For all the Star Wars fans out there, a remix of Empire State of Mind originally by Jay Z and Alicia Keys, redone by the people over at College Humour (is Princess Leia hot or what?):

So last night I was trying to show a friend who Admiral Ackbar is, and while searching for images on my iPhone I came across this:

Admiral Ackbar

For those who don’t get the reference, here’s the classic scene from Return of the Jedi:

Genius. Barackbar.com

Wow. What an ending. First, I have to say that I got it wrong on my pre-finale LOST thoughts. I made the mistake of thinking about the finale in terms of the mythology – about who will die for who, who will sacrifice for who and how the Man In Black will eventually meet his demise. The finale reminded us that from the beginning LOST has been about our beloved Losties and their journey moreso than the greater mythology, and ultimately what we got was an ending that made sense for our characters, and that’s what matters. Does that mean there are no quibble points? Not at all, but at least for me, they pale in comparison to how the series stands.

I don’t want to make this another two thousand word post and really, words aren’t enough to describe the finale (or the series) at this point so I’ll make this as tight as I can instead of taking an in-depth look like I usually do.

Island Action
First, it’s great that this show can still surprise me. As I wrote in the pre-finale thoughts, all our characters have been accounted for, so who rescued Desmond? Well of course it was Vincent, Rose and Bernard. First surprise of the night.

I loved the two Star Wars references in the space of a minute. Jacob being “worse than Yoda” and Hurley saying “I’ve got a bad feeling about this”.

Non-surprises were great too. From the minute Jin told Sun in the Flash Sideways that a doctor was coming, I knew immediately it was Juliet (remember I was covering the credits), and it was great to see her again. That meant we knew the “coffee” scene was going to come up, and though the writers teased us with this, we finally got it even though we knew it was coming, and it was amazing.

Second surprise of the night: Frank being alive! I honestly thought he was dead.

When Jack meets the Man In Black and talks about killing him, what tension! I think this is definitely one of their better scenes together to date. Great fight scene too.

Desmond finally comes into play in a little bit of a disappointing way, for me. Ultimately, his fate from pushing the button and being brought back to the Island was to unplug the Light? Was that Jacob’s intention as well? If Jack and the Candidates failed, to use Desmond to destroy the Island, taking Smokey along with it? And of course, even the finale had to raise more questions, like who was the skeleton that Desmond saw when he was looking for the Light? Also, Mother told Jacob that going down the Light would be a fate worse than death. Didn’t look too bad for Desmond and Jack.

We see that after Desmond unplugs the Light, the mystical force protecting the Man In Black is gone. At first I thought it was because Jacob was gone and so Mother’s particular rule about hurting each other was over. But as the series went on and Kate shot MIB, it seemed more likely to coincide with the Light going on. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy that Kate was the one who shot MIB and that Jack didn’t win the fight by himself, but oh well, one of those things. I think there will be some speculation as to why Smokey couldn’t turn into Smokey, for me, I think it might have been the rain. We know water seemed to be a weakness and it was storming heavily as the fight was going on, perhaps that’s why he could take his smoke form.

Jack now has to go back to plug the Light in again and Hurley goes with him. I did think it weird that the writers made a point of Hurley saying “glad it’s not me” in the previous episode when Jack became the Island Protector but didn’t blog about it, now it seems like such an obvious hint. One thing I did call right was that Jack was going to be the Island Protector for less than a day. He had completed his transformation and his purpose on the Island, culminating in his death, and now Hurley takes over.

Hurley becomes the new Jacob and Ben becomes the new Richard (nice touch). Miles, Frank, Richard, Sawyer, Kate and Claire manage to get off the Island and there’s effectively where the Island story ends. We don’t know what Miles does with his diamonds, how old Richard lives to, who takes care of Aaron and what happens to Sawyer and his daughter. But ultimately, does it matter? No. Because of the Flash Sideways.

Flash Sideways
I – and many LOST reviewers – have been saying this throughout the season: the Flash Sideways really need to have an impact to convince us all that it was worth spending precious minutes on them in the final season of the series. Minutes that could have been better spent on the Island with our Losties. Or so we thought.

I loved Everybody Loves Hugo because it showed us the potential the Flash Sideways had. And I think it’s fair to say all that dormant potential that had been bubbling under for 16 episodes (well, 14, minus Ab Aeterno and Across The Sea) was paid off in full, and then some.

We finally realise that the Flash Sideways did exist to be like a “purgatory” – which our Losties had made for each other to hang on until they were ready to move towards The Light. To Let Go. I thought it was a nice touch that even though the final scene takes place in a church, the stained glass had five other religions (including Islam which Sayid was a part of) on it simultaneously.

The Flash Sideways showed us why Dominic Monaghan is absolutely wasted on a crap show like FlashForward, it gave us the one final glimpse of John Locke as John Locke that we could have, provided a happy ending for Sawyer and Juliet (I was elated) and gives us answers that we needed, or in this case, that Jack needed. We didn’t need to know what happened to Kate and the rest when they left the Island, because Christian Shepard tells us that even though some died earlier and some later than Jack, they’re all there now. And ultimately, that’s what’s important.

At the end of the day, am I happy with the Flash Sideways and time spent? Yes I’m satisfied. I feel like the time spent on them felt very precious, but after watching the finale, there’s no way to have cut down that time spent, without taking away from the final reveal.

That said, I do have very minor quibbles with some issues, and not all of them are related to the finale. For one, did Jack and the rest conveniently forget how Ben just switched allegiance to the Man in Black again? Also, I still have to gripe about Richard’s story. From the unshakable “spiritual advisor” to the Island to suicidal lunatic, to finding he has to stop the Man In Black and ultimately not contributing to Team Jacob at all… it just seems a little bit of a waste of a character, and a waste of Ab Aeterno. If that was all Richard was going to do after his origin episode, then they really could have just shrunk it down and have him tell it verbally like Dogen did.

The series did not end as it began with Jack waking up in the bamboo field, as many of us thought it would from the beginning. But instead it ended in an opposite manner, with Jack dying in the bamboo field after making the final sacrifice, seeing his friends get away to safety and being accompanied by Vincent. I thought that was a really nice touch. We always hear of dog owners bringing their dogs to the vet when they’re too old and need to be put to sleep and how their owners are right next to them through it all. It was a nice role reversal and great message from the LOST writers reminding us what we have always known all along: dogs are awesome.

It’s been six years. From thinking it was going to be about Island survival and finding hatches, to worrying about our poor Losties under threat from the Others, to pushing buttons, to the introduction of the Flash Forwards, to the Oceanic Six finally getting off the Island, to coming back and time travelling and realising this is a big war between two godlike entities. It’s really been one heck of a ride. And one that no other show may ever come close to capturing again.

September 22nd, 2004 was when Oceanic 815 crashed and May 23rd, 2010 is when Ajira 316 got off the Island and finally everyone, including us, has to let go. (But not until I rewatch the entire series from beginning to end again).

For the last time, the immortal words of Desmond David Hume “see you in another life, brotha“.

This excerpt is taken from the book “Revelation”, a Star Wars book written by Karen Traviss.

No real context necessary, just know that Admiral Daala is talking to Boba Fett:

Perfection isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, Fett. Sometimes good enough is all you need. No point surviving if you don’t live.

How many times do we hold ourselves to some “ideal” job or situation or circumstance (some might say fantasy) when a perfectly good one is right in front of us, and in the process let both slip away?

[image from Wikipedia]

Another week, another episode of LOST. I have really grown to like Sawyer as a character, but even some neat moments didn’t help this episode from feeling a lot like “What Kate Does“. All the episode did was:

1. Let us know Widmore and gang is on the Hydra Island
2. Give us a glimpse of how Sawyer’s life might have turned out if he had made different choice
3. Give a terribly anti-climatic confrontation between Claire and Kate that absolutely did not live up to the build up.

Regardless, there’s still a little bit to think about, so let’s start with the Flash Sideways

Sawyer X

Honestly, the Sawyer X story did nothing for me this week. Perhaps it has the misfortune of coming off a really strong episode in “Dr Linus“, but really all it did was introduce cop Sawyer, except that he’s the same tormented soul still looking for Anthony Cooper. When I first saw Sawyer was a cop I wrote “wow this ain’t just Flash Sideways, it’s a Flash Upsidedown” but soon enough that just wasn’t true.

So we see Charlotte, Charlie’s brother and Miles who really don’t do much to add to the story, except the interesting nugget from Miles that his dad, Pierre Chang, is working at “the museum” which is interesting because I think that the Sideways universe isn’t an alternate one created by Jughead’s detonation at all because Pierre was standing right at the Swan when Jughead exploded. If Jughead’s detonation was what caused the Sideways (and the Island to be sunk) then Dr Chang should have been dead and Miles never born…

Finally we see Sawyer meet Kate much like how Sayid met Jin and at this point with only 9 episodes left, I’m really wondering what’s the point of the Flash Sideways. Sure, it’s nice to see throwbacks to previous seasons with “LaFleur” being the code word and such, but we’re halfway in and we need to see something a little more than that, and soon.

Sawyer, On-Island

Finally we see Sawyer and at least there’s half an explanation for why he’s been missing for two episodes since he was taking care of Jin.  The Man In Black sends Sawyer to the Hydra Island under the pretense of checking out the Ajira plans/passengers but you sense that the Man In Black knew that Charles Widmore was on the Island, and Sawyer is no fool either. I’m guessing Widmore and cronies are the “they” that Jacob referred to when he said “they’re coming” just before he died.

Essentially at this point Sawyer looks like he’s going to play both sides against each other and try to come up on top. I couldn’t help but feel that both Widmore and Man In Black knew what he was trying to do, which of course makes me worry about Sawyer all over again.

Widmore and Gang

Here’s where things get a little hazy. Whose side is Widmore on? He clearly knows that Locke isn’t Locke and accepts Sawyer’s offer to help kill him and has the sonar fence to fight Smokey, but at the same time this is the same guy who sent Keamy and the mercenaries two seasons ago to kill everyone on the Island. I can’t make a call right now, but there isn’t much time left for this to play out.

One question though: did they kill the Ajira passengers? If not, who did? Mighty courteous of them to leave the bodies in one place…

Claire and Kate

When I saw Claire schmoozing up to Kate and holding her hand early on, I just knew Crazy Claire was scheming to get Kate’s trust and then attack her when she wasn’t looking. Unfortunately the confrontation was less than stellar (loved that Sayid wouldn’t raise a finger to help) and hugging and making up later on just didn’t do it for me. Claire is batshit crazy! She has the Squirrel Baby! She should have killed Kate, or at least cut off an arm Star Wars style.

Man In Black

Interestingly enough, the Man In Black has mommy issues while practically everyone else (Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Ben, Sun etc) has daddy issues. The writers take great pains to make sure we get the parallel between Locke and Aaron – so here’s what I think:

Rewind to Season One, we know that the psychic told Claire that she has to raise Aaron. Now this didn’t happen and Aaron was raised by Kate instead, leading to the parallel between Man In Black and Aaron. I interpreted this to mean that IF Claire had raised Aaron on the Island, he would have grown up to be the opposite of the Man In Black, ie Jacob. Let’s not forget that “Littleton” was a Candidate as well, and it could well have been Aaron Littleton instead of Claire Littleton. However, now that that didn’t happen, Aaron could well be the new Man In Black instead.

At this point I admit I’m probably reading a bit too much into this. While we do know that Aaron is “important”, he’s barely been seen and he’s still a child, but it would be a nice sight if the series ends (as some have suggested) with the new Jacob and new Man In Black having the same conversation on the Beach as in “The Incident” and the new Jacob is Jack and the new Man In Black is Aaron, his nephew. However I don’t see this happening because I can’t see two heavily Biblical names (Aaron and Jacob) being on opposite sides.

That just about wraps things up on a relatively weak episode, but of course I’ll just have to mention the canoe that Sawyer used, which is probably the one that will get shot at by Juliet later in the season (as shown in the Time Flashes last season), and the locked room in Widmore’s sub, which everyone is probably going to guess holds Desmond. Come on give us some Desmond!!

How the season ranks so far:

1. The Substitute
2. Sundown
3. Dr. Linus
4. LA X
5. The Lighthouse
6. Recon
7. What Kate Does

This wasn’t even close and I didn’t have trouble deciding where to insert “Recon” at all. The gap between Recon and The Lighthouse is huge and hopefully the remainder of the season will be in the “better than The Lighthouse” territory and not “worse than Recon” territory. Next week is Richard Alpert-centric (hell yeah airing on a Lost date – 23rd March!). That better live up to the hype!

Oh on a final note, I’ve begun to cover the screen after the credits so I don’t see who’s guest starring – I find it adds to my enjoyment of not knowing Widmore or Charlotte were going to show up! Try it!

GI Joe Movie Poster

For the last two months or so, you couldn’t walk around Singapore without seeing the GI Joe movie posters or the GI Joe trailer. I never was a GI Joe fan – I didn’t watch the cartoon when I was young, I didn’t read the comics although they got rejuvenated recently and I never had a collection of those Hasbro GI Joe action figures and toys. Fastforward to 2009 and I found my self quite psyched for the new live action movie simply because it would serve as a way to catch up on what I missed when I was a child.

The long and short of things is the GI Joe movie is way cool. I don’t know what I was expecting going in, but the movie was really fun. From the crazy crossbow weapon that Scarlett uses to the silly suits that Duke and Ripcord jump around Paris in, I thought it was a healthy dose of entertainment throughout.

One thing I’m particular about when it comes to movies, is character development. When I can’t distinguish who’s who (yeah, that’s you Transformers), I generally find it hard to like the movie. Luckily when it comes to GI Joe, no such problem. Everyone from Breaker to Heavy Duty to General Hawk to Duke to Scarlett to Ripcord to Zartan to Destro to the Baronness to Storm Shadow to Snake Eyes and of course Cobra Commander we were really well fleshed out.

Speaking of Cobra Commander, I’m sure I’m not the only one who appreciates his tranformation from the “I’ll be back, Joes!!” whiny character in the silly blue outfit to the cold figure he is in the movie. The one thing however, that I did not like about the movie, was the casting of Channing Tatum. He comes across as Dominic Purcell-lite (aka Lincoln Burrows from Prison Break), but without the ability to act stoic but yet convey emotion. Definitely the weak link for me.

The one way I would describe GI Joe, would be a modern day Star Wars (and I mean the original trilogy). That coming from a hardcore Star Wars fan like me, is no small amount of praise. While there were certainly cinematic references like the underwater battle (parallel to the numerous space battles in Star Wars) or the “Duel of the Fates”-esque battle between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow at the end (the irony that Ray Park, who played Darth Maul, is on the side of good), I felt the storytelling was what really conveyed it: outsiders drafted into a battle between good and evil, the “history” between Duke and Cobra Commander, the manipulations of Cobra Commander behind the scenes like Emperor Palpatine all captured the essence of good storytelling, without looking overly like an open tribute.

If you haven’t watched GI Joe by now, definitely go check it out. Don’t expect a “deep” movie, but there’s definitely enough action combined with plot to ensure that you have a great time.

Star Trek

Unlike many Trekkies, I haven’t waited for years for a new Star Trek film. In fact, prior to watching the show today, I wasn’t sure which incarnation of Star Trek was which and found myself wondering “when’s Worf going to show up?”, until I realised that was a different Star Trek.

Armed with that much “knowledge” of Star Trek, I freely admit I wouldn’t have been bothered to watch the 2009 film if it weren’t for the creators like JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, who’ve worked on many of my favourite shows like Alias, Lost and Fringe.

Whatever I was expecting going in the show (a space show) it wasn’t it. Instead we had multiple realities, alternate words and time travel (I don’t know if this has happened before on Star Trek), and it was just like watching an episode of Lost or Fringe.

I did pretty much enjoy the show, getting to know Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Scotty, McCoy and Chekov for the first time (I swear in one scene Kirk refers to him as jerkoff), but I will say I didn’t feel the “magic” of Star Wars, or the Matrix from the film.

The opening scene where Kirk’s dad sacrifices himself to save both Kirk’s mother and Kirk, as well as other crew members, is very emotionally powerful, as is young Spock’s musings about which path to choose in life. Unfortunately, the level of emotional tension eases once adult Kirk is brought into the picture with his arrogance and fight-picking for no apparent reason.

The biggest thing I didn’t like about the show was the portrayal of Captain Kirk. I don’t know if it’s down to the writing or Chris Pine’s acting, but it just didn’t work for me. He’s shown to be too much of a jackass throughout most of the show to really be the “hero” by show’s end, and the reconciliation between him and Spock just came too easily for me.

Speaking of Spock, old Spock (or Prime Spock) really revealed the awesomeness that is Leonard Nimoy and I think the few scenes he was in really added much needed weight to the show.

There were not Lost references as far as I could tell, the closest being the number on the Enterprise reading 1701, which backwards is 10(7+1) = 108. But you know, Lost fans see Lost everywhere, even when they don’t exist.

As a prequel (or a light reboot), I think the show works. It’s kinda like watching Spider-Man for the first time and finding out who he is and what is character’s like, but having to wait till the sequel for the story to really develop. As long as JJ Abrams and gang are on board, I will be too.

ps: You can read the review that the girlfriend put up here.

Fanboys Poster

The girlfriend and I caught an exclusive movie preview of Fanboys a few weeks ago thanks to Golden Village, and as a Star Wars fanboy, I had a blast.

Let me start by mentioning that out of the eight bookshelves at home, three are dedicated to Star Wars, and as of this moment, I have 11 Star Wars books yet to be read. Just to give you an indication of my “fanboyness” when it comes to the Saga.

The movie itself? Awesome. The plot revolves around a group of Star Wars fanboys sneaking in to Skywalker Ranch, where George Lucas currently has a final cut of the first Star Wars Prequel films, The Phantom Menace. Along the way they meet (and fight) with Trekkies (Star Trek fans). Needless to say, hilarity ensues. Whether it’s the “uniform” of the Skywalker Ranch security guards, or countless debates over the Luke/Leia kiss, I was constantly in a state of laughter.

Additionally, as a Star Wars fan, the cameos of Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) were yet another fun bit for the show, and the audience in the theater seemed to catch on to who they were.

Speaking of the audience, some (from the 501st?) came dressed in full Stormtrooper gear (with a Endor Scout Trooper and a TIE Fighter Pilot) and that just added to the “geekyness” of the screening.

Stormtroopers!

Overall, if you’re remotely a Star Wars fan or have some love for the Saga, you’d get a kick out of watching this show, if you have no idea what Star Wars is about, you might feel a little left out of all the in-jokes that occur in the show. For the more hardcore Star Wars fanboys, this is as close as you’ll get to a new installment of the franchise, so watch it, you must.

Woohoo!

Assassin

After finishing reading A Clash Of Kings by George R. R. Martin, I was in the mood for some good fantasy and so I crowdsourced for recommendations. Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy appeared too many times to be ignored, so I hopped on to Amazon.ca and gave it a go.

When I got the book, two things were potential obstacles: 1) the book was written in 1995 and I seldom read stuff that isn’t published recently, 2) the book is written from a first person point of view, a writing style I generally do not enjoy. I’m glad to say, neither was a factor and I enjoyed the book a lot.

Coming off such an epic fantasy series like A Clash Of Kings, the tone in Assassin’s Apprentice was very different. It’s not as sweeping, and is very much a character piece focused on FitzChivalry, the Bastard son of Prince Chivalry. It’s not a notion unknown to the fantasy/science-fiction realm. Underdog boy has to be the hero of the nation, but it the distinctness of Fitz’s character, and indeed the characters of every member of the cast in the book, makes for very good storytelling.

The plot of a nation under siege likewise, is not something new. But the twist of adding the danger of the Forged Ones was a good move by Hobb, and every time there was to be an encounter with them, I was on the edge of my seat.

One thing I did not like at the time of reading the book, was the inclusion of Lady Patience (Prince Chivalry’s wife) into the story. While it didn’t make much sense in the first book, it does pay off in the second book, Royal Assassin.

The second thing I didn’t particularly like was the magic of the Skill. From what I can infer, at best the Skill is similar to a mesh of telepathy and the Force from Star Wars. By that I mean the usage of the Skill, besides long range communication seems unclear, which threw me off my reading a little bit.

On it’s own, Assassin’s Apprentice is a very good read and an excellent character piece. But I feel it is part of a trilogy that it truly shines. I have only just finished book two, Royal Assassin and felt many seeds planted in Assassin’s Apprentice only develop in book two. I expect to see the same in book three, Assassin’s Quest, which I am beginning to read now.

In short, given the lack of good fantasy right now, digging back thirteen years to 1995 and unearthing this gem might be a really good move, if you’re starved for some traditional fantasy.

Clerks 2 DVD

You might recall from my review of “Zack And Miri Make A Porno“ that I am quite the fan of Kevin Smith, genius behind “Clerks“, “Dogma“, and “Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back” among others. In many ways, Clerks was the original “Harold And Kumar” to me, so it was interesting to see if Clerks 2 lived up to the original.

In many ways it does. In some, it surpasses it. Viewers of Zack And Miri will know there are some pretty ridiculous scenes in there, and for a non-mainstream movie like Clerks 2, the line is passed even more. (Hint: it involves a donkey).

This isn’t a movie for everyone. I’ll be the first to admit that there isn’t much of a central plot to this. (Well there is, but not in the conventional way). What it really is, is random witty bits of what would happen in everyday life. For example, a debate whether Lord Of The Rings or Star Wars is a better trilogy, and to quote Randall Graves: “There’s only one Return. And it ain’t of the King, it’s of the Jedi“. Damn right.

Elias, Dante, Becky and Randall

I wasn’t sure about the inclusion of Elias as a character of the prominence of Rosario Dawson’s character, Becky in the movie. Clerks was always about Randall and Dante (as well as Jay and Silent Bob) to me, but somehow it worked out. The inclusion of Elias, in particular, really worked for me and I could see that addition really happening between the Clerks, as opposed to someone just thrown in for fun.

While I felt the romance beats in Zack And Miri didn’t entirely work for me, the ones in Clerks 2 somehow worked better. Maybe it’s because Rosario Dawson and Brian O’Halloran are better actors, maybe it’s because Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks are too “mainstream” actors to fit such a script. Whatever it is, it works.

Jay And Silent Bob

Of equal importance to the movie, the inclusion of Jay and Silent Bob. (Silent Bob is played by Kevin Smith himself) I view Jay and Silent Bob as the droids (C-3PO and R2D2 from Star Wars) of the Kevin Smith films, primarily because they appear in all of them, thus being the constant. Jason Mewes, as always, pulls off Jay perfectly and I loved the little musical bit which was a throwback to his “song” in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.

Of course, if you’ve never been exposed to any of these films, you’re dead lost in my review by now. But have no fear. Watch Clerks, Dogma, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks the Animated Series and then Clerks 2, and you’ll be fully appreciative then. I have all the DVDs, should you want to borrow them.