JACKFACE! (aka the fall season finale for Lost)

[Israel Horowitz]

Boy howdy, I don't think I've ever liked Jack as much as tonight. He was just kicking ass left and right.

So much Jackface. (For those of you unaware of what Jackface is, here's an example:

http://content.imagesocket.com/images/jackface2b7.gif (http://imagesocket.com/view/jackface2b7.gif) )

And it looks like the Jesus Stick is going to come in handy! Yay!

[GelfXIII]

The others are supposed to be good guys? yikes!

[WillieLee]

This is a pretty big risk they're taking with the thirteen weeks off.

[Israel Horowitz]

The others are supposed to be good guys? yikes!

They're totally the good guys. Ben said so, and I believe him.




...I completely love Ben.

[Brian Reed]

This is a pretty big risk they're taking with the thirteen weeks off.

It worked for Battlestar Galactica last year.

I'm betting we see a DVD set circa Christmas/January. Maybe I'm wrong. But it seems the evil genius marketing move to me.

[Israel Horowitz]

It worked for Battlestar Galactica last year.

I'm betting we see a DVD set circa Christmas/January. Maybe I'm wrong. But it seems the evil genius marketing move to me.

If it's got the series recap voiced over by creepy ass Michael Emerson, I'm in.

[Brian Reed]

If it's got the series recap voiced over by creepy ass Michael Emerson, I'm in.

It will just have a cover of Sayid with no shirt on.


Bendis and I almost got into a "flashback" argument yesterday. He was screaming "it's important subtext" I was screaming "it's navel gazing wankery" and then Oeming called on the other line and he had to go talk about boobies or something.

[Israel Horowitz]

It will just have a cover of Sayid with no shirt on.

SOLD! Now I just need a Doctor Who crossover.

Bendis and I almost got into a "flashback" argument yesterday. He was screaming "it's important subtext" I was screaming "it's navel gazing wankery" and then Oeming called on the other line and he had to go talk about boobies or something.

It's navel gazing subtext!

I think some of them are important, like the recent Locke episode. It really rounded out the character. But, for example, tonight's Kate flashback was kinda useless in my eyes. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I could've done with, say, shirtless Sayid instead.

[Brian Reed]

SOLD! Now I just need a Doctor Who crossover.

DONE! Get the Lost folks on the phone! Get the Doctor Who folks on the phone!

Come on! Am I talking to myself here!?

I am?!



shit

[WillieLee]

It worked for Battlestar Galactica last year.

I'm betting we see a DVD set circa Christmas/January. Maybe I'm wrong. But it seems the evil genius marketing move to me.

LOST is down five million viewers from last season though. This big of a break might shake off a lot of casual viewers.

I like the show but if they start to do flashbacks for the new cast members I might claw out my eyes.

[Brian Reed]

I like the show but if they start to do flashbacks for the new cast members I might claw out my eyes.

:D

[Israel Horowitz]

DONE! Get the Lost folks on the phone! Get the Doctor Who folks on the phone!

Come on! Am I talking to myself here!?

I am?!



shit

The Doctor could go back in time and visit the flashbacks! :o

[Israel Horowitz]

I like the show but if they start to do flashbacks for the new cast members I might claw out my eyes.

Watch out for your eyes, because Nikki and Paolo are scheduled for flashbacks when the show comes back.

Sure, they're on-island flashbacks of what they've been up to while the main Losties were up to their hijinks, but you didn't specify. :)

[Brian Reed]

Watch out for your eyes, because Nikki and Paolo are scheduled for flashbacks when the show comes back.

Sure, they're on-island flashbacks of what they've been up to while the main Losties were up to their hijinks, but you didn't specify. :)

Anything on-island is kosher.

[WillieLee]

Watch out for your eyes, because Nikki and Paolo are scheduled for flashbacks when the show comes back.

Sure, they're on-island flashbacks of what they've been up to while the main Losties were up to their hijinks, but you didn't specify. :)

Good thing I record the show, then watch.

[Israel Horowitz]

Anything on-island is kosher.

Maybe their flashbacks will contain flashbacks! And in the flashed-back flashbacks, they can reminisce! :crazy:

[St Omo]

It will just have a cover of Sayid with no shirt on.


Bendis and I almost got into a "flashback" argument yesterday. He was screaming "it's important subtext" I was screaming "it's navel gazing wankery" and then Oeming called on the other line and he had to go talk about boobies or something.

I think flashbacks are becoming like thought bubbles, or even before that, soliloquies. It can serve a purpose, but it's safe and in some cases, lazy writing.

I guess the rationale is you can't truly know who these characters are without first knowing who they were, but I think there's a certain intensity with simply "living in the now" and only knowing the characters by how they act that to me is far more interesting than being uprooted from the present to view pieces of the past. Sure, the past is the sum of who we are, but it's the present that determines who we will become.

I realize the characters' histories are pivotal to the story as a whole, but I'm beginning to realize the story itself isn't nearly as ambitious as I first thought.

[Brian Reed]

there's a certain intensity with simply "living in the now" and only knowing the characters by how they act that to me is far more interesting than being uprooted from the present to view pieces of the past.

Which has always been my biggest problem with the flashbacks. The island gets interesting and THWACK you hit the brakes and see how Locke spent an evening drinking coffee in his car while Katy Segal (GILF!) yelled at him.

Character study is a grand thing and Mamet has made a career of it. But plot is king and if the plot isn't moving forward, then you're just spinning your wheels, killing minutes until the end of an episode.

[St Omo]

Which has always been my biggest problem with the flashbacks. The island gets interesting and THWACK you hit the brakes and see how Locke spent an evening drinking coffee in his car while Katy Segal (GILF!) yelled at him.

Character study is a grand thing and Mamet has made a career of it. But plot is king and if the plot isn't moving forward, then you're just spinning your wheels, killing minutes until the end of an episode.

Something I was just discussing with Alysha is how the island hasn't been terribly interesting for a while. At least not this season. It seems like the external stressors are taking an extended break while we find out more about the Others, their politics and infighting, how that affects their opinions of the Losties, etc. I get that it's setup, and they're establishing battle lines as it were, but I still think this could all be done amidst getting hit by the island, Dharma, and whomever else might be lurking in the shadows.

[mewelke]

Character study is a grand thing and Mamet has made a career of it. But plot is king and if the plot isn't moving forward, then you're just spinning your wheels, killing minutes until the end of an episode.

Rich and I were discussing this the other day. I think we arrived at precisely the opposite conclusion. Mainly that I, and I think he as well, would rather characters drive a piece than plot.

Edit: Of course I think this is a matter of taste, which I shouldn't say since it is the internet way to pretend that matters of taste are LAW.

[Brian Reed]

Rich and I were discussing this the other day. I think we arrived at precisely the opposite conclusion. Mainly that I, and I think he as well, would rather characters drive a piece than plot.

Edit: Of course I think this is a matter of taste, which I shouldn't say since it is the internet way to pretend that matters of taste are LAW.

I keep writing a thing that praises lots of character stuff I've enjoyed (Glen Gary Glen Ross, The Big Lebowski, The Odd Couple) and saying why I love plot-driven work more (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Stephen King), but I'm too sleepy to make it a choherent artistic argument (in the good sense, not the intarweb sense). So I'm posting this drek instead. Goodnight.

[mewelke]

Raiders...it's hard to beat Raiders...the movie not the football team obviously.

I think, with the exception of such notables as Raiders, that I just really prefer when the plot derives out of the characters. The Shield I think is a good example. Given the characters and setting an interesting plot will unfold. Raiders is very opposite. With Raiders the characters are almost derived from the plot.

Another example I thought of what the difference between GRR Martin and Tolkien...ok one of the examples. Tolkien is partially flawed because he was less interested in telling the story than he was in studying languages and creating setting, but I find it less interesting, still loved it, but less interesting than the GRR Martin stuff, because the characters are constantly reacting to plot or being spurred by plot rather than the plot deriving from their actions. With GRR Martin even the "villains" are well developed characters with understandable motivations. The tension between different motivations drives the plot.