kallure on vox

It's that time of year.  If I can accomplish one thing during the holidays, it's the Christmas cards.  So if I don't already have your address, send it over.  And if you've moved in the last year or so - send me your new one! Hook me up and I'll make sure you get one - they're sparkly, as always!!

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It's here!!!  I picked it up this morning and it's been sitting behind me all day at work, taunting me (I didn't feel safe leaving it in the car).

Now I get to go home and open it and fucking RAWK OUT!!! WOOT!!!!

Hi, my name is Kristy and I'm addicted to Halo 3 Multiplayer online.

And Guitar Hero, in any form.

When Rock Band comes out, I'm going to need to go into rehab.

I resisted the urge to jump on this bandwagon for weeks.  I'd had my fill of teenage vampire romances and truthfully, no one will ever compare to my favorite supernatural forbidden love author, L.J. Smith.  But I got curious and it ate and ate at me, so one Friday, I said 'Screw it!' and went to the bookstore and dropped $60 bucks on all three books in this series.  (Note: I could've paid less to get the trade paperback for the first two, but Eclipse was only available in hardcover and I'm such a damn perfectionist, they just had to match!) 

And now, here I am, coming out of hiding, because I just finished the last book last night and I NEED to talk about them.  So here goes:

The books are Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.  The basic premise of it human girl falls for mysterious, inhumanly beautiful vampire boy and all sorts of danger ensues because of their romance and their inability to share their secret with anyone.  Stereotypical teenage vampire romance premise.  However, there's a few twists and turns here: said vampire boy is a "vegetarian", meaning he doesn't touch human blood.  He lives with five others of his "vegetarian" kind in a makeshift "family" that bonds them together and allows them to stay in places longer.  Said teenage girl moves to the rainy, never sunny town of Forks, Washington and is immediately intrigued by the vampire boy and his family.  He, however, has an immediate aversion to her then automatically, within in a week or two, can't get enough of her.  Throw in other complications such as an ill-fated love triangle, a disapproving father, a roaming pack of non-vegetarian vampires thirsty for the teenage girls blood, a powerful, old-as-dirt ruling vampire family determined to see the girl turned into one of them, and a pack of werewolves from the local Indian reservation and you've got yourself one unlucky group of people.

I'm not quite sure where I want to start with this.  Should I mention how the repetition bored me?  Or the how predictable it all really was (or perhaps that was my experience with vampire novels)?  Or how the epic love story between Bella and Edward made me roll my eyes so many times?  Or how I couldn't put it down because like crack, it was horribly bad for me but I was totally addicted to it?

So let's go the list route (warning: spoilers may occur, I'm not making any gurantees!)

• In the beginning, I couldn't stop rolling my eyes about the numerous helpless situations Bella got herself into.  Meyer seems to hang on tightly to the whole "damsel in distress saved by knight in shining armor" scenario one too many times.  Way too many times in my opinion.  However, I was more accepting of it towards the middle as they begin to make more and more jokes regarding Bella's inherant klutziness and rash of bad luck.  I thought it explained things nicely.  However, this explanation didn't stop Meyer from consistently using this crutch to put Bella in situations where she can be heroically saved by Jacob or Edward and they can spend hours waxing poetic about what they would do if they lost each other and how much they mean to each other and blah, blah, blah.  And I can't tell you how many times I wanted to wring Bella's neck for purposefully doing stupid, risky things.  Granted, she thought she had an explanation and a reason for doing them but seriously?  I just kept thinking 'stupid, naive, teenage girl' and at some point, her character should've evolved to a point where this shit didn't happen to her as often.  Then again, if that happened, Meyer wouldn't have any reason for her and Edward to talk about their epic romance.
• And on that - the humbleness.  The conversations.  Bella and Edward had the same conversation over and over again.  I don't know why you love me, I'm not good enough.  I can't help but love you.  You don't see yourself the way I do.  I can't live without you.  I'd kill myself if you were gone.  PUHLEASE!!!!!  Spare me the overwrought Harlequin teenage angst cliches!!!  I mean, yea, my self-esteem wasn't the greatest in high school and I had a hard time wondering what some boyfriends saw in me, but you know what, once they stuck around long enough and told me that they loved me and they would always be around, I kind of started to believe them.  To the point where when we broke up, I was devastated because I thought they had said they'd be around forever!  And Bella being unable to accept that Edward loves her, despite the fact that he never leaves her fucking side and that he's pretty much stalking her, is to the point where it's plain ridiculous.  At some point, towards the end, you'd think she'd get the fucking point, especially when he proposes to her.
• And the stalking thing - yea, she's a klutz.  Yea, she's a pretty unlucky person.  Yea, she does some really stupid and risky things (why, why, why does she think it would be an awesome idea to go cliff-diving by herself, without Jacob, when she's never done it before AND jump from the highest cliff - fucking idiot!!!).  But seriously, Edward, give the girl some fucking breathing room.  If I had someone all up in my grill like he was the whole damn book (with the exception of when he left), I'd have to give them a hint and tell them to give me some space.  I don't care how much they love each other and can't be without each other - there are some times that just aren't meant to be shared.
• Jacob being a werewolf - totally, totally called it!!!!!!!! 
• Bella hearing Edward's voice in her head everytime she did something dangerous after he left - did anyone else think that was actually Edward speaking to her through his mind, since he's got that whole reading people's thoughts thing down?  I mean, it made sense.  It made total fucking sense, especially since he's so good at being the whole stalkerazzi thing.  But when she explained it to him, he was all like, 'Uh-huh, you did stupid stuff so you could hear memories of my voice?'  What the ef?
• Meyer's vampires can't be in the sun because they glitter?  What kind of gay shit is that? They glitter and sparkle like rainbows!  Yea, that's saying something for the inhumanley beautiful and all powerful vampires!  At least they've still got the stereotypical looks, speed and strength.  I wouldn't want to be in the sun if I were them either for fear of people thinking I was a fairy or a disco queen, whichever you want to go with.
• Edward doesn't change Bella because he's worried about her soul.  Dude, seriously, she's dating a vampire and hanging out with werewolves.  I think even if she stays human, her ticket to Heaven has been revoked.  You might as well save her the agony of dying and change her already, you fucking wussy!
• Did I mention the lack of any really strong characters in this book?  Bella, as I said, was a damsel in distress the entire series and even when Meyer attempted to write her as a strong female, she failed miserably (Meyer failed to write her well and Bella just failed to be strong because she ended up in trouble or hurt or something stupid).  And Edward was a pansy.  He gave in to Bella rather quickly and was very unbelievable as a strong, century old vampire who had to deal with a stubborn, naive idiotic teenage girl he had fallen in love with.  And Jacob - well, he was just a big goofball who loved Bella and couldn't even compete with Edward.  Even when he tried, he faily miserably and from the beginning you knew he'd be no match.  Which sucks because when you're no match for someone as lame as Edward, then you kind of suck at life too.

So that's kind of what I didn't like about the books.  There's probably more, but I can't really recall it at the moment.  So let's think of the things I did like:

• The new twist on the relationship between the vampires and the werewolves.  They were eternally sworn enemies and this idea has pervaded vampire literature and mythology for as long as I've read it.  But Meyer went so far as to explain that the werewolves were there to protect the humans against the vampires and weaved that story through an ancient Native American legend that applied specifically to Jacob's tribe and Edward's family.  It was an interesting new twist that I hadn't seen before and actually liked.
• As I said above, I like how Meyer had the decency to at least explain that Bella's damsel in distress thing really came from the fact that she was a perpetually accident prone and just had bad luck overall, despite the fact that even that got old really fast.
• I liked the Cullen's as a family.  Edward was definitely my least favorite, but the idea of the Cullens all coming together and living as a family based on their "vegetarian" beliefs was kind of nice.  And I especially liked how Meyer weaved each one of their individual stories into situations that were pertinent to that time and place, rather than having Edward tell each of his family members story in a long exposition.  Rather, Meyer took the stance that Edward believe their stories were their own to tell and through out the book, each one would explain their situation and how they came to be who they were with relevance to decisions Bella was making or situations they were facing.
• The fact that Bella was immune to any vampire who affected the mind with their special abilities (Edward's thought reading, Jane's illusions of pain) was nice and I think I partly liked it because it excuse Edward from being able to bond with Bella on that level, so they were forced to conduct their romance like normal humans (well, as normal as you can get with him being a vampire).
• The vampires had good taste in cars.  And I'll credit Meyer's brothers for that because she has so many times over.  And the fact that they liked to drive fast.  That was fun too.

And finally, for my LJ Smith lovers, let's compare:

• You'll know Jacob is a werewolf pretty much right away too.  So don't yell at me for ruining it.
• The whole Edward-Bella-Jacob thing reminds me so much of Stefan-Elena-Damon.  Except Elena was a much stronger person than Bella and Damon and Stefan were so much less whimpy and so much more compelling.  Plus, at least with S-E-D, there was the consistent pull of good versus evil and which should Elena choose.
• The hostility between the vampires and werewolves is hysterical, just like in LJ's books.  In Meyer's books, the great part is how Edward can't stand the way Bella smells when she comes back from seeing Jacob and vice versa.  However, I think Ash and Jeremy's banter was so much more entertaining in Daughters of Darkness.
• The underlying theme with the girls of LJ's books is a fierceness and inner strength that they either possess from the beginning or grow into over time.  They need that strength in order to deal with the circumstances they're dealing with (human girl falling in love with something supernaturally not right or supernatural girl falling in love with a human which is virtually forbidden).  While Bella has some strong moments, hers are few and far between and I think she is way too angsty and whiny for anyone who loved and identified with LJ's heroines.  I mean, hell, Rashel was a fucking vampire hunter - I don't see Bella ever coming anywhere near that fierceness.
• Vampire mythology between LJS and Stephenie Meyer: inhumanely beautiful - check; amazing strength - check; ridiculous you-can't-see-me-speed - check; mysterious and intriguing - check; stealthlike and able to sneak around anywhere - check; awesome sense of hearing and smell - check; sunlight - as I said above, Meyer's vampires are all rainbows and glitter, LJ's just aren't as strong or powerful if they are in the sun; other than that, their vampires are pretty much the same, except Meyer paints her vampires with special abilites as just that, SPECIAL.  Only few of them have the abilities and they vary from vampire to vampire whereas, LJS, if I remember clearly, naturally bestows at least Edward's ability to get inside a person's head onto her vampires as well as Jasper's ability to sort of control the emotions and reactions of people around them.

So overall, they weren't bad.  They were a bit long and could've been condensed greatly into one book, maybe two had some of the reptitiveness been cut out.  Despite all my complaining above, I really did like them if only because they entertained me for a bit and were a bit more detailed than L.J. Smith had ever been.  However, while I think Meyer does a much better job of developing and exploring her characters (and I think this partly because her books are 500 pages versus LJ's 200 or so pages), I think LJ has a much better grasp on action and story development that Meyer will ever have.

And will someone tell me why I went through 3 books and 1500 fucking pages where half of it was spent with Bella whining about becoming a vampire after Carlisle made the promise to her halfway through the second book and SHE WAS NEVER FUCKING CHANGED????????????  THAT kind of pissed me off.

And I wouldn't be opposed at all to reading some filler books about the Cullen family members time and stories leading up to before they met Bella.  Maybe written by LJ Smith.  *heh heh*

Well, actually, I'll just close it like this - I wouldn't be opposed to reading Strange Fate since I've been waiting for it for over 10 years!!!!!  But, in the LJ Smith community, that's nothing new either.

So I'll have to deal with Meyer and her characters until then! 

To An Unamed Store Associate at a Familiar Blue and Gold Electronics Giant:

When I call your store to ask you if you have a Guiter Hero II XBox 360 controller, I want a simple answer: yes or no.  If I proceed to ask you another question, such as if you'll be getting a shipment in or what day your truck comes, please provide me with that answer.  A yes or no or Tuesday will be just fine, thank you.

Do not try to argue with me about whether they sell them seperately.  Do not say "I don't think they come with anything but the bundle".  I am not an idiot.  Maybe you'll get away with this the first time.  But when I counter you and say, "I was in another Best Buy last month when the bundles came out and there were stacks of JUST the controllers and I remember this because they had CONTROLLERS and no bundles" do not continue to try and argue with me that they were never sold seperately.  I must have been blind or stupid or something because there is a clear difference between XBox 360 and PS merchandise when it comes to this game.  And I wasn't staring at a stack of bundles thinking "Hmmm, they just have the controller, I can't get my game".

I have wandered all over this area in search of first the bundle and now the controller.  I have walked into no less than five stores and asked associates if they had them.  You are the first one who has flat out said "They don't sell them seperately".  Why did all of the other associates at the other stores tell me that they didn't have them and they weren't expecting any in and that they were really hard to get a hold of?  Why didn't they argue with me and try to make me feel like an idiot?

Because I was right.  And you ARE WRONG!

And if you are going to work in the Movies, Music and Games section of that yellow and gold electronics giant, it might be a good idea to brush up on your movies, movies and games.  I certainly don't expect the level of commitment or knowledge that I get from the geeks at EBGames or GameSpot but could you at least try and act like you know what you're talking about?  And even if you don't, try and not argue with the customer?

This is why your store is my last resort!  Not only are is it kind of overpriced but it employes drones who look at you with glazed over eyes when you ask them any questions beyond "How much is this?" or "Where is this?"

Sincerely,

An Unhappy Gamer

Note: This is why I love going to EBGames and Gamestop, particularly the ones around here.  Most people who work in those stores actually like video games.  It's not like McDonald's or Wal-Mart or Target or something where every teenager figures they can work there.  If you are asking for an application from EBGames or Gamestop, you are probably interested in video games.  And this makes me happy because I can walk into that store and ask them almost any question ranging from technical aspects of a system to their own personal opinion of a game and they will give it to me and it will be good.  And I appreciate that kind of service!

Let's talk about where I am with my gaming and why my simple little world has turned into chaos.

It was simple.  We had one system - the original XBox.  There were some very good co-op games that we could play together and when we moved in with each other, that became our bonding tactic.  We didn't have Live, we didn't have it hooked up to the Internet.  It was just us, two controllers, and a shiny new disc with a new world awaiting us.

Then we got the XBox 360.  And we spent weekends scouring the stores for the different parts we needed.  I could bore you with our plan to buy the core system and use my brother's discount from working at a well-known yellow and gold electronics giant to build the rest of it (hard drive, extra controller) but it moves me to tears everytime I think about the fact that they were out of those accessories and we ended up paying full price.

And at first it was simple.  The initial weekend, we played Gears of War together for ours straight until we beat it.  Nothing had changed.  Everything was just fancier, bigger, cooler and prettier. 

We got the game pass from Blockbuster, which was the best investment for owning a brand new system because we could try the games we wanted before we bought them and figure out what was good and what we were going to pass on.  I rented Oblivion on the advice of it winning Game of the Year at the Video Game awards and was hooked immediately.  Then Rainbow Six came out and while the co-op was no where near as smooth as Gears, we were still able to work through the missions together and I became extremely comfortable with something I never thought I would: a first person military shooter.  Matter of fact, I became addicted.  I couldn't get enough.  I wanted to play it all the time.  (It was the same with Gears, but I compared that game to Halo, a more fantastical first person shooter rather than a real person shooter).

Then Steve went Live.  Which mean another trip to the store for an Ethernet cable long enough to stretch from our router to the XBox (through two rooms, mind you - I know, I know, there's a wireless adapter but it's a $100 were not ready to shell out yet, particularly when I paid $6 for my CAT5 cable).  Then there was the five or six hours for two nights straight trying to get the XBox to connect to my network.  Then there was the realization that not only did our profiles not transfer online properly (thus causing all the acheivement points we'd racked up to not migrate) but that we couldn't play Rainbow Six online in co-op.

Still, I stayed.  We explored new games.  Viva Pinata.  Def Jam Icon.  Earth Defense Force 2017.  Fear. Prey. Condemned.  Steve began to play online with Rainbow Six.  He got addicted to that.  We continued to work through the missions in co-op offline.

Then I got a Live account.  And I started playing Rainbow online.  And I got addicted.  And all I wanted to do was go home and blow shit up at night.  Because it was a rousing good time, particularly because I found a good group of people to play with.

Then the problems came. 

We ran out of good co-op games.  

We had only one XBox.

Both of us wanted to play.

Our local Blockbuster, despite charging $22 a month for the game pass, has the shittiest selection of games.  They stock probably only 10% of the games offered for XBox and once you've played all the good games, you work your way through the shitty ones and then you wait for the new games to come out, only to walk in and see that the eight copies of Spiderman 3 have remained empty since the day the game was released.

So what do we do?  We go out and buy a Wii.

Ok, we didn't specifically go out looking for a Wii.  We had been looking for one but couldn't find them.  We just happened to be in Wal-Mart one Friday night and stopped by Electronics only to find they had three left.  And, well, they were there, they were a hot item that no one could get, but they were there, right at that moment.  So we bought them.  And so we started the new system process all over again.

Set up the Wii.  Played around with it.  Decided we needed another controller.  Hit two stores before we found the Wii Play we wanted (because why not spend $20extra and get the game and the controller?).  Spent the first week or so playing the sports game.  Then, the game pass came in handy again.  Tried out the surgeon game.  Zelda.  Spiderman 3 (not so good on the Wii).  Super Paper Mario.

More trips to the store to buy sleeves for the Wiimotes and the classic controller so we could play Super Mario World and other games that we had downloaded (one of the best features of the Wii, by the way, is the ability to get the retro games)

Then we ran into the same thing again.  Blockbuster's selection of Wii games sucks.  Granted, the selection of Wii games overall is slim but Blockbuster's is worst.  On a side note, the crappy customer service they give doesn't help things either.   

BUT! We still have Guitar Hero II, which is like XBox crack.  The overacheiver in me really shines as I rack up the acheivements and try to get five stars on the songs.  I swear, I'm like the nerdy kid who isn't satisfied unless they get all A's when it comes to GHII.  And it sure does foster some gnarly competition between Steve and I.  Just last night, he was busting on my for not being able to play Cherry Pie that well and trying to distract me and he says "I'm only messing with you because that's the only song in which I can kick YOUR ass."

An hour later, I play the song again, pull up the leaderboards and grin at him because I just kicked his ass by about 40,000 points.  He threw a pillow at my head.

So what's the point?

1.)  If you think you're addicted to one system, try two.  There's just not enough time in the day to split between the Wii and the XBox 360 to feed the gaming addiction.

2.)  XBox 360 is sorely lacking in offline co-op games.  They need to fix that.

3.)  Good XBox games are in a lull right now.  Patience is not a virtue of mine and I don't know how much longer I can take waiting for games like Halo 3 and the next GTA.

4.)  The Wii is completely fun to play and totally worth the purchase, but it needs more games.

5.)  The Blockbuster game pass is a good idea, particularly if your new to a system, but unless Blockbuster steps it up and begins improving their selection, it becomes completely worthless after a few months.

And finally, yes, I'm rambling, but so much of life has been about video games and accessories and visiting stores to find things that are out or unavailable (just last night we hit no less than six stores in the Charleston area looking for an extra Guitar Hero controller and no one had one, despite having them six weeks ago, when we were looking for the full game pack - game & controller - which they were all sold out of at the time.  Of course, they had tons of the game packs now).

Overall, is it bad that I wish I could sit in front of my TV all day and play video games, instead of coming to work?  Because that would be so much more fun and I'd have more time to devote to the two systems.

Life was so much simpler with one console.  But I wouldn't trade the new stuff for the world.

Went out searching for a Wii tonight.  Steve wants one.  He says he wants it mostly because you can't get it.  He's a perfect marketing target!  LOL  I'm on the fence about it.  I've always liked Nintendo but the only game I'd be interested in right now is Mario just because it's Mario.  I didn't see too many others that caught my eye.

Didn't matter though because NO ONE had it.  Not Best Buy, not EBGames, not Wal-Mart, not Target.  Target said they'd have them in five weeks.  EBGames said almost no one has them though they heard that K-Mart had three this morning.  No big deal.

The big news: while in Best Buy, they had a demo of Guitar Hero II.  It had vaguely peaked my interest so I picked it up and tried it.  Five minutes in I was hooked.  Completely addicted.  I thought Steve was going to have to drag me out of the store.  I was completely kicking ass playing Sweet Child of Mine, Cherry Pie and You Really Got Me.  It took a bit for me to pick it up but once I did, damn, I didn't want to put it down.

Think DDR only instead of hitting the buttons with the dance pad, you use the guitar.

So we looked around Best Buy.  They had the guitar, but not the game.  Went to EBGames, they had neither.  They told us that was the other thing no one had.  Went Wal-Mart, same thing.  Finally, we followed the advice that the EBGames guy had given us and stopped at K-Mart because nobody thinks to go to K-Mart for video game stuff.  And as I'm rounding the corner, I see three guitar hero boxes on top of the games section and they're white not black, which I immediately knew meant they were the 360 version.  I'm yelling 'Shut up! No way!' and almost jumping up and down.  And Steve tells me to grab it and wishes me a Happy Birthday (which is technically a week from Monday).

I'm elated at this point, walking out of the store with it under my arm, grinning.

Then he tells me that I can't play it until my birthday!  And he's serious!  And he took it and hid it in the closet.  And I'm pouting because I want it, but he says that's the point, I'll want it even more.  And he explains that he was hoping they had a demo at Best Buy because he was pretty sure I'd like it, but he wanted to be sure.

So yay for awesome boyfriends.  But boo for boyfriends making me wait until my birthday! 

I played for the first time on XBox Live the other night.  I know, it's been almost a month since I got the subscription but various circumstances kept me from playing.  One being that the boyfriend completely hogs the XBox/TV when we're not playing cooperatively and two being that I was a little bit intimidated.

Only because we're referring to Rainbox Six.  I've seen dudes play that game online.  It scares me.  They scare me.  I'm fairly decent at it in co-op and with Steve, I can completely rock that game.  But when I'm on my own, with no help whatsoever, I get nervous.  The hardest time I have is working the movement/camera angles together on a regular basis.  I tend to stop and look around and in a game like R6, that shit will get you killed.  I need to learn to move and look and to look ALL over because people hide in corners.  And I need to learn not to get so freaking flustered when I've got bullets coming at me from all angles.

Regardless, I'm now thoroughly addicted.  I like coming home, signing on, and pumping some bullets into some people.  And being able to talk shit to them through the microphone.  Now, I just need to try some other games.

Heroes

I want to talk about TV tonight.  So be forewarned.  This is the first.  Spoiler alerts.

HEROES

• Mohinder: Is this guy the most clueless guy on Earth?  As a scientist, I would expect him to be a bit smarter and more logical.  Instead, he just amazes me week after week with his naivete.  He goes to NY and decides to stay in the apartment where his father was murdered, AFTER some strange dude showed up carrying a gun and finding out the apartment was tapped.  He doesn't trust Mr. Bennett, who says he knows about the heroes and can help them, but decides calling the FBI with this information was the smartest thing to do.  Hasn't he watched movies or TV? Doesn't he understand that trying to make normal law enforcement agencies understand that people have special powers probably isn't going to work.  And he knows some psycho named Sylar is out there killing people for their powers, including Eden, the girl next door that he took at face value almost up until the day she died.  Yet he just randomly starts getting in touch with people on the list and just shows up with no back up, completely trusting whoever it is that answers the door.  And now, he's wandering around with weirdo Sylar who, surprise, surprise, has killed another hero right under Mohinder's nose and the idiot doesn't even consider the fact that maybe "Zane" is that psycho.
• Peter:  He's surprising me.  Initially, I was bored with him.  It was like, fly already!  Tell someone!  Do something except wander around and try to convince your brother you can fly and then keep dreaming about it.  I'm still not sure how I feel about him.  I don't think he's all that hot and I personally think he's bit of a whiner.  Okay, the sensitive type, I guess.  Whatever.  I'm liking him a bit more now that Claude is helping him learn to control his powers and he's getting a handle on them.  But maybe that's because I like Claude.  But last night, when Peter stop the tasers and then flew away.  Awesome!  I can't quite figure out if he's stronger than Sylar because he's absorbed all of his powers but they seem pretty evenly matched.  Eventually, you know there's going to be a face off between the two of them.  Should make for awesome TV.
• Issac: I love the fact that he finally learned to do his paintings without shooting up.  But I think he got the short end of the stick.  You know he genuinely loved Simone and yes, she did what she had to do because it didn't look like he was going to get better.  But he finally cleaned things up and she was still not all about him.  She had suddenly fallen deep in love with Peter and frankly, I don't believe it.  The chemistry between Peter and Simone is no where near the chemistry between her and Issac.  And I'm interested to see where things will go between Peter and Issac now that he accidentally shot and killed Simone.  Frankly, Peter could whop Issac's ass, as we saw he almost did last night.  He's got a crap load of active powers and Issac just paints.  But I don't want this to turn into a whole Cyclops/Jean Grey/Wolverine thing.  So Simone's dead, but there's still going to be all of that tension between the two.  It doesn't bode well for the future.
• Nathan:  I thought Nathan was an ass from the beginning.  But he's grown on me over the past few weeks.  I still wish he would embrace his kick ass power but that will come in time.  I think they've shown a nice soft side of him that makes him more likeable and human.  He's motivated by his career and by power.  Can't blame him.  We've all been there - where we want something so bad we'd do anything to get it.  I wasn't too surprised that he was Claire's father.  I figured it would be him or Linderman.  There had to be a tie there somewhere.  And he seemed like he really wanted to see her but knew better, for the sake of his family and his career.  Had he known about her, I can imagine he would have supported her, if even monetarily.  And I know all he wants to do is to protect Peter.  I'm just interested to see what his role in this whole "end of the world" storyline is going to turn into.
• Claire: Poor, poor Claire.  What a time she is going through.  While most girls are worrying about boys and makeup and stuff, she's worrying about the fact that she can't be hurt, that her mom is pretty much brain dead because her dad kept erasing her memory and whether or not she should be trusting her father.  Plus, there's the whole finding out that her real mother is a human lighter and her real father doesn't want to see her.  And there's the fact that the one good friend she had in the world had his memory erased.  Oh, and now the three "crazies" (Matt, Ted and Wireless) have showed up in their house pointing guns at them.  She still has the most kick ass power though.
• Matt: I really feel for Matt too.  All he wants to do is to make something of himself and support his family.  Between his bad run of luck with the police force and his newfound powers, he's just not having any luck.  And to be honest, it's changing him.  We see him take the diamonds last week because he knows he just going to get in trouble if he gives it to the cops.  They're not going to believe him.  He's stronger.  He's not letting people walk all over him.  He looks like he's going to kick some ass this season.  The fact that people are treating him like crap just got the best of him and now he's looking out for just himself and his family.  No more Mr. Nice Guy!  And while deep down he wants to do what's best for everyone and find out the truth, I think it's going to be interesting to see the unconventional methods he takes in finding out this information.
• Nikki/Jessica & family: First off, Micah was a brat when his mom was in jail.  He bitched at her before about how his dad was a good person and she needed to be nice to him.  Then, when his dad was taking care of him, he bitched at him about he wasn't as good as his mom.  Aside from that, Micah and DL's powers are pretty cool.  Nikki/Jessica is getting kind of old.  The whole Jessica as an assasin thing - not so much.  Particularly when she was hunting that guy Matt was protecting in a tight fitting suit and high heeled boots.  Because that's practical assasin clothing.  Anyway, I'm interested to see where the whole thing with Nathan as the mark is going.  And I'm interested to see how they tie Nikki/Jessica and her family into the whole end of the world thing.  They are the only ones to have yet to be more completely integrated with the rest of the heroes.  How they play into the scenario should be interesting. And I'm also interested to see who finally takes over: Nikki or Jessica.
• Hiro:  I love Hiro!  Love, love him.  He is the only one who seems to fully embrace his destiny and understands that he needs to develop his powers.  I just wish he could get his sword.  And I want to see him be less naive.  Because between him and Ando they sure do get themselves in trouble.
  
  Final Thoughts: Every week I want more and that's, of course, what the shows wants from you.  I want to see all the heroes come together.  I want to see the end of the world storyline come to a close.  I want to see how all the connections play out and see if Sylar eventually self-destructs.  I want more!
  
  Oh, and I love the whole alliance of Matt, Ted ("Radioactive Man") and Wireless.  What a cool power Wireless has!

What is one of your favorite poems?
Submitted by marvel is my pen name.

I have so many but these are two of my favorites.

Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

somewhere i have never travelled by e.e. cummings

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain, has such small hands

I'm also partial to this one

i carry your heart with me by e.e. cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
                                    i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)