Lost – ‘The End’ – Episode 6.17
Early this season, when the episode titles were announced, my eyes fixed on ‘The End’. A title so simple, so bold and so perfect. It told us absolutely nothing except the one unwavering fact – All Good Things Must Come to an End.
After all, we are the rare breed. The fans of a show who knew the exact end date two years ago. There would be no more aimless wandering and wondering once Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse secured the ‘all clear’ to plant their flag on a finale and then begin a 2 & 1/2 year journey to that final destination. And fans knew that the show would never run on until the ad revenue petered out and ABC half-heartedly pulled the plug. Also, we wouldn’t feel the sling of an abrupt cancellation – with five billion story threads left tattered and dangli... Continue reading »
Lost – ‘What They Died For’ – 6.16
This is a bittersweet week.
When we turned the page to Monday, it hit me. In one week’s time, we’d get the final three and half hours of this epic tale, and then we’re done. A tough pill to swallow especially after receiving last week’s information download regarding the true nature of the island that almost unanimously fell like a 10-ton crocodile statue. I’ve scoured the web and aside from the blind faithful (every cult has them and in the case of Twilight, that’s all they’ve got) – anyway, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who really, truly appreciated the episode.
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to that and I think I finally hit upon the reason why.
It’s not so much what the island is – so much as how we ... Continue reading »
Jacked and Pumped
Starting in the Spring, my household jumps aboard a rolling birthday rally.
In late April, our beloved yellow lab Abby hits her birthday. As we turn the page to May, Colin celebrates his Cinco de Mayo birth with a celebratory Corona or two of the virgin variety and begins etching plans for a month-long celebration. A couple weeks after Colin, our black lab Chatham hits her mark before leaving the stage open for Aria to close the month out properly with her special day. And then one week after her May 31st milestone, I bring up the rear and continue my descent to the underworld.
With two young children sharing opposite ends of the same month, my wife and I have been fortunate to plan one mega-party covering both events – inviting all of their friends (of which there is significant overlap) for a mid-May shind... Continue reading »
Pan Handler
“The show’s major drawback is Humphries’ straightjacketed performance as Jon. He huffs and puffs from one scene to the next with unvarying gesture and intonation, unable to take his character beyond a blandly drawn portrait of frustrated agitation, even though one senses he’s grasping to do so. “
That’s the review I woke up to on Wednesday morning – the hump day standing tall between dual weekend performances of the show I’m costarring in - “Love, Sex & the IRS” which is currently being performed at the Gateway Players Theater in Southbridge, MA (with two dates remaining this coming Friday and Saturday evenings).
And those slings and arrows weren’t fired by some wet-behind-the-ears cub reporter on the Southbridge Middle ... Continue reading »
Lost – ‘Across the Sea’ – 6.15
When I was in college – way back in the flannel-decked intro to the Nineties – I found that one semester, I glommed onto The Doors’ “The End” something fierce. As a raging Pearl Jam fan, I think I spied a kissing cousin in Morrison’s moody evocative lyricism and that song bridged worlds to PJ’s heralded disc Ten – which felt more like an anthem of my soul than Nevermind ever did. Maybe it’s because I was a year or two off from really giving off that Teen Spirit scent. Who knows?
Anyway, back then, as I chased down my Journalism degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, I found myself ‘hired on’ as a scribe for the University’s daily newspaper, The Collegian, where I quickly made the jump from hard news stories to the Arts & Li... Continue reading »
Colin at Seven
Seven years ago today, I was so sure I had it all figured out.
When Andi and I first discovered she was pregnant – after being awoken in the middle of the night in the middle of the deep, dark woods in the middle of the only real wilderness we’d ever truly ventured into (i.e. the comfy campgrounds of Acadia State Park in Northeastern Maine) with what Andi could only describe as the first stages in an alien infestation, we went through all the normal preparations that seemingly normal, first time parents go through.
We vetted our suspicions through an actual practicing doc and not just the baker’s dozen of EPT that the local CVS dropped on us (Hey – we were in Northeastern Maine where the local yokels have barely mastered fire, we weren’t taking any chances). We excitedly told our friend... Continue reading »
Lost – ‘The Candidate’ – 6.14
First off – I know some of you had to hunt a little bit for today’s post. That’s what happens when the Lost recap shares twin billing with my Cinco de Mayo Nino Colin’s birthday. Since I’ve been running this site, I’ve made it an annual event to post a piece recounting my thoughts on my son Colin and daughter Aria as they crest that latest milestone. Sure I would have loved to have started this tradition at birth but I’ve got to play with the hand I was dealt, so starting at Colin’s Age 4 and Aria’s Age 1, I’ve made a point to give y’all a glimpse into their lives. Today Colin turns seven and if you’re so inclined, you can read all about it in his special little tribute.
That said, I couldn’t leave my fellow Lostralians... Continue reading »
A Boy and His Dog
Editor’s Note – This piece was originally published in September 2008. I’m republishing it today in honor of Abby’s 9th Birthday. Enjoy!!!
This marks the 289th full-sized post on this site since I started scribbling away in cyberspace a little less than three years ago. That means we’re 11 articles away from the big Three Hundred – the day I effectively pull the plug on this whole sorry operation.
289 Posts with an average length of 3-4 printed pages over three years means I could have been making some serious scratch as a novelist instead of spinning my folksy yarns for the benefit of friends, family and Internet predators – at the very least in some Bizarro universe. Of course, crafting The Great American Novel requires discipline, dedication and some... Continue reading »
Sam & Max Save the World – XBOX 360 (game review)
Editor’s Note: As some of you know, I’m on staff as a game reviewer for the electronic entertainment site, Avault.com. I intend to publish all of my reviews on these pages to insure I have a full record of everything I’ve written. If you haven’t read this before, enjoy!!!
Earlier this month, developer Telltale Games pulled off a real coup at E3 by wrestling away the spotlight from some of this year’s big-budget behemoths (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Halo ODST) with their own megaton announcement that Guybrush Threepwood and the denizens of Monkey Island had joined their growing stable of character-driven episodic adventure games. Fans of the old LucasArts adventure titles could now check another buried treasure off their Wish List and set their hopes high for... Continue reading »
Lost – ‘The Last Recruit’ – 6.13
Ever since Lost debuted back in 2004, the networks have sprinkled their Fall seasons with any number of genre fair looking to bottle that same lightning. And, for the most part, none have come close to finding Lost or their The X-Files or Twin Peaks. I think these shows that instantly capture the zeitgeist before paring down to a carefully cultivated cadre of fans who would follow it down whatever dark rabbit hole they travel, are few and far between. It’s as if mankind hasn’t the mind strength to tackle these brain benders but once a decade.
So, knowing the end was coming and that the Fall sched would likely be chock full of another round of also-rans (see Threshold, V, FlashForward, Heroes, and the list goes on) – I had the sneaking suspicion that my last Lost post would be tru... Continue reading »
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