a great job writing scripts (including Odyssey) over the years and I haven't any doubt they'll all be able to carry on in the driver's seats with the departure of series creators Al & Miles. With Odyssey, I think they did a great job in setting up the premise of the season - that being the members of the League split up to search for Lex. Who's to say Rosenbaum will even make a 'special guest' appearance with his departure and all...sidenote: I know it's only been a handful of months since filming season seven came to a close, but I checked imdb.com for any new MR projects - and nothing. Sigh....

The most odd thing (even moreso than the sudden appearance of Tess) was Clark's sudden employment with The Daily Planet. 'Four weeks prior' he was all like "Yeah right Lois" to "See you on Monday." ... and no, not in the mailroom... cause all those articles he wrote for The Torch certainly qualified him for a job as a reporter. So when Lois said, "You've gotta be kidding me." I said to Smallville, "You've gotta be kidding ME."

The saddest part to me was after the Martian Manhunter returned from taking "Dead Clark" to the sun to heal him and they have the discussion in the barn about Clark's 'past life' - people dying, people leaving, but never saying goodbye and making the decision to "Let it go." Gone is the 'innocent Clark' we know from the series beginnings - now we have a 'young man Clark' who is readying to embrace his ultimate destiny, which does not include the Kent Farm. With his job at The Daily Planet - forget the superspeed now - I can't help but wonder if last night was one of the last times we see the Kent Farm. Would he be moving to Metropolis now - visiting Chloe in Smallville? (Cause though Clark could get from Smallville to Metropolis in the blink of an eye, it's technically a three hour drive for the 'normal' folks...although they seem to make that commute with no issue whatsoever - that'd be like me driving from Mechanicsville to the far end of Raleigh...sheesh!)

Ah, I save what I'd like to now call the best for last: My dear, dear Chloe Sullivan. Super intelligence: Cool! Loss of healing ability: NOT cool! Grrr!! I hope they address this - not to mention RESTORE HER ABILITY! Kinda comes in handy when your BFF oh, say gets hit with an arrow not once, but twice...But getting to MY point: The reunion scene with Chloe and Jimmy. When addressing the proposal cliffhanger - when Jimmy initially dismissed it, I thought, "Jimmy, you're a doo-doo head." (Yes, you read right...this blog entry contains the word 'doo-doo head'.) But when Chloe said yes anyway, I couldn't help but giggle in pure joy for her. The dialogue between the two - Chloe telling Jimmy he was perfect...Jimmy responding he was far from perfect...Chloe following up with but he was perfect for her. *giggles* 'Bout time she was happy with someone who wasn't Clark. Fingers crossed they don't separate them later on in the series.

I think 8 got off to a good start...I was unsure with all the employment changes with the Smallville staff, so I'm eager to see how this season comes together...While I said previously that Thursday nights would not be the same with Michael's absence, I definitely get a sense that Thursday nights will still be great! ...now if only Grey's Anatomy would hurry up and premiere...

(above image taken from kryptonsite.com)

Michael Rosenbaum's Birthday

...........is today!

He's 36. Isn't he lovely?! :)(Photo by: Richard Chavez)


*hint, hint ... only three more days until I'm 31...

Strangest Dream

Okay, this was too weird to not share. I had the strangest dream last night. I'm open to thoughts/interpretations on what you're about to read.

I'm at a baseball game and Michael Rosenbaum is in uniform on first base and not only does he have hair y'all...he had the 80's feathered look (think Whitesnake)...I was sitting in the stands...front row (I guess) as there was a wooden barrier in front of me. I was talking to an unknown guy, a row or so behind me, who was several seats down. He hollers out to Michael "We got a sad one here." and Michael comes running over to the barrier, which I'm now using as an armrest. There's a girl (I'd guess between 8-10 years old), also several seats down, who stole the 'spotlight' so-to-speak and calling out that it was her. The guy was looking at Michael shaking his head 'no' pointing at me. Michael was then leaning up against the barrier and asked me why I was so sad. The guy loudly replied with "I just told her the man who did the voice for Papa Smurf had died." He looked at me with those eyes...and then back to the guy, who continued with "She was so sad it made her bottom lip quiver." To which then Michael reached for my bottom lip and told me it would be okay. I think I was embarrassed or something cause I said something like "I didn't mean to get upset. I'm not usually such a girly-girl." (I guess the news caught me off guard or something?!) My hand is resting on the barrier and he lightly taps my fingernails, which had been manicured only to point out that some things (i.e. the manicure) was girly and he gave me a smile.........

Then I woke up...it was 4.10 a.m. and I was wide awake until about 5 a.m. or so ... needless to say I was a bit sleepy this morning. I think what trips me out more than my subconscious giving Michael 80's hair was that "The man who did the voice for Papa Smurf died" ... Papa Smurf...seriously?!? Papa Smurf. Honestly, I have NO clue who did the voice for Papa Smurf, let alone whether or not he's still alive...maybe I should go Google that?!

(P.S. I did Google and his name was Don Messick and he passed away October 1997)

Mixed Feelings

It is with a saddened heart, I share that Michael Rosenbaum will be leaving Smallville at the end of this season...with some possible guest appearances in season 8...which I guess is dependent upon how they end season 7 (not to mention how it'll work into his new schedule).
And while we've lost plenty of major and minor characters over the years ... Whitney, Pete, Ma and Pa Kent...most recently Lionel...I knew it was a possibility he'd be leaving, but was selfishly hoping he'd stay.

The story must go on...

However, the show is called Smallville and it's about the journey of Clark Kent from boy to man (not Lex, otherwise, I'd guess it'd be called Metropolis - haha!) ...it will be nice to see how the show continues to explore Clark's continued growth and acceptance of himself as he comes to embrace his true destiny - not to mention, other villains in CK's life and the story arcs created. I've read they are bringing in Doomsday...so that should be exciting!

To know me is to know my love of the show - not to mention Michael...after all one of my favorite lines from the entire series is "You were right about me all along, Mr. Kent...I am the villain of this story.", which was said to Mr. Kent by Lex in Onyx (season 4, episode 17) ... which happens to be my license plate (ONYX417)

But I'm happy to see Rosenbaum move on to other endeavors and it will be exciting to see what projects he involves himself with...

...I have more than quite enjoyed watching Michael's portrayal of Lex Luthor over the years and Thursday nights won't quite be the same.

Six Degrees of ... D'oh!

For those of you who have been over may have noticed that my VHS tapes are in a little order known as Six Degrees of Separation.

Being Type A, you'd think it would make more sense for me to do alpha order - but no, I think this is more logical...and fun! So yesterday, I took it upon myself to attempt the same with my DVD's. It proved to be a bigger challenge than first thought.

Some decisions were simple...for example, Julia Roberts goes next to Matt Damon. Yeah, they may have been in Ocean's Eleven together, which I do not have, but I DO have Mystic Pizza. (Matt's first movie role - a mere one liner.)

Take Xanadu - you would think - oh, easy...that one stands by itself as I don't own any other Olivia Newton-John movies (nope, not even Grease), but you'd be wrong. I recently learned that Aldolfo "Shaba Doo" Quiones was a dancer in the film...and he played Ozone in Breakin' (LOVE IT!)...AND was the choreographer for Kickin' It Old Skool with Michael Rosenbaum...

So to 6DoS Olivia Newton-John to say...Tom Welling it would go:

Olivia to Aldofo to Michael to Tom

I also discovered some links where just one movie was missing to connect the dots. For example, Because I Said So stars Mandy Moore...who was in A Walk To Remember, which was a novel written by Nicholas Sparks, who wrote The Notebook with Ryan Gosling. I've seen A Walk To Remember and it was a good movie...so I guess I should go buy it now to complete the link. :)

I also thought that with the variety of movies it would also be as simple as two "branches" per person...you know one to the left and one to the right on the shelf...but sadly, Reese Witherspoon 'ruined' that for me. Seems each movie I have of hers links to someone else I have. See below:

Election - Matthew Broderick - Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Pleasantville - Tobey Maguire - Spiderman
Just Like Heaven - Mark Ruffalo - 13 Going On 30
Sweet Home Alabama - McDreamy himself, Patrick Dempsey - Grey's Anatomy AND - Melanie Lynskey - Ever After (you know the nicer of the two evil stepsisters, who when the movie came out people thought we looked alike)

And once I buy Walk The Line ANOTHER link would be Tyler Hilton, who played Elvis Presley in the film but also played Chris Keller on One Tree Hill.

I can't exactly split Reese up, so in my "frustration", I said forget it! and put the movies back on the shelf grouped by actor and not necessarily 6DoS. Sigh...

Guess you'd be amazed that there is absolutely

no order whatsoever to my CD's...

M.A.S.H.

Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House

I'm sure many of you remember this game from our youth. (Not sure if guys played this game, but I know us girls certainly did!) Well, the game is still active as my niece 'introduced' me to it...and here are the results:

I marry Michael Rosenbaum and we honeymoon in Michigan. We live in a House in Georgia. I make $1 Million a year as a Mom and have 9 1/2 kids (yeah, how do you have the 1/2? (I asked the same thing) She said it was a standard answer and I just got "lucky" with that many kids - but you know...if I'm making a million dollars, I could certainly afford 9 1/2 kids...haha?!) I go to UNC Chapel Hill for college (YAY Tarheels!) and I have a cat as a pet. 7 is my lucky number.

So there is my future - in the hands of an 11 year old. I expected her to whip out a paper fortune teller, but no such luck. :)