...and Found?

If you didn't know that the series finale of LOST was last night, then please inform me where the the rock you have been living under is located, because is sounds like a wonderfully secluded place.

I don't frequently discuss television on this blog, but I am going to start. I started watching the show in the first season but got disenchanted with it in the third, because there was no foreseeable end to the maddening questions and plot twists. But I ended up picking it back up in season 5. So I missed an entire season, who cares?

If you have no idea what is going on, I won't be a narciLOSTssist and tell you that you MUST watch it, that your condition as a functioning member of culture is dependent upon it. But it is good stuff.

As for the finale, I was pretty satisfied. While they didn't answer a lot of questions I was hoping they would, that's not their purpose and they've set no precedent for it. Their job is to present a complete story, and they did just that.

The two concessions of my overall approval of the show are this:

1. There are some things that seem a little sloppily done. For example:
• Michael/Walt all but disappearing after season 2.
• Some of the early series statements: Aaron being important/foreboding, Jack's tatoos, etc.


2. While they didn't necessarily answer all of your questions, and that's fine, they did leave out some info that wouldn't have necessarily answered our questions, but would have left the viewers with the ability to come to their own conclusions. I'm talking about the real importance of the island (if the smoke monster is dead, who cares about the island? [unless you give us another reason to]) and what the smoke monster really was.

Other than that, I think that as a whole, LOST was an unparalleled television event.

Not to Get Political, But... [Part 2]

[View Part 1]

This is going to be short, I've realized there's not much more to say. I've already said that Glenn Beck is despicable, not in the good way either.

It would be one thing to simply espouse conservative viewpoints in an aggressive manner. It would be another to rail against someone who was inciting violence and hate. But when you decry Jim Wallis as a Marxist (among other things), a man who is the president of Sojourners, a ministry dedicated to helping people, you're just despicable. I will refrain from stronger language.

Also, Beck's claim that he must be saying something right because of the opposition is also defunct: There was huge opposition from people in the U.S. and in the various European countries to the atrocities of Fascists in Europe, but did that mean Hitler, Franco, and Mussolini were "really on it?" I think not.

Finally, a friend shared this verse with me on yesterday's post. Yet another passage of Scripture (Mormon scripture, too) that directly contradicts Glenn Beck's idiotic rantings:

"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy."
--Proverbs 31:8-9

I don't want to get really political or anything on this blog, but this is the first time in a long time that something political has absolutely impassioned me enough to have to say something about it.

Little Boy Blue--Creepy Edition

In honor of the resumption of Lost for it's final season (thank you J.J. for sticking to a set storyline) I thought it would be a good idea to share this video. Michael Emerson (Ben on Lost) demonstrates the power of voice rather than words in changing the mood of a scene. This is so creepy.

Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

While the controversy is over, and Conan is leaving, and we'll have to wait 8 months to see him again (it's a stipulation in the departure contract), you can at least enjoy this little bit with comedian Louis CK:



I must say I wholeheartedly agree. Even though I get caught up in things like this sometimes, I think it would be awesome if we could shock ourselves out of this type of attitude.

The Tonight Show Controversy

In case you were wondering, or you were preparing to amass the battle lines. As Paste Magazine pointed out, I don't think there really is an "I'm with NBC crowd."

I do understand how NBC probably invest a good bit of money in Leno, but that doesn't make canning Conan a smart move.

Personally, from what I've seen, more entertainers and more people are leaning for the O'Brien side of things. He just seems more collected about the whole ordeal, more tactful, and, what really counts when it comes to entertainment, funnier.

The World Is Just Awesome

Discovery Channel does some good stuff. I mean, between MythBusters, Dirty Jobs and a plethora of other entertaining and informative shows, you've got some telerevolutionaryness. True story.

This commercial--I can't believe I'd never seen it before, but is hilarious to me--when you have a bunch of people and animals in coordinated song across the globe, you can't get much better than that.



[Tip O' The Hat to Tyler Stanton]

Rooting For A Serial Killer

To tell the truth, I had never even heard of the TV show Dexter before I moved into the Testosterhome and several of my roommates had started watching it. Maybe that was because I had never had the luxury of Showtime as a channel option.

Since that first contact, I have definitely become engrossed. Granted, I have only seen probably 70% of the first two seasons, but I am trying to get around to more. Maybe I'll even catch up with where the show is now?

When I started to get involved in the show, I had to ask myself "Why are you rooting for a serial killer?" It would be easy to play the "he only kills bad people" card, but that's not his goal. Dexter doesn't kill because he wants bad people gone, he kills because he is screwed up and needs to satiate his desire for killing in some semi-socially-acceptable manner.

I have been thinking about this for a while, and a recent Paste article essentially coalesced my thoughts. I like Dexter because he's jacked up in the head. In one sense, I like him because he's more obviously jacked up than I am, but we are both really screwed up and really fallen.

Sure, my brokenness isn't manifested in a life-long systematic murder rampage, but what about a life-long systematic lust binge? Or my repeated instances of pride and anger. Or my ignorance of those in need around me?

I like Dexter (the show) because while it places a semi-psychotic serial killer in the position of protagonist and therefore the position of favor, the show never attempts to glorify, deify or in any way support his killing habits. Dexter himself wonders if he is a monster, if he should bring an end to it, if he can bring an end to it.

I like Dexter, the man, because he shows me a lot of myself. What does an seemingly insurmountable urge inherent in a man's psyche do when it is given full control?

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil is right there. I enjoy what God has decreed as right (his law) in my heart and soul, but I see in my flesh another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that lives in my flesh.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. Sound familiar?

Blackmail by Creed Bratton

As a good many of you may be aware of, I am a fairly big fan of The Office. I'll admit, I'm a little perturbed by its "trendiness" in the past year or so, but it still makes me laugh, so I'm committed for the foreseeable future.

I stumbled upon the Blackmail Webisode, featuring Creed Bratton. It's pretty funny, although Creed's acting is a little off. One of my favorite things was Andy's statement: "Creed, you are gratuitously creepy." So true.

Watch it and tell me what you think.