Last Night's Lost

I know that I’m part of a shrinking minority when I say that I’m still enjoying Lost; too many people I know who are still watching it are doing so out of a sense of morbid curiosity, like gawkers at a train wreck.  Even though I’m still enjoying it, though, I’ll grudgingly admit that there is something… lacking this season.  Especially the pre-hiatus episodes, with the overly dramatic Jack/Sawyer/Kate prisoner arc.  It has definitely seemed that as they keep trying to introduce new mysteries without resolving old ones, hoping to draw those out, the writers are starting to get a little goofy.

But last night’s episode was great.  After it was over, I turned to Jennifer and remarked that the episode was like "old skool Lost".  It had the mix of strangeness, backstory, and storytelling that made the show so hot in the beginning.  I was totally drawn in to Desmond’s story, even though it wasn’t the same sort of straight flash back that they usually present for a character.  The little Easter eggs that popped up from time to time were more than welcome, as well as the small Wizard of Oz references (what is it with that story lately?  last night we watched an episode of Scrubs that was also sprinkled with WoO references).  I was glad to see that the writers are starting to rediscover the elements that made the show so great before.

Back when I was playing Dungeons and Dragons on a twice-weekly basis, the campaigns I ran were something like Lost, so I recognize their creative process: just keep throwing weird shit at the story and make things up as you go along.  Unfortunately, that only works for so long, until your viewers (or readers or players) demand some sort of resolution.  It’s why I always set an endpoint for my games.  And it’s why I was so glad to hear recently that the creators of Lost are pondering an actual endpoint for the show.  All of its little mysteries — the Numbers, the Others, Desmond’s story, the nature of the disease that took out Danielle’s party, the mystery of the Black Rock, and so on — are great, but as they continue to introduce new maguffins, they need to resolve some of the old ones.

So, hopefully, we’ll definitely see Lost coming back to its roots.  I’m still enjoying the show, and make time for it, but I’d love to see it become the "absolute must see!" show that it once was.

Blast!

From ThinkProgress.org: McCain To Deliver Keynote Speech For Creationists

I used to have a great deal of respect for John McCain, but he seems to be lurching ever more heavily to the right these days; and now giving the keynote speech for the Discovery Institute?  Why, John, why?

Scientifically, there is nothing at all questionable about evolution.  To be sure, there are some scientists who quibble over how some taxonomies evolve, or how specific anatomical features showed up, or why some species have features that seem to serve no purpose; but this isn’t the same as questioning whether evolution actually happened.  Most scientists, even the ones who quibble over specifics and mechanics, accept evolution as having actually happened.

I have heard some scientists who question the entire process of evolution, but these have, without exception, been scientists who do not work in the fields where evolution would be relevant.  A geologist doesn’t really have much to say about organism evolution, and people who think he does are committing the fallacy of false authority.  It’s like a bicycle mechanic who denies the existence of internal combustion engines.  He has no authority over the issue.

The debate between evolution and creationism is not a scientific one.  Nor is it, really, a religious one; most mainstream branches of the Christian church — the Roman Catholics, for example, as well as the Episcopalians, the Anglicans, the Lutherans, the Methodists, and so on — as well as most non-Christians religions have all made their peace with the idea of evolution and gone on to find that the idea is not at all at odds with their faith.  The debate is a political one.  It’s a conflict between the proponents of an extremist form of Christianity who want to impose their theology, and ultimately their morality, on our nation and the world, and those who would prefer that science and intellectual inquiry be allowed to carry forward without hindrance by dogmatic authorities.

Yes, that’s a gross oversimplification of the issue.  Deal.

Anyway, the fact that McCain has agreed to do this keynote speech for the Discovery Institute makes me suspicious.  Granted, I have no idea what he plans on saying, but I’m not optimistic that he’s going to come down on the side of free scientific inquiry and the teaching of science only in our nation’s schools.

A Nautical, Musical Treasure

Awhile ago, my musical friend Stephen Whitehead sent me this nautical treat:

[audio:http://www.mossroot.com/worlds/audio/apirateslifeforme.mp3]

I SO want to write a story about pirates now!  But The Solitude of the Tentacled Space Monster calls…

(And a PS to those reading this on my LJ.  The MP3 enclosure doesn’t seem to have translated properly.  I’m still trying to figure out how to make this audio thing work.)

An Audio Special: Indications

Because the stories on Pseudopod are released under the same license as my content in this blog, I can redistribute the MP3 of my story, "Indications", here on my website (so long as I don’t alter it, and don’t charge for it).  Because of the way this blog and the Audio plugin works, I can only post it here on my site; so if you’re reading this on Bloglines or some other feed reader, you’ll just have to click through.  Well, fine.  So it does work in Bloglines and other feed readers.  Silly me.

[audio:http://www.mossroot.com/worlds/audio/Pseudo008_Indications.mp3]

Enjoy!

Glinda: Good Witch of the North, or Machiavellian Mastermind?

For various reasons, my mom and my little sister were involved in a community theater production of The Wizard of Oz over past few weeks, and last night Jennifer and I went down to see the show.  The production was so-so.  Production values were high, with good costumes and a reasonably tolerable orchestra, and most of the actors were pretty talented.  There were some choices made in the directing that I think were rather… Well, let’s say interesting.  There a few aspects that will stand out in my mind for a long time now ("Zombie Winkies!"), and overall it was a good time.

Enough about that, though.  What I really wanted to talk about was Glinda’s plan for world domination, and the real lesson that Dorothy learned by the end of the story.  So bear with me.

You know the story: Dorothy Gale’s house gets sucked up into a tornado, and gets tossed "over the rainbow" into a strange land.  Her house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her.  Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, informs Dorothy that she is now targeted by the Wicked Witch of the West, and must go to the Wizard in the Emerald City for help.  Stuff happens; something about a scarecrow and a tin woodsman and a lion.  Oh, and some flying monkeys, which are my favorite.  At the very end, Glinda informs Dorothy that she had the power to go home all along, and that all she needed to do was, apparently, just want it badly enough.  Or something.

What I’ve never understood, though, is why Dorothy didn’t just slap Glinda upside the head at that point.  "What do you mean, all I had to do was want it bad enough?  What, did you think that the whole trip with that fucked up green witch wasn’t enough to convince me?  Bitch!"

I may be misinterpreting what it means to want to go home badly enough.  Based on the plot, I suppose that Dorothy must not just want to go home.  She must be willing to kill to do so.

Makes you think about Dorothy Gale’s future life in Kansas, doesn’t it?

This brings me to the role that Glinda had to play in all this.  I can’t help but think that Glinda must have been overjoyed to see the Kansas farmhouse land on top of the Wicked Witch of the East; she may, in fact, have orchestrated the tornado in the first place.  The house, after all, conveniently rid Oz of one of Glinda’s most powerful rivals.  Then she sneakily slips the ruby slippers, an obviously powerful magic item, on to Dorothy’s feet (without Dorothy’s consent, you may have observed long ago).  Thus begins a game of chess between Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West, where Glinda sends Dorothy on a trip to the Emerald City.  She knew that Dorothy couldn’t be convinced to kill the Wicket Witch of the West willingly; but Glinda probably knew the price that the Wizard would exact for his help: he’d want that broom, and Glinda knew as well as anyone that the only way to get that broom would be to kill her.

Did Glinda know of the Wizard’s true origins?  I don’t know.  But let’s assume she did know that the Wizard was really nothing more than a charlatan from Kansas.  It’s very possible, then, that she also knew that the only way the Wizard would help Dorothy get home would be in his own balloon, and leave with her.

And there you go!  Glinda has thus, through Dorothy, orchestrated the removal from Oz of two out of three of her rivals for control over the magic of Oz.  She wouldn’t care that the Wizard left the Scarecrow in charge when he left; she isn’t interested in political power, just magical control.

Of course, that leaves us with the presumed Good Witch of the South, never seen in the musical but whose existence is implied nonetheless.  Ridding Oz of her would be another major task for Glinda, who probably knows better than to count on the fortuitous arrival of another skybound Kansas farm girl.

So this is my conclusion, and it certainly makes for an interesting viewing of the musical.  It makes sense to me.  I learned long ago not to trust people who drift in and out of the scenery in giant soap bubbles.

I don’t know how Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon plays into all this.  Further research is obviously required.

More Messing Around

I’ve made quite a few changes and updates to my blog.  Aside from importing all of my old blog entries from its entire history, dating back to March 2007, I’ve also made a bunch of changes to how comments are handled.  There’s now a "Captcha" image for comments, one of those nifty images that you enter when you post a comment to prove that you’re not a spambot.  This way, though, I no longer have to approve every single comment that comes through, so they’ll show up as soon as you post them.  I’ve also installed a "threaded comments" feature, and a feature which allows people to subscribe to comments on any particular post.

So, assuming I ever get any traffic on my blog, I’m all set for the wild and woolly discussions!

And just for fun, here’s my favorite song by Jonathan Coulton, "A Talk with George".  Just click on the Play button.  It should work fine in Bloglines too.  Apparently it doesn’t work in Bloglines.  You’ll just have to click through to my actual blog to hear the audio.

[audio:http://www.mossroot.com/worlds/audio/ATalkWithGeorge.mp3]

The Weirdest Week Ever

During this past week, an astronaut wearing a diaper was arrested for driving across the country and attempting to murder a fellow female astronaut who was a rival for the affections of yet a third astronaut.

How can you top that for weird?

Well, you could throw in the suspicious death of a celebrity whose son died only a few months ago in a similarly suspicious manner, all the while embroiled in a sordid tale of family intrigue and inheritance squabbles.  True, the sheriff has stated that there was "nothing suspicious" in the death of Anna Nicole Smith, but the universe’s sense of the bizarre practically demands that she was murdered by her rivals.  And that her son was too.

Gotta feel sorry for her newborn baby, though.

Anyway, that was the weirdest week ever.  Wonder what surprises next week will bring?