After resisting it last year on account of, y'know...judging a book by its cover, I'm officially hooked on LOST. I understand its addiction method: Pile on the layers of mystery so that you can't allow yourself to miss a nanosecond, lest you miss some key subtlety that will tie it all together.

That said, LOST is beginning to make the same mistake that the writers/producers of the X-files made deep into that series. The X-files lost something when it failed to circle back to unresolved issues to tie things together, and it became a giant morass of unanswered questions that made any "new" crisis tedious and disappointing.

I don't want NEW layers in the next episode of LOST. I want some fuggin answers. And if we don't get them soon, and if they keep layering it with additional mysteries without any closure to old ones, it will lose its charm the same way the X-files did. Reward your viewers with a tighter thread.

So, what made the plane crash? What the hell was a polar bear doing on a temperate island? Where the hell did that black horse come from? What the hell is the intelligent and threatening black smoke thingy? Who are "the others", and what are their motivations? What the hell happened to Walt? Why did the others want to take him? How did they know that he's "special"? What makes him "special"? How the hell did Walt communicate to this father through the computer? Why the hell didn't Michael say anything to the crew when he communicated with Walt through the computer? What the hell is this giant underground bunker? What was the Dharma Initiative all about? Is Dharma Initiative Mac 'N Cheese any good? Where did that radio signal come from? Why was Locke in a wheelchair? Why does everyone on the island have some connection to everyone else? Are they together on the island because they're all carrying a great burden? What is the quarantine all about? What is the sickness that Rosseau speaks of?

~ ~ ~ Deep Breath ~ ~ ~

What are the whispering voices? Why were some of the extraneous "others" so interested in pretending they were on the plane? Where the hell is Michael now? Who dropped the parachute full of Dharma Initiative food? To whom did they deliver it? What were the medical experiments on Hot Chick #1 and her baby all about? What happened to Nadia? What happened to Kelvin? What was "the incident" mentioned in the Dharma Initiative orientation film? What were the symbols that appeared to Locke when the countdown nearly reached 0?

Hot Chick #1

What was that secret map that appeared to Locke? Why was it obviously meant to be seen, but hidden from casual view? What is this underground bunker again? So does Hot Chick #2 like Sawyer, or will she "settle" on Jack the tireless control freak? And how did Jack know the guy in the underground bunker and yet not entertain the paranormal aspect of the whole thing? And what's with 4,8,15,16,23,42, anyway? What the hell pulled what-was-his-name out of the wreckage and (presumably) ate him? What is the computer thing all about, and what happens if you miss the "deadline"? What were the blast doors all about? Is an electromagnetic pulse going to be involved in this in some way? (That might explain the downing of the plane and the blast doors protecting the electronics, anyway.)

Hot Chick #2

Does the machinery create a magnetic field powerful enough to induce hallucinations in Hurley and disrupt a plane's flight instruments? Is this all an old military experiment gone awry? Are they going to take the easy way out at the end of all this and reveal that it's all just a joint purgatorial experience so they can work out their individual issues via ghostly group therapy? (They'd better not, cuz that ending sucks.) Are they all subjects in some kind of rogue scientific experiment? A sort of giant Stanley Milgram thing with excellent funding? (This is what I think it's all about...that the orientation film isn't an orientation film. It's more of a disorientation film. I think "the others" were in various ways a part of the Dharma Initiative, or children of the founders of it, but something went wrong and they no longer participate and for some reason, stay away from the bunker. And the process of entering the numbers is probably the most blatant clue...but is it too blatant? I mean, it's almost too clearly a B.F. Skinner test, where subjects carry out meaningless tasks without realizing that their behavior is what's being observed. That's what I think for now, anyway.)

And the orientation film mentions the island's "unique" electromagnetic energy. So, is the bunker and machinery all leftover from the 1970s experiment that sought to understand this energy, or harness it? Why did "Henry Gale" lie about his identity? Who is this guy? Why the hell is Hurley still obese?

Can we please get some closure to ONE, maybe TWO of these questions? PLEEEEASE?

But first: I just noticed how strange the word drawer looks when you look at it a few times. Go ahead. Look. Drawer. It's not so much that it looks like Draw-er, as in one who draws, it's the pronunciation. Droar. Now that's a cool looking word. Let's make it bold for effect: droar. Maybe small caps will make it look even stronger: Droar. Droar. Droar. Isn't that a helluva lot better than drawer?

Nowthen.

Man cuts off penis, throws it at police.(Gee, that oughta show them!)

Don't know 'boutchoo, but I'd love to check out this plastination exhibit.

Re: the music played on "mainstream" radio, I've said for years that only a part of what you hear represents what's actually desired. The other half of what you hear is the result of payola, record companies paying radio stations to play their shit...over and over and over again...until enough lemmings think they like it. Will the world's ears ever recover from the Ashlee Simpsons of the world?

I doubt you'll ever see this on your seafood platter.

Who's gonna disagree with this?

This is funny, but y'gotta feel for the kid...

A photographic essay of what it's like to work at Google.

I can see this backfiring on us. Individually, and maybe even as a species. I just don't think you mess with things like this that took millions of years to evolve.

This series of photographs of China is absolutely stunning.

Labels: commentary

I had had it with CNN a long time ago. They're not the news so much as the Disaster Channel. Or the Fear Projection Channel, or the Singular View on Iraq Channel. They're obsessed with the salacious story du jour. They don't cover what interests me, so I've tuned out. Permanently. Not even the hiring of Lou Dobbs, who I like a lot, can save them from themselves. Yea, I still go to their Web site a lot, partly to keep track of what they keep track of, but mostly because I can control what news I read and what bunk I avoid.

Fox might be a little better at presenting and discussing "the issues", but it's hard for me to stand some of their cheesy anchors and over-the-top graphics. And the Crossfire-style shouting there and on CNN is just intolerable. CBS? Fughettabahddit. NBC? Their coverage seems to mirror CBS. ABC?...meh...maybe the best of the network lot, maybe, but none of them can hold CNBC's jock. I could say "in my opinion" here, but I'd rather state it as a fact, cuz opinions seem to be overly abundant these days, while facts are taking it on the chin. It's as if "journalists" are constantly bursting at the seams to express their worldview. No thanks.

So unless I decide that I need to know who died and what blew up at the end of every day, I won't need to tune in to CNN, Fox, or the 3 major networks each weekday evening. Until I decide that I want to gradually become afraid and suspicious of everything and everyone, I'm tuning into "On The Money" at 7 p.m. EST instead. When I'm around a T.V. at that time, that is.

You might hate the stock ticker that runs continually, but in a few days you won't even see it. If you haven't seen "On The Money" before, give it a full week - record it if you have to. But watch it. I'll bet that you'll find that the stories they cover are interesting, relevant to you, apolitical, and educational. I'll bet that it becomes your defacto television news source. Maybe it won't, but I'll take that bet. But you have to give it a full week, if not more. Some nights might cover topics that don't float your boat. But you'll find your nuggets in due time. Give it a shot.

CNBC has its share O' shit, too. I can't sit and watch mindless game shows like "Deal or No Deal" or the infomercials that take over in the "off" hours. So I'm not saying that CNBC is the best all-around network, whatever that might mean. But "On The Money" is a great news show. I think you'll like it.

For what it's worth.

Linkage

This guy's spine must be made of titanium.

I was late to Sufjan Stevens. How I could have missed this guy is beyond me. If you haven't heard of him, this little song might be a nice introduction. It's the first song on Illinoise, his first record. Some other guy not associated with him made a video for the song. Here it is.

Labels: politics

Saturday I learned that my friend and professor Cole Young died last November. My SBU alumni newspaper tucked an unacceptably brief obit into a corner of an inside page. It said very little about a man who was filled to his brim with art and poetry and life. SBU never really knew what they had in Cole. He did more to edify his students than anyone else I met there, and no one in the SBU faculty could match his talent. Below is a more fitting obituary from a local paper, but to really know Cole you'd have to spend time with him. Listening. Every now and then an extraordinary person goes unnoticed outside of his own small context. I feel like I need to do my bit to introduce him in absentia.

I last spoke with him in 2002. He told me all about the cancer he had temporarily defeated. I was eager to visit him after that. I told him that I'd drive down in the fall and hang with him for a while. I wanted to see what he'd painted over the years and just spend time with a friend. He was thrilled to hear of my plan. But I let life get in the way instead. I never made the time to do it. It became that thing I'd think about doing but never did. I feel like I failed him. I was supposed to go see him and I never did.

Peace, Cole.

I've heard the song "Fix You" by Coldplay countless times, but it still grabs me by the throat every time. When I hear a melody that compelling, it makes me think it can be used as some sort of peace gun. Just aim it at the world and fire.

Pimpin' Discovery

If you haven't seen the show "I Shouldn't Be Alive" on the Discovery channel, check it out. Pretty amazing stuff. Also - you have to see "Before the Dinosaurs" on Discovery. The digital animation in it is better and more realistic than anything George Lucas ever achieved (and probably at a fraction of the cost). Oh, and don't miss "Brain Man". Totally amazing.

Labels: commentary