Welcome Aboard Oceanic Flight 815

Finally…the day we’ve all been waiting for…LOST premiere day!!! For those of us who have been following the show, today has been a day we’ve been anxiously awaiting for months, after being left with our jaws hanging and minds whirling with the finale of last season, not to mention being left with questions upon questions that need to be answered. And, if you know the cruel ways of the show’s producers, most likely tonight’s premiere will only answer but a few of them, and probably raise a few more, leaving us all in suspense for yet another week. And God help me if they run out of scripts before the strike ends, I will HURT someone. LOST is pretty much all I have left at this point.

Obviously, the biggest question deals with the “flash forwards” that were revealed at the end of the finale. So now we know that yes, they made it off the island, but everything is not well. And—gasp!—Kate and Jack are not together, and even worse, she’s with someone else. Sawyer? Maybe. So whose funeral did Jack go to that Kate was so adverse to attending? In regards to the whole Jake/Kate thing, personally I think they better end up together. I was really starting to hate Jack towards the end of the season because he was acting like a grade-A douchebag (and that slut Juliet needs to back off), but I still really loved him at the end. And as much as Sawyer is smokin’ hot, it wouldn’t be right if Kate and Jack don’t end up together? Right? RIGHT?!

According to the show’s producers, they’re going to be doing more with the flash forwards this season, and that part of the season will take place off the island. Which begs the question of how they’re going to sustain it for another two seasons after this one, like they’ve planned. Apparently, they know how the story is going to end, but how can they make it last for so much longer if they get “rescued” this season? Maybe some of them will go back to the island? Or maybe some will never leave?

Other questions: If Penny wasn’t the one who sent Naomi, how is she on the monitor in the underwater station? And what the fuck is Naomi’s deal anyway? There was some hinting that she’s going to be doing more harm than good.

What’s the deal with Jakob? Personally, I think that whole thing is making the show a little too sci-fi for my liking. And what caused Locke to turn on everyone? And are we EVER going to find out what the weird black cloud monsters are?

Is Sun really going to die because she’s pregnant? What is the deal with Ben’s accomplice (Richard?) who lured him away when Ben was a child? I mean, how has that guy not aged?

Remember the couple obsessed with diamonds who ended up getting buried alive? Are they ever going to be making a comeback? Will Rousseau and her daughter stay reunited? Where have Michael and Walt been all this time? What's the deal with that weird magic room where Ben had Locke's father?

There are more, but this is making me sound kind of crazy. Let’s just say I’m excited (understatement). As anyone who watches the show knows, its like crack. I started watching it with the DVDs from Seasons 1 and 2, which was a horrible idea. I don’t think I slept for a week. You think to yourself, “Hey, I’ve got forty minutes to spare, maybe I’ll watch an episode of LOST.” Hours later, its five A.M., you’re curled in the fetal position, bloodshot eyes, weakly lifting the remote with a whisper, “Just…one…more…”

It’s bad. Dangerous, really. But if you’ve never watched the show, you gotta do it. Bite the bullet, accept the fact that you will become a hermit and not work or do anything productive for a week or two. When your friends call and ask where you are, just tell them you’re catching up on LOST.

Trust me. They’ll understand.

And while we’re on the subject, I think a moment of silence is in order for the ridiculous and abominable devastating killing-off of Charlie. RIP Charlie.

Something Lame, And The Most Un-Lame Thing Ever

I've been slacking on the posts this week, and believe it or not, its because I've been actually kind of busy. Yeah, I know, wicked lame excuse for someone who is confined to her apartment (hence the subject). But I've been trying to get a lot of work done, and trying to readjust and work out my schedule. Tomorrow I'm going home for the weekend because I have to have yet another meeting with my surgeon. Keep your fingers crossed that he tells me I can start putting weight on my ankle. Oh, and there's the Superbowl. No big deal.

To make up for my lameness (in theory as well as literally/physically), I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you all, if you haven't been introduced already, to the wonderfulness that is Jake and Amir.

If you like The Office, or actually, if you have any sense of humor whatsoever, you will enjoy their videos. They work for Connected Ventures, which is the media company behind goldmines such as CollegeHumor and Busted Tees. Basically, these guys are hilarious. To use one of their own terms, they are "so ace". (Watch them. You'll get it.) I recently became a fan and am now addicted, and look forward to their new videos as much as I would look forward to a new episode of any of my favorite TV shows (most of which right now, do not exist, thank you WGA strike).

As hard as it is for me to pick my favorite videos, two four of them are below. But if you're smart, you'll bookmark their website. Seriously. Just watch them. All of them. Just do it.






Beer from Amir on Vimeo.


Costume from Amir on Vimeo.

Tomorrow: LOST predictions, questions, etc!

Getting Back Into The Scha-Wing Of Things

So, obviously, I'm back in New York. And not quite sure how I feel about the situation. Hmm.

Since I've been back in the apartment, my four roommates and I have:

-cooked an exorbitant amount of food.
-managed to make the place a mess two days after the cleaning people were here.
-watched endless amounts of Arrested Development episodes.
-watched Clerks. And Clerks II. Multiple times.
-quoted Arrested Development episodes. All day, every day.
-accomplished absolutely nothing.

Productivity, onward!

Nothing Can Truly Be Said

I already feel as though there has been an overload in the news on the loss of Heath Ledger, and I don’t want to go on repeating what’s already been said. So I refuse to say anything about the circumstances of his death or any of the speculation. The fact of the matter is, a very talented young man died long before his time, and the world is less of a place for it. Yes, it’s tragic that he leaves behind a young daughter who may grow up with no memory of her father, especially when her father was such a remarkable man who was loved by so many. But that’s not what’s worst to me. What is the most tragic and devastating to me is that in the future, most people won’t know him. My children will probably have no idea who Heath Ledger was, unless they study film and see Brokeback Mountain. That has always been my problem with death, and why I fear it: that someday, we’ll be gone and it will be as though we were never even here.

Those who know me know I’ve seen more of my fair share of death, and before the age of 20 I had been to more funerals than both my parents. For example: five years ago, I lost three friends in three months. One in November, one in December, one in January. It got to a point where going to funerals and going through the mourning process became just that: a process. Not that it ever made it any easier, but after a while it got to feeling like, “Oh, another funeral. Okay, here we go again.”

My friend Todd died in November of 2002 after battling cancer, and I was never the same person again after that. I can remember that night like it was yesterday, and can hardly believe it’s been five years since he’s been gone and how much has happened in that time. And it kills me that he hasn’t been able to be here for all of it, and that he won’t be here for everything that is to come in the future. Todd’s sister, who is one of my good friends, has been dating the same person for three years and is probably going to marry him. He’s a great guy and I couldn’t think of anyone better for her, but it’s hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that he never knew Todd, and I think her parents have a huge problem with it as well. I hate that the people who come into our lives from now on will never know him or what he meant to me. I have his initials tattooed on my hip, and when someone asks me what it is, it’s so hard to explain in the right way. The simple explanation “my friend died of cancer” doesn’t do him justice. A post in this blog doesn’t do him justice. Talking about him for an hour doesn’t do him justice. In the same way, I feel as though seeing the performances Heath Ledger left on film can’t possibly do justice to the talent that never got a chance to be expressed. Not that his performances weren’t great, because they were. But it’s so obvious that there was so much more there, so much untapped talent that he never got a chance to show to the rest of the world. Apparently he was starting to get interested in directing. Who knows what kind of greatness in film could have come of that?

One time during my sophomore year, my roommate got really drunk and started crying because her grandmother, who she was very close to, was sick in the hospital. In her drunken stupor, she admitted to feeling guilty about being so upset when I had been through so much more and managed to hold myself together. “How do you do it?” she asked. “How do just go on and be so strong after everything that’s happened to you?” At first, I was too surprised to respond because I was in shock. It never occurred to me, not once, that other people would actually feel ashamed of their own grief because it somehow seemed “less” than my own, which is preposterous. Luckily, not many people outside of my close friends are aware of everything. I don’t like being pitied, I do all my grieving alone, I don’t like to talk about it. But what I told her, and anyone who’s asked since then, is that it never goes away. It never gets completely better, and you can never really go back to the person you were before it happened. You face your grief, and deal with it head-on in whatever way you have to. For me, I withdraw into myself, shut everyone out, and just tackle the pain and let it, for lack of a better term, beat the shit out of me. After the worst is over, you carry it around with you always, until it fades into a dull ache. It still hurts, more so when you go back and relive what’s happened, and there’s still a void where someone you loved used to be, but you get used to it. Trying to forget anything, or get over it as quickly as possible, doesn’t work. What saddens me about Heath Ledger’s death is that I don’t want his daughter to grow up with that. I can hardly remember how it felt not to have this weight to carry around, but I know I was a very happy child and she deserves that too. Everyone has to face death sooner or later, but it’s not fair to have to face it right away. Let her be happy for a while.

It’s very weird for me to mourn for someone I never met. I’ve never felt that upset over the death of a celebrity, never cried, even when Diana died. But I bawled like a baby when I found out, and kept bursting into tears every time it came up for hours afterwards. It’s almost embarrassing how much it upset me, and it’s not something I would admit to most people. It seems ridiculous, even. But the fact that he was, no joke, someone I worshipped (no exaggeration) for a while, not to mention he looks scarily similar to a friend of mine who I also had on a pedestal for quite some time, and sort of still do. (I emailed my friend yesterday just to say hello because the whole thing is too eerie. They could be brothers.) Every girl has a major celebrity obsession at least once. Heath Ledger was mine during my adolescence and teenage years, which was a pretty tumultuous time. My cousin Adam used to work for Vanity Fair, and when they had Heath on the cover, not only did he mail me the issue while I was at summer camp, but when Heath came into the office once after the initial interview, Adam cornered him to tell him about his cousin who “loved him more than anything.” And I believe his response was “Tell her thanks.”

Although it almost feels wrong to compare his death to any of the deaths of my friends or loved ones, in some ways it feels similar. If he lived on, I’m sure somewhere down the road we would have crossed paths. But the fact is, I never knew him. On a general level, his death doesn’t affect my life at all and overall, nothing in my life will change.

But there is most certainly a void.

At A Loss

Heath Ledger is dead.

I...am stunned beyond words. I don't know what to say. I desperately hope I wake up tomorrow and this will not be true.

Fun At The Grocery Store And The Garbage That Is MTV

So today I went grocery shopping with my mom to get a boatload of stuff to bring back to my apartment when she drives me back to New York tomorrow, since I certainly won’t be getting to Whole Foods anytime soon. However, hobbling around a huge store on crutches: no dice. But, lucky for me and cripples and senior citizens everywhere, my friendly neighborhood superstore has a little something that helps people like myself make grocery shopping possible, and even pretty fun.



(This was right before I managed an Austin Powers-style eight point turn.) Not only can you putter around with ease, people tend to stay out of your way. But if they didn’t, it even has a horn. Badass!

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

I hate MTV. I hate what it does to the "youth", I hate the messages it puts out, and most of all, I hate it on more personal level after having to work A LOT with them doing shoots when I worked at a production company a few years ago. Example: we were supposed to be doing a shoot for Jay-Z. Not one single person at MTV could tell us, up until AN HOUR before the start, i.e. when the crew has already arrived, if Jay-Z was even scheduled to be there. It baffles me how it still functions as a corporation with so many incompetent idiots in charge.

That being said, I am guilty of still tuning in to watch drivel like The Hills, Real World, and the RW/RR Challenges, which are probably my favorite. And honestly, "True Life: I'm From Staten Island" is borderline genius. There, I admitted it, okay? I'm guilty of sometimes watching MTV. I'm not proud of it, but it happens.

HOWEVER. I hate. Hate, hate, hate, how they suddenly seem to be dead set on taking several relatively obscure artists that I like and turning them into commercial bullshit. I used to like Tegan and Sara, until I saw them playing on MTV while they rolled highlights from "Life of Ryan". I cringe to think of teenyboppers listening to Matt White or The Shys on their iPod shuffles, in between Hilary Duff and Fall Out Boy, another band I despise. I almost threw my remote at the TV when I was flipping through the channels and heard Graham Colton during an episode of "Newport Harbor".

On a similar note, a friend of mine just won a trip to Egypt after playing a trivia game on TRL, which I'm pretty sure he entered as a joke. I'm actually surprised he wasn't too old to play. Anyway, here's the video. The end is by far the best. Who doesn't dream of running around the TRL studio getting high fives?



On a slightly less similar note, today I made a change that is probably the smartest thing I could possibly have done with respect to iTunes: I changed my store from US to UK. I know what you’re thinking: “You IDIOT, you’re gonna pay double for everything!” First of all, it isn’t double. Songs on iTunes UK are only 0.79. Yes, it’s in pounds. But it’s not double. And obviously I’m not going it for the bargains. Rather, let’s take a look at what’s on each store’s “home” screen.

On UK: Cat Power, MGMT, Lupe Fiasco, Mika, Kaiser Chiefs, Take That (!), Thom Yorke, Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson. A nice assortment of a bunch of my favorite artists, all right there on the home screen.

On US: Yellowcard, Timabland, Fergie, Soulja Boy, Britney Spears, Chris Brown, Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne. The Juno Soundtrack. AKA, crap. MTV vomit.

And the real kicker for me at least, is that iTunes UK gets in new songs from a lot of my favorite DJs/electronic artists like Justice, Simian Mobile Disco, New Young Pony Club, Bob Sinclar, etc, way before they come in on the US store. And so if every once in a while I have to pay a little extra, fine. A small price to pay (literally). And goddamn, Cat Power sounds better every time I listen.

And while we're at it, my favorite Justice video. It probably wouldn't even be that hard to do if you had a good editor, but it's so fun to watch!

YES!!!!!!

18-0.
SUPERBOWL-BOUND!!!