Versus Text

Text is inclusive. It cannot be without a reader. This separates books from movies and forms of music to which we unceasingly listen. Movies and music are two of my favorite things, by the way.

But books and text altogether contain truer art, in the way I think of the thing right now. Also, paintings and other static visual art forms (architecture, photography, etc.) share with text the beauty of the participant.

I live by pressing “play.” Well…In reality, I don’t even press “play” anymore; I only must turn the players “on.” I turn my truck on, and the stereo starts playing music. I turn my television on, and a movie or show plays onscreen. And my attention wanes. It wavers. I look at other cars or the road while the music is ignored. I look at my phone or I write on the computer while this movie gets played. In its presentation, I (the listener; the viewer) am given the power to ignore, to absent the art.

Books disallow this. A reader must be active; if he isn’t, the text doesn’t exist. Sure, you can listlessly leaf through a book and find yourself at the end, even with a sense of accomplishment. But that text didn’t speak to you if you didn’t engage.

Reading makes you engage. It makes you attentive. (And you don’t have to look too far down the postings to see what the word “attend” means to me.)

You cannot open a book and halfway pay attention or let it lay open while you receive some here and there. Books don’t play. With audiobooks, this is now somewhat possible. But text is text, and it isn’t made to miss.

I Can Make Time

I’ve decided to interrupt my previous plan with an apparent, but purposeful, tangent.

Best Season of Television, and Subsequently Best TV Show of 2009. Lost: Season 5

***STOP READING IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED***

Glimpsing what I believe to be the Black Rock, Jacob claims, “It only ends once – anything before that… just progress.” My first assumption, from the tone and words of the conversation between Jacob and the loopholing stranger, developed along this pattern of thought: Jacob, to prove to Mr. Loophole that choice can win at least once, mildly guides the course of the island’s history as we have seen it so far. His first move was luring the Black Rock, in a way that is not particularly clear yet. From the ship’s presence alone came every event we know – Hanso, Dharma, Rousseau, Flight 815, etc… Jacob’s obvious hobby of tapestry becomes the literal weaving of the lives of his chosen (I realize this seems to eliminate the supposed aim he claims–to prove his end by the means of free will–but his goal is to prove that choice wins specifically on the island, on which he seemingly has never physically changed [to argue against him even forcefully changing anything, he makes Hurley's capacity for choice evident off the island]). Accepting this, they’ve apparently revealed everything but some minute particulars – we still don’t know Jacob’s nemesis is nor the conditions of his loophole or what becomes in the story we’ve been experiencing. But that’s ok.

I read this online: if you physically drew out a timeline with a concrete beginning, then shifted many realities tangentially, then converged into a concrete end, that timeline would take the shape of an eye – a prominent motif throughout the series. I’ll explain this thought more, a little more tangibly.

There is a certain beginning that we’ve seen: This is Jacob and Mr. Loophole inhabiting the island by themselves.

There are many different realities after this: This would include everything we’ve seen as one history. It would also make room for the supposed shift in reality that Farraday’s plan (which was assumedly enacted by Jack & Juliet) where they never met. Jacob’s quote (mentioned earlier) leads me to believe that he’s tried to produce the end before, but had to rest on his own, or the stranger’s, governing powers instead of their players’ choices. He continues to try, changing one or two things perhaps, until he can finally prove to Loophole that he’s right.

There is a definite end: we have not seen this to my knowledge.

It’s a fun theory to think of, but I will not subscribe to it.

My reasoning: explaining time travel by tangent universes is too easy, and J.J., Damon and Carlton do not settle for easy to my knowledge. This explanantion of time travel allows for every possible course of action from every individual to happen at once, creating an exponential amount of tangent universes every moment.

Also from the internet – LOST = Living Outside of Space & Time

I sincerely hope this isn’t the long-awaited explanation.

I apologize if this stream of conscious is insufferable or too difficult to follow. Thanks for reading; I generally do not solicit responses, but this kind of thread thrives by your thoughts.

2009: My Year In Review (We All Win)

This has been a wonderful year on many levels of entertainment for myself. For all platforms of entertainment which I take part in, I’m declaring the best of each category.

This declaration will take into account my relative year (so what if I didn’t get around to The Deathly Hallows until 2009, it belongs here) and the actual year (Aim & Ignite was the only desperately awaited album which came out this year, and it belongs here as well). Also, I’m splitting it into two entries.

Without further ado, I’ll start with videogames!

I play on two different platforms religiously: one like an Evangelical who can’t rest knowing he met someone without sharing his faith and another like a Buddhist who’s religion governs his whole existence, even away from himself sometimes. Because of this, there will be 3 categories–2 for the first platform, 1 for the other.

I trumpet the Xbox 360; if you know me, you know this. The winner of the category for Game Which Came Out In Some Other Year, But Was Enjoyed is…. Call of Duty: World at War. Benefitting from a sturdy foundation of predecessors, COD:WaW took me back to mid century and forced my reliance on inferior guns. Multiplayer is why I love gaming, and this was the pinnacle. It was really the only game I played a ton that debuted on a different calendar. And it almost didn’t count; it was released in 11/08.

Next up: Best Xbox 360 Game of 2009. There were two other considerable titles in this category: Beatles Rock Band and Madden 10. Both built on existing frames, but significantly upgraded in any way I could imagine (evidence of why I’m not a programmer). This was my favorite Madden, but in fairness, you’ll probably hear me say that for Madden 11 in a year. They continue to step forward with the franchise, so we all win. Also, The Beatles(!) in Rock Band(!) is an embodiment of “can’t miss”, and it didn’t. Apart from the massive amount of entertainment sat the unforgettable experience and education. (I mean, I could hear Paul’s bass while I played Paul’s bass.) (Note: Beatles RB serves as the epitome of the much praised 3 E’s Theory {Education, Entertainment and Experience}. See? It’s possible)

Really though, without rival, the most anticipated game became the one I poured the most hours into: easily, the Best Xbox 360 Game of 2009 –Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I’d tell you more, but I’m writing this in the sixty seconds of intermission between games…

Worst Game, But I Played Often Because I Wished It Was Awesome: That’s right, Tim Lincecum graced the cover. MLB 2K9, you sucked.

“What is the other platform on which he plays video games?” you’re asking. The iPhone! iTunes houses tons of great games, but if you like the Tower Defense genre, The Creeps is an Experience. Noteworthy additions: Battleship, Robocalypse and Scrabble.

Best Movie of 2009 is a sort of convoluted category, but it’s my year so… we all win. There was one possible answer and one underrated Honorable Mention. Of course, Inglourious Basterds was the best movie of the year. Living up to it’s hype, IB produced on a level which no other movie has in two years. It was just as good, and mostly better, than No Country and There Will Be Blood. BTW, this all happened with Eli Roth in a predominant part, proving the genius of Tarantino brilliantly shines through the scuffed glass of terrible actors. I wish they weren’t friends…

Runner-Up: The Informant.

Honorable Mention of 2009: District 9 was quite possibly amazing enough to save Peter Jackson’s abysmal-in-everyone’s-eyes career. It was a commentary on conspiratorial government and racism, with a love story streaming throughout. Set in South Africa, it was the smartest Sci-Fi since… (I don’t particularly like Sci-Fi’s).

Best Movie That Didn’t Come Out in 2009, But I Saw This Year: Michael Clayton. George Clooney, playing Winston ‘The Wolf’ Wolfe from Pulp Fiction dancing within a corporate conspiracy, makes me too happy.

Fill This In: New Moon.

Don’t worry; the next entry is literature and music.

Who’s Bad.

About ten or twelve years ago, right in the middle of the most progressive developmental period in my life, I remember being home one day. Be it a Saturday or the summer, I had absolutely nothing to do with my time. Lucky for me, I was given one of my fondest childhood memories. Once I saw what was on the television, I locked myself in my room, forayed into my closet for anything that could resemble what he was wearing, turned up the volume and tried to sing and move like him. Somehow, I found some tight, black pants, a makeshift white glove, a white t-shirt, a fedora and the closest thing I could find to those moon-walking Penny Loafers.
VH1 decided to bless me with an all-day event. A marathon of Michael. I was in that room for hours, mirroring every move I could. Having to go to the bathroom and getting out of breath were the only things that slowed me down. The whole day was concert footage and videos and movies that placed me in wonderful view of the most magnetizing entertainer “modern times” has yielded.
During a random concert, the screen showed Michael dancing, then cutting to Asian girls going crazy in the audience. I can remember it so colorfully, I can see them crying at the sight of him. The epitome of a superstar, right there on the screen. Some people were carried out on stretchers, after fainting at the sight of the KING.
Gladly, there are no pictures (or worse, videos) of my day with Michael. As I’m able to recreate it in my head, and can remove the most embarrassing parts for this account. Of course, everything mentioned here is pretty shameful, but I can blame my youth.

I was born in 1987, needless to say: Michael Jackson was as big a part of my childhood, in regards to media, culture and entertainment, as anyone. He was the biggest thing in the world in the mid-to-late eighties and early nineties. The best and most prominent performer the world knew. I can easily point some of my love for music to him. How could you not? Through MJ, we saw just how powerful music could be. This is something I’ve missed through the years. It was all so normal to me, because it had always been around me. He had always been around me. Without him, I doubt music would have been so identifiably transcendent over any racial, social or communicative barrier. The whole world loved Jackson, at a time.
He preached peace, and truly desired it for all, even though it was apparent he never achieved it in himself. The spotlight his whole life. The disease that spawned the glove, the surgeries and the criticism. He was the most recognizable and impactful superstar of my lifetime, as well as the most tragic.
“One of a kind” is an understatement, and I’m supremely thankful that his art of music can live on. What I fear is that the captivation he demanded while performing will be forgotten as the reason he was so great. The music was brilliant, but the performance was legendary.

Though they may continue to cloud your legacy in controversy and the proceedings may make an attempt at stripping you of a dignity that all men deserve, no one can take away this memory of a feeling, a happiness that you supplied.