The Gangs All Here and it's Gonna Get Hot!

This week, Mike, Fi and Sam go after a gang...and I live blog about it with snark plus we all play the drinking game! (kids, if you're under the legal age - drink grape juice. I mean it!) Don't forget to refresh often!

11:00
As the building burns to the ground...Mike realizes he really does love Fiona. He's going crazy because the Fire DP and crew won't let him go into the house to see if Fi is alright. He keeps calling her and calling her but all he gets is her lame voice mail. (I think it's Verizon.)

It's really great acting by Jeff. He never got to her and as he walks into the Loft he's miserable with guilt. All of the things he never said. All of the things he should have done. The whole time I'm thinking...Be at the loft Fi, Fi Be at the loft. And YES!!! SHE'S IN THE LOFT!!! MAKE OUT WITH HER MIKE! DO IT! DO IT....oh... YES..... We HAVE A KISS!!!!!!!

I didn't see any yogurt in this episode...but who cares... THERE WAS A KISS!

Preview Time!
Mike and the gang goes shopping o something.

10:53
Back from commercial break we're treated to girls in bikinis - that's for the men in the audience. And Sam's drinking annnnnd a voice over that teaches us how to bullet proof a car. NEAT!

Then there's a street gun fight. Good thing they bullet proofed that car. Mike tells the Big Boss to deal with his problem and they'll be in touch. Now the CotW are safe.

With CotW safe, the Burn Crew is able to focus on who Burned Mike. Fi calls Mike to tell him she knows where the Loft Bomber is and that she's breaking into the house. The music tells me that Fi's not in a good sitch and sure enough the house is rigged to blow. Oh hey, was that a voice over? I think it was! Drink up!

10:43
Back from commercial we learn that it takes a Spy to handle the enemies. Mike's trying to negotiate with the "pervert" or enemy of the week's boss.

Next, we learn how to sell a stolen car. I wouldn't try this one at home if I were you. There is a voice over and if you're playing along I believe that's a drink.

Next, Mike meets with Carla his Burn Lady. Carla hands Mike a list of terrorist and Mike says "we can rule Fiona out." Carla plays devil's advocate, but Mike just rolls his eyes.

This is a pretty fast paced episode. I like.



10:35pm
After commercial break we're back at Mommy's updating the CotW and getting as much intel as Mike can get from two teenagers.

Next. back at the loft, we're getting a voice over on emergency exits - and Fiona's making a bomb. I believe that's two sips; three if you count Fi's crack about her bomb being beautiful.

At the EofW's hideout, we're treated to a voice over lesson on blitz krieg. Mike, Fi and Sam are all wearing matching suits and the three are looking hot in their uniforms. Mike gives the gagers a speak and Sam plays the crazy guy. Fiona sets something on fire...drink-it.

Back at the loft Fiona and Mike are discussing the past and Jeff busts out his Irish accent. Fiona leaves a bit broken heated - and I don't blame her.

While gathering intel on Mike's Loft Bomber, Fiona says "nothing turns a woman on more than when something goes boom." That Fi is gonna get us drunk tonight...and we're followed by a voice over. For you keeping score at home: That's two.

My friend Justin notes that Michael gets into a lot of cars with strangers- we're going to have to add that one to the drinking game. ;)

10:18pm
After commercial break Sam's drinking at lunch, so that's a sip for you at home players. They're also talking about football. For like Dolphin's tickets - but it turns into CotW...apparently one of the middle school football kids that an ex-pro is coaching is has trouble with a gang--they're out to get him!

Burn Lady Carla interrupts and there's a power struggle. But after a couple of paper cuts Mike learns that Carla thinks the bomber is not local - but Mike knows better.

Back at the loft, Fi teaches the CotW that a golf club is better than a baseball bat for beating up people - greater force to one area.

Fiona is really worked up about this because a ganger attacked the CotW's 13 year old sister. She calls him a 'Pervert' and the label sticks. The Pervs label got changed twice so that means you get a freebie drink.

And later, back at the loft after some gang surveillance Sam's drinking and eating pickles. You get a sip too.

CotW get stashed at Mom's. Mom's smoking; so how many drinks are we up to now? It's followed by a voice over and one hell of a HOT dress up scene. We see Fi's tattoo twice. You get to drink for the voice over, but not for the tattoo. Side note: I'm wondering if that's really Gabrielle Anwar's.

Then...oh they make themselves known to the gang. With Thermite. Thermite is NEAT. It burns HOT. HOT. HOT. Enough to brun an engine right out of a car.

10:07 pm
Sky shot of Miami aaaand a voice over... it's so lovely and that's two drinks. Fiona and Mike are checking security cameras that look into Mike's loft to see if they can get a peak and who set the loft bomb.

So Mike just stole security camera stuff...and used his cellphone to call every number in the office building. It's pretty funny.

Back at the loft, they're checking the footage and Fiona makes a joke with the fortune cookies they got with their take-out. Her's says, "the one you love is closer than you think" and she jokes that Mike's says, "The ones who burned you are closer than you think." Mike says, "Not Funny Fi," but for those of us playing at home... it was funny.

Burn Notice - Live Blog...Mike's Back and He's Burned!

Here we go kids. Oh, how I've missed the voice over intro! Refresh often for updates.

10:59
"You'll find another boyfriend." Fiona is binge eating. Mike's trying to be helpful. Mike gives her a photo Jack (the little boy drew) of Mike and Fiona holding hands. He kisses her cheek as he leaves.

At the loft Carla is helping herself to some yogurt. DRINK IT!

Carla is paying him a visit because she wants results. Now Mike's got a purpose.

Preview Time! Mike, Sam and Fiona take down a gang - and look SMOKIN' doing it. See you Next week!

10:53
"House on Keystone Island" is the only clue we have when we come back from commercial. The three Spys are coming up with a plot. And there's a lovely voice over and use of a cell phone as something other than a cell phone. That's two! No wait! Three. Sam was also drinking. ;)

Campbell is breaking up with Fiona, because "Mike's your boyfriend...he's the most important thing in your life." Which is sad and touching.

The games in play. Mike's playing dirty. Really. Really. Dirty. But he wins this poker game. Outright.





10:44
In from commercial break Mike and Sam are telling the COtW the plan...when Carla calls. She wants to find out who tried to kill Mike. That's reasonable.

Back at mommy's she's smoking (drink) and Fiona is trying at babysitter. She's playing army men (what! no magnifying glass?). She said "tactical support" you know what that means. ;)

Fiona and Mike meet with Rachel. Mike's in the tightest swim shorts since Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii. Alone with Rachel Fiona has a heart, losses it, and starts a fist fight. She looses. I've never seen Fiona loose at something.

At the loft Sam and Mike get into a fight because Mike wants to ask Carla for the money. An ACTUAL fist fight. Sam looses a tooth. Sam is a damn. good. friend. He tells Michael to "get his head in the game." Suddenly I'm waiting for Zac Efron to enter the loft with a basketball singing. No Zac, just commercial break.

10:30
Back from commercial, HOT music. Also apparently industrial buildings have soundproof floors. Also, Mike's putting his chickens before they hatch or however the phrase goes. And now Mom has to baby sit. PS: the kid's cute. Fiona is on watch duty and not happy about it. Mike, you really just need to get back with Fiona.

Sam's left in the industrial building with the scammer/mark. Sam's playing psycho interrogator. There's a voice over in this scene. drink it. Also, you can drink it for mom smoking.

Next. Micheal's doing sit ups. SO hot.

Then Michael and COtW are looking for the fake doctor and daddy goes after him like a fly to honey. In the interrogation room, Sam learns about the "Boss" and apparently she's a bitch. So, Sam's back at playin' crazy interrogator. Apparently this is called "who talks first" It's pretty fun! It comes with an informative voice over. So you know what that means. ;) Oh and the boss... her name is Rachel. We get to learn this because Sam throws one of the scammers out a window. Neat!

10:19
Michael saves a guy from killing himself to save his son's life - something about needing money. We have a client of the week! Kid's got some medical problems and Mike offers to help the COtW get his money back he lost from a scam.

Next, Sam and Mike are confronted by the surveillance guys and Mike goes all fine take me in!

In Carla's new office Mike goes all "I WANT my LIFE back." What we do know is that there's more going on to Carla and she supposedly didn't set the bomb in the loft. There's a bigger fish out there.

Next, Sam and Fiona are going under cover for the COtW. A clinic. To find the scammers. Also there's a voice over. Drink! They make their mark and in the parking lot Mike punches him as if he's the guy that put Nate in jail.

10:05
Michael's awake after a classic voice over. Apparently the charger saved his life. 'Cause he LANDED on it. Then more car chase. It's like 4 months hardly even went by. Sam and Mike are on the run from the Burn People. And we have a voice over on paranoia - so if you're playing along on the drinking game you can drink. ;)

Drop Everything! Burn Notice Renturns Tonight!

This is just a quick little blog post to remind you TamaRant Readers that Burn Notice is on tonight at 10pm EST I will be live Blogging it while I play the drinking game with friends - the blog could get a little crazy up in here!

When last we left Miami, Michael had managed to foil the people who burned him, but he didn't get away with it completely. They set a bomb in the loft and it blew up when he opened the door - he did jump off the balcony - and he is the lead character so there's a pretty good chance Michael Weston is okay.

Is he horribly scared? Did one of his eye brows get singed? Did Michael avoid anything more than a scratch and looks as sexy as ever? Find out tonight!

Don't Forget about the Internet! More on writing a novel...

Greetings Internets. How are you this fine and friendly Monday? It looks like I've been neglecting writing to you, and I'm sorry. I've just been sooo consumed with this whole book writing thing. I know, that's not a very good excuse - don't be jealous baby - I still love you too.


A lot has been going on in my little life that has made me very excited. I've said it before, I'm writing a book. So here's an update on how I'm doing:

I think I'm doing really well. This is the first undertaking of its kind I've undertook. I've been published in Magazines before, but writing non-fiction for an entertainment magazine and writing a 50,000+ word novel are two different kettles of fish.

What I've only begun to learn in that writing a novel is daunting. It's not that easy folks. Good authors only make it look easy. In reality, it's a long, long process that resembles a thrill ride without a seatbelt. Some days I love what I wrote and other days I'm like "god; this sounds really lame."

However, some things are falling into place. I have a pretty solid critique group in place and already their advice and wisdom is treasured. I've written just up to (or just past) the inciting incident of the story. Like the story itself, I believe that the writing will begin to keep at a regular pace.

I've been very pleased with the style of voice I've chosen to use, the point of view I've chosen, and many of the language devices I've written. I think things are finally starting to take a shape that I can be happy with as this moves forward.

Over the weekend I turned my kitchen into my own private little Panera. I bought their hot tea that I love, I made a soup that tasted like theirs, I put my laptop on the table and just worked at writing for like an entire night. I'm going to do more of this. Tonight it's Chinese leftovers though.


NO SEGUE!!

This week, spoiler fotos for VL came out. February cannot come fast enough.


Next week, Thursday, BURN NOTICE returns. Oh Jeffrey Donovan, how you've been missed! That's January 22nd. I'll be having a little party with friends over and live blogging it with all the snarkiness I can find. There will be a drinking game involved. :)

TamaRant The Start of 2009

No, the photo to the right is not of the moon, it's actually of the New Year's Eve Ball that dropped in Grand Rapids, MI. My friends, brother, and many thousands of people were all there for this first annual event. The Plain White Tees were even there!

But, I don't want to talk about that. Like a lot of people, I do a lot of resolution making and soul searching around this time. I think I do a fair bit more than most because New Year's Eve is also my birthday. Full disclosure, I hate my birthday. While this year was very, very different from how I traditionally celebrate it...at the end of the night I was still left with the same disappointments. I'm another year older, and the world just counted down to it not being my birthday. Birthdays are the days when we're supposed to be lavished with attention while I usually feel overlooked. My family makes a strong effort to combat these feelings, but around the 5...4...3...2...1 mark I'm pretty lonely.

Wait! This wasn't supposed to be a depressing blog post! Let's get back on track shall we? My goal in writing this blog post was to get down on virtual paper my goals and thoughts for 2009.

As I reflect back on 2008, 2008 felt like a year full of extremes. Gas prices were all over the place. The election was all over the place. Aspects of my personal life were all over the place. I don't know about you, but for me 2008 was just intense. I couldn't wait for it to get over.

That's not to say that some cool things didn't happen. They did. I got really close to my brother. I mean, we've always been close, but he's become a huge part of my adul life that I never would have guessed would be the case when we were kids. I reconnected with old friends, made some amazing new ones (hi nerdfighters!), and a whole lot of other stuff.

But then, late in 2009, something hit me. It hit me through a couple of avenues that all sort of shot at me from different directions. First, Paper Towns came out. Then there was all this Twilight hype because of the movie. Now, it shouldn't come as a shock to faithful readers that I'm a large fan of John Green's books and absolutely LOVED Paper Towns. What might come as a shock to you is that I can't stand Twilight.

I don't like Twilight for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is that I LOVE Vampires. Love them. See previous blog posts about Blood Ties. No disrespect to Stephanie Meyer, but I didn't enjoy the changes that she made to the Vampire lore, and I strongly feel that because of those changes the characters on a whole are very underdeveloped.

Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't be a Twilight fan. I get the appeal. Trust me! But, to me, it doesn't hold a candle to other vampire series that stay true to the lore. Call me a vampire elitest. It's okay. I can withstand the bite.

Again with the tangents!

Anyway, approaching the end of 2008, I realized that I should take a stab at writing. I want to write a clever book like John always seems to and I fully believe I can write a book at least as "good" as Twilight. Hopefully better.

So that's what I've set out to do. I have two very promising ideas that I'm working on. And I believe at least one of those, if I execute it well, has the potential to be well liked by a lot of people.

In 2009 I'm aiming to finish not one, but two books. If the first one turns out to be nothing more than practice I'm okay with it, because I still wrote a book. If the second one sucks that's okay because it was a good try!

I'm really, really excited about these. I think a lot of what happened in 2008 (and maybe even in 2007) has lead me to this very moment. That time forced me to begin to see the world in a more creatively aware way. It's allowed time to build relationships with people who've inspired me, and will continue to as I forge through this crazy process.

The extremes of 2008 were hard felt, by me, by everyone. Money is tight, tight, tight. I think part of why I started writing was because it's given me the chance to take my future in my own hands, with my own skills, and, frankly, it gives me something cheap to do.

So while I have lots of other little goals for 2009, like getting organized, becoming a morning person (lol, that's left over from past years), getting in shape for a wedding I'm in this July, and other typical New Year's Eve-y things... I've exhusted this blog post to its fullest.

I'm just so incredibly excited for what 2009 will hold. I hope you are too.