I have to talk about LOST (with spoilers)

Never in the history of TV has there been an anomaly like LOST. I sincerely mean that.

It's changed since the first season. It's still a 'WTF?' show, but not like it was when it debuted in 2004. It has a mystical, epic quality to it that has developed over time. Where most dramas succumb to stupid theatrics and soap opera-esque situations and dialogue, LOST has gotten better with each succeding season.

"Time to die."

The Season 3 finale was a momentous occasion for me. Ever since the show came back from hiatus, it's been perfect. Perfect. Especially since the first six episodes of the third season underwhelmed me (other than a few moments, such as, say, when we discover The Others have a village and the Red Sox moment). There hasn't been a weak link in the 1Characters have been developed in shocking and emotionally draining ways, there has been a perfect balance between action and meditation, and the epic quality of the show has grown exponentially. Gone are the days of such mysteries of "what's in the hatch?" or "what's with the polar bears?". Now it all feel much...bigger. More important. It makes me think about the characters as if they were real, and that their (unbelievably far-fetched) situations seem plausible.

I don't update this blog as much as I used to. I know, I know. Please stop crying. I felt compelled to here, though. The finale floored me. I don't know if it ever reached the orgasmic levels of awe that the final fifteen minutes of Season 2's finale did, but it was brilliant. Seeing shit actually blow up in the first fifteen minutes, the tension of the "one minute" between Jack and Ben, Charlie's sacrifice, the revelation that getting rescued is the worst thing that could possibly happen, Hurley kicking ass and Sawyer quickly turning around and executing Mr. Friendly, the "Not Penny's Boat" message Charlie gives to Desmond as he is dying, and the ultimate revelation that at least Jack and Kate make it off the island, is enough to get me into a tizzy for a few days. Guess what, it has.

This series really hits me. Sure, I love the intensity and emotional resonance that THE SHIELD, NIP/TUCK, and 24 bring to the table, but they've got nothing on LOST. While everything else either dips or belly flops into melodrama, LOST always clicks with me. Even the bottom of the barrel (I'm looking at you--pre-hiatus Season 3) is better than 90% of the crap that is on TV (I'm looking at you, erm, everything). The acting, the character development on both the island and in the flashbacks (Locke, Jack, and Kate are three of the five best characters on TV, right alongside Jack Bauer and J.D. Dorian), and the way the characters react to the extraordinary situations they find themselves in every day while the haunting score plays in the background, make for an emotionally devastating hour of television. I actually welled up three times during the finale alone (Charlie, the "one minute", anyone?).

So yeah, to recap: I love LOST, superlative superlative, superlative, the end. And now I have to wait another eight months to see a new episode. It'll be worth it, though.

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Do you still get inspired?

I watched a few movies on the plane rides to and from Spain (which is a different, incredible story on its own) that got me thinking. They were Notes on a Scandal (for the first time), American Beauty (for the 4th time), bits and pieces of The Pursuit of Happyness (second time around), and Facing the Giants, which was a curious watch. They all had the sometimes subtle, sometimes glaring strand of inspiration for change that's in all of us.

There are different degrees of inspiration obviously, depending on what type of medium it's presented in and how it is then presented once in that medium. All of these were films (thanks for the obvious, Captain Tim), but my high on Spain still factored into the equation when I was watching them. It was an awesome ride home, though, because it's nice seeing people get what they want. Lester Burnham wants to be his own person, not just another office drone with a shitty marriage and a daughter who hates him, in American Beauty. Chris Gardner wants to see his son be happy and to live a good life that he earned, in The Pursuit of Happyness. Barbara Covett wants to be with a woman half her age and infinitely more beautiful than her (who also happens to be straight, as it is), while Sheba Hart wants to feel some pleasure in her monotonous life in Notes on a Scandal. And in maybe the most interestingly made film of the bunch, the hyper-realistic Facing the Giants's main character Matt Prater wants to teach his football team that there are bigger things out there than the gridiron.

I liked to loved all of these movies. They all have their own qualities that make them work. Beauty is the best of the bunch, no doubt about it. Seeing Lester Burnham's midlife crisis see him turn into a ball of giddy energy while everyone else in his life goes crazy is an oddly inspirational sight, as well as a thought to ponder. When does solidifying yourself as your own person turn into a bad thing? Is being a materialistic, superficial person necessarily a bad thing? I don't think so. If someone wants to find inner peace, while the person next to them wants a diamond ring the size of a small piece of fruit, I say good luck to both of them.


Chris Gardner is without question the most inspiring film character of last year. When you can have teenage guys breaking down and crying at a film about a father helping out his son, you've made something special. It only strengthens The Pursuit of Happyness's case as a terrific movie that it's based on a true story. Even after only watching about ten minutes of it, I was teary-eyed, and not ashamed to admit it. I'm beating a dead horse with this word, but don't you just feel so fucking inspired by something so beautiful as a man turning an impossible situation, with his son's life and future in the balance, into such a phenomenal success? Maybe it's because it had Hollywood poster-boy Will Smith as the lead, but a lot of critics panned this movie. "It's too sappy." "It's too contrived." "Everything clicks". "There's not enough conflict". "Did anyone think it wouldn't turn out alright for Will Smith in the end?". I think some people almost don't want to have a warm feeling in them anymore. They want to see the dark side of life reflected in films, and can't stand when a story as touching as this, with a star who is so recognizable and is still able to genuinely affect you to the very core, hits you. When Smith teared up and started to lose it while sleeping in a subway with his son, it just hits so hard. And that's what makes the ending, even if it is predictable, so potent.

Notes on a Scandal is the most disturbing film of the bunch. It's got Dame Judi Dench in a startling performance as Barbara Covett, and old teacher at a run-down high school in England who fancies herself younger women. She finds one in the beautiful Sheba Hart, the new art teacher. Cate Blanchett plays the multi-faceted character with the pitch perfect note of desperation the role calls for, and she equals Dench's greatness (too bland a word?) in every minute she's on screen, even though it's clearly Dench's movie. Anyway, Barbara sees Sheba going down on one of her students, and instead of doing the proper thing by notifying the authorities right away, she manipulates the situation to the point where she's getting more pleasure out of the teacher-student than either the teacher or the student. She changes her life because of the 'situation', as she refers to it, because it allows her to be in close, intimate contact with the woman she lusts for. Messed up? Yeah. Fascinating? Yeah. Notes is a quietly affecting and almost always engrossing character study, on two characters who truly do deserve a movie as solid as this to be made about them.

Facing the Giants is something of an interesting movie just for how it was produced. It's as if a camera crew, for a real movie (not a documentary-type deal), followed around the characters in the film. The acting is pretty shaky, but the emotion came off real to me. I honestly got the impression that real peoplel were being filmed, even if it did involve some Hollywood-ness. It's a very simple story; A football coach tries to rescue his failing program, job, and marriage by tying in the "God wants you to be better people, not just better football players" message. It works, surprise surprise, and the team wins the state/national/county championship, which you knew was going to happen. That's not important, though. What is important is that the film is somehow able to truly inspire despite being preachy as fuck and having some of the most hackneyed dialog I've ever been subjected to. I don't know how the movie worked, with its bad script, dialog, camerawork, acting, and cheesiness, but somehow it did, all in all.

P.S.- I realize now that I'm not as inspired about this essay as I was when I started it a few weeks back. I think I was still high on Spain then, which I'm about to write about (ahh the joys of an afternoon with nothing to do), and just feeling good about life. Sorry if this was total shite.

P.P.S- I don't know about the italicized movie titles. I kind of feel too pretentious and art-housey. I miss my caps. Comment on how you feel, since you have nothing better to do.

LOST pleasures me more than sex ever will

Does TV get any better? I'll try to have an entry dedicated next week to a minute-by-minute update of next week's episode, as I watch it live. No promises, though, seeing how mommy still won't let me stay up past eight.