Quote of the Day - May 28, 2005

Let's get out of here before one of those things kills Guy!

- Gwen DeMarco (Sigourney Weaver) in Galaxy Quest

Happy Memorial Day, All

I'm shutting down for the weekend. Unless I am utterly moved to blog about something from my parent's computer, there'll be no posts until Monday or Tuesday night. So step away from the computer, go to a barbeque or a park or something, and enjoy the wonderful weather we are sure to have this weekend.

Lost - Trapped by its own premise?

MSNBC had an article today about how the mystery of Lost detracts from the characters. While I don't necessarily agree that this is the case, I do agree that Lost could, like it's characters, become trapped on the island. Lost is a show that could benefit from the limited-run series concept. The Prisoner was a short-run British series that was meant to be so. It had a beginning (the first time Number 6 wakes up in the village), a number of episodes where he tries to escape and/or find out who is holding him there, and a conclusion where he ultimately finds out who the mysterious Number 1 is (some other questions, many regarding the sanity of the writers, are raised, but it concludes the arc of the series). If Lost started out knowing what the island was with a plan of eventually revealing the island's secrets, it might be more satisfactory. As it is, the viewer knows they will never find out what is going on because to reveal all would mean to end the show. Even if you rescued the survivors from the island and continued to follow them as they returned to their lives, not only would you change the nature of the show, you would eliminate a whole slew of possibilities about the nature of the island including the idea that the survivors are really dead and the island is some kind of afterlife. If you change the show that much, you might as well end it and call the next season a spin-off show.

If the survivors on Lost gave up on rescue and started to build a society - a more complex society with rules other than "follow Jack" - with the mysteries of the island only occasionally intruding, the series could last much longer than it will at this pace. But then you remove the sense of urgency that the heart beat at the end of each episode punctuates. Thump-thump. Oh, Lost, whatever shall we do with you?

Musical Memories

As I mentioned, I've been going through a lot of my older CDs lately. So this article seems timely. Some songs evoked stronger memories than others. Albums that I listened to repeatedly for a short period of time (say, a semester or less) evoked stronger memories because I associated them with a very particular part of my life. When a song from my Duncan Sheik album comes on, I can feel the chill of my dorm room from my freshman year of college. It's kind of freaky. I think of my co-op at Philip Morris when I hear Dido. Sting, oddly enough, makes me think of my grandparents' house because I would always bring my Sting tapes with me to listen to when I visited as kid. And I think I may have finally desensitized myself to Kryptonite by Three Doors Down, which was playing when I was rear ended in my Dad's Saturn at a differential of about 40 mph. I still remember the accident when I hear it, but I no longer tense up.

For some reason, I think of penguins when I hear the Safety Dance, though. Odd, yes? ;)

V'Ger

So long, V'Ger. See you in a couple of centuries.

Why Getting a Shot of Adrenaline Isn't As Much Fun As It Sounds

Remember my allergy test? Well, I started a new serum for my allergy shots yesterday. My face, head, neck, back, and ears started to itch. Not intollerably, but that's still a lot of surface area to be itching. I've reacted to my shots before, so as a precautionary measure, they gave me a little (30 mg) Allegra and a pediatric dose of epinephrine - otherwise known as adrenaline. Now, because I have reacted to my shots before, I have also had an epi shot before. So I knew what was coming.

First, it feels like fire going into your arm. A few moments later, a nervous energy wells up inside of you. Your stomache turns. I was tired before getting the shot, so I felt like I had just been roused from a deep sleep by a fire alarm. My hands started to shake. My heart started to race. It pounded on my chest cavity screaming "Let me out! Let me OUT!" The itching stopped, but now I was shaking like a leaf. I couldn't read to pass the time. Adrenaline seems to fuzz my brain. It's not designed to help you think, just react. But my body had nothing to react to, so it jumped around inside of itself, unable to break free. I hit a lull in the hyperactivity and managed to convince the allergist that I was ready to leave. I was on my way to my aunt's (who is a nurse) for dinner, so I figured she would know what to do if the effects didn't wear off.

On the drive there, my foot started to shake. It was fine when I moved it, but if I tried to hold it still, it shook. The rest of me was fine. However, when I got outo f the car at my aunt's, I started to shake again. It was like the excess engery had been focused on my driving, but now that I was done, I was jumpy again. Her house was slightly cold and, though I didn't feel that cold, I think the adrenaline made me more prone to shiver. And shiver. Two hours after the shot, the effects finally wore off.

I think I'll stick to caffeine.

Superhero Movie Market Officially Saturated

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Is that a shark?

Music Meme

My very first (and probably my last) meme. Let's play!

1. The person (or persons) who passed the baton to you.

Jody

2. Total volume of music files on your computer.

1.2 GB

3. The title and artist of the last CD you bought.

Um, Gwen Stephani's Love.Angel.Music.Baby and Good Charlotte's Chronicles of Life and Death - both atypical purchases for me, to be sure

4. Song playing at the moment of writing.

no angel by Dido, then Fat by "Weird Al", then Bring Me to Life by Evanescence

5. Five songs you have been listening to of late (or all-time favorites, or particularly personally meaningful songs)

I recently downloaded a version of Windows Media player that actually rips songs off of CDs and turns them directly into mp3s, so I've been going through a lot of songs I haven't heard in a while. There's Alanis Morisette's Uninvited, Youth of the Nation by P.O.D., I Just Wanna Live by Good Charlotte (I have to listen to my new songs, too), both Frou Frou and Jennifer Saunders' renditions of Holding Out for a Hero from the Shrek 2 soundtrack, and Trigger Happy by "Weird Al".


6. The five victims people to whom you will 'pass the musical baton.

And here is why this may be my last meme. Just as I'm not very good blogger because I'm bad at linking, I'm also not a good blogger because I only read a few blogs, half of which are too big for me to pass this to. Christiana and Jody have already done this. So this leaves Jesse, who I know has a blog, I just haven't see it yet (here's your chance to post a link, Jesse!). If Bill over at SciFi Daily or dddragon wander by again, they can take a shot at it. And I seriously doubt Joel Achenbach will ever, ever see my blog to know he's been pinged. I certainly hope this isn't a sign that I should spend more time online, because I spend enough time here as it is.

Oh, to be Six Again

So that I would be able to pay $35 to be an adult for a day, then go back to being a kid again. Not to mention getting a job is as easy as waiting in line, and I could try four or five different ones without prior experience.

Of course, adults can still pay money to test drive a dream job. Hmmm, play director or photographer? Photographer is cheaper at $799, but play director is in Colorado.

Dance, baby, dance!

I already close my blinds when I work out and dance to my music. Maybe I should also check for cameras. Speaking of, work-out time! Do bug sweepers detect cameras? (Thanks to Walt for the link)