Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Apply directly to the forehead!

Never misplace your remotes again! Well, they SAY it's for your remotes, but hey, anything you wanna stick some velcro on, *shazam!* it can be stuck to your face, Lobot! I'm not clear on whether that 'do is attached to the headband attached to the remote wrangler.

Yeah, I seem to be in the mode of pointing you to other stuff on the interweb. Deal with it.

Thanks to Jess and Gizmodo for the... umm... headzup (pun unavoidable)!

Keep on beepin on~

Corrupt. Lesbian. Penguins.



That's right! PENGUINS BEHIND BARS! Caged penguin heat! A titillating abomination! I know, your gut tells you it's Wrong. You refuse to believe it can happen. Not today! Not in America!

(Canada, MAYbe, but damn well not in America!)

Alas, sometimes, Patriots, the truth hurts...

Thanks to the dames at HulaScope for the animated Goodness That Dares Not Speak Its Name! =)

Keep on keepin on~

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Your salmonella's in my peanut butter!

Your peanut butter's in my salmonella!

Joe mentioned the Peter Pan recall the other day. Lucky for me I'm a Jif spreader nowadays. (What the f's a "Jif" anyway?) On hearing the news, I couldn't understand how salmonella got into the peanut butter. In my head, eggs just don't enter into the peanut butter process, y'know? Tainted/shared machinery? Human contaminants (ick)? After wondering about the source, my next concern was what else might be affected. At the time, Joe said that he hadn't read or heard any other products being contaminated.

Unfortunately, that's no longer the case. Although, y'know, if there was no problem with the ConAgra peanut butter, who'd care about someone complaining of feeling sick after eating a King-Size Peanut Butter Cup?

Thanks, Joe, for the update.

Frack, I love my Reesce's. Y'know, they're great to eat with a banana.

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: snacks

Frickin fantastic. =)

Thanks to Awesome for the headzup!

Keep on keepin on~

Monday, February 26, 2007

malfunc-T-ion

At Central Square this weekend one of the Dalek turnstiles was caught in some kind of an infinite loop, the gates opening and closing over and over again. Y'know, every couple of days some guy triggers the "cheat" buzzer by jumping thru a turnstile after me. They wait at the bottom of the stairs of what used to be the token- and pass-only entrances, and once someone gets buzzed through, they follow in the person's wake. It's kinda nice (and a little funny) to see some people with a conscience.

A minute of video here. =)

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. If you swiped your Charlie Card for the malfunctioning turnstile, it would allow you to pass thru and then return to its mechanical seizure.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

black wednesday jukebox

When it's twilight or dark and I listen to the tunes I put in my Valentine jukebox this year, man, they make me sad. It's loaded up with 80s music I'm a sucker for, joyous cheese product, you might say, as well as a couple of tracks for Black Wednesday over-the-top-ness and laughs, and okay, I'm more amazed than saddened by Charlene's motivational in-the-mirror monologue in the middle of "I've Never Been To Me," but overall, sad.

The tracklist:
  1. Modern English | I Melt With You
    80s joy.

  2. David Brent | Free Love Freeway (remix)
    Remixed goodness from the Imperial series of THE OFFICE.

  3. Wham | I'm Your Man
    80s joy.

  4. Naked Eyes | Always Something There To Remind Me
    80s joy.

  5. Simple Minds | Don't You Forget About Me
    John Hughes enhanced 80s joy.

  6. James Iha | music from LINDA LINDA LINDA
    From a fun soundtrack. This is one of several truly lovely instrumental bits, composed by James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins, to accompany quiet and silly moments in the film.

  7. Charlene | I've Never Been To Me
    80s cheese that may or may not be about "She-Bop"-ing.

  8. Olivia Newton John | Magic
    "Xanadu, your neon lights will shine for you...."~

  9. Skee-Lo | The Tale Of Mr. Morton
    School House Rock Rocks! =)

  10. Louis Armstrong | A Kiss to Build A Dream On
    I totally fell in love with this song while animating and editing in Sever basement. A film concentrator—Rachel, I think?—used this song in a segment of a short autobiographical piece. I was hearing it in the basement without ever seeing it with the film for a While and digging it, but when I finally saw it sync'd up in a screening, it was slow motion black and white handheld perfection.
I totally love the XANADU soundtrack. Love the movie. Always hoped there would be "sequels" that would show us what Kira's eight Muse sisters were up to while she was helping Michael Beck and Gene Kelly. I want to know what their artists' stories were like that they would end up at XANADU on the same night as Kira. Did one sister guide that two-feet-off-the-ground tightrope walker from the depths of despair back to the top? Did another encourage the inventor of those blinking marquee lights not to give up on his dream of seeing his idea used to light up a roller-disco? And still another convince an inspired set designer not to give up on his dream of a star-shaped center stage that is lit from within and also the base for some kind of interdimensional transporter to and from Mount Olympus?

There's something wrong with my brain, isn't there?

Hrmm... I wonder if my friends could stand watching XANADU at a Brattle party? That and SHAUN OF THE DEAD as a double feature? Heh. My ultimate double feature with XANADU would have it paired with FLASH GORDON. I'll hafta ask Ned and Ivy if that's even available. I think there was an early short run of it on DVD, but it's been "no longer available" for years. Bleah.

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. If you're looking for a kind-hearted look back at (fictional) 80s pop, check out MUSIC AND LYRICS. Saw it Friday night with Dan and his posse. Will try to throw together a ramble about it soon (I am WAY behind : P), but I'll tell you now and you'll hear me later that it's sincere in its appreciation of the music video 80s, and hey, charming Hugh and cutesy Drew making eyes and music together, what's not to like?

Saturday, February 24, 2007

a hole


Keep on keepin on~

random: NBC paper execs?

Question: Are all paper company execs grown from the same vat? See Dunder-Mifflin's David (Jan's boss, who shoots hoops w Jim in the back yard during the party), Papertech's Horn-rimmed Mr. Bennet (okay, sure, it's an alter ego/cover, but who's to say he's not actually running the company, too?)...

Anyone?

Would be fun to see the names of either company mentioned as competition on the other's show, donchathink?

Keep on keepin on~

* February 28. Sorry, that should be Primatech Paper up there, not Papertech. I would like to see the name parsed out smartalecky to reveal something of its true nature, a la Seatech Astronomy in SNEAKERS. Primate chp Aper? It would be some silly fun, but not necessarily make a lot of sense within the show's context—an anagram or hidden meaning would make stronger sense if the company was looking for "heroes" who could puzzle solve, or was founded by an eccentric (possible)—then again, that freakin half-DNA strand keeps showing up without any explanation in instances that can't be accounted for by human mucking about (unless Hiro's been bouncing back and forth in time trying to leave his friends clues without actively interacting with them, or the invisible man's been stalking the new heroes and having some fun in the background).

snaps from the week...

Paris Jen was the super bestest and took me to Chick-Fil-A to celebrate the Watch-A-Thon's conclusion. After that we saw THE MESSENGERS, a simple but well-crafted little box of horrorific fun, brought to the big screen by Sam Raimi and the Pang brothers. I'm looking forward to seeing young Kristen Stewart get a ton of juicy little-miss-voice-of-a-generation (HEATHERS, anyone?) roles in the future. IN THE LAND OF WOMEN is next, I believe. Frack, can't believe I dropped THE OC from my primetime hitlist just in time to miss its last season. Did I hear that right? The series finale aired this week? *sigh* I really did enjoy that show. Man, Seth would be a great guest on VERONICA MARS. =)

If you look closely at the photo, you'll see that the straw that I drew at Chick-Fil-A was... well... not a straw. It had been mechanically pinched near one end, rendering it useless for drinking. I don't quite understand how that happened. The pinch is a seal, with machine-pressed marks and patterns. Why would a STRAW-making machine even have that built into it? I mean, if you look at it, it's not like it came out of a machine that makes bendy straws, and maybe this straw just wasn't aligned correctly, cuz you'd see the bendy pattern, not a frickin *seal* you see? It doesn't make any sense...

Oh, at the Watch-A-Thon finish line, Ivy polled the thon'ers as to how the timing compared this time around versus last winter's, which ran in October-November. Perhaps it was post-schlock numbness, but I honestly could not reckon a preference, or even mentally perform a comparison. Ryan and Stephane both expressed a preference for the October-November option. Better movie-going weather, I think. Barring Revelations or Bruckheimer level phenomena, I say any weather is movie-going weather. Expect that I shall be harrassing you on the Brattle's behalf once again in eight months or so. =)

Fancy-shaped windows are being replaced in some of the offices at work. Some of the young Democratic fundraisers we share the floor with had some perhaps hippie, perhaps Valentine-inspired, fun rearranging the corky bumpers used to separate the new panes in travel. A damn sight kinder than the last time windows were replaced—some punk had sharpied the F-bomb onto one of the new panes. Frickin kids!

More "window love," only, across the way.

The face-huggers are coming in nicely this season, no? Heh. This bank of flowering shrubberies along the Boston Common takes on a ghastly aspect when encased in refrozen ice and snow.

Man, I wish I had four-wheel drive...

Or a frickin garage...

*sigh*

Keep on keepin on~

Friday, February 23, 2007

LOST: he walks among us...

Weak episode. Annoying. Why can't every episode be a Desmond episode? Or a Hurley or even a sad Locke, at least? Bleah.

First off, a little palate cleansing with some LOST-COLBERT pop-cultural cross referencing... I caught a recent rerun of the Colbert Report this week. Stephen's all excited about how some organization of Christians concerned about entertainment and culture chooses 355 entertainers/cultural icons and assigns each one to a day of the year on which 10,000 of its members will pray for that person. Actually, Stephen's day was *yesterday* (Thursday, that is)!

* Later that day... Found a clip! Check it out =)

When he first mentioned it on his show, I was sure these prayerlings were choosing entertainers to somehow influence them. but now, after several mentions on the Report, I'm unclear if this organization is necessarily praying for their health and happiness, or to save their souls, y'know, cuz they're in need of saving? To persuade them to behave a certain way, perhaps to correct or change the error of their Hollywood liberal entertainment ways...? It's totally Colbert's M.O. to turn just that sort of thing on its head, but it's also the *ultimate* form of it when you just can't tell.

Anyhow, Stephen is itching to find out what it will FEEL like, to have 10,000 prayers aimed at you on one day. (I remember this coming up on WEST WING one season in regards to prayers for CJ, but I can't remember where the show went with the issue—anyone?) So, he looks up people who have already had their days of prayer, and first on the calendar this year was LOST creator J.J. Abrams (They pray for people in alphabetical order—and why not?). Ha! Colbert had a photo of J.J. Walker up as a visual while Abrams was on the phone. Hahaha =)

So, Stephen asks him if he felt anything special, or if something interesting, different, or unusual, even the tiniest bit miraculous, happened on the first of the year. Abrams explains that he hadn't realized it, but yeah, there was one minor thing, actually... He matter-of-factly confesses that he's been having trouble trying to figure out an ending to his LOST show, in fact he's just been winging it, thrashing around without a clue for a couple years now, and on that day, suddenly, out of the blue, he came up with the ending.

Smartass, no?

Later in the convo, Colbert gives an impromptu audition for the part of young Doc McCoy for the STAR TREK prequel Abrams is scripting, and I say—give him the part! =)

At the end of the call, Stephen asks him if he would say, "Dyn-o-mite!" He does. But he's not happy about it. =)

* Even later that day. A pop-y BSG-LOST-OFFICE crossover trifecta on THE OFFICE last night. Did anyone catch it? At the dinner party, Dwight corners a guest...
Dwight: Do you watch Battlestar Galactica?

Guest: No.

Dwight: Then you are an idiot.
Heh heh. Well, maybe not such an idiot lately...

Anyone catch the directing credits for this episode? None other than J.J. "Dyn-o-mite!" Abrams! I was hoping to spot, but didn't identify, any 815 passengers at the party. Kind of a harsh, but promising, ending, no? "I'm going to kill Jim Halpert." Not quite a "Charlie, you are going to die," but a momentous OFFICE moment for Abrams to close on. Might've played a little different or been a better fit for last week's Joss Whedon, tho, right? I mean, a boyfriend reverting to evil once you open up to him? Altho, Joss does have the right touch for shining the spotlight on Pam and Michael as outsiders.

Miffed, disappointed, a little peeved at Joss's disconnection from the WONDER WOMAN thang, but quite lookin forward to BUFFY "season 8!" =)

Anyone hear about a green light for a JUSTICE LEAGUE film?


So, we were supposed to get the answers to three big LOST questions... We get a translation and origin of the Chinese characters of Jack's tattoo. That's one. We see Cindy the flight attendant and two children passengers from 815, abducted by the Others some time ago, milling about outside the polar bear cages. Apparently they've been assimilated/indoctrinated into a level of Other life. That's two. What's three? The only legit question I can think of that was answered (and this would be the only one of the three that was squarely/satisfyingly answered) is—where do the Others live? Ever since it was revealed that Hydra station was on another island, I've been confused about just where the Others' village is located. I think EVERY freakin character mentioned it once this episode, so okay, I get it now. The village is on the main island. The Hydra is a facility that they use for their projects, and a place that most don't seem to like.

That encounter with the 815 abductees was really annoying. We learn Nothing except that they're alive, they have clean clothes, and apparently, they're not told anything about the survivors (Anna Lucia). I imagine they've all spent some time in cells 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 and believe that God loves them as He loved Jacob.

Usually a weaker LOST episode will still be a pretty fun drama, following a flash/backstory of one of the characters. We didn't even really get that this time. We get an origin story for part of Jack's tattoo, but it's not nearly as powerful as I'd have made it. It's just so frickin vague, all parts of it, really. He's in Thailand, trying to find himself. I'm not sure when it is in his life, which is kind of annoying. Obviously, it's before he's gotten his tattoo, but I can't remember if I've seen him with it when he was performing miraculous spinal surgery on his future wife, when he was running stadiums with Desmond, or when he went looking for his father. Of course, he had it before going to Australia, but I honestly can't remember SEEing it then, or at any other flashback time, y'know? He does answer to "Doctor Jack..." That's a tiny clue to timing I guess. I'd wager this is the earliest/youngest we've seen Jack so far.
Sheriff: He walks among us, but he is not one of us...

Jack: That's what they say. It's not what they mean.
He's in Phuket on holiday, alone. He doesn't know how to fly a kite (his dad's fault). On the beach he meets a gargoyle in the form of a nymphomaniac Bai Ling (redundant, I know), and as long as he doesn't ask any personal questions, he can enjoy regular no-strings attached crazy girl sex in an apparent tropical paradise.

Of course, he asks questions. He finds out Atera(?) has a "gift,"—I was *hoping* it had to do with cooking special dumplings, but alas, not to be—but she's not allowed to share it. He forces the issue by following her to her unusual tattoo parlor. It turns out her gift is the ability to see who people are, their character or destiny, you might say, and then mark them. She tells him, "You are a leader, a great man, but this... this makes you lonely, and frightened, and angry..." She also tells him that marking him as such would break traditional laws of some kind, but of course, Jack insists, and gets "he walks amongst us, but he is not one of us" tattooed onto his shoulder.

There's a nice turn of a phrase when Atera describes her craft—"My work is not decoration, it is definition."

The next day, her brother and his a capella group converge on Jack at the beach and give him a hohum thrashing (no flashy muay thai bone cracking : P), leaving him curled up in a fetal position. From his vantage point in the sand, he sees Atera in the distance and she seems to be sad. Awww. She follows her brother and the rest of the Jets away and presumably out of Jack's life forever.

I was a little annoyed with the "exotic secrets of the east" angle that was played on several levels.
Atera: There are things that happen here that you could never understand...

Jack: Like your gift...

Atera: Like my gift.
I guess it's meant to serve a shorthand purpose, y'know? When presented in a foreign land and environment, the unusual, spiritual, and/or supernatural, meets less resistance from suspension of disbelief. If only the "gift" had been more overtly paranormal and powerful, I probably wouldn't have minded so much.

Jack's tatts are actually the actor, Matt's tatts, right? And the show is just working them into the story? Pretty frickin ridiculous, no? Still, if you're gonna do it, don't go halfway. It's gotta be significant somehow. So, they've been assimilated into the story as character development and motif for an episode. Not bad for a run-o-the-mill primetime drama. But for LOST? Pretty weak. I think we got it in the first couple episodes of the show that Jack is the "some people have greatness thrust upon them" guy. The reluctant leader.

She tells him, "There will be consequences, Jack." A beat-down on the beach hardly seems to match the ominous tone that warning should have carried. I like to think that the consequences are only now playing out on the LOST island. Maybe she's like the Oracle as well, marking people with what they need to see/hear, not necessarily what they are...

I have a small hope that the tattoo could be something more than just ink. That her "gift" is more than just description. She speaks of her ability as if it's mystical, so why not push that some more and attach more power to it? She *says* it's "definition," but the process is her SEEing and then her mark DESCRIBE-ing. What if it could PRESCRIBE? What if her mark MAKES the person what she inks? Perhaps you'd call it magic. Or maybe the ink is made of some crazy herbs or roots or eyes or babies and together with the F'd up powers that Dharma has unleashed on the island, just happens to imbue the tattooed with some enhanced power or sense or mental faculty...

It would be like Danny Torrance showing up at the haunted crazy hotel with his shining, y'know? An X-factor and fly in the ointment of the decidedly malicious machinations of some evil force.

Crazy talk. Like I said, a small hope.

*sigh*
Sheriff: Why are you lying for her, Jack?

Jack: I'd like to go back to my cage now...

I would've liked for Jack and Juliet to play their alliance in a more Machiavellian way, or even in a man-of-his-word way, instead of putting on a show of being nice and friendly people. Personally, I like Juliet, but Jack shouldn't be so whipped so soon by this woman, y'know? By "man-of-his-word," I mean that Jack could reasonably feel indebted to Juliet for going all out to help his friends escape the Hydra station island. She lived up to her end of the deal and broke her own code/laws to do it. Doesn't that make sense? The show had Jack acting like a freshman nerd who can get the senior cheerleader out of detention by giving her the alibi that he was tutoring her in trig when the fire alarm went off.

Umm... I have no idea why I'd come up with such a specific simile... No idea.

Sawyer was still pretty damn entertaining.
Karl: It's just where we work.

Sawyer: Work on what?

Karl: Projects.

Sawyer: Like, steal a kid off the raft project? That was a humdinger!
I liked seeing his "softer side," the romantic Sawyer... which starts with a punch in the shoulder and moves on to BRADY BUNCH nicknames. Kate was pretty frickin annoying, but I don't think that Sawyer *quite* pegged her guilt issue. He's taking the low high road and playing the jerkass, telling Kate that he knows that their night in the polar bear cage was just a death row booty call, not because that's the case, but because it lets both of them off the emotional hook. For Sawyer, Kate's one of those girls "you name dumb stars with." Kate, the marrying bandit, sees thru it, but understands that fighting him on it wil break its power. They belong together. Altho, I do hope to see a vicious Juliet vs. Kate catfight ina future episode.

"The blond woman."

Does Juliet's mark mean anything? It's not the Eye of Jupiter, is it? Does anyone else have this mark? Perhaps Rousseau? Or another one of the 815 survivors? Maybe Ben sent more than one spy to each crash site... *Or* perhaps a marked Other was actually on flight 815, after completing some Dharma work in the outside world, or maybe an escapee, who believed himself safe...

Karl's little reminiscence of he and Alex naming constellations brought up an interesting notion. What *does* the night sky look like on the LOST island? Was this already covered early on? If so, I've completely forgotten.

Geez, why do I try so hard to defend a criminally mediocre episode?

I know Karl's all wacked on lovesickness and cell 23-us interruptus, but how do you *not* ask him WTF w the CLOCKWORK ORANGE b-mod action? Where their backyards are? WhoTF is Ben? Bleah. I know, I know. It's how the show frickin works. You can't ask the obvious important questions until a very particular moment. Rules of the Island.

But still.

Frack. That montage at the end was just excruciating! Ticking away seconds and eating minutes that could have been better used to tell some real freakin story instead of cheezing up the mood. Other episodes have done that, but well, with the ending being an appropriate cap to the action, or check-in with all the characters, on the verge of something. This just wasn't the kind of episode for such a close.

Bad robot.

Keep on keepin on~

when discrimitunity knocks, will you answer?

John Oliver puts together an insightful and hard-hitting segment on an eye-opening civil rights struggle in Colorado.

View it in Quicktime at onegoodmove.org.

"Rosa Parks. Nelson Mandela. That guy from Tiananmen Square with the flower.."

"Kool, The Gang..."

Frickin brilliant.

Keep on keepin on~

Thursday, February 22, 2007

dessert difficulty rating...

Chocolate-covered strawberries really should be easier to eat. At the fondue or dipping point, of course, it's quite elementary. Or, if you've got access to the strawberry before application of chocolate, and some basic tools, a knife, a skewer, fancy fork, whatev. But if they're already made, and chilled, so the chocolate is a tasty shell surrounding the sweet and crunchy-juicy berry, you've got a bit of maneuvering to deal with... assuming you're not into eating the whatever-it's-called-does-it-have-a-name? sphincter-top of the berry, y'know?

And I'm not.

At least, I'm not interested in it. I've never tried it. So far as I know.

So, you've got this chocolate-covered goodness, but you've gotta hold it from where those little leaves are at that pinched top, and some of those leaves, understandably, are trapped in the chocolate, so you've gotta pluck them from their sweet dark amber (and they do come loose pretty readily, you've just gotta work at getting hold of or scratching off an edge of the leaf), then sorta gather them all together in your fingers as a handle of sorts, and then you try to get your mouth around the strawberry.

Thing is, when the chocolate's allowed to settle and harden around the strawberry, it's sitting flat on some surface, so what you've got when you pick up the strawberry, post-chillin, is a flat base, a chocological recording of the molten state pooling and cooling below and around the strawberry, sometimes bigger than the strawberry itself. Kind of a bonus, cuz who doesn't love slabs o chocolate, right? But it's all connected, see? Attached to the strawberry, one of these monitor stands of chocolate makes for a pretty serious mouthful on its own—like taking that extra giant potato chip you've been saving til the end all at once—forget about the strawberry shaped projection into the z-axis.

Daunting.

If you try to break up the chocolate instead of going for it, you end up cracking the shell and having all of the chocolate fall off in pottery shards. Kinda neat seeing the pattern of the nubby strawberry surface on the inside, true, but it's a compromise of the experience, see? And you'll get chocolate all over your fingers, which does melt in your hands as well as hour mouth. I wouldn't mind that part SO much, except that I'm consuming these at the office, y'know, where I work with a *keyboard* and *mouse.* So I need a good scrubdown before getting back to work after a chocostrawberry dessert or break.

There are certainly worse things...

Or so I hear.

I'd dig seeing these strawberries with their caps sliced off before their dipped, or maybe after their dipped and before their chilled? Then there'd be no leaf picking and gripping, just the all-over chocolate coating, y'know? I'm fine getting my fingers choc'd up in that situation. There's no alternative or half-way.

Just sayin.

In spite of the difficulty rating, they're still *really* frickin tasty. They'd just be even tastier if they were less trouble. =)

Michael Scott: That's what *she* said.

Jack Donaghy: That's what your mom said to me last night—Booyah!

Heh heh. Typing out "choc'd" reminded me of Target's chocolate candy brand, Choxie. "There's chocolate, and then there's Choxie..." My sister pointed it out to me once and explained how non-tasty they are and how the correct pronounciation should be "chokesy!" How awesome is that? =)

(Not that "chalksy" is much better. =)

My car is still in an ice box. Albeit not as menacing of one as (wack!) a week ago, but still surrounded, and *in* frozen ice and snow. And—wooHoo!—rain and snow are supposedly on the way tonight.

Gonna be a lot of pizza boxes in my recycling.

Keep on keepin on~

2d10 to support Pandemonium Books & Games

A copy-paste of a bulletin sent out by the Coolidge Corner Theater to support the recently relocated/re-opened Pandemonium Bookstore, now in Central Square...
Save a Bookstore, Save the World

(Originally posted by IFFBoston)
Hey Friends,

We've just heard that one of Cambridge's independently owned bookstores, Pandemonium Books and Games is in need of help.

Due to a recent traumatic move from Harvard Square to Central Square, the bookstore has suffered some great losses in revenue. Many of its patrons incorrectly believed that it had closed its doors. And during the moving process it lost 3 months in income. The store is deeply in debt to vendors and owes a great deal of back taxes to both State and Federal government. It is now on the brink of closure.

It would be very disappointing to see another locally owned business disappear from our landscape only to be replaced by yet another cell phone store or bank. Locally-owned businesses contribute to the fabric of our culture and we are steadily losing them. Remember the Tasty? Wordsworth? So what can you do?

Support this bookstore by buying a t-shirt from them. If Pandemonium can pre-sell a thousand of these it can pay its back taxes.

Click Here to Buy Shirt!

And you could also buy books from them. In fact, whenever possible, try to patronize one of the Boston area's fine selection of Independent Bookstores. We are very fortunate to have them in our neighborhoods.

Thanks for listening and tell your friends.

Coolidge Corner Theater
Keep on keepin on~

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

2am license for The Burren in Davis Square

Jill forwarded me a message from a friend who's close to the owners of The Burren in Davis Square—there's to be a hearing next week to get the pub a 2am license and the owners would like to have a decent contingent present for support. Participants will be rewarded! Check out the copy-pasted message below for details...
The hearing for the 2:00 am license at the Burren is finally coming up on Monday, February 26 at 6:00. Tommy and Louise are looking for warm bodies to fill the room (167 Holland St) as a show of support. Jess, do you still have friends living in Somerville, do you think they would go? Jill, you're practically in Somerville, do you think you could rally a few of your friends/ neighbors. This is the best part: There will be a get together in The Burren on Sunday the 25th from 6-8 PM with open bar and a buffet, and also on Monday evening after the hearing (win or lose) they will be showing their appreciation (partay) to anyone who attends the hearing. Unfortunately I will be on my way from Ireland to Italy the night of the hearing, but Tommy and Louise asked if I could rally some support, they need all the help they can get.

Slán agus Beannacht
I'm not up on my Irish... do you suppose that might translate to...?

Keep on keepin on~

Monday, February 19, 2007

everyone loves a hanging!

Caught the ALL BUGS REVUE, part of the Brattle's Bugs Bunny Film Festival, on Friday night. You really must check out at least one of the shows in the series. Cartoons—good and great ones, too—on the big screen in a darkened theater with a decent crowd, it's a grand experience. Wonderful if you're a fan and know them from your childhood, too.

In particular, the ALL BUGS REVUE includes some real gems, like "Rabbit of Seville" and "Hillbilly Hare," as well as some not-quite-classic, but pretty damn entertaining match-ups, Bugs vs. Sam the prison warden, Bugs vs. Sam the back robber, Bugs vs. the Black Knight (without time travel), Bugs vs. Rocky & Mugsy, and Bugs vs. Daffy in Hollywood. Alas, no "Rabbit season!"-"Duck season!" in this one, but I'm sure you'll find it in one of the other collections. =)

One bit of animated physical comedy kind of took me by surprise. It was in the Bugs vs. Sam the prison warden one, "Big House Bunny." Sam's chasing Bugs around the grounds inside the prison and Bugs takes a ramp up to the gallows. He steps on the trap door and pushes a button or pulls a lever, and the trapdoor takes him down to the ground like an elevator. The door rises again, and when Sam jumps on it, he gets his head caught in the noose, the trapdoor opens, and Sam falls right on thru, hanging himself. Of course, he's fine, gasping for air, but mostly ticked off, and miffed that his boss is yelling for him cuz he's screwed up once again.

I didn't remember that scene from my Saturday morning memories, but figured I must've seen it before. Maybe it was censored/removed forTV? In any case, confronted with it in the REVUE, I found that I simply couldn't give it the enthusiastic laugh that other bits of Looney violence tickled out of me. Weird, because I'm always laughing at hangings, too. I mentioned it to Ryan on the way out of the "finish line" reception and he agreed that it felt a bit *off* somehow. He went on to mention other bits of harshness, like the electric chair that makes an appearance in the next scene. Of course, I told him, "Yeah, see, now THAT's funny!" It wasn't hilarious—like Bugs strapping metal rollerskates on Mugsy and using an oversized magnet beneath the floorboards to ram him repeatedly into Rocky—but it didn't make me think twice about how I should react.

Is it that I'm getting old? Or was the gallows just a bad call for comedy? Or has something changed in the social/cultural climate that's made it not-so-funny? Do kids not play hangman anymore?

I'm quite certain I heard one of the kids sitting in front of me tell his mom, "I didn't get that one," after the gallows bit.

I hafta say, I haven't seen the execution of everyone's favorite Iraqi despot. I wasn't avoiding it, but I just didn't go looking for it. Perhaps I've been affected by it without knowing, my psyche buffetted by the execution/spectacle's unseen ripples in the cultural ether.

Do Looney hijinks still inspire laughs in you? Go see the series and check it out for yourself! "Rabbit of Seville!" (Channelling G.O.B.) Come ON! =)

Keep on keepin on~

overheard at the movie theater...

In the men's room before THE MESSENGERS with Paris Jen, RN, a father and son were on their way out when I stepped in. At least, the father was. The little boy was playing with the motion sensor faucets. The father had to double back from the door to lure him away...

C'mon, we have to go back *quick*! Tonight all the little men come back to life, and the monkey! What's the monkey gonna do?

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, I figured. =)

After the movie, in the lobby, there were three high school kids, two girls, sitting in the side-by-side seats of some head-to-head driving game, and one guy, playing TIME CRISIS 237 or something. The guy was shooting stuff, but managed to very matter-of-factly deliver the following gem of advice to the girls.

If he calls you a skank, that means he *likes* you...

The girls seemed to take him seriously. Ahh... high school... I guessed they might've been speaking of a fourth member of their party, another guy, who was probably in the restroom. They might've been the two pairs who sat in the second row when MESSENGERS started, moved to the front row after about 10 minutes, and then, farther in to the movie, left for different seats somewhere behind us.

Keep on keepin on~

NAMESAKE & HOT FUZZtival @the Brattle!

An alert about some upcoming gems exclusive to the Brattle...

March 15. THE NAMESAKE.
site | trailer | Brattle
Based on the wonderful novel. I recently finished the book off (was a little thrown at the beginning by some jumps in voice, but settled in for some goodness about a third of the way in, and very much enjoyed the read), and it's the first time I've encountered the Brattle referenced in literature. It was cool and slightly reality-warping. I think I may often sit in seats that the characters chose. =)

Last night at the Kong, I asked Ned if the film had done any shooting at the theater and he replied in the negative. Alas, after scanning the trailer, I gather that the adaptation for the movie unfortunately relocates the novel's Boston and Cambridge storytelling to NYC. O well.

March 16 thru March 25. The HOT FUZZtival & HOT FUZZ!
site | trailer | Brattle
The HOT FUZZtival series features films of the supercop genre that inspired creator-innovator-geniuses Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg to conjure up HOT FUZZ. Ends on March 25 with a preview screening of HOT FUZZ with the creators in attendance!

Also, just cuz—Man, before THE MESSENGERS today, I caught the most recent trailer for 300... Anyone who doesn't see that in theaters needs to be punched in the neck.

Keep on keepin on~

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Watch-A-Thon: finish line!

Got back from the Hong Kong a little while ago. That's where the Brattle held its Watch-A-Thon "finish line" reception. Ticket stubs and 'thon registration card stamps were tallied and pledge sheets were summed up, and in the end...

Thanks to everyone's support, my Winter 2007 Watch-A-Thon run raised over $1,500! That amount won me the honor of most funds raised this time around, and a fabulous prize showcase featuring a party at the Brattle! Pretty frickin kickass. =)

Zany thanks also to Ned, Ivy, and Caitlin, the fine film fiends behind the Goodness of my favorite theater! =)

Fellow Brattling man Ryan won the award for most films watched, which comes with a Chlotrudis membership for two and free admission to a session of the Brattle's Sunday morning Eye-Openers (at one of which I got to see BUBBA HO-TEP before its wide release). It's funny, I first met Ryan at the "finish line" last winter, and we talked movies and the Brattle a little, but didn't cross paths again for a long while. The next time I met him was thru work, and it was months later, and both of us were doing the "Y'know, you seem awfully familiar..." It took a couple days, but it came to me when I was walking thru the Square to a Brattle show—I'd met him thru the Watch-A-Thon! And, a week or three later, I ended up running into him at the theater after a screening. Kooky, no?

That's not all, tho. While I was talking to Ryan at that run-in, this woman came up the aisle towards me, stopping beside him, and said, "Hey! Brian!" It was Darcy, this kickass volleyball player with whom I'd played outdoor pick-up at M.I.T. a few summers back. How frickin random, no?

Wait, it gets better. Ryan turns to Darcy and asks her, "How do you know Brian?" And Darcy asks Ryan the same thing right back. How is that possible?

The doctor is the boy's MOTHER, that's how!

Heh. They're married! Koooky. I'd met them separately thru pretty much unconnected sectors of my life and it turns out they're wedlocked. Maybe the math will say that it's not all that unusual or unlikely, but given the somewhat limited sectors of my life, it certainly feels odds-beating, and funny.

Hanging out at the Kong, still slightly fried from the schlockfest, with a really friendly group of people who love movies... it was wonderfully nummy. I don't know that I said all that much (not unusual, you know my M.O... the one the neighbors will give to the media after I... umm... implement my eventual exit strategy—"quiet guy, kept mostly to himself"), but there was a great mellow orange creamsicle vibe to it all.

I got some fun accolades for the ticket stubbing of my Far Side calendar. You can see photos I've taken of various months of movies collected on its pages in earlier posts. It's something I started doing a couple of apartments ago... I guess four or five years. For the longest time I'd collect my ticket stubs in shoeboxes, and then in empty Trader Joe's cookie bins. They're never really all that... well, *useful* or *readable* collected in gross like that, y'know? But hey, it's me, and these are things, so what else am I gonna do? I'm gonna collect them!

One day, tho. I just, for whatever reason, caught myself looking at my Far Side calendar, hung up on the wall over a short bookcase, on top of which was my latest bucket o ticket stubs, and I thought to myself, "There's *something* here..." and I started attaching my ticket stubs to the associated dates on my calendar. For a while at Blake Street, I'd keep two calendars up side by side, last year's next to this year's, open to the same month, so that I could see what kind of and how much crap I was watching a year ago.

I think it's a pretty good system for recording and displaying one's celluloid conquests... and embarrassments, I imagine. If ever I see something that would cause me embarassment. =)

Other stubs that have found spots on the calendar are for concerts (not so many these past few years, old coot that I am), plays, Amtrak and airline tix, parking stubs for the beach, receipts for interesting/important purchases, and business cards from unique restaurants. One should understand, tho, that depending on your how you discriminate amongst your stubs, and your frequency for film(or other event)-going, your calendar may quickly lose some of its utility for actually keeping track of the date at a glance. A little bit of math and that rhyme about how many days in each month will help compensate, tho.

Several people asked me about the schlockfest, and how I was feeling after making it thru from start to finish. I explained to them that I'm pretty sure I got some rest for half of BLACK VENGEANCE and half of MOTHER GOOSE. Ned asked me if I missed "the rape scene" in VENGEANCE, and I couldn't remember it. He told me I was the better for not seeing it. Caitlin said something about how that would be an excellent band name—The Rape Scene. Heh. Like I said, a good people.

After Caitlin's remark, in my head I was thinking of "scene" in more of the "hey, daddy-o" way, like, "Man, I'm totally digging the rape scene here in [some place with a really liberal and up-to-date rape scene]." Of course, in the alternate universe where this would fly, the word rape would refer to something that is not actually rape, like... mime... or something...

Y'know, don't chalk that up to sleep deprivation or the schlock on the brain. I would've thought that regardless. And yeah, it would still be Wrong.

Allright, I'll pick this up in a next post. I'm losing my focus right now and want to go soak in some BSG.

Keep on keepin on~

* February 19, 2007. Oh, hey! I forgot to include the final count of films. Each movie in the schlock fest counts as a film watched at the Brattle, so the accurate factored count is 67 films, with 24 films at the Brattle and 19 films at other venues. Thanks again for everyone's support—donors/sponsors as well as a few movie-going buddies!

Watch-A-Thon: unofficial final count

Barring my being forcibly abducted and taken to a movie before 5.30 tonight, I've now got a final count for my Watch-A-Thon hits. The newest notches in my theater seat are all from last night's Schlock-Around-The-Clock all-nighter...
  1. February 17. SHANTY TRAMP. Schlock-Around-The-Clock. Brattle Theater.

  2. February 17. TROLL 2. Schlock-Around-The-Clock. Brattle Theater.

  3. February 18. WONDER WOMAN. Schlock-Around-The-Clock. Brattle Theater.

  4. February 18. BARB WIRE. Schlock-Around-The-Clock. Brattle Theater.

  5. February 18. JOYSTICKS. Schlock-Around-The-Clock. Brattle Theater.

  6. February 18. POOR PRETTY EDDY (aka BLACK VENGEANCE). Schlock-Around-The-Clock. Brattle Theater.

  7. February 18. THE MAGIC LAND OF MOTHER GOOSE. Schlock-Around-The-Clock. Brattle Theater.

  8. February 18. BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. Schlock-Around-The-Clock. Brattle Theater.

  9. February 18. THE TERROR OF TINY TOWN. Schlock-Around-The-Clock. Brattle Theater.
I was hoping/planning on making a 2pm ICA screening of Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL, with live musical accompaniment by the most excellent Alloy Orchestra. However, while pondering yesterday the 15 hours of fried celluloid I would be consuming overnight, I decided to tag myself out of the option. Looking back now, I do believe I chose wisely.

Adding in the nine films from last night, the Watch-A-Thon final tallies come to...

Brattle films: 24

Films at other venues: 19

For the purposes of the Watch-A-Thon and pledges per film, Brattle films count as 2, and films at other venues, 1, which puts my factored 'thon count at 67. Wack. Maybe I'm jumping the gun on counting all nine films from last night. Shouldn't I, tho? I guess I'll wait til the count at the "finish line" tonight. If the schlockfest counts as two Brattle flicks then that brings my factored 'thon count to 53. I'll post an update on the official count later tonight.

Keep on keepin on~

schlocked

Saturday, 9.15pm...
Sunday, 12.15pm...
And in between...
Alas, I was operating at 80% at best most of the night, and didn't have presence of mind enough to get shots of everything that was screened, but that's a spread that covers some TREK bloopers, the WONDER WOMAN pilot starring Cathie Lee Crosby (and Ricardo Mantalban!), JOYSTICKS, MAGIC LAND OF MOTHER GOOSE, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER, THE TERROR OF TINY TOWN, and some early am snack breaks. Sorry, none of SHANTY TRAMP (wretchedly amazing, as Ned put it—"*so* mean-spirited"), nor TROLL 2 (a R.L. Stine's Goosebumps two-parter gone wrong) =)

I got two stamps on my Watch-A-Thon card when I was admitted, but screened nine films (although I think I slept with my eyes open thru chunks of POOR PRETTY EDDY and MOTHER GOOSE), so I'm just gonna go ahead and add them to my final count. Sponsorship-wise, the count really only effects three pledgers, and one of them's capped.

Keep on keepin on~

Saturday, February 17, 2007

LOST: parcel here for 815...

While I'm twiddling my thumbs this afternoon...

I caught parts of the last two episodes again when Rowan watched them last night and earlier this afternoon, and of course it got me scattin' on bits of recent LOST-ness...

The painting in Widmore's office. I didn't go back to look at it the first time, but seeing it again, it's not really the hatch mural style. The second time around, and with me more awake, what's *in* the painting is actually very readable, as a POLAR BEAR and an upside down (or was it just floating?) Buddha. So, if you had any doubt about Widmore being connected... COME ON!

=)

I realized after my ramble on the episode that Penny's accent was likely stronger cuz this flashback was so many years before Desmond starts training for Widmore's race.

I'm surprised Sawyer didn't get to say anything about the Millenium Falcon when getting out of "Sheena's" hidey hole. "Never thought I'd be smuggling myself in them..." Or that Alex didn't get to, as she showed quite a bit of spunk and attitude in her replies to Sawyer's smartassery.

The Others *must* have a copy of STAR WARS on the island, right?

I wasn't sure, but Rowan agrees, that no one mentions Ben's name explicitly when referring to Alex's father. Juliet *does* say something like, "When your father wakes up," which certainly seems to refer to Ben, being in surgery and all, but maybe her father's someone else, who happens to be asleep at the same time...? Scheduled meditation...? Vampiric hibernation...? Not yet out of the resurrection bath? I *do* still prefer the Benry-as-adopted-father scenario as the best fit.

Juliet arrived on the island three years and change ago. Was that during the same storm that sucked Desmond onto the island?

The LOST Oracle, like the MATRIX Oracle, is very choosey about her words. Tells Desmond what he needs to hear, I think, not necessarily what's factual. So, the following need not be true, but needed to be said as a way to help motivate him (in case his "cowardice" wasn't enough).

"You may not like your path, Desmond, but pushing that button is the only truly great thing you will ever do..."

Has Desmond seen the end of his life? Or did he relive his past up to the implosion, and since then, has been getting precog flashes? Of course, nothing TOO helpful or far in advance, lest he be able to solve everything, or at least, reveal everything, if not fix it.

I also think that everything in the past that Desmond thinks he's re-living must have actually happened that way.

His discussion with Donovan should be Important. Physicist best friend and all, the professor's certainly not going to forget Desmond's crazy talk in the pub. And when, years later, he finds out that Desmond is lost at sea and his true love has embarked on a search for him, I should think that Donovan would step up and fill in the blanks with some vital information from Des's story that helps lead to engaging that arctic monitoring station. Pretty nifty, eh?

The concussions as life bookmarks are kind of annoying. Convenient for storytelling, in a Fred Flintstone and Gilligan sort of way, and television-drama explainable enough, but still, frickin annoying.

I would like to see the story leading up to Red Shoes's demise in an upcoming episode. Maybe before gettin on the tube, he'd just said goodbye to his wife, the one-legged girl with a heart of gold...?

I like the OZ-ness of Red Shoes's death. Was *so* hoping for his toes to curl up at the end, y'know? Maybe the story that he's a part of flows like an Oz story somehow. Or he was another unfortunate bit of collateral damage in Dharma's schemes (a la the bussing of Dr. Jurke). That could be pretty fun.

The Oracle says that if he doesn't follow his path, everybody (in the world?) will die. If he doesn't follow his path, he doesn't make it to the island, and he doesn't accidentally kill Kelvin, who's trying to steal his boat, and doesn't suck Oceanic 815 to the island, so there aren't any survivors to discover the hatch, and Locke won't force the countdown to zero, inspiring Desmond to step up and turn the failsafe key, unwittingly sending his consciousness back a decade to meet the Oracle with all his knowledge of his future on the island. Apparently, Something Worse happens if he doesn't follow his path. Kelvin might die on his own, and the hatch would explode instead of implode, and the resultant whatever would destroy the world/kill everyone...? Does the thought of Something Worse help push Desmond to give Penny the speech which, if you didn't know about Desmond's time-jumping, would sound perfectly like the words of a commitment-phobe with confidence/pride issues playing the jerk to end a relationship with a woman he loves...? Like a coward...?

I forgot to mention how much I simultaneously enjoyed and was annoyed by the exchange where Locke informs the cool kids that Eko was killed...

"The Island killed him."

"What do you mean? The Island killed him?"

"You know what it means..."

Voldemort killed him? They won't even give it a name to not say. And for the most part, they still don't seem to be worried about it from day to day. I mean, F! The black cloud that roars like a t-rex and detonates chunks of earth and apparently chomps and thrashes people at will, well, that would be a high priority action item on this particular off-site!

Just sayin~

Keep on keepin on~

the fruits of helping out...

I'm shuffling about the homestead in my sorta-PJs, mostly aimless, and considering the movie-going Schlock-Around-The-Clock challenge ahead of me this evening. I'm annoyed that I woke up as early as I did today, around 8am. Granted, I didn't actually get out of bed til after 9, watching/listening to some FAWLTY TOWERS on dvd and flipping thru old comic books, all the while staying under my emaciated-yet-comfy comforter. I stayed up late last night and hoped to crash until 11 or even noon, so that I'd have some rest "saved up" for the Brattle all-nighter tonight. Nuts. This means I'll probably drop off during some movie at 3am and wake up pretzelled 90 minutes later. I'll bring a pillow. That helped last year at the TWIN PEAKS marathon.

Maybe I'll nap in the afternoon. Never been good at naps, but maybe.

I had a banana with some peanut butter, washed down with a diet coke, for breakfast. MMm Mmm good! When to have lunch or dinner? And what to have? I'd like to keep seated evacuation breaks to an absolute minimum for the course of the schlockfest, y'know? And there will be all that early a.m. snacking. Maybe I'll pick up a sub at 'Noch's before the show to pick at overnight. Maybe I should not have a meal until an hour or so before showtime? That might work out nicely anyhow—hit the Square, pick up some comic books, grab a few slices, then hit the fest.

I've got plans to catch a 2pm show at the ICA tomorrow after the fest, too. This is going to be interesting...

=)

And now, a little recollection of my Thursday morning commute, edited down (and up) from my telling to Jen, RN...

Have you ever been to or bought or received as a gift an item from Edible Arrangements?  There's one around the corner from our place and I've checked out the posters in the windows a few times, marvelled a mite at the detail, but basically been unimpressed with the concept.  Always seemed like a SHARPER IMAGE for food, y'know? Only, without the nose hair clippers, suit of armor, or H.R. Giger ALIEN replica.

At least, they're not pushing those items if they have them.

I could just barely imagine them finding enough business in people giving their fruit-cut-to-look-like-flowers bouquets or whatever as gifts. Just the sort of thing no one would get for themselves, y'know?

I found out Thursday, tho, that they *do* offer some very delicious strawberries...

I was trekking to the T to go to work and passed two Edible A employees working on digging their delivery van out of its parking spot on Hampshire, one guy in the driver's seat and his partner outside lacing the ice with sand and giving the driver start and stop signals.  They seemed to have gotten a decent way to getting the vehicle out, stuck for the moment spinning wheels on ice, and I stopped and asked if they wanted some help with heave-ho-ing.

Earlier in the morning, two neighborhood fellas had helped Rowan, In, and I get my sister's car free with some mighty pushing and I guess I felt like paying it forward.

The guys welcomed some help, and the sandman said—I'll go take the driver's seat cuz I'm basically a weakling—and traded places w the other guy, who did look more Thing than Mr. Fantastic, and we set to doing the rocking back-n-forth thing with the driver hitting the gas on the forth part.  It felt like we got the van just on the verge, definitely back to getting traction, but in the process had rolled the van into a shelf of ice and snow that it just wasn't going to get thru without more digging or a runway.  So, the guys told me thanks, but they'd hafta go back to shovelling a while.

A manager-type woman appeared while the van was a-rockin, and when we were done (trying to get the van free, you pervs... the sex wasn't til later), she insisted that I stop by the store sometime to pick up a reward.  Then she told me to waitasec, and yelled back across the street to a girl in the doorway of the store—Have we got those strawberries?  And the girl told her yes, and the manager asked me—How about some fresh strawberries?  Take some strawberries, please!

I think she felt badly cuz when I stepped away from the van, my pant legs and coat were totally sprayed in sand and murky slush bits, excavated and spit out by the rear wheels.  I figured on the coat taking a hit, but, yeah, the frosted pants weren't pleasant.  I explained that it was no big deal.  I'd been working on freeing another car all morning.  Still, she insisted.

So, I accepted her strawberries and went on my way.  I didn't look hard at them—she handed me a box, and then a bag to put them in—but expected that the box would reveal a dozen strawberries cut to look like tulips or roses or anatomically correct human hearts, or maybe apples.  When I got into the office, I opened it up to find that they were whole strawberries, and covered in chocolate!  =)
Not a bad haul for being a samaritan.

I do wonder if the strawberries were a black wednesday present that missed a connection.

Later in the day my shoulders got weirdly achey, like their sockets hurt. They still ache today.  I don't know how the car pushes would've resulted in this. Maybe it was more about the shovelling and smashing/cracking of the ice when extricating my sister's car. With nothing better to do on my walks to and from the T and the Brattle over the last couple days, I've offered to help people with the push-n-shove six times, and half the time been helpful/succcessful. This has not been the worst cold precipitation I've seen come down in the area, but it does seem like it's been allowed to impact roads and travel way more than typical. Walking on the icy sidewalks is a real workout, and every other block or so, day or night since the rain, I encounter some fellow trying to ram his way out of a spot, a woman digging thru the ice and snow to the dirt in the smothered flowerbed next to her building to sprinkle it on the ice around her tires, or a friend trying to talk his buddy down from a rant about never getting his car out and not going out tonight.

My car currently remains under its ice shield and trapped in a formidable ice box. I'm hoping that a sunny day or three will release it before I run out of food. =)

Keep on keepin on~

Watch-A-Thon: scorecard going into the final lap...

Many thanks to newest donors, designfemme, "Aces" Berman, and Rowan, who, along with the parentals, has made a (capped) pledge per-movie to support my sickness. I also have it on good authority that Atomic Mouse will drop some tax-deductible change into my Watch-A-Thon busket. =)

And now, the latest victims in my movie murder spree. Awwwwh yeah...
  1. February 10. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Brattle Theater.

  2. February 10. THE MUMMY. Brattle Theater.

  3. February 11. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. Brattle Theater.

  4. February 13. PUCCINI FOR BEGINNERS. Kendall Square.

  5. February 14. LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA. Kendall Square.

  6. February 16. ALL BUGS REVUE. Bugs Bunny Film Festival. Brattle Theater.
Sad to say that harsh conditions on black wednesday kept me from trekking to the Brattle for CASABLANCA or commuting in to the MFA for AMPHIBIAN MAN. Just as well I suppose, as I heard tell later that the Brattle had to close mid-screening because of some kind of engineering/utilities issues in the area. The phrase "exploding manhole covers" was overheard in a discussion of the incident tonight at the theater. Yikes.

The Watch-A-Thon counts so far...

Brattle films: 15

Films at other venues: 19

For the purposes of the Watch-A-Thon and pledges per film, Brattle films count as 2, and films at other venues, 1, which puts my factored 'thon count at 49. Wack.

The "finish line" is Sunday night, and I'm hoping to pack in a few more big screen hits before then. The Brattle's got the Bugs Bunny Film Festival running for the next week or so. Tomorrow evening, I'm gonna hit the Schlock-Around-The-Clock festival, 15 hours of Q-grade filmic achievement—hoo-AH!

If I can remain conscious long enough, I'm hoping to make my way over to the ICA to catch an Alloy Orchestra performance to Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL.

It's a good thing I don't have a life, eh? =)

I hope to motivate on some more rambles of the films I've consumed lately. EL TOPO, HOLY MOUNTAIN, PUCCINI and LETTERS do deserve some recollecting and praise.

Keep on keepin on~

Friday, February 16, 2007

schlock-around-the-clock @the Brattle

Check out the lineup for this weekend's Brattle schlock-and-awe-fest...

H.G. Lewis—The Wizard of Gore—does Mother Goose (hopefully not literally, but, who knows?)! Ed Wood's BRIDE OF THE MONSTER! Cathie Lee Crosby as WONDER WOMAN! Nilbog is goblin spelled backwards—why is the movie called TROLL 2?!

Really, how could I not go? =)

Please don't let me die in vain, tho. Visit my Watch-A-Thon sponsorship page and make a (wholly tax deductible!) donation to the Brattle in my name. Thank you! =)

Tonight's line-up...

SHANTY TRAMP (1967) The town tramp prefers her black neighbor to the sleazy advances of a local evangelist. Tragedy ensues! A low-rent Florida production by the legendary schlock producer K. Gordon Murray.

TROLL 2 (1990) A young boy moves with his family to the town of Nilbog. Can he save his family from being turned into plants and solve the mind-bending puzzle behind the town's name before it is too late? The Citizen Kane of bad movies (and not actually a sequel).

WONDER WOMAN (1974) The little-seen original pilot episode of the classic 70s TV series! Featuring Cathie Lee Crosby as Wonder Woman.

BARB WIRE (1996) Pamela Anderson's unexpectedly entertaining starring debut. Is it really a sci-fi variation on CASABLANCA? Believe it!

JOYSTICKS (1983) Sex-crazed teenagers band together to save their local video arcade.

POOR PRETTY EDDY (1975) A homicidal Elvis impersonator kidnaps a black lounge singer (Leslie Uggams) for his own sick enjoyment. Shelly Winters looks on.

THE MAGIC LAND OF MOTHER GOOSE (1967) The Wizard of Gore himself, Herschell Gordon Lewis, attempted this attempt at children's entertainment and failed spectacularly.

BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (1955) No schlocky marathon would be complete without an offering from the inimitable Edward D. Wood Jr.

THE TERROR OF TINY TOWN (1938) Let's face it: Midgets acting like cowboys is hilarious. A true classic of the genre.

In addition to these rarely-screened, one-of-a-kind films, attendees can expect complimentary snacks, trivia prizes and more!

Don't cry for me... I'm already dead...

=)

Keep on keepin on~

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Watch-A-Thon: home stretch, may need a spotter...

Friday night the Bugs Bunny Film Festival kicks off at the Brattle. I'm hoping to hit a few of the collections, maybe with a small posse if I can motivate some people. Saturday to Sunday is the 15-hour Schlock-Around-The-Clock marathon, the Heartbreak Hill of the 'thon, I guess. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen any of the gems in the line-up before, so I'd like to check it out. Thing is, I think that given the foolishness I've put myself thru in the 'thon so far, I don't know that I can manage it alone. I'd love to have a spotter, or a tag-team partner, to take it on with me. If I can't round anyone up, maybe I'll try to be selective about the films, or... I'll just not go. There are some Alloy Orchestra options at the ICA I was wanting to check out, anyhow...

We shall see.

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: What do you know about time travel?

3.08: "Flashes Before Your Eyes"

*SPOILERy* sifting thru the bits of tonight's new LOST...

I loved the hatch implosion episode in large part because it was the Desmond episode. When I watched that, I was just dazzled by how completely the show could be all about Desmondo, and how the writers could make it so by changing the point-of-view. They've done it to varying degrees with all the cool kids, but Desmond's just seemed so comprehensive, y'know? It was done so well that I was almost ready to chalk the show up to being a riff on IDENTITY, only with Desmond as the main/real personality, y'know?

Almost.

So, I'm very happy with another all-Desmond all the time episode, *and* a look at Desmond's hatch implosion-induced missing time, *with* time travel via projected consciousness! QUANTUM LEAPtacular bonus! =)

Only, y'know, without the ability to truly change or fix events.

Was very 12 MONKEYS and MATRIX in moments and rules/logic.

Also appreciated the romantic roller coaster storyline falling on Valentine's Day.

"The occasion is 'I love you.'"

"There's no such thing as time travel. From what I understand, true love can be just as unlikely..."

Damn rough ride for Desmondo, and in two days.

I guess Penny didn't have too many lines before this episode, but I didn't remember her accent being so strong. I didn't love that.

Hrmmm... Will there be an appearance by a girl with one leg and a heart of gold in the near LOST future?

Okay, in the bearded wonder's trip into his past...

When he goes in for his "interview," he's a bit entranced by the painting on Pops Widmore's office wall. Looked like it might've been the handiwork of Kelvin's old snowman partner, the guy who likely did the hatch murals, started the UV map, and ended up as a stain on the ceiling, remember? There was also a bit of grafitti over some posters on the wall before the army recruiting office that might've been in the same style. The appearance of this artwork fits conveniently with the notion of Desmondo suffering from a concussion from the hatch blast, grabbing elements of his island experience and superimposing them in his relived memories (Charlie, the numbers).

Of course, we all know that he *did* actually travel in time, right?

Right? =)

Pops Widmore happens to appreciate and collect the outsider art of one of his island hatch guinea pigs. And why shouldn't he?

Or... Did said guinea pig/snowman also do a bounce back in time and begin painting hatchy stuff before he was sent to the hatch...?

If pressed, could Charlie remember a very insistent Scotsman getting in his face during a busking session in London a half dozen years or so ago?

The white haired antique dealer who tells Desmond "Give me that sodding ring," she was very MATRIX Oracle for me. The segment where they go out for a walk, and she points out the red shoes, and take a bench, that felt a lot like Neo's talk with the Oracle, as well as the "Girl in the red dress" simulation from the MATRIX. I like the "course correction" explanation. Just enough to write fun stuff around, but not so detailed that it causes continuity problems, y'know? FINAL DESTINATION stuff.

I wonder if this Oracle/sensitive runs into Claire's Australian fortune teller and Rose and Bernard's healer at ESPer conventions or Team Dharma softball games.

So, did Desmond ever really live those moments in the past the way he thinks he remembers them? Did he ever NOT meet Charlie on the street corner after getting royally stomped by Widmore? Did his meeting Charlie, with knowledge of the future, somehow cause ripples, a la butterfly effect, that ultimately lead to Charlie having to die on the island?

Sad...

"You may not like your path, Desmond, but pushing that button is the only truly great thing you will ever do..."

Who's Donovan, hrm? Did anyone catch all of what he said before Desmond yelled up at him in the lobby there? He was discussing probability and causality, wasn't he? Something that hinted to me at alternate timelines, y'know? Was Desmond ever NOT at that bar that night with Donovan?

Man, that photo. The one he keeps... Does she also have a copy, framed by her bed? Did the photog sell her two prints? It seems unlikely that Desmond would have a copy made for her after the way that date went, eh? A fake backdrop. Kooky. That photo... It's taken the day that he wants to propose, but doesn't, and instead, driven by an imminent fate, breaks up with her. Not exactly the happiest photo to keep around, eh?

He's already lived his course correction. He's responsible for it, even. Self-fulfilling. Frack, I'm not awake enough to really go thru all the zany possibilities of details, and you probably wouldn't care to read them anyhow.

Penny tells him, "Don't you dare rewrite history! I left my expensive flat because you were too proud to live there, remember?" =)

And once he snaps back to the LOST island "present"...

He tells Charlie he's gonna die. That he's seen him die twice already. But when was the first time that death came for him? Why does he have to die? Death tried to get him and failed, somehow. The lightning strike, then the drowning. But when's the first time death came a-knockin, eh? Hatch explosion/implosion, anyone?

True, it turned out that everyone survived that, but I think it's fair to say that Charlie could have died then, but didn't. If he was *meant* to die then, but didn't, that means someone or something interfered and saved him. Perhaps some f'd up entity took up residence in his mind, Phoenix-style, and enabled him to unnaturally survive the ordeal. Maybe Desmond was given his "flash" in order to enable him to repeatedly save Charlie, at least long enough for Charlie to do something specific or important...?

Desmond David Hume.
Charlie Heironymus Pace.

Desmond vs. Charlie... Early in the episode, I got this sense that the implosion of the hatch remade them both as opposites, or complements, or gave them potentials that can be tapped, but also check one another.

Too late to peel any more LOST onion tonight...

Keep on keepin on~

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

black wednesday

This Valentine's Day, why not take advantage of the latest breakthroughs in computing power and technology to learn your romantic fortune! (Note that the link will take you to a page w music, so turn down your speaker volume if necessary. =)


Keep on bleepin on~

Sunday, February 11, 2007

BSG: stuff

Before 3.14: "The Woman King"

Over the last week or so, I got to bounce a little BSG off of a few people. Joshua and I lamented the melodrama for a few minutes at a vball tournament. He's concerned about what the writers are doing w the show. Bruno is super charged over the whole show in general, never mind the romantic trapezoid, having watched the first two seasons in huge gulps of DVDs. Zorky and I talked on the phone for an hour or so and we believe the writers know what they're doing in a big picture way, but may not have the details worked out, and may be stretching things out by playing a bit to more segments of their perhaps unexpected demographics.

I liked the marriage/infidelity/romance stuff when it could be used to give us more about the human culture and civilization, set up conflicts, like sending Dee to rescue Starbuck, and reveal some history and character, as in the boxing episode. But like I said, elevating the issue to the level of treason (by juxtaposition in the last episode) seems way puritan and out of line to me. Also, Starbuck spinning on a dime on the divorce thing... I mean, altho I can sorta defend it by playing the fear of love/commitment card with Anders, that was just too fast, and would've felt not-so-clunky if saved up for at least another episode, or some event or events that implied a real passage of time.

Something that could save it all is a radical sacrifice play by one of them. Anyone remember the "space angels" from the original series? =)

Bleah. Enough w that.

Zorky and I got to talking about a possible end game in our convo, and the one theory I think we both really like, and fits the show very well so far, is the notion that humans and cylons are reading these "signposts to earth" all backwards. That the 13th colony didn't leave Kobol and just happen to choose to go way out to galactic left field by chance, in fact, the path to earth is a path *from* earth. The signs and portents that the scriptures or whatever speak of, they mark the path from earth to Kobol. So humans evolved and developed science and civilization on Earth. Then launched themselves into space, marking their journey at their interstellar rest stops, ultimately finding and colonizing Kobol. Perhaps they lose a huge chunk of their advanced tech on the way, or on arrival, or once settled, natural disaster or war brings on a twilight age in which knowledge is lost and history obscured. Humanity on Kobol rises from this again and then sets out across space to establish the twelve colonies that eventually spawn the Cylon klankers. And now, the Humans and Cylons are backtracking, and encountering technology that surpasses, or at least surprises, both races, but is actually higher science mastered by the civilization that gave birth to both of them.

In this theory, there's no obvious way to insert the (Cylon) Five into the history and lore. Perhaps Cylon skinbags also travelled from Earth in a more advanced form, truly indistinguishable from Humans? Fewer in number (exactly five?) but genetically appearing in every generation as sleepers, carriers, guardians of their history from before the twelve colonies.

Hey, that sounds pretty good, actually. But you've gotta buy the idea of "Cylons" before Cylons. Maybe a little too much...

It doesn't necessarily mean that Earth's gone, or abandoned or anything, but that's certainly possible. Here's some kooky what-ifs...

What if Earth's denizens and civilization was utter anathema to both humans and Cylons and they had to team up to escape or wack them?

What if Earthicans had gone fascist and enslaved a Cylon-like race in the process.

What if Earthican Cylons had gone fascist and kept Earthican humans as slaves.

And either of the last two is discovered after the Cylons and Humans had cooperated to reach Earth. And the dominant Earthicans the fleet of humans and Cylons are weak and contaminated.

Heh. Wacky fun ensues, you see? =)

Baltar. Okay. I guess I'm ready to buy that he's *not* a Cylon. As Dan and Zorky have said, it almost doesn't matter if he is or isn't. If he *is* a Cylon all that it does is make his actions and character thus far *weaker* because he does not get to be held accountable for them. I enjoyed the doubt because Baltar was wracked by it, questioning and hoping for it. He was like a story photon, wave or particle, depending on what worked in the moment.

Or something.

Although, I have to say, I don't think the "Owl Creek" way the show played his revelation was decisive (it *was* FUN, tho =). However, in a big picture way, I realize that that must be what the intent of it was. Baltar is not a Cylon. He may still have his "special destiny," but he's not one of the Five. And now, he gets to stand trial, as a human, for his betrayal. This should be fun!

Provided this other thread I've seen in the commercials doesn't sod it up. The one with the racist doctor (who, when he's not Senator Kelly from X-MEN, is almost always some kind of shifty doctor or haunted man)? Not sure if that's racist as within humanity (different colonies?) or as human-vs-cylon (hence Helo's concern over his care for Hera). Would be interesting if we could see what happened to those Cylon sympathizers that had taken root back when Pegasus Six went into hiding in the fleet. They probably wouldn't have lasted the year on New Caprica, but who knows?

I was really hoping the trial would be the whole episode. No distractions. BSG: Court TV. =)

Keep on keepin on~

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Watch-A-Thon: update

Applause, please, for newest donors, the parentals, and Our Man In Hollywood, Mr. Linsky! Most excellent to see you on the board again this year!

And now, the latest targets aquired in my movie massacre...
  1. January 31. IMAGES. Brattle Theater.

  2. January 31. THE HOLY MOUNTAIN. Brattle Theater.

  3. February 4. PLANET OF STORMS (w short "The Cameraman's Revenge"). MFA-Russian Fantastik Film Festival.

  4. February 4. TO THE STARS BY HARD WAYS. MFA-Russian Fantastik Film Festival.

  5. February 6. DISAPPEARANCES. Brattle Theater.

  6. February 7. SHINOBI. Brattle Theater.

  7. February 9. THE PRINCESS BRIDE. Brattle Theater.
A linked title will send you to my blog ramble for that movie. I've still got unfinished ramblings for several of the movies, and need to get down some notes to self on the Jodorowsky films—EL TOPO and HOLY MOUNTAIN—before I completely lose my recollections. Those two "midnight films" are a little crazy but totally brilliant and fun, provided you open your mind just an oontz. And both films will be playing at weekend midnight shows at the Coolidge come March. Good crack. =)

I hafta admit, I hit a bit of a slowdown this week. Some poor sleeping habits, busy-ness at the office, and perhaps the diet of popcorn and lemonade, have been pushing me and my already far from tip-top system into that scatterbrained zone, y'know? Where I find myself leaving home in the morning and having to go back once or twice to get something I've forgotten, or double-check something I should have taken care of, leaving behind my cellphone or camera, or even my shoes for volleyball. I'll be a little relieved once I come out on the other side of the 'thon next weekend. As well as totally fried, if I can motivate for the Schlock-Around-The-Clock marathon... =)

So, rolling into the last week my plans and options lay out as follows...

Today I'm hoping to hit the early shows of the romantic "creature double feature" at the Brattle. Tomorrow I'm gonna see the afternoon PHILADELPHIA STORY. Tuesday I may make it in for BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY's (love seeing the A-TEAM's Hannibal Smith and Mr. DAMNATION ALLEY opposite the lovely Audrey =). Not sure if I can manage CASABLANCA on Black Wednesday, and it's up against "one of the most beloved Russian films ever," THE AMPHIBIAN MAN at the MFA.

Keep on keepin on~

Friday, February 09, 2007

Best. T-shirt. Ever.

Can you guess what movie I saw at the Brattle tonight? =)

That's right, PRINCESS BRIDE. I didn't know it til I saw the credits roll, but Mark Knopfler did the soundtrack. Apparently they only let him use a Casio keyboard. It would be awesome if they'd let Knopfler take another crack at it with some real instruments. Other than that, just as fun and sweet and clever and smart as I remember. =)

A little disappointing that no one was up for catching this gem on the big screen tonight, but the 7.30 show had a good crowd, enthusiastic audience. Downstairs at concessions, I heard that they were having trouble tracking down the last of the tees for customers because they were selling so well. And upstairs, grand seeing some parents bringing their kids in to see the flick. The cast is just excellent. Would love to see them all rounded up to do another kooky film. Alas, except Andre...

Vizzini: No more rhymes! I mean it!

Fezzik: Anyone want a peanut?

Peter Falk and Mandy Patinkin are great in everything. Cary still pulls off a weaselboy that I actually root for. Maybe because the movie created/found an even more insufferable vomitous pig in the king. =)

In the end credits, it's "Introducing" Robin Wright as Buttercup. Kooky. Fred Savage, what a frickin brat. Was funny overhearing that some college kids didn't know who he was. Fangirls can really clap up a storm.

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: God loves you as He loved Jacob...

3.07: "Not In Portland"

After some back-n-forth discussion with Dan, I've gotten that we're talking about Jacob, of Jacob and Esau, twin brothers, one a studious opportunistic go-getter, the other, a hirsute outdoorsy rough-and-tumble guy, and ultimately the fathers of Israel and the Edomites.

I cannot recall a specific LOST encounter with a flesh-and-blood Jacob, altho it *feels* like there's been one...

What I *do* remember is a certain manuscript, found by Hurley, partly read by Sawyer, and chucked into a fire by... Jack, I think? In some confrontation with Sawyer. The title of this manuscript: BAD TWIN. The LOST creators actually published a book of the manuscript, under the name of Gary Troup (an anagram of "purgatory"). A look at the blurb describes a story about a private investigator hired by one of the sons of a very wealthy man to find the other missing son, his "bad twin" brother. Also, the author delivered the manuscript to his publisher just before boarding Oceanic 815.

I'll hafta look at the customer reviews to see if it's worth a read, regardless of the LOST connection. As a rule, I'm avoiding the fabricated Dharma "resources" that the LOST creators are leaking into the world, but the plot sounds like it could be a fun read whether it's connected to LOST or not.

The set-up of the PI looking for a lost brother, within the LOST world, could fit in several ways. The first that comes together in my head... Let's say that the author, "Gary Troup," essentially *is* his own PI character, hired as in the story, or motivated by other forces, on the trail of a real-world bad twin. In his investigations, he's uncovered some Dharma/Hanso secrets and learned enough, somehow, to know that boarding Oceanic 815 would get him closer to his quarry, who might simply be a fellow passenger, or someone already on the island, Dharma personnel or castaway. Before he leaves, he writes his book as a thinly veiled account of his search, and perhaps a guide and a map for anyone who might follow the same trail he was on. The author might be dead after the crash, but he might be one of the survivors.

Does Sawyer recognize situations, names, relationships, or strange coincidences from life on the island from his partial reading of BAD TWIN? Does a brainwashing cell 23 show up in the manuscript? If Jack could give Sawyer details of Ben's life and authority on the island, would it sound familiar to him? Or maybe Desmond's life? Or maybe his own, if he thought about it...?

Jacob and Esau. Jack-ob and E-saw-yer? Crazy talk? Perhaps. I always thought he had dubbed himself "Sawyer" from Tom Sawyer.

Jackie opened my eyes to another option regarding Rousseau's nuclear family... And it makes perfect sense. That Alex was taken from Rousseau (is that what Rousseau originally said?) by the Others as a baby or toddler and simply *raised* as Ben's daughter. Maybe he adopted her as his own because she has Walter-esque gifts, but not at his level. If this is the case, tho, I wonder what Alex knows or believes of her origins. If it's a lie, I hope the writers won't wait too long to give Alex a scene with someone who's spoken to Rousseau and knows her history so that we can see two and two put together.

Children *are* special to the Others. I'm certain it's their names that are at the top of the lists that Ethan and whatzhishead compile. The show so far has painted a picture of the Others somehow being trapped on or bound to the island (all of them otherwise terminally ill or somehow impaired?), and unable to procreate, and afraid of their utopia (or whatever it is) dying with them within a generation. Made a lot of sense when Juliet revealed that she was an obstetrics specialist earlier this season, and now, well, that would be a very good reason to get Juliet and her research onto the island, no?

Did Ben's tumor only become a problem since the Others left their cabanas on the main island and moved to the Hydra Station island? Is Dharma healing only infused in the main island? Can you see the Hydra island from the main island? Is it cloaked somehow, naturally or artificially?

I wonder if there's a team forming in the outside world... Of all the LOSTs' loves, families, associates, and all kinds of hired help, adventurers, scientists, PIs, collected by Penny, perhaps, and working on busting their way into the pocket dimension of LOST.

Which might be a civilizational equivalent of "Doomsday Vault" donchathink? Like Drax's enclave in MOONRAKER, y'know?

Keep on keepin on~

Thursday, February 08, 2007

LOST: Everything changes...

3.07: "Not In Portland"

Just gonna rattle off some thoughts and "hey-look-at-that"s about tonight's episode. So if you haven't watched and you're waiting to, shove off, or get *SPOILED*!

Another DEADWOOD alum shows up on LOST! Calamity Jane as Juliet's fertility treatment guinea pig sister! Trixie played Dan's wifey or whatever, y'know, the kinda bitchy blond that Sun gut-shot on Desmond's boat.

Man, I forget if I mentioned how surprising and odd it was seeing Calamity as a German dancer/escort in THE GOOD GERMAN.

Cuz it was really surprising and odd.

Great to see her in another light, tho.

Pretty fun seeing Dr. Albert (the rep from Mittel-whatever in "Portland"—Hrmmm... Nazi rocket science in Portland?) and Dr. Jack in this episode, even if they weren't in any scenes together. Why is that fun? Well, you'll hafta go and see SMOKIN ACES to find out. =)

Dr. Albert. One of those Hey-It's-That-Guys, at least in my mind. I'm seeing him pop up pretty regularly these days (including the prematurely unplugged DAY BREAK, bastards), and doing some solid work. My first memory of him on screen—He was the Latino photographer or something on that Brooke Shields sitcom, right? SUDDENLY SUSAN? He's good. Altho the mascara was weirdly overdone. Like, Egyptian Pharaoh or something. Given his connection/representing some subsidiary of Dharma, perhaps that's not so far off, eh?

I much prefer Juliet with straight hair. Altho wavy/curly pulled back wasn't awful.

Man, I've missed Sawyer's pop culture smart mouth. He would be a great guest star on VERONICA MARS, in character.

"Nice to meet you, Sheena."

"This a hobby of yours, Underdog?"

"Can't believe you fell for the Wookie prisoner gag!" Oh, you *knew* that one was coming, didn't you? =)

Ha, and Aldo, the stormtrooper sucker, he's one of the ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA boys! In the underground street fighting episode (which is also Dee's "100 dollar baby" episode), there's this great ROCKY training montage ripoff, and I love when he smashes that bottle over Charlie's head, knocking him out, and then gives the cheezy smile and thumbs up to the camera, clad in a black and white striped sweat suit. That show is crass comedy gold, I tell you what.

Nice boat, Alex, but, frack, I was really hoping to see the Dharma sub. And wha-wha-wha? Alex is the boss's daughter? Ben's daughter. And Alex is Rousseau's daughter (at least, that's what I've been assuming)... which would make Rousseau and Ben... what, to each other? Didn't Rousseau claim that she killed (or was it just "had to kill?") all of her crewmates, including her husband?

Of course, it's possible that Alex is their child and Ben wasn't her husband at the time of her science expedition, or ever, even. So that Rousseau did kill her husband (or he died of some mysterious illness, oh, let's call it... Crazy), but the father of her child happened to already be on the island with the Others...

But, hey, when Benry first showed up, it was Rousseau who brought him to the notice of the cool kids, right? Benry had apparently been caught in one of her traps. She was convinced that he was one of the Others, and was content to hand him over to the Oceanic survivors and then disappear back into the jungle.

So, does Rousseau not remember Ben? Is she that far gone? Has Ben's appearance changed so much that she wouldn't recognize him? Or were they in cahootz back then? Ben using Rousseau to get himself introduced to the survivors as Henry and as a suspicious character in their midst learn about them and perhaps actually retrieve Locke (if that's really what he was there for).

Rousseau and Ben and Alex... Maybe more of Rousseau's story is cracked up than I originally thought?

They rescue Carl from cell 23. Important? How about that brainwashing, eh? I hope they can stop Carl and Mugatu before he kills the Prime Minister of Malaysia! Sawyer seemed pretty sucked into the show, didn't he? Had he been subjected to this sort of thing before? Is this how the Others make more Others from "good ones?"

"God loves you as He loved Jacob."

Didn't we see or know a Jacob somewhere in LOST-dom already...?

Wow, the show really suckered me in with the drama of Kate telling Jack the story over the walkie. The "real fear" and counting to five.

Is *that* the origin/explanation of his tattoo? Or at least part of it (the "5")? I was thinking that the tattoo's origin was gonna be revealed in the tropical/east Asian Doctors Without Borders scenario that seems to be coming up. Y'know, the part where he's in a hammock in some bungalow or something in the scenes-from-the-next-sixteen-eps that ABC's been teasing with.

Juliet's been on the island for three years, which is apparently how long ago her flashback story ended, if we assume that she joined Dr. Albert and Ethan on the island soon after her ex-husband got bussed. Ha, wasn't that just *FUN* seeing that bus in the background, standing at the bus stop just down the block, trying to act all inconspicuous, when Juliet stops her Dr. Ex to tell him about his pregnant sister? Anticipation. =)

Thought: Dharma's got a Scarlet Witch-y probability altering machine, or system, or math, or collection of ESPers, to program bad things to happen to people, i.e. bussing Juliet's ex.

So if that timing is correct, then three years ago, the island was some kind of real operation. Not just a bunch of abandoned projects. At least, the smaller island.

Hey, is the Others' FANTASY ISLAND type village (from the season opener) on the smaller island? Isn't it on the large island? Cuz Ben tells Ethan and whatzhishead to run to the two likely crash sites to mixx in with the survivors. He doesn't tell one of them to take the motorboat and the other to rev up the sub. Have they trashed their village since the Oceanic crash?

Kinda funny how Tom sorta wants to reach out to Jack when they're alone. *This* was the scary evil pirate guy?! Funny, no?

Very interesting when Jack asks why they didn't just take Ben to some real (real world) medical facilities. Tom doesn't talk about Ben never leaving the islands, but starts to give an explanation... "Ever since the sky turned purple..." and then he's interrupted. I forget by what or whom.

Given the question he was answering, it seems like his reply would be completed with something along the lines of... "we can't return to the outside world." That is, ever since the electromagnetic whatzit hatch imploded, the special "exit" heading has stopped working.

Which would likely mean that Walt and Michael didn't make it back to the outside world in the Others' motorboat, right? So they're somewhere in the LOST realm (or maybe someplace in between?) with a puttering motorboat.

Doesn't mean that people can't keep falling *into* the snowglobe, of course...

But how's Ben gonna release Juliet? Maybe getting in and out of LOST-dom is like getting in and out of Narnia. You can only use an entrance and exit once, basically.

Enough LOST overthinking for now...

Keep on keepin on~