obligatory lost post (but i'd write it even if it wasn't obligatory)

I've been putting this off for a couple of days. Hopefully I get all my thoughts in, but it's not super long. I don't think it'll be super long. I'll just say the important stuff this time.

First of all let me say that watching the Lost finale reminded me how much I love the show. Now I'm more interested in watching the whole thing over again than I was before. I've quibbled on the technique by which they're shown, but I love these characters. I love these people.

That said, I still stand behind what I previously said about the legacy of the show becoming a disappointment when looking back on the finale. I still love the show, but that's the way it is. I think I can still love a show and also have mild disappointment at the same time.

Everything matters. That's what was told to us. We got to see Boone and Shannon there in the temple and I thought the same thing I thought way back in season 1 when Boone died, do they matter? At all? Kate's horse? Tall, wet Walt? (Although seeing Nikki and Paolo in the temple would have been AWESOME.)

Let me take a paragraph here and say something positive about this same subject. Throughout the series many many many people died. Eventually I think I tended to get the infantry soldier's "thousand-yard stare" when I thought about how useless it is that these people are dying. For what? What's the big secret? What mystery is so important that so many innocents die? I found it very troubling. Now, with the finale the big thing they addressed is death. Death wasn't the finality presented to us in the 120 previous episodes. Everybody dies. That's not important though. What's important is whether or not you're able to "move on" once you're there.

I am not saying they needed to cover a laundry list of answers and just check them off. What I'm saying and what I tried to say in the previous post is that I feel they needed to at least more ambiguously connect some answered questions to each other so that it doesn't look like they simply forgot most of them. And it DOES look like that. It's my opinion, but I would venture that MOST people who watched the entirety of the show now feel like many of the mysteries weren't just not answered, but blatantly swept under the rug hoping we won't notice. My opinion. Let's address these things one by one later.

So as I mentioned in the previous post, Carlton Cuse has stated that the final image of the show is the same final image they discussed for ending the show way back in season 1. As I watched the finale I had this in my mind. So the final image is... a hugfest in a church in purgatory. Okay, fine. I especially liked that it was six seasons worth of hugging and not just one. Too bad Eko wasn't in there. I'm sure he was supposed to be, but I hear the actor doesn't want anything to do with the show, so that's a big loss (of course maybe he wasn't "ready" -- he was religious, but also a killer).

Anyway, I get the sinister feeling that the plan from season 1 wasn't to have them get off the island, then struggle to get back on, then struggle for and against the two island "deities," then split into two realities, then pick a new "Jacob," etc. BUT I do believe that they planned on ending the show in the alt-reality purgatory church. I may be a negative nellie on this one, but I think it's obvious that the creators decided very early on that the island was, indeed, purgatory, but were miffed that the fans guessed it so incredibly fast. They then thought of the sideways universe as the new purgatory and ended the show as originally planned. I guess it's not that horrible. I just can't wait for them to admit it five years from now.

I see this attitude with a more minor plot point. Is there a good reason why we don't know the Man in Black's name? It's not just that his name is a mystery, it's that nobody on the show even bothers to wonder (see, this is the under the rug sweeping I kind of mean). We learn later that Jacob and MiB are brothers. Was MiB's name going to be Esau? Seems like an apt moniker right? I think the creators never mentioned his name because they were miffed that the fans guessed it TEN MINUTES after the character was introduced.

Okay, getting into the details again. I apologize.

Actually one more detail. Did the hydrogen bomb do anything? I'm not complaining, just wondering. Did the show use the bomb as a misdirection to make us think it caused the sideways universe, but the sideways universe was actually just a perception of the afterlife? I actually sort of like that idea. That means when Juliet said "it worked" while dying in Sawyer's arms, she wasn't speaking of the hydrogen bomb working, but of their whole lives -- because she was speaking as someone who was able to find Sawyer again in death.

Anyway, the creators were smart to make the ending about the relationships of the characters rather than answering some big huge mystery. I think it's short-term smart though because the sentiment won't last and won't be as legendary as the more mysterious aspects of the show. One thing they could have tried would be to pull a 180 and pose the biggest question ever right at the end and then finish it. That may be seen as a giant "screw you" to the fans though.

So mysteries aside. It's about the characters. And that's where I think the finale really... failed.

Now on to character nit-picking. At least that's what this will be viewed as. I won't go through everyone, but I struggle a lot with the show's presentation of the "goodness" of Locke. This was the biggest answer I've been waiting for on the show for the past three years.

I'm incredibly surprised I seem to be the only one who feels this way, but the instant Locke finagled the morally-struggling John Ford to do his dirty work and kill "the real Sawyer" in order for Locke to be properly initiated into the others; my impression of the character was embittered in totality. I find this action worse than murder. I hated how Jack came to the conclusion that Locke was "right." Perhaps Locke was right in believing in the island and its importance, but Locke was dead wrong in his actions that carried out what he believed. Just believing in something doesn't validate actions. Locke was right. Ben was wrong. They were both Machiavellian in their pursuits, but Locke doesn't get a free ride for his actions just because of his thoughts.

Obviously the creators and the fans feel differently. That's too bad. It's a taint I guess I'll always see and I'll keep it with me forever I guess. If what I'm feeling was more fully illustrated in the show, I think it could have made a great point. Science and faith can BOTH be wrong when carried into the extreme. I do like the character that Jack becomes because of his faith/science struggle though. It's quite the best of both worlds plus I find the guy far more... "good" than either his past self or (of course) Locke.

I guess I've written enough. It was a great show with a good finale. Could have used more punch outs or baby-throwing, but I'm content and exhausted and sort of glad it's over so that I don't get Lost anxiety every week. Quite a ride.

Please stay-tuned to one last Lost post about what spin-offs I want to see happen.

dharma karma

I don't know what I'm gonna say, but I gotta say it fast -- I gotta say it before Sunday.

I'm a huge fan and I'm about to go off. If you HAVEN'T seen all of Lost up to this point, begin watching it. Don't stop watching it until you get to the final episode of season 3. Notice I didn't say you have to watch the whole thing. Just watch to the last episode of season 3 and then you can decide if you want to commit to the rest.

Lost is finally ending. I don't wanna say "finally" though, because how can it possibly end when it's at its nonsensical peak?

Howsabout I get rid of my unanswered questions first.

Apparently it's really really hard to get to the island if you want to... yet (in order to explain Jorge Garcia's weight most likely) some plane somewhere has been dropping crates of Dharma food on the island. If Widmore really wanted to get back couldn't he just nab THAT plane?

The others had a special interest in Walt. Did they know he was a candidate? If they knew the candidates why didn't they kidnap Jack and Sawyer from the beginning?

So, the numbers... what's the deal with them? Still important? Does the universe itself still have something to do with them or has the nature of the universe drifted a bit more toward the whims of the two twin island deities?

I could quibble more, but I won't. I'll defend for just a second. As the creators have pointed out, Lost is a lot more about the questions than the answers. The questions are far more fun. Without the questions, the mystery as well as the mystique of the show would be gone and as a result, the charm.

True.

In that case, there could be dozens and dozens of unresolved questions this Sunday at 11:30 and not only would it not matter, but the show would become more legendary for maintaining its mystique long after it ended. Ideally, the show would have the best of both worlds -- a gigantic mainstream success with a cult following that will continue to discuss the Lost philosophy for years to come.

That is not the case, however.

Unfortunately, the burgeoning of questions piled onto the Lost mythology has simply made it creatively top-heavy. I'll be the first to admit that the questions are more interesting than the answers, but not when they contradict each other in hindsight -- which is what WILL happen unless they are resolved (or at least tied TOGETHER rather than just tied up).

Monday morning will come and instead of fondly discussing the questions, fans of the show will look at the inconsistencies and see sloppiness.

I know I'm coming across as a faithless first and second season Jack Shephard. Hopefully I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong. I hope Lindelof and Cuse will pull something together that doesn't necessarily answer everything, but will at least make it SEEM like the chaos is worth it to TRY to figure out.

According to Carlton Cuse, the final image they shot of the show is the same image they decided on in the first season. Maybe that's true. Even so, I'm not necessarily impressed with stretching of the plot taffy in every random direction only to bring it back to where it was already. In the process that plot taffy got real thin and picked up lots and lots of gross dust and hair on the way back home. I think that analogy made sense, don't you?

Actually the whole point of the post is for me to say something completely different. I think that the story and evolution of coming up with the story of Lost may actually be more interesting than Lost itself. I heard it best on (I think think) the Firewall and Iceberg podcast where one of the guys said something like "Can you imagine J.J. Abrams sitting at home watching the most recent episode of Lost and saying 'did I seriously CREATE this show?'"

Here's what I really want and something I'd absolutely consume to the core: I want Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse to write a tell-all chronicling the history and philosophy of the show chronologically. What specific plot points were decided by fan interaction? What specific things were in place all along? What specific things were improvised? If anybody listens to them in interviews they are pretty open about many specifics, but not in the context of the completed show in hindsight. Oo! Oo! Better yet, a movie documentary filled to the brim with the executives, show runners, writers and directors. They could re-visit all their creative arguments and everything. I'd love that.

No guarantees though. They're under absolutely no obligation and... there is a mystique to maintain.

sense us, the "working"

Life over the past few days have been especially hilariouser than usual. I say that as someone who is getting more and more like Cosmo Kramer every day.

Anyway, I'm taking another stab at working for money -- hence the hilarity. This time it's a temporary stint with the United States Census. I guess temporary is obvious. It's not like there's a 2011 census. Although who's the head of the census? I bet it's the cushiest job ever! Don't do anything for ten years and then count to 300 million.

Haven't done any work yet. Totally could've but they're insistent on a pretty unnecessary five-day training program. Very cool since the training program itself pays. It's a freebie (five days of freeb).

The point is, the first day of HR sexual harassment videos are definitely the best sexual harassment training videos I've ever seen. It's a total faux pas to laugh during the harassment training videos, but it was really really hard not to this time.

Speaking of HR, why do we make a point of pointing out that it's HUMAN resources? Are there more resources for non-humans? I've never heard of robot resources. Are the robots mad? Do robots get mad? Do we program robots not to get mad because they have nowhere to go in the workplace when they're harassed?

And what's up with that paragraph about this employer being an "equal opportunity employer" like they're all so super special for it? Has anyone in the past 30 years worked for an inequal opportunity employer? Why do they have to point it out so often? Is anybody seriously on the edge of their seat waiting for that announcement?

If I call you I have to stick to the script. They're SUPER strict about that. If I go off script they talk about "termination." I don't know if that means a firing or a firing squad, so don't be surprised if I pretend I don't know you.

standupping citizen

Here is the result of Wiseguys open mic night. I was supposed to only go for three minutes, but I wasn't aware of the signal to get off the stage.

The "dirty" joke begins at about 1:25. Don't say I didn't warn you.


The big ignorant bit about multiple sclerosis begins at about 1:15.


I am now crossing off #91 from the big list.

soon to experience the most humiliating moment of my life

In what is surely a bad idea, I've decided to take part in open mic night over at Wiseguys comedy club this coming Wednesday.

Come see me! It will be so sad!

Details:
Wiseguys. Trolley Square. Wednesday. 8pm (doors open at 6 (but seriously who's waiting in line for open mic night (I seriously don't know))). 5 bucks.

I got Zo to agree to do it too. Just come and laugh and/or pity laugh. Could really use it I think.

joe roast

Been meaning to put this together for a while. Here's the heavily edited version of the Joe Evans Bachelor Party Roast.

It's quite enjoyable I think even though there's actually about 45 more minutes of footage in the real one.