Thursday TV: “Lost” – somehow, it almost never ceases to amaze me how this show simultaneously raises more questions even as it (kind of) answers them. I haven’t been an avid follower of “Lost” by any stretch of the imagination (I think I skipped a good chunk of last season and the season before that). But, this season has been pretty awesome (“Heroes” ought to take note of how to balance characters and storylines – learn from “Lost”!). Some pointless thoughts:
Actor Nestor Carbonell as the ageless Richard Alpert – mmm! He’s hot and he’s creepy! (well, the character anyway; the actor’s simply hot – although I still remember him from his “Suddenly Susan” days, when he played the silly accented photographer guy – but, he was funny and cute – a case can be made that everybody but the Susan character was funny; so not exactly a good thing for Brooke Shields when your supporting cast was more interesting than your character…).
Actor Terry O’Quinn as John Locke – is he a man of faith or of science? A premature baby whose life of repeated abandonment got really depressing. A man of destiny – or not? When Alpert appears to young John with artifacts, young John is told to pick what is his; he selects the knife. The scene felt like something reminiscent to me of the story of how the young Dalai Lama was discovered as the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama – and so, I wonder – is John Locke a reincarnation of someone/something else?
Well, really, what the heck is going on with “Lost”?
Saturday stuff: CAPA Festival. Different venue, but interesting; FC has the review. Plus, with the Japan Society across the street, great opportunity to check out more stuff. I liked the exhibit of Shibata Zeshin’s lacquered art.
Such a sad story on the state of Brooklyn high schools – Lafayette HS’s transformation may affect John Dewey HS; Lafayette’s situation becoming horridly untenable. It didn’t use to be this way, and it wasn’t that long ago that I was in high school (okay, yeah, it is a long time ago, but still —) – I didn’t think it was that bad at Lafayette or John Dewey when I was in high school; nobody hated the schools to this extent; are kids that nuts because parents are so not helping? What is really the state of education in NYC?
Furthermore, with the state of (quality) education in NYC – they’re just not building new schools fast enough, and they’re simply not taking demographics into serious consideration, are they?
In the latest issue of Time: fascinating 10 answers to the 10 questions to Toni Morrison.
Gee, this is a great review of Bill Moyers’ new book; I so want to read the book now. Well, Moyers is a good read and good watch either way.
The problem with a famous trademark – people are going to try to counterfeit it and ruin the value of it… “I Love NY” is too easy to exploit on top of that.
IKEA coming to Brooklyn; this is either going to be very good or a very big disaster.
NY Times’ Eric Asimov on a closing of a Chinatown institution.
Finished reading: P.D. James’ “A Certain Justice,” wherein Venetia Aldridge, a criminal defense barrister, is murdered in her chambers. Commander Adam Dagliesh, Inspector Kate Miskin, and the others of Scotland Yard, are on the case. Thoughts: What a compelling read – a page turner. Lots of food for thought – what is “a certain justice”? What does it mean to be a criminal defense lawyer; what does it mean to be a human being? Did Commander Dalgliesh do the right thing? The ending was a bit strange and probably not entirely satisfactory (depends on what you’re looking for – closure? hmmm), but P.D. James is a good writer. A recommended read.
