Mike Flacy

I’ve heard numerous explanations on why the current season of Lost seems to be operating on two different timelines.  The most popular scenario seems to be that there are two distinct, separate timelines in play; one being the new 2004 timeline where the Losties landed safely in LAX and the other being the current 2007 Losties still fighting the good fight on the island.  The cause of these two distinct timelines was the H-bomb that was detonated at the end of season 5.

- Caught this little indie flick with Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega (the female lead in Spanglish). What a quirky little movie!  Freeman plays an out of work character actor that’s dropped off in an predominantly Hispanic neighborhood to study a grocery store manager for a role in a movie.  He latches onto Paz Vega, the girl running the 10 items or less line.

The whole movie is nothing more than a conversation that continues for about 90 minutes.  Freeman and Vega play off each other in a very human manner.  There are nice bits of comedy interspersed in the film as well.

- The Google / United Airline debacle was an extremely interesting technology screw-up this week.  Basically a single person accessed an article, around 1:30 A.M. last Sunday, about United declaring bankruptcy in 2002.  Since it’s a low traffic time for accessing news, Google bounced it to the Popular Stories section on the main Google News page.  Bloomburg picked up the story as new and the ensuing financial panic caused shareholders to sell a billion dollars worth of stock.  The price on the stock dropped by 75% in a matter of hours.  Yay computers!

- If you haven’t seen it yet, watch the political opening for SNL this week.  The remainder of the show is complete drivel, but the Sarah Palin / Hillary Clinton skit is absolutely hilarious.  Tina Fey nails Palin’s look, mannerisms and accent.

I watched the first episode of Dexter season 3 this week.  It doesn’t air for another two weeks on Showtime.  No story spoilers from me, but I will say that the ending will leave your jaw on the floor.

I was studying Jimmy Smits character the entire episode.  He has an odd interest in Dexter that I’d imagine is going to leak over into Dexter’s favorite pastime.  I think they both have a thirst for justice and Smits is going to take part a killing somewhere along the way.

I really didn’t care for the new guy in the detective unit, but the girl in Internal Affairs has my interest peaked.  I like the direction that they are taking with Batista’s character as well.  It’s going to cause a rift with Laguerta down the line.

The spontaneity angle is extremely intriguing.  I’m wondering if Dexter will develop a need for spontaneity rather than his deliberate planning stages.  It makes for sloppy work, but he seemed to have gotten a thrill over the whole mess.  Anyway, the first episode catapults several story lines into play.  I can’t wait to see how Dex handles them.

• I enjoyed the premiere of The Shield’s final season this week.  It was a slow start considering the pacing of the previous episode, but it laid some brilliant groundwork for future story lines.  I’m thinking Shane lives, Ronnie goes off the deep end, Vic and Acevada take down the Mexican cartel in a very bloody fashion and Dutch finally goes to jail for strangling neighborhood cats.

• Finding a new place to live on Craigslist has been disappointing to say the least.  Trying to make a long distance connection with a potential roommate is somewhat dampened by the anonymity of the Internet. Ugh…

• I had some of the worst sushi in my life today.  Japanese marinated mushrooms might sound tasty, but the ones I ate were the consistency of rubber and completely flavorless.  Yelp is going to get a mouthful of unhappy words from me this week.

• True Blood on HBO was an offbeat show.  It reminded me the feeling I got when watching Carnivale for the first time.  The oddball choice of setting in the deep south is strangely interesting.  I doubt it will make it past a couple seasons though.  Entourage was excellent as usual.  Eric looks a bit like a clone of Ari though.

• I’m really crossing my fingers for iPhone’s 2.1 firmware this week.  It’s rumored to be coming out with the new version of iTunes on the 9th.  I’d love to see turn-by-turn GPS implemented, but any other super secret iPhone powers will be welcome.

• My favorite Hulu video of the week: Taco bed!

I discovered TweetDeck yesterday.  The design is ridiculously productive, yet the web keyword feature can easily suck away hours of your life.  I watched the iPhone feed and started firing off helpful replies incessantly.  The outcome is another handful of Twitter followers.  It’s a fantastic tool to find Twitter users with similar interests.  It’s not bad for local connections, but Twinkle is still the king in that respect.

I also came across two moderately funny web items today. The first is Where is Bob? It’s supposedly the tale of a absentee IT manager.  It’s likely a viral marketing campaign of some sort as the writing is a bit too good and the stories are just slightly outlandish.  It’s still worth looking at for a laugh.

The second is a Hulu video of a short comedy called The Line. It’s about a group of crazy fanboys that sit in a line 11 days before some sci-fi movie opens.  There are a couple guys from SNL in the mix.  Jason Sudeikis is particularly funny as the movie theater operator.

I’ve been listening to Chopin all day for some reason.  Dead Polish piano players seem to increase my productivity on the writing front.

Here is a quick preview of my most recent Twitter application addiction. It’s a GPS aware app for the iPhone.

• Despite my constant workouts, push-ups are my Achilles heel.  That’s why I started up the One Hundred Push-Ups challenge this week.  I just hope my forearms don’t snag like twigs somewhere along the way.

• This one is pure, unadulterated vanity. Check out the Kor One water bottle:
  
  Pretty damn sleek and perfect for those skinny treadmill cup holders.  But more importantly, it’s open / close with one hand.  I want one now.

• I discovered Popurls through Stumbleupon this week.  It’s a web 2.0 type site that collects the rss feeds from popular sites (Digg, Fark, Google news, Youtube, Flikr, etc…) and displays them on a aesthetically pleasing page.  You can move around the order of the sites on the main page or even go with a category layout if you prefer.  Anyway,it’s now my home page in the new super-fast version of Firefox.

• 20 Superfoods to lose body fat and gain muscle; I eat about 13 out of 20 of those on a daily basis and can attest to their success.  I’ll have to pick up some Quinoa tomorrow as well as some fish oil.

• Youtube recommendation for this week: Peep Show.  Not a youtube series at all, but rather a popular British comedy.  It’s about 2 guys living in a flat in London and their successes / failures in their careers / relationships.  Extremely funny and very easy to understand (No thick accents like The Office).

Anyone who reads this blog knows I ramble on about Lost or consistently tune into The Office each week.  I really don’t spent lots of time on TV besides a few choice series, but there are two shows that snatched my attention in their freshman season this year before the strike.

-    Pushing Daisies:  My absolute favorite new show of the season.  It’s about a pie-maker that has an odd ability to bring the dead back to life with a single touch, but only for 60 seconds and only once.  He teams up with a private investigator to solve cases, but the true narrative involves the pie-maker’s love for his childhood sweetheart that he revives & refuses to touch again to return her to death.  They both love each other, but can never touch again due to his ability.  The acting is fantastic, the writing is witty, the characters are quirky and the artistic design of the show is very Tim Burton-esqe.

-    Reaper: Ridiculous premise, but the supporting characters sell the show.  Basically, a 21 year old guy finds out his parents sold his soul to the Devil when he was a baby.  The devil forces him into a life of bounty hunting souls that escaped from Hell.  It’s very much like Smallville’s format, but with believable acting, competent writers and an evolving storyline.  It’s a light comedy that takes itself just seriously enough to be extremely entertaining.

There were a few highly touted freshman shows I tried to watch, but failed miserably.  Mad Men comes to mind, the show about the sexual exploits and social mores of a 1960’s advertising agency.  Despite recommendations from friends, I found the lack of plot to be incredibly boring most of the time.  Another AMC show, Breaking Bad, killed my interest in a couple episodes.  It was a novel idea, but the B-List actors got on my nerves.  I tried NBC’s Chuck as well, but found it to be a poor man’s Jake 2.0.  Eli Stone had my interest peaked, but the story moved along far too slowly and it got bogged down in political messages.

I’m looking forward to a couple new pilots in the fall, My Own Worst Enemy with Christian Slater sounding the most interesting.  It’s about a guy with a split personality, one half being a mild-mannered, middle-class family man and the other being a Jason Bourne type character that works for the military.  The premise sounds promising and I’d like to see poor Christian Slater finally get a hit.  I’m also looking forward to The Cleveland Show, the spin-off from the Family Guy character.

As I was sitting in the San Diego airport this week, I was anxiously downloading the finale of Thursday’s Lost to my laptop before the battery died. Fortunately, my battery lasted the length of the flight and I found that my previous predictions held up. I do believe that Lost may have lost (no pun intended) some viewers with their foray into the possibility of time travel. But they probably gained as many sci-fi nerds.

The Desmond / Penny reunion felt a bit flat compared to their hopeful phone call in The Constant (which was one of the best scenes in Lost history). But the important part was Desmond lived. Jin is a question mark right now, but I can’t imagine the show going without him next year. It also fits in well with Sun’s motivation to work with Widmore.

Michael’s death was justified and felt like a bit of redemption for him killing Ana Lucia and Hurley’s girl. He did his best to save Jin and pass the torch of fatherhood to him. It’s strange that Walt didn’t get to say goodbye to dear ole dad, but I’d imagine Walt will be chatting with the ghost of Michael eventually.

Keamy’s death was satisfying to say the least. And let me just say Sayid gave us a friendly reminder why he’s an official badass. The fight scene versus Keamy was ridiculously visceral. The whole radio transmitter ploy was fairly stupid, but it worked well for the majority of the audience that doesn’t give a flip about the science. Ben got his revenge and gave Keamy a painful death.

As for the reveal on the coffin, I had a feeling it was Locke as soon as Ben popped up in the room. I also think that Locke’s death means one of two things: Locke is officially dead, but returning him to the island will bring him back to life or that wasn’t Locke at all. Does anyone remember the video with the two rabbits? What if moving the island caused a doppelganger of Locke to be created a.k.a. Jeremy Bentham? It’s not probable, but it is possible.

Other random tidbits:

- Looks like Saywer and Juliet are going to hook up after polishing off that rum.

- Miles snarky outlook is growing on me. Charlotte got a whole lot more interesting.

- If Jin is alive and got moved with the island, it’s safe to assume that Daniel as moved as well.

- I think Sawyer told Kate something about his daughter.

- I love that Hurley was played chess with Mr. Eko’s ghost.

- Finally, I believe Ben is heading back to the island by hitching a ride with the Oceanic 6.

As I watched last night’s Lost episode (Part 1 of the finale), I felt that tons of groundwork was being laid for the Oceanic Six’s return to the island over the next season. But I do have some predictions for the final episode in a couple weeks based on what’s currently happening on the island.

1. Jin & Desmond live. I’m absolutely sure the freighter is going to go boom before the episode is over as it’s a great way to kill those extras that Daniel ferried over already, but Jin & Desmond will escape the blast. A Desmond / Penny reunion has to happen before the end of the series and Jin is too good of a character to kill off. However, I believe Sun will be convinced that Jin dies; either by Keamy’s hand or Locke’s action at the Orchid. (more on that in a minute)

2. Michael dies. I can see Michael sacrificing himself to save Jin / Desmond, but failing to escape the blast. The island will have no use for him anymore and allow the death. This also lends credence to the theory that Abbadon is a future version of Walt; searching for answers to what happened to his Dad on the island.

3. Keamy will die by Ben’s hand before the end of the episode, the rest of Keamy’s men by an Other ambush. It’s going to be a sweet revenge kill for taking the life of Alex. This sets up an empty chopper for the Oceanic Six to ride off the island before Locke gets down to business in the Orchid.

4. The Orchid doesn’t physically “move” the island, it moves the entrance. By shifting the electromagnetic field around the island, time is also altered as well. Unless someone searching for the island knows the exact entrance, they would spend years upon years looking for it.

5. Paik Industries is involved with Widmore / Dharma. It would be the most obvious reason why Sun would purchase a controlling interest in the company. It also offers a peek at how the Oceanic Six will be able to return to the island. I have a feeling Ben is in cahoots with Sun, similar to Sayid, and they will work together to defend the island from Widmore.

The more I think about Locke’s journey on last night’s episode of Lost, the more impressed I become with the writer’s sly incorporation of themes like Buddhism. The first time the young boy version of Locke meets Richard, picking out items that belonged to him is taken from the Buddhist test of finding the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Young John picked the vial of sand, the compass, and the rudimentary hunting knife.

Visibly upset, it’s clear that Richard wanted Locke to pick either the book of law or the ‘Mystery Island’ comic book; perhaps designed to represent rules and imagination respectively. But Locke picked the items that truly belonged to him. This fit in the theme later in the story when Locke rejected the idea of science camp (another attempt by Richard to alter John’s path) to choose his own destiny.

Later in the story, we see Abbadon manipulating John into getting on that Oceanic Six flight for his Australian walkabout. Rather than becoming upset at John’s choices, he encourages them. If Richard is supposed to represent destiny, then Abbadon clearly represents free will. Abbadon’s intentions are less clear though and he obviously remains oblivious to the island’s location after the Oceanic Six are rescued.

I believe Locke is a combination of both destiny & free will, but neither side realizes this yet. The only person that finally understands is Ben. What Ben saw as a manipulation of Hurley’s destiny under the guise of free will, Locke offered actual free will to Hurley.

Moving the Island

There are two distinct possibilities on this one. Physically moving the island is out of the question, so the island will have to be moved through time via the Orchid station or the pathway into the island will have to be moved. I’m leaning toward the time theory, although both are possible. The time theory would certainly explain the Black Rock ship sitting in the middle of the island. If the island jumped to a different time, any ship on the open seas in that area would suddenly be sitting on land rather sailing around. On the other hand, moving the entrance would fit with Widmore’s inability to find the island after the Oceanic Six get rescued. Plus it would be easier for a mass television audience to swallow than a time traveling island.

- My Favorite Moment: Hurley sharing his candy bar with Ben. It was sweet and a nice sidebar to the tension of the moment.

I’ve been distracted by Grand Theft Auto for the past week, but I did want to take a break to write about the most recent Lost episode. After reading the description in my Google reader, I knew it was going to be an episode of filler, but wondered what curve ball the creators would toss at me. Turns out to be Jack’s Dad, yet again.

I have no problem with slow, unrevealing Lost episodes. I do have a problem with anti-climactic episodes though. We knew Jack was going to be perfectly fine from the surgery, yet were forced to sit through the operation anyway. The only purpose it served was to offer yet another doppelganger moment as the situation improved on the island, the situation post rescue deteriorated for Jack.

We learned very little from this episode other than Charlotte speaks Korean, Sawyer decides to stay on the island, and lots of those crazy mercenary bastards survived the wrath of the smoke monster. But the writers decided to give us a lovely “What the Fuck?” moment when Papa Shephard shows up to lead Claire off into the jungle. For you folks that forgot, Jack’s Dad is also Claire’s father. I believe Jack’s dad is involved in the island’s fate somehow and perhaps we will find more out in the season finale. His brief appearances are becoming utterly ridiculous at this point though.

Before the previews for next week rolled, the only thing this episode really achieved was setting up possible scenarios for the finale. Jack may not be well enough to travel on the helicopter, Jin made it clear that he won’t get on the chopper before Sun and baby Aaron is on the way to his new mom, Kate.

Oddly enough, the previews were more exciting than the entire episode. For one, it’s clearly going to be a Locke episode. Does this mean we will see a Locke flashforward? One can only hope. We also saw a brief clip of Horace Goodspeed chatting it up with Locke. Seeing how Horace died 12 years ago in Ben’s purge, he’s either another ghost or been faking his death for years. Either way, I want to see Jacob for the love of Pete. I can’t go another entire year without some details about that crazy mystery man.

An advantage to the truncated season of Lost due to the writer’s strike is that each of the remaining episodes will likely be filled with a fast moving plotline. Last night’s episode proved that assumption and then some. Locke’s faction of Losties finally got attacked by the mercenaries from Michael’s boat and Jack had to deal with the washed up body of the boat’s doctor, who hadn’t died yet according to the boat’s communication.

- The game of Risk was some sort of foreshadowing. Hurley says “Australia is the key” (The Losties flight 815 originated in Sydney.) Loved Sawyer’s face when Ben unloaded the shotgun.

- I despised the way that the writers dispatched the 3 remaining extras that followed Locke. Having each run directly into gunfire to check on their downed friends was ridiculous. Of course their comical deaths fit their roles as mere sheep following one leader or another.

- The death of Ben’s daughter was extremely disturbing. I had a feeling that Alex was going to be executed, but that didn’t change the impact of the moment. I thought to myself that Ben had completely snapped at that point and went for solace in his panic room. Little did I know he was going to bust out an ancient cave with similar drawings as the flipping countdown on the hatch timer. I can only assume that the cave controls the smoke monster, although there is a theory that he travels to Tunisia at that point in the story to recruit help and inform Charles Widmore of his intentions.

- The recruitment of Sayid was fairly predictable, but I was fooled by Ben’s intentions. The sly little smile he had after Sayid begs him to join the cause was classic Ben. It’s also possible that Ben killed Nadia to manipulate Sayid.

- In the end, the ironic part of Sawyer leading the charge back to Jack’s camp with Claire & the baby is nearly the same moment that Daniel admitted to Jack that the boat wasn’t there to rescue them. Neither camp is benefiting from either leader at this point. I’d imagine they will rejoin by the end of the season.

- I loved that the previews showed Keamy (Alex’s executioner) still alive. That son of a bitch deserves an up close and personal death from Ben.

Tiny tidbits I noticed that may mean something important. (or nothing at all!)

• Ben’s coat, when waking in Tunisia, had a new Dharma logo on it, swirly rings with a small sprout in the middle (possibly the Orchid station). It also had the name Halliwax on it. Halliwax was one of Marvin Candle’s names in the introduction of one of the orientation films.

• The painting of the Black Rock ship was hanging beside Widmore’s bed at the end of the episode.

• Alex typed the number ‘1623’ for the fence code.

• The Rocket ship hieroglyph from the hatch clock was also seen on the cave wall.

I also watched 30 Rock last night, but didn’t laugh once. I’m not sure if the show is losing its luster or not.

I’ve been a fan of NBC’s The Office since the inception of the show. The story arcs are more entertaining than most dramas and the uncomfortable comedy is almost always rock solid. During the WGA strike, it was certainly the show that I craved the most. Last week’s return was filled with laugh after laugh about Michael & Jan’s deranged living relationship and I expected the same for this week. While I didn’t laugh half as hard last night, it was one of the more down to earth episodes I’ve seen in a while.

My favorite parts of the episode weren’t any particular jokes, but rather the exchange between Jim and Pam after Michael returns from his blind date, Kevin’s heartfelt victory speech and Jim’s coy “proposal” at the end of the show. I’m truly enamored with their innate ability to switch gears on the fly and blend the comedy / drama into such an irresistible package. It’s one of the few shows that can do it effectively.

I also appreciated the toned down nature of Michael’s gaffs. Too many times this season, the writers have painted Michael differently than previous seasons. He’s certainly an incompetent boss, but having him drive his car into a lake due to a GPS or smashing company property in a moronic prank war was bordering on buffoonery. The writers let the character slip away early on in Season 4 and I can only hope that he’s reigned back in. By comparison, his obsession with a deceased chair model was a decent first step back to normalcy.