An ending no other show could pull off

Happy Thursday! I don't remember the last time I worked night on a Thursday (ever?!), so I'm getting this out the way at a young hour.

The whole right side of my face hurts. From my ear to my teeth. What is this? a center for ants?! It's making me a grouchy old man.

Which probably shouldn't be the mood I'm writing in. Oh well. Through sleet and snow and that.

As Facebook reported, the series finale of LOST had me in tears. Which surprised me as much as it may surprise you. And I think it was less about what was happening in the end--more about that it was just The End, period. But I'll admit it got a bigger reaction out of me than the BSG finale did, at any rate.

Speaking of, let's revisit the end of BSG for a moment. That was an epic sci-fi-action-drama whose finale represented that amalgam well. As in, a sci-fi flavored, action flavored drama. The finale was not about answering mysteries, it was about leaving these characters in satisfying and meaningful ways. Its character-driven plot assured that while, yes, action was all UP in here, each twist and turn was directed by the desires and intentions of the characters. So that while there were still questions left hanging at the end, the emotional impact of the finale was so resounding that you forgot about all this sci-fi stuff. It became trivial.

LOST followed this example to an extent. By the last few episodes I knew that they couldn't possibly answer every question (even though they started throwing explanations out like candy...and forgot some mysteries entirely--but they did that in BSG, too) I think the major explanation about the Island was designed to cover most of these questions, and I guess it sorta does. But it doesn't mean that this explanation doesn't have more questions of its own! I wanted, at this point, to stop caring about the Island and focus more on what was going to happen to these people, but I couldn't quite.

For the first time, I think the flashes in this season stunted the storytelling. Whereas early on, the flashbacks were necessary to round out these characters and set some mysteries/coincidences in motion, then the flashforwards were about raising interest in the journey from A to B and filling in the gaps once time shifts settled down...............the flash "sideways"...s of the last season presented us with a poorly established mystery that eats up half of the season. When they could have spent 100% of each episode answering real mysteries. But they only had a portion, and that's why I feel like near the end they started rushing storylines. The countdown was on minutes left in the show, not any dramatically concocted device.

That being said, the flash sidewayses did allow this show to have one of --no, the most unique series end that I've ever witnessed. It's not an ending any other show could easily pull. Or could ever pull, I mean to assert. It was an ending fully tailored to the show, completely original and --can I say surprising? I know some people called it well in advance, but I'll be honest and I was still trying to figure out how these storylines were going to connect right up to the big reveal. I mean, I knew something was up, but I didn't dare guess.

And what I mean by original is that the ending was rooted in the LOST-specific cast, journey those characters went on, and the "flash" narrative nature of the show. It was an ending dictated by the very foundations of the show itself, on and off the screen, and for that I commend it.

So now that that's over, it leaves me actively watching...what? Flashforward? I caught up on the Office but only online, I didn't watch any of it live this season. I didn't even see a single episode of Chuck or 30 Rock or HIMYM. Heroes has been cancelled and I don't even care. There had better be some good sci-fi hitting the airwaves next fall.

'Cause Flashforward sure ain't gonna cut it.

-Steph

Holy Batman, Batman

Happy Thursday! We are watching Sky Captain, which is cute for a number of reasons. One is its psuedo-steam-noir WWII + giant robots type style. Exactly the sort of setting I want a story to take place in. The other is of course its pioneering of the acting entirely on green screen. Quite a good effort for the age! Consider how the technology went from this to Avatar in six years. Kinda intense.

Beth is over again, and we have pieces of six songs I think. Seven? LIGHT IT UP, The Lime Song, Bridge to Nowhere, all have words and just need to be polished up. Trapezoid and Mockingbird are instrumentals, variations on D chords, really. Um and then there's a punk rockish song and then another rockish. And there's two more sets of lyrics that don't have any music at all! So that's coming along.

You know what would be horrible? A clown with a clock for a face.

You know what's great? Frank Gorshin as the Riddler. Watch this episode! Death in Slow Motion. It's beyond amazing.

Speaking of superheroes and/or Gywneth Paltrow, Iron Man 2 is action packed. And funny! The plot was more of a straight shot than the first one (whose first act was bogged down in the kidnapping arc) and was full of cool and hip and entertaining episodes. Well cast, too, the new parts (and one of the old). Definitely approve of the Cheadle.

We also hung out with Carolyn one day and played Pokemon Rumble and Speed Racer game! And then we went to Thai food which was sorta amazing. At least mine was.

McArtrey had some screws loose. Literally, since he is equipment. The plate holding the output jack to the side of the guitar kept sliding around, unscrewing the jack until it didn't even connect anymore. So we took him to the guitar doctor who applied some glue and fixed it. And then I said "I don't know if it's me, but it's kinda twangy" and it turned out it wasn't me and he fixed that, too. So now it sounds like a real bass and I'm glad we didn't record anything before I got that adjusted because now I sound a thousand times better.

Rest assured recordings are on the horizon! As Donnie says, any day meow.

-Steph

Coming Soon....

Happy Thursday! Oh Thursday, what is there to say? It's been another week, another Inventory, another band recording session. We tried recording today but there were some technical difficulties and then some performance difficulties so we'll try again later.

But we went to Busy Bee, armed with like 8 quarters, and loaded up the jukebox with songs of our choosing. All Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. A little Elvis for fun. Did you know how much food they have there!? I feel like I've never even looked at the menu before. And cute dinners that include food and coffee/tea/soft drink and a dessert for like $11!! I will be going there more.

Me and Beth had a lil photo sesh down at these rocks where our band hangs out. It was really windy and sad. But people had graffitied peace signs and love and happy faces all over the rocks, so we felt welcomed. And then a pterodactyl ate some dogs.

Can you believe I haven't seen Iron Man 2 yet? I cannot. I mean, I've only been waiting for that movie since the first one came out. But I guess I'm just off movies lately. I did finally see Legion, though, which, as low as my expectations were, still managed to disappoint. Even more disappointment than Twilight 2.

WE WATCHED SOME BRADY BUNCH THIS MORNING. There were lines, like jokes, that were sooooo .... scripted. And they sounded like examples given to me in writing school. Like, the proper way to structure a joke. It made me remember how old my professors were. They need to go out and watch something modern. Like Legion. Good jokes in that.

Not really.

Yalright we're off to write songs. You'll just have to wait for this one we have. I've photoshopped up an album cover (and back) so there's that to look forward to, as well.

I'm lobbying for us to sit down and just record some of the covers we know, just so there's something to post to the facebook page. But we'll see. We're a little loopy at this hour. Wish us luck.

-Steph

MDMB

Happy Thursday! I’m sitting in the parking lot on West Campus!! In my car, not anywhere skeevy. Beth is here; this is her computer. I was going to use the computer lab, as per usual, but Beth said the Dead Sea Scrolls were in there.

“What, it’s not like they took the computers out and installed scrolls,” I said.

“You’d be surprised,” said she.

So here we are. CSN&Y is playing gently on the stereo, there’s a best of Clapton album waiting in Beth’s car, we screened the demo of our song for Megan, and it seemed to go okay. Oh hey. Have I told you?

You know how I said that me and Beth are in a band? MDMB? Minor Delta Major Bravo? Well we are. And not just in a “lol a band” sense, I mean we’re writing a song and playing it and recording it and making it sound wonderful. And by wonderful I mean legitimately legit. When it’s polished it’ll go up on youtube etc.

In the meantime you can become a fan of our page on Facebook. Just search MDMB, or go to one of our profiles. Be caught up on all our latest news!

And not like this is suddenly our careers and we’re going to get signed and make a million dollars as rockstars. But we have instruments and we are putting them to use. And for three month old musicians, we don’t sound half band. You probs don’t believe me, but you’ll see. Not like we’re out to turn the music industry on its head, but I think our output is a lot better than you might expect from us.

At least, I hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

I wrote the lyrics late one morning, scanned and emailed them to Beth. A while later, she sends me a demo she recorded on her computer, putting a melody and chords behind it. It was shockingly good. So I added a bass part and sent it back and so on and so forth, both of us adding something or changing something and generally furthering the recording process. And never once were we in the same room together! We are now, though, and we’ll probably play through it live, which will be fun. But overall, this song writing process is pretty entertaining. I can’t wait to do more.

So Megan moved to Glendale, and I had two days off, so that’s why I’m here. Yesterday we drove around Glendale and saw her apartment and then we went to Pasadena and found Beth and went to A’float. And then we went back to get my car from Megan’s, and in order to get out of her parking spot, I literally did a 15-point turn. It was the funniest event of ever.

Then I crashed at Beth’s where we laughed ourselves to sleep. And we wrote our next song, the B side of our first single. Look for it!

Today we drove some more and had some coffee and Beth had TWO finals. And Megan got stuck in traffic for ever. But then we looked at Ikea and went to Legends, which is like mandatory.

So that’s about it. Song writing and socializing. Quite a bit of driving. Yes! Maybe we’ll world-premiere our song next Thursday??

-Steph