Culture Surfing

PLEASE: Only speak in declaratives and affirmative adverbs

“Pushing Daisies” is about a man who can bring the dead back to life with one touch, but only for a minute or someone else dies. He needs only to touch them a second time to send them into eternal rest … permanently. It’s fitting, perhaps, that ABC’s chosen to resurrect the show from cancellation to air the remaining three episodes of season two, but without hope of complete revival.  Coincidental again is the choice of timing for the episodes — the middle of summer, Saturday night … graveyard shift (10 p.m.).

ABC has been much criticized for canceling the interesting and promising show before its time, though as I went through my own “Daisy” retread over the last several weeks, I saw a show uncertain of its future starting to lose its way. The murder-of-the-week plots were becoming annoying and distracting B-plots, taking away precious time from our endearing and quirky heroes.

Last we left the precious Piemaker Ned (Lee Pace), his formerly dead girlfriend Lonely Tourist Charlotte “Chuck” Charles (Anna Friel), their private-eye cohort Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), and their Itty Bitty (and occasional chanteuse) Olive Snook (Kristen Chenowith), Ned had given up waking the dead and sleuthing.  He also let slip to Olive that he “didn’t always not look at her like he looked at Chuck,” causing Olive to immediately start reading the informative tome The Double Negative: What You Shouldn’t Not Know.

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Pushing Daisies’ episode 11″ »

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LIVE TOGETHER: or Die Alone

First thing’s first: SPOILERS ABOUND. Second thing: What lies in the shadow of the statue?  A whole lotta win. “Lost” certainly delivered another one of its trademark “epic” season finales.  The episode titled “The Incident” should be renamed, in hindsight, “Because of Jacob.” Because of Jacob our Losties are all on the island in the first place. Because of Jacob we have a reason for all of this madness and a real chance at a great final season. Most importantly, because of Jacob, Richard “Ricardos” Alpert was made immortal and non-aging in all his attractive glory, and for that we are truly grateful.

The cast list this week was immense, but “The Incident” closed more doors than it opened with former and current cast members.  Another alternate title for the episode might have been “Vincent’s Return,” a situation pondered by fans since the whole frozen donkey wheel mess began. Never fear, Vincent is living happily with Rose and Bernard (who inhabit what later becomes Jacob’s cabin). Wisely, the two want nothing to do with the rest of the Losties, but instead are retired in a cottage living each day as it comes and unconcerned about death. Black-and-white rock/Adam and Eve, anyone?

Pretty much everyone on the original Oceanic 815 flight got a shout-out tonight, mostly in regard to Jacob’s role in his/her past, which helped bring them to the island. Plenty of questions answered there, one of the biggest being how Hurley was released from prison and gained access to Charley’s guitar.

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ season 5 finale” »

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ONE EPISODE LEFT: Some much to say, so little time

There’s a theory regarding the pleasures of delayed gratification via online shopping. It starts with the small thrill of buying something over the internet. It’s not yet tactile, but you know it’s coming. Depending on your shipping methods, you’re either waiting at the mailbox every day or have semi-forget about the package altogether. Either way, when that box comes, it’s a little bit birthday and a little bit Christmas. Online videos have even been posted of people carefully and deliberately opening their packages, savoring each moment before their present to themselves is revealed.

Richard Alpert is this week’s wrapping paper for Darlton’s gift that’s been carefully unveiled in small parts for several seasons now. Though “Follow the Leader” was initially rumored to be the Richard backstory episode Lostphiles have been waiting at the proverbial mailbox for, it wasn’t quite so obvious. We did see Richard (looking like a true GQ gentlemen in all spaces and places) throughout time, but it was time we’re already familiar with. The episode was Richard-centric insofar as his (never-aging) presence coherently linked our two Lostie camps.

I have to say, for being some kind of “adviser” who’s had the job for “a very, very, very long time,” Richard appears constantly perplexed. Does the island tell him anything? And who are all those Others anyway?  Where did they come from? Next week’s episode appears to promise answers to some of these questions — after all, Darlton said this was going to be the last season of sci-fi business. If so, there’s a lot of island mythology that will need to be sewn up before we delve head first into the Quadrangle. (The Quadrangle is the current preferred term for the Jack-Kate-Sawyer-Juliet mess.)  Though Faraday’s death last week shocked and appalled, rumor has it that wasn’t the “major” death this season. Will one of the Quad-dwellers die off?

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 15″ »

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RIP: Brother from an Other Mother

I typed two completely different versions of this review — one last night that was full of love, and one this morning that was full of hate. (*Spoiler Alert*!) The swap came after some rumination over “The Variable,” set up to be an epic “Lost” classic. (The show’s 100th episode to follow Obama’s 100 days speech? Come on!) It succeeded and it failed in its attempts. I’m mostly frustrated for myself and every other nerdcore Lostie out there who’s sat through recent episodes this season saying “Yeah, yeah, yeah, OK we know, we know … but now what?”

“The Variable” belonged completely to Daniel “Twitchy” Faraday, fan favorite only behind his oft episodic-counterpart Desmond “Motorboater” Hume. Some questions of Faraday’s history were answered (yes, Widmore is his father); his present revealed (Why we saw him in the Dharma mines to open the season; Why it was so important to find Eloise Hawking), and his future decided (gunned down by mother as an adult in her past — would anything less complicated do?), all of which played out good guesses with a few twists that, in typical “Lost” fashion, both satisfied and beguiled.

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 14″ »

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1. @heywritemybookforme (Is a book really a book if it’s made up of Twitter posts? NYT columnist David Pogue seems to think so.)

2. The Lazy Reader’s Guide to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (It takes brains to hold firm in the no. 2 spot week after week — er something like that. Sorry, I’m starting to run out of cute one-liners after three weeks on the list.)

3. 5 things to do today: Saturday (Inman Park Festival, Bangkok Fight Night, the Atlanta Film Fest’s closing night … how to choose?!)

4. TIE! The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 13 (Y’all still needed a ‘Lost’ fix after last week’s rerun. You really are addicted aren’t you?) AND “Caprica” provides intriguing “Battlestar” backstory (Sci-fi thrills, frills and automobiles.)

5. Alice Walker sews and tells (The Color Purple author’s archive opened at Emory last week, and you were invited to celebrate with Walker, Gloria Steinem and Howard Zinn, among others.)

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LIGHTS OUT: 'Friday Night Lights' wrapped season three last week.

1. The Televangelist: ‘Friday Night Lights’ season three finale (Eric and Tami say goodbye Panthers, hello East Dillon High.)

2. The Lazy Reader’s Guide to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Dropping one spot from last week, Wyatt Williams’ post about Brit lit’s new undead has taken on, uh, a life of its own.)

3. The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 13 (Normally we’d scold you, saying all this TV you’re watching will rot your brain, but “Lost” is one hell of a mind game, especially when characters are seeing past versions of their fathers holding infant thems.)

4. Big burlesque weekend! (Y’all love some “hip-swiveling, tassle-twirling action.”)

5. Amazon.com ‘pinklisting’ includes Atlanta authors (Does Amazon hate gays? Not likely, as it seems some sort of internal glitch was responsible for the Easter weekend hullabaloo.)

(Photo courtesy NBC)

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That’s right a brand new and improved Movies & TV page! We combined all the best parts of our other sections into a comprehensive one-stop-shop for all things Movies & TV. There’s a blog feed with all of the latest Movies & TV content from Culture Surfing (”Lost,” “24,” “Flight of the Conchords,” etc.), a search engine for movie showtimes, recent reviews, links to interesting stories around the web, Film Clips, movie trailers, and a whole section dedicated to those Hollywood Products that you love!

Check it out at clatl.com/movies_tv and leave any comments you have here on the blog.

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YOU CAN CHANGE: Your own diaper

Ah yes, the long awaited Miles episode! I usually complain about needless backstory episodes (cough, Jack’s tattoos, cough) that don’t push the narrative forward enough, but “Some Like it Hoth” was a crowd pleaser, and I thereby refuse to judge it harshly. Miles the Swindler Ghost Whisperer held court this week as we sprinted through his life story: toddler Miles in a single-parent low-rent household; punk Miles uneasy with his gifts and searching for answers; and adult Miles, exploiting the grieving for cash and about to be recruited by Widmore. Finally, we learned that Dr. “Douchebag” Chang is Miles’ “Douchebag” Dad. Fellow watchers inform me that the rumor of Chang as Miles’ father has been around for some time, but since I apparently missed that boat my mouth was suitably agape at the thought. Of course, Miles has had three years to get used to the idea since, “on the third day here I was in line in the cafeteria and my mom got into the line behind me.  That was my first clue.”

At first gander, “Some Like it Hoth” feels chock full of island lore, but for most “Lost” devotees the reveals weren’t anything new.  Hey, there’s the Hatch! Hey, Kate’s messing something up! Hey, everyone on the island has Daddy issues! We saw the beginnings of study regarding the island’s electromagnetism (thanks to an unfortunate Dharma Denizen’s filling being yanked through his brain. It’s not a plane but … it will be). We don’t know what Chang is learning from the bodies (or what he’s doing with them when he’s done), but we do know something even stranger — he loves country music.

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 13″ »

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1. The Lazy Reader’s Guide to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Could this be the start of a new trend, like the “for dummies” phenomenon? We’re anxiously awaiting the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombies).

2. The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 12 (What is Ben smoking? Or should we say, what’s smoking Ben?)

3. Cool Cinema at Midtown: Purple Rain, Puuurrrple Rain (A little stage humping goes a long way.)

4. It’s business time: Flight of the Conchords’ five best videos (Honorable mention: Bret’s Footloose-style “angry dance“)

5. Atlanta Film Fest rock docs (Chad Radford gives the down and dirty on the much anticipated We Fun and I’m Like This Every Day.)

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GOODBYE PANTHERS: Hello East Dillon High

“Tomorrow Blues” began five months from where we left off last week, with the Dillon Panthers losing the state championship thanks to JD’s family crisis and his subsequent meltdown. Though the episode opened with a montage of carefree spring moments — lounging by the pool, the crack of baseball bats, taking in an afternoon movie — there’s trouble a-brewin’ in Dillon. Coach Taylor’s contract is up for renewal (already?), and Joe McCoy is looking to make a power play that involves taking over the team and placing his main lackey, Wade Aikman, as head coach.

To be fair, Eric’s tenure at Dillon High has always existed on the brink. It took a full season to get the town’s support, and he continued to struggle against Buddy and Boosters for the remainder of his time. It’s of little wonder then that he hesitated to make a strong play to keep his job, showing up at the board meeting simply to state the facts, “I love this team, I love my job, and I’m good at it.” In the end, it wasn’t enough, but a final shot of Eric and Tami standing together among the ruins of the East Dillon High football field gave the hope that Coach Taylor can start fresh and really prove himself with a new team.

Had this been the final season of “Friday Night Lights,” as was originally rumored, I can’t help but feel the ending would have been mostly satisfactory. There was enough closure (Lyla and Tyra going to the colleges of their dreams) yet enough left open (the Taylor’s future in Dillon, Tim and Matt both considering not going to college) to go either way. As much as I believed this should have been “FNL’s” swan song, the possibilities of another season focusing on the fight between the evil Joe McCoy and the good Coach Taylor as cross-town rivals is both  promising and downright exciting.

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Friday Night Lights’ season three finale” »

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JUDGMENT DAY: Smokey can be bad for your health

The first thing we learned in “Dead is Dead” is that dead is not dead. At least, not in conventional ways. After a mediocre Kate-isode last week, this Ben-centric episode felt epic. The man formerly known as Henry Gale was in full manipulation mode last night, and the episode’s sole focus on him highlighted the fact that, all in all, there’s not been enough Ben in the fractured, busy storytelling of late. Typical of a great episode, though, the characters answered some questions and raised even more, including the very nature of of life (and, well, death).

Let’s start with some categorizing. Who’s dead and who isn’t? Both Penny and Desmond are alive — everyone can breathe easy. Locke is “alive.” (The quotation marks here mean everything.) Despite Ben telling Locke that it was part of his master plan to kill Locke so he could be resurrected, Ben admitted to Sun that Locke walking around alive scares the living daylights out of him. In fact, this episode marks the final shift in the Ben-Locke power struggle, with Locke reigning victorious. Locke now knows things Ben doesn’t, which infuriates our former Jacob-whisperer. Yet, “the Island” has chosen to keep him alive for whatever reason.  On the brink of life/death is Alex, slain daughter of Ben/Rousseau. Alex’s alive-but-not situation evoked a little Christian Shepard, and gives credence to the theory that Olde Smokey (”he who shall not be named”) can reanimate or possess the bodies of the dead for his own purposes (except that the bodies must retain some part of their original person, since they often slip in some unfinished business while they’re up and about).

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 12″ »

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1. 5 things to do: Friday (Looks like folks were scrambling to make new plans after last Friday’s Janelle Monae/Jaspects/Hollyweerd  show at the Rialto was canceled.)

2. What’s the worst sequel title of all time? (The Fast and the Furious got Faster & Furiouser. Or did it get 2 Fast 2 Furious? Argh!!)

3. Jack Bauer: The Musical stages world premiere (April Fools! Seriously, though, that’s an awesome idea for a musical.)

4. The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 11 (Last week was a head-scratcher. Miles: “Look, when Ben turned that wheel, time no longer exists as a straight line. Our experiences in the past and the future occurred before these experiences right now.” Say wha?)

5. This just in: Newspaper crisis solved! (The answer? Boobs!)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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CLEAR EYES, FULL HEARTS: Can't Lose! Except this one

The micro themes of Friday’s penultimate episode  echoed the macro theme of “Friday Night Lights” itself: rising above. Street, Riggins, Smash, Saracen, the Taylors, Lyla, Tyra … well, pretty much everyone on the show has had to overcome huge mental, physical and/or emotional roadblocks throughout the series, pushing themselves to do their best and be their best.  The realness of the struggles and the occasional failures along the way are all part of what gives “FNL” so much of its emotional resonance.

“The Underdogs” had plenty of such moments, the strongest of which was the evolution of Tyra’s college entrance essay. How many of us struggled to find our real voice when wrangling those awful things? Once you cut through the bull of what Landry described as “a five-paragraph knitted pillow. It’s painful,” there’s often a bright truth to be found. After Tyra stopped making terribly strained metaphors regarding her work at Applebee’s (”Sometimes it gets busy and you have to roll with the punches, just like life”) and harnessed the passion behind her real struggles (her mother, her sister, her lost innocence), she wrote something truly beautiful. And if you didn’t tear up just a little at her “Two Years Ago” speech, you don’t have a heart.  “College represents possibility. The possibility that things are going to change. I can’t wait.” Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!

Speaking of our Dillon Panther’s battle cry, let’s get into this week’s football action.

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Friday Night Lights’ episode 12″ »

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YOU CAN LEAVE: But I will shoot you in the leg, dingbat

We’ve definitely returned to (un)necessary flashback/character-driven mode in Lostville these days. Most of us had guessed that Kate gave Aaron to Claire’s mother before heading back to the island, and that she’d been keeping tabs on Clementine Ford as well. Kate-isodes aren’t typically the show’s strongest, but despite a quick surfacing of the “Jate/Skate” relationship quandary, last night’s offering was, on the whole, solid. The best moments may not have included Kate, but credit must be given to Evangeline Lilly’s excellent portrayal of anguish over leaving Aaron behind.

“Whatever Happened, Happened” had a touch of “Grey’s Anatomy” to it, with two doctors battling it out over whether or not to save a young boy who will grow up to be, well, Ben Linus. In an interesting twist, Jack’s refusal to help young Ben turned out (of course) to play right into the realities of Ben becoming a Hostile.  Facing certain death among the Dharmas, young Ben is transported to Hostile territory by Kate and Sawyer, looking for help from our old friend Richard Alpert. Instead of being stitched up and growing up to be the village sandwich-maker, Richard will, er “take his innocence,” and Ben will become a Hostile and remember nothing. Anyone else feel like this was a cop-out? Since meeting young Ben, many speculators have started putting together the pieces of what adult Ben may remember from his Dharma days. Did he love Juliet because he remembered how she tried to save him? Did he make Sayid’s life hell because Sayid had tried to kill him? Would it explain why he had that list of specifically Hurley, Sawyer, Jack and Kate to take hostage in season two?

Continue reading “The Televangelist: ‘Lost’ episode 11″ »

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