First off, no this is not a blog about last week's LOST. It is about my summer, and how awesome it is going to be. I am really ready for it to be here. This time next week, I will be completely done with exams, and just have to go to a class on Tuesday night, which totally blows.
When the summer starts, I have so much to look forward to. First of all, there is like maybe 2 or 3 weeks all summer long that there is not a movie coming out that I want to see. There are 3 or 4 movies I am completely committed to seeing, but the rest are ones I am somewhat into seeing. The must see movies for me are: The Dark Knight, Speed Racer, Wanted, and Iron Man. I could list the rest, but there are so many, I really wouldn't have time.
Also, I am doing Summer Staff for all of June, and that is going to be pretty sweet all in all. I will be living on campus for the month. I will get to hang with some awesome people and work with new students at school.
There is a screen writing convention coming to Nashville at the end of May, and that will be sweet. That is also like 2 days after the LOST finale, which is going to be incredible, I have decided. That along with all the other season finales, and Battlestar Galactica running its final season will make for some most excellent viewing for me this summer.
While all of this is going on, I am also going to be writing for Fall Follies at school, which is a once a year SNL type variety show happening in November. I am super excited about this. It is going to be really fun. So, that is really about it for now. I will check back in later. I am watching through all of the Coen Brothers' movies, and will report in on what I thought of them all. There will possibly be a ranking. I'm not sure, but we'll see.
Until next time.
You can't stop the signal...
4.28.2008
4.25.2008
Benjamin Linus: Stone Cold Bad Ass
Sorry about the gap in posts. It has been a pretty busy week to say the least.
I have decided that I am going to do something of a LOST recap the day after the new episode airs every week because I know that many people watch LOST, and I am most certainly one of them.
So, last night was pretty unreal. A basic recap of events would go something like this: On the island, Alex is forced to unlock the crazy sonar fence machine to let the freighter mercs into the DHARMA barracks. The code she enters is a signal to Ben that there are intruders, and as a result Camp Locke prepares for battle. In the ensuing calamity three redshirts (two of whom were wearing actual red shirts) were killed, and Claire was nearly blown up by a rocket launcher. Also Ben's adopted/kidnapped daughter Alex was shot in the head when his bluff that he cared not for her was called. At which point Ben uttered, "He changed the rules." And then he disappeared behind some door with hieroglyphs on it, and when he returned the Smoke Monster was unleashed on the freighter army as Camp Locke escaped. The camp split again, with Sawyer, Claire, and baby Aaron going back to Jack's Camp, and Ben, Locke, and Hurley going to find that oh so mysterious Jacob. It is important to note that Hurley agreed to go so that Locke and Sawyer wouldn't kill each other over who he would go with. I feel like this is what made Hurley sorry about joining Camp Locke over Camp Jack.
In Camp Jack, a body washed ashore that we know is the doctor from the freighter and Faraday confirms as such. In order to see what the hell is going on, Jack makes Faraday convert the broken satellite phone into a workable satellite telegraph. (Important sidebar: Jack is taking pills for some reason). In the communication between Faraday and the freighter, Faraday says that he is told everything is fine and that the helicopter will be returning to the island soon. Bernard was standing nearby listening as well, and because he is an older guy he knows Morse code, and said that the message actually said something along the lines of, "the doctor is fine, WTF are you talking about dude?" Jack gets very upset when he confronts Faraday point blank and is told that they (the survivors) were never meant to be taken off the island.
In the future Ben winds up in the desert in Tunisia, where he wakes up on the ground with no trail around him anywhere. He is confronted by two Bedouins who he subsequently kills and steals one of their horses. He comes to a city where he learns that it is October 24, 2005, and sees a report of Sayid begin hounded by those bastardly reporters who surround celebrities (Oceanic 6 say what!) and says that he just wants to bury his wife (aka Nadia). This leads to a confrontation or two by Ben, and Sayid joining Ben's side in the war against Widmore. speaking of Charles Widmore, at the end of the episode, we see Ben confront Charles Widmore about changing the rules, and Ben promises that in retaliation for killing Alex.
So, there we have it. This was one of the more dense episodes of LOST, which is really nice to have after a several week break. Some interesting things I thought I would mention about the episode:
1. The parka that Ben was wearing when he wound up in the desert had a name on it. That name was Halliwax, which is one of the aliases of DHARMA instructional video man typically known as Dr. Marvin Candle.
2. Ben pretty much just appeared in the desert somehow. We do not know from where (or when) he came. He just showed up, unsure of the year, and went about doing his own secret agentery.
3. Jack has begun self medicating himself. I feel like this plays a role somewhere we have already seen but I am not sure...
4. Widmore made the claim that Ben took the island (and everything Ben has) from Widmore somehow. Widmore was also having nightmares that could only be cured by his most excellent scotch, which is, according to Widmore, worth more than Desmond. Could it be that Widmore was once an inhabitant of the island and Ben either kicked him off, or tricked him into leaving so that he could have the island and all of its people to himself?
5. Ben can summon the Smoke Monster. Something tells me that will be important later.
6. Sawyer is becoming the new Charlie. He is protecting Claire and Aaron, and concerned with their safety. Also he is becoming Hurley's new best friend on the island, and sticking up for him. This is a really great development for the character, as we have seen him grow so much from the beginning of the series.
So, that is it for now. I will be back around soon with more ramblings of whatever I feel like and such. The next week will be somewhat busy because I have exams, but we will see what happens.
Until next time.
You can't stop the signal...
I have decided that I am going to do something of a LOST recap the day after the new episode airs every week because I know that many people watch LOST, and I am most certainly one of them.
So, last night was pretty unreal. A basic recap of events would go something like this: On the island, Alex is forced to unlock the crazy sonar fence machine to let the freighter mercs into the DHARMA barracks. The code she enters is a signal to Ben that there are intruders, and as a result Camp Locke prepares for battle. In the ensuing calamity three redshirts (two of whom were wearing actual red shirts) were killed, and Claire was nearly blown up by a rocket launcher. Also Ben's adopted/kidnapped daughter Alex was shot in the head when his bluff that he cared not for her was called. At which point Ben uttered, "He changed the rules." And then he disappeared behind some door with hieroglyphs on it, and when he returned the Smoke Monster was unleashed on the freighter army as Camp Locke escaped. The camp split again, with Sawyer, Claire, and baby Aaron going back to Jack's Camp, and Ben, Locke, and Hurley going to find that oh so mysterious Jacob. It is important to note that Hurley agreed to go so that Locke and Sawyer wouldn't kill each other over who he would go with. I feel like this is what made Hurley sorry about joining Camp Locke over Camp Jack.
In Camp Jack, a body washed ashore that we know is the doctor from the freighter and Faraday confirms as such. In order to see what the hell is going on, Jack makes Faraday convert the broken satellite phone into a workable satellite telegraph. (Important sidebar: Jack is taking pills for some reason). In the communication between Faraday and the freighter, Faraday says that he is told everything is fine and that the helicopter will be returning to the island soon. Bernard was standing nearby listening as well, and because he is an older guy he knows Morse code, and said that the message actually said something along the lines of, "the doctor is fine, WTF are you talking about dude?" Jack gets very upset when he confronts Faraday point blank and is told that they (the survivors) were never meant to be taken off the island.
In the future Ben winds up in the desert in Tunisia, where he wakes up on the ground with no trail around him anywhere. He is confronted by two Bedouins who he subsequently kills and steals one of their horses. He comes to a city where he learns that it is October 24, 2005, and sees a report of Sayid begin hounded by those bastardly reporters who surround celebrities (Oceanic 6 say what!) and says that he just wants to bury his wife (aka Nadia). This leads to a confrontation or two by Ben, and Sayid joining Ben's side in the war against Widmore. speaking of Charles Widmore, at the end of the episode, we see Ben confront Charles Widmore about changing the rules, and Ben promises that in retaliation for killing Alex.
So, there we have it. This was one of the more dense episodes of LOST, which is really nice to have after a several week break. Some interesting things I thought I would mention about the episode:
1. The parka that Ben was wearing when he wound up in the desert had a name on it. That name was Halliwax, which is one of the aliases of DHARMA instructional video man typically known as Dr. Marvin Candle.
2. Ben pretty much just appeared in the desert somehow. We do not know from where (or when) he came. He just showed up, unsure of the year, and went about doing his own secret agentery.
3. Jack has begun self medicating himself. I feel like this plays a role somewhere we have already seen but I am not sure...
4. Widmore made the claim that Ben took the island (and everything Ben has) from Widmore somehow. Widmore was also having nightmares that could only be cured by his most excellent scotch, which is, according to Widmore, worth more than Desmond. Could it be that Widmore was once an inhabitant of the island and Ben either kicked him off, or tricked him into leaving so that he could have the island and all of its people to himself?
5. Ben can summon the Smoke Monster. Something tells me that will be important later.
6. Sawyer is becoming the new Charlie. He is protecting Claire and Aaron, and concerned with their safety. Also he is becoming Hurley's new best friend on the island, and sticking up for him. This is a really great development for the character, as we have seen him grow so much from the beginning of the series.
So, that is it for now. I will be back around soon with more ramblings of whatever I feel like and such. The next week will be somewhat busy because I have exams, but we will see what happens.
Until next time.
You can't stop the signal...
4.15.2008
Like Old Times...
So, tonight, I started getting myself caught up on Entourage because I found a way to see the episodes of the last season after where I left off over the summer. It was refreshing, to say the least. It felt like hanging out with old friends for the first time in a while. It felt right.
Sure the show can be...crude. But I still love it. It cracks me up. Especially Ari. Jeremy Piven is incredible as Vincent Chase's super agent. The people behind this show have truly crafted some greatly entertaining characters that are just a joy to watch.
Also today, I watched The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou for the second time. That is definitely something I have been meaning to do for a while, but I just never got around to it until now. After seeing Wes Anderson's other films (this one was my first) it made the whole thing so much better. I love his cinematography and music. I don't really think that I would listen to most of the music in my day to day life, but his movies blend it perfectly with the story.
The movie really captured me this time around. And I had an interesting thought while watching it. Steve Zissou (played by Anderson regular Bill Murray) is like an older version of his friend-turned-rival-turned-partner Max in Rushmore. The way Steve talks to people in this film just reminded me so much of the young boy who was trying to impress everyone.
My friend Aaron and I talked about Wes Anderson's movies a while back, and he really hit the nail on the head with his explanation of them. "He puts extraordinary people into ordinary situations." Life Aquatic seems to really be his only film where this is not true. Instead of having some person who should have renown do normal things, he has this (once) world renowned oceanographer going on one of his missions. The only normal thing that he seems to go through is trying to bond with someone who could be his son. The movie really mixes Anderson's brand of quirky humor with an adventure to find a Jaguar Shark which may or may not exist.
What really sold it for me was the ending, though. There is a scene where Steve, and almost every other important character from the movie, is down in his mini sub to see what they have been searching for, and Sigur Ros begins playing, and it really creates a beautiful moment. It ties the whole movie together. You truly see where these characters have gone. Then as the film winds down, Anderson does a poignant curtain call of his characters, all going back to Zissou's boat for what can only be more ocean adventures.
The movie is really great and worth checking out. I would recomend seeing his movies
in order, though if you have not seen them. (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and The Darjeeling Limited) Wes Anderson paints a story in a way truly his own. Until next time.
You can't stop the signal...
Sure the show can be...crude. But I still love it. It cracks me up. Especially Ari. Jeremy Piven is incredible as Vincent Chase's super agent. The people behind this show have truly crafted some greatly entertaining characters that are just a joy to watch.
Also today, I watched The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou for the second time. That is definitely something I have been meaning to do for a while, but I just never got around to it until now. After seeing Wes Anderson's other films (this one was my first) it made the whole thing so much better. I love his cinematography and music. I don't really think that I would listen to most of the music in my day to day life, but his movies blend it perfectly with the story.
The movie really captured me this time around. And I had an interesting thought while watching it. Steve Zissou (played by Anderson regular Bill Murray) is like an older version of his friend-turned-rival-turned-partner Max in Rushmore. The way Steve talks to people in this film just reminded me so much of the young boy who was trying to impress everyone.
My friend Aaron and I talked about Wes Anderson's movies a while back, and he really hit the nail on the head with his explanation of them. "He puts extraordinary people into ordinary situations." Life Aquatic seems to really be his only film where this is not true. Instead of having some person who should have renown do normal things, he has this (once) world renowned oceanographer going on one of his missions. The only normal thing that he seems to go through is trying to bond with someone who could be his son. The movie really mixes Anderson's brand of quirky humor with an adventure to find a Jaguar Shark which may or may not exist.
What really sold it for me was the ending, though. There is a scene where Steve, and almost every other important character from the movie, is down in his mini sub to see what they have been searching for, and Sigur Ros begins playing, and it really creates a beautiful moment. It ties the whole movie together. You truly see where these characters have gone. Then as the film winds down, Anderson does a poignant curtain call of his characters, all going back to Zissou's boat for what can only be more ocean adventures.
The movie is really great and worth checking out. I would recomend seeing his movies
in order, though if you have not seen them. (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and The Darjeeling Limited) Wes Anderson paints a story in a way truly his own. Until next time.
You can't stop the signal...
An Epic Undertaking
A couple of weeks ago, I decided to embark on a journey that has become increasingly difficult to continue. I knew that I wanted to rank my favorite movies of all time. Now this is not necessarily the most well made movies ever, put onto a list as judged by me. The quality of film making definitely does help me make these choices, but the list is really just about the movies I enjoy most, and have really stuck with me as something worth watching.
I thought about it, and deduced that the best way to do this would be to make up some sort of bracket to help me determine what goes where on my list. This was inspired by both March Madness and the How I Met Your Mother episodes "The Bracket."
This list will probably not be permanent, and I already know which movies are my Final Four, but determining the rest will take some diligence and work on my part. I am really excited about all of this, and I plan on releasing my list on here as soon as I have it finalized.
Just thought I would throw that out there. Until next time.
You can't stop the signal...
I thought about it, and deduced that the best way to do this would be to make up some sort of bracket to help me determine what goes where on my list. This was inspired by both March Madness and the How I Met Your Mother episodes "The Bracket."
This list will probably not be permanent, and I already know which movies are my Final Four, but determining the rest will take some diligence and work on my part. I am really excited about all of this, and I plan on releasing my list on here as soon as I have it finalized.
Just thought I would throw that out there. Until next time.
You can't stop the signal...
4.13.2008
My Return
So, it has been quite some time since I last posted on here. I have been somewhat busy, and basically uninterested in maintaining this blog for that time, but I have been thinking about it, and I decided that I will keep it up, even if nobody is really reading it to begin with.
That being said, I am, like 3 of my top 4 TV shows, back to entertain you. (Those three, by the way, are How I Met Your Mother, Battlestar Galactica, and The Office.)
And speaking of those shows, I want to take this time to tell you why you need to be watching Battlestar Galactica. This is one of the most incredibly written shows on TV right now, and that is really surprising if you consider the fact that this show is on the SciFi channel. Now, don't get me wrong, I really enjoy science fiction, but the SciFi channel really does put out some really campy shows. Galactica, on the other hand really features some incredible writing, acting, effects. It is an all around great show. If you don't watch it, then my suggestion to you is to either: 1) get ahold of me and ask to borrow the mini-series that served as its back door pilot, and; 2) go rent it from Blockbuster, or if you use Netflix, try it there; 3) take a gamble and buy the mini-series (or possibly the first season because it is included in the season 1 DVD). Whatever you do, if you really enjoy well written entertainment, then you will really enjoy this show.
If you are unfamiliar with this series, let me give you a quick rundown. Humanity lives on the 12 colonies, somewhere in a galaxy far removed from our own in space, in some indeterminate time compared to our present. A good while before the story begins, humans created the Cylons. The Cylons were machines created to do the bidding of humanity. Something happened along the way, and the Cylons became self aware. Their artificial intelligence became actual intelligence, and they began to reason. They decided that they no longer wanted to serve humans, and they rebelled. The first Cylon War raged on for some time, until, an cease fire was declared, and the war stopped. The Cylons found their own home world, and disappeared to it, seemingly forever.
About fifty years later, on the day of the decommissioning of the Battlestar class ship Galactica, something happened. The Cylons attacked humanity with a massive nuclear assault on the 12 colony worlds. Humanity was reduced to a rag-tag group of less than 50,000 people. They were now a gang on the run from their own creation. The most curious piece of the Cylon attack was the fact that the Cylons were now able to mimic the appearance of humans so well that medical experts could telll absolutely no difference between a Cylon and a human. There are twelve Cylon models, with limitless copies. When a Cylon "skinjob" is killed, their consciousness is downloaded to either a Resurrection Ship or the Cylon homeworld, depending on which is in closer proximity to the dying Cylon.
The show has just begun its fourth, and final season, which will last 20 episodes.
I know I can tell you this show is great until I am blue in the face, but I thought I would really take this time to tell you WHY it is so great. Yesterday I was watching the most recent episode of the show, and something that I had briefly thought about before really dawned on me. In this show there is no real clear cut villain of the series. There are characters with more undesirable traits than others, and we obviously will always pull for humanity to survive and be the "victor," but at the same time I find myself rooting for the Cylons, and hoping I can see more of their story played out. There are characters both Cylon and Human alike that I root for every week. The show really digs deeply into the nature of good and evil, and how we can tell one from the other. There are good guys and bad guys on both sides. The show does what good SciFi should do, and makes you think. They have run the gamut on issues prevalent in out society today, and I believe that it will be a show that is used years from now to look at what our culture was like today.
* * *
I will try to keep this updated more frequently. I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts. Until next time.
You can't stop the signal.
That being said, I am, like 3 of my top 4 TV shows, back to entertain you. (Those three, by the way, are How I Met Your Mother, Battlestar Galactica, and The Office.)
And speaking of those shows, I want to take this time to tell you why you need to be watching Battlestar Galactica. This is one of the most incredibly written shows on TV right now, and that is really surprising if you consider the fact that this show is on the SciFi channel. Now, don't get me wrong, I really enjoy science fiction, but the SciFi channel really does put out some really campy shows. Galactica, on the other hand really features some incredible writing, acting, effects. It is an all around great show. If you don't watch it, then my suggestion to you is to either: 1) get ahold of me and ask to borrow the mini-series that served as its back door pilot, and; 2) go rent it from Blockbuster, or if you use Netflix, try it there; 3) take a gamble and buy the mini-series (or possibly the first season because it is included in the season 1 DVD). Whatever you do, if you really enjoy well written entertainment, then you will really enjoy this show.
If you are unfamiliar with this series, let me give you a quick rundown. Humanity lives on the 12 colonies, somewhere in a galaxy far removed from our own in space, in some indeterminate time compared to our present. A good while before the story begins, humans created the Cylons. The Cylons were machines created to do the bidding of humanity. Something happened along the way, and the Cylons became self aware. Their artificial intelligence became actual intelligence, and they began to reason. They decided that they no longer wanted to serve humans, and they rebelled. The first Cylon War raged on for some time, until, an cease fire was declared, and the war stopped. The Cylons found their own home world, and disappeared to it, seemingly forever.
About fifty years later, on the day of the decommissioning of the Battlestar class ship Galactica, something happened. The Cylons attacked humanity with a massive nuclear assault on the 12 colony worlds. Humanity was reduced to a rag-tag group of less than 50,000 people. They were now a gang on the run from their own creation. The most curious piece of the Cylon attack was the fact that the Cylons were now able to mimic the appearance of humans so well that medical experts could telll absolutely no difference between a Cylon and a human. There are twelve Cylon models, with limitless copies. When a Cylon "skinjob" is killed, their consciousness is downloaded to either a Resurrection Ship or the Cylon homeworld, depending on which is in closer proximity to the dying Cylon.
The show has just begun its fourth, and final season, which will last 20 episodes.
I know I can tell you this show is great until I am blue in the face, but I thought I would really take this time to tell you WHY it is so great. Yesterday I was watching the most recent episode of the show, and something that I had briefly thought about before really dawned on me. In this show there is no real clear cut villain of the series. There are characters with more undesirable traits than others, and we obviously will always pull for humanity to survive and be the "victor," but at the same time I find myself rooting for the Cylons, and hoping I can see more of their story played out. There are characters both Cylon and Human alike that I root for every week. The show really digs deeply into the nature of good and evil, and how we can tell one from the other. There are good guys and bad guys on both sides. The show does what good SciFi should do, and makes you think. They have run the gamut on issues prevalent in out society today, and I believe that it will be a show that is used years from now to look at what our culture was like today.
* * *
I will try to keep this updated more frequently. I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts. Until next time.
You can't stop the signal.
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