Monday, May 31, 2010

LSD in a sense-dep tank? What's not to like!

So, I started Fringe today and after two episodes, I'm interested enough to stick around. I like most of the characters, especially Walter, and I really like the way he and Peter relate. Dunham can get a little irritating at times, but she's been through some shit so I'm trying to cut her some slack. I hope she adjusts soon, because I don't think her job's going to get less weird.

The only other comment I'll make is that Massive Dynamic is PsiCorp and the redheaded chick is running Section 13.

Fake Science turned me on to Clear Science, handy shades for when you're being blinded with science. Since I like the site so much and expect to use it, I've added it to Geeky Places to Go over on the right. And if you were getting tired of Jason Momoa, I've also changed the Show & Tell picture; now it's some dudes dressed as those guys from King of the Hill.

Lost fans, have you started reading MetaFilter's Previously on Lost thread yet? Seriously, if you haven't, well, that's just a damned shame.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

The tobacco executives in my lungs are stoned out of their minds

Real science has been a bit more than I can handle lately, so I've sought comfort in Fake Science, "For when the facts are too confusing."

Speaking of confusing... I enjoyed the hell out of the Lost finale. If you're a fan - satisfied, rageful or otherwise - and want to explore the vast amount of discussion & analysis out there, I recommend a couple MetaFilter threads. Previously on Lost and Lost-Loster-Lostest-Lost-Squared-Lost-Cubed-Lostercalifragilisticexpialidocious both contain a metric shit-ton of insight and are loaded with links that'll keep you occupied for a ridiculously long time.

While I really liked most of the finale, I was one of those viewers who was a bit let down at the very end. And really, that's pretty much all I feel about it. I'm not upset or angry, nor do I feel betrayed by the writers. It's just a shame they went with such a cop-out in those last few minutes. *shrug*

Somewhere around season three I stopped watching Lost, because the Jack-Kate-Sawyer bullshit overwhelmed the rest of the show for me. When I picked it back up, it was with the attitude that I was going to ride this train again for as long as it was entertaining, and not worry overmuch about making sense of the plot or expecting answers (ref. "expectations lead to disappointment"). Well, the ride was indeed fun, and when the show's end was in sight, I was curious to see what the writers would come up with, but not especially hopeful that it would be original (ref. "there's nothing new under the sun"). Since I'm a huge sap, I cried at every reunion (except Sayid & Shannon's, because I just wasn't buyin' it). I thought there was something beautiful in the way the characters remembered who they were, and I really loved that everyone eventually came to know the serenity that Desmond felt.

It would have been cool if more things had been explained, but I'm okay with leaving a lot of stuff unresolved. Maybe I so appreciate the mystery that I don't want everything explained. I do prefer not knowing over one "for-fuck's-sake-this-is-ridiculous" explanation after another, which is already something Lost did enough of. Really, though, not only do I not mind that the series ended with so much unknown, I like the fact that there remain things to wonder about.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the thrill I got out of seeing John Pyper-Ferguson as the driver delivering Christian Shephard's body. Pyper-Ferguson was, of course, Pete Hutter on another Carlton Cuse show, "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.", so it's a pleasure though not entirely surprising to see him show up.

I'll end with some fangirlish gushing. Someone said it before me, but it's a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with - regardless of how I feel about anything else in the show, Terry O'Quinn (John Locke) and Michael Emerson (Benjamin Linus) made Lost worth watching.