"Love hurts. Sure, not as much as jumping on a bicycle with the seat missing, but it hurts."
I'm sad, but laughing.
Why did you disrupt that rendition of Shakespeare in the Park?
"Yes, well when I see five weirdos dressed in togas stabbing a guy in the middle of the park in full view of a hundred people, I shoot the bastards, that's my policy"
I had a wonderful Halloween, but it was far from ideal. I simply can't cram the entire holiday into a mere month. For those of you who were wondering, my costume this year was General Zod from Superman II.
If you're reading this now, it probably means you're my friend. It also means that there's a good chance you weren't born by 1982 which explains why I had to explain my costume to so many people. I needed a costume that would make use of the beard I'm presently sporting (which is getting really itchy and obnoxious, but I already told someone I'd grow a beard for Christmas). Also, my hair (as little as I have) tends to stick up more than slick back. Oh well.
I just finished watching The Simpsons Halloween special this year. It sucks that they don't show it before Halloween, but I'm sort of grateful that they extend the season slightly since I ran out of time to do everything else.
Actually, I managed all the essentials.
Those of you who came over to my house last week, thanks. We made a great movie this year and I'll probably post it soon. I was toying with the idea of entering it somewhere, but I don't even know where and I'd rather just keep it fun and public where everyone can see it. I will be tweaking it this week though, so it won't be up for a little while. My friends are really awesome to deal with me while we put the thing together.
I watched about a dozen scary movies. Thanks to Zo, we had some serious organization on that front. Unfortunately I wasn't able to finish watching all of the Friday the 13th movies, but I got 3 1/2 done. Also, I make a point of watching Donnie Darko every year, but time escaped me.
Once again, I wasn't able to go out trick-or-treating (still not opposed to doing it in my old age), but it was cool to receive trick-or-treaters -- even though most of them don't even say "trick or treat." What's up with that? I have to prod them most of the time.
I hit two haunted houses. They're getting less fun. I love them, but unfortunately they're so popular that the businesses are forced to make them the most efficient continuous line of people.
J.R. and I finished the Halloween cd, but we so ran out of time that we didn't get our cover art, movie quotes or lyrics finished. Here's the list. I'll burn you a copy if you want one.
1. "Keepin' Halloween Alive" by Alice Cooper 2. "The Ghost Who Walks" by Karen Elson 3. "Goo Goo Muck" by The Cramps 4. "Only After Dark" by The Human League 5. "Mr. Splitfoot" by Paris Motel 6. "Walk Like a Zombie" by HorrorPops 7. "Dead Girl Superstar" by Rob Zombie 8. "Jack You're Dead" by Joe Jackson 9. "Skullcrusher Mountain" by Jonathan Coulton 10. "A Night On Bald Mountain" by Eugene Ormandy 11. "Wake the Dead" by Family Force 5 12. "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" by Tracy Jordan 13. "She Wolf" by Shakira 14. "Wolf Like Me" by TV On the Radio 15. "Bed Intruder Mix" by Bruce Lee Roy 16. "This Gigantic Robot Kills" by MC Lars 17. "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin 18. "I Put a Spell on You " by Screamin' Jay Hawkins 19. "All Your Hate Lays On Me" by JonDis 20. "Good Man In a Bad Time" by Ian Hunter 21. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" by Roger Daltrey
"Bed Intruder Mix" is J.R.'s "original composition" this year. He took the famous joke song that's been auto-tuned and "scarified" it. My original is called "All Your Hate Lays On Me" and it's pretty much a portion of the ABBA song "Lay All Your Love On Me" played backward.
"Mr. Splitfoot" is the song in the trailer for the new AMC series Walking Dead. Have you seen that? I may start watching it. I watched half of the first episode and it's pretty good.
Here are a couple of great finds this year from the album --
Holy cow, has it nearly been a month since I've posted? I'm getting super lame.
Really busy this month though. I've been stressing out a lot about this year's Halloween movie. I think I'll finish it in time for the premiere at my house this Sunday at 6 p.m. What, you didn't hear? Well, check out the facebook invitation.
So I think I may be getting grosser and grosser every week. If you think I'm sort of a good person, don't watch. The crowd was wicked tough too. Oh well.
Thanks to Alex for getting this down. She snorted one time! That was funny.
Alright. Quick announcement. ONCE AGAIN, I'll be doing open-mic night TOMORROW. Keep in mind that you're probably reading this tomorrow, which is WEDNESDAY. 8:00 at the Trolley Square Wiseguys is the important information. It's only five bucks, but FREE if you get up there too. It's not that scary. I only got injured once while doing it. I'm probably out of material, so MAYBE this is the last time I do it in a while. We'll see. I will tell ya though, I am a fan of the material I have this time around. More than usual.
So... apologies. I know these may just be getting grosser and grosser. At least it's very very short this time. I also feel compelled to apologize because I forgot a couple of good jokes in the middle and also a very crucial set up that made the final joke much funnier (but also grosser). I said this on Twitter and Facebook already, but the keywords are garbage disposal, jellyfish, asparagus and then garbage disposal again. Here's a fun game! See if you can figure out what the jokes would have been based on the keywords I just gave! Okay fine, if you're that curious about the jokes, just come up and ask me.
So the stand-up went really really well I think. And thanks for everybody who came to check it out (all THREE of you). I'm not sure how I was able to pack the house last time. Hmm. Maybe I was so unfunny last time that nobody wanted to come back. Oh well. This time It may have been better because it was far shorter and tighter. Here it is. It's kind of hard to hear it, so I printed a rough transcript of it below the embed. probably the best way to view it is to play the video in an outside window and then glance at the blog if you miss something.
Woo! Yeah! Halloween is here! Halloween is here! It's my favorite season. Anybody like Halloween? Anybody like scary stories? It's my very favorite. I love love really really scary stories.
The most scary story in my opinion is the guy in the back seat of the car with the axe. Anybody ever been freaked out by that story? It's the scariest because you don't... it's it's like a suspenseful thing. You don't know how long he's been back there. Like for me and my car, I'll be like driving around. I'll be like (singing) "keep on pushin' my love over the border line! border line!" And then I hear this (stifled laughter). (pause) How long have you... been... back there? "For the past 11 songs ha ha!" But I thought I was alone! Oh no! You're not supposed to hear me singing in the car! And then he's like "Why do you only sing to the girl songs?" The girl songs make me feel prettyyy! Please stop laughing at me and please don't kill meeee!!! Hey! Salt n' Pepa! You wanna do a duet? "Yeah!" Kill me later. Kill me later.
So I recently started a new job -- and lost it -- but for the purposes of the next few jokes let's just say I'm still at the job. But like my favorite part of the new job is the orientation, you know. It's kind of like a free day. And y'know it doesn't really serve any purpose as far as I know it's just to help me integrate more with like some of the like Koreans and Japanese and Chinese and other Asians. That's what orientation's for, I dunno. So like, the best part of the orientation is all those sexual harassment videos that they show. Those are just like gold. I'm like taking so many notes. I'm like oh yeah. This is brilliant. This is perfect. This is great. But you know the human resources guy -- he sets me straight, he's like "No. No. You're not supposed to be taking notes during the sexual harassment videos. They're not to help you pick up girls.... If you have too much sexual harassment at work then that's grounds for termination." And I've been out of the workforce for so long that I don't even know the vernacular. I'm like termination? I'm thinkin' like The Terminator and like a terminal disease and then a crappy Tom Hanks movie. It's like really really foreboding stuff. But like what's termination again? What does that entail? He's like "Sir, when there is a termination that means some of your actions are so severe that you know there will be a firing--" A FIRING SQUAD?! What? All I did was pat your butt! I don't think it's really necessary for that I mean c'mon! Give me a break.
But human resources is great. I'm so happy that we have human resources to go to at our various jobs. I feel sorry for all the robots and chimps that I work with. They don't really have that aspect to go to. Which is why when I continue my sexual harassment at work, usually I exclu --
Um, actually sorry, are there any robots in here? Good, 'cuz I'm about to get really really racist right now.
I like to exclusively harass some of the robots at work because I'm like Hey! Hey Bolty! Drop another 50 pounds and you'll really be in my thoughts. What do you say we go to the maintenance closet anyway you dirty...
And then they're like "No. Please. Stop. Hostile. Work. Environment. Please. Stop."
I'm like who are you going to go to? Human Resources? You don't have a robot resources. There's no robot resources! What are you gonna do? Sorry. Hey chimp. Nice tail. Nice. Love it. Love it.
(I think right there I meant to say "Hey work monkey. Nice tail.")
It's great to be human. It's really good to be human. I love these times.
So um, dating's cool. It's not cool. I like dating and I love it when girls say -- this is like a common thing -- girls will always say this, like "Look, look, don't try to like sugar coat yourself or try too hard. Just be yourself! Be yourself!" Ladies, I think you should lay off the whole -- well not you know -- just take it easy, you know. Take it back because a lot of you don't know that like if we were to be ourselves like deep down, inside -- we're really horrible people. You should probably say "Hey, you know what? Um, pretend to be a good guy." The world would be a better place. Like when Eva Braun first started dating Hitler, she probably said, "You know what? Be yourself! Loosen up Adolf!" And he's like "What I really want to do is kill 6 million Jews." And she's like "Well okay! Wait. What? Okay well, just buy me stuff then." If she was a better person maybe she could have cut him down to like 3 million, I dunno.
I'm once again planning on doing open-mic stand-up -- TONIGHT. Please come and try to laugh.
Once again it's at Wiseguys at Trolley Square at 8:00 PM I believe. No idea when I'd actually go on. What they usually do is get everybody who signs up and then randomly draw the order. It's five bucks to get in, BUT it's free if you perform. You should do it too!
I think I'll talk about scary stories, workplace HR and Hitler. No doubt they'll only give me three minutes this time. Last time I took ten minutes but it was okay because I was last and I didn't actually realize that they were trying to wave me off the stage for seven minutes.
I'm hoping to get into a habit of doing this -- or at least doing it enough that I can do it without going into convulsive shakes before I go on (which is what happened last time).
This year, the scary movie is a period piece from 1991. There will be blood. There will be special effects. There will be romance.
The plan is to start shooting SATURDAY (you know, 9/11). Hopefully we'll get the hard stuff first. We're not FULLY casted, but we will be soon. If you're into helping please join the facebook group and/or tell me/text me. Helping doesn't necessarily mean acting, but it does mean you're awesome.
Okay, so it may be an understatement to say that I'm really into podcasting. Just don't sigh when I tell you this.
I recently joined another podcast and it's a hoot (that's right, I joined it instead of started it (although I did help start it)). Anyway, it's called Geeking Off.
It was actually Zo's idea. If you know Zo, you know what a fiend he is (and that the likelihood of us earning an explicit tag on iTunes is pretty high). Also Chad and Scott are in on it too. We talk a lot of comic books (Zo and Chad's interest especially) and whatever movie we saw last (the works of Bigelow and Lynch lately). The floodgates are open though, and we may talk about all sorts of stuff. In the future we'll be covering the whole genre of sci-fi as well as tackling the AFI top 100 movie list plus the works of Thomas Jane.
We have an awesome time. If listening to it is half as fun as recording it (which it most certainly is), then it's a rollicking way to hear something while at work or driving. Rollicking. Give a listen.
Okay, so like remember when I said I was planning this year's Halloween movie? Well I'm still planning it. I'm thinking of starting shooting in a couple of weeks. Maybe just after Friday the 13th. Right now, I'm working on an outline and some pre-production details. The scope may be slightly higher than last year. I'm hoping to not just cram in zombies, but also a ghost story, a love story and a ghost love story (most likely the zombies will be eliminated entirely). Also it will probably take place in Yugoslavia 20 years ago. Start getting into character everybody!
Here is the ghost effect I'm messing with right now.
Ran out of podcasts to listen to earlier today, so i switched over to some music in the ol' shuffle. Skipped the first bunch of songs but finally settled into "The Only Thing That Shines" by Shriekback. Shriekback is a slightly obscure 80s gloom-dance side project. I don't know anybody else in Salt Lake who's a fan (although I'm sure they exist). This song is actually a ballad (and I think a pretty obsessive imbalanced one).
The next song was "Borderline" by Madonna. Today that song sounded SO good. Better than usual even. I pondered a little on the song's end fade out where she's just doing a sort of "la da da da la da da da." I wondered how it was recorded. Is there an actual end to the song that they cut out through fade? Perhaps I just wanted to hear some more even if she wasn't even singing words.
The next song was "Bring on the Dancing Horses" by Echo and the Bunnymen. It was absolute perfect timing, because I found the experience euphoric. Astute readers of this blog (just me I think) may recognize that this was the song that played during the fireworks climax at Sugarhouse as I drove by on I-80 (simply savvy people would recognize the tune from the Pretty in Pink Soundtrack (the 23rd greatest movie of all time)). Today this song sounded even better. I heard things in the song that I never really took specific notice of. Is that a harp? Is that an electric accordion? Most of all, the song sounded so earnest and sincere. I completely believed Ian McCulloch when he sang "First I'm gonna make it then I'm gonna break it 'til it falls apart." I also was willing to actually bring on the dancing horses he was speaking of. The fact that I don't have any idea what "it" is that will fall apart or where these horses are (or even if they're literal or figurative) had nothing to do with the absolute believability of what I was hearing.
I wonder if a song could be written today with the unironic harp, wheezy reverb and earnest (but easily make-fun-able) lyrics that I hear in "Bring on the Dancing Horses" and still be a song that I don't brush off immediately.
I'm the biggest 80s music fan I know. I'm very fond of saying that I've been a fan of 80s music since 1980. 90% of my friends cannot say this because they were born after December 31, 1980. I have a huge fear that my fandom is mostly a result of life chronology. Obviously it's a huge part of it. For the most part the music of today is no worse than any other era. The only reason you think it was better when you were a teen-ager is because that's the music that was released when YOU were a teen-ager.
I like to think it's not JUST that though. I like to think that there was a different sense of sincerity back then (that I think only I can see).
My biggest reason for wanting to take part in time travel is to just go back in time to a time I remember. Would it feel different? Would it feel now? It probably would, but I really really hope it would feel like it did back then -- which is simply a lot different than it feels now in ways too complex to describe and do justice.
Coincidentally while doing my traditional YouTube music video "research" for this post I discovered that "Bring on Your Dancing Horses" actually appears in Hot Tub Time Machine, a movie I meant to see, but didn't get around to. I have a bad feeling that everybody who has seen it now knows the song quite well and they know it as a joke. I'm afraid the song has now been reset. The time machine I'm hoping for is now much farther away.
Strangely I worked on Independence Day and I will work on the 24th, but I actually called in sick to work on the 14th. That's how important it is to me. Ironic since part of the appeal of the 14th is its unimportance.
This year Scott mentioned that we should actually call the holiday "Dependence Day." I like that, but I also like "Mid True Summer." I think we may change the name every year.
Quick review: Craig Blake won this year. He earned points for being the first to arrive, hitting the slip 'n slide over 50 times, counting how many times he went on the slip 'n slide, going on the slip 'n slide in style (sometimes literally jumping the shark at the end), drinking a bit of freedom water and sticking around the longest. His spirit and youth were impossible to beat.
Regan and Dre destroyed in the float competition which they actually entered as a diorama. Laura won the photo-taking competition (see below). I won the ding dong stacking competition. Plenty of others went the extra mile in their enthusiasm (Rhett, Scott, Pete, Steph, yadda yadda yadda).
As usual, people balked at the drink selection. It's a necessary evil to have only the competitive drinks out -- freedom water (Perrier), chocolate milk and whole milk. Next year it'll be a lot tougher, I tell you. Next year we're baggin' the chocolate milk and instead of Perrier we're only having Shasta tonic water. I tried the "bonus beverage" of Perrier and milk. Pretty nasty, but I probably prefer it to straight Perrier.
I told a couple of people that I actually had some "good" palate cleansing drinks in the house for the winding down of the celebration. As I type this I realize I forgot to get those drinks out. Sorry if anybody literally left with a bad taste in their mouths.
Every year during Independence Day weekend I sort of feel compelled and obligated to watch the fireworks. Pretty much every year I forget to plan to. I still watch them, but very often I do it alone, which is far more depressing than going to movies and music concerts alone (which I tend to do constantly).
I don't hate watching fireworks, but I certainly find nothing incredibly pleasurable about them, so I should feel fine NOT watching, right? Nope. Unfortunately for every annual event such as fireworks watching, I tend to overly realize that there is a finite number of actual incidents of said events in my lifetime. If I'm lucky, I'll probably be around to experience about 60 Independence Day fireworks shows. I've already seen about 25 of them. At the 60th one I don't want to be with my kids enjoying the sights and saying to them "Wow, this is the first time I've actually enjoyed this."
Since I didn't make any plans with friends (and couldn't really since I was "in the office" until 9:30), I decided to just drive around town observing the various shows as I witnessed them happen. My timing was off though. I witnessed the Midvale show in the mirror.
As the incredibly sad symbolism sinks in I'll go ahead and talk about something else for a moment.
This morning I loaded up the old Shuffle with this year's independent mix. I specifically decided not to go specifically "American" bands, but rather my own kind of "summer night sensation of freedom" (which, when compiling music is obviously different for me than everybody else). Some highlighted artists from the playlist include Erasure, Eurythmics, Zeppelin, Lily Allen, Muse, Queen, OMD, Radiohead, The Smiths, The Ting Tings, Underworld, Yaz and a HUGE chunk of New Order ("Ceremony" is my favorite song in the world right now).
Early on I thought, wow... lots of British acts in this one... on the holiday celebrating our independence from them. Huh.
Why the British? An obvious answer would be that they make better music than we do (or at least that Jon Madsen has that opinion). Perhaps an eager psychoanalyst would say that on the day of independence I'm looking to associate myself with what I've severed myself from. Despite being more independent now than I've ever been in my life, I'm yearning for dependence and it's manifested in my desire to be subjected to King George III once again on this day of all days.
The evening's fireworks show ended quite spectacularly (especially for being alone and not as impressed with fireworks as I was when I was 5). I managed to time the Sugerhouse fireshow as I passed under them on I-80 between 700 and 2300 E. When you've lived in the city for as long as I have you tend to find some really unique gems of activities. The particular process of traveling under the fireworks to this particular show on this particular stretch of road has several unique advancements over the sitting in the park with a blanket method. First of all, you actually travel into the fireworks as they happen. There's a wonderful sense of moving depth. The smokey residue wafts onto the freeway and makes the inside of the car smell like the holiday. Also, of course you're listening to your music -- perhaps even your own independent mix (alternated with Showtunes Saturday Night of course). "Bring on the Dancing Horses" by Echo and the Bunnymen played during the big fireworks climax. VERY effective. So effective it was that I just HAD to share it.
Anyway, here's to independence, but also here's to British pop music. How about a little of both? Watch/listen to "Freedom '90" by George Michael. It's a good one. It's worthy of Independence (dependence) Day.
P.S. Don't get this song mixed up with "Freedom" by WHAM! Same singer, same title (sorta); but not the same song. Both are actually pretty good though.
A new paint job that looks like the French flag on the 'ol phone means Summer is officially here (yes, I put off painting my phone for a month)!
Also, it means the 4th annual Salt Lake City 14th of July celebration is shortly upon us (in my backyard). Please plan accordingly as a Facebook invite is shortly in the works. The 14th of July falls on a Wednesday this year I believe.
Also, just so everyone knows, while applying liberal amounts of nail polish remover to remove the previous pink "Valentine's Day" paintjob, I think I wrecked my phone. The microphone doesn't work too well anymore, so it's hard to hear me if we're in a conversation. At least it looks sort of nice for a phone that's eight years old.
I've been thinking about this year's Halloween movie lately. I think it'll be pretty cool. Usually, I don't start thinking about it until like the end of September at the earliest. It always turns into a very stressful (yet very fun) ordeal.
Yes, it's quite early. I'm only saying I'm thinking about it now to give everybody who wants to be a part of it time to also think about it. Lately I've been musing a little on what I want the story to be this time around and I think we may have something really special. Horror! Comedy! Social issues! Kissing! Seriously!
It's never too soon to let me know if you'd like to be involved. I'll set up the Facebook group shortly, but don't be afraid to tell me you're in before then! I'd like to shoot the thing in August. The weather may be more agreeable for us.
Anyway, if you're reading this and have no idea what I'm talking about, feel free to catch up on some old Halloween classics which are embedded below (2005, 2008, 2009).
I mentioned at the end of the last post that, now that Lost is over, I wanted to throw in a few more ideas to how ABC will be able to keep the momentum through spin-off shows. Here we go!
A few have already been covered by other personalities and by the show itself. Here are a couple of obvious ones that seriously would be pretty awesome television shows:
1. Dead and Alive Who wouldn't love an actual police procedural starring Miles and Sawyer as police partners? Miles searches for clues by communing with the dead while Sawyer utters a dozen quippy cop lines throughout the course of the show.
2. Two and a Half Teachers Simply put, the action of this television show takes place in the heated arguments of a teachers' lounge of a struggling suburban high school. Ben and Artzt constantly bicker of the best methods to teach the kids while latching onto their sanity. Often a third, more obvious method, is revealed by a crippled substitute teacher by the name of Locke.
3. Ad Aeterno After spending hundreds of years on the island, Richard Alpert roams the American countryside aghast at how culture has changed. He meets souls in need and always helps with his expertise of the 18th century Spanish slave trade. He only wants one thing, but in his travels he never achieves it. Love.
Okay here are some more that I haven't heard anyone else say:
4. Fantahurley Island This is a direct continuation of Lost on the island, but it is also a remake of Fantasy Island. People come from all over the world to see their fantasies realized, but their fantasies don't give them the answers they desire. Toward the end of every episode they seek out the "Mr. Roarke" of the island -- Hurley. Hurley's sort of a guru of sorts and his advice is always sound and enlightening. People assume it's because of his great role on the island that Hurley is able to provide them with answers. What they don't know, though, is that every week he pretty much just recites a line from Star Wars. Also, as an added bonus to the show, Nikki and Paolo are roaming the island as zombies.
5. The Estrogeneration Claire and Kate settle down in Los Angeles to raise Aaron as their son. They decide that they both like girls now because Aaron turns out to be such a chick magnet. If the show goes on long enough, much of the show will center around Aaron's troubled teen years when he has difficulty adjusting when so many women of all types and ages are so obviously attracted to him.
6. American Flyer In an effort to get away from the craziness of international flights across the Pacific, Lapitus retires as a pilot and takes a job as an unassuming semi-truck driver. Every week in his travels he comes across someone in need. Strangely every single episode ends with him reluctantly piloting some kind of apparatus to save the day. It may be a glider or a peddle-powered helicopter that he built or maybe a missile with a saddle that he rides like a horse. His catch-phrase before every single ill-conceived flight is, "Let's see what this thing can do!"
7. Mission Unaccomplished This particular drama actually takes place before The Oceanic Six return to the island. Sayid is troubled by all the prejudice he sees from average Americans concerning people of Arabic descent. He makes it his goal to squash the Arab stereotype, but this is constantly made difficult by the fact that he's a ruthless international assassin from Iraq.
Please enjoy! If not on television itself, then in your head.
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.
The plan is to start shooting SATURDAY (you know, 9/11). Hopefully we'll get the hard stuff first. We're not FULLY casted, but we will be soon. If you're into helping please join the facebook group and/or tell me/text me. Helping doesn't necessarily mean acting, but it does mean you're awesome.
It was actually Zo's idea. If you know Zo, you know what a fiend he is (and that the likelihood of us earning an explicit tag on iTunes is pretty high). Also Chad and Scott are in on it too. We talk a lot of comic books (Zo and Chad's interest especially) and whatever movie we saw last (the works of Bigelow and Lynch lately). The floodgates are open though, and we may talk about all sorts of stuff. In the future we'll be covering the whole genre of sci-fi as well as tackling the AFI top 100 movie list plus the works of Thomas Jane.
Another successful year!
A new paint job that looks like the French flag on the 'ol phone means Summer is officially here (yes, I put off painting my phone for a month)!