Obligatory Filler Post: Desert Island OR Whiling Away the Hours Until Prison Break

Song Lyric of the Day:

If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain / And the feel of the ocean, and the taste of champagne / If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape / You’re the love that I’ve looked for, come with me, and escape

Rupert Holmes / “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)”

11:56AM.
I got sick yesterday, am still pretty sick today, am going on virtually no sleep, and am wishing it was warm and sunny out instead of cold and rainy. So today we’re going to play “Desert Island,” inspired by the great episode of The Office, “The Fire.” So here’s my variation of it.

Here are my top five choices in movies, books, music, TV series on DVD, and games should I ever end up on a, you guessed it, desert island.

Assuming said desert island has a working home entertainment system and that I may occasionally get visitors.

Movies

1. When Harry Met Sally… – my binky movie, remember?
2. The Shawshank Redemption – perfection
3. Young Frankenstein – my #2 binky movie
4. Star Wars – why I wanted to marry Harrison Ford someday
5. Finding Nemo – I need at least one Disney movie

Books

1. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown – to remind me why I resent my Catholicism, fiction or not
2. Ramona Forever by Beverly Cleary – first book that ever made me cry
3. Bloodline by Sidney Sheldon – my favorite of his books
   
4. Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix – so I can get my Harry Potter fix
5. The Bible for Dummies – may as well get the Cliff’s Notes on the bible

Music

1. X&Y by Coldplay – I couldn’t live never hearing “Kingdom Come” and “Swallowed in the Sea” again
2. Gladiator Original Score – wonderful, emotional music
3. Beautiful Garbage by Garbage – I can always relate to their lyrics
4. American Idiot by Green Day – an epic
5. Music for a Darkened Theater, Vol. 1 by Danny Elfman – visual music

TV Series on DVD

1. Arrested Development, Season 1 – classic comedy
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2 – finally hitting its stride (and longer than season 1)
3. The Office, Season 1 – to remind me why I don’t miss working
4. Homicide: Life on the Street, Season 1 – the most perfect cop show ever
5. The X Files, Season 1 – spooky fun

Games

1. Simpons Trivia – someone’s bound to come along, right?
2. Taboo – I’m great at this
3. Puerto Rico – a long game, it’ll help pass the hours
4. Monopoly – why not?
5. CSI The Board Game – since I didn’t bring the TV series on DVD

What would you take to your desert island?

3:02PM.
Six more hours until the all-new, penultimate fall season episode of Prison Break tonight. I need a nap if I’m going to make it.

8:06PM.
Wentworth Miller alert: he’s going to be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (11:35PM EST) tonight. Hopefully he’ll be the first guest interviewed instead of former President Jimmy Carter. That’s the order I’d put them in, anyway.

10:04PM.
Prison Break spoilers ahead. Don’t read if you haven’t yet watched tonight’s episode, “Odd Man Out.”

That obscenity-laced yelling you may have just heard? That was me yelling at my TV during the last few minutes of Prison Break tonight. First, let me say congratulations again to the show writers for another thrilling episode; you guys are truly amazing. Second, let me say oh, my God, the inmates are totally $#@!ed! Lincoln got thrown in the SHU and Abruzzi is bleeding to death thanks to T-Bag. Why, oh, why, did Lincoln have to punch that guard? Couldn’t he have tried a little harder to make small talk instead? And Abruzzi…poor John couldn’t have picked a worse time to share his newfound faith in Christianity with the inhuman T-Bag.

C-Note is succeeding in turning Sucre against Michael, at a time when Sucre is incredibly vulnerable and more desperate than ever to get out, having just found out his beloved Maricruz is pregnant with his son and considering marrying his cousin, Hector. T-Bag’s cousin and young son were collateral damage when Abruzzi’s goon on the outside ended up killing both of them. Westmoreland kept watch to give Scofield cover while Michael filled the shaft with water, a critical part of their escape plan. An increasingly nosy and suspicious Bellick bribed Tweener into spying on Scofield for him. On the outside, Nick survived the shooting and Agent Hale finally embraced his conscience upon seeing a grieving LJ at his mother’s casket after her funeral. Unfortunately, you know that’s going to cost him since his partner, Agent Kellerman, won’t stand for anything or anyone threatening the coverup.

Since I gave a shout out to the writers, let me give a shout out to the cast, too. While strong writing is the backbone of a good show, it’s only believable if we invest in and believe in the characters. So here goes:

• Wentworth Miller as Michael Scofield – my Fantasy Second Husband (FSH), Miller portrays Scofield with a geniune sense of vulnerability and bravado, a good man who purposely sought his way into a horrible situation for the sake of saving his brother’s life
• Dominic Purcell as Lincoln Burrows – Purcell brings a resigned world-weariness to Burrows; he’s made terrible mistakes in his life, and would now give anything for the chance to straighten out and be there for his son, LJ
• Amaury Nolasco as Fernando Sucre – Nolasco portrays Sucre as a genuinely kind soul, eager to please and wanting to believe in Scofield’s plan to get him out so he can be with his true love, the pregnant Maricruz
• Peter Stormare as John Abruzzi – Stormare does an excellent job of bringing humanity to this murdering mobster, making what should be an unlikable character likable, no easy feat
• Robert Knepper as Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell – Knepper is all swagger and braggadocio as the creepy, murdering ped0phile, T-Bag; both T-Bag and Knepper share a fierce acting talent
• Muse Watson as Charles Westmoreland – who doesn’t like Westmoreland? Watson embodies the mysterious is-he-or-isn’t-he-really-DB-Cooper with grace, class, and humor; you really root for him
• Stacy Keach as Warden Henry Pope – Keach makes a typical character atypical; Pope is that TV/movie rarity, a warden who genuinely cares about his inmates and wants what’s best for them
• Sarah Wayne Callies as Dr. Sara Tancredi – Callies portrays the good doctor as a determined, strong woman who makes her own path in life; you really want her to end up with Michael, convicted felon or not
• Robin Tunney as Veronica Donovan – Tunney brings a fierceness to this lawyer, who is risking her life to get Burrows out of jail, keep his son safe, and expose hidden truths
• Marshall Allman as LJ Burrows – Allman portrays LJ as a brave, clever young man valiantly trying to stay brave in the face of tragedy; you root for him in seemingly impossible situations

Special mentions for Paul Adelstein as the unbelievably ruthless Agent Kellerman; Wade Williams as the ambitious, power hungry CO Bellick; and Frank Grillo as the now-we-know-he’s-trustworthy lawyer, Nick Savrinn. Together, this is one impressive ensemble cast.

The fall finale next week should really ratchet up the stakes, and I’m really hoping Fox doesn’t end up making us wait until May to see the back half of this season. The way this series has been going, it’d be cruel to make us wait that long for the other half of this thrilling rollercoaster ride.

11:05PM.
Only 30 more minutes until the Wentster’s appearance on Leno. Mmm…Wentworth.

11:20PM.
Rich: I forgot to ask you–do you have Thanksgiving off?
Me: Yeah, my boss is great.