Lemon-Lyman

So...

2011-12-02T17:06:00.004-05:00

I realize I haven't posted in eons. I guess that means Sarah and I have become one of those old boring married couples. My day-to-day life, anyway, has heavily revolved around work, which while possibly interesting to the outside world in a few ways on a few occasions, mostly involves me sitting at a computer. I'll make an effort to get back in the habit of writing about things in my life.

But since that hasn't been a regular source of teeth-clench-worthy copy, I'll share this pretty interesting story that just popped into one of my feeds.

I always wondered how agencies like the CIA (or their foreign counterparts) recruited people to work for them. According to this piece, the British GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) has traditionally recruited smart recent college gads, "but in the digital age, it says, there may be a lot of bright young hackers out there who are worth talking to."

Thus it has set up this web-based challenge. Apparently, if you can crack the code they put on this website, you can join up with them. Promotion for the challenge has been done mainly through social media. I'm sure it's beyond even that wisest wizards in my regular readership, but I thought it'd be interested for someone to at least give it a shot.

When I saw this, I did think immediately that this could be a good way to update a familiar movie plot from the 80's-90's, where video games morph in some way into real-world action, like WarGames or TRON.

TV Weddings

2011-09-17T16:59:00.008-04:00

As someone who celebrated a wedding not too long ago, I think I'm in a pretty good position to judge a good TV wedding. And as the fall television season is set to kick off next week, it's a pretty good time to reflect on two that happened fairly recently. They are both from NBC comedies that I like.

Parks and Recreation

This clip achieves a good balance between sincerity and humor. It also employs music to strong effect - Simon and Garfunkel's short yet poetic "April Come She Will" - good not only because it is a good song but because the girl getting married is named April. The dedication that Chris Pratt brings to the character of Andy is always impressive, and he does a nice job in this scene. Notable are the at once sweet and funny look of sentiment on his face when April tells him "I never really seemed to hate you" and his vow to fight "him" - the female minister - if he had to to protect April.

The knowing looks captured by the camera on the periphery characters' faces are nice, and April's similarly unenthusiastic sister's applause is hilarious as well. Of course, the payoff comes at the end of the scene, a comic surprise that often still makes me laugh out loud when I watch the scene.

The Office

The Office wedding of Jim and Pam was one of the show's most anticipated developments, and it did not disappoint. I remember dreading that the two-episode installment of "Niagra" parts 1 and 2 would be as bad as the rest of the season was, but I was pleasantly surprised, again, by a nice blend of sentiment and humor. While Ed Helms' Andy Bernard stole the entire installment, this scene nicely played homage to the central importance of Jim and Pam's relationship to the show - while also highlighting the comic talent of the rest of the cast.

Again, music is central to the scene - playing off the internet meme of the song being used in a real wedding. But the interlaced shots of the wedding in the church with Jim and Pam's secret escape on the Maid of the Mist brought a new level of romance to the song, which I admittedly never recognized before when hearing it on the radio. The sweeping shots on board added an air of majesty to the scene which worked well. The payoff is, of course, the dancing procession. Here are the best entrances in my opinion:

1) Dwight kicking the girl in the face
2) Creed
3) Kevin
4) Andy Bernard
5) Jim's dark-haired brother

The surprise of the scene comes near the beginning, with the start of the music/dance sequence, layered with Jim and Pam's escape, and overall it works well. I was moved during it in a way I had not expected to be, though the knowing glances between Jim and Pam are less effective. I've never been a big fan of their "mugging."

It's tough for me to judge between the two, especially because my belief that The Office has gone downhill (before and) since this leaves me with a negative bias and also because it marks the end of the romantic tension (and therefore appeal) of Jim and Pam's relationship. Acknowledging that bias, I still give the nod to P&R, mostly because the surprise payoff at the end is so unexpected and hilarious, and because I love the song. I'm sure I would be in the minority in having this opinion.

I suppose this opinion also could reflect my natural preference for less elaborate, yet still meaningful, weddings.

Pilot of Interest

2011-08-27T23:39:00.005-04:00

I saw an intriguing television commercial (and billboard) the other day for a new show to premiere in August on CBS, called Person of Interest. It is intriguing mostly because it stars Michael Emerson, who played the deviously brilliant Benjamin Linus on LOST. It also features another actor I like (even though he's a basically crazy Republican), Jim Caviezel, who is most famous for playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ but who I like better for his roles in The Count of Monte Christo (2002) and The Prisoner (2009).

Person of Interest is based on a screenplay by JJ Abrams, who created LOST and is being produced by many people Abrams worked with on his first sci-fi foray, Alias, so that is obviously encouraging as well. While the premise seems a little off to me, I definitely will still give it a chance.

The show, according to its Wikipedia page, focuses on a mysterious billionaire (Linus), who develops a computer program that can predict the identity of a person who will be involved with a violent crime in the future. It cannot tell if the person will be a victim, perpetrator or witness of the crime, nor can it tell when or where the crime will happen. Caviezel plays an ex-CIA agent, whom the billionaire hires to prevent the crimes based on the information he gathers. This seems like a fairly thin premise to me, and close to a take-off of the ideas in the 2002 movie Minority Report and the Philip K. Dick story on which it was based. But the preview also instantly reminded me of the season 5 episode of LOST The Economist, where we see Linus (himself a man of considerable resources) guiding ex-Republican Guard super-spy and torturer Sayid through a series of off-island assassinations. The lack of detail given by the prediction program appears to provide plenty of opportunity for excitement and variability in the action of the show.

Here's the one-minute preview, if you haven't seen it yet:

I'm glad to see that Emerson has found another primetime vehicle, and to be working with Abrams et al again, especially since his previously rumored partnership with LOST's Terry O'Quinn, Odd Jobs, appears to be mired in delays.

Person of Interest has apparently tested well, and though I am troubled by the potential weaknesses in its conceit, I do think it sounds more in line with the intrigue and action of LOST than Odd Jobs did. We'll see how it turns out. Whatever happens, happens.

Comedy of Errors

2011-08-22T22:34:00.005-04:00

So Sarah and I went to the Cubs-Cards game last night, which the Cards won handily on two homers by Yadier Molina, one by John "The Federalist" Jay and, one by, of course, Prince Albert. It was a good game on a perfect evening. But it wasn't the most entertainment I got from a local baseball team recently. That distinction goes to the floundering Lake County Fielders.

The Fielders are near and dear to us, in a way, because we originally had planned to take our wedding group out to a game their following our nuptials. They are located pretty close, and they are partially owned by Kevin Costner of Field of Dreams fame (hence the team's name), so we thought it would be fun. Weeks earlier, though, we read about problems they were having completing the stadium, so we decided to go to a game ahead of time and make sure it would meet the demanding standards of our guests. To our semi-surprise, it did not.

The stadium was only partially complete - with little parking, exposed infrastructure, NO BATHROOMS (but lots of beer - a dangerous combination), a funnel cake stand that DIDN'T HAVE A REAL DEEP FRYER - and many other travesties. But that's just the beginning of their problems. Since that time it's been a perfect cycle of errors.

Note: I hadn't kept up with their travails since the game we attended, but recently saw a tidbit about them in a local paper. That prompted me to read reports over the past two months on them, and this is what I've pieced together from that time. It was difficult to establish a firm timeline from the various articles, but this should be a fairly accurate recap:

-Manager Tim Johnson quits (via email) in late July because he hasn't gotten paid anything yet.
-Radio Announcer quits on the air also because he has also not been paid.
-A day after the players find out the manager quit, 11 of them refuse to take the field in a show of solidarity. None of them have been paid yet either.
-Hitting coach Pete LaCock appoints self as interim manager and fields a team for the game anyway, using several non-pitchers as pitchers in a loss against the Yuma Scorpions, who win behind a six-inning pitching outing by Jose Canseco (yes, THAT Jose Canseco.)
-The next day, LaCock resigns, then is fined $2,500 by league commissioner Kevin Outcalt for "making a farce of the game."
-Fielders pitching coach Chris Thompson manages the next game only to be released the next day.
-Days later, Tim Johnson takes a job with the Scorpions.
-The Village of Zion threatens team owner, because the team owes the town $185,000 in back rent.
-Team trades or releases all of its players and begins to play games using a semi-professional team from Kenosha as the home team.
-August 4, team is forced to forfeit home game because they did not have an adequate supply of baseballs.
-In early August, the Fielders plan a long trip to play a tour of games in Hawaii. Players show up to the airport only to be told that the team cannot afford to fly them all there and are forced to stay home.
-League officials issue statement that Fielders are no longer part of the league.
-Fielders insist they are still part of the league.

The Return of LOST

2011-07-22T22:34:00.002-04:00

In case you have not seen this yet, LOST showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse released this short, funny video at ComicCon yesterday. This is in continuation of an also very funny Twitter conversation they had previously going back and forth about whether to release a video that would be "evidence" that they had planned the entire arc of the series all the way back in season 1 (@carltoncuse, @DamonLindelof). Here's the video, which was apparently filmed a few weeks ago.

*My source, including some background info: http://tvwiththefoot.blogspot.com/2011/07/lost-at-comic-con-2011-wdamon-lindelof.html

Do you remember when I got married?

2011-07-15T10:15:00.002-04:00

Just in case you've forgotten about it, we've got some photos to refresh your memory. The photographer sent us the link to a gallery of proofs (over 1,000 in all!). I was going to embed some of them here, but I guess I can't do that until we buy them, so you'll just have to click through them all yourselves to find your favorites. Once you do, please leave a comment with the numbers of your favorites, and we'll compare later.

http://blossom.zenfolio.com/armstrong

Long Overdue, and Still Not What You're Looking For

2011-07-13T12:19:00.026-04:00

So, I realize I haven't posted in a long time, but I've been busy wrapping up a job in CT, moving cross-country, looking for a new job, helping (nominally) to plan a wedding, and getting married! So BACK OFF!

Anyway, after the move and before the real madness started, Sarah and I took a mini-pre-honeymoon to Michigan in mid-June. I realize that you're all probably much more interested in photos and anecdotes about the recent wedding, but we don't have all that stuff organized yet, so, again, BACK OFF! Here are some highlights from the trip. (This is in addition to the much more timely post Sarah did.)

As Sarah's post focused mostly on our visit to Warren Dunes State Park and Douglas/Saugatuck, these will mostly serve to summarize our venture to Mom and Dad's alma mater, Kalamazoo College, and a little bit of Holland, Michigan, the tulip capital of the U.S. But to start with, here is one photo of our Dunes trip Sarah left out:

I think Sarah looks very sporty in this picture.

Kalamazoo College

Signs.

The view from the Quad.

Hoben Hall, a former residence of dad's.

View of the Quad from Hoben Hall.

R.E. Olds Science Hall.

Weimer Student Center, which in its current form post-dates Ma and Pa's time on campus by decades.

The chapel which overlooks the quad.

Me enjoying an adirondack chair. Just out of the frame are two women ensconced in a deep discussion of something academic.

Sarah De Waters Hall, a former residence of mom's.

Sarah Keister Armstrong (at time of photo Sarah Keister) in front of Sarah De Waters Hall.

Trowbridge Hall, where someone lived for some time.

A picture Sarah did not know I took.

A sculpture.

An administrative building.

Honors housing?

Kalamazoo, off campus

Orrin B. Hayes Used Cars, where "Service Sold It"?

Two possible candidates for the location of the former Holly's Restaurant, where dad (allegedly) graciously allowed mom to pay on their first? date, after "forgetting his wallet."

Holland (Michigan)

Despite contrary appearances, you may NOT buy ice cream at Hudsonville Ice Cream Company.

In correlation with its business plan and most people's desires, you MAY buy ice cream at Dairy Queen.

Unfortunately, we did not get to enjoy a FAT BURRITO.

Re-Dubu

2011-04-09T11:53:00.008-04:00

We picked up Dubu about two weeks ago from our friends who are heading back to Korea, so now he is ours for good! This obviously has been a source of cheer and excitement for all three of us. Note Dubu's enthusiasm:

His adoption was noted joyously with a present from Mom, Dad, and Jack. Dubu was interested when the package came:

Upon seeing the Whisker-Lickin' delicious treats, Dubu pounced:

After all the excitement, understandably, both Sarah and Dubu were exhausted:

Later, we had to take Dubu to the vet for a rabies shot and exam. He has minor dental tartar issues and walked a little funny for a day or two after the shot, which he got just under his backside. He recovered quickly, and was ready to enteratin guests at our recent pirate-themed viewing party of the movie Hook.

Beyond that he has been enjoying himself and is generally a very happy and well-adjusted cat.

Here's The Beef

2011-03-17T18:33:00.005-04:00

As everyone knows, it is St. Patrick's Day. As everyone knows, on St. Patrick's Day, it is traditional to eat corned beef and cabbage. As not all may know, though Sarah and I have gained moderate renown for our pioneering corned beef chili recipe, I have never before attempted to make corned beef and cabbage. I did so last night.

This was a serving of the result, which I ate about a half hour ago:

I don't know how well you can see the different ingredients, but this, I presume - never having made corned beef and cabbage before - is not a strictly traditional assemblage. It contains about a pound or pound and a half or corned beef (left over from previous chili) and about 3/4 of a medium head of cabbage (I used some before in a stir fry) and:

1 small onion (sliced)

6 or so ounces of sliced mushrooms

1/2 small can of butterbeans

a handful of raisins

small amount of chopped garlic, 2 small bay leaves, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and seasoning packet that came with meat

water to cover, plus a little apple cider vinegar

After letting the meat defrost in the fridge for a day and then out of the fridge for an hour to get it to room temperature, I seared it on all sides on the stove (left whole), 2 minutes or more per side, until nicely browned. In the meantime, I chopped the cabbage roughly, sliced the onions and mushrooms, and created a thin layer of a mixture of those on the bottom of the crock pot. Then deglazed the pan off the heat with vinegar, scraping up the "fond." On top of the veggies I lay the seared meat, scattering additional veggies around it and poured on the pan liquid. Then the beans mostly on top and the raisins scattered in, then a scattering of the seasonings, tucking the bay leaves into the veggies. Cold water to cover, plus a little more vinegar. Heat on high.

I left the crock on high for about 4 hours while I was awake, turning to low overnight. When I awoke this morning, the apartment was rank with cabbage smell. Attempting to flee the odor, I hopped into the shower. However, I am now fully convinced that the vent fan over the stove merely empties through a shared duct into the bathroom (the possibility of which I had heretofore pondered), opening a freeway for the stench to follow me into the lavatory, and thus creating in the steamy and enclosed shower an unpleasant phenomenon which I have disdainfully coined an "Irish Sauna."

I was afraid that all three layers of my tri-shade green fashion ensemble would be dank with the scent. Luckily, it was not that bad. I was also surprised to discover that the meat was still fairly tough. I left the heat on low while I went to work, turning the meat over to evenly braise top and bottom. When I returned, the pungency of the cabbage confirmed yet another fact about the air-flow mechanics of the apartment - that the back door is very drafty or at least permeable. This reality became clear to me about halfway up the four-step patio, when I suddenly found myself awash in the same thick stain that had befouled my olfactory sense 9 hours previous.

But the biggest surprise was that it actually tasted pretty good. The meat appeared to have shrunk considerably, leeching much of its salty volume into the broth. The beef was extremely tender. The vegetables were mushy but flavorful. And luckily, today's temperature reached about 70 degrees, allowing me to comfortably air out the apartment by opening all of its windows. After about an hour, the smell seemed mostly to have evaporated. Either that, or my sensory perception has been severely damaged.

In all, a pretty good first effort.

Ah, bachelorhood

2011-03-13T20:25:00.003-04:00

With Sarah out of town for the week, I have spent almost all of this weekend in the bachelor position - lazing on the couch, remote by my side, bowl of cereal in hand. The few times I have ventured out of that space have mostly been to go the Redbox down the street to pick up or return movies, specifically some of those outside Sarah's cinematic taste. I watched two, which, coincidentally, also fell mostly outside the bounds of palatable cinema. They were The Karate Kid (remake) and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

The Karate Kid might have been ok if it was about 20-30 minutes shorter. Most of the excess fat came at the beginning - a boring, flavorless 40 minutes of exposition about the Kid and his mother's moving from Detroit to China, struggling to fit in, and being the victim of a 10?-year-old martial-arts expert bully. Nearly needless to say it was high on dramatics, and low on actual drama. At about the 45-minute mark, we finally see Jackie Chan, who takes on the master/teacher role in the reboot, step up and defend the kid, demolishing the previously mentioned bully and 5 of his punk friends. This is also the point at which the film becomes watchable.

We all know where it goes from here. The Kid, played by Jaden Smith (son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith), begins training with the maintenance man/martial arts maven, eventually going on to challenge and defeat a series of the kid goons in a Kung Fu tournament, culminating, of course, with the chief bully. The story is spiced up from the original with the bullying theme, the inclusion of the rival dojo's "wrong way" methods, the replacement of the master's "wax on, wax off" teaching theme with "jacket on, jacket off," and maybe? some subtle political theme about U.S. international economic policies. In all, it was bad. Jaden Smith was terrible for the first third of the film, then adequate the rest of the way, and pretty decent in the martial arts scenes. But he brought no depth to the character. Nor did Chan, who compensates by still looking darn good kicking bully butt at his relatively old age. The biggest highlights come during the concluding tournament, which features both comical jumbotron animation of the dueling competitors and, much to my delight, a Mortal Kombat-esque command from the evil dojo's master during the final match to "FINISH HIM!" That the movie studio allowed the film to register at over two hours is inexcusable.

G.I. Joe is much easier to sum up. A ludicrous villain uses ludicrous technology to execute a ludicrous world-domination plot. The dialogue is poor, and the acting sinks to its level. Channing Tatum plays the lead, Duke, and is wretched. Other pretty faces fall flat in delivering their lines as well. Interestingly, two LOST alumni, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko) and Saïd Taghmaoui (Caesar) appear as members of the Joes, but they are generally not good. The only really respectable actor in the flick is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who portrays Rex/The Doctor, the evil scientist behind the evil plot. Unfortunately, all of his lines are spoken through a voice modulator/breathing instrument, which he needs as a result of an utterly predictable connecting twist seen in flashback, thus rendering his dialogue virtually emotionless. In all, it was bad. The film ends with a dramatic reveal setting up the presupposed sequel. I guess I really should not criticize the movie too much, as I honestly did not pay a lot of attention to about three-fourths of it. I had hoped to get a dollar's worth of entertainment from it. I got about a quarter.

A Friend

2011-01-29T14:42:00.003-05:00

Here's a quick post to let any of you who haven't heard yet about my friend and groomsman Al. Last week, we all received a giant shock in hearing that he had suffered a stroke. He's very young, having graduated a year ahead of me, in Jeff's class. Obviously, this is not a common occurrence for someone of his age, but fortunately, he is doing pretty well considering.

The problem appears to have sprung from an unnoticed hole in his heart present from birth but never detected. He has been in the hospital since the incident, but we heard today he will be leaving the ICU today, which is great. He has been cognizant, aware and there appears to be little loss of brain function. He is struggling with swallowing and lost a great deal of mobility, which is to be expected, but doctors are confident he will make a full recovery. A timetable for that is uncertain, though.

His family has been keeping an online journal of his progress everyday, which we've been reading regularly. Most of the news is encouraging, and any thoughts/prayers sent his way are obviously appreciated by his family (and us).

Plymouth - A Grand Caravan

2010-11-28T22:12:00.028-05:00

I'm very late in reporting about Sarah's and my pre-Thanksgiving trip to Boston/Plymouth, Mass., but better late than never. Our trip there had nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but rather a free hotel stay we'd earned and one of the few weekends we had completely free to use it. This was the second trip I've made to the area, and some of you may remember the first, accompanied by the Grandparents A. and my siblings. Sarah also has gone before, so we weren't overly anxious about hitting all the classic tourist destinations, but we did make sure to stop by some of the more notable ones.

We of course hit Plymouth Rock:

The Rock Itself

Sarah was cold.

I found Armstrong ancestor John Allerton on a monument.

We were in Plymouth.

We also took a ferry through the "hah-bowar" to the U.S.S. Constitution site.

The famous boat was closed, which I pointed out to Sarah. But the ferry ride was still nice:

We also walked along the Freedom Trail, hitting notable American Revolution-age sites including the Old North Church and Paul Revere's house.

A church I first thought was the Old North Church, based on its similar appearance to one seen near the end of the Nicolas Cage epic "National Treasure."

The actual Old North Church, which still operates as a church but is open otherwise for tours. We entered it to see many things:

A man's head.

My head.

The Wardens.

I took many opportunities along our trip to re-enact scenes from the Nicolas Cage epic "National Treasure":

We also saw many things related to Paul Revere:

His house from the front.

His house from the back.

A statue of the famed Silversmith and midnight rider.

While our trip to the Plymouth waterfront also brought us upon a festival of some type, netting us free cranberry products from Ocean Spray and beverages from McDonald's, sadly, I was once again denied the opportunity to enjoy one of New England's culinary treasures:

The storied Stevie's Pizza.

And Now For Something Completely Different

2010-10-09T22:48:00.007-04:00

If anyone wishes to comment on any posts, I'll now have to moderate your remarks before they go up. Too much Spam! I'll try to be speedy with the process...

Journey To The Center Of Western Massachusetts-based 18th Century Historical Reenactment Enthusiasts

2010-10-07T20:51:00.016-04:00

If you've been paying attention, you'll have noticed that I've failed to post an update in several weeks, while Sarah has posted several terrific travelogues about our various journeys. She assigned me to write a very small one about one of our barely-out-of-town trips, to nearby Deerfield, several weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to it.

It is a long neighborhood featuring many period homes, an inn, restaurant and a few museums as well as two boarding schools, many of which have been deeded to a historic preservation foundation and decidedly historically preserved. Residents of Deerfield may gain access to the public buildings for free, while non-residents must pay for a ticket which entitles them to tour some of the homes. A few historical interpreters very cordially guide you through select homes. Also, in September, History Detectives star Tukufu Zuberi made an appearance there in support of the Springfield, Mass.-based PBS station. We did not attend.

So join me on a journey BACK IN TIME to MID 18th CENTURY WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS...

A table.

The Bement House, which was constructed out of bement, an early forerunner of cement fabricated from birch bark.

A home so well constructed for privacy that it is, in fact, invisible.

Dwight House, inhabited by early members of the Schrute family, an active clan of beet farmers.

Even as a guest residence 200 years ago, this tiny house was considered a small, piddling disgrace.

The wheel, invented in Deerfield circa 1753.

Several pictures of Deerfield Academy, a prestigious boarding school which I made a special point to visit, as it housed not one but two stars of television's LOST, in fact just one year apart from each other--Matthew Fox and Nestor Carbonell. Despite my intensive searching, I found no mysterious hatches, polar bears, eyeliner or other artifactual remnants of their time there.

The cat's out of the bag (and back home)

2010-08-28T13:22:00.011-04:00

It's been a few weeks now since Dubu has returned to his rightful home, and we have both mostly gotten over our sadness. Knowing that he is being treated well by his real owners has given us solace, as well as finding the occasional artifact he's left behind (bits of fur, a hidden waterdish, cat food stains on the bottoms of walls). Here are a few photos from some of Dubu's last stellar feats before stealing away back home.

1) Finding his way into a paper bag:

2) Finding his way out of a paper bag

3) Realizing we've been watching him the whole time

4) Getting picked up by Bia and Ian

Dance Dinner

2010-08-12T19:04:00.002-04:00

Tonight, as some of you know, is the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance, or as its become known in the 140-character-limited Twitterverse, SYTYCD. Neither Sarah nor I would ever claim to be dance experts, but we've enjoyed being couch-based critics of this past season.

In honor of tonight's finale, we expressed ourselves in a creative arena with which we are both more familiar--the kitchen. On tonight's menu we enjoyed Funky Chicken sandwiches, the Mashed Potato, and Groovin' to the Beets. We thought of all these dishes while commuting to work, and it was only when we were home this evening that we realized we missed a fairly obvious dance-related delicacy--Salsa. Oh well.

Sorry, no photos.

Anyone else have a suggestion for an appropriate dish to GET SERVED tonight?

It's Been a While

2010-07-28T19:22:00.003-04:00

I realize I haven't posted in almost a month, but hey, we've been busy! And what we've mostly been busy with has been traveling, mainly in the form of weekend trips to various cultural and historical hot spots throughout New England.

I haven't posted much about those trips, though, but Sarah has been posting some excellent photo-/travel-ogues about them. Yet they are receiving very few comments! So skip on over to her blog to read about our travels, or shoot directly to our most recent trip to NYC/Cooperstown, including an excellent video she shot of John Fogerty performing his now 25-year-old baseball-themed classic, "Centerfield."

Fenway, Fanueil, Etc.

2010-06-28T17:59:00.014-04:00

As promised, here are some highlights from our second trip to Boston, as well as some other stuff.

A Fenway Pale Ale, the signature beer at Boston Beer Works. It was not very pale in appearance, nor did it taste much like a pale ale. More like just a plain, American ale, which is fine and fitting.

A Fenway Frank, the signature hot dog of Fenway Park. It tasted pretty much like a standard frankfurter, though quite salty. What distinguishes it, somewhat, is the bun, which I believe is a thick slice of a rather pedestrian white bread shaped and folded around it.

The best and most unique item we enjoyed in/around Fenway, funnel cake fries. They really are just standard fried dough shaped into french fry-style sticks. Much less messy and easier to enjoy than the massive brick you get most places.

Fen-way Beyond

On our original, sans le baseball trip to Boston, we saw several of the traditional sites, including Fanueil Hall, Boston Common and the Statehouse. (For a detailed travelogue, visit Sarah's blog).

What I found most interesting was the apparent lack of decorum shown by Massachusetts State Legislators, even in writing, at the Capitol. Case in point, this photo shows a sign on the Capitol grounds, clearly demarcating a separate entrance to the building reserved solely for run-of-the-mill prostitutes:

(Apparently, ladies offering more specialized services have yet another separate entrance.)

Back Home

Some time after returning to the comparatively sleepy hollow of Northampton, we walked one of our standard routes, through the lovely campus of Smith College. While we were near the athletic fields, we saw a semi-fantastic site.

If you can't tell what that is, there is a hot air balloon relatively close over the rather majestic campus.

Finally, at work a few days ago, I was chatting in the office of my indirect supervisor when her wall calendar caught my attention. For the month of June, the artwork was a large quote "Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good." This nice piece of advice comes, of course, from one Minor Myers, jr., the late, great president of Illinois Wesleyan University. Just a surpleasing little coincidence.

The Maine Event and More

2010-06-26T10:48:00.025-04:00

I realize it's been a while since I've updated, but we've been busy, and I've been lazy. This post will be mostly pictures from our Memorial Day weekend trip to Maine and northeast Mass., as well as an outing to Boston for a Sawx game, and some other random shots I had on my phone.

The Maine Event

Before we hit the road, we asked Dubu to help us plot our route to the Pine Tree State.

Of course, before he could read the map, he had to put on his reading spectacles.

On the Road

York Beach, a small beach south of Kennubunkport, Maine.

Another shot of York Beach, which was busy and a little rocky looking.

A beach somewhere in Maine we saw only from the road.

Getting closer to our first destination, Kennebunkport, a locale best known as the summer home of the Bush family.

The beach at Ft. Williams State Park, Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

The ruins of what appeared to be a mid-19th century building at Ft. Williams.

To The Lighthouse

This is a lighthouse located at the State Park, of somewhat historic provenance.

The lighthouse, which apparently was the inspiration for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "The Lighthouse."

A plaque, supporting my previous statement.

On the way back to Mass., where we stayed for the night, we stopped off to play a quick round of mini golf in Ogunquit, another super-touristy area along the Maine coast.

The course was quite impressive, featuring water falls, rivers and other large ornamental decorations. Unfortunately, I cannot recall who won the match.

En Mass.

Here Sarah is in front of our full beach stop, Salisbury Beach, in the very northeastern corner of Massachusetts.

Me in the same spot.

A distant look at the Salisbury shore.

I plan to post again shortly, though already overdue, about our trip to Fenway. So look out for that.

Purr-ty Pictures

2010-05-23T11:11:00.006-04:00

Here are a few more candid shots of Dubu's first week with us:

Dubu and Sarah, looking menacing, I think

Our first family portrait

Dubu sitting like a human

Dubu waiting at the door for Sarah to return from checking her oil

Hmmm...I wonder if we're getting too attached to this kitty...

Catnapping

2010-05-15T17:23:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since my last update--approaching the level of blog fade. That's mostly because I've been busy at work, Sarah with finals, and unable to coherently put into words any of my chaotic stream of thoughts about how LOST is shaking out.

But now, Sarah is done with finals, my busiest two months at work are over, and we've got some more time on our hands. To help fill some of that time, we have added a new presence to our home. His name is Dubu.

Dubu

Dubu, the Korean word for tofu, is not our cat. Thus we had no hand in naming him. We are housing him for the summer, while his owner, Sarah's classmate Bia, returns to Korea for the next few months. We've had to do a little catproofing, but all has gone well on this first day of our foster parenting lives. Dubu is a cool customer.

Despite his Korean name, he is a Persian breed--flat face, slanted eyes, tiny nose--features which lend themselves to making strange breathing noises. Here he is snoring as I write this update.

Dubu going dooboo

While Dubu most likely will not be traveling with us when we visit family or friends this summer, you can all keep track of him here and on Sarah's blog, which will have more cat photos up today.

Sorry, another LOST post

2010-04-10T09:52:00.004-04:00

I was just corresponding with Pops about how the "sides" are lining up as we draw nigh to what appears to be a developing large-scale war on LOST, and how Desmond as a time-traveling wild card may fit into it, and how coming events may draw closer together or even the fuse the two time lines. Then I was thinking about the differences for the characters in the two time lines, how many appear to have attained happiness they lacked in the original time line. But then I realized nearly just as many are still miserable in the flash sideways. Then I thought, perhaps that is indicative as to which side they are positioned in on the island. Let's examine this idea as I think through it via public writing:

(Note: The "team" on which I've placed them does not necessarily indicate their allegiance, simply their most current physical location under the command of one or the other.)

Character	On Island	Flash Sideways
Jack	Team Jacob	Has son; overcame daddy issues; happy
Sawyer	Team MIB	Alone; parents still dead; unhappy
Hurley	Team Jacob	Still rich; lucky/successful; happy
Sayid	Team MIB	Still a killer; still not with Nadia; unhappy
Ben	Team Jacob	A teacher; caring; didn't kill dad; happy
Kate	Team MIB	Still on the run; still alone; unhappy
Claire	Team MIB	Still preggers w/o dad; still stood up by adoptees; unhappy
Sun	Team Jacob	Still with Jin; not leaving him; happy?
Jin	Team MIB	Still working for Mr. Paik; locked in freezer; unhappy?

Of course, omitted from this table are Locke, Charlie, Daniel and everyone else who is dead on-island (it's difficult to determine their state of happiness); as well as the Wildcard, Desmond.

On island, he was for nearly his entire episode under the control of Team Jacob, via Widmore; but at the end, he apparently was kidnapped by Sayid, so his status is a little unclear. Further, off-island, for most of the episode, he would have fallen under the category of "happy," but appears to be the first of the remaining players to realize that such sideways happiness may not be true.

But even if this apparent parallel indicated something about the relationship between on- and off-island (alternate) happiness, what is it? Those under MIB's control seem to be unhappy off-island. Those under Team Jacob appear to be happy, but that happiness appears to be truly empty. I guess nobody wins in the flash sideways.

Thoughts as to how this might shape an exodus from the flash sideways back to the island? Some other related or unrelated theory? Please share in the comments section.

Hot Celebrity News

2010-04-07T19:58:00.005-04:00

The Hartford-Northampton corridor in which I live most of my current life has been the site of much national news lately. From the arson spree in Northampton to the tragic bullying case just miles away in South Hadley, the record flooding in Connecticut and last night's national championship victory for the UConn women's basketball team, our little neck of the woods has been turning heads recently.

But two recent and otherwise overlooked local news items caught my eye. One is about an national award-winning photograph by a young up-and-comer, the other about a young woman making a difference by helping confront an important and timely social issue.

Here's a scan of the first one, from Sunday's edition of the Hartford Courant:

And the second, from the April 2 issue of the Springfield Republican:

In other news, I just enjoyed my first soda in a month and a half, and found it incredibly sweet. Also, last night's episode of LOST was the best of the season. Comments are welcome on any of the above topics.

Recombobulating

2010-03-20T13:50:00.004-04:00

Northampton is a town of juxtaposition.

It's a town where the most progressive and new-age of our nation's young women flock to take classes in buildings constructed some 200 years ago; where Dunkin' Donuts shares storefronts with the most bohemian of organic coffee shops; where the cash registers of fair-trade vendors bear hand-written signs happily exclaiming that they accept all major credit cards.

It's also a place that just days removed from some of the bitterest ice storms my senses have ever borne, today wears a spring day rivaling any of the most beautiful of my childhood.

I took advantage of the weather and decided to stroll downtown to pick up a weekend newspaper and a trinket or two for Mom's birthday.

My, what sights to behold.

Homeless men played junk guitars for change, just steps outside some of New England's trendiest and high-priced boutiques. Amidst one busy section of sidewalk, in front of the retro-chic style store 'Faces,' I heard a large, bearded man playing a passable, if simplified, version of Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." Just across the street, on a nearly deserted patch of pavement in front of a local confectioner's shop, a skinny black man struggled painfully through a few bars of "Yellow Submarine."

(I know not whether the crowd size varied based on the quality of the store or the music.)

Further down, a sizable gathering of self-declared liberal labor supporters carried signs and shouted in support of healthcare on the steps of a large Catholic Church.

Fortunately, in this proudly feminist- and lesbian-friendly hollow, I have to this point been spared from the sight of any nudist displays. Unfortunately, as the warm weather portends, the daily attire of many 'Smithies' has become so negligible as to be nearly indistinguishable from the latter.

Many men here wear women's jeans. Many women wear men's shirts.

When I got to a spot sporting newspaper boxes, I looked down to take my pick. On the left was a bright yellow box, holding copies of the free alternative weekly, the Valley Advocate. On the right was a red box which held the daily Springfield Republican. ($1.75 on weekends). Split in between in a tattered orange box were copies of the Hampshire Gazette, which publishes a Saturday-Sunday edition that can be had for $1. I dropped in my four quarters and went on my way.

Returning to the apartment with my paper in tow, I was nearly sweating through my T-shirt. Two blocks on I passed a waif-like young girl bundled in a woolen sweater and parka, lugging what appeared to be a large instrument case. I said hi to her.

As I stepped up to our front porch, which lies just over the apex of Round Hill, I took a look around. Down the hill to the left is a straight path to the local mega-mart and, just beyond, to Wal-Mart. Straight to the right leads to the downtown I'd just departed.

"Eh," I breathed, and walked inside.

(Sarah, when you're in Milwaukee today, take some extra time in the Recombobulation Area.)

Secret Shopper

2010-03-05T20:40:00.005-05:00

Normally, I am a pretty laid back, quiet, non-carousing type of guy. But this weekend, I got license to have up to $75 worth of unadulterated and under-the-radar fun. How?

I got an alias.

It all started a few weeks ago, when I purchased a new bed at Sears. The mattress set was on sale for 50% off, plus an additional rebate. A pretty good deal, well in keeping with my mostly inconspicuous existence. However, the rebate was not to be mailed for 6-8 weeks. To be prudent, I've held off from depositing a few other checks (via mail to my online-only bank), so I could combine them with the $75 check to come. Well, it came tonight. But it wasn't actually a check.

The rebate came in the form of a pre-paid Mastercard debit card. (Interestingly enough, the instructions read that one must select 'credit' when using it).

Now, that's not terribly exciting in itself. But then Sarah pointed out the name imprinted on the card. There it was, revealed to me for the first time, my undercover alias: DAN ARMSTRANG.

What an opportunity! I could go crazy with this--head to the bar and run up a pretty decent tab; purchase a few more seasons of Gilmore Girls on DVD; go to Dollar Tree and leave with a veritable trove of slightly defective treasures; all without fear of public judgment! After all, any repercussions of such behavior would be hung around the neck of this ARMSTRANG character!

But alas, I did none of these things.

Instead, we headed to the mall and picked up some new additions to Sarah's work wardrobe. We did quite well, gathering a new sweater, blouse, tank tops and even a few new undershirts for me, and we didn't even use the entire card's value.

But, I must admit, I'm not entirely thrilled with the idea of some other guy buying my fiancee new clothes.

Weather Pain

2010-02-27T08:05:00.007-05:00

As many of my co-workers warned me upon moving to the Northeast, winter here lasts at least all the way through February without respite. And they are correct. We have been the victims of another Noreaster the past few days, and will continue to be through the weekend. It's not actively snowing right now, but it should pick up again. The strangest part is that the temperature has been hovering right around the freezing point the entire time, often going a few degrees above and making the snow extremely wet (and heavy to shovel). Here are a few pics of it:

Hartford's skyline, obscured by fog

Our next door neighbors. The giant tree is more impressive in person.

Our back door neighbors, through the screen of our door. Sorry I was too lazy to go outside to shoot it.

Our front porch

Sushi sushi!

2010-02-15T13:19:00.008-05:00

Today is the last day of my nice four-day weekend (CRT gets both Lincoln's B-Day and President's Day off). Sarah and I enjoyed a nice trip to Vermont on Friday, and have pretty much taken it easy for the rest of the time off. For a travelogue of our adventures at Ben and Jerry's and the rest of our Vermont trip, visit Sarah's blog. Here she is at work on the post. I don't know how she manages with that tiny monitor.

But today, we did decide to take advantage of the weekday lunch price of an Asian buffet a few blocks from our place. It's called Sakura Buffet, and it bills itself as "The Ultimate Sushi Buffet." It was pretty good. The buffet featured some traditional American-Chinese buffet staples--General Tso's chicken, Mongolian beef, Sweet and Sour chicken, hard boiled eggs--as well as a fairly impressive sushi buffet. Varieties included lobster, shrimp, tofu, some impressive-looking cornucopia-type wrapped offerings as well as standard salmon, tuna and California rolls. Jeff will be particularly interested to know that there was also an item called a Philadelphia roll. I did not try that one. Here are a few of the items I did try:

Tuna, octopus, and black dragon rolls

The house special, Sakura Roll, tofu roll, and amazing Volcano Roll. The Sakura roll is delicious, with tuna, roe, daikon and possibly some other vegetables, topped with a spicy Sriracha/mayonnaise type dressing. The Volcano roll is a revelation, though not really traditional sushi. It appeared to be a nori roll, tempura fried, filled with avocado and roe, topped with a variety of fish and vegetables, and finished with spicy and sweet dressings. I am not sure whether the name refers to the spicy topping, represents the veritable explosion of ingredients, or subtly warns that you likely will violently erupt a few hours after eating it.

As we moved toward dessert, Sarah enjoyed a fig-filled peach bun.

Dessert proper included the ubiquitous cream-filled pastries as well as a variety of mini cheesecakes. These were chocolate-chip and lemon.

As we left, I snagged a few of these candies. I have not tried them yet, but the fruit pictured on the wrapper appears to be that of the cashew tree. I doubt the letters will be decipherable on this picture.

Now, I nap.

Odds and the End

2010-02-08T18:19:00.004-05:00

Odds are, you watched the Super Bowl last night. I did as well, in the comfort of our friend Jordan's apartment, which she shares with an engaged couple (I don't know who would ever want to do that). She is a Tulane alum and big Saints fan, and since neither Sarah nor I have much connection to Indianapolis, we cheered for the underdogs along with her. It was a good game, but since I had no money riding on the outcome and found the commercials subpar, I was much more attached to Jordan's barbecue shrimp than I was to the game.

On more important TV matters, the premiere of the final season of LOST has come and gone, with much ado from me and my fellow LOSTies. I won't get into the details here, because most of you don't care, and those of you who do can check out Pops' take on it at his blog. Suffice it to say that many hours were spent by my coworkers and I Wednesday morning around the water cooler combating out LOST hangovers.

Finally, I thought I'd point out what was both a fiduciary boon and culinary nightmare for me a few weeks ago. Sarah and I were at Target picking up a few items when I noticed a sign that Lean Pockets were on sale for $2. I often buy Lean Pockets at this price--2 pockets per box, or $1 per pocket is a decent deal. They are a reasonably not-unhealthy lunch in a pinch, portable and microwavable. However, I had grown quite sick of them, having indulged in them far too often in my Office at JMU (to the horror of both my palate and my coworkers' noses).

My heart rose, then sank when I examined the sign and saw that the $2 price was not for 2-packs, but rather for the family size 12-pack boxes of Pepperoni and Sausage Pockets! We had to buy them. I've been taking them in my lunch ever since. After three weeks, still about a third of our freezer is apportioned for the little pastry packets of lukewarm pizza goo. My coworkers ask me every day if I like Lean Pockets. Every day, I tell them no.

The banes of my existence.

It's been a long time comin'

2010-01-17T20:14:00.024-05:00

Sorry, y'all, for the super-long blog absence. It's been pretty hectic with the move, then limited computer time over break, then travel, then moving in, then settling into and commuting to the new job, then having only my slow desktop with which to work.

I guess I'll begin with a random assortment of photos from the past few weeks.

Pre-move

My largest accomplishment in a year and a half at JMU, the completion of the Public Affairs break room.

My second-largest accomplishment in a year and a half at JMU, hanging Christmas lights in Rachael's office.

Break, part 1: Christmas in Carlinville

Two furry guys, Jack and Nic

Christmas lights, part 1

Christmas lights, part 2

Three Dog Day

Jack getting reacqauinted with Sarah and Grandma

Break part 2, the Second City

Sarah is almost as tall as the trees in Union Station

Vernon Hills Winter Wonderland, part 1

VHWW is a great little drive thru the park with decorations made by local senior citizens

Winnie, as is typical, being the center of attention (see next three pics as well)

Sarah is more affectionate with Winnie...

...Than she is with her aunt

Onion loaf, a necessary part of any meal at Hackney's

Post move

Our new kitchen, soon after being cleaned

Living room, soon after being cleaned

New room, finally with new bed, and clean

It was a terrific break, and it's been a terrific first week at work too. Only twice was I seriously delayed on I-91 during my commute, and only on my first day did I feel discombobulated. Now, with 97 percent of our stuff put away and after the first good deep cleaning, I am very happy to be here and enjoying a restful night. Even if it is spent watching the Golden Globes. At least I don't have to work tomorrow! :)

The Job

2009-12-15T09:22:00.002-05:00

Since I got one pseudo-angry phone call yesterday from someone demanding details about my new gig, I will share some here. Starting Jan. 11, I will be working at a large, Hartford, CT-based nonprofit organization called the Community Renewal Team (or CRT). They have about 750 employees and serve nearly the entire state of Connecticut.

Their repertoire includes providing basic needs (such as Meals on Wheels, food banks, school lunch programs, elder services, shelters, heat assistance, etc.); financial literacy education programs; employment assistance (case mgmt., training, financial assistance, job placement, etc.); policy and advocacy; youth education and mentoring; wellness; drug and alcohol education and rehabilitation; criminal reentry; and a whole bunch more. Looking at this program list will get you started.

My job in the communications office will be to help tell the stories of all of those programs, to work with the media and other publics to help raise awareness of the organization as a whole.

The CRT is nearly all grant-funded, working with a fiscal budget of somewhere around $60 million. It is the oldest community action group in America, having started much smaller in the 1950's. That's about all I know for now. I haven't seen where I'll be working yet, but I presume I'll be in a cubicle. Wish me luck!

A Tremendous Theory

2009-12-09T08:46:00.003-05:00

Thanks to being snowed in to my apartment all day this past Saturday, I was able to unabashedly catch up big time on my LOST re-watching. (I watched probably 10 episodes or so in one day!) Rarely leaving my couch, I finished up season three. With the LOST s6 premiere just under 2 months away now, speculation from fans and major media alike is picking up.

One of the bggest names in the LOST media world is Entertainment Weekly's Doc Jensen. Since the beginning of the series, he has offered his own thoughts on the show's future as well as shining the spotlight on some of the fan community's biggest fanatics. He just posted a new column that gets very deep into demons (or daemons, or daimons) and their possible role on the Island. I found it very dense and boring, and skipped most of it. However, he also featured an interview with an amateur LOSTie named Andrew Wilmar, aka Eye M. Sick, who has run a LOST-related blog for a while. In the interview, Jensen highlighted Wilmar's Three Black Swans theory, which he posted this past summer. And it's a doozie.

In sum, it proposes that there have been three unexpected Black Swan events that were not "supposed to happen" but did thanks to various characters, that have kept the Valenzetti equation from causing the end of the world. We've seen the first two of these events -- the Incident from last season's finale and Desmond's turning the fail safe key.

In both cases, the energy contained in the Island would lead to the end of the world if not halted in some way. In the 1977 Incident, the normal course of events would be that DHARMA's drilling into it would have unleashed the energy with Apocalyptic results, had it not been for the LOSTies and Juliet detonating the nuclear device first. Essentially the same is true when Des turns the fail safe, keeping the energy from being unleashed after Locke prevents the pushing of the button. The LOSTies and Des are the Black Swan variables that changed the normal course of events.

**This part I am embellishing a little: Faraday's mother knows this, and that is why she is so insistent on making sure Des and everyone else important back to the Island, to keep the delicate balance of the loop in place. We can postulate that Des, when unstuck in time after turning the fail safe, had the ability to change history (whatever happened, happened is wrong), could have married Penny and never gone to the Island, and therefore never would have turned the fail safe. Bam. End of the world. Thus, because of the two events, there has been a loop 27-year loop btw 1977 and 2004 going on for who knows how long (Note: The Valenzetti equation calls for a 27-year period before the world ends if not changed). That is also why Faraday's mother does not hesitate to send her son to the Island, even though she knows his end will come there at her own hand. This also adds to the 'loophole' idea spoken by the Man in Black to Jacob.

The third we shall see in the final season. It's a little too deep to try to summarize here, but it ties in my discovery of the Omega Point motif and essentially states that the two children of the Island that have been born, Aaron and Yi Jeon, must get married before 2031 to restore balance, or order, or Yin-yang, etc. to the Island, and therefore the world. I know that sounds dumb right now, but read the whole theory, and it's actually pretty amazing, when supported with evidence from events we've seen on the Island so far.

Sad News

2009-12-07T08:10:00.002-05:00

Greta Goldfish Armstrong passed away sometime between 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 and 8 a.m. Monday, Dec. 7, at her residence in the James Madison University Office of Public Affairs.

Burial services took place Monday morning, at sea. She will be missed.

Memorials should not be put toward buying me another fish. Thank you.

Late Photos

2009-12-03T10:25:00.007-05:00

So I know I'm a little late on posting about my travels and Thanksgiving weekend. Suffice it to say that the trip was terrific as was the Turkey Day meal. Aside from a minor flat-tire-at-the-Hartford-Airport snafu, most everything went off without a hitch. I flew, cooked, ate, drove, interviewed, slept, changed a tire, flew again, rested, ate, bowled, ate again, won several board games, ate again, slept, and so on and so forth. It was nice. Here are a few photos I took on my phone. The first two are repeats of ones on Sarah's blog.

One of the days, Sarah and I traveled to Brattleboro, Vermont. Read her entry for a better description of the trip. We ate at a Thai restaurant, visited several used book stores, a few thrift stores and stopped at the unhappiest place on earth on the way back. This is a picture I took too late of the "Welcome to Vermont" sign.

Sarah enjoyed her meal at Thai Bamboo.

Sarah did not enjoy my antics.

The nail which, upon entering Sarah's tire head-first, caused our flat; costing $25 to repair plus $4 for the 10 minutes we were "parked" in Bradley International Airport's garbage-riddled Economy Parking Lot D.

TV Time

2009-11-11T08:20:00.004-05:00

So, it's been a while since I last posted, but in my defense, these have been by far the busiest weeks of the year for me at work, and I've been spending a lot of my free time exploring my new TV. It's not the snazziest, top-of-the-line behemoth I could have gotten. No, I was sensible, did lots of research and settled on a nice mid-range set. It's a 32", 780p LCD TV. If you know what that means, or care about more bells and whistles, comment and I will answer more, but since most of you probably don't know and don't care, I will leave it at that.

The one feature I wanted to highlight is that fact that it has an input port solely reserved for computers. Unfortunately, it's a VGA (15-pin) input (a somewhat outdated technology), not the best for streaming digital video, etc. My laptop has a DVI (29 pin) output port. Thankfully, my computer did come with a DVI-VGA converter, but I still had to buy a VGA cable to hook it into the TV. I ordered one, and it came last week. The result:

Having purchased a 10' cable, I can place my computer under my coffee table, run the cord along the floor and into the TV, and watch programs on Hulu with comfort. The quality is actually very good, at least from my viewing distance. However, to get sound, I would have had to buy another cable and adapter to have sound output from the TV, so instead I bought some computer speakers on sale for $5 at Target, and simply listen to sound from the computer using them. It's not the classiest setup, but it suits me. Lately, the flavors of the month for me have been "Andy Barker, P.I." a comedy starring Andy Richter as a mild-mannered accountant-come private investigator, co-starring Tony Hale of "Arrested Development" that lasted only 6 episodes; and "Kitchen Nightmares," a show where enfant terrible and uber-chef Gordon Ramsay visits struggling restaurants in America and turns them around in a week (it's disingenuously edited and probably mostly scripted) but it's still hilarious.

In other TV news, apparently AMC is planning on running a 6-episode miniseries beginning this Sunday that is essentially an updated version of the 1960's cult sci-fi classic "The Prisoner." This version stars Jim Caviezel, a favorite just sub-star-level actor of mine, most famous for playing Jesus in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," as the central character No. 6; and Sir Ian Mckellen as his nemesis, No. 2. Some other details have been modernized. Read all about it here in the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/arts/television/11prisoner.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Mind Trap

2009-10-25T22:11:00.007-04:00

Sid Shady and Sam Sham are sitting at a bar. Both order a double shot of Johnny Walker Red Label Scotch. Sid offers a wager to Sam: Sid tells Sam to place his shot on the solid oak bar and place a solid glass bowl completely over the shot. Sid then bets Sam $1 that Sid can drink Sam's shot without touching either the bowl or the shot glass, and without the use of any other person or object. Should Sam take the bet?

Note: This is a paraphrased (and probably improved) version of a question from a substandard mind-problem/trivia game from the early 90's called "MindTrap." I purchased an unused copy of the game from Goodwill today for $1.95, and played it for a while with Greg and Sarah, with semi-hilarious results.

Please post your answers (Yes or No, with explanation either way) in the comments, and I will post the correct answer sometime tomorrow (Greg and Sarah obviously excluded).

Aqua Man

2009-10-20T10:38:00.003-04:00

I've not updated about the gold fish for a while. Greta is still doing well, and seemed to be happy in her vase/bowl contraption I had set up in my apartment. However, winter is approaching the Valley rapidly, and along with it, serious cold. Greta is a Betta fish, whose native climate is tropical. I've read form various sources that the species thrives in temperatures in the mid-to-upper seventies, though they can survive in waters as cold as 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

My apartment does not have central heating and cooling, but rather two wall units in the front and back of the space. This is economical for me and the environment, as I spend no energy or money heating an empty apartment while I am at work during the day, or even heating the other side of my apartment when I am in my bedroom.

Unfortunately, this means the temperature can get downright frigid during cold days and nights, which is not good for the fish. The other night was a chilly, but not horrible temperature, and Greta's water registered at just 67 degrees. That is probably too cold for her. And the temperature fluctuations between day and night and at the whim of my personal comfort are even worse for her.

So, rather than spend about $20 on a heater to maintain the temperature for my $0.13 fish, I bought a $10 decent-looking aquarium for her and moved her into my office at work. As much as we at work complain about the inconsistency of our building's heating system, it does manage to maintain a fairly stable temperature in the low 70's, which is much better for her. The new aquarium also has a self-filtering system and bubbler, which means changing water less frequently, and more space for her to explore (I even ponied up for a nice little fake plant). Here's a picture of the new digs:

She survived the first night, though I think it took her some getting used to the sound of the bubbler and the direct light from the aquarium lid. She seems to be enjoying the new space, plant and attention.

Sorry, another LOST post part II

2009-10-06T18:30:00.003-04:00

I cannot seem to find the original document I attached to my previous post about the mysterious and mythical Jacob. So, I will instead post a shortened form of it now.

It took me a long time to gather my thoughts about the entire Jacob/Nemesis conflict. Without truly knowing who/what each of them is, it is a very difficult idea to wrap your head around. But after a few weeks of mulling it over, I noticed and investigated a few clues from the final episode of S5, "The Incident," which led me to make some educated guesses about Jacob. The first part is less important, I think, than the second.

Phoenix
After Ben stabbed Jacob, Nemesis kicked him into the roaring fire. I at first accepted this at face value as merely a step to ensure Jacob was dead, or to physically erase his presence from the Island. Then, I thought, perhaps he is destroying the body so that no one else could inhabit it, as seems to have been the case with several characters whose bodies were on the Island (Christian Shephard, Locke, Yemi, and Alex). But, then my literary "training" kicked in, and I thought, "What if it's more symbolic than that?"

So Jacob has been alive on the Island for perhaps hundreds or thousands of years. He built, or at least inhabited, a temple, and he was a "keeper of time" in a sense. His existence is shrouded in Egyptian mythology. He then is consumed in fire. Now, may he rise from those ashes, renewed, to live for another long period of time? What other mythical creature would that sound like? THE PHOENIX, (or perhaps Bennu) of course! Now, I'm not sure Jacob will be coming back at all, but there is some evidence that suggests it is possible.

The Omega Point
The clue that led me to this was made intentionally blatant by the producers, though the concept is sufficiently shrouded to be lost on the softcore theorist. In the flashback of Locke getting pushed out the window by his father, just before the egg head has his great fall, we see Jacob sitting on a bench in front of the hotel, reading a copy of Flannery O'Connor's Everything That Rises Must Converge.

The shot of the book was obvious to most, and even casual LOST viewers would have seen it as a clue. It led to many message board theories, most of which were amateurish. Some focused on the book cover, which featured a dove getting shot with an arrow (symbolic, perhaps). Some tried to tie the content of the book (a collection of short stories) to the action of LOST, to little avail (it's not a particularly distinguished collection). Some tried to find symbolism in the words of the title itself, saying merely that it alluded to the rising events of the series converging in the finale (just lame).

I think it's deeper than that. With the help of Google and Wikipedia, I did a little research, and what I found bewildered me. A cursory information expedition led me to discover that the title O'Connor chose was taken from a line in The Phenomenon of Man, a philosophical treatise written by archaeologist/philosopher/excommunicated priest Pierre Teilhard De Chardin. Teilhard, who worked to connect faith and science, interpreted evolution as a gradual rise through higher and higher levels of consciousness, essentially going from goo to God.

Through things like technology, communication and learned knowledge, beings ascend to higher "spheres" of consciousness. The highest sphere, the "noosphere" is essentially a type of wholly interrelated, shared consciousness, embodied as the "Omega Point." For beings to be reach this highest level, though, Teilhard thought that there must be a pole, a being, already at that level, that pulls them higher. That pole, or being, is the Omega Point.

Teilhard outlines five criteria for the Omega Point:
1) Already existing.
2) Personal. An intellectual being and not an abstract idea.
3) Transcendent. He operates outside the universe proper and is the force that attracts humanity's rise to higher levels of consciousness.
4) Autonomous. That is, free from the limitations of space and time.
5) Irreversible, that is, attainable.

During his conversation with Nemesis, it is hinted that Jacob has several times throughout history brought beings to the Island, with hopes that they will ascend to higher levels of...something. He brings the Black Rock, and Nemesis taunts him, and (paraphrase) expresses doubt that they will ever change. Jacob is more hopeful, saying that there is progress. He brought the 815ers as well.

Essentially, Jacob is some sort of higher being. He brings beings to the Island and acts as a pole to guide them toward ascendancy. And as for the five criteria:

1) Already existing.--From the conversation and seeing them w/ the Black Rock, it's safe to say he's been around awhile.
2) Personal. An intellectual being and not an abstract idea.--He sure looks like a physical being when Ben stabs him.
3) Transcendent. He operates outside the universe proper and is the force that attracts humanity's rise to higher levels of consciousness.--He's lived on the Island, away from humanity and apparently the laws of physics. He expresses hope that they will ascend.
4) Autonomous. That is, free from the limitations of space and time.--Time travel: check! Ageless: check!
5) Irreversible, that is, attainable.--As he tells his Nemesis, "It only ends once. Everything up to that point is just progress."

To strengthen my thesis a little more, there is some more tangential secondary evidence (of the sort I relied on to get through my lit classes in college).
-Teilhard's research partner was Julian Huxley, whose brother, acclaimed author Aldous Huxley, wrote books that have clearly influenced LOST, including Island and "Jacob's Hands," a short story about a man named Jacob who has the ability to heal others by touching them with his hands (w00t!).
-More tenuously, the character names of Pierre Chang and Frank J. Lapidus could be nods to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Frank J. Tipler, a mathematician who wrote "The Omega Point," a cosmological treatise that was highly influenced by Chardin's work.

And there it is. I have since found a handful of other people who have made similar connections to Teilhard's work, but few with as thorough an examination. I felt that this was a major breakthrough, but apparently the people at Lostpedia were unimpressed, as they moved it from the Theories page to the Discussion page, citing, of course, lack of evidence. Fools!

Thoughts?

Sorry, another LOST post

2009-10-06T15:04:00.002-04:00

This entry is merely a response to Pops' post after finishing up Season Five of LOST. I would have just left a comment on his blog, but it would have been too long. So here, goes.

-Jacob's meddling in the previous lives of the LOSTies is absolutely an important facet of the entire show. Particularly, the writers have not-so-subtly hinted that his physically touching each of them in the flashbacks is important. What I am left questioning afterward is the significance of when he went to each: Locke, Jack and Sawyer, Sun and Jin years before Flight 815 (Sawyer in the 70's); Sayid and Hurley after leaving the Island; and Ilana, who knows? Is it significant that Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley were the original four names the Others told Michael to bring them in exchange for Walt? If so, why also Sun/Jin and Ilana now? Or is it only these characters we've seen Jacob touch so far?

-Are we to believe that it is Charlie's guitar Jacob gives Hurley? Or is it a guitar at all?

-Indeed, was Jacob responsible for Nadia's death (intentionally or not); or was he responsible for saving Sayid? Did he raise Locke from the dead? If he did so, did he have foreknowledge of his own demise? If so, why did he allow the events leading to his demise conspire? Or is he even truly gone for good?

-Is the fish Jacob dismantles and cooks in the silent first scene a "red herring"? If so, in what way are we being misled? My guess is that Jacob is actually the "bad" one.

-All signs are now pointing to Rose and Bernard being "Adam and Eve."

-I don't think it definitively hurts or helps the "reset" theory of the bomb detonation, but seeing Chang hurt/lose his arm in 1977 and having previously seen him with a prosthetic/slinged arm in the Orientation videos in 1980 is neat.

-I will post again tonight rehashing my original master-development in the who/what is Jacob thread I previously shielded.

To Do List

2009-10-02T23:00:00.003-04:00

As I continue rewatching LOST, I recall some issues that I believe need to be addressed in season 6. None, I guess, are that glaring that if they weren't, it wouldn't be the end of the world...OR WOULD IT?

1) Libby's backstory: I just watched "Dave" again. It's the Hurley-centric episode that recounts his mental illness, time at Santa Rosa and ?hallucinations? of his pal, Dave. It's not an epic episode in terms of the series, but it does matter-of-factly introduce the "Snow Globe" theory that everything is just in his head. Thankfully, the writers have vehemently denied that that is the case. And Libby becomes a larger figure as Hurley's love interest/counselor. But it is her uber-creepy appearance as a mental patient at Santa Rosa as the capper that adds the biggest piece of intrigue to her character. In a later episode, we see her giving Desmond the boat he uses to reach the Island. Theories abound that she is more intricately connected with the Island/Widmore than we know (e.g. could be Widmore's off-island child that led to his getting the boot as leader; could be working for him; or a Hurley stalker!) Anyway it shakes out, we need to see it.

2) Kelvin Inman's story: We've seen Kelvin in the Hatch as Desmond's mentor and as a U.S. military officer in Desert Storm, where he served alongside Sam Austen (Kate's non-biological father) and Sayid the Torturer. I recall the producers at some time responding to a fan question that we would see how he got to the Island (presumably through Dharma), and I hope we do. If for no other reason than I like Clancy Brown, the actor who plays him.

3) Problems around Ben: Why was Ben wandering alone in the jungle when he was first caught by Rousseau, and why did Rousseau allow him to leave (she didn't recognize him as the one who stole her baby?). She didn't tell her story to anyone when he was caught. That's probably more an oversight b/c Ben was only planned for 3-4 episodes originally, but it is an annoying omission. It ties into another omission, about why Ben's Others presumably didn't know about the Hatch. They used all the other Dharma stations, but apparently didn't know about that Swan, which seems ridiculous. And if they did know about it, they apparently didn't know its importance. I believe later in season 3 we see that Ben can spy on the Hatch from another station, so somewhere something doesn't add up.

4) More importantly, I want to see how/why the real Henry Gale got to the Island in the balloon. (I presume Ben or another Other interrogated him and then broke his neck.) There are indicators on the balloon plaque and in Ben's false story that Henry may have ties to Widmore/Hanso Foundation, and I hope they revisit it at some point.

Two recappers of note

2009-09-28T11:13:00.008-04:00

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

2009-09-27T13:53:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-19T13:49:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-08T13:00:00.045-04:00

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.

Re: Pops' blog

2009-08-27T09:47:00.003-04:00

Trying not to spoil anything, I will respond to a few of Pops's thoughts in his last post. Most of these thoughts I've probably shared at some point, but in reference to Pops' comments, they may be refreshed in significance.

1) As I've stated before, I think Season 2 was my favorite. I plan on restarting my re-watching in earnest shortly, so I'll reevaluate at that point. But the bizarreness of the Hatch and the introduction of some of my favorite characters, including Desmond and Eko.

2) I agree (as do most LOST fans) that season 3 was the weakest of the five. It was a slight (though probably unavoidable) cop-out to introduce a large cast of additional characters, living unnoticed, in a fully formed and civilized community nonetheless, just miles from the survivors. Some of them I did grow to like. In particular Ben, who thanks in large part to Michael Emerson's brilliance, was formed into one of the most important characters, a role he has continued up to the current time. Juliet was a frustrating character for me at first; her mysterious teetering character was overwrought at the onset, but has also grown to be a favorite and important character. But most of the Others failed as interesting characters with me and other viewers, so it's no surprise that few of them were left after the season. The first episode, I agree, was a complete shakeup and effectively done.

3) Season 4 again introduced a new host of characters, but most of them ultimately succeeded more than most from season 3. The main reason, I believe, is their interconnections with each other and the past lives of characters we have already known. They seemed a more natural fit to the overall arc of the series, with a sense that the writers had a better idea of their importance to the series as a whole from the onset. Daniel Faraday in particular, also brilliantly portrayed, catapulted almost immediately to the top of my favorites list.

The slow unfurling of the Widmore-Ben saga was effective, and seemed to set the stage for many future reveals, instilling an unshakable sense that something much larger than the sum of the individual characters' lives was in play the whole time. I also grew to enjoy Charlotte's character, and after seeing him morph through season five, Miles as well has become a well-loved character in the LOST community. Season 4 also contained what still believe to be the best episode of the series, "The Constant."

The use of flash-forwards was an innovative solution to keeping the intrigue of the series up, without relying on the same largely doomed techniques of season 3. Michael's 'reincarnation' (not literal) as Kevin Johnson was an ok twist, but his whole arc rang hollow to me; he just isn't interesting. Also, I wholeheartedly agree with Pops' assessment of "Ji Yeon"; it was a transparent and crass attempt at engendering sympathy and surprise, an entirely forgettable episode. All in all, a successful season, for it's well-formed and fully-committed delving into time travel, successful integration of characters, and explosive yet measured action; a great setup for season 5.

One Fish, Two Fish

2009-08-23T12:58:00.005-04:00

I won a live goldfish last night at the Rockingham County Fair, at the insistence and using the money of Sarah Mac. The game was simple: toss a ping pong ball into a little cup, win a fish. I won.

We then went to PetSmart to get some fish food and a companion fish for the one I won. Today, I made a trip to Target and Goodwill, found a new, larger vase and some decorative stones to put in it. I also found some fairly unattractive accouterments to complete the aquatic landscape for my two new friends, a semi-creepy ceramic bear holding a watering can, and a small dish reading "MAN'S BEST FRIEND" on its side. Each cost about 35 cents. Here is a picture of the two fish:

The orange one is from the fair. The dark one is from the store. They are both female, we think. I have not named them yet, so if you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments. My ideas so far are Sasha and Malia and Franny and Zooey, but I don't love either of those.

I had planned on keeping them in my office at work, but that's probably not a good idea as they would be in the dark basically everyday after 5 p.m., and I would have to go in on weekends to feed them. Probably too much effort. So guess they'll live here, for now anyway.

So far they seem ok. I think I fouled the original water with too much fish food, so I bought a gallon of purified water and changed it out. They appear to be enjoying the new toys, too. I believe they are using the toy dog dish as a swimming pool. Here's the entire landscape:

UPDATE: The gold fish est muerto. She must have been diseased and/or mishandled by the carneys. :(

Tangled Up With Boys In Blue

2009-08-14T21:12:00.005-04:00

Apparently, Bob Dylan was stopped the other day by two police officers in a community in New Jersey, wandering through a low-income, minority neighborhood a few hours before he was scheduled to perform a show.

That's pretty cool unto itself, that the Father of Folk Rock (and megamillionaire) would rather wander aimlessly through a rough New Jersey neighborhood than party or take part in other showy business while on tour. But what makes the story amazing is that neither the first officer who responded to a call that an unknown white man was wandering through the 'hood nor the second officer who arrived for backup knew who Dylan was, even after he identified himself!

Nothing came of the incident, as the officers returned the singer-songwriter to the hotel where he was staying and having his identity confirmed by employees there (he wasn't carrying any ID).

No definitive word was given on Dylan's purpose for being in the neighborhood. Reported weather conditions may indicate that he could have been seeking shelter from the storm, and unnamed witnesses alleged his jacket may have been blowing in the wind. The reported dialogue between Dylan and the officers was abbreviated for press, though anonymous sources have speculated that upon identifying himself and seeing the young officer struggle to place the name, Dylan may have responded cordially, "Don't think twice, it's all right." The exact location of the incident was also unreported by police, and media members failed to confirm the address as being positively 4th Street.

Here's a link to the real story. http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#2wXIst/www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/08/bob_dylan_stopped_by_cops_whov.html?ft=1&f=103943429/

VOTE

2009-08-13T21:52:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted on here, and even my facebook and Twitter output has been almost nil over the past two weeks, due to my nice vacation, which I suppose I will end officially tomorrow by attending a university event for two hours. I think that will be a nice way to ease back into work, right before the weekend.

But the last time I checked my Twitter feed for any significant length of time, I found a link to a Guardian poll asking people to vote for their favorite TV show of the "Noughties", or 2000-2009. I did vote, for LOST, but the poll is now closed, and the results were ridiculous. At the time of my vote, LOST was doing respectably, with 3-4 percent, and my second choice, The West Wing had a few percentage points as well. They both trailed a show called QI, which I'm guessing must be British (I've never heard of it) and long-time BBC favorite Dr. Who. So, clearly the poll reflected the tastes of UKers, which is ok, since the Guardian is a U.K. publication. But the final results were absurd, clearly becoming a personal battle between fans of two shows with which I am not familiar, The Wire and Top Gear, which finished 1 and 2 with each pulling in more than 40 percent of the vote. So what was once an interesting poll was ruined.

I'm much more interested in what the smaller group of people that reads this blog thinks. As I mentioned, I would have to pick LOST as my number 1, though TWW is second only in a veritable photo-finish. The only other show that was within a whiff of those two for me is Arrested Development, which is hands-down the best comedy of the 2000s, but due to its relatively short run and comedic genre, in comparison, it just lacks the epic gravitas the first two carry so strongly for me.

Coming up with even a Top 10 list would be difficult, but other favorite shows from the past ten years that come to mind immediately would be Weeds, The Office, The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Chappelle's Show, Good Eats, Iron Chef (original), House M.D., Friends, This Old House, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Survivorman, Man vs. Wild, American Dreams and Dirty Jobs. I might even have to throw Alias in there, though I may be slightly biased from having watched that entire series within the past few months.

I'm probably pretty well defined by my demographic, a male who was in either high school or college for eighty percent of the 2000s, with picks such as LOST, The Office, the late-night shows, FOX cartoons and the hour-long documentary segments of masculinity defined that are Dirty Jobs, Survivorman and Man vs. Wild. But I've got at least one PBS show there, a brainy food show and a couple respectable dramas, so I don't feel too fratty.

I was going to put a poll up with some TV shows to vote on, but that would be way insufficient. Just leave your thoughts in the comments.

A few more Comic Con LOST tidbits

2009-07-30T11:59:00.004-04:00

Here are a few more interesting things from the LOST Comic Con presentation I didn't include in my last posting.

The above video is a clip of an episode from a faux-ABC TV series from the 80's called "Mysteries of the Universe." According to an ABC press release I found today, the video is the first of five such episodes that will investigate the shadowy Dharma Initiative. From the release:

Once thought to be Lost, this all-new explosive documentary project provides a full-scale investigation into the so-called "Dharma Initiative." Through interviews, research, eyewitness accounts and more, the short-form series attempts to uncover the truth behind this shadowy organization, including the possible existence of a secret society with links to covert locations around the globe, including a South Pacific island, which is the subject of intense speculation, but whose whereabouts have never been confirmed.

The other parts will be released and viewable at abc.com/lostmysteries one per month through November:

*Episode 2 Tuesday, August 4, 2009
*Episode 3 Tuesday, September 8, 2009
*Episode 4 Thursday, October 15, 2009
*Episode 5 Monday, November 16, 2009

Those will be interesting to watch. There were a few other neat faux-promo videos played that some speculate reveal the answer to the big question after the season 5 finale, but I personally don't read too much into them. I think they're more for fun.

Comic Con

2009-07-28T08:37:00.003-04:00

For the past several years, the producers of LOST have been one of the most popular exhibitors at the Comic Con Convention in San Diego. The audience of that convention dovetails nicely with their hardcore viewer base, so it's no surprise ABC pulls out a lot, if not all, the stops to make sure their presentation doesn't disappoint. Yesterday I read this New York Times piece about how much planning they put into their panel this year, equating such efforts with campaign rallies to prime voters to get to the polls in September.

Below I'll put some videos that should capture most of the presentation. NOTE: These will contain major spoilers for anyone who's not yet surpassed season 5.

LOST Panel Part 1
LOST Panel Part 2
LOST Panel Part 3
LOST Panel Part 4

But perhaps the best part of the presentation was edited out of the above links--a montage of fan-created videos the producers showed. It's the embedded video at the top of the page, and the last part is hilarious. It shouldn't reveal too much in terms of spoilers.

Wonder Bob

2009-07-20T12:43:00.006-04:00

I had a mild case of insomnia last night. I just wasn't tired. Possibly from over-stimulation from staring at electronic (computer, TV and movie) screens most of the weekend, or just not being tired from lying around watching golf all day. In any case, I was searching the late night tube for something to ease me off into sleep.

Passing up such terrible offerings as "Ace of Cakes," Fox News' "Redeye" and "Dance Your Ass Off" (or whatever it's called), I landed on a ceremony held to honor Michael Douglas with a lifetime achievement award. This in itself seems so ridiculous as to merit a blog post unto itself. Perhaps I'm just too young to appreciate Douglas's work. I know he's won two Academy Awards before my time, but I know him best as President Andrew Shepard from Aaron Sorkin's "The American President," a movie most distinguished in the fact that its leftovers led to Sorkin creating "The West Wing."

That was actually one of the films they mentioned in honoring him (Martin Sheen made some speech about it, which was fitting as he played Douglas's number 2 in "TAP" and later President Josiah Bartlet in "TWW.") It was an ok film, but not the stuff lifetime achievement awards are made of. Another film of his cited was the 2000 box office flop "Wonder Boys." Now, I have not seen the film, and it carries a more-than-respectable 83 percent fresh rating on rotten tomatoes. Certainly, box office success is not always an indicator of a film's quality, and "WB" may very well be a good one. But after having read a summary of it on wikipedia, I was struck by its similarity to a film I have seen, the critical and commercial flop "Smart People." Both focus on washed up writers on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

While honoring "Wonder Boys," Bob Dylan made a surprise appearance playing his song, "Things Have Changed," which he apparently penned at the special request of the film's producers. The video above is the performance, which at least in my late night stupor, seemed almost incomprehensible. I think I caught a rhyme of the words "shogun" and "son of a gun" in there somewhere, but I'm not sure. I haven't rewatched it to verify. His almost complete lack of annunciation combined with an extra-gravelly growl made it nearly impossible for me to tell what he was saying, which was disappointing, as the director of "WB" said in a taped interview that the lyrics had significant meaning to the film. Oh well. The more entertaining part of the clip is seeing the slumpy old Douglas try to nod his head (side-to-side) in rhythm with the happy-Nashville-hop of the song while his young, pretty wife Catherine Zeta Jones sits comfortably upright next to him. Silly all around.

On The Merits of Routinaeity

2009-07-14T14:17:00.003-04:00

After recently being diagnosed as suffering from a moderate case of blog fade, I am attempting to get back to the routine of semi-regular posting. I just returned home from the office, as I do five days a week, and have done for the past ten-and-a-half months. Today, I left at around 2 p.m. These summer days, I typically depart around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, due to my limited remaining fiscal hours, and the limited remaining worthwhile PR work to be done.

I walked to my car, parked in the same spot on top of the same parking deck it is five days a week, and as it has been for the past eight-and-a-half months (we moved downtown 2 months after I arrived). Heading south down the left side of Liberty Ave., I passed on the other side of the street the same young woman I passed at the same time yesterday. I know (of) her; she is a bartender at the coffee-shop-by-day/bar-by-night located just steps from the front door of our office on Court Square. She is young and pretty, though she wears heavy, dark eyeliner and has a large and conspicuous tattoo on her right arm, made evermore noticeable by her proclivity to wear sleeveless black tank tops, routinely.

I reached my car and as I sat felt the same rush of heat I did while entering my car yesterday. I flipped on the radio and heard the same song, Katy Perry's "Hot N' Cold," that was on at the same time yesterday. (It is a recognizable song, if forgettable in quality.) I turned my head to back out and felt the same crick in my neck I felt yesterday. I drove home, taking the same route I take five days a week and have taken for the past seven-and-a-half months (it took me a few weeks to determine the quickest path). I arrived at my apartment complex, stopped by my mailbox and retrieved a bill from the Harrisonburg Electric Commission, as I have done once a month for the past 9-and-a-half months (my first bill didn't arrive until my first full month of service).

I walked in and immediately changed clothes. In the winter, I would trade my dress pants for sweatpants; in summer, I tend toward gym shorts.

Yes, I've got a pretty good routine going.

The routinaeity (invented word) of my immediate post-work life is one reason why my at-work existence appeals to me. In my PR job (basically working as an in-house reporter) and my immediate previous newspaper job (basically working as a reporter in a medium perhaps most valuable for use in an outhouse), I have encountered quite a bit of variety.

I've interviewed art professors, science students, higher administrators and administrative hires; a Surgeon General, general surgeons, a major general and general studies majors; police and fire chiefs, fired police chiefs; athletes: foot-ballers and scratch bowlers; actors, musicians, stage-coaches and truck drivers; and a guy who harvested a strange-looking Siamese cucumber from his home garden, among many other interesting and different folks.

But even so, routinaeity invades. Anyone with intermediate training in literary analysis could pick up structural and thematic similarities threaded throughout most of my "news" and feature articles, especially the ones in PR. My leads are usually somewhat snappy, sometimes tangential and often form around a "this...but this" assertion.

I'll often use a little wordplay, a subtle pun here or there, and similar patterns of periodic and loose sentences. I insert words, or at least connotations, from the institutional mission statement throughout the piece, usually before ending with a nice two-paragraph shift, bringing the theme home--very similar to a couplet ending a classical sonnet. Thus, even stories so different in content as high-tech biology research and student political engagement leave a similar lingering impression (or at least that's the point).

Some would recognize it as skillful writing, at least for a PR person. I tend to view it more as a mere aptitude, (the word skillful seems to me to imply a certain degree of challenge to be overcome, which I find absent from most of my assignments.) I'll give myself credit for typically conducting a decent amount of research, or familiarization, with the material before an interview, a decent interpersonal manner and questioning style which usually can extract a soundbite similar to that which I seek, solid note-taking and a good ability to make connections between the specific information and the "bigger picture" of the mission/messaging. But none of those things are particularly difficult, nor do they require much training to master.

I hope you don't infer too much of a negative tone toward routinaeity in everyday life from this post, though. In fact, I think it's a) mostly inevitable and b) not necessarily a bad thing.

Though various theories and laws of entropy generally state that worlds, environments and societies tend to move toward a state of increasing disorder, often human behavior tends toward homogeneity (I know that many of you will probably take to task that overgeneralization, or in some other way tangentially riff upon that sentiment; such an act would follow the routine of our typical blogversations [another invented {and poor-quality} word]) And it makes sense.

Psychologically, we feel comfortable in familiar situations, because we can expect comfortable outcomes. Whether it's knowing that my parking spot will be devoid of puddles should it rain, or that my boss will heap praise upon me for a "good" story, or that I can look forward to a generally entertaining hour of low-stress entertainment on "Top Chef: Masters" every Wednesday night at 10 p.m., it's nice that a lot of things in life are relatively certain. Call it Pavlovian, call it safe, comfortable or just reassuring.

Without such common tasks falling into some kind of order, people, I think, would begin to tend toward a state of entropy. If I didn't take the same route and park in the same spot most work mornings, I could get stuck in unexpected traffic, or my car could be stuck in a low spot on the parking deck. In such cases, I might be late to work, displeasing my boss, or my shoes might get wet, displeasing my toes. Innumerable more examples exist all around us.

But also apparently innate to humans, in addition to a tendency toward familiarity, is a small part of the spirit that yearns for excitement, a break from routinaeity, adventure. Call it thrill-seeking, pioneering, broadening one's horizons. I see little logical explanation for such a phenomenon. If a creature has all its biological needs met in a certain environment, it would have no reason to leave it. So why do humans wish to explore?

Please weigh in with your thoughts. You know the routine.

Philosopher - Addendum

2009-06-29T15:01:00.003-04:00

While at work on the previous post ranking the episodes of the first season, I came across this hilarious Urban Dictionary entry for "John Locke." Thought I'd share it:

John Locke

1. A charachter [sic] in the tv series lost that is one kickass guy. Part woodsman, part mystical sage, part fighter (suck it charlie) and 100% dude. Even though season two makes him a little sissy b****, you know he's gonna kick it old skool [sic] soon.

2. A philosopher who believed in tabula rasa (clean slate) and anti authority. It is believed from a lot of strong evidence, that this man did not kick so much ass while saying wise things as his namesake tv charachter [sic].

1. John Locke after being told that red shirt people always die in star trek [sic] missions: "Sounds like a piss poor captain."

2. "Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but himself."

Classic.

*Source: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=John%20Locke

The Shape of Things To Come

2009-06-29T12:29:00.033-04:00

Over the weekend, I worked up the beginnings of two drafts for future posts--a list of my favorite/least favorite LOST characters, and a top 10 list of my favorite episodes. Both may need some refinement as I continue my re-watch, and both contain information that could amount to spoilers for those who have not caught up to LOST Standard Time.

I'm not sure what the best way to proceed would be. I suppose I could start by ranking the episodes of the first season, and encouraging others to submit their lists as well, for comparison. Crowdsourcing!

I guess that sounds like the best way to go. So, here I'll go ahead and throw in my two cents about each of the episodes from Season One. Any such exercise for Season One will be difficult, due to the general format of the episodes, and determining how much weight to place on the competing qualities of the single-episode arc and their significance to the series larger. For example, "Pilot, Parts 1&2" could be considered one of the greatest episodes of television of all time, due to its sheer enormity, the cinematic wonder that is the opening scene and the metaphorical Pandora's Box it opens up, setting the stage for every episode thereafter. On the other hand, the main arc of the episode revolves mostly around fixing and using the transceiver, which proves to be of little consequence to the rest of the series.

Most of the rest of the season's episodes function as introductions to the back-stories of individual characters. All are more or less equal, therefore, in larger purpose, so judgment must be made on the crafting of the storytelling and a fair amount of subjective like or dislike of that particular character. And there is always the conundrum of season finales, which inevitably leave you on the edge of your seat, burning for more. Depending on your personal outlook, this could be incredibly thrilling or incredibly frustrating, and such reactions either way could cloud one's judgment of the episode as a whole. Anyway, let's make our best effort and get to it.

1. "Walkabout"
-As I discussed at length in my post on Locke, this episode is one of my favorites of the series. Locke's backstory is well-crafted and unfolds beautifully, building to one of the biggest reveal moments of the series. A perfect, poetic model for flashback episodes that follow, though none do it quite as well.

2. "Exodus, Parts 1&2"
-I know it's a bit of a cop-out to put the season finale this high, but this one is extremely well done. The convergence of all of the impending conflicts--the alleged coming of the "Others" and the black smoke, the launching of the raft and approaching monsoon season, the struggle for dynamite and unveiling of the Hatch, as well as the comedy-drama of the scene at the Black Rock and the juxtaposition of the hopeful departure of the raft against true impending doom on the Island is poetic. The real reason the episode rules, though, is the total WTF moment when the raft is encountered by the mysterious ship of Others. Seriously an epic, jaw-dropping, eye-exploding moment.

3. "Deus Ex Machina"
-It may show my bias to put another Locke-centric episode this high, but again, I think it is justified. Finding the Beechcraft and hearing the mysterious radio transmission is intriguing unto itself. But the true genius is in the absolutely gripping and heart- (or more appropriately, kidney-) wrenching story of Locke's father ruthlessly conning him out of an organ. Brilliant. The sealer is the moment when Locke is pounding on the Hatch, defeated, when the ethereal light shines from below and toward the heavens. Compelling, and rich.

4. "Pilot, Parts 1&2"
-Again, slightly cop-outish, but less so than putting the season finale so high. This was one of the most highly impactful pilot episodes in the history of TV. The classic opening eye shot, the immediate jump to the chaos of the crash scene, brilliantly set up and filmed. The other snippets of foreshadowing I find less amazing--the polar bear, the "monster," Charlie's heroin issues--but the moment of Sayid's recognition that the French woman's distress call has been on loop, unanswered, for 16 years, is chilling.

5. "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"
-Jack's flashback storyline of struggling with a decision to rat out his father for malpractice, essentially ending his father's career, is compelling and emotional. On the island, the revealing of Ethan in the storm and then his manhandling of Jack is shocking, scary and awesome. I am less impressed than others with the heart-pounding scene when Jack revives a hanged Charlie by beating on Charlie's chest and rather prefer the dialogue between Boone and Locke while on the hunt. I especially like when Boone describes his feeling like a red-shirted ensign from Star Trek, explaining to Locke that on the old show those insignificant figures were always lost to dangerous missions led by the heroic captain. Locke's reply: "Sounds like a piss-poor captain." And, of course, the ultimately important development is the discovery of the Hatch.

6. "Numbers"
-Hurley, apparently, has my second-favorite flashback story. It is probably the case that such a preference is based on my personal liking of the character and the actor who portrays him, Jorge Garcia. I care less about the events that Hurley thinks occur due to his "curse" and more about the story of how he came to the numbers and what they mean. Generally, the setting of a mental asylum as a place from which significant information comes is a tired technique for fiction, but it still works for this story. It's really the sheer weirdness of the idea of the numbers and the intrigue posed by figuring out their true nature, which is continued throughout the series, that makes this episode appealing.

7. "Confidence Man"
-Sawyer's backstory is interesting. This episode provides insight into how he used to operate, his trade, and also reveals his first moment of real humanity, calling off his con when the couple's son walks in. That, of course, foreshadows the revealing the true source of his torment, when Kate reads his letter. The torture sequence with him, Sayid and Jack is appropriately disturbing and gritty. We see the entire complex aura of Sawyer in this episode, from vile manipulator to vulnerable victim, nails-tough misanthrope to charismatic charmer.

8. "Outlaws"
-As I was writing this list, I had this episode much lower, but after going through nearly the entire exercise, I moved this up at least five spots. I think the main reason I initially had it so low is the heavy-handed metaphor of the boar that Sawyer chases, the demon he is trying to exorcise. Meh. Upon re-examination, this truly is a formative episode, as we witness the very powerful scene from his childhood that changed Sawyer's life forever, from his perspective under the bed. But it's really two other scenes that are iconic to me from this episode--the drinking game he plays with Kate, revealing their similar rough-and-tumble pasts, and the flashback to Sawyer sitting in the Sydney bar with Jack's father, a mental realization Sawyer makes at the end of the episode. As for seeing Sawyer being conned into killing the wrong man, I don't like it much other than the poignancy inherent in realizing that it was Jack's father who ultimately gave him the last push to pull the trigger.

9. "White Rabbit"
-I also originally had this episode lower, but similarly, upon re-examination, it became tighter and more pleasing. I think it initially was Boone's lameness in stealing the water and his lifeguard FAIL that turned me off. Matthew Fox (Jack) turns in a better performance here than I originally gave him credit for. And the mysterious appearances of his father are creepy and interesting, though Jack's tumble down the hill and clinging to a root off the edge of the cliff is silly. Of course, it is significant that Locke appears, angelic above, to save him, and later to encourage him to "finish what he started." Finding his father's coffin empty is also an interesting point. The culmination in the famous "live together, die alone" speech is ok, but a little corny too.

10. "Raised By Another"
-The on-island action of this episode takes a different slightly pace from the previous episodes, more to a pyschological thriller, with Claire's (imagined? real?) attacks, and the ultimate revealing that Ethan is not one of them. The real winner of this episode, though, is Claire's backstory and the ultra-creepiness of psychic Richard Malkin. This storyline has never been flushed out to the extent that I'd hoped, but perhaps it will resurface in some way in the final season.

11. "Tabula Rasa"
-The revealing to some of the other LOSTies that Kate is the criminal paired with her backstory with farmer Ray Mullen is generally a nice match. More importantly, we see the beginnings of the bonds formed between Jack and Kate, Michael and Sun, and Locke and Walt. I don't care for the mini-arc of Sawyer's failed attempt to euthanize the marshal and Jack's being forced to finish the job, though it is significant in pitting those two against each other. I also like the unspoken explanation, later flushed out, that Sawyer possibly missed with his shot due to his hyperopia. The most significant conversation, which set off rampant blogosphere theorizing that the LOSTies were in purgatory, or heaven, or hell, is between Jack and Kate, when he tells her, metaphorically, that they all died in the plane crash. The closing, hopeful montage featuring Joe Purdy's "Wash Away" is a nice, if classic, J.J. Abrams touch.

12. "Solitary"
-This episode, clearly, is most significant in introducing Rousseau, the first character seen on-island whom we know is not one of the survivors. This obviously makes her a point of intrigue, and Sayid's torturer past makes a nice counter-story, but in all, I was less moved by this episode than others. It makes the top twelve for its significance to the series larger.

13. "Whatever The Case May Be"
-Kate's flashback in robbing the bank is New Mexico is truly well-done, and took me off-guard the first time I watched it. If I was drawn in more by the action on-island in this episode, it would rank higher on this list. I remember watching this initially and finding the struggle for guns off-putting and Kate's obsession with the toy plane trite. There are some nice scenes, namely the comedic interlude of Sawyer's struggles to open the case and the clever interplay between Kate and Jack in retrieving the key from the buried marshal. The ending with Rose and Charlie adds an aftertaste of stale cheese.

14. "Hearts and Minds"
-It's a little amazing that a storyline prominently featuring Boone and Shannon isn't in the lowest level of the basement for me, as both of them are fairly lame characters. But this story actually made me feel for the first time something other than ambivalence toward Shannon. Of course, that feeling is near-hatred for her when she cons Boone out of $50k. The better part of the episode is Locke's friggin' sweetness in forcing Boone to hallucinate, again showing his divine, sage awesomeness.

15. "...In Translation"
-This is the bookend to the earlier episode "House of the Rising Sun," which is even lower on this list. I like this one better for providing context to the scene, shared between the two episodes, when Jin comes home to Sun frazzled, angry and bloody, now seen to come after he "delivered a message" for Mr. Paik. On island, Sun finally reveals to Jin that she can speak English, to save his life, ultimately leading to their split. I find this almost wholly unmoving, as she could have done it sooo long ago and avoided further conflict between her and Jin, and among Michael, Jin and her. The ending with Sun venturing into the water freely in just a bikini is fine, but just way too straight-out-of-The-Awakening for me. Once again, Locke, briefly, shows his awesomeness in both counseling Shannon to get over Boone and revealing to Walt that he knows Walt actually burned the raft.

16. "Born To Run"
-This episode is technically well-crafted, with several mini-storylines wound through it that are tied up neatly at the end, but all of them failed to reach me on a personal, emotional level. The time capsule scene and hospital tragedy including Kate's ex, Tom, just doesn't get there for me, leaving me mostly with a distaste for Kate, when I should be feeling poetic sympathy. On island, I find Kate and Sawyer's struggle to get the last spot on the raft petty and uninteresting. The closest thing to interesting drama comes when it is revealed Sun poisoned Michael, accidentally, in trying to prevent Jin from leaving. Again, it's just so-so for me.

17. "House of The Rising Sun"
-This is the ultimate episode in establishing Sun's lameness to me. It shows the dramatic scene of Jin coming home, bloodied, with the reason why later revealed in "...In Translation," and that is fine. But the fact that she was ready to leave her apparently abusive husband at the airport and changes her mind because he shows her a flower is ultra-lame. Again, she could have avoided the meteorically insignificant Jin-Michael battle over a watch by simply revealing that she can SPEAK ENGLISH! I think the scene when she finally does so in "Translation" might have been better if we, the audience, didn't already know she could. What is significant and good from the episode is the discovery of "Adam and Eve." What is further lame is Charlie re-emerging as a "serious artist" (gag) and the conflict over going to the caves because some people don't want to leave the beach and the possibility that a boat comes. Why don't you just post people there to tend a signal fire in shifts? Wow, that was difficult.

18. "Do No Harm"
-While I do kind of like the scene between Jack and his father at the hotel pool on his wedding eve, the whole Jack's marriage thing doesn't touch me in any significant way. His wedding vows, ending that 'he didn't fix his wife, she fixed him' is especially stomach-retching. I was similarly unmoved by both Boone's death and Say-annon's romance. The juxtaposed medical-drama scenes of Jack trying to save Boone with his own sweat and blood with Claire's giving birth is ok. But the ending with Jack's indignant rage against Locke, calling him a "murderer," is ultra-lamezore.

19. "The Greater Good"
-The flashback story with Sayid being forced to turn on his terrorist friend, though predictable, is decently powerful. The actor portraying the naive, unstable friend puts in a very notable performance. It is poetic that the reason Sayid is on flight 815 is because he had to take a later flight to claim his friend's corpse, but in all, it really just left me feeling sad. On island, the action quickly devolves into a hate/doubt fest against Locke, which, as you can probably guess, I find irritating. It is reminiscent to me of every episode of House, M.D., when it is patently clear that House, as always, is right, yet everyone else stupidly doubts and tries to thwart him, before eventually having their faces drenched with several omelets' worth of egg.

20. "Homecoming"
-The most prominent theme of this episode is that Charlie is an idiot. The flashback shows him being an idiot. On island, he once again proves his idiocy. I am left wholly unmoved by a flashback which might else have been ok because of the fact that the object he steals from his innocent victim is, idiotically, THE MOST obviously prominent piece in her father's entire collection. He then proceeds to ruin a perfectly good scene when Sayid, Jack, Kate and Sawyer trap and subdue Ethan by idiotically shooting and killing him. Revisiting he and Claire's revolting peanut butter fetish at the end is unnecessary.

21. "Special"
Despite its being well-received by critics and significant foreshadowing, I find this episode boring and unpleasant. Harold Perrineau, portraying Michael, is struck with another flare-up of his chronic overacting condition. On island, Michael is again shown to be stupid, far-looking and unobservant, coming down on Locke again for being around Walt. The polar bear scene is made farcical by the cartoonish appearance of the CG animal. It is stunning, though, when Claire emerges from the jungle.

22. "The Moth"
-This is a mostly throwaway episode, showing Charlie's initial delving into the world of illegal drugs. It does an ok job at establishing his initial innocence, but I feel no sympathy for his own stupid actions later. While Locke is again shown to be friggin' sweet in his counseling and rehabbing of Charlie, the metaphor of the moth and cave-cocoon is absolutely overbearing. And I do not think that Charlie's "saving" of Jack from the cave is redeeming for his earlier childish, annoying tantrum, which causes the cave-in to begin with. Entirely forgettable.

*Image credit: http://xfe.xanga.com/3f4c16e233233146716650/z108848393.jpg

The Philosopher

2009-06-25T09:08:00.000-04:00

This is the first of what surely will be several LOST-related posts in the near future. So, sorry to those who may feel marooned by such trivial talk.

Pops' last post delved into the underlying religious (mostly Christian) themology that informs much of the first season, specifically the idea of redemption and John Locke's role in that metaphysical mix.

As I briefly addressed in a post from my early LOSTie days, the first season contains much unmistakable and familiar Christian themology in some episodes (The Moth is a particularly clear example.) I originally found such reliance on overwrought literary technique a little annoying, though certainly not unbearable. Upon rewatching, it seems even less annoying, with the foreknowledge about how the concept of spirituality is addressed with increasing sophistication as the show moves through more seasons. Undoubtedly, one of the central figures in driving the spiritual element of the show is John Locke (Man of Faith, see season 2 episode 1).

This is just one reason why I find Locke to be one of, if not my number one, favorite character. I suppose I must explain my rationale for judging characters in the context of the show. For starters, I think how we view characters on the island is determined by both their actions on the island and what we learn about them from their respective flashbacks. Both parts must be there, though I'm not sure which aspect is more important.

Locke is awesome on both accounts. He is shrouded in duality, which in a show similarly shrouded in duality, makes him particularly compelling. From his earliest appearances, he is shown to symbolize two-sided conflict, and the difference between his off- and on-island selves adds to his mystique. In "Pilot, Part 2," the writers immediately establish Locke's duality, in his scene explaining to Walt under the auspices of backgammon that "There are two players. One side is light, and one side is dark." As we see throughout the series, the black vs. white motif is prevalent. The scar over his right eye is also a clear symbol of his dual nature.

He soon establishes his value and badass-ness on the island. He displays unshakable confidence and calm under the most harrowing of circumstances, a quality which I find among the greatest of humanity, both in fiction and real life. This places him in a role of quiet leadership, apart from both the panicky state of the other survivors and from Jack's frenetic drive to fix everything around him. An interesting sight-symbol I picked up on upon second viewing was the juxtaposition of he and Shannon in the crash scene. Shannon, a healthy and normal girl, stands, paralyzed by fear, whereas Locke, who only minutes early was actually paralyzed, is level-headed and almost immediately at peace with his earth- and life-shattering surroundings.

Though many dwell on his seeming awkwardness around the other survivors, I tend to see his actions toward them as, generally, magnanimous. He hunts and finds food for them. He makes Claire a cradle for her baby. He helps Charlie kick his heroin habit. He helps Walt and Michael find common ground, and he nourishes what he sees as Walt's 'special' abilities. He takes Boone under his wing when Boone is seen by most of the others as childish. Of course, he also clubs Sayid over the head, ruining what at that point seems like their best shot at rescue, and is unafraid to quibble with the other de-facto leader, Jack. He is dual to the core.

Off-island, Locke's backstory is so compelling because it is filled with emotional humanity and also because his old self stands in such distinct opposition to his on-island self. He fully takes advantage of the "Tabula Rasa" the island affords him.

It is no coincidence, I think, that the writers gave him one of the earliest flashback episodes, including one of the earliest and biggest revelations, or "holy-s***" moments, in the fourth episode, "Walkabout." The episode is still one of my favorites. It establishes the pathetic nature of his life, showing him being berated by his loser boss, Randy, at his loser job, filing TPS reports at a box company. He also is shown arguing on the phone with a woman, who is presumably an adult phone line operator, and we get the impression as he sits in his dingy apartment, that she is one of his few social contacts. Of course, the big reveal is when he is in Australia, at the Walkabout company, and shown to be wheelchair-bound.

As we learn even more about him, (see episodes 1.19, "Deus Ex Machina"; 2.17, "Lockdown"; 3.3, "Further Instructions") we see that his life off-island appears to be little more than a series of tragedies, with Locke being manipulated again and again by others for whom he feels love, admiration or sympathy. Almost as if his sole purpose in life is merely to serve as a pawn in some cosmic chess match.

All in all, the greatest judgment of a man is how he is viewed by and interacts with his fellow man. Off-island, he is tragic, pathetic, needy, dependent upon others to fill the emotional void in his life. Post-crash he is self-assured, spiritually and physically renewed, a leader of others, a divine creature.

In the words of John Donne, "no man is an island, entire of itself." But when self and island converge, the result can be magical.

**Image from wikipedia: John Locke, Philosopher.

Alpha and Arizona

2009-06-22T14:42:00.000-04:00

I have made what I think to be a major, two-part, breakthrough in understanding LOST and one of its most important and mysterious figures. It is not necessarily a fully developed theory, but I think most will agree it is almost certainly a major corollary to the philo-mythological arc of the show. WARNING: This should only be read after viewing the entirety of season 5. I've put my thoughts online in .doc form here. You must wait about 5 seconds, then a blue link will appear that says "Proceed to File Download Page." Click it, then click the "Download file" button to see it.

UPDATE (3:39): This link is apparently non-functional now. I will try to do some fixing.

UPDATE (5:14): Try it now.

What a Dump

2009-06-22T09:54:00.000-04:00

I just now got the chance to upload some of the photos I had on my phone. I'll display them on this post for you all to see, subjects varying. Let's begin with

Culinary Adventures

Baked Rotini and Cheese

Strawberry-Apple Tart (whole)

Strawberry-Apple Tart (piece, with vanilla-pomegranate swirl frozen yogurt)

PetSmart Kittums

Curious Kittum

Coy Kittum

Careful Kittum

Comforting Kittum

Hugs

Ron and Colleen (how are these two not an item, seriously?)

You can tell she loves this

Welcome Back

Rachael's window, mysteriously broken upon return from lunch

Please leave any questions/comments about the pics in the comments section.

Fat Day

2009-06-21T14:14:00.000-04:00

Good Day to all, especially to all fathers. It's about 2 in the afternoon here, and I'm sure we've all sent, said or otherwise expressed our Father's Day greetings to those who have rightfully earned them. I chose an e-card with a clever animation spelling out words on a crossword puzzle. I thought it awfully appropriate for Pops Armstrong, an avid puzzle-wiz.

Also, not necessarily in recognition of anything, other than the fact that I had about a half pound of strawberries in my fridge getting ready to turn, I decided to make an experimental strawberry-apple tart. I pulled a quick and easy (though still messy) tart dough recipe off the web and improvised a filling of said strawberries and the only other type of fruit I had on hand, apples. The baking is done. I have not tasted it yet, so I cannot tell you if it succeeded in execution. But I can tell you the oven succeeded in heating my apartment up to an unbearable temperature.

To aid in the concluding of my first issue and to temporarily escape the other, I decided to head to the grocery store to pick up some vanilla ice cream to go on top of the tart (I took a picture of the tart on my phone but have not uploaded it to my PC yet. Perhaps, if I remember, I will later.) It was on the drive home from the store that I saw a greeting on a familiar chain restaurant's sign that would put to shame any words I could write or say to honor the fathers on their day, promising more than even my tasty tart could deliver.

The sign outside of Golden Corral, you see, was missing half its lights, burnt out. What I presume the intended message was supposed to read was: "Father's Day Endless Buffet."

What it did say was: "Fat Day End Buff."

They apparently are offering an all-day gorge-a-thon for all the hard-working fathers out there, while promising that all said eaters will end the period in fantastic physical shape. A perfect gift. Sorry we're not closer together, Pops, I'd like to challenge their claim.

The Literature of LOST

2009-06-17T09:29:00.000-04:00

Even though my previous literature-themed post has proven powerless in prompting proper repartee, I'll follow it up with another. It really combines two of my more enjoyable topics to post about, literature and LOST. This show, more than any other I've watched, weaves together not only a brilliant independent storyline but also deft symbolism, allusion and straight intertextuality with lots of different works form the literary canon. The Simpsons has traditionally done of good job in referencing (or parodying) specific works over the arc of an episode, but that is clearly more of a cartoon-sitcom than a series with any kind of overarching storyline.

Among the more recognizable works clearly alluded to (and noted by lostpedia) are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Lord of the Flies, Dickens' Our Mutual Friend, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Bible (of course) and numerous others that lend smaller bits of themology to specific episodes via episode titles (Through the Looking Glass, Catch-22, A Tale of Two Cities) or through characters being shown reading them (Carrie, The Brothers Karazamov, Watership Down).

A thorough analysis of how each of these titles fits into the larger literary world of LOST is more like the stuff of a master's thesis (one I wouldn't mind trying to use), but this post on a more superficial level will examine just a few of them.

As you know from previous posts, I've read several of the aforementioned titles, so I'll focus mostly on those, trying to do so without spoiling any future episodes for those who haven't gotten that far into the series yet.

The most obvious intertextual partner, even to people who've never seen an episode of LOST, would be Lord of the Flies. I think it's impossible for anyone to produce of creative work about castaways without at least some surface-level references to William Golding's masterwork. It is iconic, ubiquitous, plainly clear and, clearly, plainly good. Elements of the series evident even from the earliest episodes echo LOTF--the mysterious and unseen "monster" and Sawyer's references to going "Lord of the Flies" or "wild" in comparison to Jack's urges to create a peaceful society among the survivors, and rampant wild boars. LOST's storycrafters, though, have done a good job of resisting the urge to make mere, clear correlations in their references. For instance, Locke exhibits characteristics of LOTF's Jack--enjoyment and skill at hunting, a hinted-at dark side that could burst at any time (see backgammon pieces, eye scar), and later leading a rift in the group and crating a separate camp, yet also shares many traits with LOTF's Simon--an innate, peaceful connection with the island, pseudo-divinity, a secret retreat on the island away from others (the hatch). Jack Shepard shares his first name with LOTF's resident representative of the id, but exhibits more similarities with Golding's Ralph, the do-gooder, de-facto leader who wishes to keep the group together under the auspices of civility. Even Sam'n'Eric, the virtually identity-less twins of LOTF are hinted at in the ambiguous duo of Scott and Steve on LOST. The parallels of themes of technology and society and the human psyche are more complex and deeper.

Sticking with a time span of only the early part of the first season to avoid spoilers, the other clear partner so far is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Casually, the entire experience of coming, or being transported in some way, to the mysterious, physics-defying and magical island parallels Alice's entering her fantastic world. Season 1's fifth episode is titled "White Rabbit," a clear reference to the animal that Alice Follows at the onset down the hole to enter Wonderland. In LOST's case, the clearest parallel is the appearance of dead (undead? reanimated? hallucination?) Christian Shepard, Jack's father, on the island whom Jack chases, eventually, to the caves. It is there that Jack wishes to make a new camp, for its shelter and fresh water supply.

Past that, it will be difficult to discuss much more without getting into spoiler territory. So, for those of you watching or re-watching episodes, please note on this blog or blogs of your own any literary points that strike you throughout the course of the show. I could talk (or write) about this stuff all day. If only there had been a "Literature of LOST" course while I was in college...

Image from wikipedia.

Fighting Words

2009-06-15T19:14:00.000-04:00

In the past few months I've been trying to catch up on my reading of the "classics" of American literature. I've found that once people learn you majored in English, you often are expected to be well-versed in all such works. Unfortunately, in my case, I was a fairly disingenuous English major (I like to emphasize the '-writing' part of my English-writing degree, as I generally shunned the traditional American canon--and that of Europe, Asia, Africa or anywhere else, for that matter). In truth, the zenith of my belletristic consumption during those years lay somewhere between back copies of Sports Illustrated and copy from the back of my cereal boxes.

I generally avoided the likes of Baldwin, Steinbeck, Mailer and Whitman, except, of course, in those instances when I was without other recourse (such as my senior seminar that focused solely on the works of only one writer -- Emily Dickinson). To the surprise of some, I received exemplary grades in my literature courses. However, to the surprise of few, such achievement has thus far been of little value in the job market. (That includes my experiences applying to work, in part, for the Emily Dickinson museum and another job for which I interviewed with a hiring manager who wrote her senior thesis on the Nun of Amherst.)

There was one class I particularly enjoyed, ironically titled "Classic Fiction." We took on works such as Lolita, Slaughterhouse-Five and Lord of the Flies. But certainly outside of class, my literary intake was limited.

But now, while I have an abundant amount of free time, a shelf full of unread books and an inkling that pursuing graduate school may linger in my near future, I have decided having a slightly deeper reading repertoire may not be such a bad idea after all.

I started a few months ago with the granddaddy of all American literature, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As for a review, I agree largely with Hemingway's assessment of the book, though I don't think it's THE best (but as for what is better, I'm not sure):

All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn.' If you read it you must stop where the N***** Jim is stolen from the boys. That is the real end. The rest is just cheating. But it's the best book we've had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.

Next I worked through most of an old anthology of short stories from Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Thurber, Barthelme and the like. I liked some of it. Mostly the wittier ones. After that, I delved for the third or fourth time into Catch-22, and this time I did manage to finish it. The first chapter is, unfortunately, a bit like finding the pot of gold before seeing the rainbow. I think that is what thwarted my prior attempts--I was absorbed at the beginning only to have the war-story fold in on itself so many times over its 400-plus pages I just couldn't stomach it. Heller's wordplay, which proves at the onset playful and bouncy, soon becomes tiresome and flat. But over a few weeks, I made my way through it and found the last hundred pages or so, when the storyline begins to move forward again, quite enjoyable.

After that, I took a break from war-torn and forlorn fiction and took up a piece of modern non-fiction, Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. A shorter and sparser work, I devoured it in about three days. It chronicles the tragedy that killed more than a dozen people on Mount Everest in 1996. Not exactly light subject matter, but it was told compellingly, and at least the subject was people who put themselves in grave danger by choice, not by draft, as was the case in Heller's work. It is probably the best non-fiction book I've read.

But now, alas, I've been deployed again to wartime writing. I'm about a quarter of the way through Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, not enough yet to form a real opinion of the story. I'm torn over his writing style. I tend to have a preference for authors who previously worked as journalists, such as Hemingway, Vonnegut, David Halberstam and Mitch Albom. Their literature tends to reflect their news training, with generally simple sentence structure and brevity, yet great aptitude for describing setting and building character, presumably honed by having to make the printed word compelling on newsprint in a limited number of column inches. However, Hemingway's is almost so devoid of any unnecessary words that it is at times halting and less than reader-friendly. We'll see, though.

The original point of this post, actually, was to discuss the large volume of war literature that has become regarded as classic. I suppose, in short, that's due to the range of human emotion felt during war by so many different parties. But that will have to suffice, because I've already written some 800 words and buried the lead. And that doesn't fly in the blogosphere.

*Image from wikipedia.*

Trouble

2009-05-30T12:27:00.001-04:00

Thanks to the relative success of a previous music-related post of mine, I have decided to again attempt to arouse some discussion by discussing a 60's era pop-folk singer. Yusuf, aka Yusuf Islam, aka Cat Stevens, aka Steven Demetre Georgiou, as mentioned in the previous post, is one of the more frequently appearing artists on my pandora radio station. Several months ago, I heard for the first of many times on my station Stevens' masterwork "Trouble."

I call this song a masterwork because, aside from its undeniably solid musicality, it grippingly tells Stevens' own personal story of nearly defeated agony, giving a completely transparent view of his feelings at that time. Stevens wrote the song at the age of 19, during a period of nearly a year of mostly bed-ridden recovery from tuberculosis and a collapsed lung. Addressing Trouble (interpreted by many as death) directly, Stevens virtually begs to be left alone after all he has been through: (see full lyrics here)

Trouble
Oh trouble set me free
I have seen your face
And it's too much too much for me

Trouble
Oh trouble can't you see
You're eating my heart away
And there's nothing much left of me

Musically unadorned, featuring mostly Stevens alone on acoustic guitar, songs from this period mark a musical and spiritual transformation for him, from highly orchestrated pop and pop star lifestyle to a more introspective folk style and life focused more on spirituality, including taking up meditation, yoga and vegetarianism.

Its simplicity, clarity and atmospheric style have made it a popular choice for inclusion on movie and TV soundtracks. It was most memorably featured in the 1970 classic black comedy Harold and Maude, during the scene of Maude's impending death. It also was featured on ER and the pilot episode of JJ Abrams' Alias, in a flashback sequence showing Sydney Bristow's ill-fated recruitment into the evil SD-6 program.

The song also has been covered by several artists, most notably by the tragic late-90s folkster Elliott Smith and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, who often performs the song at PJ's live shows.

I encourage you to listen to Steven's original version as well as Smith's and Vedder's covers, and comment about the merits of each. I must say, Stevens' takes the cake for me, though this is one of the instances I feel Vedder's throaty howl adds to a performance rather than detracting from it.

Thence, I would also recommend giving a listen to two other songs titled "Trouble" which are not covers--Ray LaMontagne's more upbeat 2004 title track and Coldplay's 2000 piano ballad. Interesting tangents on a similar idea all.

Image credit http://musakazhim.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/yusuf-islam.jpg

Hotel Photos - Hotos, or Photels?

2009-05-18T14:21:00.001-04:00

Last week I was sent on assignment with one of my coworkers to cover an event sponsored by one of JMU's institutes. I won't make any comments about the symposium itself, as to maintain professional balance when talking about work on a personal, yet public blog. What I will do is post a link to the facebook page and Twitter feed we set up to cover the event in near real-time. It was an experimental trial for us using social media in new ways, and I'll let others judge how successful our first attempt was.

But that's not the real point of this post, as you could probably guess from its title. The symposium spanned two days, and they put us up in a nice hotel in D.C., the Grand Hyatt. I was pleased with that in an of itself, but when I checked in Tuesday, it got even better. Since we were fairly early, the hotel didn't have the entire block of rooms in our group ready, and they offered to upgrade me to the "Congressional Suite" at no extra cost. Below are some photos of said room.

Central sitting area

Entertainment area with flat-screen TV and stereo

Full bar (not stocked)

Powder room? (Little area outside bathroom)

Breakfast nook/work area

Pool table!

And, finally below is a shot of the sign of the crappy hole-in-the-wall Chinese joint we ate lunch at in Chinatown. The food was substandard, but the name was too good to pass up.

Jack-ob

2009-05-07T13:08:00.000-04:00

This season of LOST is quickly coming to an end, and all the various events of the series are coming to a head. One of the main mysteries throughout the show has been the true identity/form of being of the shadowy and never-fully-seen commander of the Others, Jacob. Since his first mention seasons ago, Jacob's identity has been a source of rampant speculation on the web. I've read entries theorizing that nearly every character seen on or off the island is truly Jacob. Most are ridiculous. The latest and seemingly most credible idea is that Jacob is not anyone we've seen already, as evidenced by ABC's announcing the casting of Mark Pellegrino as "Man #1" for the next and final season, and reports that he was seen filming reenactments of some vital scenes from the LOSTies' pasts. See some non-definitive photos of the set here.

If that's the case, it initially strikes me as less creative than having Jacob be a character we've already seen, but depending on how it's handled, it could be great. If, however, that's not the case, I'll throw in my vote for who it may be (by no means am I convinced).

I vote Jack. First, let's think about the history of Jacob. The earliest indicator we know of his being mentioned was when John Locke in 1954 stormed into the Hostiles' camp, demanding to see Richard Alpert and saying Jacob sent him. We then see in 1977 Richard take Jacob's wishes under consideration in taking a wounded young Ben Linus from Sawyer and Kate, and various times in the original present time of the show, with Ben, Locke, and Hurley visiting the cabin, encountering Christian Shepard and Claire there along the way. Thus, we can fairly assume, Jacob has not always inhabited/lived in/been trapped in the cabin. The cabin was not built until the 1970s or later by Horace Goodspeed (definitive year not known).

If the cabin were built around or before the time of the incident, which we should be seeing in the Season 5 Finale, any number of characters (including Jack) fleeing from ground zero could make their way to the cabin for safety, and become trapped there, possibly in some sort of time-space-shift phenomenon that occurs, thus allowing him to exist in all the different time periods simultaneously. One theory would be that the two separate "present times" currently existing on the island (the 1977 greater-Dharma crew and the 2007 survivors including Locke, Sun and Ben) will be merged again into one, with unknown consequences. Something along the lines of this is supported by producer Damon Lindelof's teaser for the season finale he offered at the Star Trek premier last week: "All I will say is that it is time for the time travel craziness to end," he said. "And once it does end, something very, very surprising will happen in its wake. It is a little bit of a game-changer."

Supporting evidence would include the obvious connection the Shepard family has to the cabin, as we've already seen Jack's undead father, Christian, and his half-sister, Claire, in the cabin. Another would be Jack's status as a detached leader or his people (see also discussion of his tattoos), his in the past being called a "miracle worker" for his ability to heal people, and his name being a variant of Jacob. Then there is also the similar focus on single-eye camera shots of both Jack and Jacob (see pictures, above - top two are Jack, bottom two are Jacob). The eyes appear at least similar enough to be possible.

Finally, on a practical level, it has been reported by the producers that Matthew Fox (who portrays Jack), is the only actor who knows how the series will end (source), thus it would make sense that if Jacob plays a large role in the conclusion of the series, Shepard would already know from his previous portrayals.

NOTE: This is incomplete, and more an exercise of my boredom than a definitive piece of LOST theorizing.

Images from lostpedia.

Why new technology is sweet

2009-05-03T11:42:00.000-04:00

My last post, highlighting the online music service Pandora, gave an example of one new technology that is making my life more enjoyable. It also spawned another example, as follows: Searching YouTube for any Simon and Garfunkel recordings of Jackson C. Frank's "Blues Run the Game," I found a recording by Nick Drake, whom I've mentioned many times previously. After watching/listening to it, YouTube also suggested I listen to his recording of Bob Dylan's classic, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right."

Though I had read about Drake and Dylan's cross-influence on each other, I had not known Drake actually recorded any covers of Dylan's songs, so this clearly was a nice find for me, and now for any of you who similarly find such things of interest. As it turns out, Drake's recordings of both Frank's and Dylan's songs appear only on what is essentially a bootleg version of some "working tapes" of his from the 60's. After a little research, I'm still not sure if the album, "Tanworth In Arden 1967-1968" has ever been authorized by the Drake estate or released under any legitimate record company, but for Drake enthusiasts, it's a gold mine. It comprises 18 tracks, including the aforementioned covers and some original, never-released songs. Among them is a track, "All My Trials," which features Drake's actress sister, Gabrielle, (pictured, right) in a vocal duet.

I could go on about the intrinsic value of such stuff to collectors, hobbyists and enthusiasts, but I'll otherwise summarize thusly: without web apps such as Pandora, search engines, Wikipedia, YouTube and Amazon, I can't imagine how long such a chain of discoveries would have taken me to make. (With them, it took about 5 minutes). Honestly, I probably never would have heard of Frank or either Drake, or a host of other people, places and things which are common points of thought in my life. I am probably able to learn more every day in a matter of minutes on the web than was possible in hours or even days previously. How did people learn or accomplish anything in the days before such technologies? I'm not sure, but I certainly am appreciative that they're around for people today.

IMAGE: Gabrielle Drake in character on the short-lived 70's British sci-fi TV show "UFO". From http://freespace.virgin.net/b.world/Gabrielle_Drake.jpg.

Blues Run the Game

2009-04-30T22:09:00.000-04:00

I am once again indebted to the amazing service that is Pandora. A few days ago I was listening to the free internet radio station at work when I heard a particularly striking and new song for the first time. You see, Pandora allows you to customize your own streaming radio station(s), using "seed" songs, artists, and albums as well as thumbs up or down ratings to formulate a 'music genome' of similar music, which plays on your station (any song can be skipped), all for free. I created my station, Mellow Kitty, a long time ago and listen to it throughout the entire day while I'm at my desk, so my tastes have been very refined.

As the name suggests, it mostly comprises mellow, work-friendly music. Among the most commonly played artists are Paul Simon, Nick Drake, James Taylor, Bens Harper and Folds, Cat Stevens, John Mayer, etc. In the time shortly after I created it, while the station was working off just a few of my "seed" selections, it provided a wider variety of music styles for me to rate up or down, but these days, it's pretty rare I hear a song I haven't heard or whose artist is foreign to me (with the exception of Broadway and opera songs, which I almost always thumbs down, but still occasionally get spit out at me for unknown reasons.)

Anyway, the song I heard on that fateful day was "Here come the Blues" by Jackson C. Frank. From a technical-musical standpoint, it was not significantly different from some of the folk-blues works by other artists I hear regularly, but there was a melancholic sweetness to his voice, similar to Drake's, that literally forced me to stop my work until I had looked up more information about the guy singing.

As it turns out, there are plenty of reasons for Mr. Frank's melancholy. According to his Wikipedia entry, he was acquainted with tragedy from an early age. At the age of 11, a furnace explosion at his elementary school killed 15 of his classmates and sent him to the hospital for 7 months. The trauma of the event would prove to be a major source of depression and mental illness throughout his life, though it was during his long convalescence that he first learned to play the guitar.

In his early 20's, he shipped off to England and befriended a young Paul Simon, who was touring the country. Simon produced Frank's self-titled album, which brought him a measure of success in the U.K. before his mental illnesses worsened, leading to his retreating to the U.S. again. At the age of 27, he married a former fashion model and had a son, who soon after died of cystic fibrosis. The latest tragedy sent him to the brink, and he was committed for his illness. He enjoyed a brief revival upon the re-release of his first album in the late 70's, but continued his downward spiral.

In 1984, in his forties, Frank again traveled to the U.S., searching for his old friend Paul Simon, but was unsuccessful and wound up homeless and living on the streets. Just at the time his music was being rediscovered on the folk scene in the early 1990's, he lost sight in one eye due to his being shot with a pellet gun by a few young boys firing indiscriminately in a park where he was sitting. With aid from some folk aficionados who found him, he began work on some new recordings, with little success. He died in 1999 at the age of 56, shortly before the first CD release of his self-titled album in 2001.

His musical legacy, however, has proven far longer than his life. Covers of his most famous song, "Blues Run the Game," were done by Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, and Counting Crows, among others. Another Frank Song, "Milk and Honey" has been popularized by Drake's cover as well. Nirvana recorded a stirring rendition of an unreleased song of his, "In the Pines," for their 'unplugged' album in the early 90's as well.

His style walks the line between folk, blues, and 60's pop, with vocals similar to the high tenor of Roy Orbison underscored with just a hint of the trampy gravel of Tom Waits, and accompaniment by simple acoustic guitar. His life has been immortalized through one particularly fitting stanza from his most famous song:

"Livin' is a gamble baby - Lovin's much the same - Wherever I have played - Whenever I've thrown them dice - Wherever I have played - The blues have run the game"

I would highly recommend Frank to anyone who likes Drake, Simon, Bob Dylan, or really depressing life stories. Thanks, Pandora.

Keeping it Loki

2009-04-17T20:20:00.000-04:00

I just finished up defeating Loki, the final evil lord in the tremendously awesome early 90's Shareware PC adventure game "God of Thunder." I know Jeffro is very familiar with the game, but for others, the plot goes something like this:

You are a highly pixelated and compressed animated Thor, the Norse god of thunder (the mostly red blob pictured at right with the hammer in front of it). You have to navigate your way through three levels, defeating three different evil guys. Each level follows a different story line.

In Level 1, you, with only your powerful throwing hammer and some guidance from your orb-contained god-father, Odin, you must save a local village from the evil reign of lizard?/monster thing Jormagund, who similar to King Koopa Bowser from the Mario series, wears a crown (which covers his only weak spot.)

Along the way, you must solve some terribly interesting (and some just terrible) puzzles, most of which involve pushing rocks, blocks and other objects through virtual mazes to block cycloptic worms from shooting you with some (bullet? spit?) things that kills you, as well as battling various simple dangerous creatures, picking up jewels, magic items and interacting with, pillaging and using the villagers to get stuff you need for your final showdown with Jormagund.

The second and third levels are similar, though I think the puzzles in the first are superior to the others. In the second level, you must free the villagers from enslavement at the hand of Nognir, who forces them to work mining Teflor, a non-stick substance of some kind (Level Two is titled 'Non-stick Nognir'). In the third, you must defeat your own god-brother, Loki, who simply imprisons people for various minor offenses such as cussing, spitting, kissing your mother or father goodnight, and dropping ice cream cones on his foot.

None of the bad guys are terribly difficult to defeat. I just downloaded the game a few days ago and beat all three levels in a matter of hours spread over the days since. But it is still worth the free download (available here) because of its nice blend of spatial/logic puzzles and humorous tidbits with just enough highly unrealistic violence. I suppose you could purchase and register the game as well, if the makers are still a viable company (I don't know). Also notable is the electronic soundtrack, some of which sounds eerily similar to some tunes by rotating California hippie music ensemble Golden Shoulders, who I thrice saw perform live at IWU.

So if you're bored and/or feeling nostalgic for a time when the U.S. was making peace, not war, in the Middle East, Pepsi was crystal clear and video games were simpler, check it out. You won't be disappointed.

Stan in the Place Where You Live

2009-04-11T19:30:00.000-04:00

So here's a gem I found on the web. It is a fairly low-quality documentary about the late, great Canadian folk legend Stan Rogers, called "One Warm Line: The Legacy of Stan Rogers." I have been able to find very little information about it, other than that it was made by a production company called Kensington and directed by two men, Alan Collins and Robert Lang, in 1989, some six years after Rogers' death in a plane crash.

via videosift.com

It contains several interviews with presumed Canad(ians/-iennes,) most of whom are not identified, over an often stunning backdrop of the Canadian wilderness and several of Stan's most-known songs. I must say, having to this point only heard his booming voice on CD, it is a nice treat to see some of his live performances, which are vibrant and moving.

Apparently, some PBS (or CBC) stations have aired the documentary a few times throughout the years, but several commenters on various sites have complained about its virtual non-availability outside of a few public libraries who have it on VHS. However, it does appear to be available on DVD through Kensington's Web site, for $27.95., or through the company that distributes Rogers' works, Fogarty's Cove Music. However, it appears that to make a purchase through FC, one must print and fill out a form and send it snail (or, more likely, moose) mail. That seems a little ridiculous these days, but I guess it is Canada.

Anyway, I hope the video res is high enough that you can view it easily. A more intense Web search may turn up a better version.

re: video

2009-04-06T10:39:00.001-04:00

Sorry for anyone who watched this video thinking it was supposed to be here. It wasn't. We had some issues embedding the video (that you saw ?part? of, without sound), so I tried putting it here as a test. (Don't worry, it's only a boring explanatory video on JMU switching to direct lending of financial aid. View a full version here, if you really want to. I did edit it, but it is not good, and it's way long.)

You see, we typically upload any video we make onto YouTube, which very conveniently auto-generates an embed video code that can be used to put the video, at any size we wish, on any site we control. Unfortunately, YouTube only allows videos up to 10 minutes, unless you are a paid subscriber (JMU is not, and this video is ~17 minutes long). So instead, we tried for the first time to host the video through JMU's in-house video sharing resource, JMUtube. It has a standalone, unique player that can be embedded on any site and which does not need any plugin for anyone to view it (such as Quicktime). Unfortunately, JMUtube still has some bugs, and for some reason was stripping the video of audio.

After a full day of going back and forth on what to do, including hosting the video on our own server and embedding it simply as a Quicktime movie (which couldn't be sized down on our server), we decided to make a short 2 minute teaser from the beginning of it, and then provide a link to the full movie in Quicktime format. I know this was a very boring post, but just wanted to explain to anyone who saw it in its earlier form!

Tangled Up In Bob

2009-03-30T20:56:00.000-04:00

So, since Jeff has obviously spent a considerable amount of time cataloging his Dylan experiences for us, I feel a little obligated to add my two cents to the massive piggy bank that is Jeff's Dylan knowledge. (Advance apologies to my fiancee). As I commented on Jeff's recent post, I own the following Dylan albums:
*Best of Bob Dylan I
*Blonde on Blonde
*Blood on the Tracks
*Bringing It All Back Home
*Desire
*Highway 61 Revisited
*Love and Theft
*Nashville Skyline
*Rolling Thunder Revue (live album)
*Royal Albert Hall Concert (live album)
*Time Out of Mind
*assorted singles: My Back Pages (from "Dylan"), Girl From the North Country (from "The Freewheelin'"), Step It Up and Go (from "Good As I Been To You"), and Wigwam (from the Royal Tenenbaums Soundtrack).

As you can see, I have accumulated mostly his more popular albums. And rarely have I listened even to those thoroughly (mostly at the insistence of my aforementioned fiancee), so it is difficult for me to accurately assess any favorite albums. A perfunctory glance at my star ratings for individual songs on iTunes reveals that Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline, Blood on The Tracks and Bringing It All Back Home would be at the top (not including "Best of"). I think my individual song ratings would be of more interest to you, so I'll take you down some of those I've "starred" at some point over the last several years. Caveat: I've really just gone along over the years at different times and starred things mostly based on wanting them to appear in my "Party Shuffle" playlist more often, so the following ratings were not determined on any kind of uniform scale or in a balanced state of mind.

Five Stars
*Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
*Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
*My Back Pages
*Like A Rolling Stone

Four Stars
*Mr. Tambourine Man
*Tangled Up In Blue
*Just Like A Woman
*Simple Twist Of Fate
*Shelter From The Storm
*Girl From The North Country (ft. Johnny Cash)
*Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You

Three Stars
*Blowin' In The Wind
*I Threw It All Away

Two Stars
*The Times Are a-Changin'
*Lay Lady Lay
*Knockin' on Heaven's Door
*Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
*Subterranean Homesick Blues
*It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
*Hurricane

In retrospect, it would appear that I prefer my Dylan acoustic, unadorned, mellow and ponderous. I also should note that three Dylan songs appear on my "Fall Mix" playlist, which is by far my most-listened to mix: Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You, The Times They Are a-Changin', and My Back Pages. I would also add, in sum, that My Back Pages, Like A Rolling Stone, Tangled Up In Blue and Simple Twist of Fate would be on my all-time best songs ever. They're just incredible.

*Image Credit goes to NARA via wikipedia.

Still LOST

2009-03-26T11:17:00.000-04:00

It's really incredible how I went from never having seen LOST when I moved to Virginia about 7 months ago to now planning most of my week around the new episodes airing at 9 p.m. (ET) on Wednesdays. If you remember, after polishing off the first season DVDs while I was still cable-less, I wrote up some quick thoughts about the show here.

As you probably know from reading some of my previous posts, I made my way through the second, third and fourth seasons (online and on DVD), with plenty of time to spare before the beginning of the fifth season (currently airing). We're a little over halfway done with the season, and I thought back the other day on how far the show has come since its initial season. For those of you who don't watch the show, here's a video ABC created for people in your situation who thought they might want to give this season a shot. It basically takes you through the first four seasons in five minutes. Of course, just through the 10 or so episodes already aired this season, the story has morphed an incredible amount just from where that video leaves off, so if you want to try to pick up the show now, you'd have to at least watch this season's episodes online.

I'll summarize the seasons in another way here (Warning, I'll include a lot of embedded links to info about the show that will act as spoilers to people who've never seen the show):

-Season One, as I described in the earlier post, mostly focuses on the plane crash survivors struggle to survive on a desert isle, with some supernatural elements peeking through. But mostly, the action is contained to interpersonal drama and the occasional idiotic venture into the mystery of nature. In the literary realm of conflict types (what we were taught in elementary school as five types, now apparently expanded to 6, to include man vs. machine/technology), the season mostly falls into man vs. nature (survival), with some man vs. self and man vs. man thrown in (human drama), with just a sprinkling of man vs. supernatural/fate.

-Season Two picks up with the discovery of the Hatch, an underground bunker, equipped with all imaginable human amenities, in which a mysterious Aussie named Desmond has been living alone for about three years. Desmond's sole purpose, we learn, is to enter a series of six numbers into an old computer every 108 minutes, vaguely believing that doing so keeps the world from ending. This hits home one of the main thematic arcs of the show, faith vs. science/logic. There is no logical reason to believe that pushing the button, as it's called, does anything but reset a strange-looking 108-minute clock, but some characters believe that it is their destiny, and faithfully execute the task. Also, we are introduced to a set of survivors from the other section of the plane, who have fared far less well in staying alive as a group. We're caught up on their story very quickly, and also learn more about The Others, a group of people living on/near the Island who were introduced at the very end of the first season in kidnapping one of the survivors. In sum, the overarching conflict shifts from survival to a man vs. supernatural, with a sparking man vs. man/group in the beginnings of serious conflict with The Others.

-Season 3 expands to show us the world of The Others, and sheds more light on the Mysterious Dharma Initiative, the scientific research group that previously inhabited the Island and to whom we owe the Hatch and some of the other mysterious aspects of The Island. In this way, the story shifts more clearly to a man vs. man/group conflict as we see the Others and the survivors interact more with each other. Also introduced at the end of the season are another group of people from off the Island who come on a freighter.

-Season 4 literally blows the cover off the storyline to that point. We discover the freighter folks are not there to rescue, but rather kill, the people on the Island, with cloudy motivations. We see lots of man vs. man conflict in violence among the Survivors, the Others, and the Freighter Folks. Finally, it is seen as a struggle to get off the island for many people, and really investigates the concept of time travel and how it might fit into the overall arc of the show. The main takeaway is that some of the survivors do succeed in getting off the Island, after much struggle.

-Season 5 has been described by the shows creators as the counter to season 4, in that its latter part has mostly been concerned with those who got off the Island returning to it (again, with cloudy motivations). Trying to so is understandably complex, and we follow those who were left behind through some incredibly mind-exploding (literally, in some cases) time traveling experiences. At this current juncture, they are back to the Island, though apparently existing in more than 1 time period. Most of the main characters are living in the 1970s Dharma Initiative, while some others apparently exist on the Island in some unknown present (2007 or 2008).

I'm sure that was very confusing and disjointed, but hopefully mostly accurate. The main point of this post is to examine the progression of types of conflict and how the storyline has expanded into other realms with each season. The progression I just outlined seems to me to make sense when one examines the possibilities for a show featuring the basic premise of landing on a desert isle. Of course, the most immediate conflict is survival, and that takes up most of the first season. But that conflict quickly becomes unsustainable in terms of entertainment. Cast Away, which almost exclusively features Tom Hanks surviving alone on a desert isle, was a pretty long and decent movie, but there’s no way it could have been made into a popular serial TV show. People need interpersonal conflict to remain entertained.

To fill that need, it’s almost inevitable that new characters must be introduced. Predictably, in Season 2, we learn that the Survivors are not alone on the Island (i.e. Desmond and the Others). This type of leap would normally signal a downturn in a show's quality. But conversely, in LOST’s case, it increased. This was possible, I believe, by strongly relying on the sci-fi or just plain weird aspects of the Hatch. The science vs. fate theme worked well, and it really opened the door to become hooked on the show's overarching mythology.

Season 3, then must go a step further, and really lambaste us with new people and new conflicts. Predictably, this was a tipping point for many viewers to stop watching. The idea that an entire colony of sophisticated people has been living mysteriously and largely unnoticed right next to the survivors was just too much to take - too trite - for many people. Again, I think it is the deft and steady unveiling of the Island's history and mythology that keeps the show from unraveling at the seams at this point.

Pushing further, the conflict between peoples on the isle becomes unsustainable as well, so an entire deluge of off-island characters are introduced, along with a lot more violence and explosions. This was, I think, another tipping point for many folks who were fans of the show and its mythology, a total cop out in many's views. I think the larger forward-moving action push to get the characters off the island is what sustains the season.

In season five, the parallel journeys over 3 years of the folks trying to get back and those who were left behind took up most of the first few episodes. Now that those who left have returned, and the various conflicts introduced at different times (both in and out of the show's reality) are coming together to guide us toward the show's final next season, the show is maintaining the momentum necessary to carry it to the last season. All the human, sci-fi, fate, and man vs. man conflicts are coming to a head, and I'm hooked. Possible ends are in sight, and I'm in for the long haul.

In sum, I'll say my favorite season was season 2. Taking what could be seen as a completely ludicrous notion that a man has been living underneath the survivors and making it intriguing was a skillful maneuver by the show’s producers. It was bizarre, philosophical, and a complete departure from what is normally seen on TV. At a time when even TV’s last refuge for science fiction fans, the Sci-Fi channel (which does show LOST reruns), is selling out to try to broaden its appeal, such a move was risky, and it paid off well. Also a fitting description for the entire show, I suppose.

Mad' Scientist?

2009-03-23T10:43:00.000-04:00

Here is the latest issue of Madison Scholar, JMU's online scholarly news publication. Apparently, only two stories by me are in this one. Also a video sidebar I did. It's pretty sweet. This is just good ol' web browsing, none of that new-school, fancy-schmansy Virtual Paper crap.

p.s. I think that's the first time I've ever tried to spell "schmansy." Not recognized in the blogger lexicon, so feel free to offer alternate spellings as per your preference.

Madison Magazine

2009-03-18T08:38:00.000-04:00

Check out the latest issue of Madison Magazine here (scroll to bottom of page for launch link). I've got a few stories in it, and a writer bio in the front! Not really that exciting. Prepare to be blown away by the majesty of Virtual Paper...

Excitement!

2009-03-14T23:12:00.000-04:00

Mostly in yielding to Jeff's prodding, I have decided to post another enlightening and exciting blog. But I'm warning you, you'll be much better off scouring facebook and YouTube for all the pics and videos depicting wild and lascivious tomfoolery that undoubtedly are being posted this instant by thousands of college kids, just hours after they've returned from SPRING BREAK!

Such as these.

HAHAHA! You've just been SPRING ROLLED!

Ok that was fairly lame, but seriously, I just checked facebook and have already been notified by the new non-stop news feed that hundreds of spring break pics from lots of idiots have been posted mere hours after their status feeds let me know they were home safely from Cancun, Daytona, Acapulco, Morocco, Djibouti, etc.

Certainly their weeks have been more exciting than mine. The past few days for me have consisted mostly of trying to use the Commonwealth of Virginia's tax Web site, which is one of the worst sites of any kind in navigation/functionality I've ever visited, and fighting with my printer, which I'm sure is possessed by some kid of Poltergeist.

More enjoyably, I finished Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, which actually is very good. Up to this point, I've resisted reading anything by the afro-wearing diminutive journalist-turned-pop sociologist. Mostly, I must admit, because I have been afraid it might make me consider myself unorignal. You see, he is much of what I'd like to be, doing much of what I like to imagine myself doing. For years, I have been sitting back and offering armchair psycho-social analysis of people, cultural phenomena and current events, my views being mostly formed from knowledge other people (like researchers) attained and passed down to me directly or indirectly, filtered through my own creative and observing lens. A lot of what I do as part of a PR team and what I did as a reporter is take lots of information going in lots of different directions and try to synthesize it into a larger, connected, overall picture.

That is precisely what Gladwell does (extremely well) in Blink, his target being the human subconscious mind. He tells stories as far ranging as the NY Getty Museum's science-vs.-intuition battle in determining whether or not their great Kouros Statue was a fake to a psychological researcher who intuitively knows the psycho-social interaction that is vital to successful marriages so well that he can predict whether or not a couple will divorce withing 10 years with 95 percent accuracy after listening to just a few seconds of tape of them talking, to the tale of Amadou Diallo, the man whose unprovoked killing by four NY cops spurred debates over proper police training and racial profiling and even a song by The Boss himself.

Gladwell expands the idea to include a War Games fiasco conducted by the U.S. Government in the early 2000s, how subtle changes in product packaging can drastically affect their sales, the 1990s Pepsi Challenge and even the real reason why the number of women in professional symphony orchestras has increased from 5 percent to nearly 50 over the last decade or so.

It's a quick and fascinating read, and I'm afraid I'm now hooked. I'll probably wait for the Tipping Point until Sarah K. is done with it, so I'll probably move next to Outliers.

In other reading, I'm finding my latest attempt to get through Catch-22 similarly snagged as in previous ones. I'm about halfway through, the furthest I've ever made it, but having at the start found Heller's whimsical wordplay pleasant, it is now grating and repetitive. The passages are too windy and winding, and there's not enough action. A little like this post, I suppose.

The Fax

2009-03-05T10:19:00.000-05:00

Here's a neat post from Rich Miller's Capitol Fax Blog, which you may recognize from columns being run in the South County News. Based on a State Journal-Register column about Gary Hannig's wife being considered as his replacement in the IL House, Miller poses the question should the Assembly pass a bill forbidding the appointment of political spouses/family members to fill seats.

I vote no. Macoupin's current State Senator, Deanna Demuzio, was appointed to fill her late husband's seat, and she has proven herself a capable successor. Sure, currently there is a chance that unqualified family members may be "given" posts based on patronage, but it's just as likely that friends of current politicians are appointed to those seats, and there's no way to pass a law to ban that, so the idea just seems a little silly to me and unfair to potentially good candidates who also happen to be family members of current politicians. Thoughts?

CREDIT: This information came to me from my lovely fiancee, Sarah, pictured above right.

Nice Memorial

2009-03-02T14:18:00.001-05:00

I don't know who already knows of this, but this is the first I've heard of it. Thank you, Sarah K., for letting me know. Sen. Deanna Demuzio graciously introduced a bill to mourn the loss of Grampa A., which was accepted as a resolution by the IL General Assembly. There should be a formal certificate issued soon, if it has not been sent already, but in any case, here is the text of the bill on the GA Web site. Very thoughtful.

Miracle Worker

2009-02-22T09:45:00.000-05:00

Here's a really cool story I luckily got the chance to put together for JMU. A rather impressive alum elevated himself from successful and well-connected businessman to instant and inspiring hero. Sure, I spent a decent amount of time filling my lines with dramatic and uplifting language (aka fluff), but the story itself needs no massaging. It is a great inspiration, straight up. It's on our new Public Affairs page. BTW, take some time to click around the new site. It's much better than our old one, and somewhere on there, you can find a pic and bio of me:

http://www.jmu.edu/jmuweb/general/news/general10493.shtml

Unwelcome Overtures

2009-02-10T19:40:00.000-05:00

Starting on the day two weeks ago when JMU was closed due to inclement weather, I have sporadically been receiving...unwelcome overtures...from a strange source.

As I sat comfortably on my couch at about 10 o'clock that morning, watching the snow fall and the car-tires of my neighbors fail to grasp the slick slope of my parking lot, I received the first. I was reading a particularly strange and excellent story, "Game," by Donald Barthelme, in my silent apartment. Then, BAM!

With my mind near-perpetually halfway in another world, thanks to my LOST obsession and previously mentioned reading, the noise came as a particularly disturbing surprise. The sound was a sudden, loud, garbled explosion of a man/men's voices, quite like a completely incomprehensible conversation over out-of-range CB radios. The source was even more frightening.

After my initial start and reassurance that nothing had exploded and that my apartment was not being invaded by a ship of evil mercenaries, I followed the sound to its origin, my bathroom. I was awestruck.

The noise wasn't emanating from bursting water pipes or a malfunctioning vent fan, but rather, my up-until-that-very-moment-believed-to-be-busted shower clock-radio-mirror. It's the same shower clock-radio-mirror mom and dad had picked up for me ?two? Christmases ago. It had worked all through my senior year of college and this past summer,until a few weeks after I arrived here in Virginia.

Due (I can only hypothesize) to my hanging it on/under the shower head, the shower clock-radio-mirror absorbed an inordinate amount of water during my frequent showers, and eventually its electronic innards just flooded out. It'd been a solid three or four months since it had made a peep, so my surprise, I feel, was justified.

Being that the power button (an impotent little rubber nib) also had failed, my only recourse to silence it was to remove the batteries. I did so. Last week, during a Saturday morning shower, I thought I might give the ol' music box another chance, this time hanging safely on the outside of my shower curtain, and, to a lesser level of surprise, it did work...decently.

Since then, I have not tried to extract any type of noise from it again. But tonight, while reading through some LOST message boards, it happened again. This time it was, at least, tuned to a clear, classical-music station. It actually did create a nice, unexpected buildup as I neared the end of the theory post I was reading.

For the sound of music, the hills may not be alive, but my household electronics sure appear to be.

Nice story

2009-02-03T14:29:00.000-05:00

Here's a link to a nice piece in the Springfield State Journal Register that provides a brief look into my, Jeff and Greg's former high school and college colleague, John Link. This is reposted from his blog, the J-Link.

http://www.sj-r.com/homepage/x1708115283/Dave-Bakke-Disabled-man-s-strength-lies-in-his-mind

FOUND!

2009-01-25T17:18:00.000-05:00

**Oliver Muirhead, from filmdope.com**

After a few more searches, I was able to track down the real Tombstone Pizza star. His name is Oliver Muirhead. An English actor, his other credits include small roles in various Disney shows, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, MVP: Most Vertical Primate, LOST and numerous voice roles in video games, including Zork: Grand Inquisitor.

I updated his wikipedia page to highlight his work in culinary marketing.

Have you seen this man?

2009-01-21T18:32:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure how my mind boarded its current train of thought, so don't ask. But in the past, I recall it has gotten on at each of the following stations: thinking about the classic Oregon Trail video game, deciding on a frozen pizza for dinner and seeing random glimpses of faces on TV.

Confused?

Let me explain. I've been on a search for the name of an actor. You may be wondering how those three seemingly unconnected instances all lead to my trying to figure out who this guy is?

The answer is simple--Tombstone Pizza.

We all remember those classic Tombstone pizza commercials from the early 90's, where a guy is about to be executed in some way, and when asked what he would like on his tombstone, swiftly and snarkily replies something like "pepperoni and cheese."

The Oregon Trail connection, of course, comes in when a member of your travel party succumbs to typhus, cholera, broken leg, snakebite or some other incurable illness, and you are forced to bury them beside the trail. Stupidly, in at least one version of the game, the game designers inserted a feature where one could add an epitaph to the grave marker. Needless to say, many mourners later stopped to view memorials etched with such touching remembrances as "Here lies Pepperoni," "Sausage," or my personal favorite, "The Ox We Were Forced to Slaughter Due to Starvation."

Here is where I need your help. View this circa 1995 commercial, and tell me who the heck the mustached man sinking into quicksand is. I remember him appearing in other commercials, including one for Schnuck's or some other grocery store, as well as in bit parts in many TV shows. For a while, I was almost convinced it was acclaimed Northern-Irish theatrical actor/director Kenneth Branagh, but highly doubt that now after googling many variants of "Kenneth Branagh Tombstone Pizza Commercial" and finding nothing of value.

On a side note, I did discover this gem, a 1992 installment of the commercial series featuring a very young Don Stark as the imperiled aficionado of frozen pizza-like item.

And the Oscar for Best Picture goes to...

2009-01-16T10:24:00.000-05:00

The big-award buzz this year has been all about Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, and other epic features. It was a bit of a surprise, then, when little-known Slumdog Millionaire took the top prize at the Golden Globes.

But it appears another darkhorse has entered the picture. Combining crisp editing with hand-held styling gives a real sense of authenticity to this short journo-docu-drama from a rookie director. Guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Last Word?

2009-01-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

So today was an eventful day. Besides the seemingly unavoidable stress associated with every Monday, today was going to be a busy one for me from the outset. I was to go to our weekly staff meeting, then quickly scoot out and head across town to campus for a follow-up meeting with some folks from the school psych program for a feature piece I'm writing for Madison Magazine. After a quick lunch, I had another meeting set up with biotechnology prof Bob McKown, a pioneering researcher on the eye protein lacritin, for a follow-up piece on a Madison Scholar story from a few years ago. That's a pretty full day for me.

Of course, fate threw me a curveball Saturday night. Sunday morning, after I'd had my morning cup and consumed my weekly rations of George Stephanopoulos and Charles Osgood, I was going to run to the store to get a few items. I hopped in my car and began to back out when I felt a slight drag on my front tires. I though I was just running over some chunky gravel and would be past it in a second. Then I heard an unsettling fffwump-fffwump. I knew I wouldn't be heading to the store quite yet.

I got out, looked and saw my front driver's-side tire, more deflated than the 401-Ks of Bernie Madoff's investors. Not knowing anything about cars, I called Greg to have him come look at it and see if it was repairable. (Clarification: I can change a tire and could have on my own, but thought I'd consult Greg first to see if we thought it was patchable or totally shot.) He and Sarah were heading to Costco to pick up a new sectional sofa anyway, so they stopped by and picked me up. We got back later, and after changing the tire, noticed a giant screw sticking out of the offending tire. A relief, indeed. It appeared easily patchable.

I left the spare on until this morning, when I got up a little early and headed to Midas before work. I dropped the bad tire off, pointing out the screw, and got assurances from the mechanic that he could patch it and I could pick it up later in the day. Good thing, because, as I mentioned, I had some driving around campus to do. About 15 minutes after arriving at work, I got a call on my cell, and I knew I was dunfer. It was the mechanic, and he said the tire had been patched once before and that the screw had not even fully punctured the tire. Basically, the tire was shot, and I needed a new one. So I decided to pony up for two brand-spankin' new ones. What began as a routine, $35 procedure wound up costing me nigh $300. At least maybe I'm spurring the economy.

Fortunately, our staff meeting was canceled, leaving me a little time to head back to the shop before my 10:30. I got over there and they went to work. I think. I couldn't really tell, you know they always keep you in the waiting room while they go into the garage. Again, what began as a routine, 35-minute procedure wound up costing me nigh an hour. Add another 20 minutes driving around the Miller Hall/Rockingham Memorial Hospital part of town trying to find a parking spot, and I was a whopping 45 minutes late to the meeting. Luckily, it was an informal and non-necessary meeting in the first place, and they welcomed we with a large "kitchen sink" cookie. The rest of the day was fine, with me getting a quick lunch at home, arriving early for my next meeting, getting about 100 pages worth of literature on lacritin research to read, and heading home at 3:30 for a massive nap.

The short point of this long post is the interesting horoscope I read in the DNR while waiting at Midas (authored by Eugenia Last). It read:

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You'll be faced with money issues due to unexpected expenses. You can overcome any stress by being fully prepared to make a leap from one way of earning money to another or by adding a second job to your plans for the upcoming months.

Pretty spot on, considering that I've been pondering whether to finally bite the bullet and try to find some work selling suits, soccer balls, shih tzus or some other department store delight. So what do you think, does Eugenia really have the Last word here?

Anonymity FAIL

2009-01-09T12:07:00.000-05:00

Here's a graf that stood out to me from an overall middling quality news story I was reading on CNN.com. Do you see what I see?

Said Lisa Smith, 44, a recently laid-off administrator from Minnesota, "I began smoking in junior high school because I wanted to fit in with a certain crowd. However, that group of friends is looooong gone from my life and I still have the nasty habit." Smith didn't want her last name used.

For the record, or for those actually interested in the rest of the article, here's the link.

**UPDATE**
Screenshot:

The Heroes of Nothingdom

2008-12-23T15:38:00.000-05:00

**Dr. Ed McSweegan**

So, yesterday and today, I have spent most of my time doing nothing. Since Sarah has had to work pretty much full days, I have been here at her apartment with very little to do. I have no car, and even if I did, it is sooo cold here in Wheeling that I would probably not set even one foot outdoors. I've been watching lots of culinary television, both much of Food Network's lineup and Travel Channel's "No Reservations" and "Bizarre Foods."

While checking out CNN.com, my attention was caught by a story about a pioneer in similar circumstances to my own, the hero of all men who dream of making large amounts of money for doing little or no work, Charles Ponzi, namesake of the famous Ponzi Scheme. Interesting, for sure. But a link within that story led me to another interesting piece on four men, each of whom made large amounts of money by doing relatively little work. A CEO, an actor and a professional athlete each made the list. But the final entry is the one I would most aspire to be like. His name is Edward McSweegan, and he actually is quite accomplished. He holds a Ph.D. in microbiology and once oversaw the National Institute of Health's Lyme Disease program. In addition, he has penned several scientific works, and completed two science fiction novels. The kicker, though, is that he finished the final entries to that resume on the job, in his cushy office, while receiving a six-figure government salary. His tenure at NIH reads something like the plot of a Seinfeld episode, an amalgam of George Costanza's wildest ambitions and Kramer's bass-ackwards falling into luck. A true American hero.

Special message from Superman

2008-12-10T14:22:00.000-05:00

Here's a video I didn't really have anything to do with. Well, I guess I was one of the collaborators on the script, and I stood there out of the shot while we filmed it Tuesday night. Anyway, hopefully it will encourage some of those people on the fence as to whether or not they want to freeze to death for a few hours Friday night to watch the Dukes fight their way toward the national championship game. Remember, the game is also on ESPN2.

T(V) Zone

2008-12-08T12:48:00.000-05:00

The highlight of my typical workday has become my lunch hour. Usually, when noon rolls in, I close my office door, grab whatever delicacy I've brought, and tune into some TV program online. This routine has been made necessary by the move to our new office. You see, our old location was about three minutes away form my apartment, even with traffic, so it was very convenient for me to go home and catch a little TV while I ate. Our new office downtown has quadrupled or quintupled my average commute, so I've been forced to start partaking of my lunch at the office.

After about the first week of noon-hour TV withdrawal, I decided to investigate some online options. That's when I found the complete 4th season of LOST online at abc.com. That worked great for me, since I had finished off the third season DVDs a few weeks before, and had not seen any fourth season yet (the 4th season DVDs are out now). With the new 5th season premiering in January (ABC also has a sneak peek online), I voraciously consumed those 14 episodes at lunch and on weekends. Of course, after I finished that off, I was SOL on lunchtime entertainment. I scoured hulu for a new series to get hooked on.

But, one large problem with online TV is that networks typically only will release online the episodes of the current season of a series at any one time, usually about a week after it has aired on old-fashioned TV. In the case of LOST, in its off-air cycle, ABC posted the entire fourth season, I imagine to bolster interest in the upcoming season, and also to continue its fairly innovative 'viral'-type marketing approach to the show. Thus, for me, the only shows that have great appeal to watch online (apart from current episodes I just might have missed on original airing) are ones of which I've seen all the episodes leading up to what is currently online (as in my experience with LOST) or shows still in their first season. Of course, some people may enjoy re-watching episodes they've seen before (I do do this sometimes). Anyway, as you can imagine, my picky criteria made it fairly difficult for me to find a new dish to feed my entertainment appetite. I thought I had found the perfect combo in FOX's "Fringe"--it is in its first season, with all of the existent episodes online at fox.com (one of few new shows to have lasted long enough to do so). On top of that, it is another project of super-producer JJ Abrams, creator of LOST (among other shows).

However, my love affair with that show (a sortof combination of X-Files and some lousy cop show, like 'Bones' or something), lasted about 2 minutes, and was wholly without love. I clicked on the pilot episode, and immediately could tell it was no good. So there that went. This disappointment led me into a period of desperate and depressing searching for a new show. FOX did have a few newer episodes of "House, M.D." I'd missed, but that only lasted a day or two. Again, I was *lost.* I checked out the rest of ABC (sorry, I just couldn't bring myself to try 'Brothers and Sisters' or 'Pushing Daisies'). Then I looked at CBS' offerings. After being initially unimpressed with their displays for about a half-dozen incarnations of "CSI," "Two and a Half Men," "Survivor 10,000: Venusian Crater" or whatever, and "How I Met Your Mother," I stumbled upon link titled "TV Classics." 'Why not?' I thought. Then, I saw it. A hidden gem.

Now this find was remarkable for two reasons: a) the point of this log, to find a lunchtime replacement, and b) I can finally fill in (most of) the gaps in my T-Zone viewing history. The package online is missing a few episodes, but thus far I've watched a few episodes I'd previously gone without, including season 1's "Execution" today. It's a moderately stupid and predictable one, focusing around an 1880s Wild-West, ruthlessly killing cowboy, who's being strung up for his murders. At the last moment, he is mysteriously transported to the 1960's by a scientist. Needless to say, unavoidable conflict and a fair amount of hilariously bad acting follow, all leading up to a predictable ironic twist. Final tally: 2 stars--not the best, but certainly not the worst. At least it didn't make me lose my soup.

***UPDATE On another TV note, Virginia's pride, the JMU Dukes, will play Montana in the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) semifinals in a game to be shown on ESPN 2. The game is particularly interesting as it is a rematch of the 2004 FCS national championship game, which JMU claimed. Scheduled for 8 p.m. (ET), Friday, the game will be played at JMU (so I'm planning on going and, if I'm lucky enough to sit next to my boss's incredibly photogenic 12-year-old son again,) I may just get my mug on standard-plus cable. Good exposure for the school, too, I guess.

awesome, pt. 2

2008-12-04T10:30:00.000-05:00

Not only does this offer insightful political satire, but the star-studded cast is really kind of incredible. from funnyordie.com

awesome

2008-12-02T14:32:00.000-05:00

Normally, I would just let the people who regularly visit sites like failblog find this for themselves, but I found this clip noteworthy for two reasons: 1) When I see a soccer fail clip queued up in the player, I expect a standard kick in the junk or maybe a horrendous knee contortion. This took me off guard. 2) The maneuver which the offensive player is executing is actually awesome, as you can see after the initial hilarity.

And, yes, I watched this at work. And it brought tears of humor to my eyes.

UPDATE x2

2008-11-28T17:42:00.000-05:00

I hope you all got a chance to see the MRDs march in the Macy's Parade. Their appearance was short, but good. The nearly 500-strong band was the largest in the show, and proved to be a great PR asset to us after this minor annoyance.

Also, you can X the previous X-Mas list I posted here for convenience. My bro, Jeff, has devised an even simpler system, one that works for me as well.

Repost from jmu.edu!

2008-11-24T15:22:00.001-05:00

JMU's Marching Royal Dukes Perform in Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

From: Public Affairs

The Marching Royal Dukes perform a football halftime show

Nov. 21, 2008

HARRISONBURG – The largest marching band in the history of James Madison University will represent the school in the 82nd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade® Nov. 27 in New York City. The 474-member Marching Royal Dukes marching band is one of 10 bands performing in the Thanksgiving tradition.

The JMU band will perform "Sing, Sing, Sing" in Herald Square and other selections along the parade route. NBC will broadcast the parade beginning at 9 a.m.

The band is slated to perform between 11 a.m. and noon.

“With JMU’s centennial, what better way to celebrate on a national scope than to feature the band program on TV,” said Scott Rikkers, assistant director of bands and director of the Marching Royal Dukes. “We’re looking forward to it. It’s good for the school, it’s good for the state, it’s good for the kids.” JMU, established in 1908, is the only university in America named for James Madison, the fourth president of the United States and the Father of the U.S. Constitution.

This year’s performance will mark the marching band’s second appearance in the holiday classic. In 2001, the Marching Royal Dukes represented JMU in the 75th anniversary Macy’s parade.

The Marching Royal Dukes date to 1972 when JMU established a football program. Membership in the Marching Royal Dukes is open to all JMU students, regardless of their academic majors. About three-quarters of the band members are not music majors.

“We’ve been revitalizing the program over the past couple of years and I think there’s definitely renewed excitement about the program,” Rikkers said. “I also think, of course, the Macy’s trip is a big draw.”

Contributing to the record-size band are 320 returning band members. “I’m glad to have that because they’re the strength of our program – they are the tradition,” Rikkers said.

All 474 band members will depart the JMU campus at approximately 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26, en route to New York City.

Shortly after viewing the Marching Royal Dukes in their New York appearance, local music lovers will have an opportunity to see the band live and up close in the Harrisonburg Holiday Parade Dec. 5. The band will march in the 6 p.m. downtown parade and will present a free public concert afterward on Court Square.

# # #

Christmas List!

2008-11-23T09:39:00.001-05:00

Ok, so I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I have been getting asked left and right what I'm hoping for this Christmas. So then I got the brilliant idea of putting a X-Mas list on this blog, so all interested parties can see it at the same time. As of yet, it is not complete, nor is it really that specific. What I'll throw out there right now are some general ideas. I'll update as my greed increases the closer we get to the holiday. Here's what I'm thinking so far:

Books: The Great Gatsby and/or Tender Is The Night--Fitzgerald has been lauded by many as producing what could be most closely considered the Great American Novel. These may be a good inspirational starting point for me beginning to write my own; One of pop-sociologist Malcolm Gladwell's books--Blink, The Tipping Point or his newest offering, Outliers. I haven't read any of these, and I'm hesitant to indulge in yuppie conventional wisdom, but his common sense views of societal phenomena appear to be in the same vein as mine; or, as always, more Vonnegut.

Music: Way to Blue--An introduction to Nick Drake, the English singer/songwriter whose ill-fated existence is, similarly to Gladwell's rise, now becoming the stuff of legend among hipsters. That's ok, the music is pretty good, very mellow, great for work--but don't listen to too much or you may wind up as depressed as he was; lastly, perhaps something by Stan Rogers(, Sarah Mac).

Useless consumer products: An electric razor/beard trimmer--I'm thinking about keeping a near-perpetual 5 O'Clock shadow, and a beard trimmer will be a must for that, but don't worry, Sarah K, having a convenient shaving instrument might inspire me to do the act even more ;). Wet-dry might be a nice feature, too.

The Office

2008-11-17T14:47:00.000-05:00

So, we moved in to the new office right downtown on Court Square today. It went pretty smoothly, and since I had relatively little to move in, I was the first one all set. Here are some shots so you can see where I'll be working. Of course, I took these using the built in cam on my laptop, which is always difficult. I'll also be putting up a vibrant calendar and hopefully a bulletin board and some art, so the walls won't look so plain. They are a little drab as of right now, but that's ok. At least my office is well lit, even if I only have a support column and no window or closet. The photos:

It's a gravitas-off!

2008-11-14T16:19:00.000-05:00

Now most people after the historic election we've all just witnessed would probably blog about the candidates, analyze who won and why, etc. But there's plenty of that already. Also I'm not an expert, and I don't really care about all that hootenany. What I thought would be more fun would be a gravitas-off! In this post, I'll pit my two favorite commentators of the election (not including anchors/reporters), David Gergen and George Will, and let you decide who's got more of that serious substantive je ne sais quois we seek out in our talking heads.

I find my own perspective during the election season interesting. I used to hold the view that opinion pages of newspapers and pundits on TV were worthless and, if anything, inhibitive to what media outlets are supposed to do. I ferociously opposed reading editorials and columns; I used to think, why would I want to read someone else's opinion? Just give me the facts, and I'll come up with my own.

But recently, I've found myself skimming or skipping entirely the news sections of papers and gravitating right to the opinion page (I mostly read the local DNR, the Washington Post as well as CNN.com, MSNBC.com, whatever looks interesting on Google News and, of course, the South County News). I even started occasionally reading some of Bernie Miklasz' sports columns. That's scary.

Now this could be that news reporting has gotten so nearly instantaneous that reading a full-length story in a paper or even online has become tedious, compared to quick online news blurbs or videos. (For an example of the type of presentation I think most news outlets will gravitate toward soon, check out my co-worker's news blog. Or it could be that I just find them more interesting at this point in history, or maybe something has happened in the core of who I am, like maturation. Nah, that can't be it.

I chose to watch, primarily, CNN for daily coverage and ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Sunday mornings. Upon reflection, I believe this is at least partly because the two analysts I liked to listen to most were CNN's Gergen and ABC's Will, who is a regular 'roundtable' member.

So anyway, check out the vids of each, and vote in the comments section on who you like more (though I'm sure Jeff will support a write-in candidate). If this is successful, maybe I'll do a similar post on anchors. But there's already been research on that.

And this is why my ex-boss is awesome

2008-11-07T11:31:00.000-05:00

I have enjoyed reading the columns of my former editor Dave "Scoop" Ambrose since I first started working for him while still in college. Don't get me wrong, he is a fine news reporter and layout editor as well, but it's been the opinion of me and a few others who know him well for quite some time that he could be far better off financially if he just found a gig as columnist somewhere and did freelance or consultative graphic design for other papers. His writing and design skills have mostly been honed through decades of experience in newspapers, and they are his best skills.

But I think he just loves running all aspects of a small-town paper far too much to abandon it (despite said financial difficulties, political annoyances and managerial swamping). His 'Scoop Sez' column this week displays not only his superior writing ability but also his 'unique' personality and willingness to report and/or write about things many in rural Central Illinois might consider too "edgy."

Lemon-Lyman

So...

TV Weddings

Pilot of Interest

Comedy of Errors

The Return of LOST

Do you remember when I got married?

Long Overdue, and Still Not What You're Looking For

I think Sarah looks very sporty in this picture.

Kalamazoo College

Kalamazoo, off campus

Orrin B. Hayes Used Cars, where "Service Sold It"?Two possible candidates for the location of the former Holly's Restaurant, where dad (allegedly) graciously allowed mom to pay on their first? date, after "forgetting his wallet."

Holland (Michigan)

Despite contrary appearances, you may NOT buy ice cream at Hudsonville Ice Cream Company.In correlation with its business plan and most people's desires, you MAY buy ice cream at Dairy Queen.Unfortunately, we did not get to enjoy a FAT BURRITO.

Re-Dubu

Here's The Beef

Ah, bachelorhood

A Friend

Plymouth - A Grand Caravan

The Rock ItselfSarah was cold.I found Armstrong ancestor John Allerton on a monument.We were in Plymouth.

The famous boat was closed, which I pointed out to Sarah. But the ferry ride was still nice:

His house from the front.His house from the back.A statue of the famed Silversmith and midnight rider.

The storied Stevie's Pizza.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Journey To The Center Of Western Massachusetts-based 18th Century Historical Reenactment Enthusiasts

The cat's out of the bag (and back home)

1) Finding his way into a paper bag:2) Finding his way out of a paper bag3) Realizing we've been watching him the whole time4) Getting picked up by Bia and Ian

Dance Dinner

It's Been a While

Fenway, Fanueil, Etc.

The Maine Event and More

The Maine Event

Before we hit the road, we asked Dubu to help us plot our route to the Pine Tree State.Of course, before he could read the map, he had to put on his reading spectacles.

On the Road

To The Lighthouse

En Mass.

Here Sarah is in front of our full beach stop, Salisbury Beach, in the very northeastern corner of Massachusetts.Me in the same spot.A distant look at the Salisbury shore.

Purr-ty Pictures

Dubu and Sarah, looking menacing, I think

Our first family portrait

Dubu sitting like a human

Dubu waiting at the door for Sarah to return from checking her oil

Catnapping

Dubu

Dubu going dooboo

Sorry, another LOST post

Hot Celebrity News

Recombobulating

Secret Shopper

Weather Pain

Hartford's skyline, obscured by fog

Our next door neighbors. The giant tree is more impressive in person.

Our back door neighbors, through the screen of our door. Sorry I was too lazy to go outside to shoot it.

Our front porch

Sushi sushi!

Tuna, octopus, and black dragon rolls

As we moved toward dessert, Sarah enjoyed a fig-filled peach bun.

Dessert proper included the ubiquitous cream-filled pastries as well as a variety of mini cheesecakes. These were chocolate-chip and lemon.

As we left, I snagged a few of these candies. I have not tried them yet, but the fruit pictured on the wrapper appears to be that of the cashew tree. I doubt the letters will be decipherable on this picture.

Odds and the End

The banes of my existence.

It's been a long time comin'

Pre-move

Break, part 1: Christmas in Carlinville

Break part 2, the Second City

Post move

The Job

A Tremendous Theory

Sad News

Late Photos

TV Time

Mind Trap

Aqua Man

Sorry, another LOST post part II

Sorry, another LOST post

To Do List

Two recappers of note

The Long Con

LOST: Season 2, Take 2

Several Thousand Words

Orrin B. Hayes Used Cars, where "Service Sold It"?

Two possible candidates for the location of the former Holly's Restaurant, where dad (allegedly) graciously allowed mom to pay on their first? date, after "forgetting his wallet."

Despite contrary appearances, you may NOT buy ice cream at Hudsonville Ice Cream Company.

In correlation with its business plan and most people's desires, you MAY buy ice cream at Dairy Queen.

Unfortunately, we did not get to enjoy a FAT BURRITO.

The Rock Itself

Sarah was cold.

I found Armstrong ancestor John Allerton on a monument.

We were in Plymouth.

His house from the front.

His house from the back.

A statue of the famed Silversmith and midnight rider.

1) Finding his way into a paper bag:

2) Finding his way out of a paper bag

3) Realizing we've been watching him the whole time

4) Getting picked up by Bia and Ian

Before we hit the road, we asked Dubu to help us plot our route to the Pine Tree State.

Of course, before he could read the map, he had to put on his reading spectacles.

Here Sarah is in front of our full beach stop, Salisbury Beach, in the very northeastern corner of Massachusetts.

Me in the same spot.

A distant look at the Salisbury shore.