Thoughts on Lost

So I just finished rewatching Lost. Fittingly, it's been 10 years since it first aired. I was a fan of the show before and since I wasn't interested in anything else on my Netflix queue, I decided to watch the show a second time.

Wow, I'm so glad I did! It is so much better the second time! First, it was so convenient to binge-watch on Netflix sans commercials. It's still quite a commitment, as it's about 120 episodes. I think it took me about 4 or 5 weeks to complete. But, this time I could really pick up on so many clues and foreshadowing, which happens a lot. You recognize the characters more, and since there's a lot of minor characters that pop up throughout the story, I could remember them more easily.

The whole show is this amazing, complex story and study of character development. Just thinking about the creativity involved in this complex thing blows my mind. How they thought of it all, and kept it all straight, I have no idea. I used Lostpedia a lot, to read up on trivia, characters connections and to solve mysteries that I couldn't figure out on my own. But looking at that website shows you how detailed it is.

The highlights for me: The couples: Charlie and Claire, Jin and Sun. But most of all Desmond and Penny's story. Sawyer's humor. Knowing what's happening and still getting that intense thrilling feeling when watching it. The moment when Sawyer and Jin are reunited and Sawyer just giggles at him. Constantly trying to figure it out. I just love shows that make you think!

What surprised me this time: I didn't like Kate as much and really saw the flaws in her and Jack's relationship. I liked Sawyer a lot more. I ended up liking Ben and his dry humor.

The problems: the time travel-skipping episodes in Season 5 are pretty bad. It's the biggest misstep, in my opinion, of the whole show. They were the only episodes I just wanted to be over.
Introducing characters to the audience, but acting like we should have known them all along. Nikki and Paulo are the obvious examples here, but there were a few others.
Ana Lucia. Ugh, she is THE most annoying person and I'm glad when she dies. She's more annoying than Shannon, and that's saying a lot.

I know a lot of people were disappointed with the ending of Lost. I don't get that. They completely wrapped up the conflict. They killed the villain (Man in Black), stabilized the island from the people who wanted to do it harm, (MIB and Charles Widmore), got all the people rescued that could be, and the leading character, Jack, realized his destiny and could die knowing he had finally found love and purpose. What more could you ask for?

I'm guessing it's because of the flash-sideways storyline. And I'll admit, at first I was confused by it because I knew it wasn't real. But then, by the final episode, it's revealed that that was the afterlife and once Jack was ready, they could all fully die. But to be clear, the characters weren't dead the whole time, they didn't die in the plane crash. The experiences they had on the island really happened to them. They all died at different times, as told in the story. And some of them at the end, got off the island, Kate, Sawyer, Miles, Frank and Richard and you would assume, lived out some time back in the "real world." (Which would be interesting to know what happened to them).

The last point I have is just how incredible the impact Lost had on television. This was ten years ago, before the days of binge-watching. And here was a highly serialized, science fiction show on a network channel. And it was a huge success and the forerunner to all these great shows we have now.

So, I highly recommend Lost. But it comes with a warning. You have to go with it, and just let yourself believe in some supernatural explanations. Also, this is not the type of show you can watch while playing on your phone, or doing other things. You will miss a lot of details. You've got to commit to it and if you do, you'll be rewarded with, what I think is, the best show ever made for television.

I'll be ready to watch it again in a few years!

KC's Frozen Fountain

I had heard that the Fountain up in the Northland, at Vivian and North Oak, stayed turned on during the winter and becomes an ice sculpture in the winter. You may remember this fountain as Number 54. This picture was taken in October 2010. So that's why the water is pink-for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Here's the fountain as of this weekend:

Isn't that crazy??? It's the only public KC Fountain that stays on during the winter. I can't believe it, though, because it looks like the weight of the ice would cause so much damage to the structure of the fountain. Pretty cool, though, to see!

I also found a nice Veterans Memorial at this park where the fountain is located.

Eagle sculpture

I found this verse to be quite moving as part of the memorial, it's from John 15:13. 

The names from all the fallen soldiers from Cass County from every war since the Civil War, including the most current Iraq war.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season and cheers to 2013!

Laura

Turning 30 and trip to Orlando

September was a very busy month for me! I turned the big 3-0 on th 13th.

 

I had a great party that night with a few friends. The picture above is of me and my bestie, Bree! I felt very honored to be able to share that important day with so many great friends. It really meant a lot to me!

 

 

The last weekend on the month, I got to visit a dear friend, Mary Jane, who lives in Orlando! Since I had never been, we went on a whirlwind tour of Disneyworld and Universal Studios.

 

 

In front of the Aerosmith Rockin' Roller Coaster

Darth Vader! in front of the Star Wars ride

Miss Piggy Fountain

Entrance to Magic Kingdom

The famous Cinderella castle

 At 3:00, the do a big parade with all the characters. It's so neat. It really brings you back to childhood and reliving all the fun movies and songs. I even got a little teary-eyed!

Minnie Mouse

Pinocchio

Jafar!

Aladdin, what a classic movie!

Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter. He was my favorite dancer.

Step-mother of Cinderella

Beauty and the Beast

From my favorite Disney movie, Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip

Genie

Epcot



On Saturday, we went to the Mizzou football game at the University of Central Florida, where MJ works. It was miserably hot and humid out! But at least Mizzou came out with a victory!

 

 

The next day we went to Universal Studios. I have always wanted to go here and it was pretty awesome! Here are some highlights:

 

 

Entrance to Jurassic Park

Harry Potter world. Overall, the best ride!

Myself and MJ at entrance to Universal

 At Universal, they were doing a special Halloween event that night. So we got to go through some haunted houses. The best one was a 3-D house, which had some pretty cool special effects.

Alice Cooper Haunted House sign

 

So, of course I had a blast. Disneyworld was so big and there was so much to see. I would like to go back the explore the other parks and go through Epcot a little more. My favorite ride was Toy Story. The first ride we went on, "Tower of Terror" was one of the scariest moments in my life! I really liked all the shows we saw, including Indiana Jones, and taking an animation class where we drew Donald Duck.

 

Universal was awesome, too. Definitely Harry Potter was the coolest ride. Overall, just a great trip! 

 

Fountain Update:

 

No. 95- American Century building on Main St at 46th
 

All-Star Week in KC

Last week, a pretty cool event happened in KC. Kauffman Stadium hosted the MLB All-Star game. For the whole week leading up to the event, there were all kinds of happenings around town. I was lucky enough to get to participate in a few of those fun events!

The Convention Center hosted FanFest. Anyone could go with a ticket and there were tons of games for kids like batting practice or stealing a base. Tons of companies that were giving aways free stuff and several exhibits, including one with all the MLB trophies and about the Negros League (Kansas City is home to the Negro League Baseball Museum, too). It was a lot of fun!

I got to make my own baseball card!

Then I made a flip book!

On Monday night was the Home Run Derby! Thanks to my AWESOME friend Jessica, I got to go! We arrived really early so that we could tailgate with our friends and then we headed to the stadium. It was packed with fans! The opener was my friend MJ's favorite band, the Zac Brown Band.

I didn't take any pics of the Derby but you can read all about it here: http://royalicings.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/fact-if-you-lie-you-will-get-booed-a-lot-27-2/

I'll sum up the best part of the Derby. The captain of the Derby was a Yankees player who chose the players participating and he said a few days before the Derby that he would choose a Royals player, since it was in KC. Then, he went on to NOT choose the Royals player. So, this Yankees player got booed the entire night. Not because he didn't pick the Royals player but because he SAID he was going to, and then didn't. And since the Derby doesn't mean ANYTHING, why not pick a player from the home team?? The best part was then, the Yankees player got ZERO home runs. Talk about Karma!

So, I had a great time participating in the activities and am so blessed with great friends that allowed me to do it! I was also really proud of KC because the city did a great job hosting the event, even the weather was nice!

It also made me think about how Nashville has GOT TO get the NHL All-Star game, now that their new convention center is almost ready. People would have so much fun there!!!

That's about it for now. Here's another fountain I found at the Grandview Municipal building:

No. 94- Main St, Grandview

Alright, more adventures to come!  Laura

Bruce and Laura: 2005-2012

Today was a very bittersweet day for me. I said good-bye to my faithful bff, Bruce. Unfortunately, the cost of repairs and gasoline was just getting too high for me to justify keeping him on the road with me. While I am excited about my new ride, I wanted to take this opportunity to remember my wonderful 100,000 miles with my bff, Bruce.

 For a long time, I had always wanted a Jeep. I thought they were so cool, ever since I saw the movie "Clueless" and loved Cher's white jeep! As I neared my college graduation, I was able to get this beautiful 2001 Jeep Cherokee. My dad was the one who saw Bruce at the car lot in Lee's Summit and wanted to show me. I was so nervous taking that test drive! I never thought I would get a Jeep, because they were a little more expensive than getting just a regular car. But thanks to my wonderful family, Bruce became mine in April of 2005.

Bruce helped me move several times. 7 times, in fact, in 7 years. From Warrensburg, to Nashville, to my current home in Kansas City. He also loved helping my friends move things, giving rides and of course, going off-road. He was an expert at driving in the snow and ice. I always felt safe and secure.

An especially fun memory is when Bruce took several friends from Joplin out into the country to see the Ghost Lights. Bruce also transported my new kitten, Itsa, when I first got her and welcomed her into my little family. He loved it when I let Itsa loose and she would crawl around on our road trips to see Grandma.

Bruce also loved how everyone knew his name. Just a few weeks ago, some friends at small group asked me how he was doing, and we just had to laugh at the fact that by asking "How is Bruce?" everyone knew who we were talking about!

Bruce, thank you for always getting me to where I needed to be and being a loyal companion on our many trips together. We've seen a lot of this beautiful country together and spent many wonderful years as bff's. Love you and will miss you! Laura

P.S. A special thanks to my friend, AmberZon, for naming Bruce. It was perfect.

KC Food Wars: Ribs...and the Winner is!

Our fifth and final stop in Ribs Wars was to Quick's in KCK. I had heard good things about this place and was really looking forward to trying it out. After first going to the WRONG Quick's, we found the right place and immediately were encouraged by the decorum and service. They knew all about the Ribs Wars and honored the BOGO ribs deal. The decorum was just as you would expect a hometown, bbq place to be. Friendly and casual.

So, let's cut to the chase. Quick's ribs were by far, the clear WINNER in Rib Wars!!!!!

Scores (best out of 20):

Atmosphere- 19

Flavor- 18

Tenderness- 18

Value- 20

Sauce- 18

Grand total: 93 out of a possible 100

I'm so glad Quick's was in this competition, because now I know of a great bbq place that may be off-the beaten track, with terrific service and price. Our server was so wonderful, Judge Jessica said "I want our waitress to be my mom." Whoa, Jessica! That's quite a compliment. The food also came out really fast and was fresh and delicious! I appreciated that it was quiet- they had on sports on the tv with the audio on low, no music was playing. It really makes for a great place to actually converse with your fellow dining companions.

The ribs were awesome! Really delicious flavor and the most tender we've had. The meat was definitely falling off the bone! The value was great too. I think it $8 or $9 for a half slab (which was more than enough for one person). We also noticed that they did great daily specials where you could get a sandwich, side and drink for about $7. The sauce had wonderful, sweet flavor. It would have been perfect, if it had been just a smudge thicker.

So, congratulations to Quick's BBQ for winning our Rib Wars!! We can't wait to go back!

Quick's

1007 Merriam Lane

KCK 66103

Review of previous ribs:

Second place w/ 77.5 pts- Johnny's in Mission, KS (great flavor, great service, just a bit too greasy)

Third place w/ 65 pts- Winslow's in City Market (good enough flavor to not need sauce, service needs work)

Fourth place w/ 64 pts- Zarda's in Lenexa (awesome sauce but ribs were way too fatty)

Fifth place w/ 0 pts- The Rub in Olathe (were out of ribs, terrible atmosphere)

More adventures to come...Laura



KC Food Wars: Ribs Part 4

Last Sunday, we decided to go try our fourth stop on our rib wars, which was the Rub in Olathe. The judges were myself, Jessica and Adam. We loaded up in the car and drove waaaaaaaaay out there to the restaurant. The restaurant is located in a newer-looking strip center in the middle of nowhere. So, we should have known this was not going to turn out good.

We go inside and see a big poster advertising the ribs promotion. Ok, they know about it! I eagerly place my order of ribs. The server says, "Oh, we're actually out of ribs."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????


We drove all the way out there for nothing! I was so disappointed! A REAL barbecue place does not run out of ribs! A REAL barbecue place isn't in some suburban strip mall! A REAL barbecue place does not participate in a contest and then not have the food ready!

We decided to stay and eat anyways since we were out there. I got the pulled pork and fries.

The meal was fine but I seriously think they just use KC Masterpiece as their sauce and put it in their own bottles. The atmosphere was so generic and bland. I mean, if you want barbecue you want to go to some hole-in-the-wall. This place was almost too clean, and just no character whatsoever.

It really makes me question the integrity of KC magazine, who is doing this contest. I CANNOT BELIEVE that this place was in their Top 5 ribs in Kansas City.

Overall, just a complete disappointment! We should have known better based on the location alone. As Adam put it, "Suburan barbecue is a little risky." So, don't go to the Rub in Olathe, there's DOZENS of better barbecue choices out there, this is the BARBECUE CAPTIAL OF THE WORLD.

We've got one more stop to go...let's hope it does better...Laura