I know I just wrote about how fed up I am with this whole Karpov storyline (and don't get me started on Sonny being all "Drugs! OMG!!! We may be mobsters who shoot people but DRUGS ARE TEH EVOL!!!!111"). I believe I said something along the lines of, "The only mobster I want to see coming to Port Charles is Lorenzo Alcazar returning from the dead."

And now there's the news that there's yet another mobster joining the show, and no, sadly, Ted King is not coming back. It's Vincent Pastore of the Sopranos! I'd say someone shoot me now, except with the current mob climate on GH, somebody just might take me up on that offer.

As if the "My Something" commercial wasn't annoying enough, now we're going to have to see this guy on a regular basis? *headdesk*

Oh, Bob Guza. If I wanted to watch the Sopranos, I'd rent the DVDs. How out of touch with your audience can you get? Oh, yeah, more mobsters and less Genie Francis (A few weeks of Laura is not enough!!!), that's what the viewers want... Grrr.

The only bright side to any of this is that Pastore is playing Max and Milo's father, which I can only hope means more screentime for Max.

I think I'm in the minority on this one, but I actually enjoyed the Mendorra storyline. Sure, it's silly and a bit out of step with the everyday realistic drama of One Life to Live, but the same can be said for the time travel story, which I find to be a lot more annoying, and I will probably address in a future entry. The Mendorra story, while certainly not without its weaknesses, is one that I've enjoyed overall.

First of all, I adore Tina. Adore! I had never seen Andrea Evans as Tina, or the classic storylines with Cord, although I do vaguely remember Tina being played by a different actress (whom I didn't like much) when I first started watching OLTL in the mid-'90s. Ever since Tina breezed back into Llanview with David Vickers the Dog on her arm, though, I have been in love! She's ditzy, funny, and now her character is becoming deeper and more complicated as we see her with her daughter, Sarah. The expression on her face when Carlo sent Sarah and Cristian over the falls was heartbreaking, and the joy when she saw Sarah alive was great. I can't wait to see more of this mother-daughter duo! And ooh, David Vickers the Dog is just about the cutest thing in the whole world (right after my own beloved pup). And now that Tina and Cord are going to be reunited, however briefly? Color me VERY excited.

I also enjoyed Christopher Cousins as Cain Rogan, and Thom Christopher kicked ass as Carlo Hesser. He's so deliciously EVIL, which is exactly what I like in my soap villains. Plus he had great father-daughter chemistry with BethAnn Bonner as Talia.

Speaking of BethAnn Bonner, I have to give her props for her brilliant performance during, and especially after, Talia and Jonas's wedding. She looked like a million bucks in that wedding dress, but one look at her face and you could see how much she hated what she was being forced into. And later, when she said goodbye to Antonio at the airstrip, I actually had tears in my eyes, her performance was that good. Hell, I'd go so far as to say IMO she should get a Supporting Actress nod at next year's Daytime Emmys. She's come so far as an actress sincer her days on I Wanna Be A Soap Star.

All that being said, I'm not sad to see Mendorra go. It served its purpose, and now it's time to get back to Llanview and "real" life. If only the time travel story would end soon, too... And hopefully both Talia and Carlo will be back on our screen shortly. Talia and Antonio's reunion is going to be great, I can feel it in my bones!

It's been over a month since I last wrote in this blog. I'm a horrible blogger/diarist, I know, but what can I say? Things have been hectic around here! (Either that or I just get incredibly lazy during summer, you take your pick.) Anywho, a little General Hospital chat.

So what's up with this Russian dude, Karpov? I mean, I know Bob Guza is in love with the mob, but aren't Jason, Sonny, and the Zaccharas enough mobsters? Right now it's like 1 in every 3 Port Charles citizens is a member of the mob. Seriously, the last thing we need is another freaking mobster. The only way I would possibly be interested in another mobster coming to town would be if Lorenzo Alcazar were to come back from the dead.

But I guess there could be a silver lining to this Karpov business, if a) it causes Jason to realize (as it seems he is beginning to) that Sonny is no longer the man he considered a brother/father, and b) it makes Kate realize that Sonny has indeed gone back to the mob lifestyle and is not the saint she thinks he is. Which would, hopefully, cause Kate to get over her endless love for Sonny and mob apologizing and go back to the sassy, kick ass business woman she started out as.

I mean, really, right now I'm so sick of Kate that it's hard to remember that I ever actually liked her, but I know I did. She was new and smart and independent and had great hair... oh, how things have changed. Seriously, could she be any more naive about Sonny? She's so naive that she waltzes right past naivete and lands straight in the realm of stupidity. I mean, first she doesn't think anything of coming home to find Sonny meeting with some strange, thuggish Russian dude. And then she thinks Jason is trying to convince Sonny to come back to the mob and believes Sonny when he says that Jason is turning against him? Give me a break. If I have to listen to lines like this:

Sonny: Because he -- I -- Jason doesn't know me as well as i thought he did. He doesn't -- he doesn't know how I think anymore or how I -- how I do things.

Kate: It sounds like he hurt you somehow.

Sonny: He's under a lot of pressure, and he jumped -- he's jumping to conclusions. He thought that... He thinks that i undermine him.

Kate: But you wouldn't do that.

Sonny: No, I wouldn't do that. Thank God that somebody realizes that.

Oh, yes, thank God you have Kate, Sonny! She's the only one who understands what a saint you are. As I said to my mother (my GH watching companion), "I know you don't like Carly as much as I do..." (I am an unapologetic Carly fan, while my mom thinks she's stupid most of the time) "...but, for all her faults, she doesn't take any of Sonny's shit. Not only would she have suspected he was back in the business as soon as she saw him meeting with Karpov, she'd have some foolish plan to spy on Karpov in place by now."

Speaking of Carly, I will probably discuss the (possible) demise of Carly and Jax's marriage in a later post. Right now I have to go watch today's episode of GH! More later.

Last week on As the World Turns, Paul found Sofie on the verge of death... and instead of calling 911, he watched her die, tossed her body in a laundry bin, and then buried her in his backyard. Now, I know she accused him of rape. I know she was creepily obsessed with him, claiming to be pregnant with his child when she probably wasn't, out to get Meg, etc. I know she whispered Meg's name before she died, leading Paul to think his beloved was the one who had attacked Sofie. Still, though, the girl was PREGNANT. Possibly with Paul's child. Watching her die, even to protect Meg, was cold.

Now we have the mystery emerging of who really did kill Sofie. Right now they're def making it look like it was Barbara (even Lisa practically accused Barbara of murder), but my experience with soap operas tells me that a) Barbara is way too obvious a suspect, and b) it's way too soon for the real killer to be on the radar. I suspect that it will turn out to either be a nobody, throw-away killer, or someone other than Barbara or Meg. Possibly Cole. Or what about Chris? He was on a crazy drunken binge rage thing.

I was glad to see Luke and Noah back together, but then, of course, their reunion turned out to be brief, because Noah has decided to enlist. Really, will those two boys ever be happy and together? It doesn't look like it will be any time soon, especially after the previews showed Luke showing up at boot camp (or wherever) and telling everyone that Noah is gay. Jesus, Luke. I know you don't want him to join the army, but he's never going to forgive you for that.

I'm still loving Holden and Carly and their forbidden lust. Jon Hensley has a lot more chemistry with Maura West than he does with NuLily. I can't wait for Jack and Lily to find out about Holden and Carly having sex, and I have to say that I hope there's more of Holden and Carly together, because they steam up the screen!

Speaking of steam, I actually really like Janet and Jack together. They're fun and funny, and it gets Janet away from pursuing Brad. It'll be interesting to see what Liberty and Parker do if their parents start dating, lol.

Brad and Katie were cute as per usual, especially in their Fourth of July outfits on Friday, although Katie's make up was a little over the top.

This week I'm looking forward to more tension between Holden and Carly, more Jack and Janet, and the unfolding of the mystery of who killed Sofie. Also? Margo's going to catch Casey and Emily in the act! Hee.

Oh, and yay for twenty five years for Tom and Margo! They've been married longer than I've been alive, which is certainly saying something, especially for a soap couple!

This week I learned that claustrophobia can be cured by sex. Thanks, DOOL! It's good to know that you're on top of the latest medical breakthroughs. Chloe and Lucas got it on in an elevator! Chloe's still gorgeous, Lucas still has bad hair, but at least this plotline is mildly interesting.

EJ and Nicole on the other hand... They were in the next elevator over, and the difference was astounding. I really, really like those two together.

And poor Sami... okay, I can't say "Poor Sami," with a straight face. Hopefully now that both of her men have moved on, she'll get some good revenge, plot something, etc. I want a return to the Sami of yore!

What else? Um, Daniel and Chelsea still creep me out. It's not the age difference that bothers me so much as the fact that watching the two of them together is akin to watching grass grow. We were bombarded this week with Bo's disapproval, and OMG, it's so much like how Doug didn't approve of Bo and Hope... Daniel and Chelsea must therefore be just like Bo and Hope! Give me a fricking break. They are not just like Bo and Hope, because Bo and Hope have oodles and oodles of chemistry, and Daniel and Chelsea have none.

Speaking of lack of chemistry, there's Morgan and Phillip. *snore*

At least Tamara Braun is around to keep things interesting as Ava! I love her so much. John destroyed the disk with his memories this week, but I have a feeling that he'll eventually get them back somehow and go back to being the old John. That's too bad however, I'm quite enjoying this incarnation. Maybe they can take a page from General Hospital's book and pull a Jason Morgan on John? Jason still hasn't gotten back his memories and it's what--twelve, thirteen years later?