LOST

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Reliable sources assure me that tonight's season 3 finale is anything but predictable. Yes, it's mostly an action show as war erupts between the 815 survivors and the Others / Hostiles / immortals(?). But the last 5 minutes is said to be the biggest reveal in the history of the show and will change the way we think about LOST forever. I'm completely spoiler-free. I haven't even watched the commercials or promos this week, so everything I know is generic and second hand. The only thing I'm sure about is that people will die. But after tonight, there's no turning back. Drink the Kool-Aid.


Here are some anti-spoilers from ew.com as written by Damon Lindelof. Everything in brackets is mine in case anyone doesn't get the references.

THE TOP FIVE THINGS YOU WILL NOT SEE IN THE LOST FINALE

5. Rose quietly snuffing the life out of Bernard by holding his nostrils closed while looking distractedly at Aaron's car seat. [The Sopranos]

4. Hurley feeling a great disturbance in the Force (''as if many voices cried out and were suddenly silent'') because his cousin back in Valencia, Calif., was blown up in a nuclear explosion and no one seemed to give a crud. [Star Wars: A New Hope...duh.]

3. Kate and Juliet doing each other's hair and nicknaming Jack ''McIntensey'' and Sawyer ''McMurderedTheManWhoConnedHisParentsy.'' [Grey's Anatomy]

2. A character travelling back in time to warn all the other characters to do something, but by doing that something, they prevent a future that might have happened but never did had the character not travelled back in time, thus negating the entire reason behind everything. [Déjà Vu]

1. Sanjaya. [American Idol]

What a week...

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Last Saturday was my 6th Anniversary. The second one I've spent alone, and the first since the separation. Sunday was my birthday. (Tonight is the LOST season finale. ) Tomorrow is my divorce hearing, and this coming Sunday is 1 year from the date I found out about the affair.

Here's looking forward to the month of June...

The Glorious Unseen

I just found out about this band that was signed to Tooth and Nail Records last year. It's really well-written, completely not boring worship music. I'd post a song in the blog if I could, but the only track available for download is a wma file, and the embeddable flash player I've been using only plays mp3s, so you'll have to check them out on your own.

Bees!

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This is a picture from work.

My 100th Post!

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Okay, this is probably more than just my 100th blog post, because I have deleted a couple posts here and there that I didn't feel were worth keeping around. But, I just happened to notice today that my "blog control center" tells me I have 99 posts and 2826 views. So what will my 100th blog be about? Well, just like all the other ones...nothing.

I had a conversation over lunch yesterday with another flight instructor. Inevitably the conversation turned to flying. He tried to put into words what all of us at this stage in the flying game certainly feel. He remembered back to when he was working on his private license, and there's a very specific minimum amount of knowledge that one has to be able to intelligently discuss at that level. As a person moves up through Instrument, Commercial, Instructor, there's obviously an increasing amount of information one has to study, yet the more knowledge and farther along a pilot gets, the more he realizes there is that he doesn't know. It's like a dragon who grows back two heads for every one the knight cuts off. I'm not complaining about this, but it was actually a bit of a comfort to hear a fellow instructor articulate what I felt, especially months back when I was just getting started:

"There is so much information that I don't use on a regular basis because I don't need it, so when a student comes and asks me something I don't know, I feel like an idiot, but I just tell them I don't know, have them look it up, and tell me the answer when they find it."

So, the book listed below as "currently reading" isn't quite accurate. I just ordered a signed copy after reading about it in Geek Monthly magazine. It's a post-apocalyptic comedy novel chock full of pop culture where conversations take place that read like this:

"Do you think that Obi-Wan Kenobi changed his name to Ben Kenobi just out of convenience?" Bobby asked.

"Convenience?" Erik replied.

"Yeah, like can you picture him on the phone trying to order a new droid from QVC or something? He'd be all 'Send that to Obi-Wan Kenobi. No, I'm sorry, not Joey Kenobi, Obi. Obi-Wan Kenobi. No! Not Juan Kenobi! Do I sound Colombian to you? Look, just send it to Ben, okay? Ben Kenobi.'"

Who wouldn't want to read such a book? The same writer spent a year writing a blog as a fiction character, an experiment to find out how absurd he could get before people would begin to stop believing such a person was real.

Well, I'm thinking this is pushing the limits of how much a person is willing to read, so I'll wrap it up. At least I got all the way through without mentioning LOST. (Doh!)

No, it's 3 more seasons for Lost...

...but they're short. 16 episodes each, Feb-May in '08, '09, and '10. More compressed storytelling, no filler, and answers doled out at a pace we've all been wanting for 2 years.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-05-06-lost_N.htm

Single-engine plane crashes in Greene County

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Okay, I was manning the phones at the Aero Club when the call came in for this one. I'd hardly call it a crash. The guy landed the plane perfectly on the centerline. He just happened to have the landing gear up (which were tested hours later and found to be operational. For the record, I just don't consider a landing where the pilot is in control all the way to touchdown a crash. Depending on how much damage was actually sustained to the plane, it may not even be an "accident" by the FAA definition, since there was no injury. But it probably is since I assume there's "substantial damage" to the engine and propeller.) Dayton Daily found it appropriate to give them pilot's name. I'll be editing what's below so that only his first name is there. This guy was a week or two away from his commercial pilot checkride.

By Staff reports

Friday, May 04, 2007

XENIA — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash of a single-engine Piper Arrow on Friday, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

William , 36, of Beavercreek, was not injured in the crash that occurred about 2:55 p.m. at the Greene County Lewis A. Jackson Regional Airport, which is approximately one mile west of Xenia, according to the patrol post at Xenia.

Bill was approaching the runway eastbound and was attempting to land when the landing gear was not engaged, causing the plane to skid to a stop, the patrol said.

Bill was alone and no other aircraft were involved, the patrol said. The plane sustained damage to its underside and propeller.

The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Aero Club owns the aircraft, according to the patrol.

Lost calls it quits

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That's right, only two more seasons of Lost. The producers have won and are going to be allowed to kill their creation in a timely manner.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/05/04/lost-to-end-in-two-years/

I read an awesome article today that presents Locke as a modern mythological hero, a la Joseph Campbell.

http://www.thetailsection.com/lost-mythology/lost-is-locke-the-primary-hero.php#comments

EW Heroes

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Entertainment Weekly will have 5(!) different covers this week. Each cover is said to contain different clues about the final episodes of the season. They can be purchased in a bundle for $10, or just view all the covers online. The 5 covers clearly create one continuous background.

Books

I found a really cool book-cataloging site thanks to a post on twitter. I literally gave myself a cramp in my "mouse arm" putting all my books up last night.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/BubbaCoop

Concrete art

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When I started writing stuff in myspace blogs, I never intended it to be 70% reposted material from other sources. And before that, I never intended to blog at all, but "everyone is doing it".

Now that's out of the way, here's some more unoriginal stuff that's too stinkin' cool to not share.

http://www.frederikmolenschot.nl/ (click on Solid Poetry under Products)

Dry concrete tiles...nothing spectacular, but when these get wet...

they make fancy designs.