No, this has nothing to do with me confronting the issues I have in my life. This has to do with the Lost finale.
I wanted to go over a few things in my head before I put forth any comments. I have to say that right after the episode ended last Sunday I was satisfied. I cried all over the place. I loved the bookend created by having the last shot be Jack's eye closing as he died mimicking the opening shot of Jack's eye opening as he regained consciousness after the plane crash. I loved the emotional satisfaction of seeing characters reunited in the alt-verse. I loved that Ben stayed good and that he knew he had some more things to work on before he could join the others. (HA! I didn't even mean to write it that way...the "others"...get it?) I also liked that Hurley ultimately ended up being the protector with Ben as his number two. Hurley was always the heart of the series, who better to protect what was often referred to as the heart of the island. And, who better to help Ben get past his insecurities, but the person who was most willing to take care of others unconditionally.
I realized as I was re-watching part of the episode the other day (and crying in the same parts) that I am really going to miss hearing Michael Giacchino's beautiful score once a week. As much as using contemporary music in a television series can be great (Alias, that also used Giacchino as a composer, was great at this, as was La Femme Nikita), in some respects, it has become the lazy go to that replaces real scoring. Thankfully, he is a busy guy so I know I will hear him again. I think he needs to do like They Might Be Giants once did and set up a phone number you could call to hear a new song everyday.
I'm sure plenty of people are horked off that we didn't get answers for everything. But, the creators had been pretty clear in interviews that they weren't going to provide answers for everything. The only answer they guaranteed was that they would show how the alt-verse and happenings on the island were connected. Part of me wonders if they got caught up in the cool cues (the numbers, the connections between characters revealed in the flash backs, name choices, the books that Sawyer read, the Dharma Initiative) that they hadn't quite figured out how it all tied in so they just decided to not provide answers that don't exist. But part of me wonders if I just need to re-watch the series with the knowledge I know have thanks to the finale. Maybe the cues were just simply tools of compelling storytelling. Maybe it was the rabid fanbase that made the cues bigger than they should have been.
Ultimately, I don't know that I care if I didn't get answers. Sure, I have questions. How did Jacob get off the island? Did Desmond ever get off the island or was he there with Ben and Hurley for the rest of his life? Is Ben going to stay in the alt-verse till he gets his baggage with Alex and Rousseau resolved? (He is aware of his island life, but we didn't see any sort of revelation for Alex and Rousseau.) How much time passed between the characters deaths?
Not having these answers doesn't take away from the experience I had watching the show. It gives me a chance to continue to think about the stories and the themes the show offered up. I'm okay with that. I can let go. What happened, happened.
On a side note, I was talking about the finale with a couple of co-workers. One is still, somehow, convinced that everyone died at the very beginning. Um, I don't think so. I'm not sure how he came to that conclusion. I tried to argue my perspective. Everything that happened on the island happened and that's what brought about the redemption that we see in the alt-verse. While talking about it with my boss on Friday, Disney was walking by us. When she heard me mention Jack's name, she squeals, "Are you talking about Lost? I haven't watched it yet...don't say anything." I have a very hard time believing she's been watching this show. This is the person who had to have someone else set up her Facebook page. Plus, I think most people who have been fans from the start have seen the finale by now. Sure she has kids, but they are little and in bed by 7 or 8pm. You got time to watch chick. (Yes, I am a TV snob sometimes.) Anyway, my boss decided to mess with her and immediately says, "Can you believe that they made Jack gay?!" Disney about screamed. I added that I thought that Jack and Locke made a cute couple. Disney kept saying we had ruined the finale. I can't honestly say whether she was playing along or if she really believed us. It's very hard to tell. I sort of hope she believed us.
Here's some of the most beautiful music television has ever had grace its airwaves.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
No, no, no, no, no, no....
All right Lost writers...if you make my Ben turn out to be a baddie, I'm gonna...I'm gonna...well, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. But, I will be pretty horked off. Last night's episode left me a twee bit confused on several points.I can understand why Ben wouldn't have a problem with the suddenly reformed Charles W. dying, but why go with Fake Locke? I'm hoping it's because he has something up his sleeve and he's going to help destroy old Smokey.
Next question, if Jacob took Kate off the list of candidates because she became a mom, then why were Jinn, Sun, and Sawyer still on (at least until Jinn and Sun died) when they are also parents? I need answers people. I'm thinking I'm not going to get a lot of sleep on Sunday evening.
Here's one other little bit. It seems as though most of the group are going to run into each other at the concert in the Alt-verse. Miles is going, as is Charlotte, probably Sawyer, Jack, Jack's kid, the kid's mom (who we haven't seen yet), Desmond, Kate, and I think Hurley and Sayid. It struck me that wouldn't it be interesting if Juliet ended up being Jack's ex. They are both doctors; they could have met at a conference or something. At this concert, if Sawyer goes as Miles' "date," then he and Juliet could meet. Kate and Jack could also meet at this point in time. Don't know that any of the above is feasible, it was just something that struck me while driving home today.
On other pop culture fronts, I saw Robin Hood this past weekend. Sadly, it's a bit of a snooze fest. The story just wasn't compelling enough to carry a 2 1/2 hr. movie. I was looking forward to seeing a new twist on the Robin Hood legend. But, the film just seemed to stroll along until it hit an action sequence. It's too bad, because I liked the chemistry between Russell and Cate.
Also last week, I got the chance to see The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. If you haven't had the chance to read the book, I strongly recommend doing so. Lisbeth Salander (the girl with the aforementioned tattoo) is one of the more unique and interesting female characters in contemporary literature. The book is the first in a trilogy. The final book comes out next week.
Back to the films. Because the series of books have already been released in Sweden, the corresponding films are also already done and have been shown overseas. Dragon Tattoo centers around the mysterious disappearance of a 16 yr. old girl. She hasn't been seen in about 40 years. She comes from a wealthy and powerful family. Her favorite uncle has spent most of his life trying to find out what happened to her. He decides to make one last effort and hires a recently disgraced journalist to go through all the police reports, etc. to see if any new clues can be found. Salander, who is a researcher for a security company and a computer hacker, gets involved and the story speeds along from that point.
The movie was tense, even though I knew what was coming up. The screenwriter did an excellent job of staying true to the source material without being a slave to it. I didn't miss what was cut out. I was a little surprised that something we learn in the second book was sort of revealed in the movie, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Since I'm sure most of you won't find this in the local multiplex, try and snag it when it comes out on DVD in July...and suck it up and read the subtitles please.
That's it for now. Dig the new LCD Soundsystem cd that came out this week! And check out the latest incarnation of Doctor Who on BBC America, Matt Smith...woo, hoo! Or should it be woo, Who?
I'm such a dork.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Blog or watch Glee online...hmmmmm...
That was the question last week. I was all ready to update and instead I watched the Madonna themed episode of Glee. Sorry.
It's been a long two, three, four weeks. My anxiety was created indirectly so I shouldn't complain too much. One of the sales reps had a family emergency so he was essentially gone for 3 days. The whole thing was rough for him and his wife. I was trying to do my best to help handle the work load which resulted in several hours of overtime on my end and some inappropriate questions from Disney. Sigh.
Here's the super spiffy update on the stuff that is my life.
MOVIES:
The Losers-I meant to write on this a while back. I saw it the weekend it opened and was disappointed. It was just a standard action movie really. The one highlight was Chris Evans. He needs to get more cool gigs. It was a bit disturbing to me that there was a brief media storm over Kick Ass, which opened the week prior and was rated R, having an 11 yr. old character who was a vengeance driven killer. Then, we have The Losers, rated PG-13 making it available to a younger audience, offering up a fight between the male and female lead. I swear the female lead got punched in the face and of course, they end up sleeping together. The PG-13 version of that included a slow-mo lap dance. And, a woman gets shot in the face by the bad guy for not holding an umbrella correctly. Now, we don't see her get shot directly. She is just off screen and we see the bad guy lift his gun and pull the trigger. I don't remember seeing anything about either of these two scenes. In fact, Ebert gave the movie 3 stars and only gave Kick Ass one. Something there is just not right.
Iron Man Deux-You generally can't go wrong with Robert Downey Jr. The movie is good, summer fun, but I didn't get quite the same thrill out of it as I did the first one. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the origin story being stronger that the plot of the second movie. Still, Robert has some great lines and great moments...totally worth seeing.
Theater: I went and saw the road show of Avenue Q last night and freakin' loved it!!!! The songs were fab enough that I'm seriously thinking of getting the cast album. How can you not love a show that features a tune called "The Internet Is For Porn?" (Fave lyric from that tune, "I grabbed my dick and double clicked...") Normally, I really don't enjoy musicals, but with plenty of edgy humor and puppet sex, this show entertained me to no end. If it comes to your town, go see it and laugh your butt off.
I know there are some other things I was going to comment on, but I'm drawing a blank and I hear thunder coming closer. I should probably shut down the computer at this point.
Stay dry and safe kids.
It's been a long two, three, four weeks. My anxiety was created indirectly so I shouldn't complain too much. One of the sales reps had a family emergency so he was essentially gone for 3 days. The whole thing was rough for him and his wife. I was trying to do my best to help handle the work load which resulted in several hours of overtime on my end and some inappropriate questions from Disney. Sigh.
Here's the super spiffy update on the stuff that is my life.
MOVIES:
The Losers-I meant to write on this a while back. I saw it the weekend it opened and was disappointed. It was just a standard action movie really. The one highlight was Chris Evans. He needs to get more cool gigs. It was a bit disturbing to me that there was a brief media storm over Kick Ass, which opened the week prior and was rated R, having an 11 yr. old character who was a vengeance driven killer. Then, we have The Losers, rated PG-13 making it available to a younger audience, offering up a fight between the male and female lead. I swear the female lead got punched in the face and of course, they end up sleeping together. The PG-13 version of that included a slow-mo lap dance. And, a woman gets shot in the face by the bad guy for not holding an umbrella correctly. Now, we don't see her get shot directly. She is just off screen and we see the bad guy lift his gun and pull the trigger. I don't remember seeing anything about either of these two scenes. In fact, Ebert gave the movie 3 stars and only gave Kick Ass one. Something there is just not right.
Iron Man Deux-You generally can't go wrong with Robert Downey Jr. The movie is good, summer fun, but I didn't get quite the same thrill out of it as I did the first one. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the origin story being stronger that the plot of the second movie. Still, Robert has some great lines and great moments...totally worth seeing.
Theater: I went and saw the road show of Avenue Q last night and freakin' loved it!!!! The songs were fab enough that I'm seriously thinking of getting the cast album. How can you not love a show that features a tune called "The Internet Is For Porn?" (Fave lyric from that tune, "I grabbed my dick and double clicked...") Normally, I really don't enjoy musicals, but with plenty of edgy humor and puppet sex, this show entertained me to no end. If it comes to your town, go see it and laugh your butt off.
I know there are some other things I was going to comment on, but I'm drawing a blank and I hear thunder coming closer. I should probably shut down the computer at this point.
Stay dry and safe kids.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Pain in the Ass, Kick Ass and Dumb Ass
PAIN IN THE ASS
There I was, minding my own business, waiting for the light to change, listening to Nine Inch Nail's The Fragile when suddenly I and my car are moving forward even though my foot was on the brake. An obvious phrase left my mouth and before I could continue to cuss, I get tapped again. The light changes and I pull into the first parking lot I get to, as does the car behind me.
My mind is racing and I'm sure I had a lovely look on my face. I get out of my car feeling twitchy all over from the adrenaline rush. I haven't been in an accident since I was about 17. The young woman who was driving the other car gets out and we do the usual "are you okay" conversation. Once we determine no one is hurt, we check our respective cars. Her front bumper is fine, but her license plate is a bit mangled. I fully expected to have a dent in my rear bumper. I go to check it out and was surprised to see nothing more than a crack about the length of my pinkie finger and a random screw sticking out of my bumper (see above).
After a bit of discussion, we exchange our info and head out. I debated on calling my insurance agent since there wasn't much visible damage. After talking to one of the guys at work who does his own car stuff, I decided to start the claim process. Of course, this means getting a hold of someone to check out the bumper to see if anything that isn't visible needs to be replaced. I'm dying to know where the screw came from. I call down to my dealer because they are a "select" service group with my insurance company which will make the paperwork tons easier. Of course, the body guy isn't there on Saturdays and apparently they don't have any pens or pieces of paper around because I couldn't leave a message. Now, these are the same people who drove me nuts last year when I had to get work done so I'm not particularly optimistic. I just am trying to make this process as painless as possible. Now I get to start the pain in the butt planning so I can get an appointment, get someone to follow me to drop off the car and get a vehicle to drive to work (all before 8 am including a 30 min. drive to work), get the claim number from the insurance agent, have a car for work, get my car back....arrrghhhh. If only I'd turned left instead of right.
There I was, minding my own business, waiting for the light to change, listening to Nine Inch Nail's The Fragile when suddenly I and my car are moving forward even though my foot was on the brake. An obvious phrase left my mouth and before I could continue to cuss, I get tapped again. The light changes and I pull into the first parking lot I get to, as does the car behind me.
My mind is racing and I'm sure I had a lovely look on my face. I get out of my car feeling twitchy all over from the adrenaline rush. I haven't been in an accident since I was about 17. The young woman who was driving the other car gets out and we do the usual "are you okay" conversation. Once we determine no one is hurt, we check our respective cars. Her front bumper is fine, but her license plate is a bit mangled. I fully expected to have a dent in my rear bumper. I go to check it out and was surprised to see nothing more than a crack about the length of my pinkie finger and a random screw sticking out of my bumper (see above).
After a bit of discussion, we exchange our info and head out. I debated on calling my insurance agent since there wasn't much visible damage. After talking to one of the guys at work who does his own car stuff, I decided to start the claim process. Of course, this means getting a hold of someone to check out the bumper to see if anything that isn't visible needs to be replaced. I'm dying to know where the screw came from. I call down to my dealer because they are a "select" service group with my insurance company which will make the paperwork tons easier. Of course, the body guy isn't there on Saturdays and apparently they don't have any pens or pieces of paper around because I couldn't leave a message. Now, these are the same people who drove me nuts last year when I had to get work done so I'm not particularly optimistic. I just am trying to make this process as painless as possible. Now I get to start the pain in the butt planning so I can get an appointment, get someone to follow me to drop off the car and get a vehicle to drive to work (all before 8 am including a 30 min. drive to work), get the claim number from the insurance agent, have a car for work, get my car back....arrrghhhh. If only I'd turned left instead of right.
KICK ASS
I have been looking forward to this movie for several weeks now. I haven't read the comic that the flick is based on, but I am a fan of the director, Matthew Vaughn. Without Layer Cake, I'm not sure Daniel Craig would have been considered for Bond and Stardust was one of the best book adaptations I've seen in awhile.
Don't have any delusions about Kick Ass; it is an R rated movie in every sense. It is violent, there is tons of cussing (a decent amount coming from a character who is about 11 years old), adult humor...have I mentioned the violence. This not Spiderman or Superman. In tone, it comes closer to The Dark Knight.
I really enjoyed it. Aaron Johnson as Kick Ass was solid. His expressions gave off just the right amount of optimism and naivete needed for his character to even consider trying to become a super hero without super powers. Nick Cage used his nuttiness for good instead of evil and chewed the scenery as Big Daddy. Wearing a costume just a couple of utility belt accessories short of being Batman, and channeling both Adam West and William Shatner, he practically takes over most of the scenes he is in. That is, until his daughter comes into the picture.
Ah, Hit Girl. Instantly iconic and the best part of this movie. Chloe Moretz seems to dominate without even trying. She is perfect in the role and even though she and her father are essentially psychopaths, you root for her. You want her to get the revenge she needs and has trained for. Extra kudos to the movie's costume designer. Hit Girl's crime fighting costume is spot on. And major kudos to Chloe, her stunt double and the stunt coordinator. Chloe is the main focus of not one, not two, but THREE major fight sequences (one of them fabulously carried out to Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation"). For me, it was exciting to see a girl as the focus of a fight sequence without having her character in some skimpy outfit, there by making the fight more about the violence and anger than making it about sex.
I was checking Chloe's resume and she is going to be in the American remake of Let Me In. She will be playing a child vampire who befriends the boy next door who is being taunted by bullies. I wasn't sure how I felt about this remake, but now that I know she is in it, I am excited.
Kick Ass is one of those movies that you will either love for what it is or you will absolutely hate it...like Roger Ebert, who I don't think got it. Just don't take the kids.
Don't have any delusions about Kick Ass; it is an R rated movie in every sense. It is violent, there is tons of cussing (a decent amount coming from a character who is about 11 years old), adult humor...have I mentioned the violence. This not Spiderman or Superman. In tone, it comes closer to The Dark Knight.
I really enjoyed it. Aaron Johnson as Kick Ass was solid. His expressions gave off just the right amount of optimism and naivete needed for his character to even consider trying to become a super hero without super powers. Nick Cage used his nuttiness for good instead of evil and chewed the scenery as Big Daddy. Wearing a costume just a couple of utility belt accessories short of being Batman, and channeling both Adam West and William Shatner, he practically takes over most of the scenes he is in. That is, until his daughter comes into the picture.
Ah, Hit Girl. Instantly iconic and the best part of this movie. Chloe Moretz seems to dominate without even trying. She is perfect in the role and even though she and her father are essentially psychopaths, you root for her. You want her to get the revenge she needs and has trained for. Extra kudos to the movie's costume designer. Hit Girl's crime fighting costume is spot on. And major kudos to Chloe, her stunt double and the stunt coordinator. Chloe is the main focus of not one, not two, but THREE major fight sequences (one of them fabulously carried out to Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation"). For me, it was exciting to see a girl as the focus of a fight sequence without having her character in some skimpy outfit, there by making the fight more about the violence and anger than making it about sex.
I was checking Chloe's resume and she is going to be in the American remake of Let Me In. She will be playing a child vampire who befriends the boy next door who is being taunted by bullies. I wasn't sure how I felt about this remake, but now that I know she is in it, I am excited.
Kick Ass is one of those movies that you will either love for what it is or you will absolutely hate it...like Roger Ebert, who I don't think got it. Just don't take the kids.
DUMB ASS
On tax day, there was a tea party downtown in the town where I work. I know at least one co-worker took the day off to go (really? seriously?). I think one of my sales reps took an extended lunch to be there. I'm surprised our office didn't close. Sarah Palin came to a near by town and charged people to see her. I haven't read the coverage just because I get angry every time I think about her. I keep hoping she will disappear from the public scene, but no luck so far.
Well, I think I've caught up now. OH, almost forgot. Duke won the NCAA men's tourney. It was a very exciting and well played game. I read yesterday that one of Butler's best players, Gordon Heyward put his name in the NBA draft, but hasn't hired an agent yet. That just means if he changes his mind, he can go back to school with no problem. I was disappointed when I read that. He's only a sophomore (if I remember correctly) and knowing that all but one of the starting 5 could be back next year had me really excited to watch Butler play. I know that money is a powerful lure, but I prefer it when the guys stay in school and get the most out of the college experience. That's just me.
Well, I think I've caught up now. OH, almost forgot. Duke won the NCAA men's tourney. It was a very exciting and well played game. I read yesterday that one of Butler's best players, Gordon Heyward put his name in the NBA draft, but hasn't hired an agent yet. That just means if he changes his mind, he can go back to school with no problem. I was disappointed when I read that. He's only a sophomore (if I remember correctly) and knowing that all but one of the starting 5 could be back next year had me really excited to watch Butler play. I know that money is a powerful lure, but I prefer it when the guys stay in school and get the most out of the college experience. That's just me.
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