Sorry

No post this week.  I will have a special post next week for the World Cup.  It will be something never before seen on this blog.

The End

"This is The End, my only friend, The End" - Jim Morrison

We have just seen one of the greatest shows in TV history end this past weekend.  Sure there are better shows (I hear The Wire is phenomenal).  But few can claim the depth and breadth of Lost.  How many shows do you know can reference the Bible, Star Wars, Lockean philosophy and Quantum mechanics...in one episode...and it works?  I personally can't think of any, but if you can please tell me, because that is right in my wheelhouse (and probably most anyone who watched Lost).  And yes this will contain spoilers, so you are warned.

abc.com

From my preliminary analysis of fan response, there seems to be two camps on the finale: it was great and not surprisingly, it was terrible.  Those fans are pretty simply people who watched it for two reasons.  The people who loved it, like me, were there for the characters.  The people who hated it, were there for the mysteries.  Those were the two things the show was about, and each viewer got to decide which meant more.  I saw the mysteries as more of a device to allow the audience to explore who these characters really are.  When the unfathomable is testing their very survival physically and mentally, the Lostaways couldn't help but show their true selves.  And that is just what Jacob wanted; that is the true purpose of the Island.  We got that from the beginning of last year's finale.  We saw Jack as a man who tries to fix everything because his father never believed in him.  We see that once you get through Sawyer's hard defensive shell, he is a kind-hearted and loving man.  We see that without the rigid social constructs of South Korea that Jin and Sun are truly perfect for each other and couldn't be more in love.

  abc.com

So this episode, like all the ones this year, were split between on on Island events in 2007, and a sideways universe based on what happened if the plane didn't crash in 2004 (more on this later).  I really like what the Cuse and Lindelof did here.  There were a few stings that played nicely with each other.  First was defeating Smokey.  This was Desmond and Jack's primary objective.  Desmond was needed because he was the only person who could "kill" the Island without dying (and Jacob did not want unnecessary deaths).  "Killing" the Island had to be done to kill Smokey.  As soon as Des removed the cork, Smokey and Jack (serving as Jacob's replacement), became mortal.  Unfortunately, that meant the Island itself would sink to the bottom of the sea.  Jack then engaged Locke in a fight to the death, great full circle moment.  Locke (really Smokey), mortally wounds Jack, but the actual combat left him vulnerable so Kate could shoot him.  While this is all going on Lapidus, Richard and Miles were getting the Arija flight ready for an escape for the survivors.  This lead to some great, tense moments, a sense of "c'mon, hurry up!"  Finally the on-Island plot concluded with Jack trying to save it (showing how dynamic the character has been).  In doing so he finally showed he believed in Hurley by asking him to be his successor as guardian; this was a perfect choice because of all the characters, Hurley has been good to a fault.  As Jack said: Hugo is just good at taking care of people.  And I loved how the series ended right where it began: Jack in the bamboo thicket, with Vincent.

abc.com

The revelation of the sideways universe was what I really loved.  By telling us that this was some kind of purgatory that the Islanders made to reconnect before all going to heaven really got me.  These characters have meant so much to each other.  I mean they went through hell and back together.  As Christian Shephard said, whether they realized it or not, they really found out who they were on that Island, and as a result those people were the most important people to them.  Some people saw this as a cop-out.  I didn't think so at all.  This gave these long-suffering people the happy ending they deserved.  I think Ben knew this, and that is why he stayed in the churchyard.  He had not earned his happy ending yet, despite helping Hurley run, what we can assume, a much less mysterious, deadly island.  And the best part about this segment of the story is we got to see not only the revelation to many characters, but the revelation through love.  Jack and Kate, Sawyer and Juliet, Hugo and Libby, Sun, Jin, and their daughter, Sayid and Shannon (great pump fake by the writers having Shannon be his true love, not Nadya), Claire, Charlie, and Aaron, Ben and Alex.  Even Locke, who seemed to have it all: father, fiance, needed his legs back because he loved his freedom, being his own man, not these fantasy beings from his real life.

 abc.com

Now some people claim that there were not enough answers.  I don't think that's the case.  This year they explained a lot of things, but a lot of them seemed too simple for our previous understanding of Lost.  The Island really was a cork in the wine bottle of evil, but we were waiting for there to be some twist, like Jacob was the evil one or something.  But there wasn't really time this year for twists;  the writers needed to give answers fast so that the real focus could come to the front.  I am willing to guess that on second viewing of this season we will take a lot more explanations on face value, because we know that the mythology and mystery were not the ends, but the means.  We will focus more on the interpersonal relationships, not why was there a polar bear (which I always assumed was part of the Dharma experiments and just got out, but I guess some people just wouldn't accept that simple explanation).  In the end, to me, Lost was about how the characters relate to each other and to the audience. 

The Pacific

 Basilone on Iwo Jima; courtesy of pacificfans.com

WOW.  That had to be the most powerful ten hours of television I have ever watched.  I now know why the European theater is the one everyone glorifies; The Pacific was just downright nasty, and Spielberg, Hanks, and company did an excellent job portraying that nightmare.  I knew I was going to love this show when during the second episode the director played on our culture's endless familiarity with Saving Private Ryan and Vietnam movies.  We saw soldiers in their landing craft, waiting for the doors to open and hell to break loose;  when they opened there was already a wave of troops resting on the beach.  They had the Marines humping through the jungle on Guadalcanal;  Every muscle in my body was tense just waiting for a platoon of Japanese guerrillas to ambush the troops.  It never came.  There were countless other times like this throughout the entire miniseries: I was completely on edge waiting for the next shoe to drop, giving me just a small taste, for just an hour, of what these men lived through for 3 years.

Eugene Sledge; courtesy of pacificfans.com

The acting in the miniseries was also outstanding.  Jon Seda, who played John Basilone, did an excellent job of portraying the reluctant hero.  Throughout most of the war he was Stateside campaigning for war bonds.  He did not sign up for that, he signed up to fight; he wasn't a hero in his mind, he just did his job.  Joseph Mazzello (Timmy from Jurassic Park) was amazing as the gun ho teen Eugene Sledge who was completely transformed by the horrors he witnessed on Peleliu and Okinawa.  His line to the young woman trying to help him enroll in classes at Alabama Tech summed up his metamorphosis, so coolly, yet so full of intensity and disgust about what he learned in the Marine Corps: "I learned how to kill Japs.  And I got pretty damn good at it."  Then there was James Badge Dale, who played the skeptic Robert Leckie.  He did not go to war to be a hero.  He knew, probably from his vast literary background, that war was not pretty, glorious, fun.  This skepticism is probably what made him the least damaged of the three main characters.

Performance of the Series: Rami Malek as Snafu; courtesy hbo.com

But there was one character that stole the show.  Rami Malek was phenomenal as Merriell "Snafu" Shelton, a borderline sociopath and ends up being Sledge's best friend, simply because they live the longest of their mortar squad.  Malek did an excellent job of portraying a cold blooded killer completely suited for the war in the Pacific theater.  Yet he was also able to give him a slight touch of humanity, as if Sledge were rubbing off on him.  This performance hopefully will be a launching pad for Malek, because he showed he is supremely talented.  Very rarely did Snafu say something or do something that didn't touch a nerve, trigger an emotion, or just send a chill down your spine.  Very few actors can do this on demand, and this character needed to have that effect because he was the yin to Sledge's yang.  When Sledge was optimistic and idealist, Snafu was completely heartless and cynical.  As Sledge became more line Snafu, Snafu became more like Sledge.  This ebb and flow between these two characters really made the show, and without such a powerful and difficult performance by Malek, it doesn't come off as convincing and falls flat.

The Pacific was a powerful miniseries.  There wasn't an episode that passed (except maybe the Melbourne one) where I didn't get off the couch and say to myself "I could never do that."  It made me truly appreciative of the heroic sacrifice these men made and the men and women of our armed forces continue to make.  Thank you.

Quick Hits

There's nothing that I could really write a full blog post on, so I'm going to give a few brief paragraphs on current events on the television.

Lost is coming together nicely.  Sure the ending will be somewhat disappointing because there will be questions that won't be answered.  But I've accepted that and really just want to see what the final product is.  If this series works best watching very rapidly straight through, it will be a great success to me.  It's already sealed it's place in history because of the depth and complexity; that will never be matched, it just doesn't make financial sense for networks to green light (see Flash Forward).

One of a kind; courtesy abc.com

We don't need a Triple Crown winner.  Think about it.  I watch the three races every year in hopes that one horse will win.  The best thing for horse racing is if the winner of the Kentucky Derby wins Preakness and is right there at Belmont.  I think if a horse wins it, people ignore the sport until there's another drought.  It's that anticipation and disappointment that keeps us coming back.  Of course I'm rooting for a Triple Crown, but I think it's probably best to not have a horse win one.

Go 2-1 in the big ones; courtesy of espn.com

I watched my first major boxing event this past weekend.  It was interesting.  This sport definitely needs Pacquiao vs. Mayweather.  But I understand why Mayweather wants strict testing.  It should raise a lot more eyebrows that Pacquiao won't submit.  Every one is saying how great he is, but he won't let them test close to the fight.  Didn't we do this with Bonds?  He looks like a rat, acts like a rat, and probably smells like a rat, so I'm guessing he's a rat.

A lot has been said about the NBA playoffs by those who know much more than I.  I have really enjoyed watching it as always.  I really have no idea who will make it to the finals.  Probably the Lakers, but the East could be anyone.  Will the Cavs choke again?  They looked horrible last night against a Celtics team applying for Social Security next year.  I don't like the Magic because Vince Carter is Vince Carter, and Dwight Howard is playing like an idiot.  If you're getting a lot of fouls called on you, don't whine about it, it only makes it worse.  Grow up Dwight, just because you're the defensive player of the year doesn't give you the right to tackle everyone.  You can't block every shot.

Don't act so surpised; courtesy of espn.com

The Pacific has gotten really good.  Last week's episode had a great vague sense of impending doom hanging over the whole thing.  I'll summarize my thoughts when the whole thing wraps up in 2 weeks.

Finally, the World Cup is almost here; ESPN radio plays a lot of commercials for it and it gets me jazzed every time.  More on this later.

NFL Brainwash

Owns your brain; courtesy nfl.com

We have been brainwashed by the NFL.  You know how I know this?  A friend's Facebook status states he gets more excited for the draft than Christmas.  That's plain crazy talk if you think about it.

The draft has to be the second most useless thing the NFL does after the combine, but only narrowly ahead of the preseason games.  Watching the draft means  you watch hours and hours of some jackass (Mel Kiper Jr.) blow hot air out of his ass about how great college player X is or how dumb front office person Y is.  You know what Mel?  Most of the time you have no idea what you are talking about.  The NFL and the college games are just plain different.  The elite level of talent in the NFL blows away what most of these players played against in college.  In a college game there are two, three NFL caliber players, six tops.  Guess what?  In the NFL they are all NFL caliber.

Blow-hard with bad hair; courtesy espn.com

The draft is kind of like Christmas.  For months beforehand we get bombarded with a media blitz celebrating one event.  Except its like a terrible Christmas.  Instead of Santa, who shows up a couple months before Christmas, talks about Christmas, is seen everywhere, makes children happy, etc., we get the aforementioned Kiper.  He also shows up months beforehand, but like I said blathers on with ridiculous predictions.  He also doesn't make children happy, he might even make them cry with that hair helmet.  Also, Christmas is great because there are parties in the proceeding weeks. No one throws a draft party on the day of the draft much less two weeks before.  Finally, Christmas day arrives, things move quickly.  You get the presents knocked out in thirty minutes, maybe you do it in the morning, the evening, or both, but it's efficient.  The draft you sit for hours, and hours, and hours.  You listen to these so-called experts who make wild speculation for mere entertainment purposes, then the Commissioner steps to the microphone, says a name, and for the next 15 minutes the draft-niks go back to wild speculation of why that was a good pick, bad pick, how many Super Bowls the team will win now.

There are two reasons why this lacks any excitement in my opinion.  First, we have been bombarded with so many opinions on who will pick whom, that no scenario is really a surprise.  Everyone and their mom does a mock draft.  ESPN has been talking about who should go where since the last draft.  It is entirely over-analyzed.  The best mock draft I read was this one because it mocks the over-coverage of this non-event.  The second reason this is a non-event is that this is not the NBA.  This is football.  The most influential player on the field is the QB, but he can't be effective if he doesn't have a line (see Campbell, Jason) or someone to throw to or hand off to, or a defense that can keep the other team off the field.  In other words, one player cannot make a mediocre team a great one like Lebron did for the Cavs, or Durant does for the team in OKC.  Football is such a team game that 90% of the names called on draft day are irreplaceable, that's why there are no stats like VORP or plus/minus for football; the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

You don't get players like this in the NFL; courtesy zimbio.com

So to sum things up: just tell me who picked where, I don't need to watch.  In fact the reason the draft is even on TV is all marketing.  It puts the NFL name out there in the middle of the offseason, just in case we've forgotten about it.  This is a throwback to a bygone era.  When baseball ruled the NFL needed to stay relevant, especially as the excitement of the start of baseball was still going.  Then there was the NBA and NHL playoffs.  It made sense at the time to have a big televised event for the NFL.  But the NFL's place is pretty secure since all of these things get pushed to the side for this event that in the long run rarely means anything (Tom Brady was a 6th round pick, for example).  It is now simply a chance for the NFL to flex it's muscles and say "look how much everyone loves us."  That and sell some more hats and jerseys.

Treme-ndous Start

 found at http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/

Wow.  It must be New Orleans' year.  And about time too.  First a Super Bowl, now an HBO show about one of the hardest times in the city's history.

I am in on this show.  Even after it's hour and a half premiere where almost nothing happened.  It was a stark contrast to the previous hour's Pacific, where we got to see a hell-on- earth amphibious landing on the tiny island of Peleliu.  After spending a majority of that hour with all my muscles clenched, waiting for the next thing to explode, blood to splatter, marine to fall, an hour and a half dedicated almost entirely to characters was actually refreshing; even if it did seem a lot longer.

The one common theme to the episode, and I'm hoping the series is music.  The series opened with the first second line parade after Katrina, three months after the storm.  This seemingly meaningless celebration of music, dance, culture, set the tone for the entire episode.  Things are dramatically different in Treme after the storm forced almost everyone out and destroyed most homes.  Yet things are still the same.  Music is what allows the citizens of the neighborhood to reconnect with the time before, the happier times.  It is a constant.  From the second line parade, to the chiefs, to the record store, to gigs in dive bars, to funerals, the citizens embrace the music of their culture.  It keeps them sane, it reminds them there is still good in the world and life in their city.

found at baltimoresun.com

I hope the series keeps up where it left off.  I am fascinated to how all the seemingly different characters are drawn together and tied together not just by the music, but the food, the city itself.  This series is definitely a character driven show, and rightly so; recovering from such a disaster is almost entirely psychological (or at least the interesting part is).  David Simon wowed us with The Wire and I'm sure Treme will not disappoint either.  I can't wait for next Sunday.

Nets-citement?

Who wouldn't watch an NBA team from New York with the league's best/ most popular player and a college coaching legend with a lottery pick and possibly Chris Bosh to go along with two young very talented players?  I would.

Ladies and gentlemen your 2010-2011 New Jersey Nets; well, Brooklyn Nets.  A Russian billion (yeah B) just bought the Nets.  This guy could buy a few more teams if he wanted.  He is young, he wants to win, his pockets are bottomless.  Translation: luxury tax, forget it, move to Brooklyn, yes please, new name/ colors, very real possibilities.

The only reason I bring this up is because he has said he wants Coach K and will give him four to five times what he's making at Duke (that $12-15 mil on the table for those keeping score at home).  This is just step one: get a coach every NBA player loves, give him control, let him win.  K even admitted he was intrigued by the Lakers offer a few years ago for 3 reasons: the front office, the city, the superstar.  The Nets can make all those happen.

The face of the New York Nets? courtesy of espn.com

Now to get the superstar.  Lebron, in case you've been living under a sports rock for the last 2 years, becomes a free agent this summer.  He will dictate what every team does. Period.  The Nets have the financial means to sign him to a max contract and Chris Bosh.  They then lure Coach K from Durham, finalize the long-talked move to Brooklyn.  Throw in an almost certain top 3 pick (John Wall, Evan Turner, Demarcus Cousins, or Wes Johnson) and the promisingly talented Brook Lopez and Devin Harris.  This has to look tasty to Lebron.  There would be one team in the East that could come close to that: Orlando.  Cleveland is done if Lebron leaves.  The Celtics have one walker leg in the dustbin already.  The Hawks, maybe if they can keep Joe Johnson and get someone to replace Mike Bibby's corpse, but they would probably only force a game 6 best case scenario.

Bringing a Championship to Brooklyn? Courtesy of espn.com

And this is why we love sports.  A team that almost set a record for fewest wins ever could potentially be the most exciting team next year.  They could have the best player, the richest owner, a coach looking to cement his name as best all-time (because dominant NCAA career+gold medal+ NBA title has never been done before), a much-hyped rookie, and 3 solid stars.  They move to New York, forget it, everyone goes nuts for this team.

A lot of pieces have to fall into place for this to happen.  But it's amazing to consider.