- It was Big/Little week on Greek, or as Cappie called it at the outset, the most emotional week on the Greek calendar. Of course, that was followed by demanding that a fellow KT brother put down the pipe - an actual piece of pipe - and called him Luigi in a very snappy Super Mario Bros. reference. But it was indeed Big/Little week, with fraternities and sororities across campus revealing the big brothers or sisters for incoming pledges. Rusty found himself in a bind when Andy, the new pledge he helped bring in to Kappa Tau, listed Rusty as his top choice for his big brother. Rusty was bummed after seeing Andy making out with Jordan, the girl Rusty had developed a crush on, at the last KT party. However, he accepts the appointment as Andy’s big brother because he feels that turning it down would reflect poorly on him for bringing Andy in as a pledge in the first place. Things only become more complicated when Andy admits that he really does like Jordan and Rusty inadvertently spills the beans to Jordan, who likes Andy back. Rusty tries to bail on being Andy’s big brother and even solicits advice from his pal Calvin, who doesn’t exactly tell him to stick it out. Rusty tries to pass off his big brother duties twice, first to Beaver, who can no longer be a big brother because of an incident with a pledge named Scooby who was a pothead and ended up getting kicked out of school and moving to Florida, and then to Ben Bennett. The breaking point for Rusty comes at the big brother reveal party where big brothers are handcuffed to their little brothers for an hour after having their identity revealed. Rusty has to spend an hour handcuffed to Andy as he chats up Jordan and kisses her, leading Rusty to take out his frustrations on Andy by bullying him into playing four straight games of beer pong. Rusty is, of course, a champion beer pong player and wins all four games. Andy is totally hammered and passes out, leading a concerned Jordan to help him into the house along with a KT brother. Cappie sees the whole scene unfolded and the next day, he talks to Rusty about it. In the ultimate irony, Cappie teaches Rusty a lesson about responsibility and reveals that he knows about Rusty’s hurt feelings over Jordan. He chides Rusty to live up to his responsibilities and Rusty seems to take the talk to heart. He helps rouse Andy from his drunken stupor and get him up in time to make it to football practice the next morning. The fact that Andy can be that drunk and still make it to practice shows he’s a true Kappa Tau, Rusty admits to Cappie as they meet up outside the football stadium. Cappie had quite the episode himself, finding an unlikely ally in Omega Chi president Evan Chambers. The two were brought together by Evan’s older brother Patrick, in town visiting his little brother. Since Patrick knew both Evan and Cappie from their summer camp experiences as kids, when Cappie happened upon the brothers Chambers at Dobler’s he was invited to join them. Evan didn’t object and oddly enough, he and Cappie hung out for two hours without punching one another. At the end of the night, Cappie helped carry a drunk Patrick back to the Omega Chi house. He then left Evan and Patrick to have a talk, mostly because Evan wanted advice from his big brother. Patrick offers what drunken wisdom he can, basically saying that his decision to break from the trust fund lifestyle of the Chambers family and live in relative poverty in Costa Rica wouldn’t work for Evan. Of course, that advice comes from mostly selfish motivations, as the next day Patrick asks Evan for $50,000 before he leaves town. Evan reluctantly hands over the money, but not before an emotional talk at the airport in which Patrick tells him that he needs to live his own life and make his own decisions. he invites Evan to visit him some weekend, but wonders if Evan can really make the break from the privileged lifestyle. That conversation is enough to convince Evan to make a major decision regarding his relationship with Frannie, who he has been cheating on with a girl he describes as “a townie I met at a bar who doesn’t know who I really am.” Evan realizes that Frannie, who has once again asked him to loan her money to help with the costs of running her new Iota Kappa Iota sorority, is not that different than Patrick. Like Patrick, she looks at him mainly as a source of financial help to run to when times are tough. Although Evan does give her the money she wants, he then walks out of the IKI house and into an SUV where his townie lady friend is waiting. Over at the Zeta Beta Zeta house, financial times are also tough. In the wake of Frannie’s defection and a dip in membership, the ZBZ’s are having a tough time making ends meet. That problem is exacerbated when large quantities of food and house supplies that should be on hand suddenly begin disappearing. Casey and Rebecca immediately suspect Fisher, the student hasher Ashleigh hired to help with chores around the house. When they find out that Ashleigh didn’t even check his references and that he was fired from three other sororities, they become even more suspicious. When Ashleigh refuses to admit that Fisher might be the culprit, they realize it’s because she has a crush on him. They then take Ashleigh to Dobler’s and get her drunk in an attempt to trick her into admitting her crush so she’ll then face the real issue at hand, but even after admitting that she likes Fisher and that they’re hooking up, Ashleigh wants proof that he’s the one stealing food. The three of them set up a sting in which they text Fisher about food in the ZBZ kitchen that needs put away, then wait in the middle of the night for the thief to show up and make his move. When a thief does come and tries to make off with the food, they nab him - but to their surprise, it’s not Fisher. Instead, it’s his roommate Kenny. With their food issues solved and Fisher proven innocent, Ashleigh can continue seeing him, but still has to keep the relationship secret because after all, he is technically an employee of the sorority and she’s its president. All in all, a really fun episode and some good laughs, just what you’ve come to expect from Greek……
- Look for it coming to a city near you, it’s…..the freaking Snuggie Pub Crawl. If you thought the backwards blanket with arms that makes you look like a cross between a Jedi knight and a Buddhist monk was just for appearing in creepy commercials where you sit with a vacant smile on your face and pretend to be doing things you could easily do without a backwards blanket with arms on, you were oh, so wrong. Dozens of wacky, zany men and women sporting Snuggies in every available color descended upon both New York City and Chicago this weekend for their town’s inaugural Snuggie Pub Crawl. The power of the Snuggie brought together people from all walks of life and in NYC, they were rewarded with $2 Budweisers and $3 well drinks. “I'll take any excuse to drink and be comfy," said Jennie Morton, 23, a nanny from Astoria, Queens. Morton’s Snuggie color of choice was blue, but she did complement it with a colorful belt and scarf. Among the stops on the inaugural NYC S.P.C. were the Village Pourhouse and Bar None. Reportedly, the Chicago-based version of the event was staged by a charity hoping to raise money for an orphanage in Tanzania, but I’m guessing most of those who showed up to get their drink on in Snuggies of various hues had no idea that the focus of the day was anything other than drinking. No word on whether pub crawlers were required to drink with that serene, demented Snuggie smile cemented on their faces, but after a few discounted beers, a lot of them probably were doing so anyhow……
- Maybe I’m just being cynical, but shouldn’t going to a spring/summer music festival be all about camping out and roughing it with a bunch of other strangers from around the country, listening to artists you love and hearing great new acts? The idea of going to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. and hanging out with VIPs like Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon and Paris Hil-skank, er, Hilton just isn’t what comes to mind when I think festival experience. Then again, when your festival is held at the Empire Polo Club near Palm Springs, maybe that’s what you should expect. All told, 46 acts performed on five stages scattered about the grassy field of California, flanked by ginormous eco-friendly art installations fashioned from scrap metal and reclaimed wood. The first day of the festival featured more mellow, low-key acts and was headlined by Paul McCartney. The second day was louder and glitzier, which turned out to be unfortunate for one of my favorite bands, Seattle’s own, Fleet Foxes. The Foxes aren’t a loud, rockin’ band and instead focus on lush, mellow and thoughtful baroque harmonies. They had the misfortune of being stuck next to those dubbing, mixing, techno-happy tools of Thievery Corporation and found their set somewhat drowned out by the world music beats of Perry Farrell’s brainchild. Headlining Day Two was the ultimate glitzy, shiny rock band in the Killers. Brandon Flowers and Co. returning to the festival where they have been steadily moving up the totem pole since first playing Coachella in 2004. The Killers took the stage at the end of the night and opened their set with their latest hit, "Human." Flowers soon had the crowd singing despite the sweltering heat, but the Killers also mixed in some of their older material as well and played a fairly lengthy set. Again, not the festival experience I’d really want overall, but I guess for the soft, plastic SoCal music scene, it’s good enough……
- Quoting the immortal Carl Lewis….uh-oh! Three starts into his 2009 season, no two words are more appropriate to describe the effort thus far of New York Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang. Last year, Wang and his atomic sinker were a solid 8-2 with a 4.07 ERA in 15 starts before injuring his right foot June 15. He was counted on to be one of the top two starters for a Yankee team with its usual bloated expectations of world domination. I’m no baseball expert, but an 0-3 with a 34.50 ERA in six innings over three starts this season doesn’t sound like the line of an elite starting pitcher, does it? And when I say six innings, I don’t mean six innings per start; I mean six innings total. The latest debacle came when lasted just 1 1/3 innings in a 22-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians on Saturday, allowing eight runs and eight hits. I’ll say it again…..uh-oh! Worse still Wang doesn’t seem to believe that there is anything wrong. The soft-spoken Taiwanese native said he has compared video of his performances from this season to last year, when was, and doesn't see a difference. “Everything is the same as last season,” Wang said. “Nothing's wrong. Just keep working.” Yankees manager Joe Girardi isn’t so certain that all Wang needs is to keep working and that all will be fine if he stays the course. “We looked at his hands, height of his leg kick, where his head is -- if it's out of line -- the angle of his arm. We looked at everything." Girardi said. "We had some healthy stuff that we saw. We understand that we need to make some adjustments.” My first thought after seeing a third straight stink bomb from Wang was that he can’t be healthy. This is a guy who was 54-20 in his four-year career prior to this season, with two 19-win seasons. You know things are bad when his season high for innings pitched was the 3 2/3 innings Wang threw in his first start against Baltimore on April 8. Of course, he gave up seven runs in that start and eight in each of his next two outings, so there aren’t a lot of positives to draw upon. All of those negatives have Girardi questioning whether to allow Wang to make his next scheduled start, which is in Boston on Friday. As bad as Wang has been so far this year, can you imagine how much worse things would be if he had another disastrous start against the archrival Red Sox? “I can pitch in that game. I want to pitch,” Wang said. My man, you may want to pitch and because of the possibility I just mentioned and my avowed hatred of the Yankees, I want you to, but that doesn’t mean you should. Then again, you couldn’t do much worse than the pitcher who relieved Wang during Cleveland's 14-run second inning Saturday. Anthony Claggett spent all of one day in the majors, giving up eight runs and nine hits over 1 2/3 innings in his major league debut after being called up Saturday. Claggett was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre when the Yankees recalled right-hander Steven Jackson before Sunday's game against the Indians. Quite the pitching staff you’ve got going, Yankees. I continue to believe that when you are as arrogant and throw around as much money as the Bronx Bombers do, the universe is going to come along and even things out at some point…..
- The title of last night’s Heroes was “I am Sylar,” but the irony was that the man it was named after had no idea who he was. Seems that everyone’s favorite super villain is suffering from an identity crisis - literally. Having taken on the power of shape-shifting, Sylar now finds himself morphing into different people without even really trying. To find out how he ended up on TV at the end of last week’s episode and posed as Nathan Petrelli, we journeyed back in time 18 hours to find out the particulars. The first thing we witnessed was Sylar waking up as Agent Taub, one of the agents from Emile Danko’s team at Building 26. Sylar didn’t remember trying to shape shift into Taub, and the experience frightened him so much that he ended up needing to get out for some air. Danko tracked him down in a nearby park and chided him for showing up in public as himself because everyone in the agency believes that Sylar is dead. Reluctantly, Sylar obeys orders and shifts back into Taub, but before getting up off the bench he uses his magic finger-slicing power to carve the words “I am Sylar” into his arm. During the day, he goes and visits a man named Tom Miller, who has the power to turn things like ceramic figurines into piles of rubble seemingly by dematerializing them. Just before Sylar arrives, Rebel sends Miller a text message to get out now, but it’s too late. Sylar tells Miller to choose between him and Danko’s team of agents, approaching in the hallway. Miller chooses Sylar, who immediately slices his head open, takes his power and is gone by the time Danko’s team arrives. Later in the day, Sylar/Taub requests all of the evidence and documents from his mother’s murder to be brought to his apartment by the local police. As Sylar pours over the evidence, he begins morphing back and forth between himself and his mother, having a two-sided conversation in which he is both people. He talks with his mother/himself about not knowing who he is anymore and feeling guilt over killing her. The experience is so upsetting that Sylar hurls one of the snow globes his mother so loved against the wall, smashing it to pieces. When Danko shows up at the door and tells him to morph back into Taub because they’ve located Rebel in D.C. and are going to apprehend him, Sylar lies about what he’s been up to. At an abandoned building in a warehouse district (of course), Micah, a.k.a. Rebel, is operating when Danko and his agents show up and cut the power to the building. When one of the agents turns to Taub/Sylar to make sure he’s coming when they move in, he’s gone. Sylar has turned back into himself and found Micah inside the building. Micah talks to him about his potential to be a hero and help PWP (people with powers). Sylar counters that he’s gone over to the other side of the fight, but Micah wins him over enough for Sylar to help him escape. While Sylar morphs into Micah and flees the building, the real Micah is able to hide from the agents. They shoot the fake Micah on the pier and he falls into the water, sinking to the depths below. Micah flees and gets away, while Sylar appears a short time later while Danko is still trying to figure out if Rebel is really dead. Sylar assures him that Rebel is dead and when Danko asks why he didn’t kill the boy himself and take his power to talk to machines, Sylar admits he’s feeling overloaded with all of the powers he already has. Back at Sylar’s apartment, Micah crashes on the couch and ends up witnessing another Sylar two-sided conversation as both himself and his mother. When Micah realizes Sylar can shape shift, he urges him to use his power for good. Micah is actually the one who suggests turning into Nathan Petrelli and getting the president to reconsider his stance on hunting down PWP. Sylar bristles at the idea and kicks Micah out, telling him, “If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.” Micah flees but Sylar takes his words to heart and goes to Nathan’s office in Washington. There, he rifles through his belongings and learns about his past. Right around this time, Nathan is flying back to D.C. from Coyote Sands, where he and his family have been learning the secrets of their past (as seen last week). Nathan flies back and finds Sylar in his office, leading to a tense confrontation. Sylar remarks that he knows Nathan well, how he betrayed those he is closest to and how much he hates himself for it. Nathan denies all of that and demands that Sylar stop posing as him. Sylar retorts, “I’m not going to be you. I’m going to be better than you.” Those words were inspired by another Sylar/Sylar as his mother chat in which his mother urges him to fulfill his potential, possibly becoming a U.S. senator or President of the United States. Sylar also admits he wanted his mother to die when he killed her, that it was no accident. Nor was it an accident when Danko showed up in Nathan’s office. He shoots Nathan with a tranquilizer dart and when Sylar refuses to morph back into Taub and help take Nathan into custody, Danko throw a knife into the back of his skull in the one spot where Sylar is vulnerable. With both Sylar and Nathan down, Danko calls for a cleanup crew only to stop mid-sentence when Sylar rises up off the floor and comes back to life. “That hurt,” he observes before encroaching on Danko. Danko may be in deep trouble, but so are the rest of the PWP. Matt Parkman has gone back to L.A. to return his newfound son Matt to Janice, adult Matt Parkman’s ex-wife. Before leaving, Matt says goodbye to Hiro and Ando and refuses to tell them where Building 26 is because they want to attack it. Matt says learning about his son means he’s out of the fight against Danko, so he heads to California. While there, he picks up the thoughts of agents watching Janice’s him and realizes that they are about to attack. As the agents storm the house, Matt uses his mind-control powers to alter the images they are seeing and make them walk right by Matt, Janice and the baby because they simply don’t see them. Mohinder Suresh isn’t so fortunate, having stayed behind at the end of the last episode to spend more time at Coyote Sands and understand what happened there. He’s tranquilized by agents and apprehended, apparently headed back to Building 26. Hiro and Ando are in trouble of their own after hatching a plot to find the location of Building 26. Hiro knows that there are invisible laser security beams at Isaac (Mister Is-sock, as Hiro calls him) Mendez’s old loft and plans to trip the alarms, bring the agents to the apartment and allow them to apprehend Ando. Hiro plans to then stop time, change into the uniform of one of the agents and return to Building 26 with them. Ando hates the idea of being bait and theorizes that Hiro still doesn’t see him as an equal even though he has his own power. When the agents come and Hiro does stop time, something miraculous happens: Ando isn’t frozen in time like everyone else. Hiro realizes it’s because he and Ando were touching at the point where he stopped time, so even though an overjoyed Ando is relieved to not have to be the bait in their plan, Hiro positions Ando back in the line of the agents’ tranquilizer gun fire, unfreezes time and allows his pal to be captured. Just as he planned, Hiro is able to change into an agent’s uniform and is in the transport van along the Washington-Baltimore Expressway when he freezes time again to talk to Ando. Ando is upset at being captured but Hiro is able to turn off the sedative gas being used to keep him down and assures Ando that the plan is working. That turns out to be untrue when the agent seated next to Hiro realizes he’s not really an agent and is about to shoot him when Ando unleashes a jolt of his red lightning power (he has dubbed himself the Crimson Arc, after all) and creates a chance for escape. Hiro manages to grab a GPS device from one of the agents and now he and Ando will use it to find Building 26. However, things take a decidedly bad turn when Hiro and Ando arrive outside Building 26. Hiro agrees that from here on out, he and Ando are equal partners, but when he goes to stop time again so they can break in, he suffers a terrible headache and nosebleed and collapses to the ground. Lastly, as H.R.G., Angela Petrelli and Claire return from Coyote Sands, a roadblock stops them and a SWAT truck boxes them in, looking to apprehend all three of them as part of Danko’s sting. Of course, with a pissed off Sylar about to unleash hell on him, Danko himself could be in as big a bind as anyone his agents are apprehending. All of this builds up to next week’s season finale……
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