Archive for May, 2007

A tale of two finales

Sunday, May 27th, 2007

So, Heroes and Lost are now behind us for the season. I was pleasantly surprised by the Lost ender and unpleasantly surprised by the Heroes conclusion. In case you haven’t seen them, I’m using some fancy spoiler protection.

The Heroes finale:
My main enduring gripe about Heroes is that the writing is a bit sloppy. They don’t seem to think anything of throwing consistency out the window if it makes it easier to get to a plot point. And for the end of their otherwise fabulous first season, it seems they really pulled out the stops.

First, the Peter thing. Why didn’t Claire just shoot him? Then nobody would have had to die. Past that, why didn’t Peter just fly out of range himself? Then Nathan wouldn’t have had to die. A two-for-one of entirely pointless.

Next, the Sylar thing. Of every character on the show, Sylar is written the sloppiest, and that doesn’t change here. Sylar, the apparently (and absurdly) unstoppable demigod, is suddenly struck helpless by the fact that Hiro appears in front of him. He can stop Parkman’s bullets in mid-air, but he can’t stop Hiro’s sword? Riiight. And then to top it all off, they just couldn’t let him die. They had to do the whole “mysterious exit” thing. Blah.

The Lost finale:
On the other hand, the Lost finale fairly rocked. It was true to the enduring Lost theme of “never answer questions, and when you do be sure to raise a hundred more”, but I expect that by now. However, they did shake things up a lot and broke out of several tired ruts they had been in.

I liked that they killed Charlie. I never really liked him as a character (whiny and spineless come to mind), but that’s not why. I liked that they built up to it all season and then carried through. He had to die to pay off the storyline, but a lot of shows would have wimped out. But they did it, which rocks. My only complaint is that they executed it poorly. Charlie very clearly had plenty of time to exit the door and then lock it behind him. Sloppy writing can really take the zing out of an otherwise great moment.

The highlight of the show for me was the face-off between Jack and Ben. Ben has been throwing them around the whole show, practically without breaking a sweat. Then we get another corny countdown; you’ve got one minute or your friends get it! But when it gets to the last seconds, rather than bowing down yet again, Jack desperately holds his ground! It was a great moment and really gave some power back to the good guys. Of course, it would have been even better if they actually had killed his friends, but I suppose you can only kill off so many main characters in one episode.

Lastly, I loved that Sawyer killed Mr. Friendly. It was an awful, chilling moment. But it was exactly true. Well done.

Posted in Geek | No Comments »

America is almost over

Sunday, May 20th, 2007

I’m really not one for politics. Which probably means that I’m part of the complacent/apathetic masses that let this happen. But no amount of perceptual lethargy can make me un-see this.

When the next catastrophe hits, America will be over.

Our president recently signed National Security Presidential Directive 51. Basically, it says that in the event of a “catastrophic emergency” the president gets to take over the entire federal government. All three branches. No oversight. To top it all off, the definition of catastrophe is so vague that he pretty much gets to decide when he feels like taking over.

Not surprisingly, there’s not a whisper about this in the mainstream press. Frighteningly, there’s only a tiny bit of chatter about it in the alternative press. They must be working overtime to keep the lid on this one.

I’ve heard about crazy dictatorships in remote lands my whole life. I never stopped to seriously imagine that I could live in one someday. I suppose we’ll just have to see what happens.

Posted in Life | No Comments »

Perfect freedom

Thursday, May 17th, 2007

Perfect, absolute freedom would be quite a state. To begin with, you’d have to do away with the whole mortal coil thing. All that matter, physics, causality… limitations all. Then you’d have to ditch your mind. Beliefs, ideas, perceptions… again, nothing but restrictions. Last, you’d have to get rid of your very identity, your individuality itself. So long as you’re you, then you’re obviously separate from not-you, and that’s the ultimate confinement.

So, now that we’ve shed every last thing that could ever possibly bind us, we’re left with… nothing. Our ultimate freedom is total annihilation… and absolute unity. When we are God, there is no we to be God. When we are ourselves, God dissolves into infinity. We are both and neither. Here we go.

“You can’t see Her, but you do.” - K’s Choice

Posted in Life, Spirit | No Comments »

Buffy lives on… unfortunately

Tuesday, May 8th, 2007

So, I’ve been hearing the buzz for a while about the new Buffy comic. It picks up where the TV show ended (it’s even called “Season 8″) and Joss wrote the first story arc. I thought I would give it a try and was about to buy the first few issues that are out when I discovered there is a 5-page preview on the Dark Horse website. I’m glad I stopped and checked it out before I shelled out any cash.

The story begins: Buffy jumps out of a helicopter with a ray gun.

I wish I was joking.

Needless to say, I won’t be pursuing Season 8. I’m not sure what’s up with Joss these days. Maybe he’s past his prime or maybe I’ve just grown up since season 1. Whatever the case, it makes me a little sad to see what’s become of what started out so amazing. I suppose I shouldn’t really be surprised after seasons 6 and 7.

Oh well…

Posted in Geek | No Comments »