Ben Linus Takes Manhattan!

If you happen to be a Lost fan, (well what would you be doing here if you weren’t?)  and you are  in New York on Saturday September 25, at 4:00PM, the 2010 New York Television Festival will be hosting a series of events around the city, amongst which is an event entitled Creating Character: A discussion with Michael Emerson.

First Appearance - Season 2, Ep. 14 "One of Them"

Michael Emerson took a guest  appearance and became one of the most compelling characters on one of the best shows in the last decade.  He would consistently surprise in a show full of surprises.  His technique and mastery of his innate creepiness is something to be admired.  He can crack his voice as he raises an octave and create a tension most actors  never come close to achieving.   When Ben enters a room you never know if he’s going to hug, stab, converse, shoot, or just shake hands.  He is a wild card in a deck full of jokers.

Here is a description from the NYTVF website about the event:

The character of Ben Linus on “Lost” is one of the most memorable in the history of the medium. The actor who embodied him, Michael Emerson, was cast as a result of his Emmy winning turn as another indelible character: William Hinks on “The Practice.” Join us for an actor¹s point of view on how to create memorable characters.

I will gleefully be in attendance to bask in the presence of one of TV greatest villains.

Oh yeah!  The best part is—– It’s free!  Go get  tickets while you can! at this link :

http://www.thefestguide.com/nytvf2010/Creating_Character.html

Hello. You want to hang out and create character?

 

Zombies – An Inconvenient Truth

A Cinema Fantastica Post:

With the Walking Dead, created by Robert Kirkman for Image Comics, premiering on AMC on Halloween, I’ve decided to watch a selection of Zombie films over the next few weeks to prepare myself for what will hopefully be a terrific addition to one of my favorite sub-genres.

Routine: a : a regular course of procedure b : habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/routine

Routine is something that happens to all of us. We fall into it and don’t even realize we’re there. In the midst of researching a new screenplay, I decided to take a few routines in my life and turn them on their ear.   Since I was thirteen I’ve shaved my face from right to left. I’ve never gone in the other direction. Even when I broke my wrist, and had to do it left-handed, I kept to the same pattern. Last week I went from left to right. It was sooooooo weird. When I was done I practically needed a blood transfusion. Since then, I have only gone from left to right. It seems like a small change, but it really isn’t. It’s monumental, because I am doing exactly the opposite of what come naturally.

How does this relate to zombies? I’ll get to it.  I’ve never faced a zombie horde. I’ve never had to shoot a dead person in the brain in order to stop them from barreling forward to eat my flesh.

I would know how to though.

To read the rest, click here –> ZOMBIES!!!!!!!

or on this screen shot:

 

2nd Dharma Polar Bear

Now, we all know that Polar Bears do not belong in Hawaii.  It is not their natural habitat.  The Dharma Initiative had them for their studies, and at some point, they teleported the Bear off the island, using the Donkey Wheel.  I guess.  I never thought about that until now.  How did they get the bear to turn the wheel?  Hmmm.  Strange.

I think there was a second polar bear though, and he was teleported to Kenab, Utah.  How do I know?

What is behind me?

 

Big Adventure Post: Honest Lawyers and Wooden Guns

Day 1 went well.  I began by going to the  Bank in  NJ.  A sweet little old lady was on her way into the branch.  I held the door.  She called me a gentleman.  It made me feel really content for about forty-five seconds. I reached the teller and asked about their deposit policies.  You see, I made a deposit the day before in anticipation of this trip.  The bank credited our account.  Then they debited for an amount exceeding the deposit by $200.00.  Then they re-credited.  Then debited again—  By the end of the four transactions $200.00 had mysteriously disappeared.  Huh?  They fixed it and blamed the mistake of computers.  Computers do not do things like this on their own.  If they do, then we put on a space suit and remove it’s logic board.

“Hello Rob, would you like to make a deposit?

Read the rest here: http://biggadventure.wordpress.com/

 

A Big Adventure

In four days I will be taking the longest road trip of my life.  Seriously long.

Like this long:

We will take three weeks, go through 15 states and attend one wedding.  Though it all, we will share it with you, at least if you want to check it out.  There is going to be a biker rally, deserts, national monuments, beer, fun, and most of all adventure.  You know I’ll find a way to relate Lost to it all as well.

If you would care to follow our Bigg Adventure (so BIG we added a ‘g’) you can do so here:

http://biggadventure.wordpress.com/ or click the pic.

 

C.F. Toy Story 3: The Walking Dead Toys!

Toy Story 3 was a formulaic film that reached an earnest dénouement after a harrowing hero’s journey.

Or was it?

I think there was a more sinister formula at work here.

A zombie formula!

Read the rest over at Cinema Fantastica!  Click here….

 

What a Crazy Random Happenstance

A few days ago, through a series of random events, a room full of drunken people applauded me for my love of Lost.

Here is how it happened.

Last Friday, it was HOT. We had a few days in a row of near 100-degree temperatures. On a day like that, the last thing you want to do is turn on the stove. So we went to the bar for dinner and a beer. Sitting on the patio in back, I noticed that the furniture is similar to the IKEA furniture I bought a week ago. That gets me thinking.

Five days earlier than that, I was in my backyard water-sealing our new patio furniture. It was really hot that day as well. At one point I went inside for a glass of water and noticed that the TV was on. My hands were covered in sealant, so I carefully picked up the remote to turn it off. I decided to check the DVR. It was nearly at capacity. The largest file on it was the Lost finale recorded in HD. (Yeah, I haven’t erased it! Big Whoop!) I wondered if I should erase it finally. I tossed the remote on the coffee table, and the finale picked up from where I left off at last viewing. The final ten minutes was playing in beautiful HD. I was mesmerized. I sat down and watched.

My wife came in to see where I was. I turned the TV off. I looked guilty. She was outside in the hot sun doing work, and I’m drinking ice water in the living room watching Lost. When I said “Lost–,” She said “Oh. Ok.” And accepted that I got distracted and it was beyond my control.

Back at the bar, last Friday, I made all of those connections in my head and began talking to my wife about the finale for the umpteenth time. She asked how did I just go from “isn’t this great patio furniture?” to “Jack stumbling through the bamboo forest.” I began to explain, when a man walked up and interrupted “Are you guys here for the high school 20^th reunion?”

I told him “No.” I should have asked, “Is there an open bar?”

He smiled as he walked away, but then he stopped.

He approached us again with a weird smile on his face and said “I know you from someplace. You look just like that guy from that TV show.”

My wife laughed out loud, because people constantly mistake me for someone else.

I asked, “What show?”

He said “Lost.”

My wife said “Daniel Faraday?”

He said, “Yes!”

I said I was not he.

Then about a half-an-hour later, I walked to the bar to settle my bill. I walked past the reunion party, when the same guy pointed me out to the crowd. He declared, “See! I told you Daniel Faraday was here!” And I was applauded by a room full of 37 and 38-year-old drunk people.

Through a random series of events: Ikea, water sealing, a full DVR, a heat wave, my love of beer, and my chameleon-like ability to look like other people, I was applauded for Lost. Weird.

 

13 Emmy Nominations For Lost

13 Noms! Who Will Win? Who will lose? How will Ben use this to his advantage?

The Emmy nominations are in, and there is a lot of love for my favorite TV show. If I had my way, I’d cancel the broadcast and just ship all the awards to Cuse and Lindelof, but I am not in charge. Luckily they are not up against Glee in any categories. Unfortunately they do have other tough contenders. There is Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston, who uttered my favorite line of dialogue in the past six-months during the penultimate episode of this past season, and all he said was “Run!” In addition, there is Treme, Mad Men, True Blood, and the list goes on and on.

Here are the categories and individuals nominated for Lost:

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Damon Lindelof, Writer

Carlton Cuse, Writer

Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series

Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Jack Bender, Director

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

Lost • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Matthew Fox as Jack Shephard

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series

Lost • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Terry O’Quinn as John Locke

Michael Emerson as Ben Linus

Outstanding Guest Actress In A Drama Series

Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet Burke

Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)

Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Michael Giacchino, Composer

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series

Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Stephen Semel, Editor

Mark J. Goldman, Editor

Christopher Nelson, Editor

Henk Van Eeghan, Editor

Outstanding Drama Series

Lost • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Outstanding Special Class Programs

ABC’s LOST Presents: Mysteries Of The Universe – The Dharma Initiative •

abc.com/lost • ABC Digital Media

Christopher J. Powers, Producer

Ted Bramble, Producer

Agnes Chu, Producer

Gregg Nations, Producer

Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series

Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Thomas E. deGorter, Sound Supervisor

Joe Schultz, MPSE, Sound Editor

Paula Fairfield, MPSE, Sound Editor

Carla Murray, MPSE, Sound Editor

Maciek Malish, MPSE, Sound Editor

Lloyd Jay Keiser, Sound Editor

Geordy Sincavage, Sound Editor

Allen Mark, Sound Editor

Robert Kellough, Sound Editor

Chris Reeves, Sound Editor

Gabrielle Reeves, Sound Editor

Alex Levy, Music Editor

Adam De Coster, Foley Artist

James Bailey, Foley Artist

Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One

Hour)

Lost • The End • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Bobby Anderson, Production Sound Mixer

Ken King, Production Sound Mixer

Frank Morrone, Re-Recording Mixer

Scott Weber, Re-Recording Mixer

Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series

Lost • Ab Aeterno • ABC • Grass Skirts Productions, LLC in association with ABC Network and Studios

Zack Grobler, Production Designer

Matthew Jacobs, Art Director

Carol Bayne Kelley, Set Decorator

Good Luck Lost!

 

She Blinded Me With Science!

Unexplainable pseudoscience technology has been the MacGuffin or catalyst for many good character driven sci-fi stories over the years. Storytellers have formulated hypotheses regarding the future of mankind ever  since Verne and Wells first wrote their tales of trips to the moon, time travel, underwater adventures, etc. I recently watched the film TiMER, starring Emma Caulfield of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. TiMER is a film set in a very near future, in which Scientists have been able to break down our auras, or time-lines, or pheromones, or something, so they can pin-point the exact day in your individual future that you will meet your honest to goodness soul mate. A TiMER, seen in the above picture, is then implanted in your wrist, which will count down until that day.

Damn it! I'm thirty!

The concept of the TiMER, in the wrong hands could have easily become a Logan’s Run, as thirty-year-olds obviously rebel against the stigmas that goes with age. Instead, it is a wonderful character film, which does–actually— like Logan’s Run, follow 29-year-old Oona as she approaches her thirtieth birthday, and worries that she will be alone forever. You see, Oona’s TiMER is blank. Which can mean one of three things: 1. Her soul mate doesn’t have a TiMER. They both need to have one for some reason. 2. She missed her chance. Or 3. She doesn’t have a soul mate.

The opening weekend gross of ROTK was strategically placed in the news scroll placing the intro of the TiMER in 2003.

The technology in TiMER is handled in such a wonderful and simultaneously ‘as a matter of fact’ way that it really needs no explanation, just an introduction.  The film opens with a series of news clips introducing the TiMER circa 2003.Through this montage, we arrive at the future, or rather the present of the film and a TiMER TV commercial, which markets the TiMER eerily like an  Apple product. Now, I do love my Mac, but it did not introduce me to my wife— who also has a Mac— Oh crap. Did we meet because of the Apple Corporation?! Digressing too far. The technology is simply stated at the beginning of the film to be what it was. Nothing else was necessary. The rest of the film is character driven.

Like the TiMER, Lost introduced several technologies and sciences that were simply stated for what they were. Like Han Solo declaring that the Kessel Run record-breaking ship the Millenium Falcon is the fastest ship in the Galaxy because it has a hyperdrive.  We just accept these scientific impossibilities because a character told us it was so, and it has been established in their universe that these things are possible. Some of these pseudosciences in Lost were as follows:

• An Arctic Station to detect and pinpoint specific EM radiation bursts with amazing accuracy.
• A Rat that is bathed in radiation so it’s mind travels into the future and it knows a path through a maze that it never ran before.
• A magic button that will release magic electromagnetic energy every 108 minutes, thus saving the planet and maybe universe from annihilation.
• Healing waters of a jungle temple protected by a hippie cult.
• Time and space shifting donkey wheels.
• Teleporting Islands.

Some Lost Science

But, my favorite was the time travel and characters becoming unstuck in time. The characters accepted the Time Travel with such ease, that I as a viewer accepted it as well. One day they were wandering the present day jungle, a flash of white light washed over them, and they found themselves in the 70′s. They accepted the shift, why wouldn’t I?

Another recent viewing, which, while amusing, could have played up its reality shifting goodness A LOT MORE, was Hot Tub Time Machine. I mean, come on, lets talk about a ridiculous time travel technology. They spill an illegal russian red bull called Chernobly on the controls of a hot tub, and their consciousnesses travel in time like Elly the rat! Whatever, I buy it. That is what I came here for. I rented this film knowing what I was getting into.  The only real problem I had with this film was that it felt like it was written by some kid that never experienced the eighties. He or she was probably a teen in the nineties and just wiki’d the eighties.  So they included the highlights of the 80′s, i.e. “Where’s the beef?, Poison,  Jessie’s Girl, flourescent clothing, etc.  There was so much more to the 80′s to make fun of.   Since it was at a Ski resort, I was hoping that Cusack’s character Adam would run into Lane Meyer, whom Cusack played in 1986′s Better Off Dead, another 80′s ski comedy.  That meeting would have been like a triple paradox!   Instead, they created way too much drama for four characters (A broken marriage, a suicide attempt, a shattered Cusack who ominously says “I didn’t do anything”) when it really should have been hilarity right through the whole thing.

80's things to make fun of: Sweat bands, John Travolta, One-man-army films, John Hughes, Ollie North, a Character that might be a Communist, a shopping montage, a training montage, someone randomly breaks into dance, nerds become cool, nerds get the girl, Jocks are evil, Principals or Deans are the devil, The Brat Pack, a robot with personality, and it should have ended with the entire resort gathering around someone doing something truly good and heroic and they would all applaud.

 

T-Why-Light?

Even though I don’t want to see the new Twilight, I can respect it for what it could do for a young audience of potential horror fans. Stephenie Meyer tapped into something that the post- Harry Potter tweens didn’t even know that they wanted. Horror. They need to be careful though. Horror is a fickle genre that has always moved like the tide. One successful film will lead to twenty knock offs. One great zombie adventure like 28 Days Later inevitably leads to the mediocre 28 Weeks Later, and I’m honestly surprised we haven’t seen 28 Months Later. To read more, click here.

Even I was surprised where I ended up going with this.