Lost Without You

After six long years, the journey is over.

I remember the first time I saw Lost. I was living at Southampton College, working as an Administrator on Call while working in the Alumni office. As a rabid Alias fan, I would turn on ABC at 8:50 P.M. every Wednesday as I was finishing up what I was doing to be sure that I caught the very beginning of the episode. I had heard about Lost, but hadn't watched it. One night, while in my tiny concrete apartment, I actually sat down and watched the last 10 minutes of the show that had led into Alias. I saw a bunch of people settling down on the beach, resigning themselves to the fact that they were stuck on an island. The music was pretty good, which drew me in immediately. What happened next drew me in further.

The music began to falter. It skipped a few times and then went silent. And Jorge Garcia took off his headphones and set the down next to him. And it hit me how very isolated the writers were making the characters. Not even their SOUNDTRACK was safe.

I was hooked, though I didn't immediately begin watching. I knew it had to be done right.

My sister actually watched the first two seasons before I did via DVD. She told me that the show was great, and that was all the catalyst I needed. I rented the first two seasons and watched quickly enough to catch up in time for the premier of Season 3.

The rest was history. Even though Season 3 was not nearly as successful as the first two (in my mind) I still enjoyed it immensely. The show picked up steam again at the end of Season 3 with the revelation of the flash forwards. Even though season 5 had it's wandering moments, it still held me enthralled.

And now it's over. Season 6 answered a few questions, but left many more unanswered. I am a little melancholy at the moment. I know I'll see Matthew Fox again, but he won't be Jack. We will see Evangeline Lilly again, but Kate is gone. Locke is dead, and Terry O'Quinn just isn't the same. Hurley, Sawyer, Sun, Jin... these characters I have come to be emotionally invested in are gone now. It's as if they've boarded another flight, one that won't ever return. I feel like I've just ended a six year relationship with someone I care for very dearly.

I've been lucky enough to get a second chance with someone I cared for very deeply. It didn't end much better than the first time, but every moment with them was cherished. I know I will watch Lost again, from start to finish, and I will make sure I enjoy every moment of it. I thank the creators, even though I personally think they're a bit jerky, for creating this wonderful world that has so enthralled me.

Namaste.

Huh?

OK, so I am enjoying a lil' sun on my lunchbreak, down by my usual relaxation spot.

The guy in the jeep next to me is sleeping. And by sleeping, I don't mean reclined in his seat trying to catch a cat nap. I'm talking full on in the back seat, nasty feet hanging out the window, covered with a blanket, snoring, tossing and turning sleep.

Blanket? It's like 140 degrees out here!

Unfortunately, he woke up and took off before I could get a picture of said nasty feet for you fine folks to gawk at.

OK, so it lasted 17 days.

And by IT, I mean THIS.

Spring is upon us. It's beautiful, it's warm, and LOST is almost over. What the hell am I going to do with my life once it doesn't have LOST to kick it around?!?

I'm hoping we'll have nice weather for extended periods of time this spring. We need to get our roof fixed. I lost 9 years of school art work to a leaky ceiling. Devastating loss. As a temporary solution, we have a blue tarp over most of our house. Which is fine, except people keep mistaking us for an IHOP. No, we have no griddle cakes.

Attempting once again to get the blog running on a somewhat regular basis.

Smart Centipede Presents: Out Of Genre Sequels

There has, to my knowledge, been very few examples of a movie series that has switched genres successfully. Alien was a top notch horror movie, and anyone who tells you that Aliens was anything but an action film is deluding themselves. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a heavily intellectual Sci-Fi movie, while Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was much more action oriented. First Blood was a tense drama, while Rambo: First Blood Part II was another slam bang action movie. Halloween was a classic horror movie, while Halloween 3, Season of the Witch was a tragic (if unintentional) comedy.

Presented for your consideration, the following are trailer descriptions for the first big wave of genre crossing Hollywood movie sequels.

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The year is 2018. The Earth is in trouble. Humanity finds itself on the brink of extinction, having turned their once green planet into a barren, desolate wasteland. The last remnants of civilization are scattered. Among the ruins and decaying survivors, one young girl rises in search of her destiny.

We see her sifting through some rubble of an old house for supplies when a group of ten scavengers surprise her. She looks around for a way out, but the only unattended door leads to the basement. She edges towards it.

"No way out there, girlie," one of her would be assailants chuckles.

"Who said I was looking for a way out?" she asks, smiling. She draws in a breath and lets out a scream, turning the knob. The door opens, and on the other side is complete darkness. From the blackness, we see a single giant eye glaring menacingly, unblinkingly. The screen cuts to black and there is a bloodcurtling roar, followed by the screams of the scavengers being torn apart.

Monsters, Inc. 2: The Path of Boo

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We see the crowd at an NFL game. The New Orleans Saints hold a narrow lead against the Washington Redskins with only seconds left on the clock. "That wife you got owe us a lot of money when she die," a gravely cajun voice says off camera.

The screen cuts to a dark room, with a ring of several gangsters standing in a circle around a seated man wearing a Saints t-shirt. "We can't just let that debt go uncollected," the gravel voice gangster says as the camera orbits around the ring of thugs.

The screen cuts back to the game, with the Redskins breaking their offensive huddle and approaching the line of scrimmage. "The money got to come from somewhere."

Cut back to the dark room. "So you gonna help us out. You gonna make sure that your team don't win on Sunday."

Cut to the game, and the Redskins quarterback calls an audible at the line, pointing to the defensive formation. "We got a lot of money on the Saints to lose, son."

Cut to the dark room. "And they gonna lose. Because it would be a shame to see something happen to that lovely momma of yours."

Cut to the game, with the Redskins running back rushing to the right, and the Saints linebacker barreling towards him. "She old. She could be home one day, and hit her head in the tub and drown."

Cut back to the darkened room. "You wouldn't want your momma to drown, now, would you, Bobby?"

Cut to the game, as the linebacker and running back approach each other in slow motion at the goal line. Just before they collide the screen goes black. A wavering, elderly female voice mutters "you... you is de Devil..."

Waterboy II: Sudden Death

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As the camera comes up, we see the back of an older man listening to a transcription over an earbud. Suddenly, a woman enters the office. "Dr. Laughlin," she says insistently, "there are some men here to see you."

As the man turns, we see military officers entering the room. "Dr. David Laughlin?" one of the officers asks.

"That's right," he says, removing the earbud from his ear. (played by Bob Balaban)

"We're going to need you to come with us."

Cut to a white room with the camera behind a man sitting at a table. He is bound, and has obviously been heavily sedated. Behind the mirrored glass, Dr. Laughlin is briefed by the officer in charge. "We found him in Wyoming. He insisted on seeing Dr. Claude Lacombe."

"Claude Lacombe is dead," Laughlin replies. "He died shortly after... my God..." he says, looking at the sedated man.

He rushes into the room, despite the cautions from the technicians around him, and grabs the man by the arms. "Roy? What happened to you? We never received contact after-"

"I escaped," the sedated man says, though we still don't see who it is. "I don't know how I got back here. But I need to warn you. Warn them."

"Who, Roy? Who do you have to warn?"

We see Richard Dreyfuss, as he looked 30 years ago. "Everybody."

Screen cuts to a small farm house. As the camera's depth of focus changes, we hear Laughlin's voice ask "Are they coming back, Roy?" The camera's focus finishes on a mailbox with the name Guiler on it. The house, now blurry in the background, lights up with a blinding white light, and the screen cuts to black as we hear Roy's voice say "They never left."

Close Encounters: The Invasion

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There are infinite possibilities.

Joker (Matthew Modine) and Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin) in a 1980's Meatballs-style teen camp romp called "Full Metal Jacket Too!"

Cameron Poe (Nicholas Cage) is brought in by Marshall Vince Larkin (Jon Cusack) to track Garland Greene (Steve Buscemi) across a 21 state killing spree in "Con Air: The Greene Pasture."

Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) must track down who killed his former detention mate John Bender (Judd Nelson) in "Breakfast Club II: Deadly Reunion" (spoiler: it was Carl).

We need to get on this, people.

Mirror Day

Happy Mirror Day!

Today is 01022010 (01/02/2010). A mirroring like this won't happen again until 11/02/2011, and then again on 12/02/2021. After that, we'd have to wait until 10/21/2101. The last mirroring took place on 10/02/2001.

And none of this matters. I'm just bored.