Monday, February 15, 2010

Yoga Pose of the Day: Sarvangasana

I never advise anyone to practice sarvangasana. It's not a pose built for the average american body, and our habits of crunching forward at our computers.

There are ways to set up for it, with lots of blankets stacked under the shoulders. But it usually takes a while to set up for it.

Point is, you don't want to flatten out the back of your neck, pretty much, ever. You want your C-5 joint to be lifted up off the ground, and not bearing any weight -- you'd want to be able to slide a pencil under it. And it's pretty darn difficult to find the alignment without lots of proppage.

(And you can get the benefits of the pose by using other, more accessible, poses.)

And likewise, I would advise most bad guys to avoid having Jack Bauer's knees around their head. That's definitely gonna reverse the curve of their cervical spine.

"M" says substitute "legs up the wall" pose for this. Boy, just looking at that hurts my neck!

Recap

Dammit =1
Perimeter=1
Improbable Presidential Convos =2
Improbable Immunity Deals =1
Awesome Bauer Kills =3 (one stolen from Lethal Weapon, per "M")
Evidence of Cross Training in the Office = 1
Incorrect Predictions =2 ("M" says that the kid will go in a future episode...we did see him again in the helo.)
Friction Free Travel =1 (How did Bridezilla get to Jersey City to shoot eye daggers at MethHead Kevin? The PATH train only operates every 25 minutes or so that late at night.)

Questions: What's up with Hastings not having a first name? (Or maybe it is "Mister".) Will Bridezilla finally take our advice and dispatch with her MethHead boyfriend and his Bromantic partner? When will Arlo finally die? (They always do.)

Where's Morris? Where's Prescott and his babu? What is his babu? And have Kim, husband and Baby Teri come in for a safe landing yet? Will Jack be able to fly jumpseat on an early military transport flight and meet them for a late breakfast? What about Nina?

Where's Eggar?

"M" missed the first half (+) due to her poor little guy. She may have more to add when she watches later...

Hopefully Immunity Is Off

and I called it wrong...Josef is a badder bad guy than Bad Dad.

Josef!

Crossed his dad and Bolly Boy.

Split Screen montage....

Rods are Gone?

Heh heh.

Was that the Kid?

And where's Cole's helmet?

("M" points out that she would have duplicate posted this one, had she not been rocking a crying infant.)

Nabeel, You Careerist

You're going to be in trouble if you don't work this one out right. (And I don't mean listening to the increasingly demented Jack Lord.)

"M" just weighed in with a prediction

The kid who Bridezilla's Intended helped with his comms unit (is that what it was?) He's dead.

She says it always happens.

(Kind of like a slasher film rule -- if you make out with your boyfriend, you're dead.)

(She's rocking her little guy, he has a cold...)

Hahahahaha

The President, improbable convo of all times. Talk about negotiating with terrorists.

Hastings Can't Come to The Phone

He's in the tool box.

Heh, heh, even the President calls him Mr. Hastings?

"M" is here finally

I'm sad I missed Jack in the Lethal Weapon rip-off torture scene

Ah, Bad Dad, Not Dead

Still time for Josef to help Jack.

Hastings, You're Barely Even Good For Giving A Report

Prediction?

Farhad is going to get those Rods. Josef is going to go reverse-rogue and help Jack get the rods from Bolly Boy.

OK, That Was Kind of Awesome

Jack killed Bad Dad...with a table?

A banquet table, to be precise.

Second Man Down

Dammit Chloe, don't argue with Jack. Trace the call!

Perimeter!

First perimeter...of the season, perhaps. The Russians come through.

One Down

Eew, that was gnarly, Jack.

First Dammit!

Father, What's Happening To You?

Perhaps a hair gel induced issue -- poisoned by hair gel,the president of the Islamic Republic is growing ever more demented.

Faline Gonna Kick Backside

Yeah, she's gonna talk to her dad like that.

Ack, Kiefer's In the Hospital?

Sutherland's illness causes brief shutdown of '24'

NEW YORK — Production of the Fox network thriller "24" has been temporarily shut down so that star and executive producer Kiefer (KEE'-fur) Sutherland can undergo surgery.

Shooting is expected to resume next week with Sutherland's return. Twentieth Century Fox Television would not comment on the nature of Sutherland's ailment, referring to it only as "a medical procedure." The Los Angeles Times first reported the production halt and says Sutherland suffered from a ruptured cyst.

About six more weeks of production time remains for the season. Fox says no disruption is expected in airing the episodes.

Sutherland plays counter-terrorist hero Jack Bauer on the series. The show is now in its eighth season.

Crossfit



Yoga keeps you in pretty good shape. But my guess is that Jack has been dabbling in a little Crossfit.

Be Careful What you Ask for, Bad Guy

You Don't Want Jack to wake up.

Told you so.

"All That Matters Is Now"

First of all, that's bull$^!&.

Second of all, even if it were true, what you just did 20 minutes ago, helping MethHead Kevin steal evidence and put one of New York's Finest into the hospital? Well, that's kind of now.

(Or pretty germane to what is actually happening now, in this moment, in a more yogic sense. Karma, baby.)

Chloe's Been Cross Trained!

She's not just a CTU analyst...she can take a rogue agent into custody for a psych evaluation.

Hmmm.

Bad Dad is Cooking

Maybe he'll be serving Bolly Boy some carrot cake...wherever they'll be detaining him, and if he's not dead.

Bolly Boy, Watch It

You didn't see Bad Dad in the kitchen with the knife.

I wouldn't mouth off to him.

Improbable Convo, Check

Of course, we do remember Madame President for her micromanagement of tactical and operational elements of counterterrorist efforts.

"Work On Him"

Heh, like anyone can actually work on Jack.

Ah, the knife again. And what's up with Bad Dad cooking. Was he chopping carrots? In a suit and tie?

The writers clearly haven't had much real world experience. At anything.

Again, With The Knife Action

And like anyone should believe that Jack is actually German. Without the glasses, he's totally outed.

Mr. Hastings asking about trace evidens

Isn't there any tire tracks, oil/transmission fluid? Maybe the bad guys dropped their mapquest print out of where they were headed

Morality Police

Yeah, that's a workplace convo that's gonna happen.

Bridezilla, if you're not going to kill Arlo (and someone has to) I'm going to have to advise you to reach out to HR. And call your lawyer, stat. (You're just going to need one after you kill Kevin and/or Arlo...and to work out your severance agreement.)

Chloe, way to win help.

Jersey City, Excellent

Leave the key in the mailbox.

Yeah, right.

And Jersey City, well I do hear that it starts to rock at around 11pm.

Viewer Discretion Advised

What a joke!

Previously On 24: 10pm - 11pm

Ack, is it already Monday?

Let's see if we can remember what happened last week. There wasn't much, really.

I'm trying to remember if last week was the week that Renee decided that she needed to shower at the arms dealers' bizarre hideout. Is it a warehouse? A garage? A bachelor pad?

Oh, I digress. That was the week before.

So, after Jack (aided by Bridezilla's intended & his awesome sniper skills) dispatches with Vlad's handlers, rather than buying the farm and losing $5 million of our tax dollars, he speeds off towards evil Russian HQ.

Dancing between Vlad's hands as he alternately paws at her and throws back snorts of vodka, Renee goads Bad Vlad into calling the Bad Dad to inquire about the Rods....Bad Dad feigns ignorance and insults Bad Vlad, telling him to never call him back again.

At this point, the Ladies at the 24 Blog were scratching our heads and wondering why Renee and Jack needed Vlad. As "M" points out, there are far too many characters and plotlines (albeit so thin as to make tenuosity seem like extreme tensile strength.)

Jack arrives on the scene, and then Vlad starts to posture, increasing his pawing behavior and ordering Renee around. The pinnacle of ridiculosity was when he demands that Renee get him some bread.

Apparently, the army of beings at typewriters who are spooling out this drivel haven't been out and about around humans much, and (as Tai points out) have no idea about other ways to put a knife in Renee's hand so that she can ultimately take care of Vlad for once and for all.

This she finally does...followed by sticking Jack in the gut and leading up to a tender, yet ridiculous scene where instead of trying to figure out how to hold his intestines in -- not to mention worrying about whether his distemper shots are up to date, Renee having nailed him with the knife she used on Vlad -- Jack proclaims his "thereness" for her. (This despite the fact that they've apparently had no contact since day 7, which was at least 3 years ago...going on Toddler Teri's current age.)

Along the way, they managed to kill the rest of Vlad's guys (and there's some quality Jack in there -- an awesome knife throw, and shooting another guy through a window) and call in to CTU for backup.

(Duh, WTH? The tools at CTU were just listening in on this whole thing and need to be called for backup?)

All of a sudden, they are overrun by other Russians, sent to the scene by Bad Dad. Jack decides to be taken by these guys...kind of a Trojan Horse, "take me to your leader" combo play. He stashes Renee in a closet, where she remains until CTU comes by to scoop up what remains of her.

In the meantime, the President of The Islamic Republic is playing both sides. Agreeing to signing this massive world-changing non-nuclear (we never know how to say this -- the Bush way and the Obama way have both been represented this season) treaty. While at the same time, going all medieval on human rights, including a sudden paranoia about his own staff members...and it looks like this week, the handsome staffer who is allowed to be left alone with the doe-eyed Presidential daughter is going to be subject to extreme torture.

His wife and Infidel Girlfriend are nowhere to be found.

CTU loses Jack's GPS chip, and he's inadvertently gone dark.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot. Bridezilla walks her MethHead boyfriend Kevin through a robbery at a police evidence warehouse. Instead of leaving neatly, as instructed, his Bromantic Partner starts messing around, and they leave a trail of shredded stuff around them.

One of NY's Finest comes in on his regular patrol, and instead of neatly avoiding him (as instructed) these yahoos beat him up with a baseball bat that they've handily procured from the evidence locker.

Madame President is a total, I don't know. If I called her a cipher, that would give her far too much importance in the season thus far. She has been extremely wishy-washy and far more ethically challenged than one would expect of a woman who allowed her own murderous daughter to go to jail. She calls improbable meetings, and (actually a 24 signature) never seems to have more than one advisor with her at a time, causing her to have improbably convos with members of the intelligence community and low level foreign bureaucrats.

What's a girl to do?

That's all I can remember. The previews looked promising. Jack strung up by his wrists (haven't we already seen that one?) Bridezilla telling her Intended that there's stuff about her past she hasn't shared with him...

But that could be the only good 15 seconds of the episode.

Sigh.

How many more hours will we make it this season?

Bloop, bloop.