Don’t read this if you haven’t watched the Lost finale yet.

Ultimately, I was satisfied. I still don’t really know exactly what it all was, but since when did we expect Lost to answer every single one of our questions? Come on, people. Of course I would have liked to know WHAT exactly the island was (Was it real, or did they all die in the crash?), and yes, I would have liked more from my favorite character, Ben, in the end. I’m sad he was rendered impotent by the finale, despite the fact that throughout the series, he became the compelling badass that Kate was supposed to be, but Evangeline Lilly couldn’t pull off.

I’ll acknowledge that there were big holes left in the plot,  but all in all I thought it was emotionally satisfying, and the performances by Matthew Fox and Jorge Garcia were so beautifully gut-wrenching that they almost made up for the shortfalls. And did you get a load of that showdown between Jack and Smokey Locke on the rocks? I literally stood up off the couch and yelled. For sure one of my favorite TV moments in the last few years.

p.s. If Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn don’t get their own shows and/or win multiple Emmys after this, I will throw things.

But let’s talk about the ex-husband of my friend for a minute. He’s selfish. He’s not dependable. He drinks a lot. He’s violent. He’s immature. He’s ignorant to what’s going on in the world. He’s unstable. He’s unfaithful. I could go on, but he doesn’t deserve the typing.

Now my friend’s kids are at pivotal stages of their development; they are learning everything there is to know about being a human being from their parents right this very moment. So let’s think about this: Is she really doing the right thing by insisting these little sponges spend every weekend away with this guy? Really? Not only is their mental and physical safety in question, but what about the long-term effects? Is her strength and love and support enough to counter-act the effect of spending hours and hours with their totally lame-ass father? We know for a fact now that child development is a combination of nature and nurture, so how does she know that they won’t inherit any or all of these traits from him?

I’m a child of divorce, as are many of the people my age, so I know that it can suck to not to have a real dad around. On the other hand, I had a wonderfully happy childhood and (some people may disagree with this) I turned out pretty kick-ass, despite the fact that I grew up with a single mom. Would I have been as confident and level-headed as I am now if I was forced to spend every weekend with my shy, indecisive father and his totally overbearing wife? Who’s to say?

I know at one point, my friend loved this guy enough to marry and have children with him, so I guess he can’t be that bad. But he’s bad enough that I can safely say that I hate his guts, and I don’t use that word lightly.  I see those sweet little kids and all I can think about is them, at his place, by themselves, and all of the stupid shit that comes out of his mouth going directly into their ears. And as much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m starting to see his selfish, aggressive tendencies show up in the 6-year-old boy. And because of the way this whole divorce machine works, there’s nothing to be done. My only wish is that her influence in their lives will be great enough to help them overcome their unfortunate genealogy.

The acorn and the tree.

Simon Pegg‘s new movie Paul has a great blog with behind-the-scenes photos, video blogs and fun. It’s so sweet that they love and respect their fans so much that they take the time to do this stuff. Most movie stars would not bother. Highlight: Simon and Kristen Wiig (girlcrush) learning how to drive a motorhome.

www.whatispaul.com

From the website: “Paul is a comedy about two sci-fi geeks who embark upon a pilgrimage in a RV to the center of America’s UFO heartland: Nevada’s infamous Area 51. While in the middle of that desert, the two friends encounter a fugitive alien by the name of Paul. Somewhat reluctantly, they embark upon an adventure that will change not just their lives forever, but also the lives of the friends and enemies they encounter along the way.”

June 2009 British GQ! Yay!

Plus, Simon’s book will be released in October. On my birthday. It’s fate, you guys.

****************************************************************************************************

Chris Hardwick has just started hosting Web Soup on the G4TV Network (an off-shoot of the hilarious and trashy The Soup, hosted by the equally dreamy Joel McHale). Don’t get G4? Subscribe to the the iTunes Podcasts!

And now you can get him on your chest!

********************************************************************************************

Chris Leavins is taking a hiatus from Cute With Chris. Boo. But he’s uploading stories like crazy to The Chris Leavins Story Hour! Yay! I highly reccommend his podcast. The premise is simple – he records live readings of his short stories and essays and uploads them to iTunes for the people not lucky enough to see the show. His stories are funny, personal, touching, dark, sarcastic and just terrific. Chris + iPod + walking to work along the seawall = BLISS.

Click photo for link to L.A. Weekly's great article about Chris

Also, he’s publishing a book of his stories soon on this new self-publishing platform called Lulu.com. You just pay a fee, upload your content and cover art, choose your own price, then promote your book on the site. You print as many as you want, and readers buy the book right there. Genius. And geeky!

Chris Leavins is “working 24 hours a day, pioneering the internet,” or so he says. I know he means that facetiously, but he’s not far off the mark. Chris is a writer, actor, comedian and video blogger who is blurring the line between performance and the internet.

He started his career as an actor in Canada, and and found some success on shows like Slings and Arrows and The Eleventh Hour. He did run into some struggles, and he became frustrated with show cancellations and empty theatres. He moved to Los Angeles to make a go of it a few years ago and continued to work, and in his spare time he started a hilarious web show and blog called Cute with Chris. On it, he asks his viewers to vote on the cutest pet photo posted on his blog, rants, tells stories and makes fun of his Crazy Cat Lady and teen fans. It’s rife with inside jokes, dark humour and a rotating cast of characters: Colty the Christian plastic horse, Pervy the perverted plastic horse, and his sidekick Peanuts, a bag of styrofoam packaging peanuts. It’s kind of like Cuteoverload.com and The Jon Stewart Show had a baby.

Noticing the global reach his web show had as opposed to the empty theatres and canceled tv series of his past, he wanted to see what would happen if he used this new-found popularity to subsequently produce live shows. Guess what? It worked. His first experimental Cute with Chris Live show in L.A. sold out in 81 minutes. Here, he can explain it better than I can:

Since then, he’s sold out a bunch more CWC Live shows in L.A. and Toronto. His live show is just like how you’d imagine it. Audience members email him photos of their cute pets ahead of time, then he shows the photos on the big screen, makes fun of them and includes them in all the indside jokes that the fans know and love so well from the web show. The Crazy Cat Ladies, Teens and Big Gay Bears in the audience LOSE THEIR MINDS. He then takes a quick video update from right up on the stage and posts it on the blog the next day. Some of the t-shirts and buttons he sells at the show are designed by fans. It’s so interactive it’s interacting with itself. He’s about to make a stop at the Uno Fest in Victoria next month. Guess who’s got tickets! MEEEEE!!!! YAAAAYYYYY!

You guys, do you have any idea how much this concept floats my boat? A live blog. And not “live blogging,” where someone is just typing and you’re watching on another computer. It’s a blog brought to life. Le sigh. Internet geekery + live theatre = is this what heaven looks like?

(\_/)
(O.o)
( ><)

p.s. Maybe I should call this topic Cute Chris Alert, because I’ve talked about a few of them.

Usually, when I listen to music, I’m more of a melody girl than a lyrics girl. Except when I listen to The Weakerthans. It’s not like imagining dancing around at a concert in a big room full of people. It’s more like John K. Sampson is sitting across the table from me with his guitar, looking me right in the eye.

One of my favorite DJs, Craig Norris from CBC Radio 3 said once of Sampson’s songwriting: “I think that John K. Sampson is (hyperbole alert!) one of the greatest lyricists in Canadian music right now. There is a line in the third verse [of "Utilities"]…where he compares his face to a weather map and he says ‘I have more faults than the state of California/And the heart is a badly built bridge.’ And, no offence John, but that freaks me out and makes me angry, ’cause I wish I could write stuff like that. And if you’re out there and you’re a songwriter and that line doesn’t freak you out, then you’re doin’ something wrong.”

Craig’s intro was actually my first introduction to The Weakerthans a couple of years ago, and I thought at the time, “Wow, Craig, that’s a bit over the top.” But the more I listened to them, the more I understood Craig’s love-filled rage. For example, just now, as I was going over stuff for this post, I just yelled out (by myself in my apartment), “YOU CAN’T JUST WRITE A SWEET AND POIGNANT SONG ABOUT DRINKING AWAY YOUR LONELINESS THE CURLING CLUB BAR!” But guess what, you can:

Makes you want to throw things, right?

The Weakerthans played a kick-ass show here a couple of weeks ago. It sold out quickly but a friend of mine had a few tickets to sell at the last minute. I DIDN’T GO. Now I’m even more angry and I’d like to punch myself in the the face.

p.s. Weakerthans bonus! “One Great City” is the opening credits song in my favorite new Canadian show, Less Than Kind. Yay!

p.p.s. Also, this.

The other day, I finally took the opportunity to look at the painting up close. Well, guess what. It’s not by your favorite artist after all. It’s a mediocre knock-off by someone named Cori with an i. Vaguely reminiscent of something much better. Looks like a masterpiece from far away, but upon closer inspection, it’s pretty obvious that it’s not real.

I can’t think of anything more fitting.

That's not it. Close, though.

Posted in Fiction ]]> http://schadenfreudelightful.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/bring-on-the-brand-new-renaissance/feed/ 0 ayfray http://schadenfreudelightful.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/gum/ http://schadenfreudelightful.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/gum/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2009 08:30:28 +0000 ayfray http://schadenfreudelightful.wordpress.com/?p=388 ]]> The cab driver singing along to the Bhangra on the radio is really making me happy, even though my ears just popped like a thunderclap. What? Why did that happen. I’m probably below sea level right now.

When my ears pop, it reminds me of my mom. Whenever we took plane trips when I was a kid, besides all of the other eleventy billion things she had to remember, she always made sure she had gum in her purse just in case I had to pop my ears. And not just any gum, Juicy Fruit, which she didn’t even like. It astounds me to think that she’d single-handedly lift a car to save my life, pop my ears for me, and do everything else in between, just to make sure I’m okay. That’s a lot of details to take care of.

(Thanks, Lainey.)

p.s. I’ll be those kids are sure glad they joined the USC marching band, and not the dumb football team.

p.p.s. Here’s the actual Grammys performance, in case you missed it.

But, yes.

Here’s the whole interview uncut if you wanna.