Tuesday, May 25, 2010

8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...0:00

I just finished watching my last televised Jack Bauer hour. I'm kind of torn about how I feel now that the series is over. 24's final season was kind of ho-hum compared to previous ones. This season's story just didn't resonate that much with me, which, combined with some of the best characters of the series turning against their true selves (President Taylor listening to President Logan for like 6 hours of the season -- are you kidding me? Chloe going all corporate and running CTU -- LOL!), left me thinking maybe they should have ended the show last season. But the final minutes of the finale brought me back in and made me at least care it was ending. Jack and Chloe were back on the same side scheming to reveal the truth at all costs. And The Prez finally remembered her principles in time to save the man of the hours... 192 hours to be exact. That's a lot of time to spend on an adrenaline rush, running and scheming and killing bad guys to save the United States from six would-be annihilations. Poor Jack Bauer.... because this is 24, and Jack is the eternal tragic hero, he's still running. No happy ending for Jack. Nope. Not even peace (which I think he will only experience when he's dead). No, Jack is running away, out of the country, away from some pissed off Russians, into the sunset known as the Big Screen. Yep, if the series ended happily, how would they ever pull off "24 - The Movie"? What I really want to know is how they'll squeeze 24 hours of running and scheming and beating up bad guys into a 2-hour movie. Or maybe the movie will just be called "2" :p

Okay... I'm now officially delirious from lack of sleep the last 24 hours (ha! didn't even mean for that to happen) and need to sign off now. Imagine the final "boom-boom" ticking sounds of a "24" clock right now... 0:06...0:05... 0:04... 0:03... 0:02... 0:01... 0:00. Night night. 

"the end" -- my interpretation

I stayed up till 3am last night/this morning to watch the finale of LOST after my flight home from New Orleans was delayed on Sunday night. I was/am totally exhausted but I had to watch it for myself before I heard about it from other people... people who seem very divided over the ending to this amazing era of television.

I, for one, was totally satisfied by the finale. Yes, there were a ton of questions left unanswered. (What the heck IS the island? And did Desmond, who I grew to love more every episode, ever get off of it to reunite with Penny?) But answers to those questions were not the big secret. The secret was that those questions were just the frosting used to hook the sci-fi geeks of this world into spending six years watching a love story without realizing it. ;) 

Yes, that's my interpretation. LOST was a love story. It was about one character, Jack Shepherd -- who'd lost all meaning in his life -- finding love... not necessarily romantic love (although I do believe he and Kate loved each other that way, as did he and Juliet for a while), but love of life, of family, of community. He became a leader, willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect and save those he had come to care about -- Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Rose, Benard, Desmond, even Ben Linus -- and in doing so, he found his redemption. LOST was Jack's story from the moment his eye opened in that bamboo field in the pilot episode, until the moment his eye closed in that bamboo field in the final scene of the finale, with loyal-till-the-end Vincent by his side. 

Jack was not the only one who found love though. Each of the characters on the show were either reunited with their true loves (Desmond with Penny, Rose with Benard, Sun with Jin) or found true love (Sawyer and Juliet, Charlie and Claire, Sayid and Shannon, Hurley and Libby) during their time on the island... which DID happen. People are wondering if it was all a dream of Jack's. It was not. It really happened... that's how all those strangers from Oceanic 815 became "the most important people in each other's lives," as Christian Shepherd explained to his son in the final moments. That time on the island happened to each of them, with some (Boone, Shannon, Libby, Charlie, Juliet) dying and heading to the Sideways world earlier than others (Hurley, Claire, Kate, Sawyer).... all of them waiting for everyone else to die/arrive in Sideways-ville. Once there, they had to remember their life together -- which beautifully happened when they were reunited with their love (Juliet and Sawyer in front of a broken vending machine; Sayid jumping in to protect Shannon after Boone's bar fight), or experienced a moment of familial love (Sun and Jin hearing their baby's heartbeat; Kate, Claire and Charlie experiencing Aaron's birth; Jack saying goodbye to his father's casket) in Sideways -- and then remember/realize they were dead. Once they remembered, they "were ready." (People like Ana Lucia, per Desmond, were not.) They were ready to move on... first to that church to reunite with each other and then, together, into the light of heaven... or whatever you believe in. Yeah, it was kinda corny and reminiscent of Ghost ("It's amazing Molly. The love inside, you take it with you."), but I was balling my eyes out nonetheless. 

The ending left me feeling at peace, knowing all these characters I'd spent six years with -- watching grow and change from a bunch of selfish strangers (remember Jacob's explanation to the final "candidates" last week: "You were all flawed. I chose you because you were like me. You were all alone. You were all looking for something that you couldn't find out there.") into a loving family -- were all together, in a good place. I didn't care about the electromagnetic force at the center of the island, or the Dharma Initiative, or the numbers. Those things were all just a mystical means to a spiritual end. I just cared that Charlie and Claire were together again, Sawyer really was a good guy, and Jack had finally found the peace he was searching for. 

It was a good end.


Friday, May 21, 2010

live from nola...

I love my new phone! It's like a little computer in my hand :)

I'm typing from my room at Hotel Provincial in the French Quarter. It's hot and humid here. The curls are in super Shirley Temple mode. But I'll live with them cuz the food is amazing!! We went to Emeril's NOLA last night, where I had the best meal of my life 11 or 12 years ago. It did not disappoint this time either. I had a NOLA cosmo, bbq'd gulf shrimp appetizer, filet mignon with blue cheese, toasted walnuts, shallot crisps, and bacon, and the dessert... the banana pudding layer cake...with bites of someone else's creme brule' trio. SO GOOD!!! Photos will be posted later. Right now, I'm off to eat beignets!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

t-minus 4 days... sniff, sniff

This promo is AWESOME!

"we're very close to the end hugo"

Tonight was the last regular episode of LOST before Sunday night's two and a half hour series finale, which will be preceded by two hours of recaps and interviews with the cast, and then followed by a special "Aloha to Lost" episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. (Can you say, "Let's milk this show for all it's got left"?)

Anyway, tonight's episode was amazing... I won't discuss too many details so as not to give too much away, but I will put in a SPOILER ALERT notice, just to cover my butt. (Don't want to ruin this for anyone.)

What I will say is...
... Nice opening eye shot of Jack, taking us back to the first episode
... Yay for "The Constant"! I've always loved Desmond and now know that he knows and/or is the key to the big mystery. I can't wait to see how Sideways World and what he's doing there impacts the Island.
... The writers of this show are both brilliant geniuses and hi-larious! Here are some quotes from tonight's episode that either made me laugh out loud (Thanks Miles -- I've missed you the last few weeks ;) or explained some big questions beautifully. (Thanks Jacob.)

[Miles and Ben, walking through the jungle with Richard, to the Dharma houses]
Miles: "Well I lived in these houses 30 years before you did... otherwise known as last week."  (LOL!)

[Still walking, discussing finding Ben's hidden stash of explosives]
Ben: "It's C-4 Richard, I put some thought into hiding it."
Miles: "Let me guess: cookie jar?"
Ben: "Don't be ridiculous. It's in my secret room behind the bookcase."

[Then later in the episode, leaving the Dharma houses in fear of Fake-Locke/the Smoke Monster]
Miles: "If you need us, we'll be running through the jungle."

[Jacob, talking to Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer]
"I didn't pluck any of you out of a happy existence. You were all flawed. I chose you because you were like me. You were all alone. You were all looking for something that you couldn't find out there. I chose you because you needed this place as much as it needed you...  There's a light at the center of the island. You have to make sure it never goes out. That's how you protect it... You have to protect it from him."

"Him" wants to use Desmond for evil purposes. "Him" is going to go head to head in the finale with the person his body has been butting heads with since the very first episode. Good vs. Evil. Black vs. White. Science vs. Faith. Choice vs. Destiny.

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!!

Speaking of love, back about five or six episodes ago, after the Desmond-centric Sideways episode, Kristin from E! said the series was about love... and that Damon Lindelof confirmed she was correct in that statement. Is the "light at the center of the island" love or a person's heart? Is that how you protect the island... the world? Is that how you keep the evil corked up in that bottle... by keeping love alive? Desmond is the one character who has had love in his heart since the moment we met him... his long-lost love Penny, who the MIB tonight told Widmore he would (or wouldn't.. depending on how he answered) kill.... is that how he'd activate Jacob's "failsafe"??

The writers have known the end-game since Day 1... I'm a believer now. As is, I believe, the former man of science. I can't wait to go back and watch all six seasons on DVD starting Memorial Day weekend!! Who's with me?

Sunday, May 16, 2010

at first it was incredibly frustrating... now it's incredible

What a super-duper PITA! You'd think synching contacts from a phone to the web and back to a new phone would be easy. Nope.. not when your data plan is messed up and your new phone is PC-centric and you're on a Mac (I knew switching sides would come back to haunt me one day!). Anyhoo... now that my contacts are on the new phone and I've downloaded a bunch of apps and am now transferring music over, I think I just might love my new Droid Incredible :)

Isn't it pretty?

Thursday, May 13, 2010

a weird-ass well of holy moley whatchamacallit

I've been traveling a lot during the last week and am super-behind on Tivo... so behind that Tivo is starting to delete stuff I haven't watched yet, which isn't good during May sweeps. But there's one thing I have watched -- LOST! There are only two episodes left now... Only three and a half hours to go until I either figure out the great big mystery I've been waiting six years to learn OR curse the days that JJ Abrams, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof were born.

People didn't like this week's "back-story" episode about the origin of Jacob and his-now-we-know-bro, the Man in Black. I did though. It's so good. I once again had that "it's on the tip of my tongue" feeling of almost getting the big picture. (Is the island Eden?)

I also am thoroughly enjoying reading Doc Jensen's recap/analysis of the episode on EW.com. I'm only on page two (of 11) as I type this, but just had to pause and say how much I love this phrase, used to describe the island: "a weird-ass well of holy moley whatchamacallit." I'm not sure what I love about it more though... the cool alliteration or the fact that I now know how to spell "whatchamacallit" :)

Sunday, May 9, 2010

mother's day at lacma with pierre-auguste renoir

My mom loves art and painting, so for this Mother's Day, she and I went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to view the paintings of Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The exhibit, Renoir in the 20th Century, focused on his work over the last 30 years of his life, which many in the art world view as a transitionary period from impressionism to modernism. And while not my favorite artist of the impressionist era (that would be Claude Monet... I love me some water lilies and foggy landscapes ;), the exhibit was still fascinating and I felt honored to be in the presence of such artistic masterpieces.

The audio tour gives background about some of the works on exhibit and offers a glimpse into the artist's life. Being as my brain is in constant pop culture mode, some of the more interesting factoids I learned included the fact that his children's nanny, Gabrielle, was his favorite model (very interesting considering the number of nudes he painted of her... hmmm) and assistant later in life when he became riddled with arthritis. (You can see her helping him sculpt in a silent film playing as part of the exhibit.) Renoir was also one of very few artists during his era to paint his own children. One of the highlights of the exhibit, which is also one of, if not the only Renoir that belongs to LACMA's permanent collection, is a painting of his son Jean in a very ornate antique gold Italian frame. The audio tour says that as Renoir was painting the piece (Jean as the Huntsman) he intended it for that specific frame, which, along with the painting, was donated to LACMA by the subject of the painting, Jean Renoir, who had it in his Beverly Hills home until his death.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

iron man 2 rocks... guts of the ushers at arclight sherman oaks, not so much

So last night was the first official meeting of "The Summer Movie Blockbuster Club - 2010 Edition" on opening night of Iron Man 2. We went to see it at the Arclight in Sherman Oaks, which while an Arclight, is not as awesome as the original Arclight in Hollywood for many reasons... a list which got longer last night.

We'd bought out almost an entire row in the theater (there were 14 of us), and Shawn, our fearless organizer, had the seat on the end. However, when we arrived at our row, there was a couple sitting in seats 1 and 2, claiming they were theirs because they had a receipt with those seat numbers on them. Shawn had cold, hard, glossy tickets in his hands. The two ushers in the theater asked the couple to move. They refused. So instead of calling security to boot the squatters, who probably snuck in from another movie, out of the theater, they left them there (next to us - yuck) and found Shawn and his friend, who had the ticket for seat 2, seats four rows up from us. Shawn was a good sport, and then complained to Guest Services after the movie, who gave us five free tickets. But still... what's the point of having a Summer Movie Blockbuster Club when two of your members get relegated to seats away from everyone else. Arclight Sherman Oaks ushers: You are wimps who don't deserve to be ushering during Iron Man 2, an awesome film all about the opposite of being wimpy.

Speaking of which, LOVED this movie almost as much as the original. (I say almost because I had zero expectations walking into the original and was totally blown away; this time, I was expecting the awesome.) Robert Downey Jr. is the epitome of cool as Tony Stark, and has great chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts. Don Cheadle was great as the replacement "Rhodey." Samuel L. Jackson (as S.H.I.E.L.D Director Nick Fury) had more than one scene at the end of the credits this time, which was entertaining and informative, as the lead up to The Avengers movie in 2012 continues. And, to quote and agree with my friend Diana, "This is the first movie Scarlett Johansson didn't annoy the crap out of me in."

The effects were awesome. The cast looked cool at all times. The soundtrack rocked. And everything felt really loud... perfect for the start of the Summer Movie season!

my perfect workout?

Boxing and Pilates mixed together = Piloxing, and it may just be my perfect workout. I get to breathe in and out, in and out... then punch, punch, punch! AND it's down the street from work. I may have to try this soon.