These were all pretty clever and aired during the series finale of LOST. I believe the director, Jack Bender, is one of LOST’s directors. Here’s Smokey-Detector. Numbers and Ribs are after the bounce.
SMOKEY
Jump through to view the others. Read more…
The series truly came down to Jack and his destiny. Not how I saw it ended, but I liked it a lot. (Collage image c/o Arrows and Accolades)
I’m not going to even make an effort at a Quick Hits post on tonight’s LOST. I had a couple of friends over for a homemade pizza and LOST party. Now, 6 hours in (halfway through Jimmy Kimmel’s “Aloha LOST”), the friends have headed off an I’m breathing in what I thought was a darn near perfect way to close the series.
There was no pretense of trying to tie through all of the mythological loose ends; however, it’s perfectly alright. There was never any over exertion. There weren’t any truly short shrift answers that left me feeling hollow (well, except what was at the bottom of the waterfall, though they didn’t go deep enough to draw any real criticism for it.
Above all else, the show was a reunion of sorts that made you appreciate truly just how far things have come. Looking back as the characters finally clicked was really moving at times… far more so than the sepia overtones would make you think. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking this really was a nice goodbye.
That said, I’m sure what everyone really wants to see is the pizza. Pics after the jump. Read more…
Oh, where to start. I like to jump into a semi-developed theory when kicking off one of these Quick Hits, so let’s take a look at Jack Sheppard as Rick Grimes. Who, you ask. Well, anyone with a purported awareness of Zombie fiction or AMC’s upcoming fall lineup can tell you. Rick Grimes is the Cillian Murphy-like
As Jack's cut has expanded, the tear in space-time between the Island world and the sideways world has expanded.
A policeman by trade and an alpha male by nature, Rick is to Kirkman’s America as Jack is to the Producer’s Island. He is the natural leader to whom everyone turns and is driven by a passion to survive and try to save those around him. He also is one whose every success comes with a price and who is surrounded by inevitable failures. Much like Jack, his decisions are well intentioned and guided by decidedly benevolent intents, but often stray from moral standards. With Jack, one might point to his torture of Benjamin in Season 2. With Rick, one might point to the outright murder he commits in Book 3. In each case, it’s hard to argue with the reasoning behind each act, but the justification is decidedly dirty.
But what makes Jack very much so like Rick is his self awareness. Jack is torn asunder internally by both his past transgressions and his own self doubt. Both he and Rick feel directly responsible for the repercussions of their actions and eschew leadership roles… but do so only temporarily specifically because they are simply hiding from their true destinies and fated roles as leaders. The thing with both men is that they cannot be convinced of the need to forgive themselves their failures and the importance of their reassuming decision making roles. Instead, Rick tries to push leadership upon Terrence and Dale while Jack does the same for Sawyer and Hugo. Eventually, circumstances dictate their re-assumption of duties.
More on this and my quick hits, after the jump. Read more…
Let me start off by noting that I have not forgotten The Candidate. I loved the episode and just haven’t yet had the time to write up my Quick Hits on it. I’m skipping it to get to this week’s because… well… I love me some LOST mythology.
The episode was one dealing with Genesis and touched on the ideas of fraternal twins in creation mythology.
I know many fans tire of the mythology and are bored with Smokey and Jacob’s back story. But LOST is ultimately not a show about action. It’s an examination of people. One wonders how the open questions on the main characters will be answered in the 3.5 hours remaining, but I enjoyed an opportunity to look at Jacob and the MIB this week. And as an avowed CJ Cregg fan, I loved having Allison Janney this week. In fact, given that her character is never named beyond that of “Mother”, I will refer to her as Janney, throughout.
Even more so than any of the prior episodes, this was about Genesis and creation mythology. We are granted, as we were with Ab Aeterno, a view into the Island’s creation, or more accurately, that of Jacob and the MIB. We’re reminded almost immediately of that by the appearance of a sea turtle, a deliberate reference to the Iroquois Turtle Island myth. That myth involves the support of a world upon the shell of a turtle and begins as such:
Long before the world was created there was an island, floating in the sky, upon which the Sky People lived. They lived quietly and happily. No one ever died or was born or experienced sadness. However one day one of the Sky Women realized she was going to give birth to twins. She told her husband, who flew into a rage. In the center of the island there was a tree which gave light to the entire island since the sun hadn’t been created yet. He tore up this tree, creating a huge hole in the middle of the island. Curiously, the woman peered into the hole. Far below she could see the waters that covered the earth. At that moment her husband pushed her. She fell through the hole, tumbling towards the waters below.
More on that myth can be read here, but the crux of it is that the twins include Sapling (the good, Jacob-son who creates nature) and Flint (the dark son who creates evil and thorns). Many Genesis myths, including those I have discussed before, involve a duality of the good son (in the Dogon mythology, Nommo) and the prodigal son (Yurugu, the name I will adopt for the MIB). Janney spoke of Jacob as not being able to lie and Yurugu as special and complex. As Janney and Yurugu discussed Yurugu’s capacity for sin, it was somewhat clear that Janney regarded Yurugu with favor, a theme that is often repeated in literature – favoritism for the son who does not appreciate parents dutifully.
More on LOST Genesis and my Quick Hits, after the jump. Read more…
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for Children were founded by British natural philosopher Michael Faraday in 1825. One hundred sixty-six years later, Oxford biologist and staunch atheist Richard Dawkins took the stage for five, one-hour lectures that touch generally on evolution in a manner best suited for children. In a world where children are most often indoctrinated with theological explanations of man’s origin, a lecture series such as this was particularly intriguing.
Dawkins is, of course, the author of several books on evolution and atheism, most notably The God Delusion
Furthermore, while many of his demonstrations seem a bit comical due to the then-cutting-edge and now-primitive computer technology, he makes convincing and eloquent arguments to debunk the ID myths of irreducible complexity and inconceivability of chance.
As a note, I’m filing this under TED Tuesday, even though it’s not a TED lecture.
The Dawkins Foundation for Science and Reason has made all five one-hour lectures available on YouTube and I’ve embedded them after the jump. Click through to view. Read more…
I haven’t had the time to post in the last two weeks. I hope to correct that with a LOST Quick Hits in the morning. I’ve just been extremely swamped at work and with some personal stuff re: buying an apartment.
In the meantime, please consider supporting Nashville during this horrific (and criminally under-reported) natural disaster. For those who still don’t know due to the mainstream media’s baffling refusal to acknowledge the devastation in Middle Tennessee, Nashville and its environs are under water with many historic buildings, businesses and homes quite simply devastated by floodwaters as high as 13 feet in some buildings.
Make your donation to the Nashville chapter of the Red Cross.
