HERE COMES THAT FEAR AGAIN

- Lost last night was, for the most part, one of those piece-mover sort of episodes where it's more about getting everything ready for the big blowout next time than giving pay-off in and of itself. That said, I didn't mind so much with this one both because it's the pre-season finale episode (which always tends to be like this) and because it was snappily paced with enough brain-melters (what does Alpert mean by that "watched them all die" comment?) and little asides (Sawyer talking to Juliet about how to make money, Hurley admitting to Chang that he's from the future) to make it not be a slog. The episode's other highlight (other than a wet 77-era Ellie) was certainly Locke's final statement, which opens a big new can of narrative worms. A friend who I was talking with today floated the theory that Jacob is actually Jack, which would both make sense (Jack is in the past and could potentially become a hero/leader to the Others by detonating that bomb) and provide a juicy new twist to the Jack/Locke rivalry. At any rate, the episode got me pumped for the season finale next week, which was its job.

- I have a really tough time articulating my feelings about X-Men Origins: Wolverine; overall, I'd say it was okay but that's sort of misleading because it's an average: The movie ping-pongs from really good to groan-worthy, often from scene-to-scene. The real problem, as I see it, is that while the directors/actors/writers of this thing know how to make convincing action scenes and decent comic book intrigue, they completely fail at capturing any sort of emotional resonance. That wouldn't necessarily be such a bad thing if the movie didn't dwell on "heavy" scenes and kept moving from one set-piece to another (for a good example of this, see the newest Die Hard movie which also can't summon up a father-daughter moment of any draw but tries so infrequently that it doesn't matter). But, thing is, it doesn't move on, it keeps hammering dramatic flat notes. Wolverine's (not really) dead girlfriend is only mildly annoying, and sorta necessary to the film's plot, but by the time they introduce a young Cyclops tortured by his powers and Silverfox's imprisoned sister, I was throwing up my hands. It's sort of a shame that so many cheeseball elements (the "NOOOOOOOO!!!" scream over a dead loved one, the showdown at a nuclear reactor) thrown in here because there are some parts which I enjoyed. The early scenes where Logan is with Team X are fun and provide the best action in the movie, there's a pretty damn good boxing match between The Blob and Wolverine and I'll admit that I nerded out for Gambit (who was underused, though Taylor Kitsch's performance seemed a bit unsure of where to go with the character). There were also bits of comic relief, usually one-liners, that worked (but only sort of point out how overly serious the movie is otherwise; if this is the trend that The Dark Knight is starting, then I may have to reconsider how much I like that movie) and Ryan Reynolds (who works his smug asshole shtick to good effect as Wade Wilson/Deadpool) and Liev Schriber (who sneers convincingly as Sabretooth) deserve gold stars for their efforts. Also, as much flack as Hugh Jackman gets for being very much a "star" (as opposed to an "actor"), I think that he owns Wolverine as a character and this movie did nothing to dissuade me thinking that (though he could have kept his shirt on more). There were some bad choices in terms of casting too, though. I dunno if it was an intentional decision to have two of the people on Team X be from Lost but it was really distracting and Will.i.am's performance was just as bad as you would expect. In terms of action, I am very glad that, for the most part, the film didn't fall victim to fast-cut, jerky-cam syndrome (the bit where Deadpool walks into the drug lord's office spinning his swords is particularly great, mostly because it's done with a minimum of cuts) but a lot of the CGI looked real cheap (the final battle atop the reactor, especially). In the end, it's better than the last X-Men movie (not that that's saying a whole lot) but I feel like it's one of those things that I'll be entirely comfortable never seeing again. It had enough action to get me through and the promise of Gambit and Deadpool-related spinoffs is almost enough to convince me of Wolverine's worth by itself. But, considering that last summer movie season started off with the compulsively re-watchable Iron Man and that the best movie in this series (X2) is a movie I've seen probably 20 times, at least, that's kinda disappointing. Here's hoping that my other two big anticipations for this summer (Terminator: Salvation and Star Trek) don't leave me quite so cold.

THIS TOWN IS A PRISON, WITH ITS FOUR WALLS CLOSING IN

- This week's Lost was some pretty serious business (in contrast to the relative silliness of the last episode) and it was also probably my favourite episode of Season 5 so far. Really, it's pretty simple: they added lots of background to flesh out a character who's already one of the more interesting members of the cast, they provided some new information (Widmore is Faraday's dad!), they ended with a big cliffhanger that makes you immediately anxious for next week and, most importantly, everything moved at a very snappy pace. In fact, Season 5 just might be the fastest-paced season in the show's history; it's practically warp-speed compared to Seasons 2 & 3, anyway. As much as Lost does sometimes need the side-stories or slower-paced character episodes, it's great to see lots of action and forward momentum as we're heading towards the season finale. And, yeah, that twist at the end was a pretty big shocker.

- Together Through Life is a good Bob Dylan album but it's nowhere near as good as his last few ones. I think that the fact that he co-wrote a lot of the lyrics with Roger Avary has had somewhat of a tone-down effect; there's not nearly as much clever wordplay here and there's a lot of (to be fair, deliberate) use of lyrical love cliches. Not that it's innately a problem to have Dylan make an album of love or break-up songs (and I do dig that the kind of love talked about here is of a distinctly adult variety, rather than the teenage yearning/lust present in most popular music) but I wish there was a bit more of his signature wit at work here. The best song on here is "Forgetful Heart", which brims with an old-school Dylan cynicism but also a bluesman woundedness, and has a smokey, deliberate groove. The addition of accordion to the musical arrangements adds a nice Latin flavour to some of the tunes but it also points to a big problem with later-day Dylan records in general and this one in specific. Namely he won't let the songs change musical shape over time, and that's a real problem when the songs are as long as they are here. "This Dream Of You", for example, rides the exact same violin-led vamp for all of its six-minute run time and it gets a little tiresome. Sometimes, that's a positive, though, as in "Shake Shake Mama" which grinds its rudimentary blues riffs to hypnotic effect (it's also the album's shortest song, which may have something to do with its relative quality). However, the album sounds tired to the point of somnambulance at times; the cumulative effect of these sleepy, whiskey-drenched love songs becoming simply boring rather than calming. The problem, as I see it, is that Dylan doesn't have a unifying thought for this record (well, other than "love" but that's so broad and done to death, it hardly counts). Time Out of Mind, his best album past the 60's, had a dark mortality as its underlying message and all the forms that takes (anger, resignation bitterness, etc.) but Together just sort of drifts without an anchor. You can really tell that it was cut quickly, in a burst of inspiration. Not to say its bad, though. The musicianship is generally excellent and the accordion and additional guitar (courtesy of the Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell) often provide lots of musical spark. And, again, there are very good songs here ("Beyond Here Lies Nothing" and the aforementioned "Forgetful Heart" chief among them) and it's actually better to take the album in bits and pieces rather than as a long form work because its overall slowness isn't as much of a factor that way. So, overall, it's good but a bit disappointing, coming from someone as usually awesome as Dylan, especially given his "recent" hot streak. Also, even though every reviewer had mentioned this, I really feel the need to note that "My Wife's Hometown" is just "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" with different (and, to be fair, much better and funnier) lyrics. It's fine that 'ol Bob Wants to pay tribute to the blues greats but I don't think that ripping their songs off wholesale and not giving them credit is the right way to do it, just saying.

BUT I'M NOT THERE, I'M GONE

So, there was no new episode of Lost this week (and I missed 24, sorry); I did watch the recap but, other than the confirmation that it was Widmore who planted the fake 815 wreckage, it gave nothing to those of us who have been following the series every week. Thus, with this lack of a new episode to report on, I've decided to do a countdown of my 10 favourite episodes from the first four seasons (not talking about this year because I like to see how he parts fit into the larger whole before I judge them, and, thus, I'll probably revise this at the end of the series). Here we go with 10 -6, 5-1 later:


# 10: "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" (Season 1, Episode 11)

If I were going strictly on the basis of episode titles this one would win it in a cake walk but, unfortunately for good 'ol Jack, this is the only episode of his (well, kinda) that makes my list. That said, this isn't a courtesy placement as this is, without a doubt, the most interesting of Jack's flashbacks and the only one that brings his simmering father issues to a boil. Some episodes of Lost survive on the basis of the on-island action and some survive on the flashbacks (or flash-forwards)and this is a case of the later. Not to say that the on-island stuff here bores (this is, after all, the episode where Boone and Locke find the infamous hatch) but, really, it's all about Jack's battle with his drunkard dad and his fight to stand up for what's right in the hospital. I've often criticized Jack as being too square-jawed of a hero for my liking but I actually find him believable here because there's a lot of conflict and tension that goes into his decision and his reasoning at the end is both sound and true to character. Yeah, it is a bit literal in animating one of Lost's biggest thematic issues, father vs. child conflict, right down to that excellent title, but it proves that, as well-worn a device as that can be, if it's done right and given strong acting chops, it can still be powerful.



#9: "The 23rd Psalm" (Season 2, Episode 10)

This is one of the rare episodes where the on-island and flashback stuff are equally great: On-island, we get classic moments like Mr. Eko's meeting with the Smoke Monster and Michael's chat session with the captured Walt; in the flashback, we see a strong rendering of Eko's history as a Nigerian warlord. The only element here that doesn't really gel for me is the conflict between Charlie and Claire when she finds out he was a heroin addict, it fells a little too artificial in its creation of drama. That said, this was the first episode that proved to me that the Tailies (and, by extension, other characters beyond the initial cast) could have just as captivating backstories (as I didn't really dig "Collision", the Ana Lucia episode) and be just as important as our core group of castaways.



#8: "Solitary" (Season 1, Episode 9)

I really like it when Lost gives itself a bit of humour to balance things out and "Solitary" manages this task quite nicely through a funny little subplot about Hurley building a golf course on the island to help the survivors relieve some stress. It's a bit slight, but it's well-performed and provides much-needed levity. That said, the biggest thing about "Solitary" is its flashback to Sayid's time in the Reublican Guard and his love-vs.-duty conflict when he is forced to torture his beloved Nadia. In lesser hands, that kind of subject matter could play out really cornball but it's given an appropriate level of grit to take out the sentimental gloss and the end sequence where Sayid is given the photograph is both thrilling and heart-warming, in an odd way. Sayid's past as a torturer does line up with his capture by Rousseau, in a way that's sort of baseline ironic but still sort of cool (and this is our first meeting of said French exploress) but, again, it's all about that past which manages to balance violence and romance in a surprisingly nuanced manner.

#7: "Live Together, Die Alone" (Season 2, Episode 23)

Desmond's been a fan-favourite pretty much since he stepped onto the scene at the beginning of season 2 and this, the first episode centered around him, is certainly proof of why. The story of his life on and off the island before he met the castaways is enlightening and provides much needed answers to some questions about the history of his station, and I love the way in which it plays out events that have already been seen on the show (such as Locke's banging on the hatch roof) from Desmond's perspective. There's also a great amount of movement here; Lost is often, and sometimes rightly, critiqued as moving too slowly but a great deal happens within this episode: The infamous four-toed statue is spotted, Jack, Sawyer and Kate get captured, Michael and Walt leave the island, Desmond returns from sailboating, the Swan explodes and, lest we forget, the great final scene where the island is spotted by an outside research team who contact Penny. Speaking of her, she's another element that makes this episode as good as it is. The love story between her and Desmond truly begins here, through that final scene and her letter in the book and it's a great beginning to what would become one of the show's grandest and most warmly-received sub-plots. Top that off with Desmond's rather hilarious drunk sailing sequence and you've got a winner of a season finale.

#6: "The Economist" (Season 4, Episode 3)

I like to refer to this episode as "Sayid Jarrah: 007" for reasons that should be infinitely clear. One of the best episodes of pure action-oriented "cool" in Lost's history, this really feels like a Bourne or Bond movie through-and-through with Sayid's globe-trotting assassination missions for, of all people, Ben, providing the flash-forwards for this one. Naveen Andrews handles his role here with an effortless grace (but also a certain below-surface tension) that I would like to see him do a role such as this in a more permanent capacity (maybe a new show after Lost?). We also see Sayid's "masterful" negotiation skills and the beginning of Faraday and Charlotte's relationship while we're on the Island. But, really, here's the deal: Sayid shoots a dude in broad daylight in the middle of a golf course in this episode. If that doesn't sell you on this, then I don't know what to say.

SILENCE IS THE ENEMY

- I'm starting to import posts from my older blog to here so I can free up that blog for another project, so, you'll probably see, like, seven posts from me today.

- Lost continued with great episodes this week as "Some Like It Hoth" was dramatic, enlightening and, surprisingly, quite funny. The show can tend to get bogged down in a sort of stone-faced seriousness about itself and it's nice to see a bit of humour creep in now and then. Lest we forget, Lost is a show about an island filled with polar bears and smoke monsters that travels through time when a wheel is turned, and that's just a touch absurd. There were a couple small things that annoyed me; mostly, I really think, as I've said before, that every character having daddy issues sort of dilutes the concept and did the writers really feel the need to give them to Miles too? Still, that's a small thing and the classic lines alone ("Ewoks suck, dude", "You owe me a fish taco") were enough to push this one over the edge for me. Also, the final twist was mighty intriguing and makes me hate that we have to wait two weeks for a new episode. I'm not sure if I'll watch that recap/special thingy that's on next week, I may as well, but, who knows.

- So, the new Green Day single is out and it's decent but nothing special. I'm actually very excited for 21st Century Breakdown, if only because the band has been citing Bruce Springsteen as an influence in interviews about the album (and calling it a 21st century Born To Run, which, well, we'll see) and anytime a band does that I'm instantly interested. However, "Know Your Enemy" is basically a stripped-down and punked-up AC/DC tune with big, stomping power chords and a shout-along chorus. As that, it's okay and it does get stuck in your head easily (I predict I'll be humming it under my breath without even realizing it within a few days) and the hammering drums anchor the tune well. Still, the things I like most about the song are the incidental little details like how Armstrong does that little, highly-accented, "right!" after singing the title or the "way-oh-way" background vocals in the verse. Lyrically, too, it feels kind-of flat and listless with its psudo-punk sloganeering ("KNOW YOUR ENEMY", "VIOLENCE IS AN ENERGY", etc.) providing none of the story-telling that the band is capable of, though, to be fair, punk was always more about screaming about authority figures than offering coherent political platforms or depth-filled poetry, so I can't be too angry about it. I feel like I should be disappointed given what the band has promised but then I remember that the first single from American Idiot was the title-track which was also a quick blast of hooky, punky energy (with equally obvious and polemic lyrics) that didn't belie what was actually going on with that album. Now, "American Idiot" is a better song than "Know Your Enemy" (the earlier song has a bit more live-wire energy to it and the latter feels a bit too cleanly-produced and squared-off) but I predict that they'll end up serving the same function: A quick blast of typical Green Day stuff to re-introduce them to the public (remember, it's been 5 years since American Idiot, though it's somewhat misleading to say that as the band has kept in the public eye via side-projects and non-album singles) and prepare radio for the later, less typical, singles. Overall, the song hasn't affected my anticipation for the album one way or the other, though it did remind me that it's coming soon and, in that sense, it's performed its function. So, here's hoping that the whole album will follow through on the band's promises.

TWO OCEANS AWAY

- 24 last night managed to strike a good balance between the over-the-top Tom Clancy-esque counterterrorist action that we know and love (list of insanity forthcoming) and the genuine resonance that it can reach at times. I, like all true 24 fans, hate Kim but if they're gonna bring her back into the show this is the way to do it: a brief cameo, a few lines and a cry session with her dad. And she might even be useful this time around! Also, the ending twist did catch me by surprise but I hope the story is more that Tony has his own terrorist thing going on and less that he's working for whatever Hodges is a part of, because the latter would make no sense.

Anyway, the good stuff:

- The president is all like "You're under arrest" and Jon Voight is all like "RAGE!!!".
- Jon Voight and the president's husband should have an old-man rage showdown.
- I guess I would call what Tony did to those guards latino-fu, but I don't know if it even merits that distinction; it was so clumsy and awkward.
- I did like his desperate attempt to grab the trigger device and his brilliant jump away from the explosion, though.
- I do actually like how the show is showing Jack being weak and unable to help for once, it's a change.
- When that black dude whipped out the shotgun, Larry scrambled behind that dumpster right quick.
- I swear to god that the one agent who the black guy shot was in American Pie, can any one confirm that?
- Larry (A.K.A. Agent Douchebag) didn't get a silent clock but he didn't really deserve one, though the way he died was hilarious.

- That whole Ten Redux thing by Pearl Jam? It's interesting but it's not worth re-buying that album for, and I say that as I guy who's top ten albums would likely include Ten. That said, I would say that it's at least different enough from the original that it merits checking out. The main thing that's changed is just that everything, from the instruments to the vocals, is made clearer and hits harder. Ten, while great, is probably the most "90's" album in terms of production that you'll ever hear. By that I mean, the original mixes have this weird gauzy, cotton-y feel to them, as if everything is slightly out of focus, and all the elements tend to blur into one another at a point. Ten Redux cleans the mix up so that everything has its own distinct sonic space and, for most of these songs, that's a plus. "Jeremy", "Even Flow" and "Alive" have been drained of some of their power by constant radio play but these new mixes beef up the punch, giving them at least a slight bit more life. Same story for the other rockers like "Once" and "Why Go". The only time I think that the old mixes were better is when the album slows down: "Oceans" doesn't have the same, excuse the pun, watery, calming drift when that mush of acoustic and electric guitars is pulled apart, "Black" feels a touch too melodramatic when those piano crashes are made clearer and the new mix of "Release" shows a bit more unnecessary torture in Eddie Vedder's vocals that isn't covered by that shimmering guitar line. That said, the rockers outnumber the ballads, so, overall the album is better. Still, it's not better enough to justify buying this new set if you already own Ten (and, really, who doesn't?) and, due to the radical difference in price points between the two, I would still recommend the original album over this for newcomers.

- No Line On The Horizon is a good U2 album (and a lot better than I thought it would be after hearing that "Get On Your Boots" mess, which I shall not speak of again) but it clearly wants to be a great U2 album. It doesn't get there for a couple of reasons but it's a good bit better than their last couple of efforts. I really didn't care for How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb because I thought that it was too straight-forward in its attempt to write anthems and I've always liked U2 the best when they know how to temper their arena-rock impulses with either introspection or atmosphere (and, ideally, both). No Line, in its best moments, is a worthy successor to The Joshua Tree in this way as it balances grand-sway melodies with open-space grandness and heart-bearing romantic ache. The title track starts off a bit awkward but once it gets going it has a lovely, up-down rhythmic bob, "Magnificent" is a worthy entry into U2's canon of arena-shakers with Bono's strong vocal hammering that chorus home (it's the next single, good call) and "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" is a bit obvious in its shout-along hook but it's still an effective little rocker. "FEZ-Being Born" is a bit unsure of itself (and the intro goes on far longer than it needs to) but I like the lightly industrial grind of its guitar work and "Unknown Caller" dresses up itself a bit unnecessarily with watery synth tones but it has an open-road drive worthy of a vintage mid-tempo b-side. Somewhat surprisingly, the album's best moments come when it slows down; "White As Snow" is a lovely, sorrowful update of a traditional folktune but the best song here is "Moment Of Surrender" a mid-tempo ballad, which, while a bit overlong, has an open-hearted ache reminiscint of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" but updated with the lessons that the band has learned since then. The problems with the album come either when the band go too far into their atmospherics (as in the formless "Breathe" and "Cedars Of Lebanon", which, unfortunately, close the record) or try to be nakedly up-tempo (the stumbling white-boy funk of "Stand Up Comedy" and the aforementioned disco-fied tragedy "Get On Your Boots"). Moreover, the album was produced, for the most part, by Daniel Lanois and Brain Eno who are, of course, responsible for the two U2 albums that pretty much everyone loves (Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby) but it's not quite up to snuff with those two albums mostly due to a problem of the band not writing songs that are up to those standards. However, if reports are to be believed U2 will be putting out another album this year titled Songs Of Ascent which will be, apparently, slower and more meditative. Given that the slower tracks were the ones that worked the most here, I'm looking forward to hearing that one.

BUT, COME JULY, WE'LL RIDE THE FERRIS WHEEL

- 24 is back to its old tricks after one episode of genuine emotional resonance. In one sense, that's good because this episode had a lot more action than last week and more insanity than you can shake a stick at (list of that in a sec) but, on the other hand, I would say that last week's episode was legitimately good; this week is only good in the sense that 24 always is. That is to say, it's a really stupid show that takes itself completely seriously and that's why it's great. Anyway, the important stuff:

- Jack convulsing on the floor was a thing of genius and beauty, his facial expressions especially.
- Jon Voight was no slouch in Cage-level freakouts either, his big moment being after he threw that guy off the balcony.
- Speaking of which, that was nuts.
- It seems like Jack is the new Bill/George and Tony is the new Jack. I'm not sure how to feel about this development.
- The president is all like "ABORT THE MISSION" and the generals are all like "WTF, mate?".
- Both the president's daughter and Jon Voight are masters of the cell-phone camera.
- Speaking of that, Voight may as well have been like "I got pics, son!" when he was showing the president the bio-weapon missiles.
- I like that he also has basically no motivation whatsoever for being the crazy, evil fuck he is
- The lack of Janeane Garafalo in these newer episodes is distressing, she was here for a bit as imitation-Chloe helping Tony hack a keycard-reader but that's not nearly enough.
- So, the question remains, are they actually gonna kill Jack? If so, that's pretty crazy, I guess the show would end up being "The Renne & Tony Hour" at that point.

- Lost was pretty great last night. Not as good as the other Ben-centric episodes but still great nonetheless. That we're finally getting some answers as to the conflict between Ben and Widmore is great but what I was most surprised at was that the episode actually made me feel somewhat sympathetic towards Ben. I like Ben as a character because he's such a master manipulator (though, we're beginning to see that may just be a facade that's starting to crumble) but his basic appeal is that, to be frank, he's a dick to pretty much everyone. That said, "Dead Is Dead" showed that he has a heart (and a soft streak a mile wide when kids are involved) beneath all that calculation. We got some mythology that will get the message board people chattering away (what do those symbols on the smoke monster's lair mean, exactly?) but, more importantly, we developed characters and had a good story. I'm not sure what I thought of the scene with Penny and Desmond at the docks, though. On the one hand, it would have been a cool twist to kill her, on the other, it's a cool twist that would have ripped my heart out (especially since I watched 'The Constant" on DVD on Tuesday). Anyway, next week's episode appears to focus on Miles, who I'd like to learn more about, so, I'm looking forward to it.

- This new Eminem song is sort of confusing to me. I hate the chorus and the tone he's rapping in is dangerously close to the overly-goofy one used on Encore's "funny" tracks but he's rattling off pop-culture stabs at an impressive clip and some of the stabs are actually worthy as stand-alone punchlines (I liked the bit about Ellen Degeneres which segues into a bit about Sarah Palin). It's no "My Name Is" (the jokes are too tame, for one thing and these super up-to-the-minute references are bound to get old pretty quick) but it's also no "Just Lose It" (there's only two lines of juvenile fart-humour type-stuff which aren't too bad, actually). Also, the video's pretty funny, if really similar to earlier videos of his and I like that he's willing to mock his own image in the media (the bit about those photos of him in an Alf shirt that got out a few months back is pretty great). Overall, decent (and way better than that "Crack A Bottle" mess) but I'm still not holding out that much hope for Relapse. Funny thing is, if he just plugged the lyrics from this freestyle into an actual song, it'd actually be better than his past, say, 4 singles.

AND I WILL STRUM MY MERRY WAY

- I have mixed feelings about this week's 24: On the one hand, it was sort-of boring and not a whole lot really happened. On the other, I actually had a genuine emotional connection to what was going on which I don't think I've really felt about 24 since probably season 4. Jack's inability to help due to his sickness crushes him and that's kind of profound. Jack might be the world's foremost badass but he's also a broken, lonely man who's lost everyone important to him in his relentless quest to project his country. You get the sense that the only thing that defines his existence anymore is his ability to keep fighting and, when that's taken away, there's nothing left, no purpose for him to go on. Sure, there was still some ridiculous shit going on (Starkwell rolls up with friggin' armoured Humvees on a group of federal agents, for one) and the for-the-ladies Jack taking his clothes off bit was, um, odd but this episode actually worked as good drama not as the insane action-thriller piece that 24 usually is. Still, one does have to wonder how the writers will write themselves out of this corner, I hope it's not just a "you weren't infected after all!"-type thing, but that or Jon Voight having an antidote in a vial are the only options I can think of right now.

- Lost gets a "meh" from me this week, which I kind of thought it would going in. I don't really like any of the series' Kate-centric episodes and this was no different. Her flashbacks just filled in bits that we already sort-of knew and her on-island action just seemed well-worn. That said, there were bits I enjoyed: Jack's refusal to operate on Ben mirrors Sayid's shooting of him in that both of them, in trying to destroy Ben, unwittingly contribute to creating him. Hurley and Miles' conversation about time travel was good info-dump. But, in spite of the attempts at emotional resonance peppered throughout the story, I viewed this episode rather academically. That said, next week's episode looks awesome. If this preview doesn't get you pumped then I don't know what to say.

- I'm really surprised at this new Bob Dylan song. It's got kind of a Latin groove to it but it still fits in with the earthy blues tones of his last couple albums. And his voice is closer to that restrained Time Out of Mind mumble than the scratchy attempted-croon of Modern Times, that's a very good thing in my book. I hope the whole Together Through Life album keeps up this level of quality.

If you're following my other blog (and, really, why wouldn't you?) I have read over 150 pages of Twilight but I'm holding off on a post for a couple days to collect my thoughts proper and avoid going off-the-cuff with stuff that'll immediately be contradicted by later parts of the book. But, if you'd like a couple first impressions:

- Meyer really devotes a lot of words to describing how handsome Edward is, huh?
- I don't know if the names sounding Victorian (and it might just be me but Bella Swan and Edward Cullen just sound like names more appropriate to a knight and his fair maiden than anything modernist) is an intentional call-back to Jane Austin-style romances or it's just coincidence, but it's kinda odd either way.
- Hey, here's an odd thought: We know from all those testimonials on twilightguy.com that guys do read Twilight, so, why's there no "I [heart] Bella Swan" (or, uh, one of the girl vampires) thing as a contrast to all those "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" things?
- I may have just thought that last thing because, as much as it pains me to admit this in a public forum, Bella is totally my kind of gal. So, uh, if she ever wants to drop her vampire, I'll be here.
-If you're curious as to which character I relate the most to: It's totally Mike, he's just tries so hard to be nice. He's also sort of clingy and a bit creepy, but, whatever.
- Tonally, it's not nearly as mordant or gothic as I had expected, there's a good bit of levity and petty teen drama to it. Also, Meyer seems to be in love with using really long adjectives, it can be a bit much at times.

That's all from me for now.

WOULD YOU LOVE ME, LOVE ME, LOVE ME?

- If you watch Lost you probably already know by now that the last episode ended with an event that is either a game-changing twist or a massive red herring depending on how it plays out from here. Still, whichever way it does go, I'm really pumped for next week because of it.

And this was a primo episode even without that big reveal. It may have something to do with the fact that Sayid is one of my favourite characters on the show, but I thought that this one had what a lot of this season's episodes have been lacking. Namely, a sense of personal investment in the overall plot. Lost can throw out off-kilter twists and shifting allegiances like nobody's business (and I'll still be at least intrigued) but what separates, in my mind, a merely good Lost episode from a truly great one is that I get into it on an emotional level as well as an intellectual one. Not to say that this has been a bad season (in terms of plot, it's one of the best so far) but, in all honesty, I haven't really felt all that much watching these episodes. Even "Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham", which I thought I would love as it was a Locke episode, worked more as a piece-mover than a human drama; Ben killing Locke was surprising and thought-provoking, sure, but I was more intrigued than truly frightened by it. There's been no episode in season 5 as richly romantic as "The Glass Ballerina" or "The Constant" or one as tragic as "Through The Looking Glass" or, for that matter, as action-packed as "The Economist".

"He's Our You" worked for a few reasons but the biggest one was the emotion invested in the story by Sayid. Special credit for this episode to Naveen Andrews as he really convinced me here, giving just enough levity to his character (I loved his conversation in the bar and his reaction to be drugged) to let his somber tones hit that much harder. At the heart of Sayid is this grand conflict, addressed head-on in this episode, that he's a man who is basically built to be violent, and is very good at it, but who desperately wants to change. But, the theme of this year of Lost being destiny, he can't escape his nature, he's a killer: always has been (as shown in a great flashback to his childhood), always will be.

I was sorta disappointed at the appearance of the DHARMA torturer (the "our you" mentioned in the title), mostly because the payoff fell short of the set-up (though he could make some more appearances to confirm his supposed psychopathy in later episodes) and, as always, many unanswered questions remain (chiefly, what the hell was up with that flaming van?). Also, this is something that's been bugging me for a while: Does every male character (with the exception of Hurley) need to have father issues? It seems that all the guy's dads were either abusive or abandoned their children or were corrupt or weren't their real dad or something. I understand (and, to a degree, can relate) that the generation of the characters/writers on the show was largely failed by its male role models in general and its fathers in specific but it's a bit much. However, I'm much more willing to forgive plot annoyances and dramatic flat notes when I have a genuine caring for the people involved, as I did here.

One of the reasons I like Lost as much as I do is because it crosses genres freely and non-intrusively: pop-sci-fi and romantic drama and island-survival tale and human interest and mystic incantation all exist on the same level here and, when it all comes together just right, it's quite a beautiful result. And even when the mix is a little off, it's still better than almost anything else on TV.

But, about that twist: Sayid shoots Ben in 1977, Ben may or may not be dead. The message boards have lit up with discussion over this but I'm gonna take a "wait and see" attitude towards it until next week when we see the full result. For all we know, Ben could get up and be just fine (remember how the Island healed Locke?) but, if he is dead, it introduces a lot of fascinating possibilities. Also, here's something interesting: the episode description for two weeks from now reads as follows: "To atone for sins of the past, Ben must attempt to summon the smoke monster in order to be judged". That would suggest that Ben lives but the episode's title is "Dead Is Dead". Anyways, the only thing tempering my excitement for next week is that "Whatever Happened, Happened" is a Kate-centric episode and I don't really like that character. Even so, I'm back into the groove with Lost and I hope it keeps itself to this level of storytelling.

FIND MY HARBORCOAT, CAN'T GO OUTSIDE WITHOUT IT

Long time, no post:

- There's been two pretty good episodes of 24 since I last posted. Highlights:

- Jack gets into a car and finds an open laptop on the seat.
- Jack's white-fu showdown with Quinn AKA Bizarro Jack Bauer, climaxing in Jack throwing a screwdriver through a bulletproof vest.
- "If you want to kill me, you have to look me in the eyes", "Alright"
- Senator Mayor AKA Red Foreman AKA the sniper dude from Robocop died; single tear. I was disappointed that he didn't call Jack a dumbass or tell him that the Tigers were playing tonight, though.
- Colm Feore's back!
- Jon Voight is basically the guy who runs Blackwater.
- Tony got captured!
- Good firefight at the loading docks.
- The bad guys clearly know who they're up against because they send an attack helicopter to take out Jack.
- Jack's exposed to the gas: OH NOES.

- Lost was pretty good last week but I don't have much to say about it. It was just a good, solid episode; nothing particularly great but it moved everything along very well. I was also very intrigued by Sayid meeting a young Ben at the end of the episode.

Films I saw over the March Break:

Step-Brothers:
As dumb comedies go, this is a pretty good one. John C. Reiley and Will Ferrel work very well together and that chemistry is able to redeem some, though not all, of the cruder bits. There's also some surprisingly witty banter going on. I'm getting really tired of Ferrel's shtick but I'll give this one a pass.

Punisher: War Zone:
Let me put it this way: Would you like to see a film where someone shoots people while spinning on a chandelier and then rams a chair leg through some dude's eyeball? If you said yes, this one is for you. The "plot" was so simple as to be non-existent, the acting (with the exception of a hilariously over-acting Dominic West as the crime boss) was flat and bland and the film generally reeks of the kind of b-action stink usually reserved for mid-80's Chuck Norris fare. But the action scenes are impeccably constructed with lots of "bam" moments and good variety (firefights here, semi-kung-fu there), so, if you feel like turning your brain off and enjoying some mindless violence for a while there are definitely a lot worse ways to spend your time.

Transporter 3:
A big problem with modern action movies is the choppiness of the fight scenes and this is my big complaint here: everything is cut at such a furious clip there's so sense of scale or chance to absorb anything. The Statham redeems it somewhat and some cool stuff couldn't be ruined by the direction (the car chase was pretty cool, Statham using his shirt to fight a guy was funny) but, overall I just wasn't feeling this one. That said, the acting was good all around and the premise allowed for some good moments. Still, when the point of your movie is action, the action scenes need to be great and, here, they weren't.

Rocknrolla:
Guy Richie's gig is wearing a bit thin on me but this is his best movie since Snatch, not that that's saying very much. Still, the acting worked well, the characters were enjoyably quirky (if a bit less crazy than Richie's other films) and it represents a step forward for Richie in a couple of ways. First, there's actually a female character in one of his movies for once! She's kinda stereotypical but I liked the way Thandie Newton played her. Second, and this was very surprising to me, the gay dude wasn't played as an offensive stereotype; he was just another member of Gerard Butler's group, sexuality near-irrelevant save a couple of quick bits of jokey banter and a rather hilarious dance scene between him and Butler. The plot was a bit too twisty for its own good (I got lost somewhere in all the property-dealing talk) and I think that one more movie of this type is all I can tolerate from Richie. But, for now, this an entertaining bit of gangland whimsy, though I'd still say to watch Snatch before any of his other films.

Know1ng:
Rating for this movie without The Cage: 3/10 (bad Christian symbolism, cheesy SFX, okay acting, end-of-days plot that would have been old hat in the 80's)
Rating for this movie with The Cage: 8/10 (More crazy twitches and nutso eyes than you can shake a stick at. He also unveils some new Cage hand motions. No "Put the bunny back in the box" or "Get off the bike"-level quotes, though)

That's all for now, I'll talk about Resident Evil 5 when I've played a bit more.

I BELIEVE IN A KINGDOM COME

- Good Lost episode this week. I've never particularly liked Sawyer but in this new season he's begun to grow on me and there was a good balance of self-contained story and over-arching information. I do wonder about the mechanics of the time travel still and here's a thought: What happens if/when Juliette meets herself as a kid?

- I haven't heard the new U2 album yet, I'm hesitant because "Get Your Boots On" sucks something fierce, but I've been revisiting their older stuff a bit and, as much as it tends towards melodrama and grandstanding, a lot of it is pretty brilliant. The Joshua Tree is one of my favourite mellow albums, it's melodically engaging enough to be memorable as a series of songs but it's consistent enough in tone to work as a long form mood piece. And I absolutely love how it uses traditional American music (gospel, country, blues) as a tool for shading and texture (the harmonica on "Trip Through Your Wires", the gospel underpinnings of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", the slide guitars on "Running To Stand Still"). Everybody and their grandma basically has this album, so, dig it out some time.

- I'll be seeing Watchmen on Sunday with friends, the mixed reviews are not exactly heartening but I like the comic enough to see it as a matter of course. Also, the New Yorker review made my blood boil, which I'm sure was its intent, mostly due to the fact the reviewer seemed to object to what Watchmen is rather than its execution of its ideas.

Short post, but, eh.

DOOO DO DO DOOOOOO DOOOOOO DO DO DO

Last night one of the the greatest blessings of all was given to us in the form of 2 hours of 24. Here are my point form notes of every important event or piece of dialogue:



(Note: as you have probably noticed these notes don't make a lot of sense unless you saw the program, but I digress)



- Renne jumps onto a boat . . . then jumps off of it (I think this was just an excuse to get her wet).

- Why even introduce Dubacku's kid is you're gonnna kill him 20 minutes later?

- Can't Juma hire some people to do this terrorist operation for him?

- "WHERE IS THE TARGET?".

- "He was torturing Burnett . . . in the Whitehouse".

- The Whitehouse apparently only has video monitors in the saferoom.

- Very high body count this episode . . only a couple Bauers though.

- Speaking of that, Jack seems to be the only good guy who can aim for shit.

- I think everyone knows this too because the just let those two Secret Serivce dudes get locked out of the saferoom and be shot when Jack and the Prez get in.

- Bill has plot armour.

- Finally, the Chloe Vs. Janis techie catfight I was waiting for.

- Most of Juma's dudes had automatic weapons but one guy had the ultimate weapon: the tablet PC.

- "I will cut out her eyes one by one".

- God, Tony Todd has gotten fat since The Rock/Candyman.

- I get the sense that Tony isn't telling everything to Bill.

- "I'm driving off a cliff".

- Why did Juma have a picture of the Whitehouse that wasn't a blueprint or anything?

- Aaron went out like a punk.





Overall, this episode reminded me a lot of those ultra-cheesy 80's "US gets invaded by terrorists" action movies such as the pinnacle of cinema known as Invasion USA. In fact, you could just cast Chuck Norris as Jack Bauer and I'd be fooled. Also, Jon Voight's character would probably be a communist rather than an American businessman; that's progress!



Not exactly sure about my feelings towards next week. At the very least, the episode ended on a good, non-arbitrary, cliffhanger.

TRULY, YOU BREAK MY HEART, BUT I'll BE THERE BESIDE YOU

- Lost last night was pretty good, if a bit confusing. Once again, it did feel like a shotgun blast of facts in a certain way, but it was clearly anchored to Locke's story and it was invested with enough panache by the actors that I never felt bored. I do like the interesting way that they're playing Ben and Widmore off of each other , such that the audience doesn't know which one to trust. Lost has always played with a lot of ambiguities but this is a particularly interesting one; I'm definitely excited for next next week.

Also, Locke is a pretty hardcore driver.

- Monday's 24 definitely made up for last week's boringness. So much insane shit went down that I probably don't remember every awesome thing but here's a brief summary:

- Jack driving through a park
- A van doing a freakin' barrel roll
- Renne slapping Jack ("Do you feel that?")
- Renne pulling her gun on Jack
- Dubacku having a microchip UNDER HIS SKIN
- Oily FBI programmer dude shooting his girlfriend while making-out with her
- "I want to see my attorney"
- The totally out-of-the-blue appearance from Tony at the end, introducing the next threat ("This is real, Jack.")
- "OPEN HIM UP"

The one complaint I have is that the episode continued in the pattern of this season in that by the end of the episode the entire threat is over but then there's an arbitrary, tacked-on thing at the end of the episode to keep the plot going. In this case, it was especially glaring.

Also, Janeane Garafalo was in there for, like, 20 seconds at most. I am not impressed by this.

- Slumdog Millionaire is, in essence, a fairytale but it's a pretty good one and it's told with an eye-popping visual style, acted with verve and strength and blessed with one of the best scores in a long while. It's basically Danny Boyle dressing up old-school Hollywood pictures with hyper-active directing (even the way the subtitles are done feels innovative and fresh) and a modernist setting; he's daring you not to fall for these elements that are older than you (the long-lost, destined, love, the brother vs. brother conflict, the rags-to-riches plot arc), and you do fall for them. Partly because they're so durable but also because they're invested with wide-eyed sincerity by the actors and a genuine interest by the director. I'm glad that this movie won Best Picture at the Oscars because I think it shows that people are ready to accept movies that make them feel good as genuine art again ; especially when compared to last year's winner, the cold-hearted No Country For Old Men (which, to be clear, I do like), it's a tribute to the human spirit and the power of true love. And, I'll admit, I got a little choked up when our man Jamal and the love of his life Latika finally meet in the train station at the end of the movie for their big kiss and the answer to the question that runs throughout the entire movie ("How did Jamal win all this money?", in essence) is flashed on the screen ("It is written"); it was one of the most powerfully emotional moments of cinema I've seen in a long while.

Of course, the movie cleverly undercuts this over-the-top sentimentality of that scene in the following dance number as the credits roll, but, to me, that just makes it even better.

IF YOU DON'T ANSWER, I'LL JUST RING IT OFF THE WALL

- It's sort of funny how songs that you otherwise hate can become a perfect excuse for dancing around like an idiot given certain circumstances. Case in point: the East semi on Friday, the music played was, for the most part, things I wouldn't listen to privately in a million years but as background rhythm to dumbing out, it's pretty good. Examples of this effect: "Single Ladies", "Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)" and "In The Ayer". One complaint: They didn't play "Jizz In My Pants", or "I'm On A Boat", or that techno remix of Christian Bale freaking out. I guess those are just TOO HARDCORE for a school function but they played the uncut version of "It's Goin' Down" and that uses the n-word, like, five times. By the way, that song continues to infuriate me 'lo these many years. What the hell is going down, Yung Joc? I assume it's a party or something, but you need to explain your self further.

At any rate, I had a fun time. I went there to dance and act like an idiot and that's what I did and I successfully avoided any stupid drama. I did have a slight regret that I didn't ask for a slow dance with a particular person, but you can't dwell on stuff like that. There's always next time. Also, I sort of looked like a parish priest because I used my kerchief to hold my shirt collar shut because I couldn't find a tie; it ended up looking kind like those collars they wear, when combined with my shirt, so, yeah.

- I'll avoid spoiling Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas, mostly for the benefit of one person who's reading this, except to say that it ends happily but there's some (okay, a lot) of tragedy to get there. The thing I liked about it most though is that, despite its polish of 21st century atmosphere, it's sort of defiantly old-fashioned, written without a trace of irony, skepticism or cynical wit. And, at heart, I'm sort of an old-fashioned guy: being hip and jaded can work sometimes (I love both the book and the movie of Fight Club, and those are filled with cynicism and irony and post-modern technique) but, to me, a romance requires the person writing it to be unafraid to be melodramatic and sentimental, because, as much as people would try to deny it, love is, by nature, sort of melodramatic and sentimental. My issue with a lot of more modern romances (more often it's romantic-comedies) is that they try to have it both ways; they try to be all hip and cynical about relationships but they also try to portray a convincing love story. To me, that just diminishes the impact of both of the elements. I'd be lying if I said that bitterness isn't sometimes appealing to me, I love the majority of Raymond Carver's work, for example, but the thing is that Carver, who often targeted love with his bitter ire, didn't play both sides, he knew what feelings and ideas he wanted to evoke and he did them very well. Similar story with Hemmingway (though I've never really liked his work that much because it just oozes misogyny at pretty much every turn). By the same token, the classic widescreen romances were all about wish fulfillment and sentimentality, they were what they were and they did what the did very well. I think it's partially an issue of the post-modern critical cache making terms like "sentimental" or "overblown" out to be the mark of the devil; I hate to quote Paul McCartney to prove something but I love his statement that "being sentimental means you like things". There's this prevailing attitude, primarily among literary-snob types, that embracing big emotions openly is somehow tantamount to sacrilege; that all writing should be post-modern and skeptical and emotionally numb. Although this raises an obvious question about the life experiences of those critics, that's an irrelevant cheap shot. The real question is: why are denying art that is purely emotionally satisfying and doesn't require a P.H.D in literary studies to understand? I think it's a two-pronged issue: 1) People like to feel smart, so, if someone tells them that they have to be able to "get" a creative work because it's "cerebral" or whatever, people are naturally going to make an effort to understand, or pretend to understand, the work in an attempt to one-up people around them. 2) At some point along the line "populist"got equated with "stupid". I blame Jerry Bruckheimer. A lot of dumb-ass things get really popular (*cough* Transformers *cough*) but being made with a wide appeal doesn't necessarily mean that something is dumbed down. One of those whipping boys for sentiment is Forrest Gump, but that movie isn't dumb; it's certainly intended to appeal to the widest possible audience but there's a good deal of complexity going on there.

But, back to romance: the other reason I see for the influx of 'have it both ways" in romantic comedies is that movies are trying to appeal to a much broader audience of people who's entertainment demands have changed. This is where populism can go bad, where something appeals to a broad audience not by its nature but by marketing design. It's why every action movie is now PG-13 and includes a romantic subplot. It's why romances now have tooth-grindingly bad comedic relief and hit obvious teenage-guy sex appeal buttons ("Hey, let's put some scantily-clad models in here"). I suppose this is an argument in favour of genre solidarity but I go to watch an action movie for the action and, in some cases such as superhero movies, the mythic narrative. I don't need a love story in the middle of that. On the flip side, I go to see a love story to forget about the fact that I'll never have a girlfriend for 2 hours. Obnoxious comedy and skin-flashing distract from that. I guess what I'm trying to say is : know your audience, or at least know the reasons people go to see a particular genre of film.

I was having it out with one of my female friends about this a couple months ago when Australia came out. She thought that the movie looked awful and I asked why. Her response was that it was that it looked really cheesy and unrealistic (Note: I sometimes remember things wrong, so, since I know that the person I'm talking about will read this, if I say something that isn't right, please correct me). My response was that I liked my romances as cheesy and widescreen and epic and unrealistic as possible. It's better to be overblown when you're dealing with an emotion as grandiose as love. I know of few other feelings that have caused so much to happen in human lives and history. Doesn't that emotion deserve to be rendered in a way that is as outsize as it feels when you experience it?

I also might have said that Australia was my sort of romance because the chances of me being in a relationship are so unlikely that I may as well watch something that's purely fantasy than something that's more realistic. Australia and, to choose a favourite of hers, Must Love Dogs are equally unlikely for me, one is just a lot more fun because it's so ridiculous.

Please note that I haven't actually seen Australia yet, and neither has she, this is just us going by the trailers and commercials. For all I know, she was right and the movie is terrible.

Well, that was a long-winded way of making an obscure point. To summarize, Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas is a good book and if you need something that'll make you feel halfway decent about life, you should read it. Also, "sentimental" isn't a four-letter word, or, at least, it shouldn't be.

- Quick Lost bit to wrap this up: Last week's episode was decent but kind of slow. Also, not nearly enough Sayid. Next episode is all Locke, all the time, it should be awesome.


Final thing: All of my blog post titles are quotes from song lyrics. If you can spot what this post's title is taken from you will know what song I always liked but never truly understood until this weekend.

I HAVEN'T SEEN SANDY, AND JOHNNY OR MARY

- 24 was sort-of boring last night, not a whole lot really happened and overall it just felt like an episode of the writers moving all the pieces into place for the next set of episodes. But this sort of downtime is necessary to set up the more action-packed episodes, so, I remain hopeful for next week. Also, Janeane Garafalo was particularly sexy this week (mostly because she was all pissed off at everyone) and I'm willing to forgive a lot for that.

- SHOOT THE GLASS

- Hans brings sexy back

- There are few things better on Youtube than this

- This article says a lot of what I was trying to say about Mad Men in a much more intelligent way (even if I disagree with the somewhat blunt assessment of the show's characterization of its female characters as misogynistic)

- Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas persists in being pretty good stuff. Some of the language is a bit too flowery for its own good and the characters seem to speak in poem a lot of the time but I still like it a lot.

God, I don't have very much to write about today. Somebody needs to give me a topic to go off on.

COME ON YOU POET, YOU PIPER, YOU PRISONER

- I've been re-watching Season 2 of Mad Men over the past few days and I still really like that show. I realize that most people (especially people my age) would be bored out of their skulls by it but, if you get the chance, watch at least the first episode and just see if it interests you. What's not to love about a show where admen in the early 60's dressed in impeccably tailored suits stand around and talk about things?

Well, actually, a lot could go wrong with that premise (and the show borders on soap opera at its lower points), but the thing I really love about the show is that it works on different levels. If you don't want to put a lot of effort into watching it, it's simply a really well-done costume drama with impeccable production design. If you go further, it's a great character piece that imbues well-worn stereotypes (the plucky working girl, the flirty secretary, the oily businessman, the long-suffering housewife) with all sorts of interesting quirks and ambiguities, And, should you so choose, the show provides a really interesting examination of the changing social forces of a time that, in many ways, is ground-zero for modern North American life and, somewhat shockingly, a lot of these things are still relevant. For example, a single-episode subplot where the ad team try to come up with a marketing campaign for a bra, deciding on an approach that sells the item via a campaign which categorizes all women as either a "Jackie Kennedy" (prim, upright, proper, "the kind of girl you take home to meet the folks") or a "Marylin Monroe" (flirty, fun, sexually available), with the marketing hook that the brand of bra being sold will make the woman buying it both a "Jackie" and a "Marylin". The importance of this? Well, as one of the shows characters mentions "bras are there for the man" and the campaign is formed out of the idea that men want the girl they're with to be both the Jackie and the Marylin, the housewife and the party girl. In show, it's interesting and clever and leads to some funny dialogue exchanges but as I thought about it more, I realized that maybe the expressed idea (men wanting two, contradictory, things out of their partners) still means a lot, you see a lot of behavior that speaks to attitudes like that, even today. It made me think about my attitudes towards relationships, and the things I want out of them, as well. I saw a bit of myself in the attitudes of the show's characters, and, as scary as that was, it brings up an interesting point: Have we truly advanced in our thinking as relative to the time in which Mad Men takes place or has our discourse simply gotten better about working around it? I don't really have an answer, but it's interesting to think about. If anybody would like to comment about this, I'd really appreciate it, it's something I'd like to discuss.

And, really, if a TV show can get me to that level of introspection, it must be doing something right.

(Disclaimer: I might just like Mad Men because it is the only show on TV with women in 60's office lady outfits, and there's nothing more sexy than that)

- It's been a weekend of made-up holidays with both Family Day and Valentine's Day. My Valentine's Day was better than last year, but last year I spent Valentine's Day seeing Jumper in theatres, so, yeah.

Anyways, I'll hit you with 24-related content on the 'morrow. For now, I'd really like some comments about that stuff up there.

WE LIVED OUR LIVES AT NIGHT ON THEM BACKSTREETS

- Last night's Lost was pretty good. I still have the complaint that it seemed, in some ways, like an info dump more than a story (Elouise is Daniel's mom! Charlotte lived on the Island! Here's how Roussaeu's team died!), at least what we learned was interesting and the episode was decently anchored by the Sun/Jin relationship (which I've always enjoyed watching). I'm suspicious of the mechanics of the Island flashes, though. If it only affects outsiders, why wasn't Rousseau flashing through time as well? For that matter, why is Charlotte having the flashes, given that she was born on the Island? Hopefully, at least some of this will be explained next week (and I look foreword to the giant swinging pendulum I saw in the preview). Also, Sayid had, like, one line in the entire episode, he may as well have shown up and been like "I'm Arabic!" and left; that would've been preferable.

- Those thunderstorm warnings are really friggin' annoying when they pop up during TV shows.

- We had really interesting discussion about the concept of the Tabula Rasa in Theory of Knowledge class today. Basically, as science is learning more and more about the human mind, we're seeing that the concept of being born as a "blank slate" for ideas and teaching and experiences to impress upon is more and more false. Yet, our institutions are still clinging to the ideals of a Tabula Rasa system. Of course, the obvious question is how do we apply this knowledge? The concept of certain people being born inherently "better" or different than others has been used to justify some abhorrent shit in the past (the Nazi party, racism, misogyny) but I don't think that the science should be ignored just because of the bad taste it leaves in our mouths. If the scale is reduced to person-to-person (versus group-to-group) and actual science (as opposed to religious codes or bullshit like phrenology) is applied, I think that a lot could be learned.

- Working On A Dream is a good Bruce Springsteen album, but not a great one. There are a few too many unmemorable tracks and the lyrics are shoddy at times. Also, Springsteen's lost some of his vocal range over the years, so when he tries to go all howling, Born To Run-style, he sometimes strains himself for notes really bad; he should stick to being all gruff and mumbly nowadays.

However, there's some seriously awesome stuff on this record and these are probably his most grandly layered songs since Born To Run. "My Lucky Day" is propulsive and fun, "Outlaw Pete" is grandly melodramatic, "Good Eye" is an effective Chess Records rip-off, "Surprise, Surprise" is exuberant power-pop (though the lyrics could use some work) and "The Last Carnival" is an affecting, somber tribute to one of Springsteen's dead bandmates. Also, I would be remiss in not giving special mention to "Queen of the Supermarket", which is a grandly silly (but played totally straight-faced) ode to a crush on a supermarket checkout lady, it's awesome.

In a lot of ways, this feels like the brighter flip-side to Springsteen's 2007 album Magic, which was grand in terms of sonics but also dour in lyrical tone. Not to make this too political, but if Magic was the sound of the bitter, beaten end days of Bush, the chipper Working On A Dream just might be the sound of a new dawn in Obama's America. This may be great for Springsteen (who campaigned for Obama), at least on a personal level, but, to me, Bruce always sounds best when he's mad at something and doesn't find a whole lot to get angry at on this album.

JUST A LITTLE LATE, YOU FOUND ME

- Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas is a really good book so far (I'm about halfway through it). I think that Patterson has a really deft touch with whatever he's writing and it's odd but the rhythms of his writing style really works in the context of a romance. It's like he's writing chick-lit as a suspense thriller, if that makes any sense. I guess it's just because Patterson honed his craft doing all those Alex Cross novels but he knows how to make you keep turning pages, even if the concerns are less crazy kidnapper masterminds and more heart-rending emotional moments. He's certainly not high art but he knows pop-lit like nobody's business. Small annoyance: "It's not you, it's me" is used at one point. I'm waiting for "it's not me, it's you", which I'll probably have said to me at least once in my life.

- Hannibal, the book, sort of sucks. Not as much as the movie, but, still. Thomas Harris is a brilliant writer in a technical sense but I seriously think that he doesn't understand his characters, or at least their appeals, at all. Here's a hint: Hannibal Lecter is interesting because he's never explained (or, as he puts it, in Silence Of The Lambs, "Nothing happened to me, I happened"), tacking on a stupid backstory about his dead sister only weakens him by providing a pat psychological explanation for his crimes (and don't even get me started about Hannibal Rising). Also, part of the terror of Hannibal is that we never see what he does to his victims; the brain scene and the mirror scene might work as gross-out moments and/or dark comedy but they seriously weaken Lecter's capacity to frighten. And his dialogue often crosses the line from "darkly funny" to "campy".

Furthermore, while I buy that Clarice would be burned out after ten years in the FBI, I don't buy that she would become Hannibal's lover to get away from that life. There's certainly a romantic underpinning to their relationship but as full-on romantic companions, I just don't see it happening. Though this may only be because I want Clarice Starling to always be single because she's my dream girl and I like to feel like I have some weird "chance" with her (even though she's, you know, fictional and all that), I dunno.

I sort of have to give Harris credit for sticking all manners of insane shit into the novel, though. I know of few writers who would think it's a good idea to have a guy cut his face off with a mirror and feed it to his dogs, or have that same dude get killed by having an electric eel stuffed down his throat by his lesbian sister who he used to molest with candy bars as a kid. And you have to respect an author who can get away with that and call it legitimate literature, to some degree.

- 24 was pretty sweet last night. Highlights:
- Colm Feore getting his finger lopped off
- Jack's brilliant retort to Larry ("The rules are what make us better" "Not today")
- Dubacku's conversation with his girlfriend ("You're kind enough for the both of us")
- Jack speeding into oncoming traffic
- Renne being a hardass ("I will shoot you where you stand"), and being very attractive while doing it, I might add.
- Presdient Taylor being a hardass (I might also add that it's interesting to see the typical spouse-kidnapping plot having the genders reversed), not looking as pretty while doing it
- Jack deploying his white-fu against a corrupt Secret Serivce agent
- Jack imitating Chow Yun-Fat while taking out a group of terrorists.
- A car getting blown-up with an RPG
- Janeane Garafalo being all sexy when she gets pissed off at that weaselly computer programmer guy. Let me tell you two things: 1) Janeane Garafalo can critique my work habits any day of the week, if you catch my drift and 2) That guy, and Larry, to a lesser extent, are stone cold idiots; they've got Janeane Garafalo (who is, presumably, single) there and they're ignoring her in favour of cheating on their wife with an FBI programmer in an uncomfortably short skirt and pining over a girl who is presumed dead, respectively; morons.

My only real complaints were that Dubacku leaving right before Jack burst in was a little too convenient for my taste, that, yet again, the terrorist hideout is in the back of a store and I still wonder how they're gonna keep going, given that the terrorists have zero leverage over the White House now. Also, they (maybe?) killed Colm Feore, this makes me sad.

- Those Robin Hudson mysteries are really good if you're looking for a relatively light read. They're short, they're funny and they're femme-noir (my new term I just made up for a film noir-esque thing with woman as the main character). And, really, is there anything more sexy than a red-headed lady journalist solving mysteries and being all wittily cynical about everything? Yes, but only if that lady journalist is also Janeane Garafalo.

That's all I've got to say for now, I'm seeing Gran Torino tonight and I'll report back on that tomorrow. Leave a comment if you'd like.

YOUR TIME IS TICK, TICK, TICKING AWAY

More point form stuff:

- So, Raising Sand won the best album award. I'm not that upset, out of the field it would have been my second or third choice. I'm kinda miffed that "Please Read The Letter" won for best record, becuase that was one of the sort-of bad moments on that album. But, "Gone, Gone, Gone" (the album's best song, in my opinion) won last year, so, I guess that's fine.

I am also fully aware that the Grammys don't mean anything, but it's still fun to dissect the results, even if I never watch the telecast.

- I watched the first part of that NBC miniseries XIII last night and it's okay (and, hey, it's got Val Kilmer). However, given that basically the only good thing about the video game was its visual style, I wonder if rotoscoping might have made the show better. Either way, it was a decent way to pass two hours and I see no reason not to watch the conclusion next Sunday.

- My computer is making a godawful buzzing noise as I type this.

Movies I've seen in theatres so far this year:

- Curious Case of Benjamin Button: It's kinda long (though it changes enough that I never got bored), it's super-sentimental and the end bit is sort of inane when you get down to it but I liked it a lot even so. The slow-mo and lens-flare antics were outside of Fincher's usual enviroment but he worked well-enough with them, and the romance in it was the sort of meta-physical, totally unrealistic nonsense that I dig. And that scene with the piano near the end (no spoilers) nearly brought me to tears.

- Taken: If you ever wanted to know what 24 would be like with Liam Neeson as Jack Bauer, this is the movie for you. The action was solid and frenetic without being confusing, Liam Neeson was a pretty convincing badass and the story was solid-if-formuliac with enough turns to keep you going. Small thing that is either a flaw or hilarious, depending on who you are: Every Arabic person is a slimy prositution runner or an evil hitman.

- I'm seeing Gran Torino on the 'morrow with some friends, it should be a fun time.

- Why, exactly, does the government give you a T4 form if you didn't pay any tax?

- Pretty boring day at school today, I have a couple of homework things to do though.

In fact, I should probably do that homework.

Comments welcome.

WELCOME BACK TO THE STAGE OF HISTORY

If you really need a detailed background on me, just check out my Facebook page. But since if you're reading this, you probably already know me, I'm not going to give much of an introduction.

I'm feeling sort of lazy right now, so, I'm going to write out my current thoughts in point form:

- People I know are really into that movie Zeitgeist but, for the most part, I don't get it. The religion section makes sense, sure, but it also presents things that anybody could tell you as if they're grand revelations. The 9/11 section makes a few decent ponts (mostly in regards to the lack of preparation) but is mostly Loose Change-esque BS. And don't get me started on the banking part. The level of paranoia that went into that movie is just insane, and I'm not even a guy who is particularly trustful of the government but you can take that shit to a level even I'm not comfortable with.

There's also the general problem with all of these conspiracy movies: Namely, if the conspiracy is so well-organized and wide-ranging as they claim it is, why are the movies themselves allowed to exist?

- I'm of two minds about Valentine's Day: One the one hand, it's obviously commercial Hallmark-holiday BS. On the other, I'd probably feel a lot better about life in general if I had someone to celebrate it with.

- The last episode of Lost was sort of boring, barring Sayid's take-down of that med-tech. I still like the show, but as it's starting to come to a close, I'm worried that the drive to answer all the questions could make the individual episodes less entertaining. We're probably not gonna see another "The Constant" (which is great but only somewhat connected to the overrall plot; in fact, it could almost be a stand-alone thing). However, Jin still being alive at the end of the episode made my day.

- Why is 24 going into an inane "Find the president's husband", kidnapping plot? That's season one stuff; the death of one dude doesn't cut it anymore, 24 writers (even if that dude is Colm Feore). This had better be just a front for another massive-scale-damage plot by the terrorists. Dubacku's conversation with his girlfriend at the end was hilarious, though.

- "You Found Me" is basically the perfect melding of every form of popular music made by white people in the past 5 years. It's like Coldplay and Keane got together and got some uber-sincere emo-band guy to sing and write lyrics, it's awesome. I have zero interest in listening to The Fray's actual album, but this one song is pretty great.

- Crank 2 looks even more gleefully insane and offensive than the first one, which is saying something. It's like the directors went "What minority groups did we not offend last time?". The answer: Latinos and Asians. At least judging from the trailer, which features kung-fu master dudes with long eyebrows, dragon-tattoo sporting Yakuza goons, a guy who looks like the one dude from Ichi The Killer and fat Cubans driving sportscars. It's a gaggle of stereotypes and stupidity and I wouldn't have it any other way. One potential flaw: Amy Smart's character is now a stripper; that doesn't make a whole lot of sense since she was the "nice, naive girl" who provided contrast to the Maxim model-types otherwise featured in the first film.

- Coldplay should win Album Of The Year, not because they made the best album but because it's the best out of the ones nominated. Radiohead's album was fine but it was also regressive for them. What I heard of Ne-Yo (i.e the singles) was bland, formulaic modern R & B . Raising Sand was inconsistent; the good parts were great but you could tell when they were inspired and when they weren't. Same story, Lil Wayne (he also fell into the typical rap-album trap of "make one song for everyone", it's just less noticeable with him because he's more versatile than, say, Nas). My vote for best album would probably be either Kanye's 808s and Heartbreak or The '59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem.

- I also do not care about this whole Coldplay/Joe Santriani situation. Santriani might be a brilliant guitar player but Coldplay run circles around him in terms of making actually good songs. In the words of Metallica, sad but true.

I guess that's all I have to say for now. If you'd like to comment on anything, leave a, uh, comment.