I can't decide

I'm just gonna pooch out and say that it's a 3-way tie for my fave new show.

Honestly, 'Cougar Town', 'Modern Family' and 'Vampire Diaries' each have SO many things to love about them that it's impossible to rank one above the other.

I shudder to think how much I'm gonna have to spend on season dvds :S

Sony sneers at Nintendo, Wii pees itself

Y'know, I was always a Nintendo supporter. I had every console, minus the Gameboy 3D or Virtual Boy or whatever the snot it was called (that thing was a headache monster of doom). So if you think about it, that is brand loyalty spanning approximately 20 years.

I have innumerable joyous memories associated with Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, Yoshi, Link, Zelda, Ganon, Kirby (gaaay), Samus Aran (to a lesser extent), the Belmont clan, Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Rydia, Tellah, Palom & Porom (yes, f'realz), Cid, Yang, Fu So Ya, Golbez, Terra, Edgar, Sabin, Celes, Shadow, Relm, Strago, Locke, et al (y'know, the wild kid, the noble king dude, the gambler guy). The fact that I can name all those Final Fantasy characters from memory is a testament to the hours and hours spent playing FF2 and 3.

Now, if you were to give me a Wii, I'd probably smile politely, do a little homo-jig...and turn around and eBay it as soon as you were out of sight. It's not that I don't imagine some of it's games are fun, it's just that I have 0% interest in supporting Nintendo anymore.

With the onslaught of the next-gen systems, it was made very clear that Nintendo sought to create a new fanbase for itself; EVERYONE. They forsook (yep, I said it) power under the hood for things like accessability, casual appeal and charm. Yes, they still have Mario, Link, Samus, but what they don't have is the decency to spare us from titles like Cooking Mama Eleventy Billion or Collection of Sports Games Starring Cartoon People With Giant Heads: Ultra Shiny Deluxe "I Gots Ma New Teefs" Edition.

Nintendo went from being the powerhouse, the leader, nay, creator of the video game industry to being the childrens toy. I can appreciate that they wanted to expose videogaming to sectors of the market that otherwise would have laughed at the thought of playing video games (wahoo! Grandmas got herself a Wii Fit! Now she can keep her cankles to a minimum!).

In doing so, however, they have given up on catering to all us video game nerds that want real games, real graphics (fyi, they do matter Non-Mindo), real lasting entertainment. Wii Fit may have sold a whack of copies, but who is going to sit down and write a crappy little blog piece in 20 years talking about how many fond memories they have of playing it? Answer: no one. It's not a video game.

Plus, the amount of utter CRAP released for the Wii is just ludicrous. Again, Nintendo is no longer striving to put out real games. They're just hucking wad of pooh after wad of pooh at the wall and seeing what sticks (and what DOES stick invariably gets Wad of Pooh: Ultra Shiny Deluxe "I Gots Ma New Teefs!" Edition)

Turn to Sony now, maker of the shiny, wonderful PS3. Hello beautiful. *waves*

When this next-gen business starting rolling around, about the last thing I saw myself buying was the PS3. There had never really been many PS-exclusives back on the PS2 to make me want to stick around. LOVED my PS2, don't get me wrong! It was outrageously expensive, too. Again I thought, "man alive, have all these companies decided to completely alienate gamers?!".

Cut to now, where I could gleefully (and lord knows, I have) spend hours upon hours in a row, sitting on my couch, geeked out on either Uncharted or Bioshock or FF13 or God of War 3 (soon, my preciousss!) or any other host of games. HEAVEN!

When PS3 released the new version of the hardware, all slimmed down and shined up (thank you, Jenny Craig) for oodles cheaper, I finally took the plunge and bought it. I figured, "ok, now we're talking!". I bought Bioshock, Street Fighter 4, Soul Calibur 4, GTA 4, Devil May Cry 4 (hello #4) and since then have played other excellent games like the aforementioned Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Dragon Age: Origins, inFamous and, oh yes, FF13. Uniformly I am impressed with these games, because they are truly games and not 'entertainment free-for-alls' like Nintendo values. In years to come, so long as I can retain my mental faculties, I will still look back and think to myself "wow, remember when the building collapses in Uncharted 2...with you in it", or I will still recall leaping off a building and ganking a guard in ACreed2. I will marvel still at how enormous Chun Li's thighs have become and I may just tear up at recalling Vanille and Sazh's big confrontation in Nautilus.

The PS3 does now what Nintendo used to do; not just kill time with pretty shiny things, but actually amuse, engage, move and surprise me. I know it sounds kind of silly to make the PS3 sound so significant or mighty but to someone who has lived and breathed video games since he was a wee tyke, it IS a big thing. The PS3 does for me what Nintendo used to, but has since abandoned.

...

A thought just occured to me: I spent almost my entire 'video game life' with Nintendo, right? Then with the Wii they almost entirely abandoned videogaming as they had previously supported; In essence, they abandoned us loyalists too. Maybe that's where some of my disdain stems from. Don't you know my inherent abandonment issues Nintendo?! *shakey fist*

Anywho, long story short, I have oodles and oodles of love for my PS3 where once I had only suspicion and disinterest. As for Nintendo, where once they was love, loyalty and fond memories, there is only disappointment, irritation...but still some fond memories (ahh, learning how to do backflips in Mario 64. Good times.)

Can't Decide

Which is my current favourite tv show (other than Lost)?

Cougar Town, Modern Family or Vampire Diaries... Hmm...

Will return to this query after work.

Lost: What it's all about.

*Note- this will likely be the most nonsensical, incoherent blurb you are likely to read about Lost, ever. BUT any true Lost fan will already be familiar with things being confusing, unenlightening and roundabout, so I'm not too worried.

**Note 2- most of this was thought up after watching Lost last night, therefore my brain was in a bit more mush state. Also, there was a large bottle of wine involved. If that helps explain anything then so be it.


Preamble, finished.


So, I've decided that I have solved Lost. Yep. After years of pulling out my hair and engaging in ridiculous conversation that leaves non-Losties utterly fearful for the state my mental health, I have reached an overarching conclusion regarding the great mystery: WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

Sitting down? Ready for a good laugh? Pour yourself a glass of wine (I'll wait......Back now? Ok.) and dive in!

What Lost seeks to do is present mankind's search for the meaning of Life (capital 'L' intended) on a small scale. It's often been wondered if the show is about redemption, family, the world as a global village, etc. To that I say, it is. And it isn't.

I WILL get to my point. It just may take while to get there.

Harken back to the conversation between Jacob and Mystery Man (henceforth known as Loopy, trademark Marie Lemay hehe) in the season finale of Season 5.

Loopy: You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?

Jacob: You are wrong.

Loopy: Am I? They come. They fight. The destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.

Jacob: It only ends once. Anything before that is progress.

Aaaaand scene.

I remember watching that and thinking "whew, I know this is likely important, but I'm too busy brain mushing to sort out the relevance". Now, given some time, here's what I think.

Jacob and Loopy have been toying with humans for a long long time. See: the Spanish promo for Lost. Youtube it, super easy to find. Ooh, the Losties are like pieces in a heavenly game of chess. Fitting, I'd say. Loopy is on the side that humans are iredeemable. We're crude, violent, unworthy of salvation. Black pieces. Jacob believes we are inherently good and deserve the chance to be proven worthy. Whtie pieces. Over however long they've been playing at it, Jacob & Loopy have manipulated the destinies of many people to bring them to the Island, which will serve as the test site of their struggle to be proven worthy. The Island is where they come up against great difficulties, torment, successess and failures, and Jacob & Loopy are sitting on the sidelines to see how humans 'perform'. If we 'win', humans may continue to live. 'Lose', and we perish.

So, as RuPaul would say, "Don't fuck it up!".

When Jacob says "it only ends once. Anything before that is progress", he means literally that humanity IS destined to be wiped out, just not anytime soon. In the time we are given we are to surmount the challenges that we are presented and learn from them to become better people. Fail at that, and buh-bye you miserable S.O.B.s!

When we ask "what is the meaning of Life?", we're asking a whole multitude of questions. What is my purpose on Earth? Why does God let bad things happen? Where do we go when we die? If we all end up dying, what's the point? And what does Lost do but encourage us, the viewers, to ask a lot of these questions, just in relevance to the characters. In a way, Lost answers this (for the sake of it's own show, not our own lives) by saying that it's all in the service of God(s) deciding the fate of humankind.

So Lost is about humankind and whether we even deserve to exist or not. Yes? No? I can actually hear eyes rolling...

Something that occurred to me, that I found interesting, is that when people look at Lost and try to suss out it's religious or cultural relevances, they're always presented with a whole host of comparisons, spanning multitudes of sources.

Religion: Egyptian has become the most prominent, but Christianity plays a big part, as does Muslim too. And after some thought, there are a lot of ways you can apply Norse mythology to the nature of the Island, Smokey, the Losties plight. I'm sure there are many more religious tie-ins that can be made. I'm just not that smart. Summed up by Locke, Mr. I Do What A Higher Power Commands Me To Do. Man of faith.

Philosophy: John Locke. Desmond Hume. Dogen. I know there are more, but there is no way that it's just a coincidence that these characters share names with great philosophical minds of the past.

Literature: the number of books referenced or shown is just ludicrous. This show wears it's library card out and proud.

Science: Hey Jack, what up?

I thought about all that for a bit. Wondered why there are SO many associations with these and other things. Then it kinda tied back to the whole "The Lost Island is a micro-universe of the world as a whole", and it made sense. It's part of our own journey, thus it makes sense that it'd get all squashed together into theirs. And it kinda hit me, that all of these are things that shape how people act with one another, why they believe what they do, why they do what they do. Religion, Science, Philosophy, Literature, they are some of the tools that mankind can use to either better itself or destroy itself.

Ignore the characters, pretend they're not on the Island. If you look at it now, the Island represents how religion, science, philosophy, literature (and other stuff) plays a role in our lives. Locke is the Man of Faith, and look where that got him? Dead and evil. Jack believed solely in science, but that's left him hollow and uncertain. My take on it is that the Island tries to show the Losties that they need to open themselves up to many ways of thought, to many ways of living, and only then can they achieve any sense of enlightenment.

And through enlightenment, humanity proves it worth to the Gods. Yes? No? Carrying on...

I realize now that I've even managed to confuse myself in writing this. Have I even formed any coherent arguments?! Meh. You're the one who chose to read this. Suckaaa! Wait, come back!

So yes, humans live on earth. They fight, they destroy, they corrupt. Have done so for millenia. But they learn, they grow, they choose to become better people when given the proper tools (religion, science, yadda yadda). For example, Sawyer came to the Island a con man, a murderer, a cad. Sure, he's not exactly a saint, but he's learned to love, he's atoned for his sins, he's made the choice to live as a better human. You can trace the growth and development of all the major characters along a similar route- come to Island kinda shitty or messed up, go through a lot of crap on Island, come out the other end better for it.

DIGRESSION, sorta: in Norse mythology, here on Earth was pretty much considered the testing grounds for humanity. Only by proving their worth through great trial and suffering did a human become worthy to ascend to Valhalla, the heavenly kingdom. See also, Ymir, Midgard, Jormungandr (again, thanks to Marie for the further info). In Hinduism (and here is where I am calling upon my grade 11 religion knowledge, so expect it to be shoddy and malinformed, at best) all life on earth is a cycle of birth, suffering, death and rebirth. However, once enlightentment is reached, one becomes freed from that cycle and ascends to their heavenly resting place. OH! And in Judaism, it is believed that the true name of God is a number, and by understanding that number does one attain enlightenment. 4 8 15 16 23 42? *nods* It's been revealed that the Numbers were said to hold to the key to humanity's continuance or demise. *brain flops out*

This final season will be about enlightentment, redemption, damnation, and the final decision about humanity's worth. Characters will either prove their mettle and satisfy Jacob's standpoint, or they will fail and prove Loopy right. The Lost Island will be the final chessboard between these two Godly figures.

Yah...I'm fairly sure I didn't prove my point at all.

MEANING OF LIFE!!! *waggles hands*

review of Precious

THAT SHIT'S DEPRESSING

Thoughts on Various Canadian Actors

Ryan Gosling- hot, but too self-important

Rachel McAdams- love her, please avoid crap movies (see: Time Travellers Wife)

Ryan Reynolds- big fan since "Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place", can do no wrong in my books (I refer to his skills as an actor, and not that he's a fine piece of mancake)

Mike Myers- gets the "Oh Yeah, Him!" award for fading into obscurity but appears in movies as a surprise cameo (See: Inglorious Basterds)

Sarah Polley- bland, but well meaning. I still wait for anything that shows her star power as much as Dawn of the Dead did.

Sandra Oh- will always love her, despite the fact that I have seen very little with her in it

Jim Carrey- irritates me as often as he impresses me so call it a scratch and hope he makes a good movie soon

Brendan Fraser- see Mike Myers

Hayden Christensen- irritates the snot out of me. Has he ever been good in something?

Joshua Jackson- will always be Pacey, but he's working on erasing that. I don't not like him.

What I Learned From Movies

Foreign men will seduce you, give you hot sex, then slowly make you realize that it was all a bad idea.

See: Vicki Cristina Barcelona, Shirley Valentine, Under The Tuscan Sun, Not Without My Daughter