Acoustic Eidolon, plus Carols

Last night was the ISU symphony's Christmas concert. It was quite enjoyable, especially since the first half featured Acoustic Eidolon. This is a husband/wife duo. The wife plays the cello (apparently one made by someone here in Pocatello) and the husband plays guitar and "guit-jo". The guit-jo is an instrument he designed that looks like a guitar with two necks. One neck is almost a standard guitar, with one extra bass string. The other neck is strung with a different kind of string that gives it a much higher, harp-like sound. He can play both necks at once.

I thoroughly enjoyed their performance, but Marky and my mom both thought that they were toning themselves down for the orchestra, and liked the two encore pieces (with no orchestra) better. I liked it all.

The second half featured two symphony pieces sandwiching a carol-singalong. I get rather tired of the carols when all seven five (seemed like seven) verses are included, but apparently the current director really likes the end verses of "The First Noel." I don't. I think the early verses bother me less because I can see them in a meta-mythological context that I am capable of finding inspiring, rather than nauseating. Still, the singing was fun. My preference would be for fewer verses and more carols, however.

I would have linked to a video of Acoustic Eidolon, but I'm not finding one, so here's their newest album: River of Fire. There should be an option to listen to samples there.

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Gunnerkrigg Court

I found the comic Gunnerkrigg Court through a D&D tips web-site. It took maybe a week and a half to race through the archives. It is awesome. It reminds me of Neil Gaiman's style of story-telling. This may have something to do with both authors being British. There are stories within stories within stories so far, but the gist of them all is trying to figure out what this world that people find themselves in actually is. There is a technological half that seems to be all city (even the seemingly outdoor parts in it are enclosed). There is a wild, magical half that seems to be all forest. Why this is still isn't clear, though there have been tantalizing hints.

At any rate, it's well worth checking out (and has preempted Garfield Minus Garfield from occupying 'G' in the list; it is now at 'K').

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Rockapella Christmas Concert

It certainly wasn't my favorite performance of all time, and it's not the kind of music that I would buy and listen to at home, but if you ever have the chance, Rockapella is a lot of fun. It's currently five male vocalists who provide all their own accompaniment, including one guy who is the drum set and another who is often the bass ... but also does an interesting Whitney Houston version of Silent Night (I could try to explain, but I don't think it's worth it).

At one point, they pulled a member of the audience up on stage to "help" them with "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town." They may have gotten more than they bargained for. She was a middling elderly lady, but she stood out by wearing a sequined santa hat. When they asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she replied, "Well, I'm single..." They convinced her to make do with one of their CDs instead. ^'^ She would get along well with the Coffee Gals in Akron, I think.

Anyway, Silver Bells was probably my favorite of the evening. This is the YouTube version that seems to have the same lineup of people as those who performed here:



Direct Link to YouTube
Alternate Silver Bells Line Up

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Mad Munchkins

No actual D&D this week, as our thief is out of town and we kinda need him to finish opening the chest, so we got together and played other games instead. Two of them I had never played before. The other, Othello, was a way to pass the time until the rest of the players arrived. Despite not having played against anything other than a computer for a very long time, I managed to win at Othello. It was a near thing, as I was nearly boxed in, and decided now might be the time to give up a corner in order to salvage something from the situation ... and wound up taking all the corners instead, as I was able to take the opposite penultimate corner slot and stop Fibonacci from getting the corner I had intended to give up.

Anyway, on to the games I hadn't played before. First, the Mad Magazine Game*, which is a Monopoly spoof where the object is to lose all your money. The spaces on the board have instructions like "everyone move one chair to your (left|right)", "switch money with a player", "roll the dice three times and go that many spaces backwards around the board", etc. It's a hoot. John/Allonar (since there's another John who comments here, I figure I ought to specify) wound up winning, due to fortuitous money shifting and landing on a space where he got to lose more money than he currently had.

Then John/Allonar also brought Munchkin**, and we played that. I'd never played it before, though I'd read some descriptions. It's basically a D&D parody. You start out as a classless human. If you draw a class or race card, you can choose to become that, at least until you get cursed out of it. Every time you defeat a monster, you go up a level. If you can't defeat the monster, you can get help from a fellow player ... but watch out, as they will only do so if it benefits them. The first person to reach Level 10 wins. John/Allonar won the first game, despite us valiantly trying to sabotage his last fight with as many curses as we could muster (cooperating to stop someone else from winning seems to be a given), and I squeaked in as winner on the second game. Amusingly, Andrew agreed to help with what seemed like it should be my last fight, expecting to sabotage me at the last minute with a "Drop 2 levels" curse card...except I had the wishing ring and made the curse go away. Something else had happened so I didn't win on that fight, but on my next turn, I was up against a Level 1 something-or-other, and everyone had used up nearly all their curse cards trying to sink other last efforts. Someone had a +3 to play on the monster, making it Level 4, and Abe had a "mate" card, so that put it to Level 8 total ... and I was sitting comfortably at 15 (17 -2 from another curse), including all the item modifiers I had.

Thus a fun time was had by all, but I suspect Allonar and I will be ganged up on the next time we have a non-D&D gaming night. ^!^

*The Mad game is out of print, but there are "collectible" versions for sale for $84 on up at the Amazon link if you really want a copy.

**There are over a dozen varieties of this at Amazon, but, afaik, we were playing the original card game version.

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The Five Browns

There was a concert tonight at ISU, and it's one of the best I've ever gone to. The Five Browns are a family of five siblings, and all were piano prodigies. They started learning at age 3. It's awesome to hear a symphony piece rescored for five pianos. I found a few YouTube clips on them. Be warned, the pianos in the clip are a bit out of tune, but you still get a feel for how good these guys are.

In the Hall of the Mountain King:


I was trying to find them playing Beethoven's Fifth, as well, but if it's there, I'm not seeing it. That one was awesome.

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More Pirates?

Well, the proposed fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean now has a name: On Stranger Tides. There's a Tim Powers book of the same name that involves pirates, so it's possible the story will have some connection, but it's also possible that they just liked the name.

It's not even in production yet, so anything can change, but it looks like Knightly (Elizabeth) and Bloom (Will) won't be returning. As their story is rather settled for the 10 years after World's End, that shouldn't cause significant story issues, though their characters will be missed. So far, it looks like the returning characters are planning to go with the hunt for the Fountain of Youth, as implied at the end of World's End. Taken on face-value, that sounds rather boring, but given what they've pulled off in the other three installments, I'm sure they'll find a way to make it bizarrely interesting. I just hope they find some more balancing characters to fill the gap left by Will and Elizabeth. Oh, and that they don't try to bring back the "same" characters played by different actors.

Speculation: We can probably count on undead monsters of some sort either guarding the Fountain of Youth or something needed to find the Fountain. Since they went over the edge of the world in the third film, I'm sure they'll try to find some metaphysical theme to match or top that. If they actually find the Fountain, it will probably be cursed. Assuming Bloom does not return, I would probably include a one-off scene where they see the Flying Dutchman (but not its captain). Not sure what else. Since the theme of World's End was that the world was becoming "smaller," and maybe too small for pirates, it's hard to say where they'll go overall.

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Dexter, Season 3

Well, one nice thing about being sick over the weekend, I didn't feel like moving much, so I've now made it through all 12 episodes of Dexter's third season. I found several comments from people saying they didn't like Season 3 as well as the first two. I liked it at least as well as Season 1, and probably a bit more than Season 2. I just got sick of Lilah in Season 2, but I have to admit that the end-drama with Doakes was very well done. Warning: There are a few spoilers below the fold.

Season 3 finds Dexter and Rita with a baby on the way,while Dexter struggles with a botched kill which eventually leads him to a questionable partnership. I do notice a continuation of a theme here. In Season 1, at the very end he finds someone who can relate to him (almost) perfectly ... and has to kill him. In Season 2, he finds someone who can accept his darkness unseen, and still accepts him after it is seen, but he has to kill her. In Season 3, he finds someone who could be an equal partner in his darkness, and, well, ... Each time, the relationship is developed a bit more, but the theme is that Dexter is unique in his ability to maintain an ethical code around his darkness. Everyone else just gets consumed by the darkness.

There were a lot of awesome moments in S3, but one favorite is just before the wedding. Debra is wearing a dress for the first time ever on the show, and says, "I feel like a transvestite." Since that's about how I feel in a dress, I loved that. I also loved when Debra was desperately hunting through the case files for a clue to their latest serial killer, and was there all night. She found something and was trying to explain to her fellow cops. She sounded exactly like me when I've had too little sleep, too much caffeine, and cold medicine on top of it. When asked how much caffeine she'd had, she said something like "a mothertruckload" while sort of bouncing and pacing. She probably used a more vulgar term than that, but I found it amusing anyway.

One thing that is missing compared to the previous two seasons is that Dexter never seems to be in any genuine danger of being exposed, which cuts the drama factor down a bit, and that may be why some people didn't like Season 3 as well.

I've seen bits of the first ep of Season 4. My speculation is that this new Trinity killer will go after Rita or Debra towards the end of the season, and I would guess Rita just based on the tiny glimpse I've had of his M.O., and because Debra's been targeted directly already in Season 1. I have nothing to support this other than a gut feeling and the fact that it would add a lot of dramatic tension. The question would be whether Dexter could rescue Rita without exposing his Shadow Self to her. Pure speculation. Hmmm... anyone want to place bets? ~/^

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Abracapocus!

I remember being so disappointed as a kid that the word "abracadabra" (or abbacadabra as Bugs pronounces it) didn't actually do anything. But I still love this cartoon. I was reminded of it tonight, and discovered that it is up on the web. So here is Bugs Bunny Transylvania 6-5000 (in two versions, since I have no idea which is the better player); fwiw, the top one loaded faster for me. Enjoy!

From DailyMotion:

BUGS BUNNY-TRANSYLVANIA 6-5000
Uploaded by pierrot77. - See more comedy videos.

And from YouTube:

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Intuiting the Fourth

No deep commentary this time around. One thing that I found strange when this video first came out was the sheer number of people who didn't get it. People were treating it like it was a serious video, and accusing Jewel of selling out. The whole point of the video was to make fun of the idea of selling out, and ridiculous product placement, and arbitrarily switching between a folksy persona and a hollywood glitz persona. It cracked me up the first time I saw it, and it still cracks me up.

Not sure what brought this one to mind while I was trying to think of something to post for the Fourth. Maybe because politics has much the same flavor? The idea of branding oneself to the point that there isn't an actual person left any more? * shrugs *

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Looking for Group - Boom de Yada

I actually ran across this comic through the tv tropes wiki. It was a link to an example of a character type, and I no longer remember the name of the character type. I do remember that the dwarf character was considered a "rare female example", and that it was a very boisterous kind of character.

At any rate, Looking for Group is quite entertaining. Imagine a party made up of an evil undead warlock, a neutral half-orc and her foster-father minotaur, and a perfectly good elf who reminds me rather a lot of Corporal Carrot. Anyway, I just had to post a link to the comic's version of "Boom de Yada". And here's a sample panel:



That's Richard, the evil undead warlock, singing. He also has a pet rabbit, and thinks of nurseries as all-you-can-eat buffets.

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T4

I finally made it to see Terminator: Salvation. It was very nearly perfect. One thing that was done very very well was to pay attention to details and back-story from the previous movies, without being heavyhanded about it. Now, anyone who saw the previews (and paid any attention to the first five minutes of the movie) knew already that Marcus wasn't exactly human. The first time this becomes obvious on-screen is when a human punches him. You see the exact same head-deflection used by Arnold Schwarzenegger in T2. Another nod to T2 is that John Connor hacks into multiple "security" panels in a way very reminiscent of young John Connor hacking into ATMs in T2. Plus we finally get to see some of the massively huge Skynet machines in real action sequences, rather than just in short flashforwards.

The reason it was only nearly perfect relates to the very last scene. I think the sentiment could have been made to work, but as is, it came across as a bit, well, corny. It didn't help that the foreshadowing for it was a bit heavy-handed, to the point that I was going "Why do they keep bringing that up?" To be fair, there were at least two reasons to keep bringing it up, both of which show up near the end of the movie. The one that bugged me, though, was from the very last scene. Trying to describe this without actually spoiling it is a bit tricky. Okay, they kept bringing up X throughout the film. Suddenly X becomes important in the last scene, and it becomes obvious why they kept bringing it up. Then they produce a corny moral out of X.

They did something similar at the end of T2, with Sarah Connor's speech: "If a machine, a Terminator, can learn the value of a human life, maybe we can too," (from memory, so it may not be exact). This could have been corny, but they actually made it work. I didn't think the attempt worked in T4. I didn't actually see T3, as the previews put me off, so I don't know if something similar was tried there. I think if it hadn't been so heavyhanded, it might have worked. It just didn't work as written.

FYI: Kyle Reese, aka John Connor's future, er, past, er... John Connor's eventual father is played by Anton Yelchin, who was also Chekov in the recent Star Trek film. He had more of a chance to shine here. Also, there is a T5 listed as "in development", with the same director at the helm.

And in the bizarre trivia department... Danny Elfman composed the score for T4. He also composed the score for Tim Burton's Batman movies (the two with Michael Keaton). When Hans Zimmer was asked to do the music for Batman Begins, he didn't want to compete with Elfman's haunting score, so he did a percussion heavy, "black on black" score. So now in T4, I hear Elfman doing a very similar "black on black" score, at least in some places. Not sure what to make of that. There's also a riff of melody that I finally figured out reminds me of the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves soundtrack.

One (ranting) spoiler below the fold.

Above, X = Marcus' human heart. Several times in the film, someone comments on how "good and strong" it is. The first time, I was slightly weirded out by it. The second time, I was just confused. Then in the last scene, when someone else's heart was giving out, I just wanted to kick whoever had written those plants into the earlier part of the script. I mean, you don't need to bludgeon us with the foreshadowing, okay? And could we at least have had one of the foreshadowing references refer to his heart metaphorically, rather than solely to the literal, physical organ? That might have made the derived moral work a bit better. Maybe. When it comes out on DVD, I may try my hand at rephrasing the moral so that it doesn't come across as just weird. For now, I don't remember it well enough to make a useful attempt.

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Fourth Time's the Charm?

I wasn't sure whether or not to believe it when I ran across the rumor that they might make a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Now, I wouldn't complain overly much, so long is it was up to the standards of the first three, but...well... most of the loose ends were tied up at the end of 3, and the after-credits scene indicates that Will remains bound to the Dutchman for the 10 years immediately after 3. I suppose they could play with Jack going after the Fountain of Youth, and Will can contribute so long as he doesn't set foot on land... (and continues to do the duty of the Dutchman's Captain). I don't know.

Anyway, it's at least official enough to merit an announcement on imdb. Note that it is labeled as "announced", not even "pre-production", which probably means that they're floating ideas around, seeing who they might be able to get back, and probably seeing who's willing to fund it. Since this will likely change, here's a screen-capture from today:


Most of the links on that page either take you back to the same info, or require access to IMDB-Pro. So... assuming it makes it past "announced", I can't resist speculating on what plot points they'll focus on. Presumably, they'll try to make it feel like it was always intended to be four movies, so they'll want to continue on from existing loose ends.

(1) Jack going after the Fountain of Youth - happens at the very end, needs to either be continued or have an explanation as to why it didn't work out.
(2) Barbosa going after Jack to get his map back.
(3) Will, maybe, looking for a loophole in his Dutchman duties (he's so honor-bound, though, that this one seems a stretch to me)
(4) Elizabeth looking for a loophole in Will's duties (seems more likely than Will himself)
(5) Calypso/Tia Dalma... For her to be a major player, there would have to be something she wanted that her powers as the Sea would not get for her; otherwise, I'd expect a semi-random cameo from her if the actress were available.

I'll have to rewatch to movies to see if there are any random references that might provide future movie fodder, too. Still, the most obvious loose end is the whole doomed romance bit, and unless they set 4 at least 10 years after 3, I don't think that any fix can succeed without betraying the audience.

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Rewatching Buffy

Just a few random observations from my selective rewatch of Season 4. I started rewatching it mainly because I was writing a character with an accent similar to Spike's, and needed to get it fresh in my head again. I kept watching, at least the eps that I most liked, because I'd forgotten how much fun the show was. However, I must not have watched it while in full-on writing mode before, because I found myself picking apart bits of the storylines more. Not in a bad way: by and large, the story arcs hold together. But just...noticing little plants here and there that I'd missed before.

One of the most amusing, and strangest, is the Frankenstein doll Giles has hanging up for Halloween. Now, with no knowledge of the Big Bad, and the Initiative barely even discovered, this wouldn't have told a first-time viewer much. But it's a rather nice touch considering where the season is going to head.

There are also several not-so-subtle hints about Willow's eventual relationship shift. Played for laughs was Riley hanging a "Lesbian Alliance" sign, but there's also Willow commenting that "college is about experimenting." As I haven't been watching every episode, there were probably others that I missed.

One negative comment: did the editors really not realize that Sarah Michelle Gellar needed a thinner stunt double?!?? Also, the wig used on the stunt double was horribly obvious in at least one fight scene (Hush, at the Clock Tower). Not as bad as James Marsters' stunt-double's wig somewhere in Season 2 (which was worse, because it showed up constantly in the "Previously on Buffy" segments), but still... yick. I did not notice this so much on any previous viewing of Season 4, so maybe it's only when you've seen the episodes a few too many times. *shrugs*

Still, it's amazing how well the shows do hold up on re-viewing. So far my complaints are all technical nitpicks, rather than "Wait, I thought this made sense?" Oh, and I've also been grabbing some of my favorite lines to use as Random Quotes, which has been entertaining. (Apologies if I'm rambling; head pounding and tiredness make it impossible for me to tell)

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Random Statistics

I just finished Season 3 of Lost (incidentally, does every season have to end on a cliffhanger?), and was poking around the Lostpedia, and came across this page. It counts the number of times Hugo Hurley says "Dude" in each episode. Now, this is his "stock phrase," but I'm not sure it would have occurred to me to count how often he uses it.

There's also a list of all the most frequently used catch-phrases. The one that I really noticed was "Don't tell me what I can't do!" It's most often said by Locke, but Jack's said it a few times, and I think there are a few others who have said it. Wait, Ben actually said that at some point in the third season. Of course, Ben seems to be an insane, megalomaniacal liar (emphasis on seems, since nothing is ever certain on this show).

As far as Lost goes, it's still amazingly well done. I didn't like Season 2 quite as well as Seasons 1 or 3, but all were quite enjoyable. I'm not sure how much of a hurry I'm in to get Season 4, simply because Season 5 won't be available until November (and Season 6, presumably, the November after that). Ah well.

Vaguely related note: Seeing Star Trek while in the middle of watching Lost made me notice some common features, presumably due to JJ Abrams' influence. First, he seems to have a soft spot for (or possibly mild obsession with) pregnancy; it's less obvious in Star Trek than in Lost, though. There was also a long, oddly lit corridor used in both works (on the ice planet in Star Trek, and at the medical station in Lost). Also, one thing that either Abrams or his writers does/do very well is to make the plot solidly work with the characters. With the massive ensemble cast in Lost, that's very important. With something like Star Trek, where fans know the characters already, it's arguably even more important.

Odd coincidence, I just realized: I started re-watching Buffy Season 4 just after finishing Lost Season 3. Strangely, Buffy 4 does not resolve any of the issues of Lost 3...

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Own Worst Enemy - Full Series

Well, I just watched the final episode of this short-lived series. I still absolutely love the character interplay between Edward and Henry, and the way that Henry's character develops through the season. It's worth watching for that alone. However, I still think that this would be a ludicrous way to run a real spy operation, except possibly for deep cover operations over many years, and the series itself illustrates that quite nicely.

The non-operative versions of each person are completely helpless in the event that someone recognizes them from encounters with their spy-selves. They don't even know that they might be in especial danger, that they need to be on their guard. Now, if the handlers know there is a danger, they can remotely activate the spy-self. The problems I'm thinking about, however, are ones that the handlers wouldn't find out about until it's too late. Tom/Raymond, for instance, has some people from Raymond's past come while Tom is active, and threaten Tom and his wife. Tom couldn't have done anything had the situation escalated. This is not a way to keep your operatives safe. It's a way to turn them into bait.

Still, this idea would be plausible if the premise was testing the limits of a new technology... activating and deactivating agents constantly to see what kind of physiological and psychological effects it had. It would also be plausible for someone put in place "just in case" who would work somewhere for many many years, and only be activated in case of emergency, though this wouldn't make for as entertaining a show. It just is not remotely plausible that any spy agency would choose to operate this way on a regular basis.

One more complaint: as soon as it became clear that they had no control whatsoever over the switch between Edward and Henry, why in the bloody blue blazes didn't they immediately start training Henry? At the very least, he needed to learn how to use a gun and how to defend himself without one. Any idiot could see that was necessary. Edward finally cottoned to it in the last episode (and decided to lock himself in with an assassin to see if Henry could make it out alive... er, yeah... good ol' Edward), but it should have been started a long time before that.

Now, despite my ranting, I thoroughly enjoyed all the episodes. There are probably only a handful of actors who could really pull off the Henry/Edward role. Jeremy Irons comes to mind. Maybe James Marsters. Christian Slater, though, was absolutely perfect. The best part was that, as the series went on, "they" got better at pretending to be their counterpart, at least in "everyday" circumstances. As soon as fighting started, it was obvious which one was up. To be fair, though, Edward was just as much out of his element in a family discussion as Henry was in a gunfight.

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My Own Worst Enemy

A while back, I came across this series at Target. It looked like the type of character study that tends to interest me. Last night I finally watched the first episode, and it was a lot of fun. Now, this is one that you don't want to take too seriously. If it was just the technology that was implausible, that would be no different from many other shows. There's another problem, though.

The premise is that Edward is a spy. His cover is Henry Spivy, who is an entirely different person worked into Edward's brain through top-secret government technology. Now, this is a fascinating situation to watch unfold. It begins with Henry entirely unaware of Edward's existence...until he "wakes up" in the middle of a stakeout and nearly gets himself (and Edward) killed. Edward's handlers extract Henry, and attempt to erase his memories of Edward. Naturally, this turns out not to work except temporarily, and it puts Henry/Edward in danger.

The "relationship" between Edward and Henry is portrayed beautifully by Christian Slater. And as a character study, I loved it. However, it is one of the most improbable spy set-ups I've ever seen. I'm sure I've seen worse, but usually the acting is so horrendous that I don't bother trying to make sense of it.

Real spies are nothing like James Bond. They cannot keep a high profile. They cannot be easily recognized by the "bad guys." Real spies do need good covers for their operations, and a traveling salesman is a reasonable one. Edward, though, is a James-Bond-style spy. The bad guys know his face. In the real world, this would make him useless as a spy. Now, why does someone whose face is already recognizable by the enemy need a cover so deep that his cover doesn't know he's a spy? I haven't come up with an answer to that.

So let's look at the cover instead. The place where a deep cover like this would be useful is with a sleeper agent: one who's put in place early on, ready to be activated when the situation calls for it. That would be a perfect place for this type of dual personality cover. But, no, that's not what we have on the show. Henry gets to spend two days at home, then he goes on a 2-day business trip...where really Edward gets activated to save the world ... two days later, Henry returns, gets implanted with false memories of his boring business trip, spends two days at home... etc. Edward is an active spy; he doesn't need this idiotic deep cover. If anything, it makes him more vulnerable, not less.

Now, how could the set-up be altered to keep the basic premise but be at least marginally plausible? The best I've been able to come up with is to alter it so that this is a purely experimental project. They're testing the limits of their personality-switching device by switching it on and off at regular intervals, but not so often that neither personality can't have some semblance of a life. This is clearly not what's going on in the show, as there is at least one other dual personality spy (whose other half isn't waking up unexpectedly), and it's implied that there may be others, and this other dual-spy is also switched on and off every two days.

The best I can do with the setup as given is to conclude that the person running the operation is insane, and has enough clout to keep a patently ridiculous program operating. So for the acting and the character study, I highly recommend this series (though the 9 eps on the DVD seem to be all that were ever made). That part is a lot of fun. Just don't think too deeply about the setup, at least not while you're watching it.

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Star Trek

I didn't know what to expect from the new movie. Yes, reviews were favorable, and previews looked promising, but there's nothing like actually seeing it. And I loved it. It manages to capture the flavor of the old while bringing in the technology of the new (in more ways than one). I'm not going to spoil any crucial plot points (though you can find a random, unhelpful spoiler and a discussion of time travel here), but I would like to point out two places where they gave the original series a nod, but tweaked it at the same time:

(1) I'm not going to look it up, but William Shatner was something of a glory hog, and there was a plot written specifically for Sulu involving swordplay that Shatner insisted be rewritten for Kirk. Well, there's a scene where Kirk is hanging off a ledge while Sulu gets to match swords with the bad guys.

(2) Kirk was the one who always got the girl in the original series. And he tries in this new movie. However, it's someone rather unexpected who actually gets the girl.

Also, the phrase "Why do they even have that on the ship?" came to mind at one point. It will be obvious when you see it. Probably.

But I was very impressed with the casting and the effects. I was surprised that they subverted a time-honored Star Trek tradition with the ending (explaining which one would be a spoiler). I approve. Everyone needs a new beginning, sometime.

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Lost

I'd been keeping an eye on the price of the Lost DVD's at Fred Meyer. I wasn't interested in trying even one season while they were at $50 a set. A few weeks ago, season 1 came down to $35, so I got it, but was too busy with school stuff to actually watch it. Thursday night I popped in the first disc and watched the first half of the pilot episode. All I can say is, WOW. After making it through the rest of the pilot and the next two episodes, I felt the same way. The characters are believable, their reactions are believable ... the situation is rather odd, but that a plane might crash on a remote island is certainly believable.

But not only are the characters believable, they're interesting and fun and come across as people, not as vehicles for someone else's ideas (which is what often happens on situational shows like this). There are also just enough hints of something weird about the island they've landed on to spark curiosity and interest. What are the strange whirring noises that make the trees of the jungle move? Why is there an apparent polar bear in a warm, humid jungle? How did someone rig a Mayday message and power it so that it would play continuously for 16 years? What's the deal with Locke—his background only adds more questions, particularly at the end of the fourth episode)? Some of these I'm sure I could find answers to on the internet, as there have been many more seasons since the first, but I prefer to be surprised.

The first four episodes are interwoven so well that they might have been from a feature film. We see hints of characterization in the pilot, which start to make sense when we later find out the character's background. Examples: Kate asks about a guy who wound up with a piece of shrapnel stuck in his gut during the crash, and seems a bit too intent for her explanation of interest, "He was sitting next to me." Yes, he was sitting next to her, and for a very specific reason. Locke wakes up flat on his back, and stares fixedly at the gold-toe socks of his right foot as he slowly wiggles the toes. He finds his shoe, puts it back on, and seems strangely giddy as he climbs to his feet. That explanation totally blew me away.

I do have one minor complaint, in that no one has a broken femur. That is probably the most common injury for plane crash survivors. The seat is designed to absorb a lot of the impact, but the thigh is most directly contacting the seat, and it tends to take some of the damage as well. Better that than the spine, but the result is that people commonly survive the crash itself only to be unable to leave the plane, and then die of smoke inhalation. Admittedly, it wouldn't be a very interesting show if, say, half the cast was immobilized due to broken femurs, but I'm curious as to whether there's an in-universe explanation. I'm also curious if a crashed plane is really as volatile as it was depicted in the pilot episode. That I honestly don't know. It seems possible that it would be... I guess the Mythbusters are just going to have to crash a plane and find out. `/^ (That, or I could do some research... I just want to avoid running across spoilers for the rest of the seasons)

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Last Concert of the Season

The symphony concert tonight was awesome. I knew that they were going to be doing Carmina Burana, which would have been sufficient in and of itself to make the concert great. But the first half of the concert was The Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi. I'm sure I'd heard the first movement before (Pines of the Villa Borghese), but I don't think I'd heard the other three movements.

The really interesting thing was during the fourth movement. There is a strong, driving beat on the kettledrum throughout this part. I had allowed the music to take me into a middling meditative state, and I noticed that my heart was beating exactly in time with the beat. It was fascinating. As the music changed tempo, my heartbeat would take a beat or so to "catch up", but it would then beat exactly in time with the music again. I'd heard such a thing was possible, but never before experienced it.

Here is the fourth movement of Pines of Rome, and here is the first song of the Carmina Burana (O Fortuna!). We sang this one when I was in senior choir in high school, as well as Fortuna Plango. I think the next year, they did Ecce Gratum. There were actually several versions on YouTube. I picked that one because it seemed to have the best vocalization. I was extremely disappointed with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra version. It needed the quiet spots to contrast with the loud.

The Carmina Burana is a somewhat odd work, in that the lyrics are all from 13th century poems. About half of it is in Latin, and the other half is in archaic German. It's a mixture of songs that glorify love and songs that despair of fate, or at least acknowledge that fate is fickle and there's no getting away from it. The overall effect, if you pay attention to the translations, is rather existential. However, the music itself is enjoyable whether or not you pay attention to the translations.

(Apologies if this is a bit incoherent; I'm short on sleep)

AM ADDENDUM: Forgot to mention this last night, but after Pines of Rome, I heard the people behind us wondering aloud how the symphony could possibly top that in the second half. I just grinned to myself. Apparently these people hadn't encountered the Carmina Burana before! (And I'll let the disconnectedness from last night stand, as I find it mildly amusing now that I'm more awake.)

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Witchblade

After noticing the TNT series was out on DVD, I started watching my old VHS tapes of the show again. I'd forgotten just how good the series was (though I remembered exactly how annoyed I was when they canceled after the second season). It's a show that could easily have wound up corny or ridiculously campy, and managed not to. Sara Pezzini is a cop who winds up with a strange and powerful bracelet on her wrist. Kenneth Irons is the richest guy in the world (or near enough), and he wants to control both the bracelet, aka the Witchblade, and its wielder. Ian Nottingham is Kenneth' protege, who has too much of a soft spot for Sara for either her or Kenneth's liking.

The show is primarily about Sara learning to control and understand the Witchblade, while she tries to avoid being caught in Kenneth's schemes. Again, it would have been easy for this to wind up as a ridiculous farce, but it works. The interplay of the characters is beautiful.

My favorite bit, though, is somewhat spoilerish, so it's below the fold.

This is the only show I can think of that manages to undo an entire season without betraying the viewers in any way. It was a beautiful way to end the first season, particularly since one of the themes of the season was Sara losing everyone she cared about. Now at the beginning of the second season, she has a second chance to save them. Of course, her memory of former future events is not perfect, so it's not like she has a perfect road map. Plus, after the first "undoing," all other events are going to play out differently.

I also find it interesting that, in the first season, it takes a while for the plot to reveal exactly how depraved Kenneth Irons really is. In the second season, it becomes clear right off the bat. Why? Because the viewers already know, so there's no reason to keep it behind closed doors this time around. In the first season, it's sort of, "Okay, so he's a bit power-crazed and manipulative, but he doesn't seem all that bad," at least until the last few episodes. Second season, same time frame, and there's no pussyfooting around. It's almost instantaneously clear that he's too depraved to cooperate with.

As for the DVDs, I'll either order them from Amazon or wait for the ones available in town to come down in price. It's been interesting to watch them from my old VHS tapes, as they also have all the original commercials in them. It's a bit like jumping back in time, particularly on the investment and banking commercials.

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