Major spoilers, people. If you haven't watched LOST, especially Season Three, read no further.
First of all: My favorite season so far.
Next: I hate this show.
Okay, "hate" is a strong word. I'm not sure I like this show. But here's the kicker: I CAN'T STOP WATCHING IT. And I won't be able to. Now, there is some very interesting writing, and I absolutely love the crazy way things/events/people link together; that's some tough stuff to pull off. Unfortunately, however, there is some ridiculous, stupid writing that pisses me off. Here's the one that's freshest on my mind:
Charlie knows that Desmond saw him die in a flooding of a small room, and knows Desmond's visions have yet to be wrong. So before going into said small room, he doesn't grab some of the bountiful SCUBA equipment? And once in the room, he closes himself in? And once closed in, he doesn't just take a deep breath, then swim out the big-enough window after the pressure of incoming water is over? The only possible excuse for this I can find is that Desmond said Charlie had to die for Claire to get off the island, but I can find more reasons for that not to make sense than reasons for it to be logical.
Okay, despite my bitching, I still think this was without a doubt the best season so far, and I'm very excited about the upcoming season (especially after watching the trailer you posted, Jen). I'm gonna go ahead and say the highlight of this season was in the final episode, seeing a bunch of others get blown up. Call me a violent lady, but that was the most satisfying moment of the show thus far.
I grew much more fond of Jack and Kate this season, and I gotta say... I used to be all about the Kate/Sawyer, but I'm becoming a Jack/Kate kinda gal. But since I have to have someone to at least mildly dislike, I've got Juliet. Obviously I'm whoa disappointed in Locke; it says something about how much I liked him to begin with that I'm still telling myself, "Maybe he'll redeem himself!" My feelings didn't change much towards anyone else. I'm beyond sad about the loss of Mr. Eko and Charlie; if we lose Hurley or Sayid in the upcoming season, I just won't be able to handle it.
Okay, so a short review because I want to go watch special features. I'm gonna go back and make my other two LOST posts unlocked to everyone, now that I have no fear of spoilers season 1-3 spoilers. January 31st ought to be interesting...
Side note: Once these kids get rescued, at the end of the episode, where the word "LOST" would typically pop up on a black screen, I desperately want "FOUND" to pop up.
I just made a lengthy post about this on the Playstation 2 forum at Playstation's website, so I'm just going to copy and paste that post to explain. (I should also point out that those forums are where I started making friends online; for at least a year of my life, that was pretty much what I did every night: go hang out and talk to people on the RPG, PSX, or PS2 forum. I was a loser and I'm quite proud of that.) I know at least Katie and Kirkis will appreciate this. The post reads:
I'm aware that no one on these forums has any clue who I am. At the risk of sounding like your grandpa on one of his Glory Days speeches, I should tell you that I used to be kind of a big deal. These forums were mostly my home for quite some time. I mean, I remember when the PS2 board was bright yellow and had a countdown on it, if that tells you anything.
All that to say that when what just happened to me happened, I knew the only place I could go to make myself feel better was here. Official disclaimer: I'm not asking for technical support here, which I suppose I'm not supposed to do. I'm just relatin' the past ten minutes of my life.
Although I used to be very much so all about the video games, a thing called college happened to me and took away all my dignity happiness
game-playing time. My PS2 has sat pathetically in my TV stand for
quite some time, unused and unloved. I am ashamed of this, and humbly
confess my sins to the gaming gods; may they forgive me.
Yet unto me must come some form of punishment, and it did. I received a game for Christmas and felt a nostalgic tug in my heart; I would play again! Today I flipped the switch on the back of my PS2, pressed the eject button eagerly, and watched as the disc tray slowly, awkwardly, painfully attempted to open--with little success. Finally I managed to get it open and put a disc in. I waited... waited... waited. The system was reading... reading... reading. And then, horror of horrors, I saw those three words that all of us, old and new Playstation lovers alike, dread beyond all dread:
Yes, Amazon, your convenience and general reliability make you a dear friend of mine. I can overlook the tens of thousands of annoying e-mails you send me when you think have some item that will be of interest to me (side note: you never do).
What I cannot overlook is that three hours ago, you told me that ordering certain items with standard shipping would be guaranteed to get to my house by Christmas Eve if I ordered in the next 15 hours (or some large number like that). And now that I've made my final decision to get these items, you tell me my items will arrive after December 25th unless I choose two-day shipping... which eliminates any savings I would've been getting.
What. What?
I'm slightly stressed, because I know I can get one of these items in town (for a little more expensive, but it evens out when you consider the cost of two-day shipping). I'm not sure about the other one, however, and for all the hell I know, by the time I figured out if I could find this other DVD, Amazon will have declared next-day shipping the only possible way for me to get my items on time.
Sigh. =( I had such a freakin' successful day of Christmas shopping today, and now things start going wrong as I try to wrap it up. (Erm, no pun intended.) What to do, what to do.
Edited to Add: Wow, there are some majorly gross grammatical errors in this entry, not to mention crap that doesn't make sense? Apparently I'm more tired than I thought. Too lazy to care or correct anything.
Edit #2: Ah, okay, I now see what happened. I'm not sure what the hell the 15-hour countdown was that Amazon was giving me, but apparently my ability to get crap to me by Christmas via standard shipping ended at midnight--I must've been checking on things right before then. I might stab myself. I just might.
Edit #3 it's-madness-i-can't-stop: I did two-day shipping. I feel like if there's one thing I've learned from The Year 2007, it's to shell out extra cash if (a)you can, and (b)it will bring you peace of mind. I actually can't shell out extra cash right now, but that's the magic of credit cards, eh?
I should've written this post a few days ago when I actually finished the season (after watching four discs of it in two days), but I've been busy with Christmas preparations and family stuff, so I'm a bit behind on ye olde blogging. This will probably be a much shorter post than my Season One post. (Edit: Um, nevermind.)
Everyone has told me that most people hated Season Two; I loved it! Yes, there were things that pissed me off, but in a good way if that's possible; I was frustrated in a way that let me know I was much more invested in the story than I had previously been.
*Spoiler Alert: If you're not up to date on LOST, you might want to stop reading right about now.*
On Characters.
So John Locke and Hurley are still my favorites. I was becoming incredibly fond of Libby and then, of course, they had to kill her off--heartbreaking! And as much as I pretty much loathed Shannon, I still felt awful about her death for Sayid's sake--I love that kid almost as much as I love Locke and Hurley. I'm also incredibly fond of Mr. Eko and can't wait to see more of his backstory. (Unfortunately I don't know how much more I'll find out; the one time I saw a clip of any LOST show just happened to be a clip of what I'm pretty sure was Mr. Eko's very silly death. I suppose I'll find out once I get through Season Three.) Ana Lucía I hated even more than Shannon, and I spent most of my time up until her death wanting to smack her; it's evil, but I'm very glad she won't be around anymore. Sawyer I just can't help but love no matter what stupid evil crap he pulls--it makes no sense! I would hate him in real life, he is the perfect picture of a guy I would never ever go for... and yet I can't help but love him. I'm strange, it's how I roll. I'm loving all the crazy backstory with Jin and Sun (and loving them--they're fantastic); I was pleased to see some Rose and Bernard love; Michael annoys me as much as he ever did, if not more so (really, has he been in a scene where he wasn't throwing a tantrum? I know dudeboy's got it tough, but seriously... calm down); and Claire and Charlie I'm mildly interested in, but eh. I wasn't pleased with the "character development" of Charlie this Season. It felt less like character development and more like character butchering. Claire I really like, except she seems to have the same tendency as Michael--always screaming about something. (See what happens when you have kids? You throw more tantrums than they do.) I'm very happy to see Desmond back in the picture, because he's just a cutie. And I hate to admit it people, but I just don't care so much for Jack or Kate. Kate's growing on me again, but Jack... he gets a bit too cranky/bossy for my taste.
On Story.
How about that button. I spent the entire season desperately wanting someone to let it go all the way down because I'm overly obsessed with those scary characters on the countdown. I can't help but be amused, though--I'm pretty sure Season Two of LOST could hold the world record for Most Plot Time Allotted to Discussion and Pressing of a Button.
All this business with the "others" is becoming more and more intriguing. I really enjoyed the episode dedicated to Claire's remembering of what happened to her, especially now that Alex is being incorporated into the story--I so want to know more about her.
Why is it that no one communicates on this damn island? "Oh, we caught a guy that might be an other." "Oh, he tried to kill Ana Lucía, so don't leave her alone with him." "Oh hey, we visited another hatch where Claire was abducted and figured all sorts of shit out." These people piss me off with their secrecy from one another, and that's why Jack is one of my least favorite characters--he's usually captain of the secrets team. To be fair, Locke gets on my nerves about that, too. How about, "We found a hatch, let's all work to get inside it." Bah.
Genuine Frustrations with the Show:
(I label it that to distinguish from things about the characters that frustrate me--in other words, things that are supposed to frustrate you as opposed to things that I consider inconsistent or silly about the plot/writing.)
Seriously. Where the hell is the fire coming from? How does everyone make these torches that burn perfectly and never burn the stick down, not to mention never set surrounding grass on fire?
How has Jin picked up so much English in two months? Maybe something will explain this later, but it's a bit ridiculous. For that matter, how did Sun become fluent so quickly, and how is her vocabulary so expansive? It seems like a stretch, but that's okay.
Why is no one emaciated or at least thinning or getting sick from malnutrition after two months of poor diet?
Despite all my bitching about some things, I'm totally addicted to this crap. I can't stop watching. In fact... I've spent enough time writing about it, and now I believe I'll get my Season Three on.
Which breed of dog is your favorite? Post a picture of it.
Submitted by Melissa.
Aside from the ever-faithful and lovable mutt (I mean really--why pay hundreds to thousands of dollars for a designer breed guaranteed to get a home if there are tons of free or almost free mutts out there that desperately need good homes... /endvisityourlocalanimalshelterrant), I love love love Afghan Hounds:
Piano Jury: Done. (An "A" from each juror, btw. Woot-to-tha-woot.)
3-4 Page Paper on Orchestration in Symphonie Fantastique: Done. (And erm, ended up at 6 pages.)
Spanish Final: Done.
Short Annotated Bibliography of 11 Orchestration Textbooks: Done.
Does this mean... can it be true?...
I'm done with finals?!
Upon turning in these papers and working my last obscenely late shift at the library tomorrow (at least tomorrow we close at midnight rather than 2), I'll have absolutely nothing to stress about for a solid three weeks.
That's right, people, I'm a recent LOST convert.
It's Brian's fault, actually. He started watching it and quickly zipped through all three seasons, and keeps getting frustrated over being unable to talk to me about it. I decided to give it a chance. I spent the first three discs of Season One thinking, "Wow, really? This is what people have been raving about for three seasons?"
I spent the next three discs UNABLE TO STOP WATCHING EVER. I watched half of Disc Five and all of Disc Six tonight, if that tells you anything. I CANNOT BE STOPPED. (Thank goodness for Movie Gallery's students rent-one-get-one-free thing.)
So now that I've finished the first season, I'm going to start documenting my thoughts. I know I've got a number of LOST fans in my neighborhood, and I would love to hear some comments. But spoil not, dear neighbors! I'm going so far as to make this post neighborhood only for now to avoid any random Voxer leaving a spoiling comment. (Also, if you don't want anything up to Season One spoiled for you, I recommend you stop reading now.)
People I Thoroughly Enjoy: John Locke, Hurley, Charlie, Sayid, Sun. (Please note that I'm making no effort whatsoever to spell these names right.)
People I Initially Was Not So Fond of but Love More Every Day: Jin, and of course... Sawyer! <3
People I Initially Enjoyed Thoroughly but Give Less of a Crap About: Kate and Jack.
People (Person) I Despise: Shannon.
Everyone else I have no real feelings towards. It's important to note that I am madly in love with John Locke. He is, quite frankly, my dad. And no one can take that away from me. I also have a very special place in my heart for Hurley, who tends to voice the things I'm thinking. And Sawyer. Let me just say "mmph." I wouldn't mind seeing him remove his shirt to chop more bamboo. For the love of all that is holy, we need more bamboo...
Storywise, I'm still on the fence about some things. I can't handle another heroine saga with Charlie--once is enough. And the whole baby/child-stealing thing is getting old. A few glimpses of sci-fi-ness has me itching for more, because I'm a nerd like that. BRING ON THE STRANGE ISLAND PHENOMENA.
For the first few episodes, I was just bored. The back stories seemed forced and cheesy, and there are some things about island living that pissed me off (and still do, sometimes)--I'm sorry, where are we getting fire from? Can people just magically conjure it? And I'm sure there's lots of fruit, but... c'mon, 40+ people? That's a lot of mouths to feed.
After getting past that, however, I'm really digging it and seriously starting to get into some of these stories. John Locke and Sayid especially interest me background-wise, as do Michael and Walt. My only serious beef with the show so far was the Claire's-been-kidnapped saga. Why? Because she was kidnapped, everyone freaked out--and then seemed to forget about it for three or four episodes. What the hell? We've discovered that there are at least two other people on this island, one of them has stolen a pregnant chick... but no, we've got other important island business to attend to first. Also, the fact that people went awhile before remembering, "Oh, there's a monster out here!" irked me a bit, but oh well. I'm hoping these are issues that won't be repeated in Seasons 2 and 3.
So at least for now, I am all about this business. Unfortunately, it's been a bit... erm... distracting from schoolwork. (I didn't have to work today, but instead of practicing and composing... I watched like six episodes of LOST? Oops.) I need to make Season Two stretch until Season Three comes out in mid-December, so maybe I can fill any time not spent watching LOST with things like schoolwork and music. =)
Ringtones: What's yours and how often do you change it?
Submitted by enrico.
I had to answer this because quite frankly, I have the best one ever:
Men at Work - "Who Can It Be Now?"
I also used to love my A-ha "Take on Me" tone, but alas, when I got my new phone I couldn't find a good version of it. Such is life.
]]>Don't you love these arbitrary choices of how many chapters have passed? I do.
After we returned from the store and showered, it was time to get down to business. ...Disgusting, raw-meat, make-me-remember-why-I-don't-enjoy-cooking business. Fortunately, Brian is in charge of all things turkey, sparing me from the ickiness.