It's Been A While

OK, so it has been just over 4 months since I last wrote a blog post. Here's a summary of what happened.

• After being out of work for month I got a job at a 3PL called Pro Star Logistics.
• I finished my yearly reading of Harry Potter.
  
• My new favorite currently running show "Once Upon a Time" premiered. (LOST is still my all time favorite show in case you were wondering)
  
• The 5th and Final Season of "Chuck" Premiered.
  
• We had a fun Halloween in which I dressed up as a member of The DHARMA Initiative, Alisa was a witch, Collin was a dinosaur coming out of an egg and Liam was a pea-pod.
• We had a fun Thanksgiving at Grandma Norberg's house and one at my in-law's house in Idaho.
• I began my yearly reading of The Lord of The Rings.
  
• We all celebrated Kari's return to her family.
• Season 19 of "The Amazing Race" concluded.
  
• The first season of "Terra Nova" concluded.
  
• Collin (or one of his little friends) threw something at my TV and cracked the screen causing an annoying black line that extends from the crack to the edge of the screen.
• We had a wonderful Christmas.
• 2011 ended.
  
• 2012 began.
  
• I began watching the 4th Season of "Merlin" via iTunes
  
• I lost my job at Pro Star and became unemployed again.
• "Alcatraz" premiered.
• Liam turned 1 year old.
  
• The 5th and Final Season of "Chuck" Concluded.
• Alisa and I started watching the show "Prison Break" on Netflix while up in Idaho and got ourselves hooked.
  
• I finished my yearly reading of The Lord of The Rings.
• Season 20 of "The Amazing Race" began.

So, that's about it. At the moment Alisa and I are waiting for the next few DVDs of "Prison Break" to arrive at the library but my main focus is job searching. Things are going pretty well. I have had several interviews and one coming up tomorrow and I'm actively networking. More posts soon.

LOST: Still Awesome

Back at the end of February I made a purchase. An Epically Awesome purchase! I bought LOST: The Complete Collection on Blu-ray disc. So, over the last nearly four months I watched through all six seasons of my favorite show as well as a whole bunch of special features. I just finished a couple days ago. And yes, I did find the hidden bonus disk that was cleverly concealed inside the box lid. You see, you shine the DHARMA black-light on the map of the island on the underside of the lid to reveal a picture of the donkey-wheel. Than you turn the island to get to the disk. Isn't that such a LOST thing!? Anyway, watching it all through again just reconfirmed for me that LOST is still the greatest show in the history of television. Now, I just need to learn to play senet and I'll be all set. Namaste.

2010 in Review

Well, I have to say that 2010 was a MUCH better year than was 2009. Let's review some of the highlights shall we?

• After approximately 14.5 months of being out of work I got a job. More importantly, I still have said job.
• The LOST Series Finale lived up to all my expectations. You know, I even watched it while wearing my suit so I could be dressed like Jack was in the series pilot. Nerdy? yes.
• Patrick Rothfuss announced the publication date for The Wise Man's Fear.
• Alisa continued to become more beautiful.
• Alisa and I found out that we would be having another little boy.
• NBC premiered The Event.
• Chuck began its best season so far.
• I grew my first "Big Max" pumpkin.
• My dad gave me a 42" plasma TV. BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!
• We purchased a new furnace just in time to get all the 2010 rebates.
• On the last day of 2010 I made the switch to a Blu-ray Disc player.

So, that about sums it up. Happy 2011 to you all!

Jack Closes His Eyes - The End of LOST

Well, I guess it's about time I write my LOST Series Finale blog post. I have decided to spare the one or two of you who read my blog from having to sit through an intolerably long post. I mean, I know when I go to other people's blogs I skip the really long entries. So, I will try to keep it relatively brief.

Anyway, let's dive in. I have already stated in my preliminary LOST blog post that the Finale was AWESOME so now it's time to explain a little about what made it awesome. There are several things that are necessary for any story to be able to enjoy long term popularity. One of these is that it has to answer enough questions for the audience to come away from the experience feeling like the story came to a satisfying conclusion but it also needs to leave enough questions unanswered so there are still things left to wonder about, to talk about and to theorize about. If a story doesn't do this though it may enjoy a lot of popularity while the story is still unfinished the popularity will likely fizzle out not long after the last episode airs, the last movie comes out or the last book is published. LOST managed to get the balance right. The finale (well, really the whole final season) provided enough answers to make me feel like the story wrapped up nicely. But, there is still plenty to wonder about. What was so special about Walt? Why did the big Egyptian looking statue only have four toes on it's foot? Did the man in black actually have a name? What is the nature of the island? Why was Micheal's spirit doomed to spend eternity on the island for committing two murders while Ben who killed a lot more people didn't get that punishment?

Now, as great as this was there were still a few problems. The biggest one was that there were some things in the finale that made it look as though everybody had actually died in the plane crash and that everything that we've been watching for the past six seasons was just these people in purgatory or it was all a dream that happened in someone's dying moment. Basically, it got some people a bit confused about whether everything we have been watching actually happened or not. But, in spite of the confusion, this is defiantly not what happened. First of all, the whole "everybody-really-died-in-the-crash" theory has been around since the beginning of the show but the creators made it clear very early on that the people of Oceanic flight 815 were not dead and that the island was a real place that physically existed somewhere in the world. Also, if this theory was correct that would be a big, fat smack in the face to all the fans because it would essentially be saying that we wasted all these years invested in a story just to find out that none of it really happened. As Sawyer would say that would be quite the "Long Con." Fortunately, that is not the case.

I like how the exact nature of the "sideways universe" is still somewhat up for grabs. However, it seems the basic idea is that it is a place our characters collectively created in the afterlife to allow them all to find each other so they could move on together. I thought that was a really great way to rap things up especially since they brought so many people back that we hadn't seen in a long time. The best part though was the final scene and the way it mirrored the opening scene of the series with Jack lying in the same spot and seeing his eye close as he died.

Well, so much for not writing a long blog post. I should have known I couldn't do this in less than a bajillion words. I could go on forever but I shall end now by saying this: As far as I am concerned LOST is the greatest TV show ever made and if it ever falls from the top spot it won't be for a long time. So, it is time to bid farewell to LOST. It's been great. As corny as it may sound there has never been a TV show that has meant as much to me as this one has. Oh, and by the way, the complete series comes out on DVD August 24th (three days before my birthday. Hint Hint!).

LOST

LOST Series Finale. AWESOME! NO time to write at the moment! Will write full review in the next few days!

What lies in the Shadow of The Statue? – The LOST season finale

WOW!!! This was an awesome finale. I’m not sure what to write about it. So many cool things were revealed and. I did think it was pretty cool that we finally got to see Jacob and how he was showed up in the lives of the various people on the island long before they ever came to the island. Well, accept for Hurley and Sayid; they didn’t meet Jacob until later.So, who was the guy hanging out on the beach with Jacob at the beginning? Was the ship off in the distance the Black Rock? If it was that would put the scene some time in the 1850’s if I remember right. Who are Ilana and her people and what is their role in this whole thing?

This ended with the mother of all cliffhangers. All the various storylines have reached a point where you’re just dying to know what is going to happen next and they could go just about any direction. I think we can rule out the idea that the “dropping the bomb down the shaft” plan worked because if they managed to change the past such that they never crashed than there’s really nowhere to go next season. But that still doesn’t leave any clues as to what actually will happen? Did the bomb actually go off when Juliet whacked it with the rock? So many questions!

We now seem to have three immortal or seemingly immortal characters on this island. Richard (or Richardus), Jacob and Jacob’s unnamed companion we saw at the beginning of the episode who seemingly has been walking around as Locke this whole time. But, so far we have virtually no background on any of these characters. They have seemingly all been on the island for a very, very long time but nobody knows how long. I have no theories about Richard but I think that perhaps Mr. NoName may be the smoke monster and he and Jacob have been slugging it out for control of the island for freakin’ ever. This would fit if you consider that NoName seems to be able to take on the form of other people just like the smoke monster. Also, when Locke and Ben went in the see the ruins Locke was nowhere to be found during Ben’s little conversation with Mr. Smokey. Anyway, I guess we’ll find out in 2010. Since it’s gonna be the last season I guess any answers will have to come then. I just hope there isn’t another freakin’ writer’s strike.

Melissa, Jeff and Heather. If any of you are reading this I want your thoughts.