L O S T - one audience member

Facebookers - this is probably cut off. Importing doesn't work right anymore.  You can read it, should you care, at http://ciceroinpants.blogspot.com

I didn't expect Lost to do what it was supposed to do.  This allowed me to enjoy the finale in spite of what it was. So I'm not enraged at Lost per se, and some of what it did I quite liked - like the resolution of the sideways timeline. That said, to hell with 'em anyway. What do you mean "it was about the characters?"

"It's about the characters" is a basic bait and switch. It's burned me before with Battlestar Galactica.

Lost wasn't Melrose Place or Guiding Light. It wasn't a soap opera. The story was not really driven by the interplay between the characters. It was driven by the interplay between the characters and the mysteries of the island. The question isn't "what was the show about". The question is "what was attracting viewers to watch the show"? 

To be sure, viewers liked the charismatic characters - if you don't like a drama's characters you don't care about their fate - but what the show sold was mystery. Even more so than with BSG, because in BSG character interplay really was on an equal footing, or even more important, than the mysteries.In Lost, character motivation would change like the wind to support the needs of this week's plot. The plot itself was actually in service of the cliffhanger hooks - whether for commercial break, episode or season. The hooks were supposed to keep you watching (the ads) and everything worked backwards from there. That's bait in a very literal sense.

When a TV program offers mysteries like this, it intimates that it has answers which, if you tune in next week, will be revealed. The Lost writers did more than intimate though, once people started threatening to stop watching if they didn't know where they were going. They changed their tune in interviews to reassure their viewers that answers would come. (As the series neared its end they started to dial back on this and said the big mysteries would be resolved or the mysteries that were important to the characters. Screw the audience's expectations.)

What is sad is that in both the case of BSG and Lost, there is a subset of the fan base that will now convince themselves that they didn't care about the mysteries and don't care about being defrauded. That thinks its ok to make promises and not deliver on them, or weasel out with an "I never promised ha ha ha" when they knew the audience's expectations full well.

 Whatever. I've learned my lesson. I've grown up. I'm less naive. I now know how television writing works. Get the cliffhanger image, work backward from there, don't worry about the resolution. Resolution doesn't sell ads. Once Lost is over there's no more ads to sell.

So I'm done investing in shows that promise arc mysteries. Fringe can sod off. See those ads for "The Event", ABC's Lost replacement? Forget it. I already refused to even look at Caprica.

People are being defrauded and thanking the fraudster. There's now an ethos that says it's perfectly acceptable, even artistically preferable, not to fulfill dramatic promises made.

I'm not on board. Have fun with it, Charlie Brown. When Lucy pulls the football away next time, don't say I didn't warn you.

Derivatives! I finally get it!

Derivatives aren't complicated! Derivatives are gambling! 

The Stock Market is buying an interest in a race horse. Derivatives are betting on the horse race.

Why is this so hard to regulate again, then?

Iceland go boom. Again.

I  have to feel for Iceland. They build themselves a banking system economy using, as near as anyone can figure out, chewing gum, twigs and moxy, and boom! it all explodes.  Refusing defeat, they roll up their sleeves, re-tool, and using their newly flushed currency as a positive, go on a massive tourism blitz. You've seen the advertisements everywhere.

Boom. Volcano explodes.


(and a much bigger one still might!)

Goldman Sachs lawsuit

"Although Goldman Sachs held various positions in residential mortgage-related products in 2007, our short positions were not a 'bet against our clients.' " Instead, the trades were used to hedge other trading positions, the bank said."

Could someone please explain to me how hedging your bet and betting against are at all different. I have to confess to being a trifle confused...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/business/17goldman.html?src=tptw

The 12 Biggest Ripoffs in America (totally applies to Canada too)

http://www.billshrink.com/blog/7636/the-12-biggest-ripoffs-in-america/

Changes to Google Buzz

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/new-buzz-start-up-experience-based-on.html

Bad Buzz about Google Buzz

http://fugitivus.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/fuck-you-google/

Haitian Relief

This is a re-post written by someone else. Worth circulating:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HAITI EARTHQUAKE
As most of you know by now, there was a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Tuesday. Last time I checked last night the death toll was at 100,000 with many more people trapped under the rumble. Haiti is one of the most poorest countries in the world and have no way to cope with all this. Parliament, hospitals and even a prison are all crumpled.

I know we have a huge Haitian population in Montreal and many of us most know at least one person affected.

If anyone calls you by phone to solicit monies DO NOT DONATE TO THEM. These people are not legit. Here are some ways to donate which are LEGIT via text messaging that will appear on your phone bill.

"Haiti" to 45678 to donate $5 to the Salvation Army in Canada
"Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to Wyclef Jean's Yéle Foundation
"Haiti" to 85944 to donate $5 to Rescue Union Mission and MedCorp International
"Haiti" to 25383 to donate $5 to the International Rescue Committee


Remember that you cannot donate via text message to the Red Cross, that number is for AMERICANS so it won't work for us. If you want to donate to the Red Cross it must be done by internet or phone. If you want to donate via internet follow the link below to see a multitude of legit places which are accepting donations.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/01/13/f-emergency-contacts-haiti-relief-aid.html

Nobel Prize as Disservice to the Recipient

This is the first time that a Nobel Prize win has been a disservice to - or at least a headache for - the recipient. It'll take some time to see the final effect of Obama's win on his popularity and stature. It may ultimately elevate him. But since the initial reactions are "this is premature" and is actually amplifying the Saturday Night Live criticism of "What has he accomplished" they've given him a surprise communications headache to deal with.

I also have some trepidation as to its effect on the very multilateralism he's trying to foment. This is hard to articulate, because it deals with the instinctive way that humans react to things, but I feel that the feeling of envy/jealousy or whatever else you want to call this general emotion that he didn't deserve this, will result in a desire to burst his bubble, take him down a peg and generally may create a danger of impatient shortness of temper/patience in diplomatic relations that will heighten the very temperatures that he's trying hard to lower. This is of course, anticapatable and manageable through proper, appropriate displays of humility, and likely won't amount to much - but the point is that it is indeed something he has to manage.

Slate on Iran

Something that doesn't get nearly enough respect? Slate. They are a small shop of very bright people (who, it is said, spend all available off hours applying for better jobs at the New York Times). I find they have a knack for asking the question "Wait a second. How did we get here?" and then telling me. Here they are doing it again on Iran. You'll notice that they don't lay the credit at the Altar of the God of Tweets. Rather:

"the truth is that the high turnout was the result of many years of organizational work carried out by small groups of civil rights activists and, above all, women's groups, working largely unnoticed and without much outside help."

This isn't a post about how great Slate is though. It's a post to bring attention to the Slate story that gives credit where it is due. No issue is more important than the totalitarian nightmare still lived by women in oppressive regimes all over the world. The bravery of these groups in Iran needs recognition and support. That isn't to say CNN is oblivious to the role played by women in this struggle. They report on it here. What's useful in the Slate article is that it explains that this isn't spontaneous. It's the product of years of work. Work that is eroding the power of theocracy and, in time, could be a turning point in the global struggle for women's rights.

A sense of priority and propriety please

 I find mildly tasteless the media tendency to turn a story about the struggle in Iran into a story about Twitter.

An unflattering summary of the state of Canada

A poster on one of the message boards I frequent, reddit.com, posted this little gem of a rant that I just had to keep for posterity. I don't agree with all of the vociferousness and language, but there's a certain hilarity to its whole "I'm mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore" sponteneity that I couldn't resist. Those easily offended by, oh whatever, might want to skip it.

Antihostile writes:

"Things I learned about Canada in the last little while:

You can be charged with drunk driving if you're drunk and near a car, the RCMP lie when they taser and kill people, the leader of the opposition is a milquetoast who can't make up his mind, the PM is a fascist, they're introducing mandatory minimum sentencing drug laws that have helped destroy the U.S., text-message fees are marked up 4900%, our health minister believes in non-nuclear isotopes, our Science Minister doesn't believe in evolution, the Federal Natural Resources Minister has a complete retard for an assistant, the Brampton MP abuses her household help and our MPs quietly and secretly decided that they will not reveal how they claim expenses just in case the scandal that brought down the Brit MPs causes the same fury here. WHAT A GREAT COUNTRY!"

Another poster then added:

"Also, our Mint lost $20 Million worth of gold. And the (recently re-elected) Premier of BC plead guilty to drunk driving while on vacation in Hawaii but the liberals called for the resignation of the NDP solicitor general for getting too many speeding tickets."

Fun.

This has to be the biggest "oops" in the history of oopses

Seriously.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/us/03nuke.html?_r=1 

 

Can you think of a bigger oops?

Barack Obama Pic "I'm surrounded by idiots" ;)

http://tinyurl.com/ddnhne

This is just a test, do not adjust the vertical...

I'm trying out Twitterfeed from my blogger blog.  This post (and hopefully this tweet) should send my blog posting to Twitter.  I'm just typing more because I want to see how it handles posts of more than 140 characters.  I think that's reasonable? Don't you think that's reasonable? You don't? Well! Who cares what you think anyway?!  Hrmmmph!  K. That should be enough. ;-)

Twitter Re-Dux

Since I last bitched about Twitter, I decided I need to give it a fair shake before judging it so harshly. I've also found that what had really frustrated me was the supply-push of Twitter from the media giants, rather than the service itself.  But since I wrote that I guess the push has worked because a LOT more people are tweeting away.

 

So I'm going to give it that fair shake. I'm @corymacdonald, should ye care.

Get Out Of My Brain, Barack Obama!!

At his Town Hall in Europe, Obama said something that I've been thinking for a long time - and, not surprisingly, said it better.

 

"But the point is that what I found at a very young age was that if you can only think about yourself -- 'How much money can I make? What can I buy? How nice is my house? What kind of fancy car do I have?' -- that over the long term, I think you get bored," he told the audience of mostly students.

"I think if you're only thinking about yourself, your life becomes diminished, and the way to live a full life is to think about what can I do for others, how can I be a part of this larger project of making a better world," he said.

 

His idea is slightly different than mine in execution though. He's talking about public service in an altruistic sense, and while I agree with that my idea is broader. Doing for others isn't limited to charity.  Every day millions of people go to their jobs complaining that it isn't fulfilling for them because they aren't "making a difference" and they want a "job that fulfills them". I think that that is an attitude that promises to lead you straight to a life of ennui.  If you want to be happy, ask yourself "where can I best be of use?" Every job needs doing. Just find a job suited to your skill set and do it well.  Take pride in what you give to the collective enterprise of your office or company.  Basically, to paraphrase another U.S. President, ask not what your job can do for you but what you can do for your job.  Don't do this because you owe your job something. Do it because it'll make you happier.

Fareed Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria's GPS is what all cable news should look like. It embarrasses the rest of CNN and its competitors by comparison. Zakaria actually acts like a) there is an important world outside the United States and b) that insight can be gained by interviewing  a broad range of non-famous experts rather than just asking the same fifteen full time employed pundits how the world works (David Gergen, Paul Begala, Donna Brazile etc).   He also seems to focus on how policy will affect people, rather than how it will affect the outcome of the mid-term elections.  To say it's a breath of fresh air is gross understatement. 

Video Link from The Daily Beast

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Message from sender:

See the video here: http://thedailybeast.com/video/item/brooks-on-jindal

Peter Schiff responds to Obama Stimulus

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/025528.html