"Lost" Not Even Pretending To Hide Metaphors Anymore
Still, a solid episode. Always good to spend time with Henry Ben:
the photo
the info
Dan Carlson
Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
I'm a twentysomething white male with ambitions to be a professional film critic and generally spend my days getting paid to watch movies and write about it. A compulsive reader and stubborn cineaste, I take an often contrary stance to my more fundamentalist peers and upbringing by celebrating the pursuit of the good, and the Good, in life, love, art and film. If you watched enough episodes of certain TV shows — for starters, "The Hungry and the Hunted," "The Cut Man Cometh," "The Body," "The Zeppo," "Waiting in the Wings," "Out of Gas," "April Is the Cruelest Month," "20 Hours in America," "Colonial Day," "An Echolls Family Christmas," "Look Who's Stalking," "The Garage Door," "Charlie Gets Crippled," "Wind Sprints," and "Corner Boys" — you would understand me completely, and you'd also realize that much of my worldview and philosophical insights are heavily influenced by fictional works/programs, and many of the good things I've said in my life are just a regurgitation of someone else's imaginings, or at any rate a heartfelt attempt to interpret them. I guess I was made to be a film critic.
Calendar
Categories
The Counter
the world
Search
the city
the politics
The Connections
March 10, 2010
March 5, 2010
She's Contrapting!
Some solid moments in this week's two-part episode, but even so, I think the show is nearing the end of its creative life. And that's okay.
March 4, 2010
"Idol" Lurches On
This show is as much an endurance test for the viewers as the contestants. Every step of the process is simultaneously made to feel like the biggest moment in the season and just another step on the road to the real drama. It's everywhere and nowhere. I'm looking forward to May.
"American Idol," Week Eight: Top 10 Guys Perform
March 3, 2010
In Every Possible World, Sayid Is A Killer
I know it feels like this blog is turning into a giant repository for "Lost" and "American Idol" recaps, but I swear, things will change soon. I'll be at South by Southwest, and have some other pieces kicking around. But for now, well, I'm up to my eyes in TV recaps. I hope you like them, and choose to stick around:
February 25, 2010
"Idol" Looking More Like "Idol"
This week sees the beginning of "American Idol" proper, with live performance shows and elimination episodes. It's late February; the season runs into May. I have no idea how I will make it.
"American Idol," Week Seven: Top 12 Girls Perform
February 24, 2010
"Lost" Now Bringing Back Dead People As Murderous Zombies
Kind of. Anyway, a fun episode.
February 17, 2010
"Lost": To Bury John Locke, And To Praise Him
A solid episode. Always good to see the real Locke tooling around again:
"Idol" Now A Master At Delaying The Inevitable
"American Idol" is now wrapping up its Hollywood Week in typically slow fashion. By the end of this season, I'll be exhausted from all the fake-outs and postponed reveals.
February 15, 2010
It Won't Be Long
I'm fascinated by the fact that The Beatles' albums were often released in dramatically chopped and repackaged ways to manufacture more content in the United States. I know that even today, albums can have slight changes between their U.K. and U.S. versions, but this seems like an extreme that hasn't been matched in years. The Beatles' U.S. records feel like history from an alternate universe, and I'm now hooked on collecting them.
February 13, 2010
The Five Ws, And Some More Questions
It's hard to pick a favorite, but "is lady gaga a man" is right up there.
the post
Questions? Comments? Complaints?
Drop 'em in the mailbag.
The Lines
The Quotes
"The critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising."
— Pauline Kael
"Film lovers are sick people."
— Francois Truffaut
"I hope I strike a blow for chubby bald men everywhere. I hope they rise like an army."
— Paul Giamatti, quoted in the Los Angeles Times, 12/14/04
"Let others praise ancient times, I am glad I was born in these."
— Ovid
The Shelves
The Songs
the humor
the screens
- Pajiba
- IMDb
- Movie City News
- MovieWeb
- Box Office Mojo
- Cinematical
- New York Magazine
- Cinema Treasures
- Metaphilm
- Onion A.V. Club
- Film Comment
- Criterion
- Empire
- Drew's Script-O-Rama
- BFI
- RT
- Greatest Films
- Second Spin
- AFI
- The Hollywood Reporter
- Metacritic
- Defamer
- Dave Poland
- Dave Kehr
- AllMovie
- Movie City Indie
- Austin Movie Blog
- The Screengrab
- GreenCine Daily
- ComingSoon
- Fimoculous
- Chicago Reader: On Film
- Sunset Gun
- Geoff Klock
- Girish
- Edward Copeland on Film
- Bordwell and Thompson
The Friends
Recent Posts
- "Lost" Not Even Pretending To Hide Metaphors Anymore
- She's Contrapting!
- "Idol" Lurches On
- In Every Possible World, Sayid Is A Killer
- "Idol" Looking More Like "Idol"
- "Lost" Now Bringing Back Dead People As Murderous Zombies
- "Lost": To Bury John Locke, And To Praise Him
- "Idol" Now A Master At Delaying The Inevitable
- It Won't Be Long
- The Five Ws, And Some More Questions
[What is this?]
Archives
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
Powered by
Movable Type 3.33
Movable Type 3.33
the wisdom
Remembering speechlessly we seek the great forgotten language, the lost lane-end into heaven, a stone, a leaf, an unfound door. Where? When?
O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again.
— Look Homeward, Angel, Thomas Wolfe
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
— John Stuart Mill
We are all under the same mental calamity; we have all forgotten our names. We have all forgotten what we really are. All that we call common sense and rationality and practicality and positivism only means that for certain dead levels of our life we forget that we have forgotten. All that we call spirit and art and ecstasy only means that for one awful instant we remember that we forget.
— G.K. Chesterton
We were, for the briefest of moments, something greater than the sum of our uncertain parts; we were youth itself, in all its painful glory and sharp joy.
— Me, Fall 2003
Los Angeles, give me some of you! Los Angeles come to me the way I came to you, my feet over your streets, you pretty town I loved you so much, you sad flower in the sand, you pretty town.
— Ask the Dust, John Fante