Ramblings Concerning Nothing

Twin Peaks: S01E06-7 “Realization Time”/”The Last Evening”

I find it’s tough to judge penultimate episodes by themselves. So much work goes into simply setting up the finale, which then puts in every cliffhanger available. Similarly, the premiere of the next season deals with the cliffhangers for two to three episodes. The finale and premieres can often stand alone as good episodes, but a poor finale makes the previous episode even more worthless. 

Neither of these episodes were worthless. Rather, they moved the plot along expertly, letting plenty of things occur almost naturally while still containing elements of good television. I complained earlier that pacing was off and the episodes were moving too quickly with no long or wide shots; no more! As for the plot, even the boring characters (i.e., everyone involved with the burning of the mill) had an interesting resolution. “The Last Evening” did maybe the best job I’ve ever seen of getting almost every single character into a cliffhanger. This isn’t entirely satisfying, especially for an audience expecting the answer to the murderer, but it’s exciting, and made me want to play Season 2 right away. 

Watch. Do you want to know a secret? Then jump.

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defkatatak:

(via artpixie)

S06E07 “Dr. Linus”

I couldn’t help thinking of that song all night.

I must say, I loved this episode. Let’s get back to the “Deus Ex Machina” analogy to my Desmond moment:

Before the episode, I was flashback Locke. Now I’m post-Desmond Locke. I think “Dr. Linus” does what Lost does best, which is mix character stuff and Island stuff, which I complained about last week. This episode mixed both of them wonderfully, giving us compelling character pieces of Ben and Richard, two mysterious figures to say the least, and the flash-sideways did what the flashbacks always strove to do; paint the Island characters in a better light (or at least an understanding light). Meanwhile, there was clear development in the plot towards both the upcoming episodes (“Ab Aeterno,” here we come) and the endgame. AND THERE WERE ANSWERS! Some reviews I read this morning said that the episode was too direct, mentioning the “I wonder what life would’ve been like” lines, but Lost has always been really paper-thin in that department. Maybe now we just spot it better, but I didn’t mind it too much (overall, I thought it didn’t detract from the overall message). Also, the plot construction was a little unbelievable (like, he could’ve gotten William Atherton to write the letter to Yale, I’m sure), but it wasn’t too crazy for me. I’ll suck the episode’s dick more in the coming grafs, but I just wanted to say, I think it’s one of the series’s best.

• Easily the most entertaining theory: the canoes. Now knowing that the MiBs are going to the Hydra, they would presumably get there by paddling over with those canoes, which may finally answer the question raised in “The Little Prince”: who the fuck were in the other canoes? Now, you may remember that Juliet shot somebody. In a very Lostian coincidence, it could be Sawyer. (I doubt he dies, but that would stir echoes of Faraday in “The Variable” for sure.) Who else? Maybe it’s just Locke or a random MiBian, but that would be silly. You could shoot Sawyer and not kill him.
• Also, we figured out who’s coming to the Island, and it makes sense: the person who’s always wanted to get back. My official guess was Aaron, but it makes sense for Widmore because he has the means. (But I did immediately bring up Widmore and say that he was going to return to the show, although I was, admittedly, wrong that he would be returning to The Island.) I’d imagine after seeing Ben and hearing about Ajira 316, he realized that people could really go back. He then went to the Lamp Post and accosted Eloise, and got the coordinates. 
  • Or Jacob helped him find it in his final act before he died.
  • OR, since Jacob died, The Island is now vulnerable to external threats such as Widmore (although, who knows what his true intentions are). This is the more probable of the two Jacob scenarios. I’ll go with the Lamp Post for now.
  • I doubt Widmore knows much about Jacob/MiB. Remember back to the hierarchies in place: castaways, Others, leader of the Others, (apparently Other Others,) and then Jacob/MiB. I bet he’s coming back to kill Ben and take his rightful place back wahwahwah, but I know he’ll be killed soon by the MiB for being aggravating.
• I think we now know what the “loophole” Jacob referred to in “The Incident” was. If what Richard said is true, then people Jacob touched cannot kill themselves. There is probably a clause that the MiB cannot kill Jacob, as understood by The Island (and not Jacob’s sensual touch). So there must be a rule about killing, also. Ben was never touched by Jacob until after he killed him (when he clung onto him before whispering, “they’re coming). Thus, this still makes sense. Now…what exactly is this rule? I guess Ben’s not a part of it either way, so it doesn’t matter. (If this is true, I’m assuming the “Linus” in the Lighthouse, 117, is Roger Linus. Or, if it’s not, then maybe Ben was a candidate. Leaving The Island and returning “reset” him. That’s very probable.)
• So…this means Richard’s agelessness is because of Jacob’s Touch. Maybe he can instill different powers with different touches, but I doubt it. I’d imagine if Jack lived on-Island for 50 years now he’d look the same.
• People are going crazy with theories for the reason the timelines split and explanations as to where the Losties where when Ben and Roger left The Island in the FS Timeline…am I the only one that thinks that the Losties never went back in time in the Sideways World? I mean, they never crashed, so they couldn’t have flashed to 1977. The Incident, or something near it, created a different world, starting way back when. The FS Timeline didn’t start in 2004. It didn’t start in 1977. It had always been there. Jesus.
• Ben and Alex had some real sexual chemistry there, didn’t they?
• Michael Emerson acted the shit out of that character.
• I enjoyed that Sideways Ben saved Alex in this timeline, reflecting that things generally go better (yet stay the same) in the FS Timeline. Sayid is still a killer, but he (presumably) gets to see Nadia now. Ben is still conniving and Alex leaves him, but in a different way. And this episode does what the best do: illustrate a choice on-Island with a choice off-Island, and it makes sense why both made those choices. It’s nice to see nice Ben, as much as I liked “You guys got any milk?”
• There really aren’t too many theories from this episode, are there? It tied up so much.

Facebook Hating of the Day: Keep Your Hands Off My MAMA and My DORITOS!!

This commercial wasn’t funny. I guess some people loved it, and that’s fine (I see very little comic value period, but maybe that’s just me and every other person I’ve spoken to about it). My favorites of the night were the Betty White spot (because I love Betty White) and the Marvin Candle ad, simply because Marvin Candle rules. (The Google Paris ad was probably the best of the night, but whatev.)

My objection isn’t the fan page. I just want to shoehorn all people that liked the Doritos ad into this image.

This guy said correctly: “

Cap’n Satoshi Wright MOST EPCI COMMERCIAL EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“

[I break the exclamation points so they don’t kill the formatting on this page, but the original comment is here.]

One, exclamation points were misused in the title of the fan page and even worse in the comment. One line of exclamation points max. I limit myself to three.

And how the hell was a boy saying to a guy to stay away from his mother and his preferred choice of flavored corn chips the most epic commercial ever anyway? I’d go with the 1984 ad for the most epic ever, but that guy has no idea what the fuck that is. (Here you go, silly.)

And his profile picture has so many things wrong. First, it’s in a bathroom. Most pictures in the bathroom are dumb. Most are girls on the toilet, which aside from the fact it’s totally fucking hot it’s stupid to post that online (or take the picture in the first place…). Taking the picture drunk isn’t an excuse because you still fucking have it saved, don’t you? Sigh.

But this picture is of a different bathroom breed, the self-shot. I took a self-shot once, and it was a horrible horrible decision. (8th grade. This boy is not 13.) Why ever do this, people? How is this a better picture than any other one someone else has taken of you? Because it’s super zoomed out? Because you don’t know how to fucking work a camera? Self pictures are always a bad idea. They make you look bad or stupid. Especially in a mirror in your bathroom.

By the way, what a bizarre bathroom. The wallpaper is atrocious, but my main suspect is the door: is it a tiny door, hiding behind the wall (maybe there’s a weird alcove), or does the door swing outwards (more possible)? What a horrible design.

But the thing I hate the most: the one-ear iPod. One: it would appear that he’s using the iPod earbuds, which means:

1. He uses the iPod sparingly and doesn’t know much about music (I think he has an Aerosmith shirt on, which is okay if he discounts their catalogue after the mid-1980s. He probably loves “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” and “Livin’ On The Edge.”)
2. He just got the iPod.
3. He knows nothing because the iPod earbuds are fucking terrible.

But my main offense here is that he has one ear in. I am completely against this in social situations. Mostly because: you’re probably listening to something in stereo. (Unless you’re rocking out to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in mono because it’s better like I do, but then if you were me you’d know not to wear those shitty earbuds.) That means, unless I’m missing something, you’re missing out on half the song: either the instruments or the vocals. Am I wrong here? My earbuds broke today on the way to class, and I had only one ear working. I was hearing the rhythm section on “Do You Want To Know A Secret” but no words. So you’re silly to start.

And what in the hell situation are you in when you so need the one bud out? The doctor’s office waiting for your name to be called? The people I despise with this are the people that do this in public: it’s really a status symbol. Like they think they’ll be called out on a street corner so they can hear. And they can listen in on other people’s conversations. And everyone else can hear half of their music. I’ve seen two people talking to each other both with an iPod earbud in. Can the music really not wait?

Quick solution? Both ears, volume turned down if you really need to hear something crucially important that’s not important enough for you to stop listening to your Jay-Z album for three minutes. (That’s the length at which his songs become boring.)

But in this case, you’re taking a picture knowingly (maybe, he may have not realized that he was doing this), so why the hell can’t your one earbud come out? You look like such an ignorant douchebag I’ve been typing this for at least 20 minutes instead of doing homework. Jerkface. This is the main point of my argument: this guy is a retard. And he thinks the Doritos ad is the best ever. Not surprised. If you liked the Doritos ad, fine. But you probably fall closer to his side of these arguments than to mine.

[Other comment: “omgg thiis waas greaatt i was histerical laffinngg(:”]

I feel like I’m missing so much on the iPod front. This is one of my all-time bothers. Oh, and YOU SPELLED EPIC WRONG SIHDUGYIULKJZNFDGKLZH.FWAJSLGD

blackandwtf:

Thanks, Mark.

Beatles For Sale (1964)

Background: The album cover says all you need to know about Beatles For Sale. Photographer Robert Freeman told them to just show up to Hyde Park in London, and this picture captured them in their state at the time. 1964 for The Beatles was arguably the most popular year for any band in history, with two No. 1 albums, multiple No. 1 singles, an extremely popular movie, and international tours. Their popularity hit a fever pitch and Parlophone demanded an album by Christmas season. Thus, only eight of these songs are original compositions, with the other six being old covers from their early days rush-recorded. “I Feel Fine,” a popular single, was also released during this time, although it was not released on the album. Bottom-line, they were fucking tired.

Review: After two straight good albums, Beatles For Sale is an utter disappointment out of context, but it makes complete sense with background.

The only real hit here is “Eight Days A Week,” which is on par with their previous No. 1 songs. But that track stands out as optimistic and accomplished, something devoid from most of the other numbers. The album starts out with three Lennon songs which all explore isolation and negativity (and are the artistic height of the album). This is much more in tune with the title of the album, which denoted that they were simply a quantity that could be sold by Christmastime. These three songs are crucially important, as they indicate an important part of growth for the band; these songs lyrically do not just deal with young love, but the beginning of the exploration of the human psyche. You get the feeling that if they would have had more time to cultivate Beatles For Sale, then this could have evolved into their first mature album.

“I’m A Loser” is important to note because it’s most closely related with The Beatles’ meeting with Bob Dylan, the premier lyricist of the day. (Music fans in that day were often in one of two camps, the studious Dylan fan or the rocking Beatles fans; both influenced each other, so The Beatles developed artistically and lyrically while Dylan became more folk-rock and friendly to the public.)

“I’ll Follow The Sun” lightens the mood, but the rest of the album seems like filler (and was even denounced by their creators as such). “What You’re Doing” and “Every Little Thing,” while fun, were supposed to be singles that just weren’t good enough.

The covers are hit-and-miss; while “Rock and Roll Music” and “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby” are fun, “Mr. Moonlight” is, without a doubt, the worst song The Beatles ever recorded. (“Maggie Mae” blows this shit out of the water.) The covers, after the fun of A Hard Day’s Night and especially the first three songs, feel strongly out of place.

It’s difficult to completely pan Beatles For Sale; everyone can relate to what The Beatles were feeling at this point and clearly see why this album turned out how it did, but the finished product is clearly sub-par. While Please Please Me had dull points but was still their debut, some tracks on Beatles For Sale are difficult to get through knowing the preceding and following album. Attributed to another artist or not knowing the surrounding albums, it may be seen in a better light, but since the next six albums are some of the greatest ever made, this album pales in comparison.

Best song: “Eight Days A Week,” written by John and Paul, sung by both. The title has two stories - one is another Ringo malapropism, while another is from a chauffeur who said he was overworked. Either way, the title was about being overworked and is appropriate. The song is mainly notable for it’s introduction, which started side two. The song fades in, which was the first time ever that a pop song had a fade in (as opposed to the common fade out). This would foreshadow plenty of other studio innovations and techniques later (see “Helter Skelter” for more fading craziness). The Beatles brought this song into the studio to record unfinished, which again was rare at the time but would evolve into usual practice. The song was a single in America and was just another No. 1 hit.

Rating: 2/5, while there are high points, the album fails as a whole and many songs don’t work at all.

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

Background: The period between With The Beatles and A Hard Day’s Night is perhaps some of the most important moments definitely in music history and maybe in pop culture history. While The Beatles had covered the top spot in the UK for 51 straight weeks, you may have noticed there has been no news on the American front. Capitol Records, who had their rights, hadn’t released any singles and had chopped up the original UK releases into their own warped versions (which would continue until Revolver). The US versions are clearly inferior and not under the influence of The Beatles at all, so they’ll be ignored. The band, honestly, was scared about their future popularity in America and whether they’d be liked or not. Capitol did release “I Want To Hold Your Hand” late in 1963 which made an American tour an inevitability. The single sold 2.6 million copies in two weeks and they were greeted by thousands of fans. News of their success and popularity with very little music backing to the public made their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964 at the time the most-watched television program ever. The concert (see it in the previous post) made them nationwide heartthrobs and influenced so many musicians that would appear in the 70s or early 80s, including (famously) making Billy Joel realize he wanted to make music. This led to a rush of Beatles albums in America, culminating in April when The Beatles had 12 singles in the Billboard Hot 100, including the top five spots. (Imagine that today.)

The film company, United Artists, wished to capitalize on their success and pitched a film idea; they accepted and it became a huge success. They had an international tour during the summer to promote the A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack where the fans could hardly hear them over their screaming. (Fans screaming, not the band’s screaming.)

Review: If the first two albums documented The Beatles as a live rock ‘n’ roll group playing covers amidst their own rock compositions, A Hard Day’s Night serves as a perfect foil: a full documentation of the height of Beatlemania. This is the only album made up of entirely Lennon/McCartney compositions, and thus it is the first album that can logically stand up to their later albums (and it certainly does).

The hits, “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” are arguably two of the more famous Beatles songs and are deservedly recognized as some of the best songs they made. But there are so many standouts here. And not all the songs carry that joyous, upbeat tone of their earlier albums - “And I Love Her” and “If I Fell” nail a more somber, reminiscent tone. (“If I Fell” also has some of the most beautiful harmonies The Beatles would ever record.) Genres are mixed and clashed here successfully, such as on “Tell Me Why” and “I’ll Cry Instead.”

This is the only substantial instance of one songwriter dominating the record - Lennon composed 10 of the 13 songs - but McCartney’s songs, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Things We Said Today,” and “And I Love Her” stand up with Lennon’s best three. The lyrics are still mainly sophomoric, but “If I Fell” includes a nice self-referential nod early: “‘Cause I’ve been in love before/And I found that love was more/than just holding hands,” perhaps saying their earlier compositions didn’t have the depth that later ones would have.

The music is the main draw here: the first side, all songs pulled from the movie, is classic but the second drags a little, with its highlights “Any Time At All” and “Things We Said Today.” John and Paul’s compositions are different but similar enough to create a compelling package, a sound that would define The Beatles’ early work.

Best song: “A Hard Day’s Night,” written by John, sung by John (verses) and Paul (bridge). The title was inspired by Ringo, who after working all day and into the night, said, “It’s been a hard day…[seeing the sky]…night.” This became the title for the movie and then John wrote the song in one night. Once again, the album starts classically with one of the most famous chords in rock history. It’s so complex and ambiguous for years there was no official word on what it actually was, until Harrison himself cleared the matter up (it’s an Fadd9, for all you virtuosos). Harrison had just gotten a new guitar, the now famous Rickenbacker 12-string guitar and that made the perfect sound. After some grown-up lyrics that relate what The Beatles were feeling at the time (work: touring, writing, recording, movies, interviews, and the concept of home), the song ends with a fade-out, which was uncommon (and would be a staple of their more drug-induced tracks). The song was released as a single and was the first that did not have a pronoun in its title. This is not coincidence; Paul said later that they specifically wrote songs to their female audience in order to be more relatable. As this is the first album where these songs are completely their own and begin to grow up, this makes much more sense. The single was the first to be No. 1 on the British and American charts simultaneously and in 1965 penned them a Grammy.

Rating: 3.5/5, the songs make a complete package of thoughtful yet still lovey-dovey tracks.