So, yeah, it's been about 3 months since I last posted. I know I made a vow to at the very least recap/review LOST every week on here, but I stopped for a few reasons.
1.) They took kind of a long time to write
2.) Upon reading them, I realized that what I wrote didn't consist of more than me basically retelling what happened and adding the oh so deep insight of something along the lines of "It was awesome."
3.) It became yet another case of a tree falling in the woods. I really doubt anyone was reading them.
When I say that, I realize that not many people probably read this anyway. So to any of my Facebook friends who happen to be reading this, spread the word to any of your friends who you think might be interested in what I say on here. Or throw in your own two cents. Whatever works.
Nothing too exciting has really happened in the past 3 months. I finished up another year of school (which went by shockingly fast). I did pretty well in all of my classes. 3 A's, 1 C (it was an online Ethics class and I'll admit I phoned it in) and, unfortunately, one D (fuck Radio Production. That's all I'll say). But none of my finals were too overwhelming. And next year (or this fall, to be more specific), I've got some classes that will hopefully be enjoyable and a brand-spaning new apartment with Parker. It's a renovated church and the place we got is more or less a loft. It's awesome.
I've really gotten into baseball recently, thanks to Parker. I was somewhat into it as a kid. I went to games with my dad a lot. But for one reason or another, I just lost interest. While I'm still not what you'd call a diehard fan, I'm into it more than I'd ever thought I'd be into a sport. The teams I'm rooting for are the Pirates obviously (despite how bad they're sucking lately), the Red Sox (who have been kicking ass), the Twins (still need to support the state I was born) and the Cubs (just because Chicago is a pretty cool place and the Cubs deserve some support after with over 100 years of not winning a series).
I am so behind on movies this year, it's sad. It's already May and I've only seen three 2009 releases; He's Just Not That Into You (cute enough. pretty much exactly what you'd expect. I saw it because my mom wanted to go and I was home that weekend), Watchmen (awesome movie. Gets across the majority of what's best about the graphic novel and works as it's own separate piece) and Adventureland (really good. Had the tone of one of John Hughes classics from the '80s). Due to the unbelievably shitty selection of movies playing in Indiana, I missed both I Love You, Man and Observe and Report and now have to wait for the DVDs, which sucks. But now that I'm home and around good theaters, I can hopefully catch up. I'm planning on seeing Star Trek this weekend and the summer ahead looks to have quite a few good releases.
As far behind as I am on movies, I'm even further behind on music. I only have four 2009 albums and only two of them could be considered real music releases, those are the debut from Two Tongues (really enjoyable) and The Open Door EP by Death Cab For Cutie (which I actually prefer then some of the stuff on Narrow Stairs). The other two are a soundtrack (Watchmen) and a stand-up CD by the hilarious John Mulaney. It's mainly an issue of me not having the extra money to buy CDs. Another thing though is that there's just not really any new music that's really stood out to me. Granted there's a lot of bands I already like who have new releases out (The Decemberists, Ben Kweller, Manchester Orchestra, New Found Glory, etc.), that's just a matter of needing the extra money to catch up on those. But as for new music, there just hasn't been any new artists who have really stood out. There's some decent mainstream stuff out there but it's nothing I feel the need to listen to on a regular basis, but as for bands, it just seems to be bands ripping off better bands or just not even trying. I figure that if I'm going to spend money on an album, I want it to be something that's worth listening to. That said, I am really looking forward to Green Day's new album this week. Aside from the painfully bland and flat-out boring single, "Know Your Enemy", I've heard a few snippets of other songs from the album that have me excited.
Since it's all I've really had available to me as of late, I've been really invested in the TV shows I watch. How I Met Your Mother is still consistenly funny, despite the fact that it's lost some focus on Ted actually meeting the mother. Chuck got awesome at the end of it's second season. I always enjoyed it but the last few episodes really amped things up and it deserves to be renewed. Heroes has just gotten painful to watch. For a majority of the third season, I was just kind of indifferent, but as it progressed it got actively bad. The return of writer Bryan Fuller to the show helped a little (the episode he wrote stood out among the surrounding shit) but the show still has a LONG way to go before it becomes good again. I kind of got into Reaper after watching the first season online. It started out kind of bland but near the end of the season, they started introducing more dramatic elements which really made the show better. Unfortunately, the show regressed in the second season into nothing but stupid stories and lame humor. Considering the fact that it's pretty much cancelled, I gave up on it. I discussed in my Best of 2009 list how I felt Fringe could go either way. Fortunately, it went upwards. The show has been kicking ass in the last few episodes and introducing all sorts of cool elements to the mythology of the show. [scrubs] finally ended after 8 seasons last week and it definitely ended on a high note. Season 8 brought back the tone of earlier seasons and the the last few episodes were both funny and touching. LOST has been consistently great. Placing the majority of the characters in 1977 has led to a lot of interesting developments and stories regarding fate and time travel, and Locke is the best he's been in a long time. Parks and Recreation, the new show from the people who did the US version of The Office, premiered and I've really enjoyed it, despite the strong negative reaction it's been getting. It still needs to find it's footing and become it's own show but I think the talented cast and writers can pull it off. The Office has been really intriguing by shaking things up in the storyline by having Michael quit Dunder Mifflin, Pam becoming a salesperson and the introduction of new boss, Charles Miner. The show has really gotten back to the roots of what made it good to begin with, that is, a group of dysfunctional people working together and coming to the slow realization that they are somewhat of a dysfunctional family. 30 Rock kind of suffered in the beginning of it's 3rd season by using guest stars too heavily but it thankfully became more subtle with it's use of them and has continued to be one of the most clever shows on TV right now. Supernatural has further cemented it's 4th season as it's best yet. The slow integration of Misha Collins as Castiel as a major character in the show has been fantastic. Castiel is such a fascinating complex, character and it's been great to see episodes revolving around him. Aside from that, the main storyline of the season, involving the forthcoming apocalypse and Sam's slow descent, has been terrific as well. The show has really been going to the dark place more than ever, which is a big plus in my eyes. And then we have Dollhouse. I'll probably share my thoughts on this show in another post, because I have a lot to say about it. Long story short, it is a brilliant, amazing show and if it doesn't get a second season, everybody working for the FOX network should be fired.
In my free time, I've been rewatching Joss Whedon's shows on DVD. Recently finished all of Buffy The Vampire Slayer for the second time since I got the complete series set on DVD, and more than ever, I stand in my belief that is the best television show of all time. Working on Angel again now and am just about done with the first season. It's definitely the weakest season in my opinion as it's trying to find it's own identity, but it's still great and the seasons to follow are amazing and I can't wait to get to them for a second time.
So my next big goal is to get a job for the summer. Considering how bad the economy is, this is somewhat of a challenge but I'm hopeful. I know for sure that I would be able to go back to Burger King and, in all honesty, that would be easy to do. It's only 4 months, I know I'd get a lot of hours and I'd pretty much be able to jump back in without having to learn anything new. The thing is, the job can get really frustrating at times (interacting with the general public will give you that feeling) and more than anything, I just want to prove that I can get a better job than fast food. I'm not expecting some cushy, laid-back job but I'd like to think I'm qualified and personable enough to get a job somewhere other than BK. So, fingers crossed.
That's about all I have to say. I really hope that more people will read this, because I genuinely do enjoy writing on here. It just seems pointless to do if no one's there to read it. So again I say, please pitch in with your thoughts if you read this and feel free to share with anyone you know who might be interested in the same things as me or enjoy my sense of humor or sarcastic views on life. Until next time, take care everyone.
- Location:Home
- Mood:
optimistic
From the opening seconds of "316", you knew it was going to be a huge episode, both in storytelling and scope. The opening is a complete remake of the opening moments of the very first episode. We start on Jack's eye opening and find him lying in the jungle, disoriented. Much like "Pilot-Part 1", shortly after waking up, Jack hears a call for help, this time with Hurley. Jack runs off to the top of a waterfall to find Hurley struggling to stay afloat in the lagoon below. He dives down and helps him out, only to notice Kate lying unconscious on the side of the lagoon. He manages to wake her up. She notices her surroundings and asks "Are we...?" Jack simply replies, "Yeah. We're back." This was a perfect choice to open the episode. I'll be honest, before the beginning of Season 5, I thought the main focus of the season would be getting back to the island, with the finale being a huge, epic companion to last year's finale that featured the Oceanic 6 leaving the Island. To see the group get back so early in the season was a very nice surprise. Not only does it show that Damon & Carlton aren't holding back in moving the story forward but that they still have a lot of surprises in store for the rest of Season 5.
So we flash back to 46 hours earlier, with Jack, Ben, Sun & Desmond arriving at the church to see Ms. Hawking. She takes them down to the basement of the church into the area which we saw her in back in "The Lie". She reveals that is an off-island Dharma station called The Lamp Post. In the next few minutes, she spills a shitload of information, the most important being that The Lamp Post was built to find the Island and that after discovering that the island was constantly moving, a man came up with a series of formulas and developed the swinging pendulum in order to find out where the Island would appear in the future. There is some talk of windows appearing for brief periods of time which allow access to the Island. At this point, Desmond decides he has had enough of the shit. He delivers Daniel's message to Hawking that only she can help stop what the time skips on the Island. As he begins to leave, Hawking informs him that the Island is not done with him yet. He mouths off to her that he is done with the Island and tells Jack and the others that they are just being used and storms off. Poor Desmond. He can't seem to catch a break. It's pretty obvious that he will come back and find his way to the Island somehow, but it seems to safe to say that it won't be on good terms. Hawking then tells Jack that Flight 316 on Ajira Airways from L.A. to Guam will be heading over the coordinates and they all must be on the plane.
Hawking then takes Jack into her office and gives him Locke's suicide note. Even though this was heavily rumored to be the cause of Locke's death since the newspaper article back in "Through The Looking Glass", it was still a little jarring to hear out loud. She then tells Jack that in order to properly return to the Island, they must recreate the original crash of Oceanic 815. Turns out, Locke is a proxy for Christian and Jack must put an item that belonged to his father with Locke. We next get a very cool scene with Ben & Jack in the church in which Ben tells Jack the story of Doubting Thomas. It seems obvious that Jack is the Doubting Thomas in this situation. I think with this story and the clue of the Reincarnation anagram on Ben's van in "The Little Prince", it seems quite possible that Locke may come back to life once the group returns to the Island. But will Locke be his old self or will he be more of a mysterious figure like Christian? And if and when this happens, how will Jack react to the situation? After this, Ben tells Jack that he is leaving to fulfill a promise to an old friend of his in order to tie up a loose end. Hmmm.
Later on, Jack receives a call from an assisted living facililty. When he goes there, it turns out that his grandfather, Ray, has tried to escape the facility in what seems to be a frequent thing for him. Jack unpacks the luggage Ray had and finds a pair of Christian's shoes. He realizes that this is what he needs to put on Locke in order to properly recreate the flight. The appearance of Ray in this scene is a curious one. Even moreso is the information that he was trying to escape to where no one would find him. Was this just an excuse for him to have luggage so Jack could find Christian's shoes or is there a deeper meaning to this? Does Ray to have a connection to the Island?
Jack returns home and hears something in his bedroom. He heads in there to find Kate in tears. She offers to return the Island with him and Jack asks where Aaron is. Kate snaps at Jack and demands that he never ask her about Aaron again. This exchange has me really curious. It could be assumed that Kate simply gave Aaron to Claire's mother to be taken care of, but the tone of her voice makes me think that Aaron was taken from her. Anyway, Kate then proceeds to make out with Jack as they fall onto the bed together. Oh Kate, still up to your old "fuck me because I'm sad" trick.
The next morning, Jack tries to charm the pants off Kate further by making coffee and orange juice for her. She notices the shoes and he tells her a story about him putting the white tennis shoes on Christian originally after his death because he didn't think Christian was worth nice shoes. Ouch, Jack. Harsh. Kate leaves and tells Jack she will meet him at the airport when Jack receives a phone call. The phone call is from Ben, who we see bloodied and beaten on a payphone. He tells Jack that he got sidetracked and that Jack must pick up Locke's body from a butcher shop. Ben's appearance makes me worried. When we see Ben, he is on a marina. As we know, Desmond and Penny travelled to L.A. on their boat, which would mean they would most likely have to keep it docked at a marina. As we also know, Ben swore to Widmore that he would kill Penny as revenge for Alex's death. I have a bad feeling this might be the loose end and "promise to an old friend" that Ben was referring to in the church. It seems possible that Ben found Penny on the boat, got the scratches from her putting up a fight and eventually killed her. There are some theories that Ben tried to kill Penny but got the bruises from getting beat up by Desmond, but I think that if Desmond caught Ben trying to cause harm to the love of his life, he would flat out kill him. Finding the love of his life dead would also give Desmond good cause to return to the Island in order to kill Ben. I hope this isn't what happened because I love Desmond & Penny and would hate to see her taken from him, but this is the best theory I can think of right now.
Jack arrives at the butcher shop and is let in by Jill. We get a really nice, quiet scene where Jack talks to Locke while putting his father's shoes on him. Eventually, Jack puts the suicide note in Locke's suit pocket, claiming he's already heard everything he has to say.
At the airport, Jack makes the transport arrangements for Locke's body when he notices Kate. As he leaves the desk, a man (identified as Caesar in the press release) offers his condolences to Jack. He then sees Sun, who claims she is willing to do anything in order to be reuinted with Jin. Next, the two of them see a handcuffed Sayid being transported through security a woman (identified as Ilana in the press release). Jack arrives at the gate and finds Hurley there, with a guitar case. The presence of the guitar case makes me think that Hurley got another visit from ghost Charlie who convinced him to return to the Island somehow. It is then revealed that Hurley bought all the remaining seats on the flight, in order to keep more people from getting hurt.
We watch Jack get on the plane along with an awesome musical piece by Michael Giacchino as he acknowledges the rest of the Oceanic 6 (minus Aaron of course) on the plane. Suddenly, Ben runs onto the plane last minute. Hurley jumps up, saying that he is not supposed to be on the plane but eventually backs down as Jack informs him that Ben is necessary to getting back to the Island. After this, the flight attendant tells Jack that during the cargo search, they came across Locke's suicide note and returns it to him. The plane shortly takes off and the group is on their way back to the Island. Jack attempts to talk to Kate about the odds of everyone being together and she bitchily blows him off, stating that just because they're on the same plane doesn't mean they're together. The captain then comes on the speaker, only to reveal himself as good old Frank Lapidus. Jack goes to talk them and we see Frank looking nice and clean-shaven. They exchange pleasantries but as Frank notices the rest of the group, he gives the awesome line, "We're not going to Guam, are we?"
We cut to the flight at night with Jack noticing Ben reading Ulysses. He questions how Ben he can just read knowing what's about to happen. Ben states that it's better than sitting there worrying. Jack talks to Ben about Locke's suicide note, claiming that he feels as if Locke needs him to read it. Ben gets up to give Jack some privacy. Jack opens the letter and we see Locke's sad and chilling note to Jack: "I wish you had believed me." As soon as he finishes reading the note, the plane starts experiencing some turbulence. In a really intense, moving moment, the group all buckles their seatbelts as the plane begins to shake more strongly. Suddenly, the familiar white light we've gotten to know this season overtakes the plane.
We return to where the episode started with Jack, Kate & Hurley in the lagoon. They wonder what happened to the plane and the rest of their group. My guess is that they are on another part of the Island and are most likely the group that were in the other canoe that started shooting at the on-island group back in "The Little Prince". My guess is that the group in the other canoe is Sayid, Sun, Ben, Ilana, Caesar and Frank. It seems safe to say that Sayid, Sun & Ben are too important to lose right now and the introductions of Ilana and Caesar make it seem as if they will become important in the future. Which means that unfortunately Frank might be leaving us soon.
So as Jack, Kate & Hurley wonder what is happening, they hear something approaching from the jungle. It turns out to be a new looking Dharma van. A Dharma member gets out and points a gun at the group. It is then revealed that the Dharma member is actually Jin. Fucking sweet. This seems to further confirm the beliefs that the on-island group are stuck in the '70s and begin working undercover for Dharma.
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"316" was a pretty huge episode and next week looks to be no different as we'll learn what happened to Locke when he left the Island and took on the name Jeremy Bentham.
- Location:Apartment 9
- Mood:nerdy
Last night's episode was fantastic. It had almost everything you could want from a LOST episode; it featured a lot of great character moments, we got some longstanding questions answered, we got to see Smokey again, Christian Shephard popped up again, there was a lot of great set-up for future episodes and there were some of the most intense moments ever on the show. Throw in the death of a main character and you get a classic LOST episode.
THE OCEANIC 6
The Oceanic 6 only got a short amount of screentime this week, but that time was used to give some great set-up for upcoming episodes. The opening sequence gave us a good balance of Sun's old sweet, nurturing side and her newfound angry, vengeance fueled side. Just as she's about to confront Ben, she gets a call from her daughter, Ji Yeon. We finally get to see the adorable little Kwon toddler as she asks when her mom is coming back home. Sun simply tells her she'll be back soon and that she found her a new friend in America, a.k.a. Aaron. One line I found kind of interesting in this scene is when Sun assures her mother that while she is still in Los Angeles, she'll be on a plane tomorrow. I think this will definitely be true, but not necessarily a plane back home. Rather, it might be a plane that brings her back to the island. So Sun finally gets out of the car and threatens Ben. He assures her that Jin is still alive and that he has proof. He says the person who will reveal the truth is the same person who will help them get back to the island. After finally having 5 of the Oceanic 6 all together, everything falls apart after Ben says this. After giving a lot of sympathy for her character last week, Kate brings back the bitchiness quotient by storming off and accusing Jack of pretending to care about Aaron in order to get her to go back to the island. I really wish Kate would just be understanding and willing to listen for once instead of just flipping on the bitch switch and blaming Jack for her problems, but I guess some things still haven't changed since she got off the island. Sayid handles it a lot more calmly, simply saying that he is done with all of this and if he sees Ben or Jack again, they'll be sorry. It's a huge testament to Sayid's character that he can help throw a wrench in the plans and still come off understandable and sympathetic.
So Ben takes Sun & Jack to see the person who will help them get back to the island. While in the van, Jack suddenly apologizes to Sun for leaving Jin behind on the Kahana. She asks if he is apologizing so late in order to keep her from killing Ben. Jack pulls kind of a dick move and says that after what Ben just did to Kate, if she doesn't kill Ben, he will. Ben finally snaps and pulls the van over. He yells at the two and states that he is just trying to protect them and if they knew what he's gone through to keep them safe, they wouldn't stop apologizing to him. This is my favorite scene of the season involving Ben thus far. After seeing Ben in control of everything for so long, it's been nice to see his more emotional side that's been developing since last season. He knows that nobody trusts him and his frustration finally catches up with him in this moment and Michael Emerson totally sells it.
Eventually Ben, Sun & Jack arrive at a church, where Ben gives Sun proof that Jin is still alive through Jin's wedding ring (more on that in a bit). He reveals that Locke gave it to him and that he sought him out before he died. After seeing this, Sun agrees to go in the church. Suddenly, Desmond appears asking if the three are there to see Faraday's mother as well, confirming everyone's theory that Ms. Hawking is Faraday's mother. As they enter the church, Ms. Hawking questions Ben where everyone else is. He states that this was the best he could do on short notice and she says that it will have to do. This struck me as interesting as in "The Lie", she made it quite clear that it had to be all of them. My guess is that the unexpected presence of Desmond is what changed this. As we've learned this season, the rules don't apply to Desmond, so this could be the loophole to getting the Oceanic 6 back to the island not all at once.
MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE ISLAND
Nearly all of the first half of the episode was focused on Jin and Rousseau's team in 1988 and there were tons of awesome revelations in this section of the episode. Almost immediately, we see the return of the Smoke Monster as Nadine, the only other female member of Rousseau's group, falls dead from the sky. We learn a little bit more about the Monster again. In it's past few appearances, the Smoke Monster seemed more mechanical than anything else, but this time, it seemed much more animalistic. It's movements are more sporadic and I think we even hear it let out an animal like scream when it first appears. It grabs onto Montand and drags him across the ground as we saw him do with Locke before. The group grabs onto Montand just as Smokey is about to pull him into a hole. The line of dialogue waaay back in Season 1 where Rousseau alluded to Montand losing his arm is revealed in a horrifying manor next. As the group tries to pull Montand back out, Smokey wraps one of his smoke tentacles around his arm, which is then severed from Montand's body. Montand then calls for help, claiming that he is hurt (no shit). The group heads into the hole after Montand, but Jin stops Rousseau from heading in, claming she needs to take care of her baby.
Suddenly, a time flash happens and Jin shows up a few months later in time. We see that the area Smokey pulled Montand into is an ancient ruin with hieroglyphics all over it, once again making it clear that Smokey has been around the island for a long time, possibly longer than anyone else. Jin returns to the beach and finds Rousseau's music box, along with the dead bodies of Brennan and Lacombe, who have obviously been shot. Jin continues to find Rousseau holding a gun on Robert, claiming that the three men got sick after going into Smokey's lair. Robert tries to reassure her that Smokey is nothing more than a security system for the island. For a moment, I got the impression that there never was any sickness and Rousseau just went crazy and shot her teammates. However, this is soon proven wrong as Robert suddenly pulls his gun on Rousseau and attempts to shoot her. The gun doesn't fire and Rousseau then kills Robert as we heard about way back in Season 1. She then notices Jin, assumes that his disappearance means he is sick as well and chases after him, until another time flash happens. Seeing Robert's last moments made me all the curious about Smokey. What could have happened to the 3 men that caused them to turn against Rousseau?
After this flash, Jin seems to be in even more trouble as a gun is cocked behind him. Luckily, it turns out to be Sawyer and we get a really nice moment as the two friends are reuinted. Jin tries to find out what happened to Sun and what is going on and Charlotte ends up translating the situation for him. Things get worse as time flashes start happening back to back. It becomes too much for Charlotte as she collapses on the ground. She warns Jin not to let Sun return to the island, stating (as the title implies) that this place is death. As Daniel tries to help her, she begins showing some Minkowski like ramblings, making it obvious that her consciousness is beginning to bounce around time. Daniel refuses to leave Charlotte and sends the rest of the group to the Orchid Station, where Charlotte tells them to look for a well.
The group makes it the Orchid and finds the well with a rope coming out of it. Locke prepares to go down but Jin tries to stop him and, while showing off how great his English is getting, makes Locke swear that he won't bring Sun back. He then gives her his wedding ring to give to her and tells him to tell her that they found him dead. Locke reluctantly agrees and begins to make his way down the well. Suddenly, a time flash starts to happen. Sawyer tries to bring Locke back up but the time flash happens, leaving the rope stuck in the ground and Locke falling to the ground in an underground chamber.
We go back to Daniel & Charlotte and get the saddest and yet most intriguing scene of the episode. As the time skips begin affecting her more severely, Charlotte reveals that she was on the island as a child during the Dharma Initiative days. She says that her mother took her off the island and tried to convince her that it never existed. She also states that she hasn't seen her father since. Charlotte's backstory compells me to no end. Who exactly are her parents? There's a big possibility that she could be the daughter of Ben & Annie, but there seems to be just as much if not more evidence against that theory as there is for it. First of all, Ben stated back in "Confirmed Dead", that her parents names were David & Jeanette. Sure, he could have been lying, but he rattled those names off very precisely and too quickly to make it seem that he's just pulling it out of his ass. Secondly, in the same episode, Ben shoots Charlotte. It could be assumed that he didn't know that Charlotte was his daughter after not seeing her for so many years, but all of his off island connections make it seem that if he did have a daughter off island, he would make sure to keep track of her. I could be wrong and I think revealing that about Charlotte would be a nice character twist but I'm still not completely convinced. Anyway, Charlotte then gives a very cool reveal when she states that when she was a kid, a scary man warned her to never return to the island or else she would die, then revealing that the man was Daniel. Charlotte then gives a very creepy reading of the odd line, "I'm not supposed to have chocolate before dinner." and dies. I was really sad to see Charlotte go. Learning what he did about her in this episode, it's assumed we'll still learn her backstory, but she was really coming into her own and it sucks to see a heartbroken Daniel.
We cut back to Locke in the underground chamber. He's in pretty bad shape, complete with a bone sticking out of his leg. Next, the always creepy Christian Shephard makes an appearance and scolds Locke for letting Ben turn the wheel when he made it clear that he was supposed to. He reveals that the wheel is off it's axis and that Locke must fix it by pushing it again. Locke states that Richard said he would die if he got off the island and Christian states that it is part of a sacrifice. Locke makes his way to the room and begins pushing the wheel. As the light overtakes the screen, Christian tells Locke to say hi to his son. Terry O'Quinn's acting was phenomenal in this scene. The amont of sadness and fear he puts into his words is really touching. Locke is terrified to die but he knows he must do it for the island.
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As exciting as this episode was, next week's looks to be even moreso. From the look of the preview, the Oceanic 6 is finally going to find out how to return to the island. I can't wait!
- Location:Apartment 9
- Mood:nerdy
LOST has been keeping a pretty good balance storywise in Season 5. We've been given a mythology heavy episode followed by a smaller, character heavy episode. Not a whole lot was revealed this week, but we got a lot of great character moments, some awesome reveals on the island, and another step closer to the Oceanic 6 being completely reunited.
THE OCEANIC 6
Kate seemed to be the central focus of the off-island story this week. Kate-centric stories can usually go either way, usually ending up pretty redundant. However, "The Little Prince" was one of the best Kate-centric stories, probably because instead of yet again focusing on Kate's fugitive past, it actually showed more of Kate's emotional side and how she finally is looking out for someone other than herself. This started at the very beginning, as we saw Jack & Kate talking on Penny's boat and witnessed the moment when Kate decided to take care of Aaron. Everyone they lost when leaving the island seemed to hit an emotional note with her and, for some reason or another, Kate can't stand the thought of losing Aaron. She then agrees to support Jack on his lie because according to her, she's always been with him. Yeah, except for when she's having sex with Sawyer.
Cut to present day and Kate is leaving Aaron with Sun in order to meet with Dan Norton, the lawyer who came looking for a blood sample in "Because You Left". After she leaves, Sun receives a package that contains a surveillance report along with photographs of Jack & Ben at the Hoffs-Drawlar funeral parlor and a box of chocolates (yum) that happen to be concealing a gun (yikes). I really love the development of Sun this year. Sure, she's not as loveable and sympathetic as she was in the early years, but she's a lot more intimidating and intriguing.
So Kate meets with Norton and agrees to give the blood sample if he tells her who his client is. He, of course, refuses and lets Kate know that she will lose custody of Aaron.
We then see Jack fixing up Sayid after his downtime from the tranquilizers. Jack then gets his ass chewed out by a doctor for being in the hospital despite his suspension for substance abuse. A male nurse then shows up to give Sayid medication and Sayid yet again proves his badass skills as the nurse quickly spins around to shoot Sayid full of poison darts, only to find Sayid out of the bed, ready to pounce on the nurse with some choking and some darts to the chest. Even after being knocked out for 42 hours, Sayid knows how to kick ass and take names. Jack then gets a call from Hurley, along with a hilarious cutway of him in his prison jumpsuit, assuring him that he is okay and didn't follow Ben. Ben then shows up and he, Jack and Sayid check the nurse's pockets to find a piece of paper with Kate's address on it. The group splits up with Jack going to find Kate (of course) and Sayid & Ben going to get Hurley out of prison.
Jack & Kate meet up, with Kate being surprisingly calm despite their last encounter. They see Norton leave his office and follow him in order to find out who his client is. They follow him to a motel and find him talking to Claire's mom, Carole. Jack proceeds to talk to Carole and tries to reason with her, but soon finds out that she was simply suing Oceanic and had no idea that Aaron was even born. I'll admit that while the whole mystery and misdirects involving the identity of Norton's client was a little unnecessary, it did provide some good character moments between Kate & Jack.
Sayid & Ben go to a parking garage where they meet Norton, who turns out to also be Ben's lawyer, who reveals that he found a way to have Hurley's charges dropped and that he will be released the next morning. I really enjoy how the writers aren't wasting any time this seasons. They could have easily filled up time by devoting a whole episode to trying to break Hurley out of prison but instead, they cut to the chase and dealt with it in less than a minute. Although, for a second, I thought it would be pretty awesome to see Sayid & Ben back the van into a wall and have Hurley jump in. While we're on the van, I noticed online that Canton Rainier, the name on the side of Ben's van, is apparently an anagram for "reincarnation". I'm really intrigued to see what this could be foreshadowing. Possibly Locke when they return to the island?
So Jack & Kate meet up with Sayid & Ben. Kate is understandably skeptical about Ben's presence and accuses him of being the one trying to take Aaron away. Instead of his usual lying and trickery, Ben flat out admits that Kate is right. I'm interested to see why Ben is trying to get Aaron on his own instead of having him come with Kate while reuniting the entire Oceanic 6. Was he planning on using Aaron to assure that he could get Kate to return with everyone else? We then cut to a car parked nearby with Sun inside, revealing how close the Oceanic 6 is to being completely reunited. Unfortunately, Sun pulls out her gun which she plans to use on Ben, further fucking up everybody's plans.
MEANWHILE, ON THE ISLAND
After reviving Charlotte, the group begins to head back to the beach camp. Eventually they see the light from the hatch and realize that the date they are at is November 1, 2004, the night that both Boone died and Claire gave birth to Aaron. Eventually they hear Claire screaming. Sawyer goes to investigate and sees Kate helping Claire give birth. We see Sawyer stand in there in disbelief until another time skip eventually happens. Josh Holloway totally rocked this scene, being able to convey a heavy amount of emotion with just a look.
The group is now in daylight again and they continue to head towards the beach camp. Locke reveals to Sawyer that he avoided the light from the hatch in order to avoid running into his past self. When Sawyer questions why he did that, stating that he could warn himself to do things differently, Locke explains that he needed the pain of that experience to get where he is now. I love that the show is using Back To The Future rules of time travel and making characters avoid running into their past selves. You can't go and screw up the space time continuum by causing a paradox. We then get a very interesting moment as Miles reveals to Daniel that he too is now getting nosebleeds. Daniel explains that the nosebleeds could depend on how long you've been on the island. Miles points out that he's been on the island just as long as Daniel to which Daniel replies, "Are you sure about that?" Hmmm. Interesting. Maybe the assumption that Miles is Pierre Chang's baby isn't completely questionable after all. Locke then suggests that maybe the key to fixing the time skips is by returning to the Orchid.
The group returns to the beach camp to find most of their items, including the Zodiac raft, missing. There are also two big canoes on the shore. They investigate and find a water bottle with label for Ajira Airways which Juliet explains is an airline based in India. The group then takes one of the canoes and makes their way to the Orchid. They soon notice the second canoe beginning to follow them, along with shots being fired at them. Juliet fires back and seems to hit one of the mysterious people on the canoe. As the gunfire continues, another time skip eventually takes place. I was initially incredibly curious about this scene. It seemed the group was back in present time, considering the presence of their beach camp. However, the addition of the canoes was confusing and I couldn't think of who the second group shooting at the group could possibly be. Then I realized that even though up until this point, the group had only gone to moments in the past, there's no reason they couldn't skip to the future. A big part of the show's recent viral campaign has been a mysterious website for Ajira Airways. I think it's possible that this could be how the Oceanic 6 get back to the island. Which could also mean that the people shooting at the group on the island could also be the Oceanic 6, maybe suspecting them to be someone else. It's just a guess but it would be an interesting turn. It would also unfortunately also mean that somebody who came back has been shot by Juliet. Uh oh.
So the group is now paddling the canoe through a rainstorm. They arrive on shore and Sawyer & Juliet talk about him seeing Kate in the jungle. He explains how he was close enough to touch her but couldn't bring himself to approach her. Again, Josh Holloway totally owned this scene. In just two scenes, he managed to get across how much pain Sawyer feels over losing Kate. Things quickly go from touching to unsettling as Juliet proceeds to join the nosebleed club.
After reaching the shore, the group finds a piece of debris with French written on the side. We cut to a group of French speaking men and women on a giant raft during the storm. They notice a man face down on a piece of floating debris. They pull him aboard and turn him over to reveal...Jin! I'll admit that this totally caught me by surprise. And as much as I said in my recap of last year's finale how I was hoping for a really good explanation as to how Jin might have survived the Kahana explosion. After finally seeing Jin again, I wasn't as worried. It's just good to have such a great character back. After reaching the shore, they help Jin and he discovers that the young woman speaks English and is also pregnant. The young woman then introduces herself as none other than Danielle Rousseau. I thought this was a really great twist. After Rousseau was killed last season, a lot of people were upset that we wouldn't learn about her past on the island. This method of re-introducing her is really creative and I can't wait to see how things turn out.
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Next week's episode looks to be very intense. From the preview, we get a glimpse of Locke being lowered down into some kind of well, presumably a part of the Orchid. We also see Sun facing off with Ben. All of this, plus the prospect of learning more about Rousseau's team has me very excited for next Wednesday.
- Location:Apartment 9
- Mood:nerdy
Ah LOST, how I've missed you. Maybe it was because the premiere graced us with 2 episodes, both which mostly involved storylines introduced in Season 4, but it wasn't until last night's episode that I got that feeling I usually get a little bit after a new episode of LOST ends. That good old mix of insane anticipation for next week's episode along with a good dose of mental exhaustion due to the enormous amount of information given in each episode. "Jughead" continued the stories presented in last week's premiere episodes but also gave us a huge hint of what's to come. The Oceanic 6 (plus Ben) were completely absent this week, allowing us to spend a lot of time with not only the group of survivors left time skipping on the island, but also with Desmond, who we only got to see briefly in the first 2 episodes of this season.
DESMOND
The episode began with Desmond frantically running around an island in the Phillippines, searching for a doctor named Efren Salonga. Instantly, we get the notion that something is wrong. However, as Desmond brings Salonga onto his boat, we soon find out that Penny is actually in labor. The next thing you know, Desmond and Penny's epic love story becomes even more touching with the arrival of their son. Cut forward to the present and Desmond is telling is young son about an island they are heading to. I'll admit that I initially thought he was referring to THE island, which seemed a bit odd and..um..dangerous. However, it is soon revealed that the island in question is actually in Great Britain, where he is headed to Oxford in order to find Daniel Faraday's mother. The chemistry between Desmond & Penny is fantastic in this scene. The look on Penny's face when she asks Desmond to swear to her that he will never return to the island is really touching. You can really see how afraid she is to lose him again.
Next, we see Desmond (looking like a rock star in his sunglasses and scarf) arrive at Oxford in order to find Daniel's mother. He learns from the receptionist that there is no record of a Faraday ever working at Oxford. I'll stop here to point out that the receptionist is played by the same actress who played the flight attendant who let Hurley on the plane waaay back in the Season 1 finale, "Exodus, Part 2". One could just chalk this up to simply recasting as some shows have a tendency to do from time to time, but this is LOST we're talking about. Going on the assumption that this is the same woman, you have to wonder if it's simply a case of the woman switching jobs or if there's a deeper purpose to her re-appearance. Could this lady be one of Ben's people on the outside world, making sure that everything goes according to a certain plan? Anyway, Desmond manages to find Daniel's lab where he had previously visited him in "The Consant", only to find the area closed off, due to "fumigation" (yeah, right). He breaks in and finds all of Daniel's equipment abandoned and covered, along with a mysterious picture of a younger Daniel standing next to a woman. Desmond is interrupted by a mysterious custodian who explains to him that Oxford has denied Faraday's time spent there due to a certain incident involving a girl in which Daniel proceeded to flee to the states. This scene had a really awesome, creepy tone by just dropping hints of Daniel's past.
The most interesting scene of the episode follows as Desmond goes to the home of the woman previously mentioned, Theresa, only to find that she is bedridden, suffering from the same symptoms that eventually killed Minkowski in "The Constant". Desmond learns that not only has Charles Widmore been paying for Theresa's medical costs, but he also had funded Daniel's research at Oxford. Yet again, we get another connection between characters in the process of slowly bringing everyone and everything together.
Desmond then goes to confront Widmore in order to get some answers. For the first time, Widmore doesn't try to intimidate Desmond. He simply gives Desmond the information that Faraday's mother is living in L.A. and then begs him to keep Penny safe. It's a very interesting character turn. It shows how the magnitude of the situation involving the Oceanic 6 and the island is increasing. Widmore no longer has as much fight in him and knows something bad is coming.
We get the most touching scene of the episode as Desmond returns to Penny and swears that he is done with the situation. We also learn that Desmond & Penny's son is named Charlie, which is one of the sweetest moments ever on the show. Penny tells Desmond that she knows Desmond won't be able to let this go and agrees to go to Los Angeles with him. This is why Desmond & Penny are the best couple on LOST. Despite everything they've been through, all the heartbreak and searching, they continue to stick by each other.
MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE ISLAND
Back on the island, Daniel, Miles & Charlotte are captured by a young woman named Ellie, who brings them to her camp, which is led by none other than Richard Alpert. We learn through Richard (and earlier through Miles and his ghost whispering abilities) that soldiers from the U.S. military were recently on the island, along with a hydrogen bomb. Daniel realizes from the radiation burns on several of the Others that the casing must be cracked on the bomb and that he knows how to deactivate it. Richard questions whether or not Daniel will just detonate the bomb to which Daniel assures he won't due to his strong love for Charlotte. The scene in which Charlotte finds out about Daniel's love for her is really sweet in that, amidst all the heavy mythology in the show, there's still small touches of character that fully add to our investment in the characters.
Also, Locke, Sawyer & Juliet are trying to obtain information from the two soldiers who tried to cut off Juliet's hand in the previous episode. The two men begin speaking Latin, which Juliet understands and reveals that the two are Others because they all know Latin, giving an even further indication of how old the island is. They demand to be taken to the camp and to Richard. The one soldier begins to give the information when Jones, the other one, suddenly snaps his neck and runs back to his camp.
So Ellie leads Daniel to the bomb. During this, Daniel points out that Ellie looks a lot like someone he used to know (more on that later). He goes to inspect the bomb (named Jughead) and discovers there is a crack in the casing. He warns Ellie that they must seal the crack and bury the bomb in order to save everyone. I personally think that this could be what was behind the lead walls in the Swan Station. We already knew about the strong presence of radiation present there. This could be the source of it.
Meanwhile, as Sawyer & Juliet are trying to rescue Daniel from Ellie, Locke notices Richard and attempts to speak to him as Richard told him to before the last time skip. As expected, Richard has no recollection of who Locke is. While Jones has a rifle to his back, Locke explains that he was sent by Jacob and is the leader of the Others. As Jones continues to hold the rifle to Locke's back, Richard angrily tells him to put the rifle down and reveals that Jones is actually none other than a young Charles Widmore. Awesome. Completely awesome. This confirms that Widmore was indeed on the island at one time and I can't wait to see more of his story unfold.
Locke tries to get Richard to believe him and explains the compass that was given to him. After learning that they are in the year 1954, Locke tells Richard where and when he will born and tells him to go see for himself. I really loved this detail. In "Cabin Fever", when we saw Richard present right after Locke's birth, I suspected it was just another case of Richard's constant presence during significant events. Learning that it was all because Locke told him to be there was a really nice touch. It also got me thinking about another scene in "Cabin Fever", in which Richard visits a young John Locke in order to test him by asking which items belong to him. The general consensus is that Richard got upset because Locke in fact picked the wrong item and, therefore, proved he wasn't actually the future leader of the Others. This could very well still be true, but I began thinking of another possibility. Maybe Richard got upset because Locke did actually pick the right item and Richard realized that the information he was given by Locke was right and that he is actually supposed to be the leader of the Others. My point is this: it has been heavily implied before that Richard resents Ben. He doesn't agree with the way he does things and he only follows his orders because it is what Jacob wants. This could be a similar situation with Locke. I think it's possible that Richard is tired of having to answer to someone else when he truly understands the island more than anyone else. So as Locke is desperately trying to find out from Richard how to get off the island, the island time skips again.
After the time skip, the group of Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Miles and Charlotte are left in a virtually empty area. Unfortunately, the symptoms that Charlotte began showing (nosebleeds, headaches) catch up with her as she falls to the ground, blood gushing from her nose. The episode ends as Daniel grabs her in his arms and desperately tries to get a response from her.
I'll admit that I wasn't super fond of Charlotte initially but she is starting to grow on me. Maybe it's just because Daniel has a strong affection for her but I really want to see her stick around for a while longer, for both reasons of learning more about her past with the island and to see her relationship with Daniel develop.
Daniel is turning out to be the most heavily developed character this season. We saw a whole new side of him in this episode. While in most of Season 4, he mainly kept to himself and followed orders, he is beginning to step up. In "Because You Left", it was due to his heavy knowledge of time travel. In this episode, he steps up even more, accepting his status as the leader of the Freighter group. He isn't afraid to put himself in danger in this episode, negotiating with Richard and standing up to Ellie. I absolutely love the development of his character and am more and more intrigued by him the more we learn about him. After this episode, I'm even more convinced that Daniel's mother is Ms. Hawking. Widmore's statement that she is in L.A. seems to even further suggest it as that is where Ben met up with her at the end of "The Lie". As for who Ellie reminds Daniel of, I'm going to agree with the majority of people online and say that she is a young Ms. Hawking. In the enhanced version of the lie, it was revealed that Ms. Hawking's first name is Eloise. Not only does this add more evidence to her being Daniel's mother (the rat Daniel was working with in "The Constant" had the same name) but Ellie is of course short for Eloise. I think it could also be a possibility that Widmore is Daniel's father. It would explain why he funded his research at Oxford, plus we now know that they were in the same group on the Island. It could be possible that Widmore got Ellie pregnant and the three of them eventually all left the island together for one reason or another.
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So, Season 5 continues to kick all kinds of ass. This episode featured only 2 characters from Season 1 (Locke and Sawyer) and it still managed to be great. It's a real testament to the writers that they can make almost every new character they introduce so fascinating. Next week looks like it will feature a lot of Kate, which honestly can go either way. Here's hoping that the hot streak of Season 5 continues.
- Location:Apartment 9
- Mood:nerdy
So last night, after 8 excruciatingly long months, LOST finally came back. ABC decided to be generous and actually gave us the first 2 episodes of the season. Both were fantastic and set up several fascinating storylines to look forward to in Season 5. This season, I'm going to give my thoughts on every episode every week after each new episode airs. Let's start off with the premiere...
Episode 5x01: Because You Left
One of the things I look forward to more than anything in a LOST premiere is the opening scene. Every year, the opening teaser drops us in a mysterious location with a usually mysterious character (Season 4 aside) going about a seemingly daily routine. This season featured, much like Season 2's opening, a man waking up, putting on a record and going about his usual morning routine. After the man leaves his house, we soon see that he is a part of the Dharma Initiative in their prime. After he enters a studio, we soon find out that the man is none other than Dr. Pierre Chang, the man featured in all the previously seen Dharma orientation films under the names Marvin Candle, Mark Wickmund and Edgar Halliwax. He recieves word about a problem at the Orchid Station (featured heavily in the Season 4 finale). He learns from the crew's foreman about an open chamber behind a wall they are drilling in containing the frozen wheel that Ben pushed to move the island. Chang drops some ominous words about limitless energy and time travel and then leaves where he bumps into a mysterious construction worker, who is revealed to be none other than...Daniel Faraday. Awesome. This was probably my favorite opener next to Season 2 which introduced us to Desmond and the Swan Station. These teasers always give us a hint of what to expect in the season ahead and the prospect of a lot more Dharma Initiative and time travel in the months ahead couldn't make me happier.
Time travel turned out to be one of the central themes of the episode with Daniel being the one there to explain it all. It turns out that when Ben pushed the frozen wheel, it dislodged the island in time and either the island or the people on it (or possibly both) are skipping around time in various periods. This is highlighted with Locke seeing the Beechcraft plane from Season 1 crashing and running into Ethan and Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Miles and Charlotte coming across the hatch, completely uncovered. The scene with Daniel explaining time travel to the rest group was fantastic. Looking way back to the early days of Season One, I never would have thought there would be a scene that featured a character discussing the String Theory and the Space Time Continuum. I really love the fact that the writers of the show managed to turn LOST into a full-blown sci-fi show in such a natural progression.
My favorite scene of the episode came near the very end with Daniel knocking on the door of the hatch in order to talk to Desmond. He basically explains to Desmond that he is special and the only one who can defy the rules of time travel. Daniel then tells him that he must go to Oxford to find his mother. This scene was just flat-out awesome both in execution and for what it laid out for future episodes. After Desmond's reunion with Penny at the end of last season, I was worried that he would either not return or have very little to do. The fact that he is the key to possibly determing the outcome of the series has me thrilled.
The other storyline takes place 3 years in the future and continues the story of the Oceanic 6. The story was much less featured than that of the island, with each character receiving about one scene, but it set things up nicely. Jack and Ben basically pick up where they left off in the funeral parlor and begin their plan to get everyone back together to return to the island. Kate seems to be maintaining a relatively normal life with Aaron that is quickly disrupted, when an attorney comes knocking on her door, demanding a blood test to prove that she is actually Aaron's mother. Kate, as usual, packs up and bails. Sun had a very ominous scene in which she encounters Charles Widmore at the airport and reveals her desire to kill Ben. The best Oceanic 6 scene belonged to Hurley and Sayid. They are hiding in a safe house while being wanted for the murder of the man Sayid killed outside Santa Rosa Mental Facility. They return to the safe house to find a few men waiting to attack them. Sayid, as per usual, kick ass and gives one of the most awesome death scenes ever on the show by knocking a dishwasher open with sharp knives sticking out and knocking one of the men onto said knives. Bad ass.
Locke was very briefly featured in the premiere. As I mentioned before, he witnesses several of the time skips. His most interesting scene comes when Richard approaches him, gives him a compass (the same one that he picked out as a child in "Cabin Fever"), and warns him that to save the island, he must bring back those who left, and to do that, he has to die.
Overall, it is everything you could want from a LOST premiere. It gave us a great taste of what's to come this year and slowly began putting the pieces together that will wrap everything up in the series. But this was just the first hour of LOST last night.
Episode 5x02: The Lie
Where "Because You Left" was mainly about the mythology of the show, "The Lie" was all about character, namely Hurley. After Sayid gets knocked unconscious from a dart in the safe house, Hurley tries to find safety. He ends up having a very awesome encounter with Ana Lucia who warns him get Sayid to someone he trusts and stay away from the cops. After changing into a hilarious "I Heart Shih Tzus" t-shirt, Hurley takes Sayid to his parent's house. While at the house, we get even more proof of what a fantastic character Hurley is and how great Jorge Garcia is at playing him. There is a scene in which he admits to his mother that the whole Oceanic 6 story is a lie and reveals everything that happened on the island. The scene is simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking, which sums up Hurley pretty well. Hearing him rattle off the events of the first 4 seasons in about a minute is quite funny but then watching him break down as he lets it all sink in is very sad. The scene is made as wonderful as it is when Hurley's mother tells him that she doesn't understand what he is saying, but she believes him. It's nice that even in the midst of all the action and mystery, we still get to see these touching moments between characters. Hurley's relief is short lived though, as Ben eventually shows up at his house, explaining to him that they need to return to the island. Hurley frustratingly (but understandably) doesn't trust Ben, and runs outside, giving himself up to the police.
Ben is also featured in two more very interesting sequences, one of which I'll go into later. The first involves Ben going to a butcher shop. Jill, the woman working there, knows Ben and knows what he is there for...to store Locke's body and keep it safe. It's nice to see that even while off the island, Ben still has his connections.
Kate and Sun are reunited briefly and we get a nice scene of bonding, followed shortly by some uneasiness. Sun assures Kate that she doesn't blame her for Jin's death, even though she promised to get Jin on the helicopter and didn't. Is she telling the truth? It's hard to tell. One could guess that she is lulling Kate into a false sense of security but the scene ends with Sun strangely asking how Jack is, which could leave us to believe that she actually blames Jack for Jin's death. He did make quite a point of making sure the helicopter got away as quick as possible.
Meanwhile, things seem to be getting worse on the island. It is still skipping through time and Charlotte is beginning to suffer from nosebleeds and headaches, which hasn't been a good sign for anyone on the show before. We are introduced to previously mentioned but heavily featured for the first time Neil a.k.a. Frogurt. His role consists of him mainly annoying everyone else. He is used just enough for us to think that he will be a somewhat heavily featured character this season. Then he is shot in the chest with a flaming arrow. Then is shot with several more flaming arrows. It is just as awesome as it sounds. The group on the beach runs away as a barrage of flaming arrows rains down on the beach. A number of background characters are killed in the attack, but the core characters (Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Miles, Charlotte, Rose, Bernard) make it away safely. While in the jungle, Sawyer and Juliet are confronted by a group of armed men in uniform who demand to know what they are doing on their island. They are just about to cut off Juliet's hand in order to get answers when Locke uses his rock and knife throwing skills to save the day. These characters really intrigued me. They were in uniform, but it did not seem to be the Dharma jumpsuit but something even older.
The final scene of the episode involves Ben and is quite awesome. It starts out with a mysterious, hooded figure writing on a blackboard and working on a computer while a pendulum swings in the background. Ben arrives and we soon learn that the hooded figure is actually Ms. Hawking, the old woman who explained fate and course-correction to Desmond in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" back in Season 3. She explains to Ben that he has less than 70 hours to get everyone back. He asks what he should do if he can't get them all back. Her response, "Then God help us all." God damn, I love this show.
So Season 5 is off to a fantastic start. With only 2 seasons left, everything is finally starting to come together in an awesome, exciting way. Here are a few guesses of what I think might be coming.
PREDICTIONS:
-What was Daniel doing in the Orchid Station in the opening moments. My guess is that the group on the island will eventually have to pose as Dharma workers in order to somehow stop the time skipping.
-Who is Daniel's mother? My guess as of now is Ms. Hawking. Their shared knowledge of time travel seems to connect them.
-Who are the uniformed men who attacked Sawyer and Juliet? This is a tough one. The main guess is that it could be the frequently mentioned "hostiles". I saw another rumor that it was actually Rousseau's team. Whoever they are, it's safe to say that they were there a while before the Dharma Initiative.
That's it for this week. I'm really excited to see how this season develops and I'll be back here every week with my thoughts on each new episode!
- Location:Apartment 9
- Mood:nerdy
Sorry I'm a few days late posting this (I'm sure anyone actually reading this was really sweating out the wait). I ended heading back up to Indiana earlier than expected so I've spent the past few days getting settled back in and starting my new classes. But anyway, it's time to finish up my Best of 2008 lists, ending as always with movies. Here are my top 20 movies of 2008, along with a few bonus things thrown in throughout.
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20. The Strangers
Okay, let me start off by saying that this movie isn't fantastic and possibly won't turn out to be a horror clasic. But I felt the need to include it here for one reason...it actually managed to scare the fuck out of me to some degree. I really love the horror genre. It's a fun way to really put yourself into a movie in a way. To see horrible, sometimes supernatural situations but not personally suffer the circumstances. The main problem though is that, in recent years, there have been almost no movies that actually manage to be original or even scary. Every couple years, there will be a genuinely well-made scary movie like The Ring or Hostel. However, what follows will simply be cheap knock-offs trying to capitalize on the success of the movies that were actually good. We currently seem to be in a period where the trend seems to be remakes. Nearly every single mainstream horror movie that comes out now is a remake of either a foreign horror film or a slasher film from the '70s or '80s. Now, some remakes can be good, even great. The 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead is a perfect example of this. They managed to take the basic idea of the original and add a new perspective on it. However, most remakes decide to change nothing and simply throw in more sex and gore. 2008 brought us both remakes of Prom Night which looked like the most watered down piece of crap I'd ever seen in my life and One Missed Call, which lost me in the trailer immediately with the line, "That's not my ringtone." That's another reason I have a great deal of respect for The Strangers. While it's certainly not one of the best horror movies ever, at least it's an original screenplay not just rehashing something from the past. It succeeds by using a very simple concept and using it without dragging on. The concept of home invasion is scary enough as it is. Add in the people in your house being psychotic, masked strangers with no motive or agenda, makes it all the more terrifying. The best method used in the film is the tendency for The Strangers to frequently enter and exit areas with complete silence. While it gets played out after a while, the earliest instances of it are really chilling. The scene that inspired the poster, which features The Man In The Mask slowly entering the room without Liv Tyler being aware, doesn't feature any huge jump scares. It's just the quiet, slow nature in which it is played out that makes it so intense. Maybe it's just the creepy masks The Strangers wear that adds to the overall scariness. The image of Doll Face slowly appearing from the shadows is what stuck in my head for weeks afterwards. Sure, The Strangers probably isn't going to pave the way for horror films of the future. But it managed to be a very effective, creepy thriller which is very rare these days.
19. Let The Right One In
An extremely well-made Swedish horror movie. This movie has been on countless top 10 lists and while I didn't seem to enjoy it as much as most of the critics, it's still quite a unique film for several different reasons. On the surface, it seems like a really standard idea. A young Swedish boy named Oskar who finds himself constantly bullied forms a close romantic relationship with the mysterious neighbor girl, Eli. Things become complicated when Oskar discovers that Eli is a vampire. What makes this film stand out is the execution of it. First of all, making the two leads 12 years old and making the story so adult adds a lot of weight to the situation. Oskar, the protagonist of the film, is actually a very disturbed boy. The constant bullying he is victim to causes him to stand outside at night with a small switchblade, repeatedly stabbing a tree while imagining it is his tormentors. When he finally starts to fight back, he seems to get an almost sexual pleasure from it. Likewise, the life that Eli has to live is portrayed as very tragic. Being a vampire isn't sugarcoated or glorified at all in this film. When Eli gets the thirst for blood, she really turns into a vicious monster. The film carries on a heavy theme of darkness throughout. There are some gruesomely violent scenes throughout, all leading up to the brilliantly executed climax that takes place in a swimming pool. I saw this movie recently, so there's a chance that if it had been in my mind longer to sink in, it could be much higher up. It's just a very well-crafted, serious film that's definitely worth checking out.
18. Ghost Town
I am convinced that Ricky Gervais is the funniest person in the world. His style of comedy is so brilliant and hilarious that it's almost impossible to resist. Wihout him, Ghost Town could have been just a standard romantic comedy, albeit with a slight supernatural twist. His presence lifts the movie up so much and turns it into a very funny comedy that actually has a great deal of heart as well.
17. The Signal
A very creative horror film that uses 3 different writer/directors to tell the story in 3 different segments, all with shifting tones and styles while still managing to make a cohesive, intertwining story. The first segment, or Transmission, has a very suspenseful tone with a good deal of mystery. The second Transmission makes a huge shift into dark comedy horror in the style of Shaun of the Dead. The final Transmission shifts to a very dark, grim tone that lasts until the end. The small cast, all relative unknowns, do a great job with their characters and manage to fit in with the style of each different Transmission. Overall, it's a very creative, well-done film worth checking out if you're a horror fan.
16. Role Models
David Wain's previous two films, Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten, are both very funny films, but they have a very, odd specific sense of humor that doesn't appeal to everyone. By doing a big studio comedy, it would seem as if Wain is just selling out in order to get a bigger audience. However, the final product turns out to be Wain's funniest movie to date. He still manages to keep the quirky sense of humor of his previous films but manages to add a style of comedy that appeals to a wider audience. He also puts together a great cast. Paul Rudd is one of the most underrated comedic actors working today, so it's great to see him in a leading role in such a wide-release film. Seann William Scott manages to finally be likeable again for the first time in years. He also spotlights rising talent as Christopher Mintz-Plasse proves he can possibly move past the McLovin craze and Bobb'e J. Thompson gives a hilarious, foul-mouthed performance. It's a comedy that has a perfect mix of odd, quirky humor and the more current Apatow style of comedy.
15. Cloverfield
I already went into great detail about Cloverfield after I first saw it. You can read it here:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea
My thoughts are pretty much the same almost a year later. Nearly everything J.J. Abrams is involved with is awesome to begin with. Add in the brilliant Drew Goddard as a writer and a very creative style and you have a very memorable movie.
14. Milk
The biopic about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to political office, is both very sad and very uplifting. The hardship and discrimination that Milk faced is very upsetting to watch. However, Milk's determination to never give up and keep trying is so inspirational. The film really gets across how hard it was for gay people in the '70s. How poorly they were treated for just wanting to be a part of the community and live their lives happily. The film is packed with great performances. Sean Penn gives an outstanding performance, possibly the best I've ever seen him give. Likewise, Josh Brolin takes what could have been the very simple role of the angry antagonist into something much deeper and more challenging. Milk really is one of the most respectful portrayals of gay people ever but in film and it's hard not to think that if it were released a few months earlier, that it might have had some effect on the outcome of Prop 8.
13. Snow Angels
A very devastating film, but wonderfully made none the less. It's a very simple story about a group of people in a small town and how their lives connect due to some really heartbreaking circumstances. The cast adds much of the emotion to the story. Kate Beckinsale proves that she can be more than just a pretty face. Michael Angarano adds a lot and gives the movie it's few hopefuly moments. Most worth pointing out though is Sam Rockwell. The range of emotions he shows here is nothing short of amazing. Snow Angels is by no means an easy film to sit through, but it's definitely worth it in the end.
12. WALL-E
There's no arguing that not only has Pixar made the best animated films of the past 14 years, but just some of the best films in general. WALL-E is no different. It has everything you could want from a Pixar film. Absolutely gorgeous visuals and animation, a lot of heart, loveable characters and a smart, deep story that will most likely go over the heads of most of the kids that see it. WALL-E is even more impressive in that there is very little dialogue in the film. A majority of the emotion comes from the visuals and the fact that it succeeds wonderfully speaks volumes for the talent of everyone at Pixar.
11. Pineapple Express
David Gordon Green followed up the devastating Snow Angels by taking a complete 180 and making a stoner action comedy produced by Judd Apatow and co-written by Seth Rogen. Rogen expands on the world he created in Superbad by making a film that has the same brand of humor, while still trying something new. I love the fact that the violence in the movie is portrayed realistically and not in a slapstick way. The scenes remain funny based on the realistic reactions of the people involved. It's also great to finally see James Franco do a comedic role again. Just the first minute he appears on anything is the best work he's done since Freaks And Geeks.
10. Zack And Miri Make A Porno
Kevin Smith can do no wrong in my book. Since Clerks., he has made consistently hilarious movies. Adding actors who frequently work with Judd Apatow only adds to this. Zack And Miri Make A Porno manages to mix everything that Kevin Smith is best at. It is filled with funny, crude dialogue that references pop culture but there is also an extremely sweet love story involved. Smith lets things get pretty serious in the final act, but it ends up adding so much more to the overall love story and the movie is that much better because of it.
9. Iron Man
Such a fun movie. There are tons of great action sequences and the whole style of the movie just emphasizes what a good blockbuster should be. However, the one thing that makes Iron Man stand out is Robert Downey Jr. The amount of energy and charisma he gives to the character of Tony Stark is fantastic and leads to a performance that is hilarious and a lot of fun.
8. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
A huge surprise for me. I enjoyed the first Hellboy but nothing really stood out in it to me. This time around, Guillermo del Toro is allowed to let loose and he gives us a visually amazing film that is exciting, funny and even sad. You wouldn't think that you would be able to sympathize with a big red guy and a man that looks like a fish, but due to the performances, Hellboy and Abe Sapien become fully realized characters. Abe especially stands out as he was given very little to do in the first film. The love story he has in the film is very touching and lets him steal the show. What's even more admirable about the film is the personal touch that del Toro gives the film. The creatures he creates and puts in the film are beyond creative. Nearly every sequence is a feast for the eyes with colors and creatures filling the screen.
7. Burn After Reading
The Coen Brothers follow up No Country For Old Men with a film that is totally different in tone, but just as creative and unique. They take the current popular genre of the political thriller and completely rip into it by putting a group of ridiculous, stupid, selfish characters and putting them in a big story that inevitably spins out of control. Everybody is in top form here, but the real standout is Brad Pitt as Chad. Pitt gives an absolutely hysterical performance that is one of the best of his career.
6. Doubt
An extremely captivating film with outstanding performances. There are several scenes that just feature Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman talking to each other in a room, but the amount of intensity each of them puts into their performance makes it fascinating to watch. Amy Adams also continues to prove how talented she is with her very subtle performance. It's a very small story that doesn't give any easy answers and leaves a lot of ambiguity, but it doesn't make it any less compelling to watch.
5. Tropic Thunder
An epic comedy on every scale. Full of huge action sequences that are impressive to watch and it features the best comedy cast of the year. Every single cast member has something to offer to the movie. Yet again, Robert Downey Jr. stands out with his brilliant performance of devoted actor Kirk Lazarus. Tom Cruise also is a huge surprise as the foul-mouthed studio exectuive, Les Grossman. Aside from that, Jay Baruchel finally gets a bigger role to show his talent and Bill Hader, Danny McBride and Steve Coogan are all hilarious in their smaller but still significant roles. On top of that, Tropic Thunder is a really great jab at the movie industry and actors specifically.
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
My love for the work of Judd Apatow is no secret. I love the fact that he's managed to make the main characters of his movies geeky, everyday guys and the mainstream audience responds to it. It's nice to finally see guys like me as leading men in movies. I also love that Apatow is giving everyone he has worked with in the past their moment in the spotlight. In Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel gets his chance as both leading man and writer. He really puts himself out there in every sense of the word by giving a really honest portrayal of guy who has had his heart broken and is trying to put himself back together. The movie also makes an interesting choice by making the titular Sarah Marshall not as horrible as she originally seems. Part of that may be due to the performance of the always lovely Kristen Bell, but overall, I think it's mostly the very realistic, relatable style that every Apatow produced movie is given.
3. Slumdog Millionaire
A really uplifting story. Jamal, a young Indian man, is about to win the grand prize on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. He is then accused of cheating as nobody thinks a kid from the slums of Indiana could get all these questions right. As we look back on the show and Jamal answers each question, we get a look at his past and get to see how everything that happened to him brought him where he is today. We get to see two great dynamics throughout the years, one with Jamal and his troubled brother Salim, and the other with Jamal and the love of his life, Latika. The way each relationship is played out throughout the years, all wonderfully portrayed by 6 different actors, is beautifully well-written. The style Danny Boyle gives the film is extremely appealing and the film just has a great feeling of hope and happiness that gives it so much heart and charm.
2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Like Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tells the life story of someone. However, this man is aging backwards and instead of an overall feeling of happiness and hope, this film focuses more on how nothing lasts and how tragic that can be. I don't really know what to say about this film. It's just beautiful in every way. David Fincher changes his usual dark, gritty style for a film full of gorgeous visuals and simply outstanding make-up and special effects. The story is even more beautiful. Benjamin faces so many upsetting and sad situations throughout his life, but he just accepts and continues to move on. The relationship between him and Daisy, the love of his life, is wonderful and tragic all at the same time. It's nearly 3 hours long, but it didn't drag once for me. It was just fascinating to watch the sad but beautiful life story of Benjamin Button.
1. The Dark Knight
Absolutely phenomenal in every way. The genius Christopher Nolan completely changes what a comic book film could be by making this dark epic. While previous Batman films have added a somewhat campy aspect, Nolan treats everything very realistic and serious. Gotham City is portrayed as a city that is falling apart and Batman is not just a hero in a suit, but a vigilante trying to keep it from becoming completely corrupt. The cast in this is perfect. Say what you will about the gravelly voice he uses for Batman, but Christian Bale is perfect as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. He really portrays the huge burden Bruce has to endure by being Batman. Gary Oldman really gets to shine as James Gordon. Given only a supporting role in Batman Begins, he is given just as much screentime as Batman this time around. He seems to be only the good cop left of Gotham and Oldman really portrays the desperation that Gordon has dealing with this fact. Aaron Eckhart is absolutely fantastic as Harvey Dent, the one person who could actually save Gotham. He gives him so much charm and makes him such a likeable person, that his inevitable transformation into Two-Face becomes all the more shocking and sad. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a huge step up from Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes. She manages to convey the love she still has for Bruce, but also gets across why she can't ever be with him. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman both expand on the great performances they gave in the first film. But of course, the true star of The Dark Knight is Heath Ledger as The Joker. I'll admit, I was very skeptical when it was announced Ledger would be playing The Joker. All it took was The Joker's "magic trick" to prove how wrong I was. Ledger completely transforms himself here and gives an astonishingly amazing performance that finally gets the character of The Joker right. I never really cared for Jack Nicholson's portrayal in Tim Burton's Batman and while Mark Hamill's voice work for the character in the animated series was awesome, it still didn't hit the character right. In the past, The Joker has always been portrayed as a clown who plays practical jokes and is insane. Ledger and Nolan fully realize the character for what he is; a sick, twisted genius who has no motive. The Joker has no desire for money or power. He simply wants to cause chaos and bring out the ugly side of humanity, because he finds it funny. That is the dark genius of the character and it's wonderful to finally see it realized on the big screen. Everytime I watch the film, I still can't seem to wrap my head around how brilliant Ledger is in the role. The fact that he died so young is even more tragic as the film displays how much he had to offer as an actor. Among the brilliant performances in the film, The Dark Knight is filled with great story twists that completely go against the conventions of most comic book movies. Main characters are killed, people make the wrong choices, it's surprising to watch, considering what we have become used to in a comic book film. The ending stands out the most. The way Nolan chooses to end the film is so unexpected and against convention, but at the same time, so true to the character of Batman.
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MOVIE THAT MIGHT HAVE MADE THE LIST IF I ACTUALLY HAD GOTTEN TO SEE IT
The Wrestler
This movie looks fantastic and Mickey Rourke's performance looks nothing short of amazing. But apparently, theaters in the area don't get it as soon as everywhere else and when it does, it only is played at one theater. But Bedtime Stories gets 4 screens. I'm confused.
MOVIE I WAS MOST SURPRISED TO ENJOY
27 Dresses
No idea why but I found this movie to be really cute and charming. Nothing too groundbreaking for a romantic comedy but the appeal of the lovely Katherine Heigl added a lot and made for a very good way to spend a couple hours.
BIGGEST "WTF?" MOVIE
The Happening
I'm sorry. I went in wanting to enjoy this movie. I really, really tried. But I just couldn't. The acting is so awkward and everyone seems like they don't know what they're supposed to be doing. And when M. Night Shyamalan finally made an R-rated film, he really should have taken advantage of it, instead of a few brief glimpses of tame violence. But the thing I can't get past is that the antagonist is plants. I get the point. Our world is in trouble. But seriously? Plants? And it's not even something ridiculous and fun like mutant, killer plants. It's just plants. And there's seriously moments where the characters are running from the wind..THE WIND. That's what passes for suspense these days? Again, I really tried to like this movie, but I just couldn't.
MOVIE TOO WELL-MADE TO FIND A PROPER SPOT ON MY GOOFY-ASS LIST
The Reader
Usually every year, there's a movie that's insanely well made. It's more than likely a better film than most of the ones I have on my list. So why do I leave it off all together? Hard to say. Part of it is that most of my list is done on how much I personally enjoyed the movie or how much fun I had with it. Sometimes I really enjoy and respect a movie but can't see myself watching it repeated times in the future. Other times, a film is just so incredibly well-made that it kind of speaks for itself and I figure my geeky point of view can't do it justice. That was the case a couple of years ago with The Fountain and that's the case this year with The Reader. It's a really moving, tragic story about a young man named Michael and his relationship with a woman named Hannah who has a dark secret in her past and how it affects the rest of his life. And at the same time, it's about so much more than that. This is what I mean by me not being able to do it justice. It's a very quiet film but at the same time, the subtext says so much more. Kate Winslet yet again gives a fabulous performance that should make the Academy kick themselves in the ass for not giving her an award yet. David Kross and Ralph Fiennes are also amazing as Michael at different ages. It's a story where you know there will be no possibility of a happy ending, but you find yourself engrossed anyway, just because the film and everyone in it is in top form. Much like Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, it follows the main character through a series of decades, but unlike the other two, there is not really one moment of true happiness or possible hope. The characters are doomed because of choices they made, and in the case of Hannah, it's even more tragic because it was really the only choice available to her at the time. The film also manages to speak volumes with just images. The most haunting sequence of the film involves Michael walking through an old concentration camp. The sequence lasts a few minutes with no dialogue, but just Michael's body language, mixed with the haunting score tell you everything you need to know. Likewise, as Michael becomes more devastated by the events happening to him, he doesn't really speak about it. Everything is just portrayed in his worn and weary face. Same goes for Hannah near the end of the film. In the last few scenes she is in, she doesn't have a great deal of dialogue, but you can tell what she is feeling just through the expression on her aged face and the sadness in her eyes. Movies that are able to achieve this much depth and poignancy really deserve just to be seen and anything I can say about it in my dorky blog can't do it justice.
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So that's it for my Best of 2008 lists. Hope you enjoyed reading it. 2009 is looking to be a great year for the movies as well, so I'm hoping this list will be just as fun to choose from next year!
- Location:Apartment 9
- Mood:nerdy
Okay, time to jump into my favorite music of 2008. This year, instead of doing seperate album and song lists, I'm just going to include my top 20 albums of the year and then include my favorite song from said album. I'll also throw in a couple extra thoughts at the end of the list. So here we go...
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20. Charlotte Sometimes-"Waves And The Both Of Us"
A really solid, fun debut album. Charlotte Sometimes has a really strong, unique voice and a very clever, songwriting style. My one complaint with the album is that is a bit too overproduced. Her songs are extremely catchy with snarky, smart lyrics just on their own. They don't need to be completely touched up with a computer. If she goes for a more stripped down sound on her next album, Charlotte Sometimes could make an even better album.
FAVORITE SONG:
"AEIOU"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW1tukeIk
A really cleverly written song with an awesome beat and melody.
19. Old 97's-"Blame It On Gravity"
Rhett Miller is an extremely overlooked singer/songwriter and his band, Old 97's, have, for over a decade now, made consistently great music that's a mix of rock, pop and country. While it's not the best album the band's ever done, it's still a great showcase for Rhett Miller's talents and great songwriting style.
FAVORITE SONG:
"I Will Remain"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvTadu9Ei
The band doing what they do best. Simple catchy, yet slightly sad songs about love.
18. Phantom Planet-"Raise The Dead"
This was a very pleasant surprise for me. I was extremely disappointed by Phantom Planet's self-titled previous album. Gone were their fun pop songs now replaced with noisy, sloppy garage rock songs in order to capitalize on the popularity of bands like The Strokes. After 4 years, they came back in full force with their best album yet. A completely awesome album that still maintains their old pop song sensibilities but adds a good deal of heavy, sometimes Brit-influenced rock. Add in a running concept involving a cult and you have a step in the right direction. Of course, this past November, the band announced their indefinite hiatus.
FAVORITE SONG:
"Leader"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJGjObVkn
A really catchy acoustic melody and the chorus of children is a weird, yet awesome touch.
17. Reggie and the Full Effect-"Last Stop: Crappy Town"
James Dewees started to stray from the typical Reggie fashion on his last album, Songs Not To Get Married To. It had a darker tone. On the other hand, it also had songs called "Laura's Australian Dance Party" and "Deathnotronic". If the last album was dark, Last Stop: Crappy Town is pitch black. The album was recorded while Dewees was going through rehab and the result is an angry, loud album that is Reggie's best to date. A majority of the songs feature raspy, screamed vocals which I usually hate but it works well here, because you can really feel as if Dewees is doing so to pour his feelings out in his songs. The instrumental mix is also great. There is still the heavy use of synths but added this time are really heavy guitars and a lot more piano. There are several short musical interludes that add a lot to the mood as well. "36th St." sounds like it could be the score for a horror movie. Overall, it's a very dark album but also the most fully realized by Dewees to date.
FAVORITE SONG:
"R"
http://www.myspace.com/reggiendafulleffe
The best My Chemical Romance song that MCR didn't write or record.
16. Snow Patrol-"A Hundred Million Suns"
It's strange. Snow Patrol seemed to be all over the place for a while with "Chasing Cars" and then they kind of faded away. It's a shame because A Hundred Million Suns is better and more ambitious than Eyes Open. It's still full of the soaring melodies and intimate lyrics they've perfected over the years and they've also added a lot more such as in the epic 16 minute closer, "The Lightning Strike".
FAVORITE SONG:
"Crack The Shutters"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=942tk_Y1b
Just a perfect love anthem.
15. Travis-"Ode To J. Smith"
Travis decided to do something different on their sixth album. They turned away from the gorgeous Brit-pop they've become known for and decided to go back to the rawer, more rock-oriented sound of their debut album. The result is a really fun album that has the energy of Good Feeling and the songwriting style of their more recent songs.
FAVORITE SONG:
"Long Way Down"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDZ41k2UV-Y
Just classic Scottish pop rock at it's best.
14. Nada Surf-"Lucky"
Despite their constantly evolving perfect indie-rock, Nada Surf hasn't been able to be more than a one-hit wonder to the general public. While they are still mostly known for 1996's "Popular", they've gone so far beyond that and become one of the most talented, consistently great indie band. Lucky seems to be the culmination of everything they've done over the years, resulting in a solid album that shows the band at their best.
FAVORITE SONG:
"Weightless"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA8__Y4VN
A perfectly crafted indie rock song with an almost dreamlike flow to it.
13. Death Cab For Cutie-"Narrow Stairs"
Death Cab For Cutie has always been somewhat of a dark band. Despite the beautiful melodies they create, their lyrics alwasy have a very morose style to them. On Narrow Stairs, the music matches the lyrics. The band creates a series of really interesting, complex arrangements on the album that gives the whole thing a dark mood to it. Despite that, the music still manages to be enjoyable thanks to Ben Gibbard's beautiful songwriting skills and vocals.
FAVORITE SONG:
"Your New Twin Sized Bed"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZlAYi6wm
While "I Will Possess Your Heart" and "Grapevine Fires" have gotten most of the attention on the album, this one remains my favorite. Just a very simple song with a beautiful melody.
12. The Fratellis-"Here We Stand"
The Scottish band picks up where Costello Music left off with even more simply perfect pop-rock songs. They have a very simple style to their songs, but each one is so catchy and full of energy, it's hard to resist them.
FAVORITE SONG:
"Milk And Money"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH4KCaeEi
As fantastic at The Fratellis' heavier, faster songs are, the ones that really speak to me are their slower ones. Such is the example with this one. Beautifuly piano melody slowing building up into awesomeness.
11. Ben Folds-"Way To Normal"
As much as I enjoyed Songs For Silverman, something just seemed off about it. There were some great songs on there, but aside from a few tracks, it just didn't feel like Ben Folds. That completely changes on Way To Normal, where the personal side of Ben Folds is all over the place. Written after his divorce, Folds is back to his smartass self here. Instead of wallowing in sadness, he goes a different route and writes some very funny, smart lyrics such as the line "If there's a God, he is laughing at us and our football team" in "Effington". And, as usual, his amazing piano skills are on full display here. From the rousing opener, "Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head)" to the very pretty closing number, "Kylie From Connecticut", Ben Folds is back on his game.
FAVORITE SONG:
"You Don't Know Me" (featuring Regina Spektor)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU-BeaI0X
A really catchy melody with a great beat. Plus, I loves me some Regina Spektor.
10. Lenka-"Lenka"
The best pop album of the year. Such a bright, sunny album full of gorgeous melodies and arrangements all made better by the sweet voice by the Australian singer. Sorry to bring out a phrase probably not used since the '30s, but this album is so sweet, you'll get a toothache. I mean one of the lines on the album is "You seem to know the way to turn my frown upside down". But it still works. Extremely well. Or maybe it's just because I have a thing for cute, petite girls with accents. Who knows?
FAVORITE SONG:
"Bring Me Down"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcYdBfH5Z
Opening with a gorgeous a cappella harmony and busting into a cheerful meldoy, this song is pure joy.
9. The Hush Sound-"Goodbye Blues"
I don't get it. Fall Out Boy is big, Panic at the Disco is big. Hell, even Gym Class Heroes are big despite the fact that both the most memorable parts of their two hits songs are samples of older songs. But somehow, one of the most talented bands on DecayDance remain in obscurity. The Hush Sound has such an original sound. Their piano heavy style of pop-rock is so infectious and enjoyable to listen to. The band also took a huge step up by giving Greta Salpeter more of an opportunity to showcase her beautiful voice.
FAVORITE SONG:
"Love You Much Better"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcTWZbOv
If nothing else, this song is awesome for it's almost ragtime style to it, complete with rollicking piano solo. I can picture this being played in an old-timey saloon.
8. Butch Walker-"Sycamore Meadows"
A majority of the world has probably heard Butch Walker's work without even knowing it. Over the past few years, he has produced and co-written songs for artists such as Pink, Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne. Despite that, his brilliant solo work goes mostly unnoticed. His previous solo albums were great, but mostly seemed to be experiments with different styles of rock. Sycamore Meadows is a very intimate, personal album. Written after the California wildfires burned down his house and destroyed all of his belongings, the album has Walker reflecting on his life and thinking about where he is now and how far he's come. He looks at everything from his upbringing in the South to the music industry today and the finished product is a really terrific solo album.
FAVORITE SONG:
"A Song For The Metalheads"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU1BfGemp
A very simple song with just acoustic guitar and harmonica but the lyrics are genius as Butch takes a look at the state of the music industry today.
7. Fall Out Boy-"Folie a Deux"
It's really disappointing that Fall Out Boy has been saddled with the "emo" tag. Mostly because of Pete Wentz's look more than anything else, this band is pigeonholed into a much-moked genre while, in reality, they are making some of the best power-pop out there and are getting more increasingly talented with each album. Folie a Deux is full of awesome riffs and beats and Patrick Stump is proving himself to be one of the best singers in rock music.
FAVORITE SONG:
(tie)
"Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6WgoD0U
"20 Dollar Nose Bleed" (featuring Brendon Urie)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSZb8xHWM
It was too hard to decide. The first one is notable for it's kick ass beat, Patrick's deep vocals in the verse and the harmonies on the chorus. The second is notable for it's piano heavy style, awesome horn section and guest appearance by Brendon Urie.
6. weezer-"The Red Album"/Rivers Cuomo-"Alone II: The Home Recordings Of Rivers Cuomo"
Not much to say here. weezer is and will always be one of my favorite bands. Rivers Cuomo is a genius songwriter, plain and simple. weezer has hit a few snags in the road over the years, but they are in top form on The Red Album and it is actually the most personal weezer album since Pinkerton. People might disagree and still complain about how Rivers doesn't write personal songs anymore but he's just at a different point in his life. He isn't pining after girls on tour anymore. He's married with a child now, so this album has him reflecting back on his life and thinking about where he is today because of it. The album is also noticable for being the first to feature songs written and sung by the other members of the band, which adds a nice touch, as we get to see the talent they have as well. With Alone II, we get to see how Rivers has evolved as a songwriter. Featuring songs from the pre-weezer to now, we really get a look at what a deeply smart, talented songwriter he is.
FAVORITE SONG:
"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations On A Shaker Hymn)"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIbnlvjF5
Epic to the core. Fiting several different styles into 6 minutes and we get a power pop masterpiece.
5. The Killers-"Day & Age"
One of the reasons I love The Killers so much is that they don't care what people think. After the critical dismissal of the brilliant Sam's Town, it would have been easy for them to simply play it safe and make their next album Hot Fuss Part II. Instead, Brandon Flowers ignored the critics and made the album he wanted to make. The result is a really ambitious, creative album, featuring the band's signature sound but adding new touches such as saxophone and steel drums in their songs. Sure, the album doesn't have the wide appeal of their earlier material, but it's a band doing what they want and you have to respect that.
FAVORITE SONG:
"Human"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6r4KT8-V
The best single of the year. An insanely catchy melody with an amazing beat.
4. Switches-"Lay Down The Law"
The best new band of 2008 and the best debut album of the year. This British band has created 11 of the best, most energetic power pop songs I've ever heard in my life. Every single track has at least one moment that stands out just in terms of musical perfection. Nothing else to say, really. Just seek this band out and listen to them. You won't be disappointed.
FAVORITE SONG:
"Killer Karma"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzyqU5GiM
A great acoustic driven number with a fantastic sing-along chorus.
3. Coldplay-"Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends"
For some reason, Coldplay has taken a huge amount of shit from the general public. I have no idea why, but the band's latest album finally seemed to shut everyone up. A much more stripped-down and rawer album, Viva La Vida features some of the band's best songs ever. They manage to have their usual huge anthems as well as quieter, more intimate songs. As a whole, it's an excellent, smoothly flowing album.
FAVORITE SONG:
"42"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0xfWCDLo
Starting as a quiet ballad and building up into a rock anthem, this song rules all.
2. Panic at the Disco-"Pretty. Odd."
I'l be straight forward here. Despite how you feel about Panic at the Disco, you cannot deny that Pretty. Odd. is an ambitious album. Anybody who still calls this band emo is just stubborn and refusing to really listen to their new sound. The band took a huge risk and made a sophomore album that is absolutely nothing like their debut. It's at the point where I have some trouble now listening to A Fever You Can't Sweat Out just because everything about Pretty. Odd. is superior. And don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed their first album. It just seems as if the band really found their voice on this album. Each song is layered with all sorts of strings and guitars and filled with all sorts of unique, poetic lyrics making an album that feels like the equivalent of a fairytale. It is perfect in every way and I can't wait to see where the band will go from here.
FAVORITE SONG:
"Behind The Sea"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFmNpMiDv
The best thing Panic did on Pretty. Odd. was given Ryan Ross the opportunity to showcase his singing abilities. Much more of it in the future please.
1. Get Set Go-"Sunshine, Joy, and Happiness"
I've spoken endlessly about my love for Get Set Go, so I'll keep it short. Mike TV is one of the most honest, clever songwriters out there right now. He has the ability to write extremely dark lyrics and mix them with really upbeat melodies and a sharp sense of humor. If you appreciate honest, smart, catchy and all around great music, do yourself a favor and check out Get Set Go.
FAVORITE SONG:
They're all great. Just go to their page and see for yourself.
www.myspace.com/getsetgo
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MOST DISAPPOINTING ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
Wolf Parade-"At Mount Zoomer"
Wolf Parade's debut album, Apologies To The Queen Mary, was #1 on my Best of 2005 list. It was a perfect indie rock album full of instantly catchy songs. Their sophomore album is full of songs that have very little structure and seem to never end. I know it's probably supposed to be artistic and creative, but it just comes off as sloppy to me.
MAINSTREAM SINGLE THAT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO RESIST:
Katy Perry-"I Kissed A Girl"
Sure, the drum beat is a rip off of Gary Glitter, but this song is undeniably catchy. Plus, as a man, it's safe to sing without having people question your sexuality...until the line "I hope my boyfriend don't mind it." Oops.
BEST CROSSOVER FROM FILM TO MUSIC:
Zooey Deschanel
The debut album from Deschanel's band She & Him just barely made my list. Deschanel has an absolutely beautiful, timeless voice that just connects the instant it hits your ears. Here's an example with the gorgeous song "Sentimental Heart"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djg8EqrNb
When Deschanel did a handful of songs for the movie Yes Man, she proved she could pull off '80s synth rock as well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRyoCamSc
Beautiful and extremely talented. What more could you ask for?
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So that's it for music. Hope you enjoyed! Come back tomorrow where I'll be going through my favorite movies of 2008.
- Location:Home
- Mood:nerdy
Well another year has passed. 2008 was quite a good one for me and I'm hoping 2009 will be even better. Hope everybody's holidays went well. We're about a week into the new year, so I figured it was time to finally unveil my annual "Best of" lists. I really don't know why I put so much time in effort into something that honestly less than a dozen people will probably read, but here's the thing: I have an absolute blast writing them. Movies, music and television are some of the most important things in my life and being able to reflect back on them at the end of the year and think about what I liked and didn't in perspective is a lot of fun for me. So despite how little attention this will receive, I still do it, just for my own benefit.
As usual, I'm going to start out with my favorite television shows. I'm going to do something a little different this year though; Instead of just doing my basic top 10, I'm also going to touch upon other shows I happen to watch, but may not be as devoted to. So here we go...
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10. Fringe
The newest show from J.J. Abrams has had quite an interesting development. I found the first few episodes very intriguing. Very cool sci-fi, mystery show with a lot of potential. Over the course of the first few weeks, my interest kind of waned because of a certain formula. The opening incidents along with the overall story-arc moments in the show were beyond awesome. However, each episode seemed to stall during the middle of the show, when it would simply get into chase mode, with Olivia and Peter, rushing to find the enemy before something bad happened. It was frustrating. However, with Episode 1x07, "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones", the show really got into the heavy mythology stuff and the show has been fascinating ever since. It all ended with a completely awesome midseason cliffhanger which involved Mr. Jones being teleported out of prison and Olivia being abducted (by shady agents, not aliens). The show still has some kinks to work out (less chase the villain scenarios in the third act, Anna Torv needs to showcase more than one emotion) but if it does, it has potential to be a great sci-fi show.
9. Saturday Night Live/30 Rock
Okay, I know ties are kind of bullshit but most of the time, I do them because the two things are connected in some way. That's more or less the case with SNL and 30 Rock. Both are produced by Lorne Michaels, feature Tina Fey, and the show within a show on 30 Rock is obviously a parody of SNL. My views on these 2 shows are much different than those of the critics. Most of the critics have pretty much denounced SNL in recent years, saying the only reason worth watching is the political material and Weekend Update. I'll admit that I had lost touch with the show for a few years. I don't know what it was but I just didn't find it that funny anymore. Then a few years ago, SNL became a thousand times better for two reasons: Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. Don't get me wrong, Andy Samberg's really funny and he deserves recognition for introducing the SNL Digital Short which I believe are some of the most creative pieces of comedy to be released in recent years. But among anything else, Hader and Wiig saved the show in my eyes. They both brought a new, fresh energy that the show desperately needed. Kristen Wiig has become one of the best female performers the show has ever had and is quite possibly the funniest woman working right now, in my eyes at least. She has created a series of bizarre, quirky but still hilarious and even endearing characters. She always give 110% in every role she does. On top of that, she is EXTREMELY attractive. Then there's Bill Hader, who I believe could be a humongous comedy star if given the opportunity. The one problem with him on the show is that he is constantly given the straight-man role in skits, where he simply sets up the jokes or reacts to them. His talents are really being put to waste. Not only is he a master impressionist, but he has such a unique, genuinely funny style of his own comedy that really needs to be showcased more. Lorne Michaels really needs to just clean house (seriously, I'm convinced Darrell Hammond is just wandering around the studio now and everyone's just afraid to tell him to leave) and spotlight it's truly talented players. My thoughts on 30 Rock are genuinely different than the critics. It's a very funny show, yes, but I don't think it's the savior of TV comedy as the critics make it out to be. Which brings me to my two issues with both shows. When these shows are on the top of their game, it's comedy genius, but when they're off, it can be painful. With SNL, it usually lies with the host. For one thing, I really wish they would stop letting athletes host. While the Michael Phelps episode this season wasn't terrible, Phelps' constantly stilted delivery was really obnoxious. It's kind of a crapshoot. The hosts you think will be great sometimes bring the worst episodes of the season (Anna Faris & Hugh Laurie this season) and the ones you think will be underwhelming end up providing some of the best (Josh Brolin). Another big factor depends on how often they use certain players. As I mentioned before, Bill Hader frequently gets the shaft. Also, they need to take a risk and not be afraid to use their featured players more in order to see what they have to offer. They just get too reliant on certain players sometimes. I think Amy Poehler is very funny, but seeing her in every single sketch can get a little tiring. 30 Rock's major problem really only became apparent this season; the heavy reliance on guest stars. The show has always used guest stars and it has brought about some of the show's best moments. But it's best when they're in supporting roles, such as last season with Tim Conway or Matthew Broderick. This season, the show has made a habit of tailoring the plot completely around the guest star, such as with Jennifer Aniston and Steve Martin and the show has been lacking because of it. At it's core, the show should be about the behind-the-scenes antics of the sketch comedy show, not the crazy people they meet in their everyday lives. In 2008, my 3 favorite episodes of 30 Rock ("MILF Island", "Sandwich Day" and "Reunion" for the record) were all episodes that, wouldn't you know it, had no major guest stars. It sounds as if I'm being harsh on these 2 shows but I do genuinely enjoy them. As I said before, when they're at the top of the games, they're brilliant, and it's a pattern I hope they continue to follow.
8. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
The best thing about It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is how it's developed over the course of it's short 4 seasons. It started out as kind of a dirtier, more controversial Seinfeld. It was four self-involved friends but they swore and instead of puffy shirts and soup nazis, they joked about abortion and racism. It was hilariously funny but the show really found it's voice in Season 3 and perfected it in Season 4. They embraced the more manic aspects of humor and the show has now become like a live action cartoon, with the gang running around causing havoc and putting on costumes like a live-action version of the Looney Tunes. When the gang encounters outside characters, it is realized how horrible and self-centered they are, but at the same time, they're so stupid and naive, that it's kind of hard not to love them. If the show has become a live action Looney Tunes, then the Daffy Duck of the show is Charlie Kelly, played brilliantly by Charlie Day. Charlie is such a strange, ball of energy that is truly the spirit of the show. Despite the despicable things the gang does, Charlie seems to be the one who always means well, simply because he doesn't seem to know better. The more odd quirks that are revealed about him as the show progresses, the more insanely loveable he becomes. He truly, in my opinion, is one of the best comedy characters of all time. Another fun aspect of the show is the small circle of supporting characters that frequent throughout the show. The slow breakdown of Rickety Cricket is always sad yet hilarious to watch and the relationship between Charlie and The Waitress, is brilliantly played out, the smart-ass answer to the "will they/won't they" relationships on most television shows. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is a great show because it completely embraces it's insane nature and, much like the main characters, doesn't care about anything other than itself.
7. Life On Mars
I'll admit, I still haven't seen the U.K. original, but I was instantly hooked on the U.S. remake. It is by far the best new show in an otherwise dismal new season. The show has a perfect blend of police procedural and sci-fi/mystery. Plus there's frequent use of David Bowie music. Can't go wrong there. The cast is top notch, with Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli giving the show it's unique tough, funny style and Gretchen Mol giving the show a lot of heart. Only 7 episodes have aired so far, with a tantalizing cliffhanger finishing off the year, but if it stays on the route it's going, it'll turn out to be even more awesome.
6. Pushing Daisies
I don't really know what to say here. Pushing Daisies is a completely unique, creative show with nothing else like it on TV. Of course, it's been cancelled. Bryan Fuller creates a show that is beautifully inventive, in terms of both story and look, and yet ABC treats it like a bastard stepchild, barely promoting it and shelving the final 3 episodes until they can burn them all of in one night on an as of yet undisclosed date. The show had a fantastic cast and an overall sweet spirit to it with a sly, clever dark side as well. The show took it's time and in the course of the past few episodes has developed a fascinating storyline involving Chuck's father. But, most viewers today are so god damn impatient and need their stories resolved in an hour. So, as the show was setting the stages for things to come in later episodes, viewers didn't seem to want to bother with the more subtle aspects of the show and ABC didn't seem to want to wait around for them to come back around or even bother promoting it more heavily. So for the third time in a row, after Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, Bryan Fuller has seen his unique vision cancelled due to lack of understanding by both the network and a majority of the viewing public.
5. Chuck
In it's first season, Chuck was simply a fun spy comedy. Very enjoyable but it didn't really stand out. In the second season, the show has really stepped things up. They have put much more of an emphasis on story and even drama and the show has become much richer because of it. This season, we really start to understand the strain being in charge of the Intersect is having on Chuck. We also are finding out much more about Sarah and her past and how her job has essentially taken away her life. The show now has a great mix of comedy, action, drama and suspense and frequently has several interesting story twists, most notable in the last new episode where Chuck witnessed Sarah execute somebody who had put his life in danger. Among everything else though, the show is still extremely fun with a great cast. The cast expanded this year to showcase the Buy More team a lot more and the show now has a really great ensemble. The show is on a roll and I'm really excited to see what the rest of the season has in store.
4. How I Met Your Mother
I've said before how HIMYM is the most underrated comedy on television and the fourth season of the show just further emphasizes that. This season, the show has put a lot more emphasis on the more serious aspects of the show, most notably with Ted being left at the altar by Stella. These serious moments really give the show a lot of it's heart and make it stand out so much more than other sitcoms. On top of that though, HIMYM still stands out for it's unique style, hilarious tone and perfect cast. All 5 members of the cast play perfectly off of each other and individually add something special to the show. It's gotten to the point where you're not in a hurry to meet the titular mother of the show, because the main ensemble is so enjoyable. Each week tuning in is just like spending some time with a group of close friends.
3. Supernatural
I actually just got into Supernatural this year, thanks to Aarika. I caught up quickly and discovered what's one of the most well-made, overlooked shows on television. It's a show that manages to mix horror, comedy, suspense and drama seamlessly into one show and, more often than not, into single episodes. It takes a lot for a show to really connect with me and when it does, I really take note and respect the show for it. That happened with the Season 3 finale, "No Rest For The Wicked" and the brutal death of Dean. It was absolutely horrifying to watch and despite the fact that I knew for a fact that he would be returning next season, I still got chills and had my hair stand up on end. Being able to make a scene that powerful is no easy feat. Season 4 is turning out to be the best yet. The show seems to be all about the story arc of an upcoming apocalypse this year and each episode is packed with exciting information that develops the story further. Worth mentioning even more is the addition of the character Castiel, a mysterious angel giving cryptic advice to Dean and Sam. Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles have had the difficult task of completely holding the show on their own. Many recurring guest characters have appeared but, aside from the endlessly awesome Bobby, they mostly have disappeared, leaving us emotionally invested in the Winchester brothers. The fact that in only a few episodes, Castiel has managed to become such a complex, fully realized character speaks volumes of the talent of show mastermind, Eric Kripke. This season has been evolving into something epic and I can't wait to see it play out. Eric Kripke is still no Joss Whedon, but if he keeps playing things out as they are, he's getting pretty damn close.
2. The Office
I never thought I'd say this, but it turns out there was a positive aspect to the Writer's Strike of last year. When Season 4 of The Office began, it was still great, but something was just off. There was much less of a focus on the everyday life of the Dunder Mifflin crew and more focus on the crazy escapes of Michael. Well, during the break, something happened and the writers got their shit together, leading to some of the best episodes of the show ever. Starting with "Dinner Party", the show started doing more dark humor and went back to it's roots of focusing on character over situations. The season ended with the introduction of Holly Flax, brilliantly played by Amy Ryan, who is one of the best things to ever happen to the show. Through her, we further got to see the more sympathetic, human side of Michael. The streak is continuing so far in Season 5. Nearly every episode has been self-contained in the office and character is coming first. A lot more of the supporting characters are being spotlighted and there's a good mixture of both dark and light humor. The show still has a couple of kinks to work out (sorry, I love me some Pam Beesly, but she is different lately, and not for the better), but overall The Office is in top form and continues to prove that is the best comedy on television.
1. LOST
Despite my intense love for LOST, I'm willing to admit that Season 3 had it's flaws. There were a few episodes that seemed to be just filler (i.e. Jack in Thailand and Claire trying to get the 815ers rescued with birds). Despite all that, the season ended on an extremely high note with the awesome introduction of the flash-forwards. After the end of the season, Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse, the head writers and masterminds of the show, finally got an end date set for the series, Season 6. Now knowing how much time they had to put the rest of the pieces in place, they got to work and brought us Season 4, which just might be the best season of LOST to date. The amount of story and character development, plot twists and revelation that Damon & Carlton managed to fit into one season is astonishing, let alone the fact that, due to the Writer's Strike, they only had 13 episodes to do it. We were given the fascinating flash-forwards involving The Oceanic 6 and, on the island, were introduced to the freighter crew, which includes the immensely awesome Daniel Faraday. Along with the crew, we began to see how the answers to the series will slowly be revealed. It seems time travel will somehow be involved which I'm immensely excited about. One of the reasons I love LOST so much is how much respect it has for it's devoted viewers. It doesn't spoon feed you anything and if you're not sharp enough to keep up with the breakneck speed of the plot, you can fuck right off. It is a heavily plotted show rich with interweaving mysteries and storylines that slowly unfold like a great novel. However, among all the mystery, LOST is, at it's heart, about character. Who would have thought way back in Season 2, that we would end up feeling sympathy for Ben? This happened due in part to the outstanding performance by Michael Emerson. When Ben witnesses his daughter, Alex, get executed right in front of him, he is able to convey so much emotion with a single look. Likewise, the two most powerful moments of the season came in small, intimate moments with the love story of Desmond & Penny. Their phone conversation in "The Constant" was one of the most emotional moments in the series of the show and the payoff in the finale turned it into a truly classic love story. LOST manages to mix deep, smart mysteries along with brilliant character development, fantastic acting with gorgeous locations, genius writing with perfect directing. Any one of these on it's own would lead to a great show. Put them all together and you get not only the best show of the year, but one of the best series of all time.
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Now it's time to rattle off a few other thoughts on shows in 2008.
WHAT'S THE POINT OF STILL WATCHING THIS AGAIN?
My Name Is Earl
The show was beginning to lose me last season when the title character spent half the season in prison and most of the second half in a coma. Now it's something I just have on as background noise. I think Jason Lee is hilarious but each episode is just a half hour of forgettable jokes now.
MY INTEREST IS WAINING
House M.D.
Don't get me wrong. Hugh Laurie is absolutely brilliant as Dr. House, but watching this season, I can't help but feel it's the same thing every week. Patient with mysterious diagnosis comes in, staff is confused, House is snarky and says patient is lying, patient gets worse, House hits on Cuddy, patient is about to die, House saves patient at last minute. The near-to-none screen time that that original team (Foreman, Cameron, Chase) gets is just annoying as the new team is so bland. All we have now is Girl with Huntington's, Guy Who Cheated On His Wife...and Kal Penn. The guest stars can be good but for every Felicia Day and Breckin Meyer, there's a Fred Durst (that one still hurts). It's still better than most medical dramas on TV, but I just find myself losing interest.
YOU'RE ON UNSTABLE GROUND
Weeds
Weeds took a bold move in Season 4 by completely uprooting the characters and putting them in a new location. It had some interesting developments but by the end of the season, I was left realizing that not much happened. Justin Kirk and Kevin Nealon are still hilarious and make the show worth watching and I actually have enjoyed the extremely disturbing evolution of Shane, but all of the problems seem to lie with the main character, Nancy. No matter how much shit she stirs up, how much she seems to be endanger, something always happens at the last minute where she comes out fine at the end. I really think something bad needs to happen to her to knock her off her throne and realize what a shitty mother she is and how dangerous her line of work is. Maybe by killing off Silas. That kid annoys the piss out of me.
GUILTY PLEASURES
Jon & Kate Plus 8 and Scream Queens
Now for the most part, I hate reality television. I think it plays a big part in the dumbing down of television and our society in general. I don't care how funny it is to watch skanky girls compete to date some scumbag asshole; at the end of the day, it's saying that to get your 15 minutes of fame, you should be as trashy as possible and you will be rewarded for it. That said, there were 2 reality shows I enjoyed in 2008. First was Jon & Kate Plus 8. I have no idea how this show got me hooked but it did. The kids are adorable and just seeing the everyday life of this family and seeing how much love they have for each other, despite the hectic lifestyle is really touching. Just a funny, sweet show. As for Scream Queens, I mainly watched it due to the presence of the hilarious and awesome James Gunn, but found myself getting engrossed. Probably because the goal the girls were seeking was actually somewhat respectable. Trying to get a part in a major motion picture I can understand a lot more than trying to date some asshole by getting drunk and letting your tits hang out for the world to see. In the end, the girl I wanted to see win (Lindsay) didn't and the role went to Tanedra, who, I'm sorry, I just didn't see the appeal of. The wide-eyed, mouth agape thing she did in almost every single challenge didn't impress me. But in the end, it makes a lot more sense. What Tanedra had to offer was a lot more appropriate for the 5th sequel in a horror series than what Lindsay, someone who actually has acting talent, would have brought.
PLEASE BECOME AWESOME AGAIN...PLEASE
Heroes
I've tried and tried again to stick with Heroes and support it, but Season 3 has been really lackluster so far. The great characters are still great (Matt, Hiro), the annoying ones are still annoying (Peter, Claire), some cool new characters were introduced (Daphne) and Zachary Quinto is still awesome as Sylar. Despite all this, the show is just way too damn sloppy and unfocused. It needs to get a singular storyline to focus on and just go at it full force. A storyline called "Villains" should have been dark and awesome, instead it was clumsy and repetetive. And the whole thing of characters seemingly dying only to be alive again after the commerical break is beyond irritating and is just pissing me off now. With February comes the next volume, "Fugitives" and I'm REALLY hoping things get better. I really want to love Heroes again.
WHAT I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2009
One word...Dollhouse. Sure, I'm nervous about the timeslot and the production troubles, but at the end of the day, it's a new Joss Whedon show and I could not be more excited about that. I'm also interested in Castle. It has Nathan Fillion playing a snarky novelist solving murders. Count me in. Oh, and Season 5 of LOST starts in 2 weeks. Enough said.
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So that's it for television. Hope you enjoyed and please tell your friends to check this page out. I'll be back tomorrow with my favorite music of 2008.
- Location:Home
- Mood:nerdy
- Location:Apartment 9
- Mood: excited
- Music:none
So that is why I'm now going to talk about other things going on with me.
-Halloween was a lot of fun. We had a small party at our apartment and all had awesome costumes, with pictures to prove it (as soon as Aarika and Parker upload them). I'll admit I had a bit to drink but I think I handled myself well. I was told I got really hyper but I prefer to see it as being really social. The most important thing is that I didn't get sick, so thumbs up.
-Due to the nature of Halloween mixed with discovering extreme movie compatability with my friend, Annie, I've really been in a horror movie mood lately. I kind of lost touch with them recently, because...well...most recent horror movies have sucked. So I decided to just look back and am now pursuing old horror movies that are highly praised but that I've never gotten around to seeing. Watched "Candyman" over the weekend. Not great, but pretty entertaining. It's got a really creepy tone and Philip Glass' score kicks ass. I also just finished watching the 1978 version of "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers", which was pretty awesome. It's got a really eerie, unsettling mood to it that's really fun to watch.
-On another movie note, I saw "Zack And Miri Make A Porno" this past weekend and loved it. I'm a huge fan of both Kevin Smith and Judd Apatow, so to see the writing and directing of Kevin Smith mixed with frequent actors of Team Apatow made for comedy heaven. There's a fair amount of sex humor (as is to be expected with a title like that), but at it's core, it's actually a really sweet, heartfelt movie. Believe it or not, a good majority of the story pretty much retells how Kevin Smith made "Clerks". With his characters, he puts in the story of how he finally realized what he wanted to do with his life and it's really inspiring. The stand-out part of the movie for me though was the central love story between Zack and Miri. Despite all the dick and fart jokes in his movies, Kevin Smith writes great relationship drama. He showed it in "Chasing Amy" and more subtly at the end of "Clerks II" and he expands on it even more in here. There's some really painful conversations in the last act of this, but it makes the movie better as a whole, because, at this point, you've grown to love these characters and seeing these two close friends discovering their true feelings for each other is really touching. Yes, despite my sarcastic, cynical nature, I'm a softie at heart and appreciate a great love story when I see it.
-After repeated listenings today, I have come to the conclusion that "Creep" by Radiohead and "Needle In The Hay" by Elliott Smith are two of the best songs ever. Listen to them and try not to feel any emotional reaction to them.
As I finish this, Obama is 50 votes away from winning the Electoral Vote. Still keeping my fingers crossed, but things are looking good.
- Location:Apartment 9
- Mood:
anxious - Music:none
-Halloween is next week which I'm actually excited about for the first time in quite a while. Maybe since I actually have plans this year. The exact nature of my costume is kind of up in the air. All I know is this...aviator goggles will be a part of it.
-Musical Note I: I'm listening to the soundtrack for "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" and realizing how much I really love indie rock. While it may not get as strong a reaction out of me as power pop, I've realized it's currently the music that I most consistently enjoy listening to. There's so many obscure, little-known bands that produce truly great, well-written, heartfelt music that I can relate to both lyrically and melodically (which is a word, thank you dictionary.com)
-Musical Note II: I currently have the music finished for the next Cards With Sound song. It's a bit shy of 6 minutes and full of different instrumental layers (via my keyboard). I'm really pleased with the final result and just need to get some lyrics to go with it.
-Musical Note III: I once again had a brief email conversation with Mike TV of Get Set Go and cannot stress enough how awesome this man is. I mean, the guy gave me songwriting tips. How many professional musicians do that through email for a fan?
-Musical Note IV: I recently bought a banjo from Matt for $10 and it sounds awesome. My next goal is to conquer "The Rainbow Connection" and songs by bands that incorporate banjo such as The Decemberists and Modest Mouse.
-Musical Note V: Currently listening to a song by The Submarines and realized this:
Interspersing male/female vocals = musical heaven
-Going back to "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist", I'm really annoyed by how shitty the theater up here in Indiana is. I realize they only have 4 screens but do they have to have the shittiest movies possible in there. I mean, like it or not, this is primarily a college town. Is there really that high of a demand for "High School Musical 3"? I've missed out on tons of great new releases due to this, such as "Nick & Norah", "Ghost Town" and "How To Lose Friends And Alienate People". All I know is this, if "Zack and Miri Make A Porno" isn't playing up here next weekend, there will be blood in the Daniel Plainview sense of the word.
-On another movie note, I have been able to see some awesome older movies thanks to rentals and my Art of Film class, including "Catch-22", "A Very Long Engagement" and "Mulholland Drive"
-I never thought I'd say this, but I think last/this year's Writer's Strike was a blessing in disguise for television. The writers took the break as an opportunity to make their shows better than ever. Nearly ever show has been in amazing form this season. "The Office" hit a couple slight stumbles last season, but is better than ever, with much credit going to Amy Ryan as the eternally awesome Holly Flax. "Supernatural" is managing to kick ass every week by bringing forth the apocalypse along with the awesome new character, Castiel. "Heroes" decided to forget the mistakes of last season and has taken an awesomely dark turn and given Sylar a lot more to do. "How I Met Your Mother" has decided to add a lot more dramatic elements and has become even better because of it. "Chuck" is going for more storylines and less stand-alone episodes. "Pushing Daisies" is better than ever, despite the dismal ratings. As for new shows, "Life On Mars" is completely awesome, "My Own Worst Enemy" is pretty cool as well and "Fringe" is fun despite it's ability to lag at times. Now I just need January to come along where I will be gifted with not only a new season of "Lost" but a new show from Joss Whedon in the form of "Dollhouse"
That's really about all that's new. Just really enjoying things up here and loving my awesome friends.
- Location:Wedgefield #9
- Mood: content
- Music:"Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" Soundtrack
Really excited because the soundtrack for "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" was released on iTunes today. Through some creative thinking on my part, I managed to get it on my Sony Walkman....if creative includes downloading it from iTunes, burning it to a CD, ripping that CD to my Windows Media library and then transferring it to my Walkman. Regardless it is now MINE and I can enjoy the amazing songs (which have kick-ass sound quality now) whenever I want.
This may seem like kind of a pointless post and I guess it is in a way. The truth is, I'm writing a pointless paper for my Art of Film class and I'm procrastinating as much as possible. 3 to 4 pages based on classes of material be damned!
Just to procrastinate things even further, the trailer for Kevin Smith's new movie "Zack and Miri Make A Porno" is FINALLY up.
http://www.askmen.com/video/2008_apr/apr
Can't wait!
Alright, time to get back to the paper and wait for another distraction.
- Location:The apartment
- Mood:
lethargic - Music:"Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" Soundtrack
It's 1:30 a.m. and I'm bored, talking to Emily on AIM (not adding to boringness for the record), she mentioned blogs so I figured I'd update mine with some random thoughts.
-Parker and Ali left for the Memorial Day weekend and I'm stuck in the apartment like an only child. They're coming back tomorrow at about noon, so the family will be back together.
-Speaking of the apartment, it rules all. The landlord knocked down a wall so our living room is HUGE. On top of that, just my room alone is about the same size as my shitty dorm room last year. Hoping to get some pictures of the place once we have posters, etc. up.
-Enjoying most of my classes, except COMM 150 which sucks due to both the content and the professor. All of my other classes kick ass though. Pretty decent professors and best friends in all of them.
-Pretty awesome first week up here. First Saturday included drinking at Ali's and me discovering I have kind of a lovable, affectionate drunk personality. Wednesday and Thursday just as awesome as Aarika came over to hang out. "Cold Case" at midnight on Wednesday, me drinking vodka, orange juice, peach Schnapps concoction too quickly and Ali & Aarika trying to taint my laptop with nude Daniel Radcliffe pics on Thursday.
-Killed some time with Family Video rentals this weekend. "The Comedians of Comedy" pretty funny and interesting documentary. "Be Kind Rewind" pretty decent movie despite not being what I expected. "The Good Night" and "The Savages" two really quiet, sad and funny movies.
-I have somehow become hooked on the show "Jon & Kate Plus 8". Saw it for the first time this past week and somehow became fascinated by it. Watched 6 episodes on Comcast OnDemand these past 2 nights. I feel lame.
Finally getting tired now. I love Indiana and all of my friends up here. This year is going to be the best.
- Location:The apartment
- Mood: happy
- Music:Smodcast 63
www.myspace.com/cardswithsound
I guess the next best thing to do would be to explain the name. Pretty simple story. Parker and I had been joking around about band names. One day, we were in Giant Eagle having one of these conversations when I noticed a small sign advertising the greeting cards that have a little sound chip and them and play music or a sound clip. The sign said simply "Cards with Sound". And thus the name was born.
I had a bunch of material just sitting around. Mostly just song ideas or little riffs. I just had to get the initiative to fully develop them into real songs. The project didn't really go into action until one day when Matt gave me the Acid Pro music problem for my laptop along with a microphone. It seems that was all I needed to get the ball rolling. With that, let's get into the songs that I have (or had) on my page, starting with the oldest.
Why Are The Pretty Ones Always Insane?
This was recorded in 2007 originally for my other music project with Matt, Brodie's Room. A few months back, we originally stopped Brodie's Room to work on our own musical stuff and I took the rights to "WATPOAI?" considering I wrote all the lyrics and most of the music as well as played most of the instruments. Not to sound like a greedy bastard. Matt did a great job as producer, came up with the awesome drum beat, played the pre-chorus acoustic guitar that I came up with but couldn't successfully complete without fucking up, and most importantly came up with the awesome guitar riff and solo on the bridge. Anyway, the basic idea of the song was to have a '50s style melody and tone with really dark lyrics. I was really pissed off at the time about this girl I was into who was constantly leading me on and fucking with my head. That added to the darkness of the song quite a bit but overall, I wanted to do a story song. You have no idea how much I had to explain that it was fictional and not an autobiographical song. I guess lyrics about trying to smother someone to death will do that. Fun Fact: the title is a quote from "The Simpsons"!
Casino Night
This is the first offical Cards With Sound song. There was a sad piano melody I had been playing around with for a long time that I wanted to do something with. I eventually decided to make it a tribute to "The Office" and called it "Casino Night". Matt again played producer on this one to show me how the Acid program worked. I really love this song for many reasons. One is it's simplicity. Just me and the piano. A lot of times, I think it might sound cool with some strings layered on, but I think it works the way it is. I also like how the lyrics work. They essentially just recap the ending of the episode of "The Office" with the same name. But it's not so specific that it also works as a more personal song that I think people can relate to.
Long Live The King
This one started out mostly as a running inside joke. This past spring, I read Stephen King's book "'Salem's Lot" and came across the line "He thrusts his fists against the post and still insists he sees the ghosts" which also featured in "It" and stuck out to me a lot. For some reason, I thought it would be funny to put that line into song. I seriously just kept singing that line until one day Parker overheard it and loved it. At that point, I decided to turn it into a full song. I went with the initial one line and decided to expand on that and turn the full song into a tribute to Stephen King's books. For those curious, the first verse is about "'Salem's Lot", the second about "Pet Sematary" and the choruses are about "It". As for the style of the song, I really wanted to emulate Say Anything which is one of my favorite bands. The initial version I posted was just really lacking and sounded too thin. I ended up adding another guitar that was heavier and deeper and it really added a lot of what I was going for. I still am not 100% pleased with my vocals however.
Mixed Signals
Yet another one that I had been messing around with for a while. I basically just had the main melody along with the techno beat. Eventually, I decided to make the song about being genuinely confused about a girl's feelings for you and the lyrics came quite easily after that. I'm extremely happy with how the final product turned out. I think my low and high vocals actually match together great and I love the bells on the pre-chorus (which were actually inspired by Cobra Starship).
Keep Sleeping (The Rentals cover)
This is the one you won't find on my page anymore. It had been months since I posted "Mixed Signals" because I was having lyric trouble with my next song but I had lots of musical energy and wanted to record something. The song by The Rentals is one of my favorites and I decided to take a shot at it. Nothing serious. Just wanted to have it done in a couple hours....and it showed. I think it turned out well but the vocals have a lot of problems. I didn't worry about trying to make them perfect so there's a lot of pops in the mike from me heating hard syllables and there's points where my falsetto vocals are cringe-worthy.
The End of Summer
This is the epic that took months to finish. All I originally had for a while was the opening riff which was my tribute to Get Set Go. I decided to make the whole song a tribute to Get Set Go, who have become one of my favorite bands over the past year. They have such a great sense of melody and frontman Mike TV has an incredible way of mixing upbeat melodies with dark, funny and relatable lyrics. I eventually got all the music done. I had a big mix of layered acoustic and electric guitars which I loved the sound of. I also initially planned to have a Viola sound on it to even further honor Get Set Go but it sounded like shit when mixed with the guitars so I decided to go back to the keyboard and settled on Bandneon, a type of accordian that has a really upbeat but sad sound, which is what I was going for. However, I was stuck on lyrics so the music just sat there on my laptop for a while. I knew I wanted to write a song about how much I didn't like summer, but couldn't push it into a full song. Then one day, I sat down and forced myself to write and was surprised to find it all come to mind quite quickly. I managed to get my point across and gave my lyrics what I thought were a unique view on a heavily visited topic. There's countless songs about summer (hell, The Beach Boys made a career out of it) but all of them were about how great summer was, which I didn't agree with. I ended up with some lyrics I'm really happy with because they're simple but also personal. In fact, the lyrics over the little outro over the picked acoustic melody (which in itself is a tribute to "Mood Ring" by Relient K) is pretty much verbatim a conversation I had with Aarika about summer via text messaging. The best part about this song is what happened afterwards. The songs was so heavily influenced by Get Set Go that I decided to take a shot and ask Mike TV to check it out. I knew he frequented the Get Set Go MySpace page quite frequently and he had even responded to a message I sent him on my personal profile a while back so I figured it was worth a shot. I was nervous for the reaction. I can be quite insecure so to have something I worked extremely hard to honor a songwriter be turned down or criticized by said songwriter would be pretty upsetting. However, I was surprised to find that Mike gave some extremely positive feedback. Not only did he make a quick response to my request to check out the song, but he did so within the next day and wrote back with extremely positive feedback not only to this song but to my other ones as well, throwing around undeserved words like brilliant and genius in regards to my lyrics and melodies. It really meant a lot. It's really refreshing to see a songwriter who cares so much about his fanbase.
Chivalry Is Dead (And I'm Carrying The Casket)
This one is hot off the presses having just been finished and posted a little while ago. For a while, I just had the title. It just came to me one day and I found it really amusing. After that I came up with the little organ riff which is heard at the end of the song. Next came the guitar riff used for the verse. It was originally much more simple and was meant to sound like Interpol. While I was recording I tried something different and loved the outcome. It turned into something so cool. I decided to use an actual drum rhythm on this one as it seemed like using just the guitar and keys would sound a little too empty. Originally, the chorus was supposed to be at the same tempo as the chorus but I felt that the song needed an unexpected burst of energy. So instead, I went for the fast melody in which I again try to emulate Say Anything. The final, slower chorus is a nod to Weezer, another favorite of mine. I'm really happy with how the vocals turned out and I think it's actually my best vocal work. I really tried to sing my heart out on the chorus (and admittedly tried to sound a little like Max Bemis from Say Anything). Overall, I'm really happy with the final result. I think everything mixes together well and the lyrics have a good mix of humor and death metaphors. How could you go wrong?
One final note, I thought I'd try to explain the pictures that accompany the songs. I try to put a little bit of humor into each picture. So here's a key to the meaning of each of them.
Why Are The Pretty Ones Always Insane?
It's a picture from the movie "swimfan". Get it, cause Erika Christensen's character is pretty but insane? Ba dum dum.
Casino Night
Not so much funny. Just a cool pic from the episode, "Casino Night"
Long Live The King
Stephen King has a great number of amusing pictures but this one stood out
Mixed Signals
This one was simply a happy accident. I didn't know what to choose for a picture. So I just typed "mixed signals" into Google image search and was pleasantly surprised to find the image.
The End of Summer
The picture is of Summer Glau. Kind of a stretch to make a joke but she's pretty, so why not.
Chivalry Is Dead (And I'm Carrying The Casket)
Not incredibly funny either. That picture of Gerard Way is just badass.
I've got a few other ideas for songs kicking around that I hope to develop on. Again, please check out my page and give me some feedback.
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Not much else going on. Getting everything ready to FINALLY go back to IUP on Friday. I am beyond excited. I've got so much to look forward to up there. I'm sharing an apartment with Parker, Aarika is living in the building next to ours, Matt is coming back, I'm looking forward to my classes. To quote my own song..."A damn good year is drawing near"
- Location:Home
- Mood: excited
- Music:Weezer-"The Red Album"
....
Damn you, Joss Whedon, you magnificent bastard. You've done it again. In the 3 years since "Serenity", I somehow managed to forget your ability to lull your audience into a false sense of security only to pull the rug from under us at the last minute. Considering the source, I don't know why I didn't see it coming. Despite Joss Whedon's consistency to mix comedy and drama, I honestly expected "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" to just be a fun, hilarious musical. Imagine my surprise at the end now to find the whole story is actually a classic tragedy.
The signs were all there in the first two acts. Maybe it was the singing or the jokes that threw me off the trail, but they were there. More on that later.
Act III started off with the lighter tones of the first two acts. We're treated to "So They Say", a really upbeat, catchy song that shows the town's reaction to the good that Captain Hammer & Penny are doing by opening up a homeless shelter. During the song, we notice that Penny may not be as happy as she seems and just feels she should be because everyone else says so. We catch her waiting in the laundromat for Billy, who has been staying in his lair, putting the finishing touches on his freeze ray, as well as his death ray. Next, we go to the town meeting, where more hilarity ensues as Captain Hammer tries to inspire everyone with his song "Everyone's A Hero", which features references to sleeping with Penny, homeless people smelling like poo and calling people tards. Suddenly, Dr. Horrible shows up, freezes Captain Hammer and introduces himself to the town with the song "Slipping", which further illustrates his desperate need to be famous. Soon, the freeze ray breaks down and Captain Hammer is back in action. All is still well as he sings, flips off Dr. Horrible and points the death ray. Then, the death ray malfunctions and breaks apart and that's where things take a dark turn. Captain Hammer feels pain for the first time and runs off crying and Dr. Horrible is horrified to see that Penny has been hit with a piece of shrapnel from the death ray. He runs over to her and tries to comfort her. She has hope that Captain Hammer will help them and then slowly passes away....No, I'm not kidding. We're then treated to a really heartbreaking final number as Dr. Horrible finally makes it into The Evil League of Evil and becomes a world-famous supervillain, but all at the cost of losing the one thing he loved. The very end is extremely sad. Dr. Horrible sings about how he is finally a villain, but after getting what he worked so hard for, he doesn't feel a thing inside. We then cut back to Billy, alone and sad in front of his computer.
I mean, holy shit, who could have seen that ending coming? I honestly didn't know what to think of the last act right after watching it just because it took me so hard by surprise. On retrospect though, it really is a beautiful ending and it makes the whole piece a really layered, complex piece of work. There are several messages presented in the story. The one I noticed right away was about not trying to be someone you're not just to get attention. You could see from the beginning that Billy didn't really wasn't an evil person, but he was so desperate to be noticed and make himself known that it eventually overtook him and cost him Penny, the only thing he loved and the one thing that kept him a decent human being. A poster on the IMDb boards also pointed out some messages in the show, each having to with Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer. Captain Hammer's had to do with how strong the effects of needlessly bullying someone can be. Captain Hammer did seem to have some sort of feelings for Penny, but his relationship with her had more to do with pissing off Dr. Horrible than genuine affection. He kept pushing Dr. Horrible until he couldn't take it anymore, which led to the other message, which shows what happens when you're too focused on revenge. Dr. Horrible had gotten pushed too far and just became completely focused on getting back at Captain Hammer, which eventually led to Penny's death. When you really look at it, it's kind of hard to pinpoint who the true villain of the show is. Captain Hammer meant well and did good for people, but his arrogance got the best of him. Likewise, Billy was a good person deep down, but he got antagonized and bullied so much that he ended up becoming obsessed which led to an innocent girl being killed.
It's really amazing what Joss Whedon, along with his brothers, Jed and Zack, and Jed's fiancee, Maurissa Tancharoen, managed to pull off in such a short amount of time. In only 42 minutes, they created 3 fully developed real characters in a smart, layered story...plus they managed to fit in some amazing songs. I honestly miss these characters. I want to see more of them and what is in their future. The character of Billy/Dr. Horrible was given more depth in 42 minutes than some characters do in years on television shows. Likewise, Felicia Day gave Penny so many loveable qualities that it was truly heartbreaking when she died.
I honestly don't remember the last time I was this emotionally upset by the ending of a movie or TV show. Believe me, I'm definitely one for the dark endings. The darker, the better. I mean, I don't think everything has to end with everyone dead and miserable, but I think a sad ending makes things a lot more realistic and gives that piece of work a lot more credibility. But for some reason, I didn't realize how much I wanted a happy ending until it was over. I'm not saying Billy and Penny needed to fall in love. I would have been happy with them considering their cute laundromat relationship. But that isn't how Joss Whedon works. In interviews, he has said something along the lines that he doesn't give his fans the outcomes they want, but the outcomes they need. It makes sense; we may want the happy endings with everyone falling in love, but it shows us more respect by giving us the more realistic outcome. He pulled this off to a great degree, considering the effect the ending had on me. Part of it obviously has to go to Felicia Day's performance. She gave the character so much heart that it would impossible not to be upset by her death. But more of it has to do with the idea itself. Billy is the really quiet, shy underdog, which I can definitely relate to. And the thought of having someone you have strong feelings for but can't quite find the words to tell them and then losing them before you can say what's in your heart and knowing you'll never have the chance to do so....it's a really horrible feeling.
So, to sum things up, in the span of a 42 minute online musical about a wannabe supervillain in love with a girl at the laundromat, Joss Whedon managed to create a piece of work that is just as deep and wonderful as all of his previous works. Excellent job, Mr. Whedon. I can't wait to see what you have in store for us with "Dollhouse".
In other news, "The Dark Knight" was fucking outstanding. But that's for a later post.
- Location:Home
- Mood:
thoughtful - Music:Me First and the Gimme Gimmes-"Have Another Ball!"
So after some mishaps with the site crashing due to the huge amount of hits it was getting, Act II of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" went up last night (or early this morning, depending on how you look at it) and it manages to be even better than Act I. The first act was merely a taste of what was to come; just set-up of these characters. Act II is where we get to the heart of the story and really get to understand the characters. The scenes with Dr. Horrible (or Billy) and Penny in the laundromat are fantastic. Having to watch Billy sit and listen while the love of his life goes on about how great it is dating Captain Hammer is both hilarious and heartbreaking. The character of Dr. Horrible is summed up in one line in Act II that I loved.
PENNY: But you know, everything happens-
BILLY: Don't say 'for a reason'.
PENNY: No, I was just going to say, everything happens.
BILLY: Not to me.
I just love this touch to the character. You could tell from the beginning that it was an odd choice for Dr. Horrible to be a villain considering his shy and kind nature. But Act II helps you realize it. Billy is so desperate to be noticed that he figures the only way he can do it is to be a supervillain. The role of hero is already taken by Captain Hammer, so this is the only choice he has, no matter how many reservations he seems to have about it.
We also get to see the true nature of Captain Hammer in the last few minutes. At first glance, he seemed to just be a brainless superhero, but he shows his malicious side here. After finding out about Billy's crush on Penny, Captain Hammer basically tells Billy that he is taking advantage of Penny just because Billy likes her. Despite being such a bastard, Nathan Fillion manages to be ever charming. Come on, you know ladies around the world loved it when Captain Hammer said, "The hammer is my penis."
And then there's the songs. Just as good this time around. They are extremely catchy while advancing the plot at the same time. First up, was "On The Rise", in which Dr. Horrible worries that seeing Penny with Captain Hammer will bring out the true evil in him, while Penny's point of view is that there might actually be good in the world after all. Great lyrics, plus more overlapping harmonizing. Great stuff. Next we get another "Bad Horse" number from the Cowboys, short and sweet, just like the first. Next we get "Penny's Song" which is an extension of the brief interlude she had in Act I and makes you fall even more in love with Penny (if you weren't already). Finally, we have "Brand New Day" in which Dr. Horrible seems to have his evil side come out after Captain Hammer's threat. It's a really great rock number and leaves you hanging for Act III.
Nothing else new. Watching "Last Comic Standing". Paul Foot got kicked off (dammit), but Iliza Shlesinger was saved from elimination yet again (yay!). Picked up a few new CDs today at Best Buy. Oh yeah, and in less than 24 hours, I'll finally be seeing "The Dark Knight". It's going to be a long wait tomorrow.
- Location:Home
- Mood: excited
- Music:none
As it's been indicated a couple times before on here, I am a huge fan of the works of Joss Whedon, also known as "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", "Angel", "Firefly"/"Serenity" and the upcoming "Dollhouse". There's no arguing that the man is a genius. He manages to make TV shows that are funny, intense, dramatic and easy to get addicted to. He is one of the best dialogue writers of all time. The words that come from his character's mouths are so smart but also relatable. His storytelling styles are brilliant as well. He can manage to make a scene both hilarious and heartbreaking in a manner of minutes.
I'm saying all this so you will know my bias, when I tell you all that you MUST check out his new project, the online-only internet mini-series entitled "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog". It's available for free at www.drhorrible.com. Act I is up now, Act II goes up July 17th at midnight goes up on July 19th at midnight. It's only available until Sunday night and then it's gone. The only way you can see it is after that is by paying for it on iTunes or waiting for the DVD release. It follows a super-villain named Dr. Horrible, played by Neil Patrick Harris, who has an online blog discussing what it's like to be a supervillain. His arch nemesis is the superhero, Captain Hammer, played by Nathan Fillion (Mal from "Firefly"/Serenity") He also has to deal with being in love with a girl he sees at the laundromat who he's too afraid to talk to, named Penny, played by Felicia Day (Vi from Season 7 of "Buffy")
Act I is fantastic and I can't recommend it highly enough. First of all, the cast is perfect. NPH makes Dr. Horrible hilarious with his views on what it's like being a supervillian, endearing with his clumsy nature and sympathetic with his unrequited crush on Penny. Nathan Fillion, as usual, is beyond awesome. I don't know how this guy is not a huge star by now. He's funny and has so much charm. He can do action, comedy and drama. Why the hell is he not getting more work? Felicia Day is absolutely adorable as Penny. She has a real sweet, quiet quality to her that makes you fall in love with her instantly.
And then there's the songs. If anyone has seen "Once More With Feeling", the musical episode of "Buffy", you know that Joss Whedon is also an extremely songwriter. (If you haven't seen it, you need to NOW). So far, the songs in this are just as good. My personal favorite is the first number, which I'm calling "Stop The World" (the official song titles haven't been revealed yet, so I'm just going by the lyrics). It's a really sweet song about Dr. Horrible's feelings for Penny and it's extremely catchy. Next is "Bad Horse", which is only 30 seconds but hilarious and sung by cowboys. There's a very brief song by Penny that simply shows that Felicia Day has a pretty voice. The last number in Act I is "A Man's Gotta Do" and it's a perfect way to the end the first act. It introduces Captain Hammer in a wonderful fashion and ends with overlapping singing by the three main characters, which I'm a huge sucker for.
Anyway, my point is, you should definitely check it out. You won't regret it.
Not too much going else otherwise. I saw a couple movies.
Hancock-pretty entertaining. Really funny at the beginning, takes a pretty cool twist near the end and has an awesome last act. Not sure why it's getting such overly negative feedback.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army-a huge surprise. I enjoyed the first "Hellboy", but it had a few flaws. This one turned out to be what is, so far, my favorite movie of the year (that's likely to change soon though, more on that in a second). The characters become really developed in the sequel and come across as real people, despite their appearances. Also, the creature design in this is phenomenal. Some of the best I've ever seen in a movie. Definitely worth checking out.
Recently, I've just been rewatching the old Batman movies and all of Christopher Nolan's movies in preperation for "The Dark Knight" this Friday. Words cannot express how excited I am for this movie. It is going to kick all kinds of ass.
That's it for now. I'll be back with my review of Act II of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" as soon as I watch it.
- Location:Home
- Mood: excited
- Music:Old 97's-"Blame It On Gravity"
Anybody who knows me is well aware of how much I love movies. There's not much else that I get so enthusiastic and passionate about. I don't know what it is exactly. Just something about using visual skills, storytelling, music, acting and putting them all together just amazes me. It truly is a form of art. I've seen thousands of movies and own hundreds of DVDs. All that aside, there are several movies that are considered classics that I have never seen. For example, last night I watched Steven Spielberg's classic "Jaws"...for the first time. I really don't know why I hadn't seen it up to this point. It's not that I wasn't interested in it, I just had never seen it as a child and was preoccupied with more current movies. After seeing the brilliance of it, I feel like an idiot. It truly was a revolutionary film. It's extremely entertaining. It's funny and the shark attack scenes manage to be intense after over 30 years. Hell, it's even got singing in it. How can you go wrong? Not even that, but I can now appreciate the subtle references more current works make to the movie, such as the "Bad Hat Harry" tag at the end of every episode of "House M.D." and the scene with Banky & Alyssa trading battle scar stories in the lesbian bar in "Chasing Amy".
It's a situation I've been in before. A friend will casually reference a movie to me. I'll say that I've never seen it and hear the response "What?! You've never seen (insert movie title here)" So after thinking about what I've possibly been missing out on all these years, I took a look at the Internet Movie Database's Top 250 movies and state which "classic" movies I haven't seen and why. Just a note, the IMDb Top 250 is based on users of the website so it changes a lot but it stays mostly consistent and is a good source of what is considered the best movies of all time. Here we go..
-The Godfather & The Godfather Part II (voted 1st and 3rd)
I know many people consider these the greatest movies ever made but a lack of interest is what has kept me away. I just have never had the urge to watch a 3 hour movie about the mafia. I realize it's probably about more than that, but just my initial outlook has kept me away. It's not to say I never want to see these. I just haven't received the right push to really want to see them.
-The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (voted 4th)
This has more to do with the fact that I've never really gotten into westerns. I'm not sure why. My exposure to them has been extremely small (Back To The Future Part III and 3:10 To Yuma) but I enjoyed both of those, so who's to say I won't enjoy this one.
-Schindler's List (voted 7th)
I think this is probably a fascinating movie. I just know it will probably an emotionally draining film experience on the level of "Requiem For A Dream". I do want to see it. I'm just going to have to be in an extremely positive mood.
-Casablanca (voted 10th)
I guess this one is just a case of me never thinking to rent it while I'm at the video store. I'm all for seeing it but it's one of the movies that is so popular that it just kind of passes over your radar. Does that make any sense?
-North By Northwest (voted 27th)
This is mostly a case of me not being able to find it when I can think of it. I love Hitchcock and would love to see this as well. The timing has just been off.
-Citizen Kane (voted 28th)
A similar situation to "Casablanca". I find Orson Welles to be fascinating and would love to see it, especially after Parker's glowing endorsement. Just need to get around to it.
-The Matrix (voted 31st)
Just never really had an interest in it. I saw the first 10 minutes about 8 years ago and it didn't do anything for me. My tastes have changed a lot since then however, so maybe I should give it another shot.
-Taxi Driver (voted 36th)
Again, one of those movies that is so well-known and respected, you don't even realize you haven't actually seen it.
-Alien (voted 47th)
I really don't know what my problem is on this. Everything I hear about it makes it sound awesome. It just happens to pass my mind whenever I'm at the video store.
-Saving Private Ryan (voted 57th)
This is mostly due to the fact that I'm not a big fan of war movies. I've heard nothing but good things about it though, so I'm considering giving it a try. I mean, Nathan Fillion is in it, so it's got be worth seeing it at least for that.
-Aliens (voted 62nd)
See "Alien"
-The Maltese Falcon (voted 67th)
This is another one I've become really enthusiastic about wanting to see lately. I love film noir and detectives and mystery and that whole field. It's all a matter of being able to find it when my brain remembers that I want to see it.
-Terminator 2: Judgement Day (voted 68th)
Blame it on the popularity theory. Saw the first one, enjoyed it. No good reason why I haven't seen this yet.
-2001: A Space Odyssey (voted 75th)
Just really never had an interest in it. The HAL computer sounds pretty badass but I just can't imagine anything else too interesting happening. I could never really get into Stanley Kubrick. So unless I change my mind or I'm with someone who's watching it, I can't see myself seeking this out.
-The Sting (voted 94th)
This one has more to do with me not really knowing what it was about until recently. I knew the title "The Sting" but I never really knew what it was about. The premise intrigues me greatly, so I can imagine I'll see it eventually.
-Braveheart (voted 97th)
Like I said, I'm not really into the big battle movies.
-Gladiator (voted 122nd)
I don't know. I don't really like Ridley Scott or Russell Crowe or stories of Roman fighters. Is this really as badass as people say?
-The Deer Hunter (voted 133rd)
It's one I hear you have to be in a certain mindset and set aside some time for. I haven't had said time yet. Definitely interested in it though.
-Heat (voted 138th)
I was aware of it but just became aware of how good it's supposed to be in recent years. Would definitely want to see it.
-Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (voted 146th)
Another case of me never pursuing Westerns for some reason. Interested though.
-Gone With The Wind (voted 170th)
It looks reaaaaallly long.
-Groundhog Day (voted 171st)
I just realized that I don't recall actually seeing this whole entire movie. I need to get on that.
-Scarface (voted 172nd)
A similar case to "The Godfather". Not really interested in the gangster lifestyle, but I'm up for seeing it someday.
-Frankenstein (voted 205th)
To be honest, I've never seen any of the old Universal monster movies. God knows why. I mean, I made an Ecto Fusion video paying tribute to them. You'd think I could take the time to actually see the movies. Stupid Cody.
-Rosemary's Baby (voted 206th)
Somewhat similar situation to "Alien". It sounds really awesome but for one reason or another, I've never actually pursued seeing it. I vow to see it very soon.
-Rocky (voted 239th)
Not really interested. Not into boxing or Sylvester Stallone.
So there you have it. Shocking huh? Some of these make me ashamed to call myself a fan of film.
Not too much else going on. Still working, still bored, still desperately wanting to return to IUP and be with my friends. My 22nd birthday has passed and went great. I got kind words from everybody and had a really fun day. I got some new music since my last post, so here's what's been in my CD player...
-Switches-"Lay Down The Law
Such an awesome album. The best new band I've heard in 2008. Every song is extremely catchy and full of energy.
-The Offspring-"Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace"
Just more solid punk from a great band. They're always enjoyable.
-Old 97's-"Blame It On Gravity"
Rhett Miller is a very underrated songwriter. He can craft both great lyrics and melody and continues to prove this on his band's latest album.
-Mates Of State-"Re-Arrange Us"
I'm a sucker for back and forth male/female vocals and piano-heavy music. This album has both.
-Charlotte Sometimes-"Waves & The Both Of Us"
This one's really growing on me. She has a really classic sounding voice. The music is a little too polished in parts but overall it's great and unique from most of the female singer/songwriters right now.
-Relient K-"The Birds And The Bee Sides/The Nashville Tennis EP"
This awesome band continues to prove how musically talented they are while looking back at how good they've always been with some rarities.
I've also been to the movies a couple times.
-Get Smart
Extremely funny movie. Steve Carell is hilarious as usual, the supporting cast is great and the action sequences are actually well-executed. Just an all-around entertaining movie.
-WALL-E
So freaking good. Pixar continues to let all other animation out there eat it's dust by crafting films full of gorgeous animation, smart storytelling and well-developed characters.
Aarika recently reminded me that I don't update this thing enough but I'm hoping to change that very soon. I've got a few posts planned that I hope to put up soon. I want to do a sequel to this post where I take a look at the IMDb Bottom 250, or what people consider to be the worst movies of all time, and find out how many I've seen. I really want to do one on the films of Pixar but I need to revisit a couple of them before I can put it all together. I want to do a post about the songs I've been writing for my musical project, Cards With Sound, but I want to have a few more songs up on the MySpace page before I do that and I'm working on that now. I'm working on a song now that's really taking a lot of time to complete. It has a lot of different layers of guitar and such on it, plus I need to write the lyrics. It's frustrating that it's taking so long but I think it has potential to be the best song I've written so I don't want to half-ass it. Finally, "The Dark Knight" is coming out in a little over 2 weeks and I am beyond excited. I seriously think it could be one of the best movies of all time. I have a tendency to talk a lot about movies I love so expect to see something on that.
Until then, take care and hopefully you'll hear from me soon.
- Location:Home
- Mood:determined
- Music:Relient K-"The Bird And The Bee Sides/The Nashville Tennis EP"
When did summer start to become such a dragging, sluggish time of year? Aarika and I recently talked about (and she also mentioned in her last post) how summer has now become the time of year people our age want to go by quickly so we can get back to school. It makes sense to a degree. When we were kids, we couldn't wait for summer because it was the time we could have fun with our friends and not have to deal with boring classes. Everything's the exact opposite now. When you go to college, all your friends are there with you constantly and the classes go past boring, basic crap like math, science, etc. and are actually related to things that you are interested in doing for your future. It's a strange thing. I never thought I would be excited for school but that is exactly the case and it makes sense.
What do I have to look forward to in the fall? Having my own apartment with Parker and, in turn, endless time to work on Season 2 of Ecto Fusion. (Which is going to be awesome by the way. Here's a slight teaser. Parker got a ventriloquist dummy. Expect great things) Not only am I going to be living with one of my closest friends but we're going to be living right next to Aarika. All of my classes look to be very interesting and I have friends in all of them except one. I'm hopefully going to get a job at Family Video, which I would be perfectly suited for. Matt is returning to IUP. Needless to say, I'll always have something to do.
What's going on back home in Manor? Absolutely nothing. I have about 2 friends out here; Julie, who works all the time and Joe... who also works all the time. I went back to BK, which I swore I'd never do, but actually hasn't been that bad. I'm getting a lot of hours which equals a lot of money for the fall. I've also promised not to let work get to me like it did last summer to avoid stress and it's been so far, so good in that aspect. Most days consist of work and nights consist of nothing but looking on the internet, watching DVDs, listening to music, practicing guitar and piano, repeat. It's already starting to get old and I've still got 2 months left of it.
This is starting to sound like I'm in a really moody, negative state of mind, which isn't the case at all. I'm just bored beyond all recognition. To try and lighten the mood, I'll tell you some things that have been keeping me busy and entertained over the summer.
MOVIES
Ah, thank God for movies, which are always a good way to spend some time, be it at the theater or at home. I've been taking the time to rewatch some old favorites and also give second chances to movies I've overlooked before. I'm a big fan of rewatching movies, be they movies I love or just like because there's almost always something to notice or appreciate on repeat viewings that you didn't notice the first time around. I haven't gotten to the theater as much as I've wanted to. But here are the few I have seen so far...
-Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (pretty much what you'd expect. Nothing great, but it's consistently funny and they actually manage to fit in some good character development)
-Iron Man (a huge surprise. Robert Downey Jr. totally kicks ass in this and it restored my faith in comic book movies after being betrayed by Spider-Man 3)
-Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (all of my friends have hated it but I really enjoyed it. Maybe it's just because I didn't grow up with the original trilogy and looked at the new one from a different mindset, but aside from a few problems, it was thoroughly entertaining)
-The Strangers (quite an odd movie. It reaches some inevitable stumbles in the second half, but the stuff that works does so extremely well. It's just nice to see a horror movie that's somewhat well-made)
-The Incredible Hulk (not as good as Iron Man, but still a lot of fun. If Marvel Films continues in this style and direction, they could make some truly classic films)
-The Happening (I'll just say that while I don't think it's the cinematic abomination most critics are making it out to be, it is definitely M. Night Shyamalan's most disappointing film. Mostly just a case of unfulfilled potential. It's entertaining to a degree and has several cool moments but you just get the feeling that it could have been a lot more.
Needless to say, the summer movie season is just getting started. The Dark Knight comes out in a month and I'm planning for it to completely rule all and become the best comic book film ever made. Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder both look hilarious and could end up being the best comedies of the year. WALL-E looks so cute that it smacks my cynical side down a few pegs. Then there's the movies I want to see but probably won't until DVD because theaters around here suck and won't show any smartly made independent films, such as The Wackness and American Teen.
TV
What can you say about the summer TV season..it sucks. Here are the few shows I have been watching somewhat consistently...
-Last Comic Standing (i'm a big stand-up comedy fan and it's always interesting to see the different styles of comics. This season has been somewhat frustrating though as several really funny comedians haven't made it to the semi-finals whereas several very unfunny comedians who just steal bits from other, more famous comics have made it through)
-The Real World: Hollywood (I don't know how the hell it happened but I've actually been enjoying this season of The Real World. Not sure why, considering everyone in the house is pretty much a douchebag, but the show has been focusing on some pretty interesting stories in the house. Or maybe I'm just that bored. It's hard to judge)
-Fear Itself (a horror anthology series in the vein of Masters Of Horror, with a different director every week. To be honest, I've only half-watched the first 2 episodes because they were pretty subpar but supposedly this week starts the beginning of well-made episodes, so we'll see)
-Late Night With Conan O'Brien (I've become a huge fan of Conan over the last year. He has the funniest talk show on television right now and it's always reliable to entertain me in the late hours of the night)
-The Daily Show (a good show to have on the background and to entertain)
-Weeds (this one's kind of up in the air. Depends on if the Showtime website keeps putting episodes up. Fingers crossed)
MUSIC
Music has been very good recently. This month alone, there has been so many great CD releases, I can't even keep up. A few that have been in my CD player frequently as of late, are...
-weezer-"the red album" (my favorite band releases their best album in 12 years. "The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" is freaking amazing)
-The Fratellis-"Here We Stand" (a consistently catchy album of great songs by the Scottish band)
-The Dresden Dolls-"No, Virginia..." (an album of b-sides, rarities and new material by this extremely underrated, creative punk-cabaret band)
-Coldplay-"Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" (Coldplay took a big risk with this album by trying lots of new sounds and styles but it really pays off)
-Katy Perry-"One Of The Boys" (what can I say? I heard "I Kissed A Girl" and really loved it. I bought the album on a whim and the rest of it is actually pretty good. Standard pop stuff but definitely better than most)
INTERNET
A few sites that have killed much time for me
-www.aintitcool.com (the best movie site for movie geeks)
-www.imdb.com (the best movie site, period)
-www.cracked.com (the lists they have on here are hilarious)
-www.digitalpimponline.com (check out "Joe Loves Crappy Movies", an extremely funny online comic)
-www.absolutepunk.net (where I fulfill all my music news needs)
-www.youtube.com (the best place to go and cure boredom
LITERATURE
Nothing major. I started reading "A Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby. It's about 4 people in England who all go to the same rooftop on New Year's Eve to kill themselves and end up talking to each other. I'm really just getting into it but it's very good so far, despite one of the main characters being annoying as all hell. Other than that, just been reading issues of Alternative Press (who despite giving notice to some really shitty bands, give attention some great ones as well) and Entertainment Weekly (my one magazine addiction)
So that's about it. 2 more months to go til I'm back up at school. My birthday is on Saturday which should be fun and I'm sure there's a lot more media and pop culture to enjoy which I will be sure to share with anyone who cares to read this.
- Location:Home
- Mood:
bored - Music:Coldplay-"Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends"
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