Closure

So I've waited over a week to write anything about LOST. Sill don't know if I'm ready or have anything coherent to say. I've had a few people ask me what I thought about the finale. Poor people at my work whom I'm sure are asking to be nice because I talk about the show so much, but are not followers themselves. And all I can say is that overall I'm happy, overall I'm satisfied.

I had emotional closure with the characters. However, I was left with some uncertainty about the physical nature of the show. I don't know how else to put it. I don't care that I didn't get concrete answers to series long mysteries. But I have a sense of unrest about the "physical" side of the characters and their souls. Perhaps these are spiritual questions which I'm not ready to answer in myself. That the show took such a definite stance on a spiritual level is interesting to me - and a little unsettling. But a show that makes me question such things - a show that makes me look inside and examine my own reaction - how can that be bad?

I actually couldn't ask for more.

Joss!

Glee directed by Joss Whedon! Woo hoo! I saw Joss Wedon's name on the opening titles of Glee this week and found myself watching the whole episode looking for signs of his directorial genius. I think I saw it - but maybe I'm fooling myself. I think his use of exterior and non-school shots was good. Glee is afraid to get outside of that High School. But this week we were treated to an outside walk and talk, a bar scene, a mall scene, and an awesome sing off with Will Schuester and NPH on a fake Les Mis stage. I enjoyed this "Dream On" episode. I especially liked the use of hand held consumer cameras in the shopping mall scene to help the layman understand the fakeness of the scene. Good job Joss! I hope this can hold you until your next big thing. Whatever it is, I'll watch it.

Nurse Jackie

This past fall TV season I got suckered into the biggest cable package that Charter Communications had. With a High Def TV, it's just silly to watch Standard Def. So I had to upgrade - but in the mix - Showtime got added to my lineup. I've been an HBO original programming fan for awhile, but never had Showtime. So I caught up on Nurse Jackie and United Stated of Tara (more on that one in a later post perhaps). But Nurse Jackie is an odd show for me that I can't quite get a handle on.

Jackie is very, very flawed! And I'm okay with a flawed hero (Saving Grace has done this fairly well), but dang Jackie is flawed. I don't know if I can accept her - I mean of course we see that she is a caring nurse who will go out of her way for the patient (but every good AND bad nurse show tells me this - HawthoRNe, Mercy, Trauma, and a whole slew of Dr. dramas). But Jackie doesn't give me more than that. I don't quite get the casting of her husband - who feels years younger although they tell me they were in high school together. But, I love some of the supporting cast on this show. I love, love Zoe. I think this actress is great as the quirky, shy, but coming-into-her-own nurse. Fantastically played by Merritt Wever, I love any scene with her - she gives the cold judging stares and awkward I've got a secret moments so well. And Dr. O'Hara and Coop are great characters to play off - I just can't get into Jackie... I don't feel sympathy or root for her the way I eventually did for Vic Mackey from The Shield, even though he was horrible.

Right now, all Jackie is for me is a scowl.

Sponsored by...

I have reluctantly accepted a level of product placement/integration in shows these days. It’s just part of the system now. The Subway tie-in on Chuck was silly and in your face but I didn’t mind too much since the show is part comedy and I can actually see those characters having a meeting in a local Subway. But some shows lately have taken it too far.

Bones has now given me two automobile product integration episodes. And they have to reach to fit it in the storyline. First I have Angela and Daisy in a Toyota and Daisy wants to know why Angela drives a minivan. “Ooh, because the Sienna has all this space for my artwork!” Seriously! Nothing important happened in this drive sequence – it was just there to talk about the car. Although here’s an article that believes it actually worked.

And then we had Angela and Hodgins in a Toyota Prius that beeps at them when Hodgins is so distracted by what Angela is making him look at while he’s driving (way to go Angela) that he veers out of his lane. “What’s that beeping?” “That’s the Prius telling you you’ve gone out of your lane.” Thanks for that built-in commercial guys! That’s exactly what I was missing in my fictional television drama!

This brings me to 24. This past week Chloe and Arlo are so upset that they can’t help Jack Bauer because there is too much security in CTU – so they set up their own mobile hotspot with Sprint’s new device. Are you kidding me? If it’s so easy to set up your own system (in 3 seconds I might add) that can bypass firewalls and security issues at a government facility, don’t you think that would be happening all over the place? Terrorists pay attention – just use your Sprint mobile hotspot and create your own network to steal info from CTU. Who knew it was that easy.

Because it really is just that easy to bypass security, enhance a picture taken by a crappy surveillance camera, and figure out the exact location of a hostage based on blurred building shapes seen through a window (thanks Castle). Just press a few buttons on a keyboard with intensity and voila! But only if you’re using your “insert brand name device here.”

Here’s a collection of awesome TV moments using their technology to "enhance."

Pause

Hmm, I don't have TV ramblings today... I went to North Carolina two weeks ago for work and got really behind on my TV. So then I finally caught up this past weekend during the tornadic storm system. But my marathon TV watching didn't leave time for thoughts or processing. I was just trying to get through the DVR list. You really need time to process the show or movie you've just watched, but instead we immediately get dumped to a commercial. It drives me crazy when you have a climactic or meaningful ending to a show and it fades to black and POW! - Coke commercial or a cell phone commercial. Where is my breathing space? Where is my pause to contemplate what I just saw? Of course this is a little better since they started regulating commercial volume so at least we aren't always inundated with the loudness of the commercial. But I still need a visual pause. I want a few seconds for the powerful images of the TV show to sink in before I have commercial images fed to me.

Don't get me wrong, I actually really like some commercials. I think they can be brilliantly executed and effective. Like this lovely Old Spice one.

I know this pause issue is a result of the way shows and commercials are designed and sold. Programs have to be a very specific length (seconds and frames) with specific commercial breaks built in for network and then affiliate spots (down again to seconds and frames). But geez already! I need a breather. I'll never forget the season 5 ending of LOST with Juliette hitting the hydrogen bomb and the screen goes to white and COMMERCIAL! I needed a second to deal with the impact of what I'd just seen.

This is why I prefer to stay through the credits at movie theaters. I need a moment to process. I fall into the movies. So the credits give me the moments I need to conclude if I was satisfied or not with what I've just seen (that and I like to show a little respect for the hundreds of people who put their effort into the movie making process). I don't want to immediately hop out of my theater chair and walk out and ask my movie companion "did you like it?" Gimme a second!

Forgettable Music

As I was stuck at a stop light yesterday and angry at my useless radio stations, I rummaged for a cassette in my center car console and put in a tape of the Rose Chronicles (and yes, I still have a cassette player in my car). But for the life of me, I found no redeeming quality in this once appreciated music. I know my sister and I really liked it at some point in the past. But I don't know why. I think it may have been featured in an episode of Buffy once - maybe that's why we liked it. It is harsh vocals, juvenile and trying too hard - maybe an early indie trying to be emo. I don't know - but I don't like it now.

I usually have a fondness for the music of my past because of the association it brings up. I may not listen to that kind of music now, but I still can go back to it and be transported. But Rose Chronicles just transported me to a place of ick and "turn it off now".

Lars and the Real Girl

I saw Lars and the Real Girl a few months ago and was quite touched by this movie. I had heard of it, heard good things, but knew it would be quirky. But I was surprised at the emotional depth. It features Ryan Gosling as a lonely and sheltered man who buys a real doll and then believes she's his real girlfriend. But the story isn't tawdry or meant to be funny. It's incredibly touching. And his brother and sister-in-law are superbly portrayed by Paul Schneider and Emily Mortimer as concerned, supportive characters to Lars's mental illness. But Ryan Gosling really does shine here in his subtle performance. The scene where he goes to an office party and feels happy for the first time in perhaps ever - is remarkable! He slowly dances with himself and it is heart wrenching.

I guess as a somewhat shy person myself, I found this story very moving. Lars is coming out of a shell and learning how to live in the real world - his real doll serving as an emotional transition. It's a beautifully told story.