Two recappers of note

Today has been slow so far, so I've been spending some time surfing through various LOST blogs and theory pages, and I happenstance-ily happened upon two good blogs. (WARNING: Both are chock-full of spoilers for those who haven't finished S5).

One is Fishbiscuitland. Aside from having a great name, it is unique among journals I have seen. He posts fairly infrequently. In fact, his recap of the S5 finale wasn't posted until 2-3 months after it aired. He's just recently begun recapping S1 episodes. His recaps cover 2-6 episodes per entry, based mostly on the continuity of the stories, intriguing points and what he feels appropriate. His vast knowledge of the show is apparent, and his pseudo-narrative entries show depth in highlighting the literary aspects of the show. But what is more apparent is the amount of time he must spend on compiling any single entry. The entries are LONG, made up of several short (1-4 line) paragraphs, separated by appropriately elucidating or funny images, most of which are screencaps from specific episodes. He claimed he hasn't re-watched any episodes since their first airings, so his memory of specific visual moments is incredible, or he is just re-watching with a very keen eye. He doesn't mince words (he wasn't a fan of S5), and there may be a dash or two of vulgarity in a few of the entries, but nothing obscene. Really fascinating, and worth the (considerable) time to check it out.

The second is Broadcast Depth. This isn't a wholly LOST-dedicated site, nor are the insights or style superb in any unique way. It's more of interest to me because it happens to be authored by a guy who works for JMU's Parking Services. He is also an alum, and I have had to work with him on a few occasions. He's a fairly interesting guy (far more than his current occupation would suggest) with a background in art, music and film. I would advise skipping the entries about his personal life (weird), and just stick to his takes on the show (he's also not a fan of S5).

Credit for the hilarious and barely-related GIF (click it to view with sound) goes to YTMND. Check out their Web site, or this lostpedia list of more hilarious LOST YTMNDs.

Tidbit: In the above YTMND, the original Shawshank guard whose face has been replaced with Tom Friendly's is played by Clancy Brown, also portrayer of LOST's Kelvin Inman.

The Long Con

I just rewatched "The Long Con," one of the best LOST episodes of Season 2, and perhaps of the entire series. It is a Sawyer-centric episode that details two of Sawyer's long cons, one on-island to get control of the guns (and therefore, the group) and one from his past, where he steals $600k from a woman named Cassidy.

The episode is noteworthy simply for the entertaining and twisty plot lines. Of course, with foreknowledge of how the episode turns out, the deft foreshadowing placed throughout the episode by the writers becomes much more apparent. In fact, in retrospect, the on- and -off-island actions mirror so closely that we should all feel like fools for not seeing it coming the first time. But my second watching also revealed some greater significance.

Two insignificant notes first:

1) Sawyer's associate, Gordy, is played by IWU alum and my Commencement speaker Kevin Dunn. It's a small role, and not really that noteworthy. The only real element of the character I have deeper thoughts about are what his role was after Sawyer got the money. My best guess is that the song-and-dance about loving Cassidy Sawyer gave Gordy at the diner was to throw him off, so that Sawyer may keep all the money. We don't know how it turns out, and I don't remember seeing any resolution in a later episode, though I could be mistaken.

2) Speaking of the diner, the waitress is Dianne Jansen, mother of Kate. There's no real significance to that tidbit, at least in this episode. Just another neat interconnection placed in by the writers.

Now to the more meaty stuff. "Cons" (actions, not people) are a significant motif throughout the series. But a few things about Sawyer's in this episode are noteworthy.

1) Whatever we make of Gordy, it appears that he at least was in some sort of position of pulling Sawyer's strings. We have seen many times throughout the series characters manipulating others for what appears to be personal gain, but later is revealed to be done at the beckoning of some larger power. To avoid any spoilers, I'll leave it at that.

2) I don't believe it's insignificant (I know, I know, double negative) that John Locke is (one) target of the con. How many times have we seen Locke conned? (His mom, his dad x2, Benry in the Hatch to name a few). But what really struck me is Sawyer's dialog with Charlie at the end of the episode, when he notes "Johnny Locke has a nemesis." That slapped me in the face, as I had not remembered it at all from the first time I watched it. Again, I'll leave it at that until I've received assurances that everyone is done watching season 5.

3) Both Sawyer and Charlie's desire to "stop taking orders" from those in power and want of revenge/"to make a fool" out of them mirrors Ben's rebellion near the end of season five. Again, I'm leaving it there. But Sawyer's half-fire-lit face throughout much of his dialog is reminiscent of many other "dual" characters.

4) When Hurley and Sayid are listening to the radio at the end, Sayid says the radio signals could be coming from anywhere, to which Hurley responds with the throwaway line "or any time." Clearly that foreshadows "future" developments, but in an undeveloped way. But now, I am going to pay attention to the music in future episodes just to see if "Moonlight Serenade" is played somewhere/time else. That would be fun.

5) When explaining his motives to Charlie, Sawyer says he is not a "good person." You can read the entry on Lostpedia about Good and Bad People for the significance of that.

LOST: Season 2, Take 2

I am now halfway through rewatching season 2 of LOST, and I thought it a good time to share some of my thoughts thus far on the season I have numerous time claimed to be my favorite. I'm not yet ready to make a solid determination on whether that assertion remains true, but some of my other previous thoughts have remained certain, and some have changes slightly.

1) Charlie is still one of my least favorite characters. He is 100 percent worthless and 95 percent annoying. His drug use storyline is absolutely unsympathetic. He is whiny, needy, physically unattractive and serves only to screw things up for other people. It is certainly necessary in a show with as many twists and turns as LOST to have several people and/or events that impede other characters' progress toward the larger goal of the series (i.e. finding rescue, solving the Island's mysteries), but Charlie's impediments to others' progress is insignificant in the long run and stupid. Some things/people, like Ben, the Others, and the Island's slowly revealed mysteries help change the course of the action in awesome, diabolical or intriguing ways. Charlie is just ultra lame. I care nothing about his and Claire's 'relationship,' which is a shame, because Claire would be an intriguing character, if she weren't reduced to a caricature of the needy mother and foil to Charlie's patheticness.

2) Eko is one of my favorite characters. Rewatching Eko's seminal episode, "The 23rd Psalm," made me appreciate its nuances much more than the first time around. I think the issue lies with the fact that Eko's character was still fairly new, and that the plane just happened to be the one that held his brother, Yemi. It all just seemed like an overwrought coincidence, because, I think, it was one of the series' first such cases of extreme coincidence, or fate, as it may be. With five seasons worth of hindsight and an appreciation for the role of such coincidences/fate to the larger show, it seems now much more appropriate and interesting. Also, Eko re-cemented his badass status when he stared down Lil Smokey while Charlie cowers in the tree, saying simply, "I was not afraid of it."

3) I found Ana Lucia's seminal episode, "Collision," better than the first time, and I felt more sympathy for her character during it. But I still firmly maintain that she altogether sucks. It was as if a few episodes into the season, the writers decided they needed to inject a big dose of annoying, negative energy into the show and decided to come up with the least sympathetic and flattest character they could conceive. There was no niche that needed to be filled by a character such as hers. Both the character and the actress who portrays her (Michelle Rodriguez) just never blended in with the rest of the cast as well as Eko and Libby did.

4) Jack's indignant (and usually illogical) rage is far more annoying than when I first witnessed it. His heavy-handed motivation to "fix everything" is grating, as is his voice and puckered expression whenever he feels the need to spring into ill-advised action. I think the first season so clearly set Jack up as the clear, classic protagonist, that we were all blinded by how dumb he actually is.

5) At times, I have found Michael less annoying and Kate more annoying than in the past. In the Michael/Walt centric episode, "Adrift," I found myself feeling the sympathy for Michael I had been able to resist the first time. I felt sympathy for his helplessness. I think it mostly came from the contrast of his problems in that episode, which really weren't his fault, against the problems he has later, which result only from his own rash actions. As the series moves along,I also realized that Kate serves mostly just to screw things up. Everything she does screws up something for someone else (leaving a septic Sawyer alone to chase her symbolic horse; being taken hostage by Mr. Friendly after following Jack, Locke and Sawyer like an idiot; killing Wayne and getting Tom killed). Again, like Jack, the first season set her up as the main female protagonist, side-by-side with Jack, and blinded us to what she was really doing right in front of us, which was being an idiot.

6) Expectedly, much of the intrigue surrounding the Hatch is significantly lessened the second time around.

7) I still like Sawyer a lot, but it is clear that Josh Holloway really isn't a great actor. He has only three modes -- blind rage, sarcastic nicknaming, and flirting with Kate. I suppose the character is written this way, and may serve only to appreciate his transition to a more well-rounded character later.

8) The Tailies-centric episode, "The Other 48 Days," cheats us with the unexplained and blatantly misleading focus on Nathan, the guy A.L. puts in the pit while being wrongly suspected of being an Other. There's no explanation for why he wouldn't just tell them where he was and continue to be uncooperative. Though Goodwin is subtly foreshadowed at being the real Other, it was still a transparent mislead by the writers, without logic. That's cheating in my book.

There may be more updates on this subject as I continue rewatching. You've been warned.

Several Thousand Words

Here is a post-trip log on my travels over the past week. The itinerary included a flight from Richmond to St. Louis, a series of car rides to Bloomington, an Amtrak to Chicago, Metra train to the 'burbs and a long 2-day road trip to Massachusetts, culminating with flying back to Richmond, with a connection (and 3-hour layover) in Cleveland in between. I had lots of opportunities to take photos, and I took advantage of some of them while traveling east.

Indiana

Departing from the northern suburbs of Chicago, we passed through part of the city before crossing into Indiana. I'm sure everybody has been to or through Indiana at some point. It looks a lot like rural Illinois, except for Gary, which looks and smells like the underside of any old, rotting jalopy, times 100,000. The highlight was listening to Jon McLaughlin's song, "Indiana," which we made a point of doing before stopping at a Bob Evans for breakfast. I took no photos of this state.

Ohio

Ohio is home to several interesting urban centers and communities which house some of the nation's most renowned academic and medical institutions, restaurants and cultural attractions, juxtaposed fascinatingly with some of the most iconic images of old, Rust Belt America. Unfortunately, our path took us to none of these interesting places. I took no photos of our long, horrible drive through this state, which stands out most in my mind only as one of the eight whose names are never abbreviated in news copy, per AP Style.

Pennsylvania

This is where I really started taking photos. The Western part of the state is supposed to be the pretty part, so I've been told, but I think I preferred the Eastern. Here are some photos:

Here is the requisite shot of the state's "Welcome To" sign, just over the Ohio-Pennsylvania border.


Pretty road, somewhere in Western Pennsylvania.


These, I thought, were pretty trees, somewhere in West-Central Pennsylvania.


What was a breathtaking Eastern Pennsylvanian landscape in person is less impressive in low-quality digital renderings.


Apparently, local ordinance bans people from Clarion, Pa. We risked arrest and entered the town to dine at Taco Bell. The community is also home to Clarion University, one of 11 state-funded universities in Pennsylvania. I could not positively determine what, if any, connection exists between the name of the town and the low-to-mid range hotel chain.


These people allowed their dogs to relieve themselves all over the McDonald's lawn in some Eastern Pennsylvanian hamlet where we stopped in an unsuccessful attempt to pirate a wireless internet connection.


The back of a cheap picture frame on my desk, taken just now. This represents the literally mean streets of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., which fluctuate between single- and three-car widths, with no paint or other indications of lanes. We drove at least 5 miles off the interstate all the way to the downtown square of WB in search of a Ramada Inn, which was advertised as being "just ahead." Frustrated by lack of sleep and mild stress, we turned around and headed to a Comfort Inn in an unincorporated area some 20 miles from the NY border. Unfortunately, our frustration also led us to miss the opportunity to recreate part of the opening sequence from television's "The Office" by filming a "Welcome to Scranton" sign.


At the Comfort Inn, I was bewildered by the initial burnt, musty aroma of our room. I was more bewildered that I stayed at yet another hotel which apparently had need to warn its breakfast patrons about the dangers of microwaving hard-boiled eggs. Seriously, has anyone ever heard of anybody microwaving a hard-boiled egg? Must be an Ohio River regional specialty.

New York

This was, I think, my first entry into New York. We only passed through the southeastern nub of the state, which actually is quite beautiful, and came within some 50? miles from the City That Never Sleeps. I missed the "Welcome to" sign, so I took some other shots of signs that said 'New York.'

One of several scenic landscapes we passed in New York.


The Hamilton Fish Bridge over the Hudson River is named for Hamilton Fish, the handsome former governor and Senator from New York who later served as U.S. Secretary of State.


Hamilton Fish.
I did not take this photo. It is from Wikipedia.

Connecticut

Our 48th largest state is a small and densely populated though beautiful one.

We were unenthusiastically welcomed by this uninspired sign.


Left unimpressed by the initial welcome, we decided to bypass this rest area.


A nameless, though scenic, Connecticut river.


The skyline of Hartford, Connecticut, taken from a distance.


Headquarters of the Hartford Courant, a struggling former giant of the newspaper industry.


This large tower did not fit in well with Hartford's otherwise moderate skyline.


This large cathedral was one of several visible in downtown Hartford from the highway. I don't know if that is an indication of a large Catholic population or fondness for old-world relics, or anything else. I just took so many photos of Hartford because I was excited because it is only some 45 minutes from Northampton, Ma., our final destination.

Massachusetts

You'll have to trust me that this says "Welcome to Massachusetts." The border snuck up on me quickly, and I had to rush to snap this shot.


Entering the home stretch.


Clearly, I was ready to be out of the car at this point. Wonderful company aside, I was stuck with a mountain of stuff behind me restricting my leg room, with my bulging briefcase between my knees for some 15 hours.


Anyone who visits should remember to take this exit. Obviously, it will take you toward Smith College, which is some 2 blocks from the apartment.


The final exit sign.


Finally in Northampton, I took some photos of recognizable landmarks. This is the infamous Knight's Inn, formerly known as the Norwottuck Inn. The hotel actually is located in Hadley, Ma.


The Norwottuck's neighbor, Wing Wong Chinese Restaurant.


I thought Sarah's mother would appreciate this license plate, which espouses the driver's appreciation for Bruce Springsteen. Clicking on the thumbnail to view the larger photo will reveal an "E Street Band" plate holder.


Exhausted after our long trip, we rewarded ourselves at the grocery store by springing for some of this high-quality cheese food.


I'm not sure in which state this photo was taken, so I put it here.


This photo of downtown Boston, and the following one, were taken during our previous trip to Massachusetts a few weeks ago.


The only photo of Fenway I could finagle was this one from behind, which most prominently features a moderately unclassy gun show sign.

Back to Virginia

I took few photos on the way back to Virginia, due to exhaustion and a severe lack of interesting subject matter. The best I found were these birds, which along with several others, flew freely for at least the entire three hours I was at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

They bathed in the drinking fountains.

UPDATE: For a corollary on our travels, see Sarah's new blog.