Every asshole in the universe was born with an opinion. The difference between me and most of them is that I lack the humility to stop me from bending over and constantly showing off mine.

So, Lost.

I stopped watching season 2 halfway through the second episode because my Tivo took a shit and froze up and I didn't have the patience to stomach watching live television again. Something about being forced to sit down and watch a show at a time designated by some jackass network executive just totally affronted me and turned me off television altogether.

But DVD is another medium altogether, now isn't it?

This is one of the best shows on television because nobody knows what the hell is going on in it but they can't stop watching. It is, without a doubt, the worthy successor to The X Files.

But I got burned by Mulder and Scully when the series finale came out as a complete and total cluster hump. So, I'm reserving final judgment on Lost but I will put forth a theory.

I believe that all the characters are dead and are stuck in a Tibetan Book of the Dead style of purgatory. Consider the three tempations of the Buddha: Desire, Fear, and Social Duty.

The castaways are continually being pulled by their desires and pushed by their fears. And consider that the common term in Buddhist and Hindu terminology for social duty is...you guessed it...Dharma. It is no coincidence that the project which built and manned all the hatches on the island was named The Dharma Initiative.

Also, consider that the purpose of the Book of the Dead is one last chance for those who did not achieve the ego release of illumination upon death to deal with their issues and give up the ghost to the finality of everything. Further note that Boone and Shannon, two of the main characters in Lost died shortly after finally dealing with their issues (Boone with his infatuation with possessing Shannon and Shannon with her raging desire to be believed in).

I think that the Others are some kind of angels who take those who are innocent (children) and those who are able to be spoken to logically about their release. I don't think it's a coincidence that they captured Jack, Kate and Sawyer at the end of Season 2--the three strongest personalities with the biggest egos on the island.

So, the button actually served a function; Desmond caused the plane crash; Locke and Eko will have a new mission (assuming they survived the explosion); Charlie is going to get laid finally; Michael is likely to get his bitch ass shot off by Sayid who is on the Elizabeth with Jinn and Sun; and the other castaways are basking in the glow of an electromagnetic bomb that just went off over their heads.

Oh, and Desmond's hot ex (the wife from Mind of the Married Man) is on to his trail. I wonder if he survived the explosion and the e-bomb?

I'm probably totally wrong about what's going on but I don't care because I love a show that keeps me interested and keeps me guessing.

I can't wait for October 4th.

LINKS:

• The Lost Website

• The Neo-Nazi Party just won a party seat in a local election in Germany (will Europe never learn?)

TAGS:
Lost

Since the movie came out on DVD today, I thought I would repost this review and urge all of you to purchase it and watch it in your own homes again or for the first time--this one is a must own and a must watch!

There was a wrong way and a right way to make this movie. This was done the right way.

As far as the technical aspects of filming go--there was very little "drama" injected into the direction. The music was very low key until key events took place (the collision of each aircraft with each tower, the explosion of 77 at the Pentagon, etc.). And there was ambient noise in every scene, so you felt like you were literally huddled amongst the hijackers, the FAA, NORAD, each flight center, and the United 93 passengers. This ambient noise was the key to not overdramatizing the movie and turning it into James Cameron's Titanic.

And make no mistake about it, this was a movie about 9/11--not just a movie about Flight 93. It just so happened that the heroic action of those passengers rising up against their Islamist terrorists was one of the only shining points on that horrible day.

The main character in this movie is information--how it flowed, where it stalled, who had it on time, and who had it too late.

It's a very strange thing to watch a movie where you know the outcome before the characters do and it was different from Titanic or Schindler's List because it was not character driven--it was event driven and we as audience watchers already knew the major events. This movie does an excellent job of filling in the background events, the small chains of happenings that led up to the big events and, of course; it clearly demonstrates the breakdown of the United States disaster response system despite the best efforts of very talented and patriotic individuals.

This is much closer to a documentary than a dramatic film, without any narrative despite the occasional text overlay to set the place of scenes unfolding.

I was unaware of how many emotions I still had sublimated about that day but they came out through the course of this movie and twice I was seized with tears. Frustration. Rage. Sadness. It was all still right there. Close. I had buried these things deep down because the effect they had on me was similar to Anakin Skywalker at the end of Star Wars Episode III.

I was happy to see that Muslim's blood spilled on the wall of the cockpit as the heroes of Flight 93 overtook him and ended his miserable god-filled life of hatred. But perhaps, almost five years is enough time to bring these feelings back out in the open, examine them, and accept them.

This week, JD said something to the effect that he couldn't believe that people still deny that we are at war with Islam because they are most certainly at war with us. This movie will help put that back into perspective.
There is nothing insulting about this movie. There is nothing commercially cheap and it was not "too early" for it to be made and viewed as some claim.

On the contrary, this movie is a valuable piece of Americana and despite some "filling in of the gaps" it comes across as an accurate representation of all the events that happened that day, the failures of the system to recognize and respond to them, and should serve to crystallize exactly why we are fighting the war we are currently engaged in--because it was thrust upon us.

And like all modern tragedy--the movie begins and ends with prayer for God to grant victory over enemies.

I highly recommend that each of my readers see this movie and feel free to leave their reactions in the comment section or track back to this post in thier own blogs.

LINKS:
JD's Post
Annika's Journal on United 93
Blather Review on United 93
Alexandra on Why She Won't See United 93

TAGS:
United 93, 9/11, War on Terror

I finished watching Rome on DVD--this show came on HBO right at the time that I gave up my cable television so I was unable to watch it when it aired. Boy, did I miss out.

This entire first season is about the rise and fall of Gaius Julius Caesar which should immediately pull up connotations with Shakespeare's famous play of the same name. Caesar was born in 100 B.C. and lived until March 15th, 44 B.C.

Two things that didn't happen in this show:

1. Nobody said, "Beware the Ides of March."

2. Caesar did not say, "Et Tu Brute" to Brutus as he lay dying in a pool of his own blood on the Senate floor in the final episode.

The show begins with the ending of Caesar's campaign in Gaul (France) and shows how he shared power with his close friend and mentor Pompey Magnus and eventually began a Civil War with Magnus and his allies Cicero, Cato and, of course, Brutus and Cassius (Brutus was like a son to Caesar).

But the true shining star of this show is the character of Lucius Vorenus, a captain of Caesar's 13th legion who eventually becomes a Magistrate and finally a Senator, appointed by Caesar days before his death.

This show is as gritty and real as you would expect ancient Roman times to be and the arena battle in episode 11 makes the fight scenes in Gladiator look like a first draft.

This show delivers the goods--great drama, great acting, great directing and production. Lots of blood and lots of relentless sex. I'm still not sure whether Caesar's death was a tragedy or a triumph and whether the Senatorial conspiracy was a tyrannical coup de tat or the most openly honest act that a group of politicians executed in all of human history.

One thing is for sure--it makes for incredible television.
LINKS:

• Gaius Julius Caesar
• ROME on HBO

TAGS:
Rome, Julius Caesar, HBO