Tokyo Christmas lights up-close
December 20, 2008 · Print This Article
Holiday lights, or “illumination” as they are referred to by Japanese, are big in Japan. I still think of them just as Christmas lights myself. I live right in one of the largest concentrations of lights in the city. Shinjuku has the illuminated windows of the Odakyu Department Store, the random lights amongst the skyscrapers, and of course all the light displays on Shinjuku Southern Terrace and Takashimaya Department Store. Thought I won’t admit it, I like them all.
I decided to only include close-up shots of the lights because I’ve developed the bad habit of not wanting to use my tripod. That’s largely because my old tripod is not stable enough for my new DSLR kit. Still, there is something much more personal about handholding shots, even of inanimate objects.
Of course couples are drawn to the lights, as can be seen in the above photo. The lights throughout Tokyo are nice, and impressive. However, I still find myself nostalgic for the neighborhood Christmas lights displays I saw growing up in the U.S. I liked walking down a neighborhood street and seeing each house’s particular creative holiday light expression.
Still, I’ll miss walking home and seeing the illuminated windows of the Odakyu Department Store over my shoulder once I leave Japan next year. To get that view, go to Shinjuku station’s west exit, then walk up the pedestrian bridge and in front of Bic Camera you can find the best view.
TOKYO CHRISTMAS LIGHTS UP-CLOSE PHOTO GALLERY:
RELATED POSTS:
- INSOMNIA [2002] review
- FOLLOWING [1998] review
- FOLLOWING [1998] review
- GORILLAS IN THE MIST [1988] review
- PREDATOR [1987] review
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[...] My review of the movie JUNO [...]
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[...] established a format in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK that we’d later see again in INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, one realizes just how large [...]
Hey, nicely done here. You’ve managed to make your new site look almost like the old one did, except now it’s cleaner, and I prefer this shade of blue.
[...] in RAIDERS, we find Indy uses his book knowledge and adventure skills to their utmost, a return to form of [...]
[...] and adventure skills to their utmost, a return to form of sorts from the somewhat diversion TEMPLE OF DOOM [...]
Thanks Can!
Yeah, it’s a little uncanny how much this pre-made theme looks like the old style I somewhat created myself.
[...] and it definitely lessoned my liking of CRYSTAL SKULL. As compared to the analog action glory of RAIDERS, the CG ants and groundhogs and monkeys and human characters brought me out of the [...]
I couldn’t understand the whole story and the ending was…..bimyo!
But I actually laughed many times. so it was ok movie.
Hi Aya…thank you for commenting! It was great to see a movie with you for the first time! Indy!
I agree that the first half was great! Toward the end, after the CG ants, it was like, so what?, many time, especially after Indy talked to the skull.
I liked the young guy very much! Holes, in which he debuted, is one of my favourite movies, and he did a good job as he did in Holes. He is soooooo terrific!
But, because of the very last scene, I give it three stars. It was funny and entertaining enough though.
Yeah, the whole scene with Indy looking into the skull, I could have lived without that.
I don’t know why director’s use CG, it still is far, far from realistic enough to be believable and not take a viewer out of the movie. It’s like, ok, time to include a video game portion of the movie.
Or maybe it’s more than just the fakeness of CG, is the fake concepts CG allows the director to put on screen. Seeing someone get carried into a hole by ants, no matter how good the CGI, won’t look realistic because it can’t really happen. I know the point of movies is to show the fantastic and unreal, but there have to be limits to the suspension of disbelief established by the movie itself.
I enjoyed the whole of this movie, effects notwithstanding- though generally I am one to dislike special effects. In this thing the ants, well, I can handle it. If you don’t like it, just chop it out in your mind.
The ending doesn’t bother me either. I suppose it does tie two disparate genres together, but hmm. What came before worked well enough that I could forgive it easily.
A note on CG- I loved The Matrix because the most amazing things we saw on screen were done with real film shot, with some CG rounding out the edges. Bullet time and revolving cameras were both great film-making revelations. Then Matrix 2 went entirely CG, and suddenly it’s just not interesting to me anymore. It’s just a fancy cartoon. It’s not real-world physics manipulated, it’s totally imaginary.
Lebeouf- I also thought he did a great job in ‘Holes’- that’s a good movie. Caveman!
Aya put down some impressive rides- far better than I on my first time out- I don’t think I could stay on the board for the second it took me to fall off. Good work
Nice! Aya seems potential! Maybe she can be better than you in the future soon?
Are you still gainning weight???……Yeah the wave wasn’t as good as before sadly. Now I see what you meant about the waves.
Maho
I didn’t intend to make a comment to this Indiana Jones!!! Nande…
Thank s Mike, am I better than you??? It was really difficult to stay on the bord but fun!
I wanna go again! but surfing too, since we watched the surf movie!! Jason.
You were definitely better than me on my first try! Now, hmm, I’ve done it a few times- it might be a tough competition!
[...] as one lap is 5km. And I wanted us to do it in 30 minutes, the pace I set a long time ago on another ride in March. Well, I did have to teach until 8:30pm then come home and cook. So basically I scarfed down [...]
I think you forgot to mention the long stretch across the front of the Palace where I overtook you despite you thinking I was 50 meters back.
Otherwise, I think fair reporting.
Yeah, I was surprised by that overtaking, I’ll have to make sure to look over my shoulder and keep an eye on you next time!
It was a good ride, we rode hard, with honor.
Yes, Aya learned the mechanics of skimboarding quickly, now she just needs more speed and power.
Mike, you should try it again the next time we go to Izu!
Way to get your voice heard, Jason.
now can you get him to vote no on the FISA bill and actually stick to his promises.
I’d rather have him be more bold in his energy policy!
Thanks for commmenting, might be visiting Vancouver next spring!
[...] second tour up the Arakawa River was . . . very different than my first tour, and also much, much wetter! What was similar was that UK Mike came with me again, but this time [...]
Hey, nice liitle clip! You filmed more than I thought actually, and all of it good.
I don’t even recall the cows sounding off for us, nice big moooo in there.
Liked that little clip of Kumi at the end laughing.
Liked that music! I want to know what that is so I can play it on my violin!
Great video Jason- am glad one of us was filming.
As for the rain- yeah let’s try harder to avoid that in the future.
@Can. Mike and @ Mike UK
Thanks very much!
Yes, I was surprised too I actually had that much footage, I thought I had only a few spare moments. I was glad that there was footage of some random moments.
The cow moo was added in post-production!
The music is just a stock jingle called “Campfire” included in iMovie.
Yes, the final clip of Kumi laughing I thought added just the right closing shot.
Thanks again.
[...] Photo credits have to go to Can Mike, as the only photo I took all weekend was of me and the turtle. The low-res shots are screenshots lifted out of Jason’s fun video of the trip, which you can watch here. [...]
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptOnly two students came to the 8:30pm group lesson at the Nakanao Community Center on Friday June 27th. ??Denny is always good for telling stories though. ??Here he talks about yet another motorcycle purchase. … [...]
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[...] a song by a band called Voxtrot, I was stoked enough to rally for a ride, and not only did I not throw up this time, I totally SMASHED MY AVERAGE SPEED [...]
[...] fast pace and relatively few stops might lead to a record ride, or even one approaching one. The old record was 16.1 mph set on the same route back in [...]
Jason,
Thanks for the info on how to get to the Arakawa River. In a week or so my wife goes back to the US for a month or so and I will be able to ride all day on the weekends. When business doesn’t take me out of the country. In the next few weeks I have to go to Thailand, US ( Austin so I will try to get to Lance’s new bike shop) as well as The Netherlands.
Mike
Hi Mike,
Yeah, when you have the time maybe join me on a night ride around Tokyo. I also like to ride from Tokyo station to Odaiba at night, which goes over a high bridge parallel to the Rainbow Bridge, which you know can’t be ridden over by bike (I tried insisting, but still no good).
What bike do you have?
Hi Jason
When I was in Taiwan I had a soft front Merida with fat tires. It was useful as I rode to the office (12km) each way and the roads were covered in everything sharp as well as slimy stuff. Equally I had to survive against scooters and blue trucks. After I wore out the tires I put road ties on and survived. I love that bike and would ride it for hours up into the mountains of Taiwan but it is still in the US.
Going through a mid-life crisis (my excuse) and hearing that Tim Russert had died ( we are about the same age) I went and bought myself a Specialized Roubaix. It is very fast and of course very nice to look at. Since I ride the Imperial Loop at 5am I pass Roppongi Crossing just as many of the clubs patrons pour out onto the streets after a night of …… Very strange encounters between me and that group.
[...] RATATOUILLE [2007] [...]
I was greatly effected by Tim Russert’s death. I’d been watching Meet the Press the past few years via its video podcast on iTunes. It was my Monday morning tradition (Tokyo time).
The Specialized Roubaix is a nice bike, no doubt much faster than the Trek 7.3 FXs we ride. Got any website of your own?
Seon-shil wrote on Facebook regarding this poem:
Truth comes only when you don’t hold back …….that’s one of part exactly i feel ….a poem is better medicine than any, sometimes. thanks, Jason.
I am confident that I either recommended this movie to you, or should have. The first time I saw it was right around the time you moved away, and then I watched it again earlier this year. I love his comfort with the path of solitude, knowing that he is being true to his code.
You might have recommended it Dy, or most def you should have. I can’t think of anything more important than having a code, and then being true to it, no matter what that code is. I can respect that, maybe even if I don’t agree with the code on a personal level.
Tiffany wrote on Facebook regarding this post:
Awesome!…… Personally, my favorite of the album is Breed….. and Territorial Pissings the second.
“The weight of music for me comes from its level of desperation. If it has none, then the music has no weight at all.”
“Some die just to live.”
So right and so agreeable. Yet, a lot of time I find your thoughts are quite dark and depressing. I think it’s because you value the dark side so much. I’m a little optimistic about life (No, wrong) I try hard to stay away from desperation and depression. I rather choose to stay close to happiness and passion. I work hard, I play hard. I despise depression if yu know what I mean….
Yoko wrote via e-mail about this post:
I didn’t meant to, but finally read your long
entry about NEVERMIND. I can belieave now that
you are a good poet. It was a fun read. Thanks!
Thanks for your comments Tiffany.
I should elaborate by what I mean by desperation. I don’t cite it for only its negative meaning. The desperation in music doesn’t have to be out of negativeness. It just has to be out of intense feeling. Feeling for something you want very badly. So that when the words come out of the singers mouth, they almost hurt coming out because they mean so much to the singer.
Examples of this are:
–one time I saw Janis Joplin sing a song on the old Dick Cavet show (1970s), and I was just blown away by how sincere and desperately she sang, as compared to performances I usually see now on variety or late night shows.
–Almost every song by The Replacements on their albums LET IT BE and TIM
–Every single last song on Joni Mitchell’s album BLUE
@Yoko Thanks for taking the time to read this long post!
So desperation to me means, or involves, passion and earnestness, and real-ness as well.
Damn, looks like a great time, wish I could’ve been there!
Nice dive prep by Lukas- for some reason always forget to do that myself.
I think that Blade Runner is a special movie, after 20 years I think we all have problems recognizing how special it was for the time.
I also think that the mistake is thinking this is a typical Harrison Ford hero movie. It’s not. I also think we take the acting for granted – it was awesome overall.
What I like about the movie is that the hero was fallible, human, and not invincible. He didn’t have to win. He was allowed to live because the badass android showed himself to be more human than Harrison was.
The dark gritty, future imagery was something special then, but maybe not so much now. But no woman has ever smoked a cigarette so seductively as Sean Young. Every young male watching her had to have her, and could understand why Ford would give up everything for her.
Sorry, it’s just not Indiana Jones. It’s more intellectual than bashing Nazis trying to steal archaeological treasures.
[...] Mike having heard of my record setting average speed in my solo palace ride last Wednesday, was asking me how I achieved it. He said I must have been trying to set the record, and I told [...]
I didn’t think this was a typical Harrison Ford movie, or was going to be, if that’s what you think I thought Curt. I knew that even before I first saw it a few years ago.
My criticism of the movie comes from the too simple story and I didn’t find any of the characters that interesting, or at least not Ford’s Deckard character.
Maybe if I had seen this movie when it first came out 26 years ago I’d have loved it and have some nostalgia for it, but I didn’t.
It is good that Deckard is not totally untouchable like a lot of protagonists in sci-fi and action movies, but he seemed to be a little too inept for me. I was wondering why is he such a special blade runner? I didn’t see him do anything special at all beyond what I’d expect a standard cop to be able to do in those situations.
Curt Reply:
July 28th, 2008 at 1:16 AM
Jason – like the guy below says – Deckard is flawed. He’s… HUMAN. And he fell in love with his PERP. That’s interesting. Not sure he had to show he was the best blade runner, but he certainly did track down his perps.
A lot of what’s good about the movie is what is unsaid. There are also a lot of nuances to what the actors say or do. I’ve seen the movie several times and always come away with something new I didn’t see before.
Then again, I’m an old fart.
nice vid, captures the good wholesomeness of the day. was especially fun to frolic in an outdoor pool, been years since i’ve done that. if choosing just one volleyball scene i might have chosen my jump serve, the dominant factor over the course of several games, but hey, it’s your vid.
we should def get into some beach volleyball this summer.
@Yoshio
Thanks about the video. It was certainly a wholesome day indeed.
That was basically the only footage of volleyball there was, besides another ball just going into the net. So the footage you see is because that’s all there was, not because of any directorial decisions made by me. Had your jump serve been recorded, it would be there! Likewise for your dives into the pool.
@Mike UK
It was a great time, maybe the best party I’ve been to ever in Japan.
Hey, Jason ! you seem to gain some weight ! woowhaaaaaaa !
Look healthy, though ;p
Thanks Seon-shil!
Yes, I have gained some weight! About 8kg since I last lived in Korea! But my weight is going down again, a little
dude, what plugin are you using? I’m seriously contemplating a massive site overhaul and I cant decide what program/editor to use.
It’s the Photoxhibit Gallery plugin, there’s a link to it in my Blogroll (in the right sidebar). I like it so much I paid the guy who made it $10 as he helped me tweak it to match what I wanted.
It’s a WordPress plugin, I couldn’t tell if all your site was WP powered or not. I switched all mine to WP three weeks ago and love it.
Awesome, especially the country music lol.
Have not seen the ’stache – love it – move over Jason Giambi!!!
good form on a couple of those dives – I think Greg Louganis would be proud.
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How come you’re calling Kurt, “Curt?”
Jason Collin Reply:
July 11th, 2008 at 11:59 AM
Whoops! I’m used to writing to a friend in Japan and his name is spelled Curt! I’ll fix that now. Thanks for pointing that out.
[...] Connelly makes the movie watchable, as I discovered during BLOOD DIAMOND for the first time, she’s a very beautiful woman and a pleasure to watch on screen. But, [...]
hey, enjoyed the well-written NEVERMIND article. i was in 9th grade
when it came out, i remember getting very excited listening to it, a
young kind of restless and a bit confused by everything excitement. i
still get that rush, although not as strong.
i don’t identify with NEVERMIND or nirvana the way you do, but i agree
that of all bands/groups they were/are the most influential of our
generation. i had a very mild “grunge” stage myself, and recognize it
was inspired by nirvana. looking forward to the cardigan this autumn.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 11th, 2008 at 10:20 PM
Thanks Yoshio. I used to have a “Smurf blue” cardigan as well, but that may either be lost or in storage in Florida.
[...] Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2 Tent VIDEO [...]
[...] skimboarders, but over the past few years I’ve seen maybe three or four total. Then after the typhoon last September disturbed the ocean floor reducing the size of waves greatly, I knew I may need to find a new skimboarding beach for [...]
Hiratuka was nice beach for skimboarding. I haven’t seen many skimboarders in Japan. so I was suprised and some guys were good! We are sure to go there again!!
Now I felt ur board is a little bit big for me.. but ok, maybe it would be easy to keep balance on the board???
Jason Collin Reply:
July 14th, 2008 at 11:01 PM
Yes, I think Hiratsuka will (sadly) replace Chigasaki as the default beach to go to for skimboarding near Tokyo.
You did great even though my skimboard is too big for you!
The wider the board is, the easier it is to balance on it. Length doesn’t matter as much actually.
Pretty sweet story Jason. I have heard of that Odaiba dog rental place and had always wanted to go….so it is nice to hear about it from your post / video. But at 2500 yen and hour those guys are running a good business. I It is have to pay the equivalent of that to get someone to walk my dog here in Van….
What music is that you have on the video by the way? I think that is the tune that Dan Savage used on the Savage Love Cast (podcast) until just recently….i have always wondered where it is from.
B
Jason Collin Reply:
July 15th, 2008 at 9:37 AM
Thanks Brady. So you do have to pay about ¥2,500 in Van for someone to walk your dog? All things considered, I thought ¥2,500 an hour was pretty reasonable for renting the dog, especially for Tokyo gimmick prices.
The music is just from the iMovie HD (‘06) Jingles section. It’s a jingle called “Vintage News Long.” So it’s likely to be in many people’s podcasts who use Macs.
Nice post on the NEVERMIND article. That album also brings me to a time of new beginnings and new ways of thinking and discovery. I don’t think I was ever as moved or inspired with emotion as you were Jason, but I was certainly taken by the album and the expression, attitude and grungy revolution that was started by Nirvana and others. I had just moved from my parents house in the country and was just starting university in the big city….living on my own, working a part time job…. The music of this album was the soundtrack to that amazing time of newly found freedom and discovery, mixed in with youthful restlessness and social anxiety. It’s nice to hear your personal connection to the music and that moment it time as well..
B
Jason Collin Reply:
July 15th, 2008 at 9:32 AM
Thanks for sharing your NEVERMIND experience Brady. I like how you said the album was a soundtrack for a particular time for you. I often feel that way about various albums.
Obama just thinking of the little guy- yet again. What a guy.
[...] to its change in curry prices. Now I follow Barack on Twitter every day, and he has actually replied back to me on Twitter! However, I have not seen any mention of his foreign policy toward Japan yet. However, with the [...]
Hey,
Don’t know how I never heard of this before, but hope you don’t mind if I totally copy you and rent my own dog for a future post on my site!! Friggin awesome.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 16th, 2008 at 12:04 AM
Thanks Can…..and sure, rent a dog and post about it no problem. A quick search shows I wasn’t the first one to post about this by a long shot anyway.
[...] late again, I had digested enough to even put on the speed for a new record 3-laps without risking throwing up again. So I guess it was actually a good time to be limited by all the red lights and [...]
Haha, nice!
I wonder if that was even intentional, or just a guy trying to make the most of his window space?
A bit shameless if he really was using Obama to market his shop, but in Japan, who’s going to stop him?
Great use of music in this video- felt professional! Good work!
Jason Collin Reply:
July 18th, 2008 at 10:24 PM
Thanks Mike! At the very last minute I swapped out the more rock sounding music I had in the background for the “walking to the museum” section for the music that is in it now.
Nice photos, despite- or perhaps because of- the tree.
Yukata! Never worn one myself.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:03 AM
Thanks Mike. Yeah, the tree blocked our view, but added a bit to some of the photos, maybe.
I didn’t write much about how wearing a yukata feels because that will be part of a future post showing how to put one on.
[...] think RIDING GIANTS and DOGTOWN make two great companion documentaries on the origins of big wave surfing and [...]
I’m cool to have the first nostalgia movie night on Thursday July 31st starting any time.
Remember, if we have it at my place, space is a bit limited (and it’s an alcohol and carcass products free zone). However, we could seat 4 dudes pretty comfortably.
I could watch Karate Kid, Lost Boys, Goonies, or Neverending Story. Not too bothered about the others.
Could also watch at mine if people would rather drink and eat meat. Can seat 3 on sofa, 1 on chair, 1 on bed maybe.
[...] the rest here: DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS [2001] review archives, dogtown-and-z-boys, dogtown-reviews, japanese, jason-collin, life, movie-reviews, [...]
july 31 could very well work for me. would offer my place but TV quality is not exactly up to par. goonies!
I will pass on the 31st just because I should be recovering. But I hope to be in on this in the future! My place sits many but my TV does not.
[...] on the shore and carrying sand all over the place. This meant I ran a step slower than in the previous week’s session. It also meant that my ears ended up being full of black sand! Usually I get a little, but this [...]
[...] had no delusions of doing 4-laps tonight as I proudly did last Thursday night. I just barely finished the 3-laps tonight in the allotted 30-minute time limit. I had to even [...]
Nice to see some of the wipe-outs, good bit of rough and tumble with the sea- nice video.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 24th, 2008 at 1:52 AM
Thanks Mike. Yes, I thought I would shatter the illusion that I never fall. However, those two times I knew I would fall and was just going for it, for the fun of it! (well, the first fall might have been less expected than the second!)
You should come out and skim again sometime!
So it’s looking like THE GOONIES (in HD!) on Thursday July 31st possibly at British Mike’s apartment with a possible showtime around 8:30pm or 9pm.
Hey,
Nice little video, it almost looks like a promotional video for skimboarding or something. Good music as well.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 25th, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Thanks Can….used more of the stock music in iMovie, which I think adds to the more promotional feeling maybe.
Somehow I never would have imagined that you would wear a yukata!
I think Aya means smiley face, not just smile, though I have trouble seeing it as well.
Kumi and I went to that same festival last year, I ran into Yoshio and Kerry by chance!
Jason Collin Reply:
July 25th, 2008 at 12:21 PM
Yeah, I would have thought the same thing about me wearing a yukata just a few weeks ago, but all of a sudden I get these ideas in my head that can’t be stopped!
Yeah, it did look like an actual smiley face if you watched the video in slow-mo. There was a heart and also some other pear shape or babba-pappa shaped thing too.
Wow, crazy to run into other people you know at an event like that, but I did feel it wasn’t that, that crowded, at least compared to the chaos of the Sumida-gawa fireworks display.
What if every week at 6pm or 9:43 pm you were doing something different? Sounds like you are on rails and not happy with it- like you need to just do something new. It’s good that you have the plan to do so.
Pause button- well, there is none- though I find traveling to be a pretty effective simulacrum. On a plane or a long train journey- you’re really imbetween places, times, and events. Sure the trip takes time, but it’s a timeout, during nothing else can happen other than you sit there and wait to arrive. Certainly if you fly west, you effectively pause time as you can arrive at the same time that you set off.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 25th, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Thanks for the insightful comment.
I think you are right, if I weren’t doing exactly the same thing at each time each week, probably it wouldn’t feel like each week is only one second. Can’t wait to get out of this routine next year!
And that is a good point, when I have been out traveling abroad as well, it feels like being out of time. That’s the slowest time feels like it’s moving.
So go to flip the weekly script and take a trip!
I think we’re hitting it on the head there- new experience= time slows down. Hence kids have no conception of how much time is passing because they’re always so caught up in the moment- because just about everything they do is new.
For us, it’s mostly always the same thing we did before.
Those are really good pictures. The tree actually makes the pictures better. I’ve never been to a summer festival in Japan but I expect to do it someday with the family.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 26th, 2008 at 2:23 AM
Thanks tornadoes, I now realize that tree blocking our view was a blessing in disguise! I guess most fireworks photos are just of them alone, with no framing.
Summer festivals are my favorite Japanese tradition, if that’s the right term. I like them even more than hanami (cherry blossom) time.
I think everyone is my age. I remember one time I was walking two children by the hands and saw a friend approaching. She said, “Children!” and I truly could not — for one second — place what she meant. I speak to everyone the same way — same topics, same perspective. Grown-ups don’t notice it, because they’re used to it, but children and the relatively elderly generally really respond well to it.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:40 AM
I agree with talking to children the same way one speaks to an adult. I’ve never used a little kid voice to talk to them.
I guess very young children (under 4) do respond though to high pitched “baby-talk” and hearing it helps them round out their hearing range or something.
But yeah, if the kid is old enough to carry on a conversation, no need to not talk real to them.
Jennifer Connolly’s character didn’t open her mail because she was profoundly depressed. I have to dissent from your review, because I think movies generally gloss over the depth of entanglement people experience within themselves and between each other, whereas this film gets right into the muck of human existence. You can’t come away clean, after you see it. I’m still affected by it and it’s been years since I saw it. I think Shohreh A. has got — bar none– the sexiest girl voice ever and Ben Kingsley is a Bad-mother.
But you shouldn’t fear him. He was Gandhi, after all.
Do you not find any models of compassion in this film?
Jason Collin Reply:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:37 AM
I guess I just can’t imagine being so depressed that one cannot even open mail. Mail is one of the highlights of my day, especially since I get so very little here in Japan.
Yes, Shohreh is great to listen to. We all liked her on 24. Her character did show compassion in the movie. Hers seemed truly altruistic. The police officer character had ulterior motives for being nice to Jennifer Connelly’s character.
Ben Kingsley was Ghandi too long ago for me not to be afraid of him now! I wouldn’t want to be scolded by him!
crap, 31st is no good after all, have a school-related obligation. i’ll catch the second night.
Read the book is you care for more insight (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.” He’s not your standard badass-action-movie-hero because he’s flawed. That’s what makes him interesting.
I liked the Director’s Cut better.
I thought Daryl Hannah’s character was delightfully weird.
“The inevitable personal and group crisis segments were tolerable and I guess needed inclusion, but I’d like to have a documentary for once not have to involve this kind of thing. ”
How can you accurately document any human era or event without including what makes it human?
You’re gonna hate to hear this but life is ***** messy.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:32 AM
Right, but it would be nice to once see a movie where a group of people just got along, without drama.
“Assaulted by smokers….”
You’re soft.
And you’re double-soft because your website won’t let me call you a *****.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:27 AM
I don’t see how it is being soft having my civil rights violated by weak, addicted people who are taking my choice away to be healthy and smoke free.
And yes, there are banned words on my comments as I would like them to remain civil and family-friendly, to a degree.
My first boyfriend was in the sixth grade. At the end of the year, his family moved to Japan. Part of his address was Shinjuku-ku. His name was Andrew Little and he had red hair and freckles; he could really play soccer, better than any other boy in Merton Wisconsin (except his older brother who seemed really cosmopolitan). I was terribly heartbroken, practically for the last time.
As for Barack Obama — HELP ME OBAMA WAN KENOBI! YOU’RE MY ONLY HOPE!! I can’t wait to have a philosopher in office.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:29 AM
If I come across Andrew, I’ll let you know!
Obama got quite a good reception in Europe recently.
I can’t wait to have an elitist in office.
Jason, I want more photos of the yukatas! (Especially Aya’s. Her mother made it herself, you say?)
g
Jason Collin Reply:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:23 AM
Hi Genny,
Thanks for the comment.
There are two more true photos of me in my yukata in my apartment, but alas no more yet of Aya’s handmade yukata (yes, handmade by her mother about 15 years ago). We will for sure take more high quality photos before the summer’s out!
I know that the review is coming soon, but I tried to watch this a week ago and fell asleep before he got to the island. Not even that good looking Bond in a suit could keep me focused. What a long build up! Alright, laters!
Jason Collin Reply:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:31 AM
Thanks for the comment on the empty post Genny.
I can sympathize with you, the movie did drag a bit. If you fell asleep before the island, you would definitely never of made it through the final act on the island!
In my forthcoming review, I’ll explain how I liked the analog-ness of this action movie. How just a pair of fists can basically bring down an entire secret operation!
I like photos and video. Yes, the tree wasn’t bad.
My photos are also nice dayo!
Are you going to wear yukata again? we should check a festival near your apt.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 28th, 2008 at 12:25 AM
Thanks Aya!
Yes, your photos are very good too! As soon as you can get them to me I will add them to the photo gallery on this page.
Yes, I want to wear a yukata with you again soon!
[...] This is also the first Jack Black movie I’ve ever seen that didn’t have KING KONG in it or a lot of elitist music dialogue. [...]
[...] pilot found this at jasoncollin.org from Del.icio.us : My KUNG FU PANDA [...]
It sounds like a good show. I will probably wait until the series comes out on DVD and rent them while my wife and kids are visiting Japan though.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 30th, 2008 at 1:54 AM
Thanks for commenting. I’ll no doubt be posting more reviews as I watch future eps. It will probably be one of those series where you can’t wait to see the next ep, and the one week wait will be hard. So maybe watching it later on DVD would be better in that way.
[...] into character, which he only wisely did in moderation. He also does a wicked impersonation of George Lucas. I know that’s how George really speaks, so it was extra funny to me. This was by far my [...]
I still don’t know why they couldn’t do simultaneous subtitled translation on the screen in kanji like they do on CNN. That would’ve so been the better thing. It was slower for everyone having to listen to the same content twice.
I still can’t believe Ray Park didn’t do something bad-ass. What a huge disappointment. Just let him do something mildly bad-ass, just spin a bo-light saber or something. Ah well. Awesome opportunity missed.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 30th, 2008 at 1:50 AM
It seemed like if it were up to Ray, he would have done something at least mildly badass, but that backstage official nixed things quickly.
Maybe those on-screen instantaneous translations are too expensive for an event like Celebration.
I am gutted that Chewy was on his todd.
This looks pretty cool, but I wanted to administer some cyber pain to the muppet who said ‘Kawaii’ about R2D2.
How ace was Antony Daniels – he’s a real card.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 31st, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Hi Sigsy,
Yeah, the “K” word does get bounced around way too much, and about R2D2? But then again, there aren’t really that many more adjective choices in Japanese, are there?
AD was totally ace. Perhaps I’m most impressed about how he has kept his weight down and is the same size as he was in 1977. Same can’t be said for Georgie boy!
Jason Collin Reply:
July 31st, 2008 at 4:52 PM
P.S.
Sigsy, would you like to exchange links? I already put you on my blogroll section.
Is this ride one of the few good riding spots in Tokyo? Are there other good places to ride in the big city.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 31st, 2008 at 11:23 AM
Well, yeah, lately I’ve been mostly doing laps around the Imperial Palace as it’s pretty much the best place to ride FAST in Tokyo with minimal interruption from red lights.
But I like riding other routes in the city as well.
For example, I like riding to SeaSide Park in Odaiba:
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/03/22/arakawa-to-seaside-park-ride-2/
And this other park in Odaiba:
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/03/17/sea-and-industry/
And basically to Odaiba in general!
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/03/01/ride-to-odaiba-with-the-xacti-hd700/
Hey,
Was waiting for a while to see this video.
Amazingly, it doesn’t look too crowded there! Maybe the event wasn’t widely publicized?
Pretty cool to see Anthony Daniels speak like C3PO!
Jason Collin Reply:
July 31st, 2008 at 11:18 AM
Hey Can,
Yeah, we were both surprised it wasn’t that crowded. Maybe because it was day three of a 3-day event? and on a holiday Monday? And perhaps lesser known speakers that day?
But since I only found out about it at the last minute, I guess publicity wasn’t that good for it.
I have an extended 15-minute cut of the same video above, with much more of Anthony Daniel’s speech in it. Can screen that for you sometime if you like. Plus much more of all interviews, and some shenanigans with UK Mike and I.
[...] cycling theme this week, I finally rode somewhere besides the Imperial Palace! A comment from Tornandoes28 helped motivate me to once again return to exploring riding, as I used to do so much. Yet this [...]
Oh yeah, Odaiba. I’ve been there once a few years ago. From what I recall it seems like there would be some decent places to ride there compared to other parts of Tokyo.
I get the same feeling when I ride my bike on the road as well. Not that I am the most vulnerable, but that I can blast past the slower cars stuck in traffic. It is a feeling of power even though I am just on a bike. I love to race the city buses. I would look down at my speedometer and see that I am flying by them at 35 to 40 mph. Great rush.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 1st, 2008 at 12:56 AM
Are you doing 35 to 40 mph on flat sections of road? On any streets those are impressive (especially city) speeds!
Passing buses is pretty easy to do in Tokyo as well. They are slow and stop often.
I’ve even past a few scooters and held the lead!
pack ‘em up and bring ‘em to canada…i’ve got a sweet river for you (but no waves!)…looks like good times…sad i never made it out with you!
can’t wait til you come and visit…keep me posted on it all (life and developments, that is)!
xo!
Jason Collin Reply:
August 1st, 2008 at 12:54 AM
Thanks Wendi! I will keep you updated. Looks like a return to Florida is slated for about February 1st as of right now. Don’t know exactly where we will settle down, but most def will come around for a visit! If you feel like defrosting be sure and come on down to the Sunshine state!
It is too bad too that you never got a chance to try skimboarding here in Japan.
The Dark Knight is breaking all box office records here in the States. It has already made over $300 million. But I have not had the chance to see it.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:22 AM
I’ll be seeing THE DARK KNIGHT on Saturday night here in Tokyo. My review will be up by Sunday night. I’m totally stoked to finally get to see it!
I was getting between 30 to 35 on the flats when sprinting but I can only do that for short 1 or 2 minute bursts. My top speed on the street downhill was a little over 50 mph. I did 40 mph on a dirt road once which was pretty crazy.
[...] photos), in the basement we found samples and records dating back many years. It was quite an Indiana Jones moment. We went from the basement all the way up to the observation deck which offered a sweeping [...]
[...] and teacher dormitories still littered with personal items. The schoolhouse itself had some eerie PAN’S LABYRINTH looking settings (again, see photos below). We each went on our own way exploring here again [...]
That stuffed goat or whatever it is is pretty creepy. That volcanoe model looks cool.
My uncle-in-law has an X-trail. It is a nice SUV. They don’t sell them in the US but I saw one once here in LA. I was surprised. When I got closer I saw that it had Mexico license plates.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:32 AM
Yeah, I’m not sure what kind of 4-legged animal it was, but it certainly looked out of place up on that table. The volcano model was in surprisingly good shape, and I believe it was made out of some kind of foamy cotton-like material.
The X-Trail drove like a dream. Powerful enough, great cornering, and a good view without feeling like one is driving a huge box.
Good post- only 8 months late! Maybe we’ll see the Malaysia post some time soon now?
The animal I think was a young deer. It’s in a fair few other photos I’ve seen from this same haikyo- a bit of a talking point. I like that- that nobody messes with it or moves it around. It’s not a place casual vandals can easily get to.
Thanks for the link.
[...] at. That moment, and it’s consequences, elevated DARK KNIGHT way, way beyond the level of BATMAN BEGINS. They are not even comparable movies. [...]
[...] THE DARK kNIGHT REVIEW (warning spoilers) (1 votes, average: 3 out of 5) Loading … [...]
Please excuse my bad English. but I would like to leave some comments.
You well described in this essay what I always feel about time. I cannot help thinking myself as 28 years old woman. When I realized that actually I am going to be 50 next year and approaching my grave, I was trully devastated.
To change the stream of time, it would be better to change place of living or get seriously involved with someone (like getting married and starting a family).
By the way,
Is the grammar of the sentence “I think this is widely know” correct?
Could please explain why you used “know” instead of “knows?”
Jason Collin Reply:
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Thank you for commenting Sakiko!
Well first, you are my proofreader this time, your grammar question is only because of a typo by me. I wrote this essay very late at night (about 2:30am) and never proofread it since then. So the sentence should be “I think this is widely known.”
I hope you are no longer devastated by that realization about your age. I think you are still very far from the grave! And you seem much younger. So I wouldn’t worry so much if I were you.
I will be doing both of your suggestions within the next year for changing the stream of time.
Sorry, my last sentence should be
Could you please explain…
I saw it while I was home, and while I agreed that it was an amazing movie experience, the joker’s plotting seemed to rely on just too many coincidences upon later review. For him to have pulled off everything he did means he needed to know that everything was going to go exactly his way.
For instance, how could he have known that batman would throw him into the glass window and break a piece? Or that they would not re-cuff him when batman left? Or that Batman would show up in the first place? Afterward there were a lot of little things like that which left me thinking “wait a minute…”
Anyway, still a 9 out of 10 star movie. Good times!
Jason Collin Reply:
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Thanks for your thoughts Jei.
I’m not sure what scene with the Joker and Batman and broken glass you are referring to. I don’t think it would have mattered if the Joker was cuffed or not, he could have still executed that plan. The only thing that gave me slight pause was how he could transport all those barrels of explosives all around and rig them up so quickly, but minor detail.
His brilliance was in his thinking and ability to know exactly what people would do, so I guess I feel he didn’t rely on coincidence too much. He was one step ahead of most people, and for a time, even Batman too.
Still thought it was the masterstroke of the movie to have the Joker lie about the locations of Rachel and Harvey.
I like it ! some scenes were too violent for me though.
I agree with that the movie was the best comic movie.
The story was kept changing,many things happened so I was concentrated on watching the movie to the end….even though the time was already passed my usual bed time.
I ‘d like to see it again someday.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 4th, 2008 at 10:54 PM
Thank you for commenting Aya!
I felt the same way you did, I was totally concentrating and gripped by the movie and involved with the story until the very end. The movie hardly gave the viewer a chance to breath, but it wasn’t suffocating either.
Sorry if I squeezed your hand too much during the movie! There were so many badass things happening in the movie I may have gotten too excited!!
Yes, maybe we should go see it again this weekend???
First off- I loved the movie. It takes a super-hero franchise and does what is really necessary to do- something I feel others in the genre haven’t done or couldn’t do.
The first movie is about the superhero- and Nolan gave us that- Raz Al Gool was there- but he wasn’t a massive screen presence. The main enemy in that movie was Bruce Wayne getting over himself and his fears and commiting to the Bat.
The second and all subsequent movies HAVE to be about the villain- because we’ve for the most part used up the good guy. The villain is the main thing- and the hero bouncing off the villain, finding new tests within the villain and set by the villain, and having to raise his game because of the villain- all that is entirely dependant on the quality of the villain. And what a villain the Joker is!
To me he represents the chaotic madness that comes into play with the death of God and the loss of any form of morality or purpose- a problem which I think is biting at the heels of our society today. Terrorism has a goal sure, fundamentalist terrorists have morality of a type and for a purpose- but I think they have the same mind-set that allows them to utterly dehumanize those that are ‘other’ and destroy them without a second thought.
The Joker just takes this to the ultimate extreme- he doesn’t even care about himself- at one point he’s willing Batman to kill him, he wants to die. He just wants to take out as many people in as interesting a manner as he can. He’s given up on reality and just wants to break stuff.
That’s a terrifying villain, because it’s a slippery slope into a madness we could all slide into, and we can all imagine.
The other brilliant thing about this Batman franchise so far is that it feels like it could be real. There is no radioactive goop or aliens or gamma radiation (yet). There are just bad people, good people, and a lot of weaponry and high-tech (but believable) gear. This was aided by the minimal use of CG in the movie. This could be New York or any other major city- this Joker is not so dissimilar to Osama Bin Laden in his skill at planning atrocities and disregard for life, at using the infrastructure of the city against itself.
All that makes this a truly prescient and appropriately dark movie for our times.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 5th, 2008 at 11:15 PM
Yes, I wonder what silver screen villains can even compare to Heath Ledger’s Joker? Rogert Ebert mentioned a few in his DARK KNIGHT, but some were too old school for me (haven’t seen them, and not from my time) and I never was that impressed with Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector.
IMDB said Ledger spent a month in a hotel room alone to prep for the role as the Joker, where he worked out the mannerisms, and ticks, and the voice.
Also, DARK KNIGHT is #1 on IMDB’s top 250 already.
[...] turning my board over to Aya for her to continue to practice the quick-on technique she first learned last week. [...]
[...] was an afternoon of pure joy with the Sea, my skimboard, and Aya, such as I hadn’t had since May of 2007. [...]
This movie just started awesome and never let up. I was literally tense and on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Finally a comic book adaption that got everything right! It’s like Chris Nolan asked me personally how I’d like the movie to go, what I did and didn’t want to see, etc.
Every actor in this movie played their part to perfection, but Heath Ledger still stole the show. I guess I never really saw any of his earlier stuff, or if I did I didn’t pay much attention, but during the movie I kept thinking to myself, ‘damn, where did this guy come from?’ I remember Jack Nicholson being a fairly decent Joker, but Heath Ledger is in a whole other dimension. Every scene with him in it was pure gold. His voice, his lines, his facial expressions were spot on, hypnotic even.
The scene where Batman extracted that Chinese guy out of Hong Kong was perhaps one of the best scenes in action movie history. It was one of the only times I actually shouted out in a movie theater in my life. What made it so good was that the stuff they did seemed so plausible, so realistic. None of thie Mission Impossible silliness, that kind of thing could actually work in real life.
The movie left you no time to ponder realism though, it was just too fast paced, (not a complaint!). However after it was over some of the things they did made me wonder a bit. For example it seems to me that the Chinese government would probably scramble some fighter planes to intercept a military plane flying through the city.
Other things that bothered me a bit after were things like how the Joker constantly had everything ready, was always one step ahead, and seemed to be able to be everywhere at once. Either he is a criminal genius the likes of which the world has never seen, or he’s the luckiest bastard who ever lived. So much of what he did came down to chance. He could’ve been killed by n number of people but managed to avoid it every time.
I also wondered how he kept finding people to work for him when he kept betraying everyone.
Anyway these thoughts still do nothing to change the fact that this movie kicked every ass in the universe.
It was great to see Gary Oldman in a role he could really work with for once. He came across as kind of a wuss in Batman Begins, but manned up a lot in Dark Knight. Glad they gave him some decent screen time as well. Michael Cane also did a great job in his role of bringing some order and stability to Bruce Wayne’s life. Everyone needs a butler like that.
Speaking of Batman Begins, i also watched it to prepare for Dark Knight, and what was obvious to me is how much more superior Dark Knight was. Batman Begins had a strong start, but dragged down near the end as the plot became more and more unrealistic and campy.
Was shocked when they ended Rachel’s life like that, but I should’ve seen it coming. I knew Two Face needed that emotional unbalancing factor on top of his disfiguration to complete his transformation to the villian he is in the comicbook.
Well so much more to say, could talk about every detail of the movie from start to finish but in the end it comes down to one fact. This is the movie of the year. See it on the big screen.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 5th, 2008 at 11:13 PM
Thanks for the long comment Can.
A few notes……
Bruce Wayne mentioned hiring South Korean smugglers as pilots as they had experience flying under radar, so I guess they flew under radar in HK.
I agree, the Joker did get those barrels of explosives all around the city quickly!
I think he can always find new henchmen because no one knows he kills all his former henchmen because they are dead and can’t say, “Hey, the Joker is a killer boss!”
It is hard to say how many levels DARK KNIGHT is over BATMAN BEGINS, or even what kind of levels. DARK KNIGHT is up in its own rarified air in my mind. Just a completely different thing.
Just a note, UK Mike was yelling out load from the very first scenes!
Its gone past 400 million dollars here in the US in record time. And I still haven’t seen it. Damn.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 6th, 2008 at 12:05 AM
Dude! Tornadoes get on it! It’s the most significant genre film event since Episode III!
And it will get harder to avoid spoilers. I hope you didn’t read my review or these comments too much!
That day was really hard to catch a wave and wet sand….I was such a coward to fall down….cuz it’s so painful.
I need more speed and power!! like you and Mike.
Mike is much much much better than me!!!!!!!
When you said ‘go! now!’,he didn’t hesitate at all! wow!!
I’ll try more agrresive next time……Ganbaru!!
Jason Collin Reply:
August 6th, 2008 at 3:24 PM
I think you are brave Aya to try the “quick on” technique!
Speed and power will come soon. Remember, my skimboard is way too big and heavy for you. Once you get your own smaller and lighter board, you’ll be able to run faster and skim with more power!
Thanks Jason and Aya both for commenting positively on my boarding. I don’t know what the deal was that day- I just suddenly decided to go for it.
I think I maybe have the basics down now, or at least I understand the dynamics of how to get on and stay on the board. But I still have little understanding of how to time, hit, and ride a wave.
I’ll cut a video of my out-takes- which will basically be me falling, flying, and flipping off the board a whole bunch of times.
Walk down my street in Tokyo Japan with Google Maps Street View!!…
A post talking about the debut of Google Maps Street View in Japan. The post includes a link to a street view map as well as a screen shot of what street view looks like….
Ok. I will try and go to a late show after the boys are in bed. I purposely avoided reading your review because I do want to see it.
[...] then, and last week he went on a solo one as well. As you may recall, not enough digestion time lead to me throwing up on our very first night palace ride, and sure enough, lack of digestion time tonight again yielded [...]
Star Wars Celebration Japan 2008!! : Jacked-in || jasoncollin.org…
A photo gallery and HD video from Star Wars Celebration Japan 2008. The HD video includes live interview footage of Anthony Daniels (C3PO) and Ray Park (Darth Maul)….
Going on a haikyo (urban exploring) in Gunma Japan!…
A large photo gallery of haikyo (ruins, urban exploring) in various places in Gunma, Japan. The three haikyo were an old theme park, a volcano museum and a large schoolhouse. The photos are of all the old things still lying around in these places dec…
HD video of new Gundam statue at Kami-Igusa station!…
This is an HD video of a new statue of Gundam erected in front of Kami-Igusa station in March 2008. For Gundam fans, see the statue from all angles in HD!…
This is so cool. I don’t need to visit Tokyo. I can just drive around via Google streetview. I just drove around Asakusa and over the Nihonbashi. Cool.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 8th, 2008 at 3:42 AM
Yes, Street View is pretty amazing isn’t it? If you see anything strange or funny, screenshot it for me!
If it’s possible, “drive” over the Rainbow Bridge, should be pretty good views.
Barack Obama supports a local Shinjuku curry shop??…
A Barack Obama “CHANGE” poster was hanging in the front window of a local Shinjuku Japanese-style curry shop. I stopped to wonder if the owners of the shop were showing their support for the candidate or if they were using his poster to promote thei…
I was 43 in 1993. I was 58 this past December. In my head, I’m still 17.
I look in the mirror and wonder how that old face could be mine.
So, not only do I tend to think of people as the age they were when I met them but I have trouble understanding how I got as old as I am.
Because I am older, I think about the approach of that dark night that is ahead and sometimes, I have a gripping fear that almost paralyzes me but then I try to think this. I am alive now. Every other person who is alive now is the same as I am. We are alive in this moment and this moment is what matters.
It can be hard to reconcile living in the moment with planning or looking toward the future but I try not to think too much about that because it makes my head hurt in much the same way that trying to understand how there could have been nothing and then suddenly there was something and then our universe came into existence. Ouch! These things just make my brain ache.
I have many memories of childhood. This is probably due to having become verbal very early. Children who develop language skills earliest tend to have the most memories, unless some traumatic event wipes them out. Once we name things, memories of things that came before the naming tend to be lost.
Oh, how I do ramble. It’s that whole very verbal thing.
Anyway, nice article.
Peace,
Ann
Jason Collin Reply:
August 8th, 2008 at 11:55 PM
Thank you for the comment Ann, that wasn’t rambling at all. I wanted to read more! I mentioned this essay to you specifically because I knew you’d have something good to contribute to it.
You are still 43 in my mind as well!
I will ask my mom if I learned to talk at an early age. That’s an interesting thing to know. I guess maybe not since I have almost no memories of my childhood, but then again, something could have wiped them out.
A Fiery Shinjuku Sunset (HD video)…
An HD video of an intense setting sun being edged by a column of feathery clouds as seen from a balcony in Shinjuku, Tokyo….
I loved your review because it brought back the memory of this film, and the soaring kites, always the soaring, colorful kites.
I also greatly loved this moving film.
I didn’t think it could live up to the book, (films seldom do), but I was pleasantly surprised.
I, too, wanted to adopt the noble young Hassan, who sacrificed everything for honor, out of loyalty for his cowardly friend. Friends like him are hard to find in this world. Unfortunately, I don’t think the friendship was deserved in this case, and the twist of the “secret” was almost painful to learn in lieu of the very separate lives of these boys.
This film, based on the book, however, was an amazing story and one that I highly recommend.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 11th, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Thank you Susana.
I agree, the friendship was certainly not deserved. And the twist did seem somewhat implausible given the living conditions.
THE KITE RUNNER is one of those movies that makes a war zone real, not just something one sees on TV every now and then. I now feel new sympathy for Afghanis.
[...] GENERATION KILL episode 2 review (No Ratings Yet) Loading … [...]
[...] GENERATION KILL episode 5 review (1 votes, average: 3 out of 5) Loading … [...]
so Lucas finally got to make (or a least approve of) a whole Star Wars movie after his love for CGI… looks fun though
Jason Collin Reply:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:29 AM
True…the morphing of Star Wars into complete CGI is now complete, which first started with the mostly horrible CGI additions to the original trilogy (though Clone Wars I don’t think can be counted as anywhere near canon).
too good indeed..
Jason Collin Reply:
August 13th, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Thank you for your comment Aseem….do you live in Japan?
Pterosaur exhibition at Miraikan in Odaiba!! : Jacked-in || FOUND a direction home…
A review of the recent pterosaur (flying dinosaurs) exhibit at Miraikan science and industry museum in Odaiba. This post includes an HD video of some pterosaur fossils and a huge LED Earth globe….
Way to go Jason and Aya! Perfect that the sun peaked it’s head out there at the end eh?! I say let’s throw a huge party to celebrate! Who’s with me??!!!!
Jason Collin Reply:
August 14th, 2008 at 12:03 AM
Thanks Lucas!
Yes, we really wanted to see the sunset that time. The peak was enough for us.
Huge party? A modest one is fine….at the beach?
Lucas Reply:
August 14th, 2008 at 7:03 PM
Modest beach party sounds exquisite. Let me call my people…
still gotta see Kung Fu Panda… Jack Black is classic for sure; he’ll be forever famous for his work in School of Rock
I love that movie, and that song is right up there with “Eye of the Tiger” as a motivator. If find it quite bizarre that the Japanese title of the movie is “Best Kid”.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 18th, 2008 at 11:07 AM
According to IMDB, the producers of ROCKY III chose “Eye of the Tiger” over “You’re the Best.”
“Best Kid?” That is strange, why not just use the same title?
[...] YOKOHAMA FIREWORKS HANABI 2008 (No Ratings Yet) Loading … [...]
Fireworks (hanabi) along the Tama River 2008…
A photo gallery and short video of the fireworks display (hanabi) held on Saturday August 16th 2008 along the banks of the Tama River, close to Futako-Tamagawa station….
Thats one of the greatest videos that you made. It reminds me my childhood. The pictures quality is also very fine too. Good job!
Jason Collin Reply:
August 18th, 2008 at 10:33 PM
Thanks Maho…I’m glad the video could provide a bit of nostalgia for you.
About the photos, I actually think they are not good at all and they are the main motivation why I need to buy a new dSLR camera!
How cool martial-arts is! Try Kickboxing once. If you try you will know Kickboxing is NOT just violent. One of my teachers has 5 year-experience of Karate but he switched to Kickboing eventually. Don’t you wanna know the reason? I didn’t know it’s called “Best Kid” in Japanese. Umm can’t believe I have been living in Japan since I was born!
Jason Collin Reply:
August 18th, 2008 at 10:28 PM
I already have too many hobbies anyway, I don’t have time for anymore!
I think at least karate has some spiritual aspect to it, does kickboxing have that?
Okay, I did a bit of research and it looks like the original film was indeed called “Karate Kid” in Japanese, but the follow-ups were called “Best Kid 2″, etc.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 18th, 2008 at 10:29 PM
Thanks for the follow-up Nick. I’m sure changing the names of the sequels wasn’t confusing to people!
Wow, a Karate Kid review. I would not have thought I would see one on a blog. But I like it. It brings back memories. I can’t believe it has been 24 years already. That is scary.
That’s a good movie.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 18th, 2008 at 11:37 PM
Thanks Tornadoes….actually, I have reviewed quite a few old movies and plan on soon watching more nostalgia movies from the 80s this August.
I really feel there is something about old movies that cannot be replicated by movies made in the post-CGI and post-irony age. I think a movie like THE KARATE KID can stand the test of time because its dialogue is not dated by pop culture references or over use of cool words of the day.
The movie has a good heart. What will teenagers of the 00s have? Movies like Superbad that are full of malice?
It was the nice fireworks display !
We could watch closer than Yokohama fireworks diplay.
I appreciate your friends.
I liked the fireworks combined with music. It was like a fountain.
Also it was nice to see your friends! I ‘m so glad they were congratulated our engagement!! Happy!!
Jason Collin Reply:
August 19th, 2008 at 3:35 PM
Yes, thanks to everyone for your warm congratulations at the hanabi!
Our view was much better this time than at Yokohama, plus the music did add another dimension to the experience.
I won’t forget the day…..thank you Jason.
I didn’t think about that so I was suprised and soooooooo happy!!
Chigasaki was less crowded than Hiratuka. It was really nice to have peaceful and sweet time at the beach.
I wanna lift and throw you again!! It was fun!!!!!
Lucas is Luke?? Arigato!!
Jason Collin Reply:
August 19th, 2008 at 3:34 PM
I’m glad I could still surprise you then! I was worried since we had talked about it so much before, that it wouldn’t be a surprise for you anymore. I was very happy too!
I can’t wait to be “thrown around” by you again!
Yes, Lucas is Luke-kun.
I like it! It was fun to see it again,I almost forgot though…..
I saw it loooong time ago in Japanese.
I didn’t know that how Mr. miyagi was speaking English.
My English is the same as Mr.Miyagi’s!
Of course I did doing crane pose and try to kick !!
(you can imagine I was tomboy!)
At that time, maybe many kunfu-action movies were screened.
My friend and I were really thinking to take shorinji-kenpo lessons,cuz we found a dojo near my home. but we didn’t…..we were just watching from a window.
Watching old movies were so nice…it reminds me good old memories.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 19th, 2008 at 3:01 PM
You English is much better than Mr. Miyagi’s Aya! He never uses prepositions or articles. However, he surprisingly knows many idioms….
Yes, I can imagine you were a tomboy. I want to see photos of you as a tomboy!
Nice video! I thought your friends comments were pretty funny.
I was there also and caught some fireworks with my camera too. If you are interested, you can check them out at http://www.james-dunn-photo.com
No video just photos.
Cheers!
Jason Collin Reply:
August 19th, 2008 at 3:21 PM
Thanks for commenting James, and for the link. I checked out your photos. I liked them. Did you use your Canon 40D to take them?
Not getting the photos I wanted at this hanabi and not having enough zoom to photograph my fiancee surfing two days before that has me obsessing over getting a dSLR. (I am leaning toward the Nikon 80D but will probably wait for the 90D to come out).
P.S. I would have commented on your site but it requires a login.
I remember very clearly seeing this movie in the theatre when i was a kid, and it was a defining moment from that time in my life. I’m pretty sure I went out and signed up for some kind of martial arts after it as well.
Part 2 was alright as sequels go, but too bad the franchise went downhill after that, especially when they had that girl as the new karate kid. geez…
Jason Collin Reply:
August 19th, 2008 at 3:06 PM
It seems THE KARATE KID was really a landmark film for kids in the 80s. I bet nationwide enrollment in martial arts jumped instantly.
I have faint memories of part 2 and maybe never saw part 3. After briefly checking the IMDB page for part 3, I will make sure to never see it. Seems like it might have some malice in it.
I never saw “THE NEW KARATE KID” or any subsequent films.
I was going to go to that one, but couldn’t . Thanks for the pics.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 21st, 2008 at 3:24 PM
Thanks Billy….the fireworks here seemed a bit more tame as compared to the ones I saw earlier in the summer in Yokohama, but the river atmosphere and wide open viewing area made it pretty good.
This movie gave me the mental stamina to completely wax my father’s conversion van as a kid – on what seemed like a constant basis! That same “stick-to-it-ness” work ethic has carried over into everything I do. I’d have to say this was one of the most life shaping works of fiction in my life.
As for kids these days, I have no idea what the future holds. Viable role models, fiction or non-fiction, are dwindling.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 21st, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Does your father still have that conversion van? That’s a huge vehicle to have to wax on a regular basis!
I’m glad to hear THE KARATE KID was influential in your life as well.
The Karate Kid reviewed 24 years later…
A review of the 1984 movie THE KARATE KID, from the perspective of seeing it 24 years after first seeing it in a movie theater as a 10-year old. Includes comments from other people touched by the movie….
When Pat Morita died, I remember someone posting on Digg: Actor Pat Morita Dead, Cobra Kai Wanted for Questioning. That ruled.
(I live in Japan and am fluent in Japanese. Not as a result of the movie to be sure, but it provided 0.1% of the help I’m sure).
Jason Collin Reply:
October 20th, 2008 at 11:39 PM
Thanks for including that very funny line from Digg Peter!
That 0.1% might have been the bit that put you over the top!
Amazing.
25Km in 1 hour.
I do laps around Komazawa Olympic Park. I will try laps around the Imperial Palace. This is motivational!
Cheers
E
Jason Collin Reply:
August 24th, 2008 at 11:38 PM
Hi E,
Thanks….Can you ride in a good loop around Komazawa Olympic Park? Without having to stop for many lights? That’s the benefit of riding around the palace, the least amount of stops in a loop in central Tokyo.
Come and join us on a ride sometime around the palace!
e Reply:
August 27th, 2008 at 1:24 AM
Yes, continuous loops. It’s only 2.2KM though.
I will try the palace route next. Night cycling is great in this heat.
E
[...] friend Jason loves skimboarding, and I’ve gone along with him a few times, including 3 weeks ago to [...]
[...] Episode #022 “The Cradle of Civilization” [...]
[...] Episode #05 “A Burning Dog” (No Ratings Yet) Loading … [...]
Shinjuku Skyscrapers at Night — Sompo, Nomura, Mitsui buildings…
A photograph of a few skyscrapers in downtown Shinjuku taken at night. In the photo a huge apartment building can be seen, along with the more well-known Sompo, Nomura and Mitsui buildings….
I like it- though Ziggy annoys me- every time we break to him in the car I know he’s gonna spout some BS political viewpoint along with a lot of dumb swearing and solider-slur jargon. Both him and the semi-Mexican dude- every time they talk I feel like the writers are stepping up to the podium, shuffling their notes, giving a neat little ahem, then saying- ‘racism is a problem’ or ‘the government is a problem’ or ‘obesity is a problem’ or ‘this war is a problem’.
It’s just a little too soap-boxy, like the politics have been injected into it only through the medium of Ziggy and the Mexican guy- which I feel is unnatural. Like having Michael Moore along for the ride, crass and obvious.
The action, and the logistics of shooting all that action- are still impressive. Though I do find it annoying that sometimes they seem to be super-imposing our guys over action images via blue-screen, and other times we only shoot from below, so we see them ‘reacting’ to some kind of explosions with only blue sky behind them. I get that, they can’t afford to always have the stuff happening behind the actors- or maybe those were pick-up shots. Still, annoying.
On the flip-side, when they HALO-sniped the RPG guys- that was cool.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 27th, 2008 at 2:10 AM
I actually thought they went pretty light with the political statements, or as light as one could when covering such subject matter. I watched the show under the impression the political commentary was really what the reporter heard from the soldiers.
I didn’t notice any of the blue screen effects. Maybe they get better in later eps?
Ziggy is in The Wire, here he is Ray. And I think Ray definitely grows on you as the show progresses, I didn’t like him at first, but by the end, I liked him enough.
My favorite character though is Lt. Fick. I’d follow any order he gave, he’s the only character, well along with Sgt. Brad Colbert, whose judgement I trusted.
The Mexican-American character (forget his name) I found to be the heart of the show, in contrast to the seeming amorality of a lot of the other soldiers, though maybe calling him the heart isn’t right, maybe that’s Sgt. Colbert.
I love the Tokyo skyline, as well.
We work late here in the States, too. I was working from 11pm to 1am last week. Mostly because I was too inebriated to drive and a work associate dropped me off at the office after a client “event”.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 28th, 2008 at 10:57 AM
At least most Tokyo workers get to leave the office by the time of their last train, so for most people that’s by midnight. However, some people that don’t live so far work past midnight and their company just gives them money for a taxi home!
More skyline photos coming in the near future . . . .
wow!! so sweet and awesome!! Thank you Jason!
let me try it!!!
Jason Collin Reply:
September 1st, 2008 at 1:41 AM
Your welcome Aya!
Yes, let’s try it at the beach some time! I want to draw pictures of like dinosaurs and Moomins!
Have you noticed how fixed gear bicycles seem to be really popular in Tokyo lately? Seems to have caught on all the way down here in Fukuoka too.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 1st, 2008 at 1:12 AM
I have actually. I see quite a few bike messengers using fixed gear bikes as well. I’ve never actually ridden one. I bet I’d be reaching for the thumb shifter all the time if I ever did get a chance to try one.
[...] I really saw that many institute type things on the grounds, but Aya and I did try and find as much flora and fauna to study, or at least photograph, as possible. Spiders are all over the place, but safely off the [...]
Sounds like a good trip.
How would you rate the trail for a person of average fitness? Could you give us an estimate of time to accomplish a return trip from Sasago station to the summit and back.
Cheers.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 1st, 2008 at 1:26 AM
Thanks, I really like hiking up this mountain.
When I moved to WordPress a few months ago unfortunately the photos for this post were lost, and I haven’t had a chance to put them back up yet.
To answer your questions, it takes about 45 minutes to walk from Sasago station to the start of the trail proper (all road walking to get to that point). In total I can get to the summit in 2.5 hours total with a light pack. This involves taking a single 10 to 15 minute break for lunch about halfway along.
I think station to summit for a person of average fitness could be done in 3 to 3.5 hours.
And you don’t want to go back down the same way, unless you live in Sasago. It’s much better to take another trail down to Hatsukari station. Not only does it give you a different trail to descend, it’s also closer from end of trail to the station. Plus, you can see Mt. Fuji on the way down at some points (once off the trail and in the town) if it’s clear.
can you rent cats too?
Jason Collin Reply:
September 1st, 2008 at 1:27 AM
I don’t want to say 100% no you cannot rent cats, but I am pretty sure you can’t. I don’t recall seeing any cats inside, just dogs.
Thanks for the info. Sounds like a hike to do when I spend some decent time in Tokyo.
BTW do you have more info/a contact for the Tokyo cycling club? I want to start something here in Kyoto and would appreciate ideas.
KB
Jason Collin Reply:
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:33 PM
I’d try contacting Ash of the Tokyo Cycling Club. He’s very friendly and involved in the club. His profile on the TCC site:
http://www.tokyocycle.com/bbs/member.php?u=27
Hmm, more than that you’d probably notice two things right away: no fly wheel, which means the pedals are always moving, and no brakes, unless you’ve installed a set on your own. All in all though, looks like fun!
By the way, I just picked up the new Xactii HD800 and learning how to use it. Any tips?
Jason Collin Reply:
September 1st, 2008 at 1:50 PM
Yeah, it would be like riding a bike when I was kid, r.e. the no fly wheel.
I would get a wide angle lens converter that attaches by a magnet and metal ring if the HD800 has the same poor wide angle range as the HD700. I couldn’t find one anywhere in Japan, so had to order it from Amazon, U.S. store.
Pan very slowly otherwise it will drop frames and make the video unwatchable.
Use Vivid setting.
Don’t expect to be able to shoot video of any kind of quality in dimly lit places, outdoor or indoor.
Then again, hopefully some of or all of these things have been fixed or improved in the HD800.
Wind Noise reduction does help when recording while in motion (i.e. on a bike) or if just standing in a windy spot.
[...] eat green Thai curry on the nights I go riding! As anyone knows, this meal is prone to making me throw up! So this time I wanted to avoid such messiness, so no new record times tonight or anything. And [...]
31 minutes 14 seconds seems like a pretty good time to me still. What was our time when we raced harder than usual- below 30?
Jason Collin Reply:
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:16 PM
As I mentioned in Skype, our last ride was nearly 2 minutes faster than this, which really doesn’t seem possible. Last time’s stats were semi-unofficial as I didn’t write them down but instead only committed them to memory. Hard to imagine the pace I rode at last night being 2 minutes slower than before.
Full previous stats here:
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/08/07/cycling-with-mike-again-with-throwing-up-again/
Japanese parks and gardens are my favorite. I love the landscaping and ponds.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 5th, 2008 at 2:44 AM
Do you have a backyard at your home in L.A.? Any Japanese style landscaping in it if you do? When I move back to the U.S. next year it would be great to carve out a little bit of yard (if not more) to look like one of these Japanese gardens.
I am very lucky to have a small backyard with my condo about 15 x 15 feet. However, it is full of toys and sandbox and a grassy area for my boys and dog. So I wouldn’t be able to have much of a garden. But someday I would.
Even if you only have a small yard or patio, you can definitely make a nice little Japanese garden.
(Unrelated note – I am using the new Google Chrome browser and I am liking it more and more. One cool feature is it has a spell check feature similar to Word. When I misspell a word in a comment box like this, it puts a red line under the word. Right click and it gives the correct spelling.)
Jason Collin Reply:
September 5th, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Well, in the sandbox area you could do that raking of the sand that some Japanese gardens have??
(about the spellchecking, both Safari and Firefox have had that for a long time, I can’t believe you use IE!)
I think I will start moving away from IE. Never used Firefox but heard it’s good.
That’s sugoi! Honto sugoi!!!
Jason Collin Reply:
September 8th, 2008 at 1:53 AM
Thanks! You should try it sometime! It’s very fun.
Sad that it was ‘discovered’ by a disrespectful crowd like that. Hopefully our upcoming weekend will be much quieter.
Was that gas in the car?
Nice little video, but not sure how I feel about that opening music. When the Pixies took over I was relieved.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 8th, 2008 at 1:07 PM
I’m trying to use all royalty-free music in my videos (except when captured naturally as in driving in the car), so don’t want to just drop in some top-40 hit for the intro, but yeah, some are better than others. Running out of new ones, so may have to repeat intro music.
Gas? Hmmm, there are always easter eggs in my videos usually.
Yeah, hopefully like Japanese, all others immediately stop going to the beach after August 31st too.
He’s prob’ly lost.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 9th, 2008 at 2:33 AM
If so, then I should have offered to help him as I’d wager I have to be one of the most knowledgeable non-Japanese about where things are in Shinjuku.
Riding in a thunderstorm, I haven’t done that before. Maybe I should try it.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 9th, 2008 at 2:20 AM
There is probably a reason why you haven’t tried it before Tornadoes! It’s not really as cool as it may sound. Riding in the rain never seems that bad at first, but the point always comes when one thinks, “wow, this really sucks.”
Your vids are getting better – very tight. You’ll have to show me what you used to do the circle focus thing.
Didn’t know it was Shimoda you were going to. Last year around the 10th of August I was there to visit a small research lab. That particular spot was not too crowded, and somewhat peaceful in the evening. It’s kind of away from the main beach I suppose – but I don’t know the whole area well. When I tried to leave, it was chaos getting to the train station, and I missed my reserved seat train. that was the official national Obon time, IIRC.
I took my Canon with UW housing there, and took some underwater photos, but they were not so great. I wasn’t used to using the housing. But one shot I got was pretty good – just above the water. The outer lens still had some water on it, so the margins of the image are smeared. The overall effect was nice though, and I use it as a background banner on my teaching site:
http://sensei.ad.umuc.edu/cfiedler/
Anyway, happy Birthday!
Jason Collin Reply:
September 9th, 2008 at 12:31 AM
Thanks Curt.
The spotlighting is in the Video FX section of iMovie HD.
I’ve been to Shimoda over obon the past three summers.
I can totally see how you’d miss a train there as sometimes it takes 45 minutes to go 2km (like it did on this particular trip). I wonder how locals deal with that kind of gridlock?
Take some more underwater shots!
If you got stuck in the same thunderstorm that blew through Futako-Tamagawa on Sunday, that was one impressive storm. The rain was just coming down in sheets outside the Starbucks at F-T, and the Denentoshi and Oimachi both stopped running. Had to bus back to Shibuya — took 85 minutes!
Jason Collin Reply:
September 10th, 2008 at 12:16 PM
That sucks about getting stranded at Futako. For some of the ride home we had semi-protection as we rode down a very long stretch that had tall tree cover to one side.
Funny you should post now, I had a dream last night about taking an economics class, and the dude sitting next to me worked at Amazon. I asked him if he knew “Doug” and he said yes.
This park looks great! I too love the gardens in Japan and am always looking for new ones to explore – and now I have one!
Thanks
Jason Collin Reply:
September 10th, 2008 at 9:07 PM
Thanks Shane. It was the first garden I photographed with my new DSLR (Nikon D80). After five and a half years in Tokyo, I too find it a challenge to find new traditional gardens to explore.
Actually, I need to edit this post as the name of the park is wrong! These photos are actually of the Teien Museum’s garden. However, I hear the neighboring Shizen Kyoiku Park is great too!
Actually, I recommend going before September 23rd because then besides the great garden you can see the great sculpture exhibition by Katsura Funakoshi. I was very impressed, which is a rarity with art.
A review of the exhibition here:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fa20080904a1.html
Shizen Kyoiku Park in Meguro…
This is a park in Meguro that I have never heard of but I will be sure to check out now. The sculptures look interesting and who doesn’t love a Japanese garden?…
I have been to the Tien Museum and garden and it is quite beautiful. In fact I blogged about the museum and their art deco exhibit a while back. My hubby and I went to an exhibit of old Tokyo photos there that was really intriguing and insightful.
Anyway, I soc’d the post so now you have to edit it…no pressure
I still want to check out the other garden though.
Weezer plays Yoyogi Gymnasium…
Weezer played before 9,000 fans at Yoyogi Gymnasium. The set list was only so-so and everyone had to have a seat. Still, Weezer managed to rock on a few songs….
Mmmmm… Blue album.
Never fails to raise one’s spirits.
We’ll go see Weezer when you get Stateside.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 18th, 2008 at 3:28 PM
No doubt! Looking forward to going to concerts with the boys again!
wow! how can you remember the songs they played!?
sugooooi!!
the begining of concert was fun and very original!
I liked it!
We should go again!
Jason Collin Reply:
September 20th, 2008 at 1:52 AM
Yes, we definitely need to see Weezer again Aya!
I feel like I should have remembered more of the songs they played actually! Maybe it’s because they didn’t play enough of my favorites. Also, I was trying to remember. I like to write keep track of set lists.
[...] good though, nor did this movie hold up very well as compared to other recent nostalgia movies like THE KARATE KID or at least have some watchability like THE LOST BOYS. Yes, by the end I felt that GREMLINS was [...]
Hi Jason,
We discovered the park and museum this month as well.
That white sculpture is very popular, everyone wants to go up and touch it ,climb through it and have their photo taken infront of it.
The museum in the house ( or should I say palace?) is fascinating .
We went to the current exhibition which has some pretty bizarre works of art in it. Well worth it just to see the inside of the house.
I’m off to figure out where you live now
Its not that far away from us.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 24th, 2008 at 10:12 PM
Hi Jon…..yeah, I thought the sculpture exhibit was great, and I am not easily impressed by artwork. In October there will be an open house of sorts in the building itself allowing people to take photos inside.
For hints on where I live, check my Google Street View post!
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/08/06/walk-down-my-street-tokyo-japan-google-maps-street-view/
Are you residing in Shinjuku-ku as well?
[...] I end up eating green Thai curry before the ride, which takes me forever to digest. I’ve thrown up such undigested curry twice in the past, and although I felt a hint of nausea this time, I managed my pace so as to keep all [...]
A heavy load in your stomach makes a big difference. I assume this is a bike and/or pedestrian path? Are there a lot of others out on the path at night?
Jason Collin Reply:
September 25th, 2008 at 3:11 PM
The Imperial Palace loops I always ride are right on the street. There is a wide sidewalk around the entire loop as well, but I’d never be able to get the speed on it that I can on the street. Around 11pm at night, around the whole 5km loop, I’d say there are about 20 to 30 people only.
I’ll be moving to California in the first half of next year, so if you hear of any good jobs, let me know!
I went to that park ages ago! That oval hole thing is cool I have a photo of me there with HUGE hair I would show you but don;t know how to add a photo.
Hope you’re welll Jacqueline
Jason Collin Reply:
September 25th, 2008 at 3:09 PM
Hi Jacko!
Send me the photo by e-mail and I’ll put it in the post!
Also, is your mailing address the same? I have a postcard to send your way.
Hope you are well too.
When are you gonna learn not to eat curry right before a big ride?!
Sounds good you’reback on the bike though- for me it’s been over a month easily since the last Imperial Palace circuit. I need to get back on it- especially as now I don’t even play frisbee- so no real aerobic exercise going on at all. Crazy.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 26th, 2008 at 12:44 AM
I know, it always seems like curry before riding!
I want to ride the palace twice a week…very quickly I too went from a lot of exercise each week to very, very little.
Need two people I think too to push for new time records.
Exploring an abandoned Russian Village theme park haikyo in Niigata…
A Russian Village theme park in Niigata Prefecture, Japan closed 6 years ago after only being open 6 months. This post contains a photo gallery and HD video of what it looks like now since it has become a haikyo. Outside of Japan this is called urban…
[...] Volcano Museum, amusement park, and schoolhouse in Gunma, Japan [...]
You added in loon sounds? haha
Nice though, colours are very vibrant. I’ll try to use more of us talking in future videos as it does bring up the interest level, well maybe only for us…
Next haikyo? My student just told me today we should go to SeaGaia in Miyazaki as it’s now closed. That would be sweet, but too far away…
Jason Collin Reply:
September 27th, 2008 at 12:22 AM
Good identification of the loons sounds! Yes, those were put in during post production. If you listen carefully you may hear a brontosaurus as well!
I thought next haikyo was the factory in Tochigi?
Nice write-up, good you got a picture of the Guard Car pulling us over.
Photos seem a little dark- by choice, or due to not using the tripod?
Jason Collin Reply:
September 27th, 2008 at 12:25 AM
Thanks about the video….never have a plan, just edit how I feel at the time of editing.
Which photos do you mean? The indoor ones? All shots were made to be as close to actual location light conditions with little alteration.
I like the video too- you put a lot of different music and sound effects in there- gives a lot of different mood feelings to the piece, plus good general touring video of the site.
How can a place like this exist? Wouldn’t the owner try to liquidate the place rather than leave everything as is and give up on it. I mean, the beds were still made! I guess the spookiness of what could have happened there for it to be left in such a state is the appeal of going there. Why haven’t the homeless heard of these places? Is it too remote for them to bother?
Jason Collin Reply:
September 27th, 2008 at 1:20 AM
That’s what we thought, why not at least sell the grand piano, or the copy machines, or the fully stocked kitchen? I guess the original owner just lost everything and the bank or whoever took over couldn’t be bothered or thought they might re-open someday and just never did.
I discussed with some of my students why homeless wouldn’t move in there and live the high life, but it’s in a remote prefecture, like Jeonju was in, and it’s several miles from even a convenience store, so food would be a problem. And it’s arctic there in winter and not possible to live there without heat.
Still, I’d spend a month there bringing in good food stores. Feels like it should be being used for something at least.
Had you ever heard of places like this in Korea? Any in Iowa?
Maho Reply:
September 28th, 2008 at 11:26 AM
Are you sure it’s nobody’s property? I guess it’s with encombrance means the former owner probably went belly up but then now the creditor owns the place and all stuffs there. Any accidents happened there should be at the responsibility of the current owner. So they don’t want anybody to enter usually. Be careful if police saw you there. There was one Haikyo in Ono (the middle of Ono and Higashirinkan) before and I broke in with my brothers when I was about 8years old. There were many stuffs left in too like they have just left for a quick shopping near by but as you know all stuffs were covered with dust. I broke in the other place near my old place too. It looked Haikyo but actually somebody was inside! I had too much sense of adventure when I was kid!
Maho
Jason Collin Reply:
September 28th, 2008 at 9:33 PM
I’m sure the Russian Village is still somebody’s property, but we didn’t have to brake in, we just easily walked around the locked gate! The buildings, including the church, weren’t locked, their doors were already wide open!
Photograph: The best smile in Shinjuku! (tooth-challenged ojisan)…
This photograph of a tooth-challenged ojisan at the Autumnal Equinox Festival in Japan has brought sincere smiles to the faces of all who have seen it….
I still don’t understand why if the company that owned that park went bankrupt, why they or the banks did not sell as much as they could like the TV’s and all the other valuable crap.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 27th, 2008 at 7:28 PM
Maybe the bank went bankrupt too?
[...] me start by saying that if you heard, like I did, that IRON MAN was a rival in movie badass-ness to THE DARK KNIGHT, that was a gross exaggeration. IRON MAN is a better than average summer blockbuster action [...]
[...] that suits him as an actor well. I found myself wondering when he was going to bust out into his HUSTLE & FLOW character. Gwyneth seemed to be a bit miscast [...]
[...] have an ability to come up with a good plans for doing something out of thin air, that today led to Aya and I having a great afternoon walking around Kawagoe, [...]
Photo Gallery: Kawagoe Saitma Japan…
20 photographs from an afternoon walking around Kawagoe, Saitma, Japan. Shots include traditional buildings, foods, a well-kept Harley Davidson, and street scenes….
[...] shot was taken at Shizen Kyoikuen (The Institute for Nature Study National Science Museum) in Meguro, Tokyo, Japan on the first day [...]
[...] he and Uk Mike have some great write ups of the event including videos and more pics (Mike’s, Jason’s). Canadian Mike assures us he will also post something [...]
Next time let me know you’re coming down to my neighborhood! I love that park–I go every chance I get. It’s my solace from the city. Went in there last December and the leaves were just starting to turn, so you’ve got a little while before the last green leaves of the season.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 29th, 2008 at 12:57 PM
Yeah, sorry, it was a spur of the moment kind of decision to go there. I was surprised by how old the forest felt in that park. Aya said a lot of trees were over 100 years old, which isn’t that old, but for Tokyo, I guess it is.
[...] park enough as an escape within the limits of Tokyo. And also right next door is the excellent Teien Art Museum Garden (and museum). I highly recommend both, especially for long-time Tokyo residents who have never [...]
[...] UPDATE: This post first mistakenly called it Shizen Kyoikuen Park. (1 votes, average: 3 out of 5) Loading [...]
[...] me down! If you are reading this, sorry, I didn’t mean any offense, I just respected your badass [...]
Up close with Shizen Kyoikuen Park in Meguro …
A photo gallery of Shizen Kyoikuen Park in Meguro, Tokyo, Japan on the first day of autumn 2008. There are several DoF photos as well as some vertical tree shots….
[...] certainly, not all ojisans at this festival were so scary looking, why, just look at this ojisan’s smile for [...]
I was in Kawagoe on ‘06. I liked it except for the main street where there was very little room to walk next to the traffic. That is a scary looking buddha statue.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 30th, 2008 at 2:15 AM
Yeah, I noticed the total lack of sidewalks on that major shopping street in the heart of Kawagoe too, but fortunately when I went it wasn’t that crowded at all, and we often slipped down side streets for the most part.
You get that skinny (like the statute) when you only eat one grain of rice a day!
Your apt view is sick! Jealous! Nice site bro!
If you ever go out photo taking, let me know I am down to go!
Jason Collin Reply:
September 30th, 2008 at 10:42 PM
Thanks….I will start checking your site more regularly also.
If you are ever in the Shinjuku area on a weekday, let me know as I often shoot then.
Great shots as usual! How do you get the colors so vivid – do you use any filters?
We really have to plan a photo walk sometime soon…
Jason Collin Reply:
September 30th, 2008 at 10:45 PM
Thanks Shane.
No, no filters used at all. Most of the shots were with my Nikkor 50mm 1.8D lens, which many people say is one of the sharpest lenses for Nikon, so maybe some of the colors can be attributed to it.
I do, do some slight touching up in iPhoto on some photos, but nothing major.
I want to get a polar filter sometime soon though!
Yes, a photo walk soon! Maybe Shinjuku Gyoen?
P.S. I have my exposure bias set to -1/3 EV so that helps add contrast too.
Mentioned it before but I’ll say it here again.
Nice photos, especially the one of Aya and the turtle. Also like the bird painting for obvious reasons. The greens in those pics is really stunning.
Jason Collin Reply:
September 30th, 2008 at 11:19 PM
Thanks Can….Aya actually touched the turtle on the nose a couple times but I somehow missed getting that exact shot unfortunately.
The whole forest was very, very green. Good canopy as well.
Truly transporting shots Jason! I’m going out today to get a waterproof bag so I can keep my camera with me at all times – no more excuses!!
Jason Collin Reply:
October 1st, 2008 at 11:36 PM
Thanks Danielle! The Nikkor 50mm 1.8D lens can produce some great shots.
And most definitely, get a waterproof camera bag. I take my Nikon D80 with me in its Lowepro Nova 160 AW bag about 90% of the time I leave the house. AW stands for all-weather as it has a tucked away rain cove that can be unfolded to cover the whole bag securely. It’s kept my kit dry on three different occasions in less than a month of ownership! That’s Tokyo weather for you.
[...] cows and took my midpoint break with them (see below photos). I’ve seen these cows before on another ride with the Mikes. I had always thought that a cow only had utters, and that it was impossible for a [...]
That bike path looks great. Smooth, wide, green. I wish LA had something like that.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Yeah, it’s by far the best place to cycle in the Tokyo area, it’s about a 60-mile trail going all the way from Tokyo Bay up to the north of Saitama.
[...] gotten me back to anything they’ve come up with since, except for the brilliant, but short Generation Kill. So now I’m almost fully on-board with their latest hour-long drama, TRUE BLOOD, from the [...]
At some point of my life, maybe when I married, I stopped thinking that I can control my whole life (time?).
Living without a pause button is hard indeed, but I’ve learned how to enjoy it.
I’m afraid I miss the point…
Hey Jason, lovely round-up of a lovely day. I always feel so warm and wholesome after spending time at the Foote Residence and you’ve captured the day with style and wit as always – thanks for putting this together, and thanks again to the Foote Family for having us. Mata Yoroshiku!! Kerry xxx
Jason Collin Reply:
October 5th, 2008 at 9:10 PM
Thanks Kerry! Visiting the Foote Family does always give one a warm feeling .
[...] characters with miserable lives or who are miserable people in my review of the new HBO drama TRUE BLOOD, and here just a few days later did I find myself watching just such a miserable movie in the form [...]
Great stuff and great pics. Did you take a photography class, or do you know how to take a good picture? Can you tell me? I am always relying on the ‘auto’ mode of any camera I use, and it never turns out right.
And thanks again to all the footes with a G for offering their home again… t’was a super day!! JB
Jason Collin Reply:
October 6th, 2008 at 1:19 PM
Thanks very much JB. I’ve never taken a photography class, but since recently getting a DSLR I’ve been reading these two great photography sites for tips, and for the rest I guess I just use my instincts:
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/digital-photography-tips-for-beginners/
http://twipphoto.com/
Yeah, I don’t recommend using auto mode on a camera. I am always tweaking at least the ISO setting. Show me your camera the next time we meet.
Autumnal Equinox Festival in Shinjuku…
Shinjuku holds an Autumnal Equinox Festival only once every four years. Included is a photo gallery and brief HD video of this festival in Tokyo, Japan….
That’s a pretty nice arrow I must say.
Great photos. It was nice of that toothless old warlock to give a smile for the camera!
Jason Collin Reply:
October 7th, 2008 at 10:26 PM
Thanks Andy. I featured that same photo in its own post here if you are curious about more history on it:
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/09/27/daily-photo-the-best-smile-in-shinjuku/
I didn’t realize at the time he was looking into my lens.
I did not even think of these photos can be taken to cows so bright and beautiful
Jason Collin Reply:
October 8th, 2008 at 12:50 AM
Thanks noi. The cows were good models!
[...] a difference two weeks makes and a 60-mile ride thrown in for [...]
Did you see the naked guy swimming in the moat?
By the way, I got that virus warning message again when I opened your blog.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 9th, 2008 at 11:04 AM
I didn’t see that guy naked swimming guy, it was rather quiet around the palace last night, not even many guards.
Thanks for the warning about the site, I’ve cleaned up some files, let me know if it still comes up, it shouldn’t though.
FTW spreads to Japan business signs? …
Jason snapped a shot of a business sign that prompted this post. He reminds us that while FTW has become a gamer thing (use it myself a LOT as my alter-egos in MMOs lol) it originally came from a US game show. Anyone want to guess before they click thr…
FTW? WTF is that?
Never heard of it.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 11th, 2008 at 1:46 AM
Might be a generational thing Curt
MJ… isn’t that like Michael Jackson? ^^
Jason Collin Reply:
October 11th, 2008 at 1:47 AM
Interesting observation! Maybe they are big fans of him?
Taking photos of people not cool with the Japanese 5-O!…
While taking some photos at Meguro station this afternoon, the Japanese 5-O came over to me and told me to cease and desist, and that even taking photos of cars was illegal! Ha….
I am pretty sure that he was blowing smoke up your ass. I guess he was board and wanted to pick on some random gaijin. You can take photos of people all you want. There is nothing illegal about it at all.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 11th, 2008 at 9:10 AM
Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t think it was illegal, especially since I wasn’t up in people’s grills.
I mean, ojisans at other places in Tokyo are much more invasive photographers than I am.
You should have taken the cops picture when he was still talking to you. I wonder what he is asking that Muslim looking guy.
That miniature electric bike that guy is on looks pretty cool. Small enough to fit on trains maybe. I wonder why I don’t see those here in LA?
By the way, you fixed the virus issue. I did not get a warning message this time.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 11th, 2008 at 9:11 AM
The guy talking to the 5-O in the photo actually approached the 5-O on his own. I think he was just asking for directions.
Maybe you don’t see those bikes in L.A. because it’s pretty hard to look cool on them, maybe?
Michael Jordan – of course.
Generational? Hmmm – that and a general lack of interest in mainstream media & entertainment.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 13th, 2008 at 11:07 PM
FTW is still not mainstream at all, that’s why almost no one knows what it means outside the gamer community.
Hey Jason,
Interesting last shot on the page there – a little racial profiling happening perhaps.
Just to let you know, if you are taking shots near a police station or train station or any government building you have to be careful. There are new-ish laws (in Aust and UK and US and probably everywhere else too) about taking shots of potential terrorism targets – it’s legal for them to search you too if they want to be zealous about it (as these guys seem to have been that day).
So probably just sitting in one spot near a police station near a train station was not a good idea lol – didn’t exactly look like you were taking happy snaps!
Jason Collin Reply:
October 13th, 2008 at 11:09 PM
Yeah, I half-expected something to happen taking photos in front of a koban. Guess I took one shot too many!
Jay, except for the cop you only posted pictures of women, which might be why he was worred about you
Juri was at Meguro today because she just got a new job there–too bad you didn’t catch her on the way to work.
Btw, that bike is not electric, and in Japan you are not allowed to take bikes on trains unless they are in bike bags… That guy just got that bike because he thinks it’s cool.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 13th, 2008 at 11:10 PM
Ha, I didn’t realize most photos were women! I did take some of dudes, but they didn’t make the final cut as often as women did, plus I think there were more ladies on the street at the time.
Too bad I didn’t run into Juri!
I see sum fine birds in those pics! The Hotto Motto in Meguro must be fulla hunniez…and she’s the one who carries the cash deposit bag!
Jason Collin Reply:
October 13th, 2008 at 11:11 PM
Nice spot! I didn’t realize that was the cash deposit bag. It looks like a lot of cash is being carried around loosely in that area..
Nice shots all, I really need to get out there and do more random shots like this. And yeah, some nice shots of womenz.
I’ll remember not to take shots in front of a koban though.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 15th, 2008 at 2:09 PM
Thanks Can, and yeah, most def you should be out shooting more! Tokyo is a very random city so almost any station you go to you can get something unique I think.
No doubt, shooting right in front of a koban was ignant!
It commonly stands for “For the Win”. It is an expression of enthusiasm.
I like the photos. Looks like yall had some good clean, although a little wet, fun. Although, it was after hours so you guys could have gotten into a number of things that would not make it into a blog post. You were in Shinjuku after all.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 15th, 2008 at 3:17 AM
Thanks….yes, mostly clean fun. We were on the west side, so a fairly “clean” area. Unlike the east side…..
Thank you for taking our photos (@_@)
They were VERY big photos…..!!!
” HAZUKASII ”
And our clinic is not so messy (._.)
Please come over here when somebody is sick.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 15th, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Thanks Chieko and Megumi!
Ok, I’ll come to the clinic during the day sometime…the patients don’t mind if I take their photo??
Bike basket used as a trash can in Shinjuku…
Trash cans are hard to come by in Tokyo, so sometimes an unlucky bike basket gets victimized and made into an impromptu trash can, if only one person is bold enough to start the transformation!…
Summiting Akadake in Yatsugatake, Nagano…
Akadake is a 2899m peak in the Yatsugatake area of Nagano, Japan. It’s a challenging, but great mountain to summit offering amazing panoramic views of the Minami Alps and Mt. Fuji. Photo gallery and brief HD video included….
Nice photos, Jason.
I didn’t know that you took video at the top of Akadake.
I was concetrating on eating a power bar?!
It was hard but my best hiking too!!
I wanna really try to go hiking Kitadake someday!!!!!!!!
Jason Collin Reply:
October 17th, 2008 at 6:21 PM
Thanks Aya!
I forgot to mention how impressed I was with your hiking power at Akadake! No one passed us while hiking, but we passed many people!
Alright, Kitadake next time!
Some nice pictures in there, Jason. It looks like a beautiful place to walk through, but It looks a bit crowded. Probably why you didn’t see any animals. I miss going to the mountains.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 20th, 2008 at 1:11 AM
Hey Jon…good to hear from you.
That place was definitely not a walk-through of any kind, it was serious hiking, and some scrambling and climbing. It was only crowded in a few tricky parts of the trail. The summit itself wasn’t that crowded.
But yeah, everyone must have long scared off the animals. I was however hopeful on the last 30 minutes of the hike back to the hut in complete darkness to at least be able to catch the shining eyes of a deer!
After having lived a majority of my life, and all my adult life, away from mountains before coming abroad, I would definitely not want to live far from them ever again.
Iowa is pretty flat, right? Same as Florida, that’s why I’m thinking California for when I return next year.
Awesome pictures. I haven’t gotten the chance to get to Nagano yet, but it looks like it would be one of my favorite prefectures as well.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 20th, 2008 at 1:08 AM
Thanks Tom.
I’ve heard from students that I think a majority of Japanese call Nagano their favorite prefecture. You should definitely give it a visit if you have the chance.
I know this is kind of late but anyway here I go. I was there to and agree that the standing by the seats pretty much sucks. I was up in the nose bleed seats and most people were rocking out it seemed which was great. Yeah the stuff off the blue album and Pinkerton were amazing but then I think the encore was really weak so they left me feeling a little disappointed. Overall a decent show but they should have spaced out the classics a little more. Enjoy the next time you see them.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 20th, 2008 at 12:43 AM
Thanks for the review Geoff!
Yeah, spacing out the big songs would have been good, and it’s just unforgivable them not playing “Surf Wax USA.”
[...] actor Shia LaBeouf (FTW) and D.J. Caruso (fail). The first was 2007’s entertainingly good DISTURBIA. The best I can say about EAGLE EYE is that I’d never want to watch it again, but once is [...]
[...] movie should only be for LaBeouf fans, but there is no smoking hot female co-star this time like in TRANSFORMERS and the aforementioned Disturbia to make up for the ludicrous action scenes that dot this [...]
[...] was also the first pairing of director D.J. Caruso with LaBeouf (who most recently made EAGLE EYE together). It seemed like LaBeouf was receiving good direction and genuinely was having fun [...]
Great pictures! I’ve been to Yarigatake, but not Yatsugatake. Yet. Looks like a nice place to hike. Awesome photo of Mount Fuji.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 22nd, 2008 at 2:03 AM
Thanks…yes, hiking up Akadake (the main mountain in the Yatsugatake range) is a great, somewhat challenging hike. A good portion of it is above the tree-line so you have constant great views while hiking.
People hike up it in winter, with the right gear of course. I saw photos of the mountain covered in snow in the hut we stayed in and it looked maybe even more beautiful then.
Cosmos Hill Blooms at Showa Kinen Park…
A photo gallery of cosmos hill at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa, along with an HD video. The cosmos were in full bloom and swaying peacefully in the breeze. A good place to escape from Tokyo without leaving Tokyo….
[...] did away with the no looking at my cyclo-computer like I did last time. I was pleased to look down and see a sub 10-minute first lap, at least 10 [...]
Photo: Woman dines alone in Omotesando…
A woman dines alone somewhat late in Omotesando. This is a photo of her taken from outside the restaurant on the street in front….
1) All her friends finished and left.
2) She is a wine connoisseur and is simply tasting.
3) Enjoys taking photos of wine glasses. This restaurant provides lots of shapes.
4) She sat there before they cleaned the table after the previous group.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 22nd, 2008 at 8:53 PM
Those are very well thought out explanations!
I saw her from the front angle only, and it did look like she had dined alone, despite the large number of glasses on the table.
nice photos and video!!
The cosmos were soooooo cute and beautiful!!
My mom will go there next week!
Jason Collin Reply:
October 24th, 2008 at 6:03 PM
Thanks for shooting the video Aya!
Your mom will go there? With Ryu??
[...] a hard day of hiking up Akadake, Aya and I spent a very beautiful day at a public/university run farm in Yamanashi Prefecture. It [...]
[...] it was run by the local government and a local university for educational purposes put aside any animal rights issues I might have had with it. [...]
Hands on with animals at huge Yamanashi public farm!…
This huge publicly run, and free, farm in Yamanashi is a great escape from Tokyo. You can pet ponies, sheep and goats. The farm itself is several square kilometers, and largely empty! Stunning views of Akadake mountain and even Mt. Fuji on a clear d…
Congrats, Jason! You’ve better photos than this though.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 24th, 2008 at 11:46 PM
Thanks Curt, yes I agree with you, not my best photo by far, but maybe I just submitted the right photo at the right time.
Wow, congrats for the Photo of the Week! Hajime will envy you.
I like green color. Meguro area has been a good residential area for more than 400 years, so it’s likely that those trees are way older than 100 years.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 24th, 2008 at 11:47 PM
Thanks Yoko…Hajime maybe gave me too much good advice!
Yes, the trees in that park are very old, many of them over 100 years and I think one in particular was 300 years old Aya said. It’s a really surprising place to be found in the middle of Tokyo.
What a great day to be out hiking. I went to Koiwai Farm a few months ago and it was similar, but it wasn’t free.
This picture is classic….ahahah
Those pics of you and the sheep, priceless! Ha!
And the one of you closing your eyes to pet the pony. Don’t know why but it had me laughing.
Looks like a great hike!
Jason Collin Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 1:22 AM
There are a couple of other sheep and animal photos with me recoiling I can show you the next time you come over. Those animals had a short tolerance for hugs!
Think I mentioned it before, but I would have preferred to see more of her face, maybe a side profile.
There are lots of other glasses so I think her bf is probably just in the washroom or something.
That was definitely a good walk we had!
Jason Collin Reply:
October 29th, 2008 at 1:24 AM
I do have a photo of her from the front I can show you sometime. I wonder if you would still prefer a front view over this one.
I prefer this one because not seeing her face adds mystery to the photo and to the sense of loneliness.
Review of The National Art Center, Tokyo & Picasso exhibition…
A review of The National Art Center, Tokyo, including its current Picasso exhibition. Includes a photo gallery of both the interior and exterior of the impressive museum….
[...] first saw this Japanese ojisan as I was leaving the Tokyo Vegetarian Festival. His face had great character and expression. Before I could take a good shot of him, he [...]
Great macro of the eyeball, I thought it was yours or Aya’s before I read the post!
Wasn’t aware you could take pictures in an art museum? Nobody asked you to stop? No guards around?
The whale painting was also great, my kind of art!
Jason Collin Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Thanks about the eyeball shot, but the painting was a macro of an eyeball, and the painting was huge, so I just zoomed in a bit on the painting. That’s how I got all the shots of the paintings, but standing in the hallway, just out of site of the curators, and then zooming in. Then I got bold and took shots even with the curators in plain site!
The upstairs galleries have wide open entrances. Picasso was protected, so no spy shots possible of those paintings.
There were lots of strange animal paintings in that exhibit, you should go check it out!
Those pics look like they could be some place in California.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 30th, 2008 at 12:10 PM
Which area of California? When I move back to the U.S. I wouldn’t mind living in an area like this, as long as it’s not too far from the ocean!
It kind of reminds me of the central coast area between Santa Barbara and Monterey.
What kind of work will you be doing when you move back?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 4th, 2008 at 3:03 PM
I’ve been thinking of moving to exactly Santa Barbara so that’s good to hear.
I have no job lined up in the U.S. as of yet, but I’d like to do something in IT or photography and get out of teaching if I can. If you hear of any good job leads please pass them on!
nice shots dude. team kyuuri!
Jason Collin Reply:
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 PM
Thanks Yosh! Glad we got to play (and win) together in what will be my final tournament in Japan of any kind.
[...] hadn’t gone on a ride where I did not really know where I was going in a long time (not since July 31st!). It also felt good to ride in brilliant sunshine in early afternoon while most other people were [...]
loving the pics — and particularly the last shot….u guys get busted for playing in the park? what an assault on the land!
Jason Collin Reply:
November 4th, 2008 at 11:25 PM
Thanks W!
Well, the trouble we ran into was only temporary. Some Japanese family decided to start playing badminton right on part of one of our already established fields, and when it was pointed out to them that they might want to move, as there was hundreds of square meters free still, they complained and it brought the park 5-O down on us for awhile, but we played on with only a few minute delay.
Yours truly will retire from his frisbee career in Japan a champion!
I was born and raised in Santa Barbara. Lived there until I was 21. One of the best places to live anywhere. But it is a very expensive place to live.
Farewell to skimboarding in Japan…
My personal tale of the past 6 summers I spent skimboarding Chigasaki Beach, and what Chigasaki means to me. Photo gallery and HD video included….
Nice, I can understand the emotional attachment to a place that you’ve always gone to, that you’ll probably never come back to either.
Hope you find some decent skim boarding places back home.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 5th, 2008 at 9:59 PM
Thanks Can…I’ll soon get to return and skimboard on my past favorite skimboarding beach, and many pros skim out in California, where I hope to end up sooner or later.
The music in the video is that the song Guaranteed by Eddie Vedder?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 5th, 2008 at 9:59 PM
Yes, it’s that song. I’ve been wanting to use parts of that song in a video for awhile.
Micke Reply:
November 6th, 2008 at 12:22 AM
Have you seen the movie Into the Wild (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/)? If not do so, I’ll think you would like it. You seem to be an adventurous kind of a person, hehe. The movie has also a good soundtrack including the song Guaranteed.
How come you leaving Japan?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 6th, 2008 at 12:26 AM
Yes, I’ve seen INTO THE WILD and reviewed it here:
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/02/11/into-the-wild-2007-review/
I got the soundtrack for INTO THE WILD immediately after watching the movie.
I’m leaving Japan because I’ve been here 5.5 years, and abroad in Asia for 8.5 years and it’s just time for me to return to the U.S., especially since we just got a great new president!
Hey Jason, kind of a similar situation, but I can understand how you’re feeling about the upcoming move back home. Been living in Kyushu for the last 3.5 years, coming here for the last 8. I’m from San Jose, CA so I was always close to Santa Cruz, Capitola, Monteray, or Carmel for surfing whenever I wanted.
Been thinking a lot lately of either moving to Tokyo to change jobs or to go back home. I love Kyushu and I think some part of me will always stay here, but change is good too. When I ever do leave Japan, I think I will miss the natural beauty of the place the most. The seasons, colors, smells, and sounds. Those will probably be the things that linger in my mind as the years go by.
Video settings?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 6th, 2008 at 3:58 PM
Hi Ben,
For me, I don’t feel Japan is so beautiful, or at least it’s not so beautiful in comparison to other places. Some places in Japan may have a serene nature feeling, but I wouldn’t say anywhere I’ve been in Japan is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen (with regard to mountains, forests, beaches, etc.)
Moving to Tokyo would be a move to make only if you really, really want to feel city life, and all the stress that comes with it. When I moved here from Korea, I was in the countryside in Korea, so I was totally up for some real city life. Now though I’m just sick of the grind of living in a metropolis.
I’m thinking of moving to Santa Barbara maybe. I briefly lived in Claremont, about 30 minutes east of Pasadena.
Video settings were: ISO 50, WB sun, NR on, and then exported from iMovie to Vimeo at 9,000kb/s encoding.
Ben Reply:
November 6th, 2008 at 10:42 PM
Hmm, San Jose is a city with a population of almost a million by itself butted up again other large population cities like Sunnyvale, Campbell, Milpitas, etc. and in close proximity to other places like San Francisco.
Going from that to Sacramento, less people more fields, was a bit of a change. And now I am living in a city that has less than 100,000 people total after combing three other cities into itself. There’s only one other long term foreign resident here and I find that to be lucky!
If/when we move to Tokyo, I think it will only be another stopping point along the way back home. Despite all the things I like here, I don’t think I could stand to live here past another 3-5 years with the kids.
Nobody knows what the future holds (tomorrow can see anyone’s life change dramatically if the “right” chain of events unfolds), but I can’t imagine all of the final times I’ll participate in treasured activities here.
Sounds like you’re pretty excited to go back, though. Hope all of your preparations go smoothly until the final day.
Hey Jason,
Wonderful pics with “just right” comments. You rock… and thanks to you…I can now put the name-face connections much better than I normally could have…
See ya sometime soon…
Rakesh
Jason Collin Reply:
November 7th, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Thanks Rakesh….yeah, it can take a while to get everyone’s names down at first. It was nice playing with you if only briefly. See you on a Sunday afternoon along the river sometime again.
Iku! Annual HAT Tournament 2008 (ultimate frisbee)…
Tokyo’s local international ultimate frisbee team, named Iku!, had it’s annual HAT tournament at Mizumoto Park. Around 40 people of diverse nationalities came out to play in this friendly-level tournament. Photo gallery of the action included….
A Nikko Japan Halloween…
At long last a trip to Nikko, on Halloween no less. Included in the post are a photo gallery of the temples, shrines and statues of Nikko, as well as a brief video. Nikko was much different than I was expecting, based on what I heard about it the pas…
I went to Nikko some ten plus years ago for a day trip and enjoyed it. But you are right it is a quiet place that I think encourages contemplation.
Hubby and I are thinking of making a short trip there this month as he hasn’t been. Last time I was there it was summertime and I am looking forward to seeing it n the fall.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 8th, 2008 at 6:50 PM
If you go be sure and check out the nearby waterfalls and also Senjogahara Moor!
Been to Nikko myself about 2, maybe 3 times. All times it was a great experience. The people there were so much friendlier than in Tokyo and the crowds were reasonable (maybe because it was in the winter though).
Jason Collin Reply:
November 8th, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Maybe Nikko just isn’t as crowded as we might think it to be considering it’s fame as a tourist site? It is a bit hard to get to.
That looks like it was a great bike show. I’m scared to ride a carbon bike b/c I’ll think mine is such a heavy heap of junk the next time I get on it. If you guys are going to be back by July you should come up to Iowa for RAGBRAI. There’s a great place for trail riding near here too, but I’ve found that in my ten years away from mountain biking I’ve definitely lost my nerve. Did you purchase anything for your bike at the show?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 9th, 2008 at 2:59 PM
Yeah, that was a concern of mine too, that once I rode one of those sweet carbon 6kg bikes, mine would feel like a tank, but it was only one lap of their short track, so the memory was very short, but sweet only. Plus, I couldn’t even figure out how to shift gears!
Going over the small jumps I felt a little loss of nerve myself. A lot of it was not even having toe clips, so my feet felt like they could fly off the pedals at any time, plus there wasn’t that much space so any slight slippage could result in a collision.
There wasn’t really that much to purchase at the show itself, more just like 2009 models and clothing that you couldn’t buy yet, which was a bit annoying. There were some closeout deals, but for nothing i was in the market for, i.e. a lightweight windbreaker with very high visibility for night riding.
We will most def be back before July, so will keep that in mind!
The show itself was impressive, more than I was expecting even. It just felt good to be around a community, this time cyclists, which is a very rare feeling in this metropolis where I mostly feel anonymous and against most of what is around me.
[...] Aya and I drove along a country road after leaving Nikko, to my left a vast expanse opened up, and from very first sight I was dazzled and drawn to [...]
Majestic Senjogahara Moor of Tochigi Prefecture…
I was immediately struck by the vastness and sweeping beauty of Senjogahara Moor in Tochigi Prefecture. I had no idea Japan even had moors. I never saw such a flat, open space in Japan before. …
[...] was only one movie I could watch after my final skimboarding session in Japan, and that was MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO. It’s the only movie pure enough to accompany [...]
There were several of Chan’s movies that are gawd-awful. I think this is one of them, IIRC.
[...] been seeing kids rolling down hills quite a few times lately, for example at this farm in Nagano. So as soon as I saw this very grassy and rolling hill near Senjogahara Moor in Tochigi [...]
[...] for example at this farm in Nagano. So as soon as I saw this very grassy and rolling hill near Senjogahara Moor in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, I new at some point I’d be rolling down it. The hill was a [...]
Great photos, Jason! Another addition in my places-to-visit list.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 11th, 2008 at 12:17 AM
Thanks Reon….yeah, it’s rare to find a rare unknown gem place in Japan, mostly because I’m not out driving around randomly very often. But this was a great find. I don’t have a lens wide enough to really do the moor justice, but it really is wide open. I’d say fall or spring are the best times to visit it probably.
I visited here in 2004 also. It is an amazing place.
Full-suspension bikes are awesome. They take a little bit to get used to if you are used to riding hard tails but once you learn how to ride a full-suspension bike as a full-suspension bike and not like a hardtail, it is amazing.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 11th, 2008 at 2:20 AM
I’m not exactly sure if the dual-suspension I rode was for mountain biking per se or that kind of rock hopping stuff people do nowadays. It seemed to be a mountain bike type frame, but it was so springy! Can you tell from the photo of me sitting on it what it is?
I loved the disc brakes too!
I love Nikko. I am also surprised at how plain and rundown the main street of Nikko is. Surprising for such a popular tourist spot. That main street could be amazing if it was redeveloped somehow.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 11th, 2008 at 2:19 AM
Thanks Tornadoes, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who was surprised by who run of the mill the surrounding area of Nikko is. It is truly a buzz free area.
Wow! All these cool places in Japan I didn’t even know about. Have to get out of Tokyo more often.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 11th, 2008 at 5:31 PM
Getting out of the city at least once a month is key I think. I know it’s damn hard though to extricate oneself from the grip of Tokyo as trains are on someone else’s schedule and slow and boring, and driving has huge highway toll issues not to mention omnipresent traffic.
>Okay, I did a bit of research and it looks like the original film was indeed called “Karate Kid” in Japanese, but the follow-ups were called “Best Kid 2?, etc.
I don’t mean to nit-pick…but The Karate Kid movie (even part 1) is titled “Best Kid” in Japan.
Supposedly this is because it was decided that a movie titled “Karate Kid” wouldn’t be popular here. And near the end of the movie, Daniel’s girlfriend, Ali, says “You’re the best, kid!”…which is where the name “Best Kid” came from.
>What happened to Daniel’s father is never explained in the movie
I’m not positive…but I seem to recall that it’s mentioned somewhere in the film that Daniel’s father had died.
Anyways, I also watched “The Karate Kid” again recently. And you’re correct…it’s a masterpiece!
Jason Collin Reply:
November 11th, 2008 at 11:43 PM
I just hope they don’t make this foolish remake IGN first reported on here:
http://movies.ign.com/articles/823/823413p1.html
Let the movies of the best decade for a kid to grow up in ever, the 80s, stand as they are.
Nick Ramsay Reply:
November 11th, 2008 at 11:47 PM
Yeah, okay. Funny how the first site I “researched” had the first one as Karate Kid, but the others as Best Kid. But, you’re right, other sites list them all as Best Kid.
Did you go to the ????? (“Edo Village”)?
It’s the Japanese version of those “Western World” places in America. Samurai, ninja and geisha walking around.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 12th, 2008 at 1:59 AM
We drove by Edo Village, but it seemed a bit hokey, and we were excited to get on to the temples, so we didn’t visit it.
Did you visit Edo Village?
I’ve been to Nikko a few times.
The first time I went there, I visited “Edo-Mura”.
It was years ago…when I first came to Japan. I enjoyed it.
If there were hills around my hood, I would roll down it. Cant think of any open grassy hills around tokyo….
Jason Collin Reply:
November 12th, 2008 at 11:32 AM
I think there are hills good for rolling down in Shinjuku Gyoen. If you went there on a not so crowded day, it might be possible, but that park is kind of formal, so the joy of rolling down a hill might be a bit muted.
Too bad Yoyogi Park is so flat!
Shinjyuku Gyoen! There are hills there, and perhaps the quiet nature of the park would make the roll that much better – silently smiling and giggling! There should be fake hill built in yoyogi park for the purpose of rolling down in on sunday afternoons.
Wow, I was there one day after you were and there were about 15,000 more people- you’re so lucky you could see everything during a weekday!
Jason Collin Reply:
November 13th, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Thanks for the comment. I suspected that might be the case, so I’m glad I took the day off on Friday to go! The minor financial loss was worth the peaceful time around the temples.
Can I join you guys next time you go haikyo?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 15th, 2008 at 7:36 PM
It wouldn’t be up to me if you can join, another guy organizes these haikyo trips and I’m usually just the driver. His link is the UK Mike one above, at the end of the post. He’d be the one to ask.
I live down the road, you guys shoulda stopped by and said hi.
That first picture is awesome.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 15th, 2008 at 7:43 PM
Thanks Tom….I was quite pleased with a few of the photos in this group, especially the white birch shot (4th photo). It helped of course to have perfect light that afternoon.
Some really nice shots you have. You might pay too much for your shoebox apartment, but at least you get some really great views.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 16th, 2008 at 10:57 PM
Thanks Jay….I may do another sunset series before I leave this apartment in January, if I can get distinct enough shots from these.
we should go there again if we can. but before sunrise dayo!!
Don’t be lazy to use a tripod!!
Jason Collin Reply:
November 16th, 2008 at 10:59 PM
Yes, we definitely should! I can’t believe we saw another photographer’s collection of this exact place today! Talking with him (thank you for translating!) was really helpful to me and opened my eyes to what is possible with sub-Nikon D300 level cameras.
And yes, I have to be much less lazy about using my tripod!!
Ah, and yes, waking up before sunrise! I’ll really need your help for that!
Yeah, Senjogahara is one of my most favourite places in Japan. The whole walk from Ryuzu-no-taki to Yunoko is amazing.
Autumn (end of October) is the best time to go – there are campsites in the area (closed from Nov.) – and it is relatively easy to get to by train and bus (the buses and roads will be crowded though). Once you’re there though, just walk everywhere!
Jason Collin Reply:
November 17th, 2008 at 8:07 PM
Hey Dale…we weren’t even aware of Senjogahara so planned no time for a walk about. We plan on returning there in December though if possible, after seeing the amazing photos of that place at an exhibition yesterday, though it would mean waking up before sunrise!
Very nice pics. I think I might head out to Gyoen next Sunday and just chill for awhile.
Wish I had me a nice camera, though.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 17th, 2008 at 8:11 PM
Thanks Billy.
DSLR cameras may not be as expensive as you think . . .
. . . the camera and lens I used to take these shots (Nikon D80 with Nikkor 50mm 1.8D lens) would cost you only ¥64,000 at Map Camera in Shinjuku (used gear).
I love to go camera gear shopping so if you ever want to go just let me know!
billywest Reply:
November 17th, 2008 at 11:03 PM
Thanks Jason.
I’m actually considering buying a video cam in the near future. If you’re into those as well, yeah, let’s hit up Shinjuku.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 11:50 PM
Hey Billy…yes, I’m into video too. I love my Xacti HD700.
What are you thinking of getting? I hear nothing but good things about Canon’s HV20. Sample video of Japan using that cam here:
http://www.vimeo.com/1537826
Some great shots, that’s a pretty special view you’ve got over there. What part of town will you be moving to next?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 17th, 2008 at 8:21 PM
Thanks Chris, I appreciate the complement as I think very highly of your photography work.
I’ll be moving all the way back to the U.S., so my time to photograph Japan will soon come to an end (February 2009). My next view will be from either California or Florida.
You should make some calendars with all these good photos compiled over the years! People look at me cross-eyed when they see my 2007 calendar of Fuji-san still hanging up.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 9:22 PM
Yeah Steve, you are right. I’m going to start putting together calendars this week! Thanks for the idea!
Did you take the photos in your Fuji calendar?
Steve-O Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Nope, I bought it at Tokyu Hands. Very good photos, though. I need another vacation to Japan.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Make sure you come before the end of February!
I think I might have enough decent shots of Fuji to make a calendar, maybe.
My friend has the same camera as yours! Nikkon D80 and a 50mm 1.8 Lens he got last Saturday (it was the reason we decided to get out that day).
So we went to that same park (Shinjuku Gyoen) last Sunday, but we were met with rain and it was already closed when we got there. The weather’s been ruining my weekends these recent weeks…
Your photos are stunning, and that 1st pic is just amazing!
Thanks for sharing the pics!
Jason Collin Reply:
November 18th, 2008 at 9:26 PM
Hi Megane. Thanks for your comment and complement. I’ve seen your comments on Mike’s Blender before.
That’s a big coincidence going to Shinjuku Gyoen with the same camera and lens just a day later Where did your friend buy his 50mm lens? Did he buy it new or used? I bought mine new at Yodobashi Camera, as the used one at Map Camera was only ¥3,000 cheaper.
Yes, the weather does suck on the weekends far too often.
Does your friend post his photos online anywhere?
[...] brilliant as the previous Japan autumn scene collection photos nor as interesting as Jason’s Shinjuku Gyoen photo gallery but still a colorful reminder that now is the time to go outdoors, bask in the sun and observe the [...]
Keep the photos coming, you’re inspiring me to get out more and shoot. I just got a new d80 in the mail today. I couldnt cave for the d90!!!
Jason Collin Reply:
November 19th, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Hi Jay….congrats on the D80 purchase!
What lens (lenses) did you get?
If you ever come up to Tokyo, be sure and let me know. I look forward to seeing your shots with the D80.
I tried to buy just the body only deal from B&H Photo, but they discontinued it. So, I bought it with the 18-55 vr. I think santa is going to bring me the nifty fifty for xmas and i plan on buying the Tokina 11-16 2.8 when i get my bonus in late december
You should start seeing a lot of shots coming from my direction in the next month or so!!
Jason Collin Reply:
November 19th, 2008 at 11:35 PM
I see by your lens choices you are into the wide side of things. I can recommend the Nikkor 50mm 1.8D lens as one I’ve used to get many of my favorite shots. It’s infinitely cheaper than the 1.4D, which costs nearly as much as the D80 body itself.
Nice pictures! I like the colors.
I didn’t have the guts to do the same thing when I did that in Tokyo. I just put my camera at my waist and pointed randomly. I still had cool shots though…
Jason Collin Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 3:39 AM
Alex! Hey, how are you doing?
Thanks for giving me my very first tips when I first got my D80.
I guess it is a little bold taking such shots, but I am using a 200mm lens so most of the time people have no idea. And I figure it’s my best chance to get people shots because doing so in the U.S. might be a bit more challenging.
I am usually shy at first too, but as I stay in the same spot more, I get bolder. Most of the shots above were taken from one spot I was leaning against for about 30 minutes!
Dude – one of those snaps is actually a colleague of mine and he’s none to happy! You better go and hide…
Kidding – nice shots…
Jason Collin Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 11:04 AM
Ha, you had me for a second there Scott! Then I was wondering what would a colleague of yours be doing in Kabukicho in the middle of the afternoon!
Great idea for a series and some great shots too Jason. Thanks for pulling this together and sharing it.
I will have to pull out my long(er) lens and head out to try and do the same. I must admit to having more of a passion for landscape architecture though but capturing a candid rather than staged image of people is starting to intrigue me more and more.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Thanks Shane!
Yes, I’ve found that since getting my D80 and the 18-200mm VR lens, I’ve quickly been drawn to street photography and candid shots. As I wrote in the post, it can be quite a thrill. Also, I find people’s faces a very interesting subject matter.
And I think Tokyo is a good place to develop one’s stealth techniques as I feel Japanese are more used to seeing photographers out on the streets. Two days ago in the course of 5 minutes I saw three guys walking around with huge DSLRs.
Might get a new, faster 200mm lens very soon!
I hope to see some candids of Hawaii soon! Where in Hawaii are you?
There are a lot of strange head shapes and weird faces there.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 5:05 PM
Yes, I only posted the weirdest I could find.
Ha, I have to agree with Mark a bit, that is a good collection of some interesting looking people, and like you said, not all of them are pretty.
Nice idea though, something I would definitely do if I had a D80 or 90…
Jason Collin Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 5:06 PM
You should get a D90 soon! Or at least a D80!
Great shots- very interesting subjects, seems like something I’d like to try too. Wouldn’t feel right doing it with my compact camera though- needs to be a big camera I feel.
People-watching by proxy.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 5:08 PM
Thanks! Yeah, it is great fun taking candid street shots of people.
And yes, it does help with credibility and gumption to be holding a semi-real camera. Need one of those camera vests with all the pockets still.
You too, get a D90 or at least D80 soon! D80s go for under ¥50k now.
Great photos Jason. Such a wide variety of faces too.
Getting over my inhibitions to get (fairly) up and close to people and get pictures of them is something I’m trying to work myself up to, but I’m not finding it easy it has to be said.
There again, with results like these, it’s probably about time I started to try a bit harder.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 21st, 2008 at 12:21 AM
Thanks Lee.
I thought I was just being chicken by hesitating to take candid street photographs, but it seems most people are as hesitant or more than I am to do so.
I think to take these kinds of shots it’s key to stay in the exact same spot for awhile, preferably with your back right up against something. I was leaning against an entrance to the stairs to an underground mall for most of these. Then as you stay in that spot you’ll feel more comfortable and eventually bolder.
It helps to use as a lot of zoom as well to put distance between you and the subject. I recommend at least a 200mm lens (on a crop format DSLR, so it’s effectively 300mm).
Great pics. I am curious who that statue is.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:03 AM
Thanks.
I was curious who was the statue of too, but no English sign or really any sign to speak of. On the back of the base of the statue was a small plaque with some kanji on it and I didn’t take a photo of it to show anyone later.
Great shots- I had no idea until recently you put a comment on them all- makes it worth looking at them all to see what your comment is. Previously I just looked at the thumbnails cos I figured that was all there was to it. Now I’ll be reading your posts more attentively.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:05 AM
Thanks too.
If you mouse over the thumbnails and leave the cursor there for a second, the comment appears as well.
You deserved to win this one. Your photograph is very beautiful. Love the composition, love the way it moves the eye across itself, love the color.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Thank you Dy…I’ll send you a copy of the magazine it was in.
As you may remember, I like to watch. I like this series. It’s a little bit creepy, but the authenticity of faces unaware of your photography evens it out. So good.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 AM
I’ll try to make this a weekly series. I’m thinking of heading to the richest area of the city, Ginza, for the next series to get the most contrast.
Did you watch the alternate ending, wherein the cord wraps around his fetal neck and he dies in utero? I thought that was a better ending.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 23rd, 2008 at 11:03 AM
I didn’t seen that alternate ending, but I read about it on IMDB. I was ok with the ending as it was, I think.
[...] Dirty Harry marathon continued this weekend with MAGNUM FORCE, the second installment in the series, and [...]
Sorry, I knew that you don’t like comedies.
I just wanted laugh without thinking.
Actually you enjoyed more than me?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 25th, 2008 at 11:25 PM
Actually, I like comedies…just not comedies that have gas in them! But I like going to see movies you recommend too!
Hmm, maybe I did laugh more than you?? Especially about the joke about young boys when they are nervous!!
[...] second installment of my FACES OF TOKYO photo series took me to Takadanobaba, an area of Tokyo known for its college town feel, or at least [...]
hey- i like this gallery- but maybe got fewer front-on shots? seeing people smiling into the lens is nice though. pretty sure i wouldn’t get that reaction with my camera. they probably think you work for a magazine or something- which is cool.
good stuff, looking forward to next.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 26th, 2008 at 11:04 PM
Thanks…yeah, there might be less front-on shots this time because for a majority of this session I was sitting off to the side of the passing foot traffic, where as for the Kabukicho shoot I was standing almost directly (but somewhat hidden) in the foot traffic.
I think I can expect to easily find such a good spot to shoot from like I did that first time at Kabukicho.
It would be pretty hard to get these kinds of shots with a point and shoot camera I think because I was using a focal range of 300mm, unless one stands like really close to the passing foot traffic. Plus it would be pretty hard to line up the shot without a good optical viewfinder.
Nice pics again Jason.
Out of interest, what was the main reason for choosing the Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 26th, 2008 at 11:18 PM
Thanks Lee.
Well, I did a good two weeks of solid research both online and in Map Camera getting hands on with various 70/80-200mm lenses before deciding on the Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm (¥59,000 used + ¥1,500 for a new lens hood).
The biggest factor was off course money. If money wasn’t a factor, then I would have of course gone with the Nikkor 70-200mm VR lens. But that costs ¥165,000 minimum for a used one at Map Camera.
I thought I’d get a Sigma 70-200mm, but Map Camera only had the old model (used). When I tried that one out in the store I immediately knew this lens was not up for what I wanted to do with it. The newer model might be, but it cost ¥92,000 and there were no used ones as it’s a very new lens, so I couldn’t try it out.
At this point I thought I was out of luck, as I had to stay around a budget of ¥60,000.
For some reason I never heard of the Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm lens, and I can’t remember how it dawned on me, but I was immediately stoked about it. After having tried the Sigma lens and the Nikkor 70-200mm VR, I thought the Nikkor 80-200mm felt significantly lighter, which may or may not be true, but that was my feeling and still is. I think it’s very manageable for handheld shots.
The reason why I wanted a F2.8 zoom lens was that my (now traded in) Nikkor 18-200mm VR F3.5-5.6 was just not fast enough to get sharp shots, especially at 200mm. I only have a Nikon D80, so ISO 800 is about the max usable ISO, so an aperture of 5.6 couldn’t produce sharp shots unless it was bright and sunny out.
Hence the desire to move to a F2.8 piece of glass (ha, my first time using this pretentious term!).
I also got the newest Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 lens, so now all my glass is F2.8 or faster (my third lens is the Nikkor 50mm F1.8D).
My next lens, which won’t be bought until next year, will possibly be like a 10mm fisheye or other ultrawide lens.
I have noticed already though that the Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm does not focus quite as fast as I’d like. But still, for less than ¥61,000 out the door, I think it can’t be beat for a Nikon shooter on a budget.
Yeah I agree with almost everything you say here. Gore was just sick, especially as I had no idea it was coming, and I happened to be eating dinner at the same time. Glad that wasn’t a recurring theme throughout the movie.
Tom Cruise made the movie for me. He should act like a bastard more in other movies, he’s got a natural talent for it. Liked the totally new way they used him. Him being an action star never flew with me, he just isn’t badass looking enough.
Robert Downey also had a huge role in saving this movie. Damn but that guy can act! Pretty much everything he said was funny in an unforced way.
Which I can’t say at all for Jack Black, Just went way over the top for me with his heroin addiction thing. I was like enough already! It’s not funny. Unlike you though, I thought his Fart preview at the beginning was the funniest thing he did. How could you, not enjoy that??
Ben Stiller was just himself as usual. Didn’t bring anything to the table at all. Maybe I laughed a bit at the Simple Jack preview near the beginning, but they kept bringing it up again and again, which made it annoying.
So Aya enjoyed it then?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 26th, 2008 at 11:28 PM
Yeah, Aya liked it, I think!
About Jack Black, I just don’t like the “F” word. You know I never use it myself. Plus, it was just gratuitous. I prefer guerilla gas.
Robert Downey Jr. pretty much always rules on screen.
Tom Cruise should make a series of digital shorts featuring his movie producer character! I thought it was awesome when he was explaining things to the Pecker and reached for the stereo remote and started showing the Pecker how to be a playa. Loved how Cruise said “playa” even!
Loved the fat, hairy forearm prosthetics he wore as well.
I think if there wasn’t that uncalled for gore in the opening, I might have liked the movie much more. It took awhile to recover from that, even though I averted my eyes from the screen for most of it.
Beautiful side profile of that one girl.
You don’t like how she’s left some of it hanging in front? Looks good to me.
By the way, do you know that this particular post is displayed three times on your front page?
Jason Collin Reply:
November 26th, 2008 at 11:21 PM
Thanks Can. I was glad I was able to get that side shot of her in focus, had to act fast to get that shot as I had been looking the other way. Usually I like to track a person a bit first before they come into the range I want to take the shot at.
Yes, I know. This post is in three categories so it shows up in three spots on my front page which are automatically updated when the category gets updated and I haven’t had a chance to post more in the various individual categories.
Oh right you do like it, my bad.
Nice candid shots here, Jason, especially the first and second. It’s surprising how many people are smiling on your photos.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 26th, 2008 at 11:23 PM
Thanks…..I was surprised by the smiles too. I didn’t get anything close to a smile in Kabukicho.
However, I was shooting in a much different way this time. First, I had a bigger lens on my camera, maybe creating an air of more seriousness. And also I was sitting down on a long bench, which may seem like a less threatening position than standing up. Plus, it was easier on my legs to sit and I could stabilize the heavy lens by locking my elbows onto my knees.
I’m curious to see what reactions I get next time if I have to stand while shooting again.
Hold the phone. You don’t use “the ‘f’ word?” Do you have small children?
As for the gore, is your distaste for it mitigated at all by the absolute knowledge that it’s all fake?
(You might want to leave your “American Badass” t-shirt in Japan….)
Jason Collin Reply:
November 28th, 2008 at 11:10 AM
I was referring to another “f word” Dy. THE F-word, I use constantly. Instead of the “f-word” Jack Black uses often, I prefer the much more civilized term “gas.”
In multiple dreams last night dogs approached me and let me pet them.
Love it! I really like this phase of your work as an artist.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 28th, 2008 at 11:07 AM
Thanks a lot Dy….the top photo in this series may be m favorite shot I’ve taken since I first got my D80 in August.
I’m pretty much the polar opposite of you on this movie- the only funny bit for me was the opening 10 minutes, during which I laughed a lot and thought to myself- awesome, this is gonna rock. Then they went into the jungle and the rest of the movie was the same stuff from the first 10 minutes, but watered down and spread out over a pathetically dumb plot.
Jack Black was awful in this not because Jack Black was awful, but because the script he had to read was just not funny. At all. Likewise with all the other characters. Almost unbelievable to me that the people who made the beginning of the movie (yes, and the end with Tom dancing) also made the whole middle bit. It was tight, ridiculous, humor-dense, then just baggy and weak and I didn’t laugh once til Tom Cruise appeared again. Weird.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 28th, 2008 at 11:09 AM
I thought the middle had some story and progression, first the arguments about where to go, then planning out the rescue mission, then carrying out that mission. Granted, it was a loose story structure.
Tome Cruise really needs to play that character again though!
[...] just happened to be walking the same direction for quite some time. I was on a photo walk in Takadanobaba, looking for a good spot to shoot, which always seemed to be just in front of her. Actually, it [...]
Wow, these are good. I take horrible people-shots, so I’m in awe of anyone who does it well. Your answer to Lee’s question about the 80-200mm lens choice was interesting. I like my 18-200mm VR, but I’m starting to wonder about the sharpness – it’s not quite where I want it to be…
Jason Collin Reply:
November 29th, 2008 at 11:29 AM
Thanks Chris.
About the 18-200mm VR lens, I think for the great landscape and nature shots you take while hiking up mountains, it is a good lens still, as its weight/size to performance ratio is good. The 80-200mm is much heavier and larger. I had to buy a new Lowepro backpack style carrying case just to be able to bring it around town. I don’t think I’d ever take it up a mountain, unless it was an easy-ish day hike. I was able to carry my D80 and 18-200mm fairly easily up Akadake (2,899m) recently, but I don’t know if I would have dared to bring the beast 80-200mm on that hike. But no doubt you are a much stronger hiker than I am, so maybe the extra weight may not matter.
But yeah, sharpness was also one of my concerns, but maybe even more was the vignetting at the 200mm focal length. I have started to print out selected shots at larger than A4 size and then I really noticed some darker corners on a few shots.
Let me know if you get the 80-200mm. If you don’t mind spending more, getting the AF-S 80-200mm would be better, as the one weakness of the AF 80-200mm is that it doesn’t focus quite as quickly as I’d like in some situations as it lacks the internal focusing motor (in Nikon’s nomenclature AF-S lenses have the silent wave motor to help focusing, which the 18-200mm does).
Chris (i-cjw.com) Reply:
November 29th, 2008 at 5:51 PM
I took a look at the 80-200mm in Bikku on the way home this evening – it’s a beautiful lens, but at 1.3kg it’s a bit much even for me in the mountains… looks like I’ll be sticking with the 18-200mm VR for a while!
These are not all her dogs. She is a paid dog-walker. Also, I think a dog chomped off her left hand.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 29th, 2008 at 7:06 PM
You really think a woman who dresses like that is a paid dog walker? Sorry if it was meant as sarcasm, I have no ability to detect it.
Mark Reply:
December 12th, 2008 at 2:34 PM
I was sarcastic. Andy is serious.
I think the dogs in bags are spares, just in case any of the ones she’s “walking” get run over. I’m amazed those terriers aren’t wearing designer coats to match her outfit.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 1st, 2008 at 12:48 AM
That’s a good observation, why no jackets for the dogs as well? Maybe her one remaining shred of sanity is her firm belief that dogs should not wear clothes.
That takes me back – my wife’s folks are from Chichibu, and many years ago I decided to do the 34 Kannon temple pilgrimage round the town. I remember Iwaidou, number 26, very well. Looks like you had fantastic weather for it!
Jason Collin Reply:
December 1st, 2008 at 12:47 AM
Very good memory Christ, number 26 indeed. Do you remember how long it took you to visit all 34 temples? We hope to go back and visit some more in December.
I guess you must have seen the fire festival? We are thinking of going to check that out on December 6th.
Chris (i-cjw.com) Reply:
December 1st, 2008 at 8:16 AM
It took about 10 days because a) it was mid-August when the temperature was hitting 40 degress and b) I was a lazy student at that point, with plenty of summer vacation to fill and a penchant for not getting up till noon… I think it would usually take 4-6 days though.
The fire festival is great, although sadly I can’t go this year. You do know it’s on the 3rd Dec though?
Jason Collin Reply:
December 1st, 2008 at 1:04 PM
Ah, thanks for the heads up on the date of the fire festival…I didn’t check it out in detail until you mentioned it, I just thought it would be the first weekend of December. Guess I’ll be missing it unfortunately.
Hiking around those no doubt humid forests as well in 40-degree weather is nothing I’d try to tackle in less than 10 days either!
Great pictures again. I wonder how active that temple is? Is there a lone monk who lives there? Worshipers? Many pilgrims?
Jason Collin Reply:
December 1st, 2008 at 1:07 PM
Thanks…
The inside of the temple looked in fairly good condition, without any noticeable huge buildup of dust, but also no plate of fruit either. It would be a good place for meditation I think, as it is high up and secluded, but also no real view from that high point, so one wouldn’t get distracted just staring off into the distance.
I think quite a few people make the pilgrimage to all 34 temples, but there must be a specific season for it I bet.
[...] a door crack to know if it was opened while he was out, which I’ve seen used recently in a Jackie Chan movie, or was it a Dirty Harry [...]
Gulls are classless birds- you mean they have no class, or they have no peers? In that photo, they look pretty awesome.
The staring duck got me good- if an Andy Warhol hitman were a duck- he’d be this duck.
The tongue-out duck- is he also spitting a jet of water out of his mouth? Mad skills to do that without lips.
Escaping egret- ftw.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 1st, 2008 at 10:46 PM
I mean that gulls have no class. I observed how they acted at the pond, and compared to the other birds they seemed to be utterly lacking class. Then I recalled something from my memory banks that confirmed their lack of class status. Then again, I saw some ducks acting pretty low-class as well.
I wish I had gotten a better shot of the multi-talented spitting/tongue sticking out duck so we could more clearly see the true nature of its talents.
Thanks about the egret escaping, maybe it will make Photo of the Week in Metropolis!
I think it looks pretty cool.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 4th, 2008 at 11:10 AM
I may have to finally decide one way or the other in my mind about this building, and I think I’ll end up agreeing with you.
This building was almost my first impression of Tokyo since we came in on the Shinkansen and took the train to Shinjuku where we were staying. I completely fell in love with it. It is architecture as sculpture – the good kind that makes you want to touch it!
Jason Collin Reply:
December 4th, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Wow, your first impression of Tokyo? I wonder if the designers of the building knew that would be the case for many people when they chose that design. It would certainly give one a much different impression I think than people who visited before it was built.
Did you actually touch it??
Danielle Reply:
December 5th, 2008 at 12:43 AM
I did take a break on a pylon in front of the station at one point and gazed up at it for at least 20minutes while I waited for hubby to go hunting for something. I had a high fever at the time and I was definitely communing with it but I’d rather not divulge the content
Cocoon! Just saw you took shots of it. Is on my schedule to go shoot it also. Nice- will have to aim to take different shots than you.
Hi. Nice site and shots!
Thanks to your posting, I read for the first time about “Haikyo” or “Urban Exploring”.
Seems interesting… How can I get information about interesting places in southern Japan?
Jason Collin Reply:
December 5th, 2008 at 3:01 AM
Thanks jero….glad to hear you are interested in urban exploring and haikyo. Well, if you can read Japanese, there is a book available that would include some haikyo in southern Japan. I don’t have the book, but my friend does. You could contact him through his site which features a lot more haikyo than mine does:
http://www.michaeljohngrist.com/
You could be the first to write about those as we haven’t been to any much further south than Shizouka!
I sure hope Mothra was in that Cocoon.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 5th, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Love your gravatar Koichi. I for one, never believed that Mothra and her two worms could ever defeat Godzilla.
Koichi Reply:
December 6th, 2008 at 6:55 AM
I know, right?
Mothra redeems himself in later films, at least
[...] been other places, like Chichibu, where the ginko trees long have since turned yellow, and I guess Shinjuku’s, in their [...]
I always wondered why they used those old style brooms.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 6th, 2008 at 10:51 AM
I guess for things like leaves on pavement, those old style brooms are pretty effective. They have gripping power. Modern brooms would have trouble sweeping the somewhat sticky leaves I think, and a rake would make that uncomfortable grinding noise when used on pavement.
No leaf blowers in Japan either.
[...] cannot pick between this movie and THE DARK KNIGHT for best movie of 2008, and am glad I don’t have to. I loved them both. RELATED [...]
Totally agree–I went on Friday with Juri and was totally shocked at how good this movie was.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 7th, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Glad you liked it too. Was Juri equally enthralled? Aya loved it.
My first impression of Tokyo came from the To-cho which is also a pretty amazing set of buildings.
Tokyo has so many amazing, artistic buildings on a small scale, so it’s nice to see something ambitious on a large scale. I’m not sure if it works for me either, but I respect that they tried something exciting.
Thanks for the pics as always.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 7th, 2008 at 10:38 PM
Thanks Jei….yeah, what you said, at least they are trying something new and exciting. There is another skyscraper about 3/4th finished in Nishi-Shinjuku and so far it looks very square, figuratively and literally.
For something that smells so bad, ginko nuts are just great – a bit of salt, a jug of Asahi, nothing better.
There’s an art to preparing them. First of all, you’ve got to mash off most of the pulp in a big sieve. This is the worst bit. Then you get rid of the pulp that is left sticking to the nuts by grinding them in a tray of sand or gravel. Then stick the cleaned nuts into a hot pan and pop the shells like popcorn. Then you’ve got fresh, emerald green kernels, still warm and delicious.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 10th, 2008 at 11:20 PM
That does sound like quite a long process to make the nuts edible! If I have a chance to eat some before I leave Japan, I will.
When I was in Chichibu last night quite a few people were out searching for the nuts, not even afraid of going into other people’s yards to get some!
[...] Takadanobaba [...]
Wow Jason, you captured some wonderful faces and expressions there moments there and the lighting is great too. Congrats on the job!
Jason Collin Reply:
December 13th, 2008 at 12:03 AM
Thanks Danielle. Getting the Nikon SB-600 Speedlight really helped with the group shots, and experimenting with it for candids was fun too. That experimenting produced the lead photo (blurred horizontal background).
Hey your skill has been really improving! I heard of your photos gaining many good reputation from my mom. They are impressed a great deal. I was also impressed how big my mom is gonna be…She used to be slim!!! Anyway… The photos are superb. Keep up!
Jason Collin Reply:
December 13th, 2008 at 12:05 AM
Thanks! Your mom is a much different person than my first impression of her years ago when we saw her at Ochanomizu. She is very genki and strong, and she makes a great Santa Claus!
I did actually make one settings mistake that didn’t allow me to get as many good candid and dancing shots as I would have liked. At least I’ll know better for next time.
Maho Reply:
December 14th, 2008 at 1:59 PM
No worries that was a good start and you will be much better next time. It’s obvious that you are potential. Oh I passed your question about my mom’s appearance to her and her answer was “It’s human evolution”! Santa Claus was a good choice for her I guess.
Maho
The photos look great. Congrats on your first photo gig!
I am dying to get the sb-600 or sb-800 to help step my game up. How do you like the 17-50 2.8??
Jason Collin Reply:
December 13th, 2008 at 12:07 AM
Thanks Jay.
I went with the SB-600 just based on price. It was much cheaper (like half of the SB-800).
I really like the Tamron 17-50mm XR Di II. I haven’t had a chance to use it that much yet, but for group shots it was great. I’ll test it out in the field tomorrow literally, as I hike up a mountain in Yamanashi Prefecture. I’ll try to get some good forest shots, waterfall shots, and panoramas from the summit.
A friend also just bought that Tamron lens yesterday on my recommendation. Unless you can afford the Nikon 17-55mm, there is no better mid-range zoom out there.
I did not think there were any cowboys and cowgirls in Japan. Learned something new about Japan again.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 14th, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Glad I could bring to light a new scene in Tokyo. They all have a whole lot of fun at their events and welcome guests.
It always amazes me how Japanese people take fairly unknown customs/traditions from other countries, well the US especially, then totally take them over and make them their own. This just goes to prove that if you look hard enough, you can find any kind of group/circle/club operating in Tokyo, no matter how outlandish it may be.
Congrats again the photo job.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 14th, 2008 at 12:48 PM
Thanks Can.
Yeah, I’m always amazed by the different hobby groups you can find in Tokyo. Same for old toys and collectibles you can find in Japan. I always wonder how those things ever made it to these shores.
You got some excellent shots here and got paid for what you love doing which is something that is not that easy to do here in Japan. I am looking at purchasing a speedlight did you get it from Map? I also just got through a couple of nikon DVDs which had some good advice about creative lighting which may interest you although via Bittorrent (http://www.demonoid.com/files/details/1702229/6976998/)
Jason Collin Reply:
December 14th, 2008 at 12:51 PM
Thanks, yeah, it was a real thrill to earn doing something I truly love.
I actually got my Speedlight from Bic Camera as I had some points and other circumstances made me buy it there. At Bic it’s ¥27,500 and at Map it’s ¥25,000 so it would be better straightup to buy it at Map.
Thanks for the tip about the Nikon DVDs. I’ll check it out. The SB-600 has a huge manual and I have only barely cracked it.
Jason, I just watched the Dark Knight for the first time. One word:
Awesome.
Make that three words:
Awesome
Awesome
Awesome
Jason Collin Reply:
December 14th, 2008 at 11:40 PM
Great…glad you finally got to see the movie! Was it on the newly released blu-ray version?
The only other 2008 movie I can recommend as much as The Dark Knight is Wall-E. Have you already seen that?
Tornadoes28 Reply:
December 15th, 2008 at 1:59 AM
Yes, it was.
I have not seen Wall-e. Maybe I will rent it.
Great shots, Jason! I’m glad to see that you got at least one pic of the lone foreigner that was dancing at the event. Unfortunately, I changed from my white shirt with red bow tie and cummerbund to black for the Cha-cha performance and left it on for the rest of the evening. Doesn’t show up so well in the picture. You didn’t happen to get one of Mami and me dancing in the Cha-cha performance together, did you? For some reason, we completely forgot to have a group picture of our Cha-cha team taken…
If you or anybody else is interested, there are other couples dance events going on around the Tokyo and Yokohama area: http://www.westiejapan.com, http://www.moon.sannet.ne.jp/swing/ are a couple of the ones that I go to for West coast swing and hustle. Westie Japan will be having a Christmas dance party on Dec. 23 at Zero Hour Studio in Roppongi. There are also lots of Salsa and Argentine tango dances , which are pretty easy to find online. Also, once a month Lily, Farly, Mami, and I with several other Club Howdy dancers get together for couples dancing (Swing, Country two-step, Nightclub two-step, Waltz, etc). Anyone interested could contact Lily and I’m sure that she would let them know our schedule. The more, the merrier!
Now, seeing that everyone else who has made a comment has a web-site, I guess it’s getting time to start my social dancing in Tokyo/Yokohama blog.
Best wishes on the start of your photography career!
Jason Collin Reply:
December 15th, 2008 at 10:34 AM
Hi Todd….thanks for all the info about other dancing events.
Sorry, I did try many times to get a good shot of you and Mami dancing, but unfortunately none of them came out too well due to human error.
And yes you should start your own social dancing website, I think you’d have the market cornered! Using Word Press or Squarespace, it’s pretty easy to start a website.
Thank you so much!
Lily shows your photos in each class everyday.
Your photos makes everyone happy!
I think that more people request you to take the photo if the next chance exists.
And … Thank you Aya-chan!
Jason Collin Reply:
December 15th, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Your welcome…thank you for the chance to take the photos!
I’m glad everyone is liking them and I hope there is another chance to photograph Club Howdy dancers!
Looks like we have more than photography in common. I don’t think movie stars have the presence like Clint these days.
I love his one liners even in the Westerns he’s been in.
From The Outlaw Josey Wales for instance
Bounty hunter: I’m looking for Josey Wales.
Josey Wales: That would be me
Bounty hunter: You’re wanted Wales
Josey Wales: I’m downright popular
Josey Wales: You a bounty hunter?
Bounty hunter: Man’s got to do somethin’ for a living these days.
Josey Wales: “Dying ain’t much of a living,boy”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL9HsfGJ5c4
Can’t wait to see his latest movie, “The Gran Torino”
Jason Collin Reply:
December 16th, 2008 at 11:29 PM
Hi Pete…..I totally agree with you, no one has Clint’s presence on screen today. He was a real Man. I first saw Clint on screen on the TV show Rawhide, which I of course only saw in syndication when I was a kid.
About three years ago I watched the Dollars trilogy and loved it, especially the first one, FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.
I heard THE GRAN TORINO might be his last ever acting role.
I’ll be watching the next Dirty Harry movie in my marathon soon.
Yeah, she saw you all right. And they definitely look like models.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Hmmm, maybe I should have gone and given them my photography business card then??
I’m thinking the guy behind her looks rather model-esque himself
Jason Collin Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 10:43 AM
I’ll keep my eye open for that guy again Danielle and can get a number if I see him again!
Models in Shinjuku? They’ve strayed far from their normal Roppongi-Hiro-Akasaka habitat. Maybe that’s the look on her face – the fear of not being able to find a Segafredo….
Jason Collin Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Ha! Maybe they were into old records, which that area of Shinjuku is known for?
I’ll have to go shooting in Hiroo soon then. I knew there was a reason I felt in the back of my mind I should go there.
Its a funny shot! I wonder if she was trying to wreck your shot or she was just shocked, what was the reaction after you took the picture, di d they leave? By the way, do you manually add the EXIF data into this post or is this a nice easy way to do it?
Jason Collin Reply:
December 17th, 2008 at 10:47 AM
They just kept on chatting while I was shooting and even after I left. I think only the blonde girl noticed me. Even after she made that face none of the others turned to see what she was looking at.
For the EXIF data, I just took a screenshot of that exact dialogue box you see in iPhoto and then yes, manually FTP-ed it to my webhost. I do it because anytime I see a photo the first thing I think after deciding if I like the photo or not is wonder what settings the photographer used, and often there is no info.
I really like that shot or Roppongi Hills.
What plug-in do you use for your pictures?
Jason Collin Reply:
December 20th, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Thanks Tom.
That shot of Roppongi Hills is basically straight out of the camera, with only a tiny 1% histogram adjustment.
By plugins, do you mean Photoshop plugins? I have almost no Photoshop skills actually!
nice pics. i have to find time to go out and see the bright lights. this year end has been rather busy. ^^
Jason Collin Reply:
December 21st, 2008 at 10:28 AM
Thanks Ken. Metropolis just published a huge list of lights all around the Tokyo area.
I’m sorry, I meant WordPress plugin. I’m considering making the switch.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 21st, 2008 at 10:33 AM
Ah, ok. For the photo gallery I use PhotoXhibit:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/photoxhibit/
I like it because it pulls photos right from Picassa, Flickr, etc. That way I don’t have to resize photos manually before uploading. It saves me one step in my work flow because Picassa automatically resizes photos for me with its uploader.
WordPress has plenty of quirks still, even in its hugely revamped 2.7 version. I am trying out Squarespace for my new photography only site. I recommend giving them consideration along with WordPress.
Nice pics and good advice about the stairs. I hate waiting in crowds for things like elevators. I prefer the stairs. Hopefully I will visit the tower some day.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:06 PM
Thanks Tornadoes….if one didn’t take the stairs and waited, then I don’t know how worth it, it would have been. The only bad thing about the stairs is you have to pay the same admission price as if you took the elevator! But, you do get some small card noting your accomplishment of walking up all those steps.
Stairs = control your Destiny
elevator = let machines do the work for you (i.e., see WALL-E — my review: http://jasoncollin.org/2008/12/07/wall-e-2008-review/
great post and from your pictures I can tell you are quite skilled with a digital camera.
Congrats on your sixth year when it comes!
I can still only dream of visiting Japan one day.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:08 PM
Thanks about the photos.
I hope you have a chance to visit Japan before they change and sterilize Akihabara even more.
not my kinda film but I really like your blog
subscribed to rss and added you to couple social sites like flickr and friendfeed
Jason Collin Reply:
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Thanks!
….yeah, I was looking for a light, feel-good kind of movie, and mistakingly thought it was recommended to me by a friend. And I like Mos Def, so thought that would help, but it didn’t.
Added you on Flickr as well.
Nice shot, J
Jason Collin Reply:
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:27 PM
Thanks Jei.
I’d like to get you in some kung-fu action shots before I leave!
When I click to this page, my virus scanner has to clean something. That’s probably not a good thing. Not sure what’s up. Nice shot btw!
Jason Collin Reply:
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Thanks Rob….don’t know why you are getting that virus alert. My site is clean!
[...] There are some great pictures of the Ginkgo trees in Tokyo here. [...]
natsukashii!!!
I did the stairs too and blogged it a while ago. Good to know it’s still a good thing to do!
http://www.japannewbie.com/2007/11/07/a-visit-to-tokyo-tower/
I thought the signs along the way were funny as well.
- Harvey
That is a pretty cool looking building. Architecture like this is one of the aspects that make world class cities like Tokyo and New York so interesting.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 26th, 2008 at 7:58 PM
These types of buildings tend to be concentrated in single areas in Tokyo, so if you don’t go to the right parts of the city, you’d only see the boring majority.
L.A. doesn’t have as many cool buildings?
Tornadoes28 Reply:
December 27th, 2008 at 2:29 AM
Nothing like this in LA. However, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown LA is pretty crazy now that I think of it. You can see a picture of it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney_Concert_Hall
Some great shots, ones I didn’t even think of taking myself and I cruised by it 2 or 3 times. Distant shot from the street and tight on the side- both great ways to look at it.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 27th, 2008 at 1:19 PM
Thanks…the distant shot was just because we happened to be walking that way toward the building.
Some might argue Akihabara has already been sterilized.
I’ve been to the tokyo Tower several times, but next time I’ll definitely try walking up. I have never – never – been able to see Fuji.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 27th, 2008 at 7:46 PM
That’s too bad you haven’t been able to see Fuji yet. Of course the best chances are early in the morning (before 9am) and in the evening (about 30-minutes before sunset to dusk).
That building immediately caught my eye when they started building it as being one of the exceedingly rare instances of a genuinely interesting building in Tokyo. I was disappointed to see the Blood Diamond people were going to be the tenants. Anyone know the architects? It’s stating the obvious to say it’s Sir Norman-esque.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 28th, 2008 at 10:53 AM
I would have liked to of seen the inner frame of this building while it was being built. Was it all twisted looking? Do you have a photo of it?
Yeah, I saw this on a plane last year and it was just awful. I was actually surprised you would watch it or review it.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 28th, 2008 at 11:41 PM
Well, I review every movie I watch, be it good or bad. It’s more for my own record so I can remember which movies I’ve seen and how I felt about them at the time. I’m trying to stay on an at least 50 movie a year viewing pace.
Sounds worth watching! Besides, I love Sean Penn’s human films. Thanks for the review!
Jason Collin Reply:
December 28th, 2008 at 11:42 PM
Hi Yoko…you’re welcome.
Yes, if you are a Sean Penn fan, then MILK is definitely a must see movie.
Well, I just searched for the theatre, but it’s not open in Tokyo, is it?
Jason Collin Reply:
December 29th, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Yes, of course MILK is not in any theater in Japan. In fact, it doesn’t even have a release date scheduled yet!
You can check here on IMDB for any possible release date, but I wouldn’t expect one until at least after May according to the list:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1013753/releaseinfo
It is really, really hard being a serious English-language movie fan in Japan (at least if you want to see new releases when they are released).
That’s pretty cool. They could make some good money here in Santa Monica on Friday and Saturday nights doing shows for people on the Third Street Promenade, a popular shopping street.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 30th, 2008 at 10:56 PM
This group of performers are serious professionals actually. One of them was just from that particular neighborhood and kind of doing a favor to the community for its New Year’s festival at the local neighborhood shrine. Or at least that’s the impression I gathered.
But no doubt they could rake in the money in Santa Monica. I am not easily impressed, not at all, and I was blown away by what they did. If I had only not forgotten to bring the Xacti!
That is rich. Great find.
I wish I could find a video of this. It looks pretty amazing!
I agree. They might not be Maiko. There are many places where regular girls can get made up to be Geisha and walk around town.
lovely shot Jason. Makes me wish I was there.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:54 AM
Thanks, if you can come and visit before March we can go out photographing together!
Jamaipanese Reply:
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:19 PM
“come visit before March” I so wish I could just easily do that.
I could come over before March….thats March 2011 right?
[...] fame of Pontocho Alley. Once there though I learned that this street is home to geisha and maiko (see photo) who display their talents in places no mere tourist can simply wander into. This photo was taken [...]
I like it! Those neon signs in the left rear are bright! I don’t know what “one-chip color area” is, but I wonder what part of the photo you metered?
Jason Collin Reply:
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:57 AM
Thanks Ben….I use active matrix metering, with one-point focus and the range set to wide (on my Nikon D80). I probably set the focus on the red lanterns on the left and then recomposed.
I usually choose the brightest object to set the focus on for night shots, as long as it’s not bright enough to make the rest of the shot dark.
Great pics though on a couple of them your website address obscures the pic. Thanks for sharing (-:
Loco
Jason Collin Reply:
January 4th, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Thanks Loco.
About the watermarks…since I started selling some of my photos, I’ve also started taking more measures to protect my photos that are posted online. I agree sometimes watermarks can be distracting, but it’s a standard and necessary practice that most photographers use when posting photos online.
The lead photo can be seen without watermark in the photo gallery.
The reds, greens and blues contrast nicely.
I liked how the monks seemed to be saying ??????? even though I know that’s not what they were saying. That ringing bell could make for some nice sound clips.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 4th, 2009 at 10:02 AM
It’s true Ben, the expressions on the monks’ faces was very nonchalant, but I guess that’s part of being a monk. The 16 pulling the ropes that were facing the bell really looked like it took no power to do. Maybe it was a result of all the pulleys or something? The one monk with his back to the bell, however, did use a lot of force to swing the ram.
Ben Reply:
January 4th, 2009 at 10:12 AM
That’s strange, the Japanese characters didn’t appear. Is UTF-8 turned on as your encoding scheme for the blog? Maybe the monks were just waiting to go to bed after that?
Jason Collin Reply:
January 4th, 2009 at 2:44 PM
UTF-8 is turned on for my WP database, and I even went into myPHPadmin and manually changed everything from the Latin_swedish encoding to UTF-8, so I don’t know how else to try and get Chinese/kanji to display.
Any tips? A plugin perhaps?
Ben Reply:
January 4th, 2009 at 3:50 PM
I think it has something to do with this wpAjax response plugin. I’m not exactly sure what the problem is with it, but I would check to see if there is a table for it that its’ encoding is set to UTF8 and if there isn’t, then check the plugin author’s homepage to see if anyone else has had this problem. Just to be sure it wasn’t me, let me try some more 日本語 here. Ok, well whatever you did seems to have fixed it!
cool pictures like always. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.
Amazing how they were able to lift the 80 ton bell back in 1633.
Have you decided where you are moving to?
Jason Collin Reply:
January 6th, 2009 at 4:55 PM
First, we’ll be flying into Florida and staying there I imagine for at least a month (defrosting, unwinding from the Tokyo grind, etc.). Then, if I close my eyes and think on it, I want to live in California. So we could be neighbors soon! If you have any job leads for someone with my skill set, please let me know!
[...] Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. This movie is not as miserable as some other past offenders (BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD, FIVE EASY PIECES) and is not completely bereft of non-miserable qualities. However, only watch [...]
[...] movie is not as miserable as some other past offenders (BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD, FIVE EASY PIECES) and is not completely bereft of non-miserable qualities. However, only watch this if you like to [...]
Very nice footage – please tell Aya she did a great job.
My Xacti has languished in the cupboard since I got it last year, but your post has inspired me to break it out and see what it can do!
Ben Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 7:11 PM
Now that would be cool! Though I imagine you have to drop your aperture by a full stop or so because of all that bright snow. I know my Xacti HD800 has a snow setting, but I haven’t tried it out yet. Might get a chance to put it to use this weekend.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 6th, 2009 at 9:28 AM
My Xacti has been languishing quite a bit too since I got my Nikon D80 back in August, so I have to make an effort to bring it. Luckily Aya is often a willing camera woman. I’ll pass on the complement to her, thanks!
And it would be cool to hear the sounds of the mountain summits you climb to, as well as the crunch of the snow.
I’d be interested in seeing like a kind of time lapse video of how you actually dig out a snow cave for sleeping in, etc.
Chris (i-cjw.com) Reply:
January 6th, 2009 at 3:51 PM
OK, it’s a deal. I’m off to Nagano this weekend, guiding a group snowshoeing round Togakushi – the Xacti will come along too!
Jason Collin Reply:
January 6th, 2009 at 4:51 PM
Sweet…looking forward to the video then. Snowshoeing sounds like it would make for naturally humorous video footage!
I really enjoyed this movie- felt tears welling up and finally spilled in one of the final reverse-motion montages, wow. And some great music too, definitely took me by surprise. A harsh life.
You should read ‘The White Tiger’- the Can has it, if interested in this kind of thing. Novel by an Indian- at least with an Indian name- as with slumdog millionnaire- original title- Q/A.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 6th, 2009 at 9:32 AM
Glad you liked SLUMDOG.
Yes, SLUMDOG can be a tearjerker. I stayed dry though.
The music was pretty good.
I read BENGAL NIGHTS long ago, and liked it so maybe I’ll ask the Can to borrow THE WHITE TIGER.
I loved this movie all the way up until the end. The end- I’m not sure. It doesn’t satisfy the way you want it to. It feels a little like the end to that great TV show Deadwood, more a whimper than a bang.
I suppose it’s more realistic, but not necessarily. He was a soldier, he could have laid an elaborate plan, made it happen.
Prior to that though, was definitely enjoying Clint just stalking around, muttering to himself and growling at people. Was excellent. Every time he told Thao what a p#ssy he was I hooted with laughter and support.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 9th, 2009 at 1:27 AM
I found that the ending not meeting what I was expecting and what seemed obvious to be one of the movie’s greatest strengths and thought it to be an ingenious move by Clint. The ending allows a different kind of satisfaction I think, as witnessed in the final scene.
It’s hard to say more without getting into spoilers. We can discuss no doubt more in person!
I love how Clint just let loose with all kinds of cuss words totally in stride. Nothing forced about it. It was just his natural way of speaking. I Ha! -ed many times.
After watching HBO’s True Blood, I wonder how this will compare? Granted that was a mini-series and this is a movie, and the plots are altogether different. After reading your review though, I’m interested in taking a look.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 9th, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Ben I watched TRUE BLOOD also and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is very, very different. The only thing they have in common is a main character as a vampire. They are different in vampire canon and in the fact that vampires are still secret in LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.
That said, they are both good in their own way. I would definitely recommend you give LET THE RIGHT ONE IN a try.
I reviewed one ep of TRUE BLOOD here:
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/10/03/true-blood-episode-04-escape-from-dragon-house/
Jason Collin Reply:
July 5th, 2010 at 10:07 PM
Ben…did you ever watch LET THE RIGHT ONE IN? I just read they will be making an American remake of the movie. I will not see that.
Ben Reply:
July 7th, 2010 at 10:04 PM
Hey Jason, good to hear from you again. Yes, I did watch Let the Right One In, though I wasn’t really sure what to make out of it. I am enjoying the True Blood TV series, though that’s partially because of the Louisiana setting I think.
I’ve actually moved back to the States now myself and am currently in Texas.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 18th, 2010 at 9:26 PM
Welcome back.
I like TRUE BLOOD as well.
Let me know if you ever cross the border into Florida.
Nice pics again Jason, I particularly like the ’secret note’ one.
I recently upgraded to a D300 (Fujiya Camera in Nakano has quite a few second hand ones in great condition), and am very pleased with it indeed. They’d take your D80 off you too which would bring the price down a bit.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 9th, 2009 at 5:42 PM
Thanks Lee.
Yeah, I’m trying hard to figure out how I can work a D300 into my budget before leaving Japan next month. Selling my D80 would lighten the price, but in a way I feel I want to have two bodies, especially for working events! Need a body with a wide angle lens on it and another with a telephoto zoom.
Ahh, the guy in the glasses spotted you.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 10th, 2009 at 11:28 AM
Yeah, it was a bit of a cold stare too, made me shiver a bit!
Whenever I see your pictures I want to get a DSLR. I should have.
Anyway, shooting with A DLSR is not discreet, so do you care if people see you take their pictures?
Jason Collin Reply:
January 10th, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Tom, you definitely should DSLR-up! Come to Shinjuku and we’ll go to Map Camera together. It’s cheaper than you think, and if money is no object, then all the better! It’s just so much more fun, much more, taking photos with a DSLR.
The DSLR itself isn’t that non-discreet, the huge 80-200mm lens is what’s really non-discreet! I have just developed techniques from trying to be more stealthy.
I leave Japan in mid-February so hurry up and get a DSLR and we’ll go out shooting in Tokyo together.
Tom Reply:
January 11th, 2009 at 1:01 PM
OK, I don’t get down to Tokyo often, but if I can make it before then, I’ll let you know.
Great- better than I expected after you played them down. My favorite- the Grinch!
Jason Collin Reply:
January 10th, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Thanks UK…maybe I was just disappointed in how a majority of them came out, and all of those ended up on the cutting room floor and not in the gallery.
The Grinch is my favorite too.
Your shots make me consider buying the 80-200mm. I love the guy in the leather jacket sewing, hahah!
Jason Collin Reply:
January 11th, 2009 at 11:33 AM
Yeah Jay, unless you have the ¥165,000 (used) for the 70-200mm VR, then the 80-200mm is the next best lens, which can be had for close to ¥60,000 (used). It has great bokeh and great image detail. Good for portraits as well as long shots.
jay Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 12:40 AM
I just ordered the Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 so I will have to put the 80-200 on the wish list. I am definitely looking for a good tele though. Okinawa doesn’t really have that many great used camera stores, so I have been purchasing everything new!
Jason Collin Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 1:22 AM
Wow, that’s no cheap lens! I’d like to add it to my collection some day as well. I bet you can get some great landscape and indoor shots with it. When does it arrive? I wouldn’t be able to sleep until it did if I ordered it!!
Nice group of shots Jason, I like the theme here (Japanese people and shopping, the two really go hand in hand) and the expression on people’s faces is great. At least some of them are smiling but generally everyone looks so serious.
My favourite is the ’secret note along with her purchase’ girl. ‘
Jason Collin Reply:
January 11th, 2009 at 7:09 PM
Thanks Can…good observation, it does seem single shoppers are quite serious in their craft.
WARNING SPOILERS
I didn’t buy the third act, nor the message that you can change your life- not because I don’t think it’s true, but because I don’t think it was true here for Benjamin. The choice he made that sped us towards the end I just didn’t believe. He was the happiest he’d ever been. I believe that every day of his life after he made that choice- he’d be second-guessing it, regretting it. How could he forget what he’d left behind, it was his whole life, and he didn’t HAVE to leave.
I thought it was the coward’s way out, actually. He refused to suck up that it might be hard. Declare yourself, get it out in the open, and then get on with your life. He didn’t have to run away. Why would she have to raise him? Ludicrous. They couldn’t just look past the physical? Weak.
So everything after that point felt wrong to me, and just too damn miserable, a self-inflicted pain that didn’t have to be.
As for Forrest Gump, I definitely felt the same, though I rather think Gump the superior movie. Button had so much in common, the unusual life lived to the full, a battle scene and heroism, a crazy tugboat captain, a love that cannot be, a grand sweeping canvas, the concern about a baby born with the same defect, some grand sunsets, and a catch-phrase from the character’s mother- in Button something like- ‘you never know what’s coming’, repeated several times, and in Gump the infamous- ‘life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get’.
Same, no?
Only difference is, Gump ends well, with bold heroism, and misery only brought through acts beyond the principals control. Button has misery brought by the main characters, because of their fear, and ends in lonely and empty death.
Plus there are the gimmicks- stuff stolen from the sequences in Magnolia where coincedences are spelled out- like the ‘Green Bow Lane’ thing, or the kid shot by suicide. In Button it’s the history of the clock at the start, or the dramatizing of the lead female having an accident. all that build-up was irrelevant really. It didn’t matter, just a stylistic foible.
So, an interesting movie, but for me ultimately disappointing. I’d have ended it differently, with sadness sure, but also heroism and love, not quitting prematurely.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 11:11 AM
WARNING SPOILERS
I would say Benjamin choosing to leave was an act of love, if not quite heroic, noble nonetheless. Daisy herself even later admits it was the right thing to do. No doubt Benjamin felt sad every day, he even wrote that he thought of them every day and later told Daisy he never stopped loving her.
He left because he wanted to go out on top so to speak. Remember in the dance studio when they were “about the same age” and Benjamin took Daisy to his side and told her that he wants to remember this moment just as we are. He knew things could never get better than that.
He also knew his child would need a real father, which he stated several times.
As we saw, in just a few years Benjamin had become a teenager, and then an adolescent both physically and mentally. At most maybe a few more years he could have been a good father, but like he said, he didn’t want the baby to be old enough to remember him and thus not have the memory of him leaving.
I loved how Daisy took care of the young-child Benjamin like a mother when once she was his lover and wife. I thought that was very kind of her and unquestionably a unique story line.
I felt good after the movie. I’d even go so far as to call it a feel-good movie.
Nice photos Jason! I’m a bit baffled too at how you manage to get away with this though. Are you serious that nearly nobody noticed you? If you do get confronted, what do you do/say?
Jason Collin Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 11:02 AM
I have never yet been confronted, so haven’t had to deal with that kind of situation yet.
I have several techniques and methods I employ when out doing street photography in order to remain as stealthy as one can with a 80-200mm lens. I often create misdirection with my eye contact. I of course never make eye contact with the subject before getting a shot. I pretend to be interested in shooting the buildings around me.
Basically I do a lot of acting, both before and after taking the shot, maybe especially after, to “soften the blow” of being photographed.
I’ll be going out doing more street photography today, so we’ll see how stealthy I can be today. However, several people have said they like the shots of me getting caught where the person looks right into my lens.
SPOILERS
Good call on spoilers tag.
Feel-good movie? Guess we experienced it very differently. To me, he could have stayed. He could’ve been a good father til the age that he got senile and a child at the same time, and died. Perhaps he left to spare them that pain. But, ha, he ended up coming back anyway! And she had to look after him anyway!
So, moot really. He just deprived her of his best years, and his daughter of her real father. Is nonsensical to me. Stay. She doesn’t have to raise him, he’s not becoming a child in his mind, only in his body. She can’t look past that? She told him she could- he should have gambled on that.
If he was really serious about remembering them as they were- he should never have gone back at all. That was cruel. At least have the balls to follow through on your abandonment. Instead he got lonely and returned, screwing it all up. Weak. Forcing her to look after him- weak. What a burden on her.
Nice pics, as usual.
Glad you decided on Shimokitazawa. I live next door to it so I’m often there; one of my favorite towns in Tokyo.
Don’t think I’ll be able to pick up a new camera before summer, but if you’re still blogging from the States around mid-summer, I might hit you up for some shopping advice.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 11:41 PM
Thanks Billy. Shimo must be a nice place to live.
Yeah, I’ll still be posting from the U.S., I have a bit of archived material so I’ll still be able to post about Japan for some time and after that I’ll move on to whatever’s next.
Let me know when you are in the market for a camera again!
Just curious, if you’re in Tokyo, where are you watching 24? I caught the first episode on boxee, but I’m not sure how up-to-date their feed is.
24 is way awesome, and is one of 3 shows on tv right now that I’ll watch, alongside Battlestar Gallactica and Entourage.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Last night I watched 24 by buying the episode, in HD, from iTunes. I am American and have a U.S. based visa credit card so I can buy from the U.S. iTunes store from even here in Japan. This was the first HD version of any show I’ve gotten from iTunes and it was good quality, almost very good.
I’m with you also in watching BSG and Entourage!
I’ve said it before, but I’m in awe of anyone who can take good people-shots. Still, the “Faces of Tokyo” series inspired me – I guided a group snowshoeing in the back country of Togakushi, Nagano last weekend, and forced myself to take photos of them too (rather than shoot scenery, which is my usual proclivity). I’ve a long way to go though…
Jason Collin Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 11:58 AM
Thanks a lot Chris. The next people post will be of girls at coming of age day from this past Monday.
Your scenery and landscape shots are amazing though, but I would of course like to see some people shots of them actually doing what it takes to climb those mountains. Looking forward to seeing the snowshoe-ers!
Chris (i-cjw.com) Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 2:13 PM
I’ll try to get the snowshoe post up in the next couple of days – just want to get clearance from the people involved to use their photos. There’s some video too, which will require a bit more editing to make it presentable…
The problem with trying to take photos of people climbing some of those mountains is often simply…. there is no-one else apart from me! I tend to chose routes and conditions precisely to avoid meeting people
Coming of Age at Meiji Jingu Shrine with pushy photographers!…
At Meiji Jingu Shrine in Yoyogi on Coming of Age Day, Seijin, many photographers and 20 year old girls came together for a weird kind of symbiosis. To my great surprise, many of the girls WANTED to be photographed and posed willingly. Ojisans even ga…
Now these are some nice photos. I almost gave up on young Japanese women until I saw these photos. Especially, the comment you made about all of them making it to the shrine to pray.
the older man with the camera just had to get as close as possible to his subjects, hahah!
Jason Collin Reply:
January 15th, 2009 at 9:26 PM
Yes, and that rotund man was not in her face for just a quick shot, he was up in her grill for over a minute snapping away like crazy, still staying even when she turned away in embarrassment.
Excellent shots Jason! As I said on flickr I really like the first one as it is much more interesting than the ‘cliche’ head shots, also the white scarf (looks like a ?) is a wonderful capture, coincidence or was it the direction of an ojisan?
Jason Collin Reply:
January 15th, 2009 at 11:18 PM
Thanks j-eye. Yeah, it was a real challenge to get non-cliche shots, especially since there were so many photographers around and getting the best angle, or the traditional best angle was out of the question and the domain only of the most pushy ojisan photographers.
I call that scarf thing a shawl in my mind. I saw her starting to take it off, and thought somewhere in that movement I’d be able to possibly get an interesting shot.
Chris (i-cjw.com) Reply:
January 17th, 2009 at 3:33 PM
I’d second (third? forth?) the comments about that top photo. Unique and evocative, I love it.
Great shots- like the lower halves one, and the girl shot through the looped scarf. Great colors. All a bit manufactured, but I suppose that’s unavoidable- part of the fun even.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 15th, 2009 at 11:35 PM
Thanks, I think the lower-halves one is my favorite shot of that day as well (I took 1,000 shots total!).
Don’t know what you mean by them all being manufactured though. You mean that they were posing? Some are candids as well.
Hey Mr Paparazzi!
I was there before it got too crowded and could take some unobstructed shots of the girls freely walking around the shrine – mostly candid photos, though perhaps generally the posing ones give the best “classical” scene overall.
You missed the huge gathering in front of the Shibuya Town Hall, where they have their offical “city” ceremony.
One thing about taking such photos, if you do get some real gems, it’s a shame that you can’t share them with the model you took them of (ie. no contact). I’d at least like to give that back (especially when photos they will have of themselves will be less-than-ideal cell-phone, compact cam pics)
Jason Collin Reply:
January 17th, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Yeah, having the ojisans pose the girls definitely helped a lot, otherwise all shots would have had busy backgrounds. I do like to take candid shots, and managed to get a few, but getting posed shots was also a nice change too since it’s extremely rare to find girls in kimonos just posing out on the street.
I thought why didn’t the girls ask the ojisans for copies of the photos or something? Especially since they were being posed, etc. Maybe they did and I just didn’t see it or realize it.
I was just taking a break leaning against a pole at the shrine and became aware a Japanese girl was photographing me. A few minutes later I saw her again and gave her my business card and asked her to send me a copy of the photos. She was surprised I had noticed her photographing me. Told her it was obvious, especially to another street photographer! No copies sent yet though.
Oh, man! Please, oh please! Do you have the complete video of Anthony Daniels speech?
I was the guy that went up on stage to help at the beginning and have no video of it. I would really apprieciate it if I could get a copy of it somehow.
[...] and I happened to be in the Nihonbashi area for a festival, so only by chance did we come across Candle Night at Kandagawa. This was 700 [...]
700 Candles along the Kandagawa River…
A group of university students lined a section of the Kanda River with 700 candles floating in plastic bottles to raise environmental awareness. A photo gallery of the strange candle apparati is included. …
Nice shots, Jason. Your turn to be Jonny on The Spot!
At least these folks are re-using their plastic bottles wisely and creatively. Will visit their site and if you dont mind plop a link to it and this article on my Japanorama pages.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 20th, 2009 at 2:41 PM
Hi Alfie,
Thank you, and yes please link to it on Japanorama if you’d like.
The kids put a lot of effort into this project as seen in the video they had rolling.
I have still shots of you MBCE….. quite a few of them. I was shooting the event for a news agency.
MBCE Reply:
January 20th, 2009 at 1:25 PM
Really? Would it be possible for me to get copies of them?
Alfie Goodrich Reply:
January 20th, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Drop me an email to alfie [@] alfiegoodrich dot com and I will send one over to you.
I’d say my two favorite photos there are the top one you used to lead the post and the other one where you paired the plastic bottle lights to the lights from the restaurant. Very nicely done!
Been trying to reach you on Skype to talk shop. I just got a new Canon 50D and I’m thinking I might try out Zenfolio.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 20th, 2009 at 2:43 PM
Wow, congrats on the 50D Ben!
I looked at Zenfolio. It looks pretty good. I definitely need to get a system worked out that allows people to buy prints or digital copies of photos online. It seems like Zenfolio can be a person’s one stop photography website with no need for their own site, other than to have the domain name.
Keep looking for me on Skype!
Maybe we saw each other there then Alfie!
I’ll get the video to you as soon as I settle after my temporary move MBCE.
MBCE Reply:
January 20th, 2009 at 10:06 PM
Thank you very much, both of you! I’ve sent off the emial, Alfie, so you should see it soon.
I’ll be waiting for the DVD as well, Jason.
[...] Nihon Sun Photo Gallery was a beautiful shot of Mt. Fuji and you can see more great images from Seiji no Hi by Jason Collin on his website [...]
Heck, I’m sorry to have missed this, as it’s (kinda) in my hood. Love the photo you got with the yakata-bune restaurant boat passing by. Those things move fast, they’re not easy to photograph!
Jason Collin Reply:
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:33 PM
Actually, the boat was docked at the time so no skill required to catch it, but thanks though!
[...] 10 — MAN ON WIRE [...]
[...] 8 – FROST/NIXON [...]
[...] 5 — MILK [...]
I just watched this movie and thought it was fantastic. Clint Eastwood is the definition of a true “Man’s Man”.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:49 AM
Glad you liked it Jay. They certainly don’t make them like Clint anymore.
So Wall-E is not really only a film for children?
Batman was awesome. I really, really liked the music also.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 23rd, 2009 at 1:48 AM
Totally not just a film for children. In fact, I think it’s too good for kids, they wouldn’t be able to appreciate 1/8th of the nuance and detail in the film. I can hardly even put THE DARK KNIGHT about it and the fact that the Academy had the gall to even put KUNG FU PANDA in the same nominated class as the masterpiece WALL*E just shows the Academy has lost any and all credibility.
As you’ll know, I was worried about this show a lot after the last season, and very wary about dipping my toe in this one. But, couldn’t get past the hype of it on the net and amongst friends, so had to watch.
And- they’ve sucked me back in. I can’t forgive season 4- and I’ll say what for in a minute, but maybe they know what they’re doing again.
Season 4- just sucked. The most over-riding thing for me was the total lack of any bigger-than-our-characters kind of threat. There was nothing looming, ominous, massive, change the world kind of thing. There was no button for saving the world, there was no mysterious and unknown threat. Pretty much everything was hum0drum, except for that one episode The constant. The threat was the people from the helicopter- very limited, just to our characters- who weren’t even targets really, just collateral damage.
It made everything seem unimportant. Widmore and Ben just seemed like a personal rivalry.
Then back to this season, and again the fate of the world seems to be on the line. Good! I need this to make the events of the island matter. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of people fighting over an island and they don’t even know why. If they think they’re doing it to save the world- well, that makes it massively more interesting.
Plus a return of intrigue, confusion, and crazy stuff going on. Love episodes where we see the back story we didn’t expect to see. Marvin Candle! The drug plane! Ethan being a dick (isn’t it good we shot him?)!
And Locke is a bad-ass again. He don’t kill wild boar now- now he kills people, 3 at a pop. (Killing wild boar- or finding them dead- ha!- is the domain of the surly Asian dude now).
Both episodes rocked I thought. Good stuff, people. Don’t drop the ball again, please! Keep the confusion, threat, mythology, and kick-ass-ness all coming on strong.
uk Mike.
Still not sure how the two of you watched those episodes before I did as I am over here in TV land. Unfortunately I missed them live and had to wait until the morning when the local channel that carries the shows here in Canada put them up on their website to stream on demand.
Here is my two cents….
I liked the two episodes, but I wasn’t blown away by anything. I never really loved the flash-forwards from season 4 and now feel that I have missed out on some stuff because it seems like all of the story of the 6 that got off the island from the time that they got off, until where things started off tonight….it seems a bit muddled in my head as it was all told in various flash forward episodes….they weren’t told in chronological order, and with the long layoff between seasons, I found myself constantly having to think back to what had happened and asking Yuki for clarification. So that was a bit annoying.
The other thing is the way the episode started off. Interesting that we see Dr. Chang of Dharma going to take the video that will go in the Arrow station , and then see him rush off to find out the source of all the island’s powers has been found in the construction of the Orchid station…..this fills in some back story on the mysteries as to how the Dharma initative all came about in the 70s and what not. But the we see crack-head Feraday there poking his nose in. And I am thinking……this is supposed to be in the 1970’s right…way before Ben was a young boy who came to the island…when Richard was a long-haired hippy / gurella comando in the forest…… What the hell is Feraday doing there. He is only like 35..maybe 37, and there he is. As the episode goes on it become apparent that he knows a thing or two about time travel….or maybe he doesn’t as he is so scatterbrained. Maybe I just don’t like his character….he seems like such a crazy crack-head scientist who doesn’t know how to express his basic ideas. The man would have a hard time telling someone how to make a jelly sandwich, let alone figure out how to explain time travel to someone.
The rest of the “back in America” stuff is fine. Kate still pisses me off……her aloof character. Why wouldn’t she call Jack and get shit sorted out. I do like how Ben is the only one that seems to have it together. Saiid is still kick-ass and that is re-assuring. Jack is a waif of his former self until he has someone sick to tend to. But I guess he will come around and save the day later on in the series.
So far, so good. It is nice to have LOST back….damn it was a long wait!
B
Jason Collin Reply:
January 25th, 2009 at 12:40 AM
You’ve got to be quick to beat us at viewing an ep of LOST!
Will write this before reading any above reviews.
Both episodes rocked the fucking planet, but ep. 2 was slightly better I thought. Maybe just a bit more consistent, a bit more of the good old LOST mysteriousness, etc.
Unlike some people (you know who you are), I always had faith that Lost would come through once again. I always new that there was every reason to be excited, and to know that the number one show on TV wouldn’t let us down. And they didn’t.
Messing around with time is almost always a sure fired way to screw up a TV series, movie or book, but Lost (so far) is doing a good job with it. Having the island continuously move back and forth through time is a simple idea, but having multiple groups doing it, moving forward and backward, meeting and interacting with various people in the past and future, there are so many things they could screw up but so far they’ve done a pretty good job keeping it consistent. Of course it’s only the first two eps. so the chance for screwing up is still pretty big. Once again though, Faith!
All of a sudden I like that skinny physicist guy. Is his mom that older church lady I wonder? Having Desmond be some special focal point for the island is also genius. Glad they didn’t write him out of the story. That scene with the two of them in the hatch was sweet, Desmond waking up with the new memory in his head.
We were all pissed that Locke was going to die, but now we know he’s going to die for a purpose, and that he knows it. Also genius. I don’t feel so bad about his death anymore. He’s going to die to save everyone else. Locke is still the man.
Thank god Jack shaved that damn beard, glad they didn’t let that go on for too long.
Ben sure has his work cut out for him trying to get everyone back. So far only Jack is really on board. Sayid seems to hate him, Sun wants to kill him, Hurley went to jail to get away from him and Kate of course wouldn’t go near him either. Only 70 hours as well? I wonder how many eps. they’re going to use getting them to the island? The whole season? No doubt.
I still don’t really like Juliette, not sure why though. Maybe it’s her annoying ‘trying to calm everyone down all the time’ attitude. Sawyer is awesome though, ready to kick all asses as usual.
That other wavy haired chick, forget her name, anyway what was up with the bleeding nose and the amnesia? Maybe she’s going to kick the bucket soon, which wouldn’t really bother me as she’s another annoying character.
And of course Hurley and Sayid, both of whom are still awesome. Hurley in providing the comic relief and Sayid in badassness. That scene where he took out those guys was awesome.
The one thing I don’t really like out of the whole season so far is how Sun suddenly became this evil bitch intent on killing Ben. Doesn’t suit her at all. Should be quite interesting seeing how Ben manages to get her to the island again, because we all know he will do it.
Oh I haven’t mentioned Kate yet, well she hasn’t really done much as usual.
Noticed that both eps. didn’t have a central person in them like they always used to do. Don’t miss that though, good to see a bit of everyone, even Bernard and Rose!
Jason Collin Reply:
January 25th, 2009 at 12:44 AM
The days of character focused flashbacks/flashforwards are over according to Herc.
Ben never said that Locke is absolutely dead and the fact they need to bring the body back makes me think he will be reanimated somehow.
I liked the scene with Hurley and the convenience store chick. I don’t think he could have bought a more conspicuous shirt though. I guess anything would be conspicuous on him though. Looks like he gained weight.
I am a sucker for a good super hero movie. Emphasis on the good. I can’t wait for Watchmen.
I was glad that Frogbert died, but seriously, how many red-shirts are still left around?
You guys have covered most of what I thought while watching. I was with the Can on my expectactions, and still on my time travel worries.
I was a tiny, tiny bit underwhelmed by the episodes, but it’s great to be back on the ride.
Liked: Anna Lucia looking good
Frogbert getting shot
Locke manning up and Richard fixing him up
Desmond being outside the rules about no changing time
Hugo’s mom dropping an F-bomb when she sees Sayid???
Hugo’s parents pretty much rocked
Sawyer’s “Everyone I care about in the world just died” blow-up
Ben looking vulnerable “I lost Reyes tonight”
Sun reminding Kate that Jin’s death is her fault
The underground church lair
Disliked:
Ben not calling Jack — would have made Hurley calm down
Miles, Charlotte, and Faraday getting main character treatment–I guess they are now but I still don’t like Miles and Charlotte
Faraday always being so sketchy, when he otherwise seems like a cool guy
Kate just running away like usual
Very vanilla, big picture predictions: Season 5 follows the Oceanic 6 and Ben back to the island but it takes all season — so a 70 hour arc in the present. This includes the Hurley breakout. Desmond can be at any time when his action is taking place–not necessarily 3 years
Locke will come back to life on the island–and the real reason he is dead is because the writers thought it would be weird watching him act in parallel storylines.
On the island they will infiltrate Dharma and the old others
More “dead character” cameos
Well late as usual even though I may have seen it first. You all have covered a lot of the things that occurred to me, but I will hit them anyway.
Loved that whiny guy getting hit with an arrow and only one other random person taking one. Loved every single scene with Hurley in it… I Heart Shit Tzus… priceless! Loved the introduction of this female witch overlord… we haven’t seen her before, have we? Love that Desmond is the magic man, he may be my favorite character and I feared he was dead.
I did not however love most interactions with Sawyer… all I can say is Kate ain’t worth it! I would not be said if she was gone. I am not sure I am all that excited about any of the stories of the six besides Hurley and Sayid and also think I will miss whole episodes actually revolving around one character, I think that was one of the coolest things about the show.
But that said, with this lost in time element and a greater view of the power of the island, I think it has amazing potential and I have faith in the writers to keep doing what they are doing and keep Lost as the above and beyond best show on television.
I too think that Locke will come back to life when he returns to the island, the use of the Other that always looks the same leads me to believe that. I am also really intrigued by what other dead people we will see more of… will Jin and Michael reappear? Wouldn’t be shocking…
Anyway looking forward to the next episode and more great discussion!
Jason Collin Reply:
January 26th, 2009 at 11:26 PM
The “female witch overlord” has been seen before as the woman in the jewelry shop in the Desmond ep THE CONSTANT I believe. I don’t have the ep on hand still, so can’t confirm if that was her or the “Sheriff” on the island in Othersville.
Jin is in the credits still.
Hopefully it can work out that we can watch an ep together, maybe sometime in late March or early April!
It was difficult for me to remember what was going on at the end of last season because of the long layoff, but the opening scenes helped me to better grasp the bigger picture. I watched the episodes a few days ago, but I was just thinking about the opening scenes today and thought I’d post my comments and questions.
Since the Darma guy has a baby, will Darma do something to release the power at the Orchid that prevents babies from being born? Or, was it explained somewhere that he brought the baby to the island from the outside? Also, there’s no way an Asian man of his stature is being woken up by his wife to feed the baby. How much time was supposed to have passed between the Darma group and Ben’s group occupying the village? The bungalows they live in show no signs of wear when either group is occupying them. For some reason I thought there was a long gap there.
What’s with the skipping record and the morning routine? Are Desmond and the Darma guy both some kind of anchors in time, or do you take those scenes to be simple ways to show the monotony and large scale of time that these two characters have to deal with? Why did the Darma guy have to discuss the details of time travel with the laborer? You’d think they could have found a better way to write that. Clearly the physicist will eventually control time travel, but what about the guy who helped Locke from Ben’s group of others? Can he travel through time, or is he just non-human and ageless?
It’s interesting to know that the Darma people were struggling with a hostile native population back then as well. Will this lead us to an explanation of the three-toed statue at the end of season three (or four), or was it the people in military uniforms we saw at the end of episode two? I hope the statue will be explained at some point this season. Maybe that ageless guy is really a three-toed native.
Locke will come back to life once they get to the island, right? I hope they don’t keep him on the show in flashbacks and flash-forwards unlit they finally get back on the island at the end of the series, or worse yet, write him off the show.
How did Ben know that Hurley was having internal struggles over lying about what happened on the island? I like that Ben has so much power to manipulate people, but I wish he were more vulnerable physically. I remember last season or the season before he manhandled someone. It’d be more interesting if he were more vulnerable in that respect.
interesting premier.
Jason Collin Reply:
January 28th, 2009 at 10:14 PM
I believe the “incident” was the event that caused babies to not be able to be born on the island, that’s my guess. Ha, nice observation about an Asian man feeding the baby.
Damon and Carlton confirmed in the Official LOST podcast we’ll get more 4-toed statue stuff this season.
Ben’s one weakness has been eliminated, his daughter. Now he’s impervious. I like that he is a physical badass, very unexpected.
Almost all the stuff with Desmond and Faraday was annoying for me. Desmond, I dunno. Perhaps it’s something to do with his build- in the early days he seemed like a big guy, strong- and now he just seems like a skinny pansy. Penny too. Why hasn’t she waltzed in to see her father and said- wtf is going on? I thought she was tough- obviously not. She is crying and being weak all the time Desmond is saying he has to save people. Again, wtf- you think he should leave them to die? In the end she rolls with it- but why even give him a hard time?
Spotted the Charlie’s and Charles.
Widmore- I like this guy. Maybe my new favourite character. He DOES stuff. Was gonna cut off Juliette’s hand just to show he’s serious. Broke that kid’s neck with barely a thought. He clearly really believes in what he’s doing, and to this day still does. Whether he’s right or wrong- that kind of passion draws me into the show.
Agreed on Jack and Kate- they’re all just a bunch of pansies now. None of them have any drive. Just bouncing around, living their lives. Not interesting. Jack was great in the first season. Pretty much everything since then has seen him descend into fuddled absence of drive.
Locke though is maybe coming into his own. “He’s one of my people”. FINALLY- having the upper hand on intel on someone- he knows more than the young Widmore- which is great. Knows more than even Richard in some areas. Leader, about time.
I could care less about the off-island people. All their constant urgency means nothing til I have a better idea what they’re all freaking out about. It’s like Jack Bauer always yelling- ‘we don’t have time!’ It gets old. Until I know what the threat is- it’s just a bunch of headless chickens running around.
Faraday needs to quit being so damn scatter-brained. Just SAY it! Whatever IT is. Sawyer- just checked on wikipedia- Frogurt isn’t even that guy’s name! I thought it was his name- so couldn’t see why you were upset at Sawyer. Hmm. Sawyer is just a big lug now. Too many people don’t know what’s going on, so they can’t DO anything. Not interesting to watch them fumble around- that’s what all of season 4 was!
Jason Collin Reply:
February 4th, 2009 at 3:03 AM
I can’t say I noticed Desmond looking skinny.
Widmore could become the new badass character on the show, replacing Ben. But let’s not go replacing Ben just yet.
So many characters are not necessary anymore. Besides Jack and Kate being on the expendable list, I’d put Sun there as well.
I remember when I was leaving Tokyo. Those are some bittersweet memories.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 11th, 2009 at 11:24 AM
Tom I’m feeling mostly sweet about leaving. After 6 years here I’ve pretty much done all I wanted to, more than once even.
The only slight bittersweet feeling is I’ve started to make some photography contacts here and I’ll have to start over in the U.S.
Other than that, I’m ready to decompress after living in a metropolis for so long.
Sawyer just needs something to do. He is trying to be a leader and he hasn’t figured it out yet. I think this is a great development for him–we get to watch it happen, just as we watched Jack crumble. I think by next season Jack will be back they will both be alpha dogs and they will kick ass together. It was interesting how Locke goes after “his people” and gives Sawyer the choice to go after Faraday who Sawyer clearly thinks of as someone he needs to take care of.
I liked:
-that young Widmore is a prick.
-that Lock figured out who he was
-Juliet looking good
-Desmond looking very cool at Oxford
-Desmond finding the link between Faraday and Widmore
unlike Mike, I liked that Desmond just walked into Widmore’s
office. Clearly Widmore cares about Penny–and he knows that Desmond is who she chose. It’s a human weakness–remember that Ben has promised to kill her.
-Locke to Richard: “Jacob sent me”
Didn’t like:
-The H bomb
-the confession of love
-actually, Charlotte–why the hell is she on the island anyway?
-Charlie being born already. Maybe they were like, “well, Penny is probably too old to have a kid 3 years later, so we better give her a 3-year old kid”
Horrible ruined doctor’s clinic in black & white…
Black & white photographs of a horribly ruined doctor’s clinic that was long abandoned in Gunma Prefecture. This haikyo location was horror movie set ready, with even an old preserved brain floating eerily in a decaying jar. …
That place is sick. More then any other haikyo this one makes me wonder why the heck it is allowed to remain standing. Why doesn’t the J government do something about these places?
Jason Collin Reply:
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:15 AM
Well, this clinic is truly, truly in the middle of nowhere. I mean not a single thing around for several square miles. It’s nowhere near a main road of any kind. You really have to go out of your way to get there. There is only one road in and out of the valley (the upper road is blocked off).
So it’s not like young kids could or would ever stumble upon this place. And unless you buy a very specific haikyo book, you’d never even know it existed.
You know you have to pay to have TVs recycled in Japan, so I’m sure the owners of the mine did not want to do that and just left the place virtually intact, and the Japanese government maybe doesn’t really even know about the place.
Strange that a clinic would be so remote. Maybe that’s why the brain is there. It shows the clinic was probably used for bizarre experiments and medical treatments. That is why they wanted to be in such a remote location.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 AM
The clinic was in support of a mining town there in the valley. The whole area is now a ghost town. There was also even a school.
There are a few more photos of the mining town in this post:
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/08/01/gunma-japan-haikyo-urban-exploring/
I hope nothing too bizarre went on there!
Man, this is so cool! ‘Holy Grail of Haikyo’ was no understatement! When I get back to Japan, this place is first on my list of places to go :p
I’ll be getting my first Haikyo pictures up soon I imagine! It’s been fantastic getting into this sort of thing – I didn’t relise just how many derelict places there were until I actually opened my eyes and looked around me!
Btw, where are these ‘much talked about’ palces you mention? Any forums?
Jason Collin Reply:
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:07 PM
The much talked about places come from a Japanese book on haikyo and from a few people who have gone to these areas before me (us). I am not the leader or discoverer of these places. I am just a driver and ride the coattails of a friend. He has gone to many more haikyos than me. They can be seen here: http://www.michaeljohngrist.com/ruins-gallery/
That’s pretty intense, you’re a braver man than I.. Makes me wonder if there isn’t a lucrative business to be made in shooting music videos in such places?
Jason Collin Reply:
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Chris it made me laugh to read your comment that I’m braver than you considering you sleep on snowy mountain tops solo!
Perhaps my photos made the place seem a little creepier than it was in person. That said, I definitely wouldn’t want to go there alone. Even outside the clinic is pretty scary.
And I would think most definitely these would be great places to shoot music videos and video of any kind. I think I didn’t take my Xacti out at all in this clinic, unfortunately. I do have some creepy haikyo hotel footage I’ll post soon.
I don’t see the appeal of going to a place like this. You’re finding these places from some resource, so it dulls sense of discovery and danger you would otherwise have if you stumbled upon it. But, I guess it would still be creepy even if you knew what was waiting there for you. You spent the night at one of these places, right? I can’t imagine anyone wanting to sleep anywhere near that place.
I like your pictures of the instruments. They blur and fade into the darkness wonderfully. Do you think that jar of brain was planted there by someone in the Haikyo community to generate hype about this location and Haikyo in general? Why would that kind of research be done on-site?
It does look like the kind of place I would imagine snuff films to be made.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:19 PM
Yes, it would be great to find places like this by stumbling upon them, but I would say it would be near impossible to ever stumble upon this place. When I visit you this spring we’ll try and find the place on Google Maps and you’ll see how remote it is.
Actually, no one randomly finds these places. Japanese dudes with serious research skills comb bankruptcy records to find potential haikyo sites. This is of course far beyond my skills and time allotment.
There are other minor haikyo sites that can be and have been stumbled upon, but epic ghost towns like this one are really, really in the middle of nowhere and are damn hard to find still even knowing that they exist is a specific location.
The haikyo I slept overnight in was fairly posh actually. It was an actual hotel room in near perfect condition. You can see a photo of the room we stayed in here:
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/09/26/niigata-russian-village-haikyo-urban-exploring/
Yeah, no way I would stay anywhere in that valley even after sunset, never mind over night. Maybe only if I had that gun protection system they had in Aliens, but even then . . . .
Thanks about the photos. The blur and out of focus areas are called “bokeh” in photography terms, and it’s actually a Japanese word meaning out of focus.
My feeling is the brain was always there. That’s not based on any knowledge, jut my feeling of having seen it in that setting. It definitely looked like it had been there for decades and was of the same time. There were other smaller organs in jars as well.
Totally could film such a film there.
The one theory I did start to develop about the haikyo community is that they mark the time they visit there by hanging calendars because in buildings surrounding the clinic I found calendars from 2003 and 2004. In another area a calendar from 1973 was found, which I estimate to be the hey day of the mining town.
“preserved brain” is just crazy. Great pics as always.
After reading your email, I went out and decided to buy the 80-200mm. Hopefully it is here in the next week or so.
Thanks for the advice!
Jason Collin Reply:
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:04 PM
Thanks Jay….let me know when you’re 80-200mm arrives. I am sure you will love it. Hope you can sleep at night! I wouldn’t be able to knowing a lens is coming!
jay Reply:
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:22 PM
I will admit sleep was a little tough last night. It is ridiculous how excited I get now over camera gear.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:20 PM
Good, I’m glad to hear it!
I just might be coming into some new gear myself soon.
Just had someone on Twitter @reply to me that he liked the ideas we wrote here and that his wife thinks Charlotte may be Faraday’s daughter. I think that would be an awesome twist and make the love declaration less hack.
Great shots- black and white really lends that creepy atmosphere. Also great words- really led me into the photos well. Nice use of a LOTR type word- ‘fell’.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 6th, 2009 at 12:47 PM
Thanks….about the shots, I can’t believe I didn’t think to shoot in black & white at a haikyo before.
And you know how much I like the word “fell.”
Ha, lot of good points. Sawyer hitting the one-note constantly pissed of but powerless thing- awful yes. Agree, need no more shots of Charlotte, or Aaron. Jack not telling Kate a single thing- wtf? Hasn’t she learned not to trust this dumbass? All of that stuff with JAck, Ben, etc.., couldn’t care less about it. So tired of Ben not just explaining things to people, or people blindly following him.
I liked the gimmick flashbacks and forwards. Sawyer and the birth scene, Locke and the white light- they’re powerful call-backs and mean something to me- in fact these are the only good things in the episode I think.
So sick of Faraday. He knows stuff, but he’s not saying. Dammit, just speak! Always been a frustration on LOST, but can’t they see they are on the same side, it would benefit them to tell each other stuff?
Ach, Jack lies to Kate, puts her in Ben’s hands, wtf? Hurley in jail, oh, what a terrible impediment. Who cares?
Jin’s death trivialized- hmm, I don’t think so, I never thought he was dead anyway. Nice to see the Frenchwoman pre-crazy. Guess we’ll find out how all her crew die.
Someone drank all the beer!!
I have to agree with Jason on this one. To me this was a fair waste of time, perhaps not in the bottom five, but pretty damn close.
Basically everyone wandering around without a clue as to what’s going on an no coherent story line at all. Pretty much every actor on the screen here is being both boring and annoying at the same time, not a good combination. Even my usual favourites Locke and Ben were a disappointment, neither of them manning up or advancing in character development. Sawyer has been relegated to the role of some annoying guy that shouts a lot, is never in control of himself, and adds absolutely nothing to the show. And don’t even get me started on Kate (who while still annoying, is at least looking pretty good these days) and Jack. Just pathetic both of them. How can a pusssy like Jack be the center of this show? And every time I see Erin/Aaron on screen I cringe. I still think this kid is mentally challenged or something, and doesn’t belong on this show.
This time travel thing is getting out of hand now. Who cares about going back 16 years ago to see Danielle when she was young? Her and her daughter both died without any dignity at all and now we’re revisiting her early years? And I knew Jin would be coming back because we didn’t actually see him die, but I wasn’t at all awed to see him again, just too cliche. Good makeup though to make him look like he’s sunburnt to hell and half dead.
Now of course we have to wait for Michael to come back as well. Yawn….
Come on Lost, you don’t have many eps here, we don’t need the filler.
We expect more from Lost. The lawyer plotline is just dumb. Hope Sun puts a cap in Ben’s ass, but you know he’s going to tell her that Jin is still alive.
I have only seen two of the movies on your list and they happen to be the top two
Jason Collin Reply:
February 7th, 2009 at 8:58 AM
I hope you have a chance to work on down the list. I feel it was a pretty good year for movies in 2008.
Shibuya Punter Creeps out a Pretty Girl…
An innocently creepy Shibuya punter was carrying on with the creepiest hand gestures trying to convince a pretty Shibuya girl of who knows what. Would you trust anything this guy says to you on the street?…
Seems like one of those guys with a particular fetish who are cool with just approaching women on the street and soliciting them. Or wait, that might just be Fukuoka! Seen stranger things happen on the street before here.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 10th, 2009 at 10:53 PM
Wow, I thought Fukuoka was innocent!
These photos would be great in framed poster format. A wall series of 3 or 5 shots. If I was a doctor, I’d hang them in my office.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 10th, 2009 at 10:53 PM
That’s a good idea for displaying these photos Steve! We can work on it when I get back next week!
Steve-O Reply:
February 12th, 2009 at 2:17 PM
I have many great ideas! Just call me Kramer! We should definitely try to meet up next week. The next few months will be rough with me taking review classess all weekend for my P.E. license. Tweet Anna and we’ll meet for dinner on Friday or something.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 12th, 2009 at 9:39 PM
P.E. as in physical education instructor or some kind of P engineer?
Yeah, we’ll only be in Tampa from Monday night (just flying in) until Saturday at noon, but we’ll be back soon so if no time next week soon there after. Will be on Twitter and everything as usual and hopefully will have an iPhone by Tuesday. Boom!
I can understand why he was trying to get with her, haha. She is beautiful! I really like the photo of the Shibuya girl a lot. Are you leaving Tokyo soon???
Jason Collin Reply:
February 10th, 2009 at 10:55 PM
Yes, Jay, leaving on Monday! Heading for the Sunshine State.
We’ll see how well I can continue doing street photography there.
Sure makes you wonder.. he certainly doesn’t look like the usual guys who hang around there trying to interest pretty girls in, ahem, “modelling” contracts..
Looking forward to seeing the D300 shots!
Jason Collin Reply:
February 10th, 2009 at 10:56 PM
I’m still going through growing pains with the D300 actually. I hope to work out most of the kinks tomorrow.
Yeah, this punter seemed kind of cuddly. Wish I could have heard (and understood) what he was saying and/or offering.
Many thanks for posting this – yes, the Gyoen is somewhat bleak in December, but delightful in the spring with the cherry blossom …. one of Shinjuku’s many redeeming features. I used to like the narrow street that runs round it, outside the fence, too. The ideal jogging track for Yotsuya or Shinjuku 3-chome dwellers.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 11th, 2009 at 11:25 AM
Thanks for commenting.
Yeah, I know that road around the park, it’s nice for cycling as well. A very tranquil roadway.
I think Shinjuku Gyoen is the best place for cherry blossoms too. It’s the least rowdy major viewing area in the city.
So where are the pictures of the hand gestures?
Jason Collin Reply:
February 14th, 2009 at 1:46 AM
In my Daily Photo series I only post one photo, and this has been the only case I’ve ever posted two actually. I chose what I thought was the most telling hand gesture.
I definitely like the continued flashes forwards and backwards, on both the island as time itself comes unstuck, and the three year gap between the island off-island.
So the woman Desmond met in his first ever flash, who tells him the future course corrects- is a real live woman. So he flashed to a real place then, and she knew he was coming, to explain the rules to him. Crazy- just who is she, and how much does she know?
Faraday and Charlotte- unearned emotionality to that death scene. Soaring music, Faraday being a pain in the butt- had to try not to laugh.
The ruins, the smoke monster producing fakes to ’smoke’ danielle off the beach, locke dropping down a well- all great. Really good, looking forward again to learning more, exploring more of the mythology and ruins.
These pictures are great. I think you should stitch them together so the woman’s face is on the right side.
I liked this episode a lot–the only thing I didn’t like was the way that Jin and Desmond both just coincidentally popped into the right places at the right time. Hurt my suspension of disbelief. I loved the line “Say hello to my son” and Locke’s reply “who’s your son?”. I immediately wondered where the line is between Christian and Jacob and whether one is affecting the other. Now Christian has gathered Claire to him, and I wouldn’t be shocked if one of the motives to get Jack back to the island might be more personal… I know Mike hates it any time the scope is taken off the macro scale, but I think that would be a brilliant twist.
I also like that Locke kept his word to Jin.
Also one thing I am surprised wasn’t mentioned by Mike or Jason–did Jin get huge or what? He is totally ripped now. Crazy.
You’re right that it’s a touching ending- left me feeling torn. Part of me respects the choice he made at the end- while another part sees it as almost the easy way out, the devil he knows- rather than really making the effort to change.
But- he does try to change. He’s just addicted to the love of the crowd. He’s chased it all his life- turned off his family and any kind of meaningful relationships for it. Perhaps it was just too late for him to change. That’s sad- because he could have had something good, and much more real, if he’d just been able to suck it up and make it work.
Great movie- definitely brings that mixed feeling to the fore.
The preserved brain is creepy. The office looks exactly like something I saw in a Japanese horror film. I half expect something to pop out of the walls.
There are a few old and abandoned places around my dad’s hometown too, mostly houses whose families have gone abroad and left no one to take care of their property. The old houses are most poignant for me, given their history. My grandfather would occasionally tell us about the days of old and it makes me sad that such sites aren’t preserved.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 8th, 2009 at 4:52 PM
I would like to hear your grandfather’s stories of the days of old. It’s a shame houses go to waste like that.
Have you taken any photos of those houses?
Kat Reply:
March 13th, 2009 at 8:02 AM
None recently, I’m afraid. I lost the old photographs I had and it was only last year that I got a digital camera. I plan to go around this summer though (summer meaning April to early June here) and take some pictures. Hopefully, I can get him to tell the stories too.
Straight into this episode- I thought I’d missed something. It was a real disconnect- were they on the island? Had I some-how gotten a copy of episode 7 or 8?
Of course- not. They just jumped things forward- and since I was expecting them to drag this whole thing out for the whole season, I’m very glad they sped things forward- while leaving plenty of new questions to flash back/forward to.
Things to Like-
-Ben to Jack: “My mother taught me.”
-Dude telling Jack- “Condolences”. Clearly a new bad guy.
-Lamp-post station- though was waiting the whole time for someone to get whacked by the pendulum.
-Did Ben kill Penny?
-Jack asks Mrs. Hawking- ‘Is he lying?’ about Ben. She says- “Probably”.
-Ben to Jack- “You tell me, Jack. You’re the one who got to stay after school”.
Things to dislike-
-Maybe too big a jump forwards.
Hmm. Can’t think much else to say. I liked it, has me hungry for more. Good episode. Vote- 4 out of 5.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 24th, 2009 at 12:18 AM
I had the same feeling, like, did I miss an episode? It did seem all of a sudden for them to be back on the island and back in business there.
The after school line was good.
I’d vote it only 3 out of 5 stars though.
Ah, and I was waiting for the pendulum to whack someone too!
Mike hit it on the head. Very cool episode. I’d go as far as to give it a 4.5 of 5.
I especially liked
- The realization that a story about how they make up their minds to go back or not was not very interesting
- New room for flashbacks
- Sayid in chains instead of Kate (Anna Lucia’s relative?)
- Hurley with Charlie’s guitar
- Lepidus
- The Penny question
- The Aaron question (Kate ditches her “son” and sleeps with Jack!)
- John’s letter
- The double meaning of John as a proxy for Christian
- Condolences guy–a red herring?
- Ben praying
- The reveal at the end with Jin
Possibly didn’t like:
- The jump was big
- The buildup seems over-complicated compared to how they get back
- Ray. Either he should have gone with Jack or there shoulda been another item. Thought there would be some importance about a 3rd gen of Shephards
Jason Collin Reply:
February 24th, 2009 at 12:19 AM
Ah, good point. There should have been something more significant about Jack’s grandfather. Maybe there will be?
Just watched 5×07. Another 4 star episode. A little too condensed but I really liked it.
Will comment once you’ve seen it.
Ok, just finished 5×08. First ep of the 2nd half of the season continues to nail it–another 4star episode, even if totally predictable and mostly filler. It was filler I wanted to see–and the emotional payoff was great.
Favorite non-spoiler scene: banter between LaFleur and Banzai.
Worst: creepy pedophile moment
It is great to see Sawyer back to being a man again. Too much in previous episodes he was just a whiner, constantly asking what was going on and getting pissed off cuz nobody knew. Great to see him take charge once again. Loved the scene with him baffling Richard and also with him and Juliette was nice to see him and Juliette get together (sorry Jason), he is much more suited to her than Jack. This also marked the first episode for me that I actually liked Juliette. Not only that, when I saw Kate get out of the van at the end, I couldn’t understand what Sawyer still saw in her, nothing about her even looked good anyway.
So the obvious question, where are Sun and Sayid? Why only pull Jack, Kate and Hurley back into time? Or maybe Sun and Sayid are there somewhere, but somehow I have a feeling Sayid and Sun are with the new crash survivors somewhere.
One thing that bugs me. Shouldn’t a young Ben be back in the Dharma camp around that time? He obviously isn’t or Sawyer et al would have noticed after three years.
Another was Daniel trying to act choked up about Charlote’s death, a very weak scene from him. Also, where did he disappear to in the three years? Just somewhere in the background?
I’m also annoyed by the fact that Sawyer didn’t tell Juliette about the arrival of Kate, Jack and Hurley. Does he think to hide that from her?
Anyway great ep, thanks mainly to Sawyer. Gave it a 4
I totally understood why Sawyer didn’t mention Jack, Hurley, and Kate.
Imagine telling your wife your old gf who you said you loved–and the guy she sorta liked– have just rolled back into town. You gotta go see it for yourself.
Re: actors – I don’t watch much tv, so maybe that’s why, but I don’t ever have a problem with actors being on multiple shows as long as they are good. I never say “that guy from Party of Five” about Jack.
Stuff I liked:
Miles and Sawyer bantering
Sawyer’s insistence that they wait “as long as it takes”
Sawyer’s eye-liner comment
Juliette
“Who’s gonna get my back” and “Just give me 2 weeks”
Sawyer thinking on his feet – black pearl – etc.
Ok, Sawyer in general–pretty much everything he did
Interesting time paradoxes–Richard recruited Juliette maybe knowing she would be there
Stuff I didn’t like:
The randomness of the truce being broken like that–why?
Richard always looking dapper and modern
Another awesome episode. I love how layered the show is becoming. It’s still the SAME island, it’s still the SAME group of people (basically), but still they’re finding new and fascinating ways for them to interact with it.
Genius, really.
I think with-holding the end-game, or even what it might be, is a definite Abrams trait. He may not be writing the show but he over-saw it’s conception, and it’s a very common thread in his shows and movies that you never really know what’s going on. Cloverfield you never know the why of what’s happening, MI:3 you don’t know what the rabbit’s foot is, Fringe is like LOSt in that you have no idea what’s going on or who the bad guys are. I presume Alias is the same too.
I think though we know the end-game in general terms- there’s going to be a war, presumably one which will end the world. And our heroes were brought to the island, by Christian Shepherd or whatever he represents, by him controlling the outer world in a series of chance and remote coincidences and ways. That’s all the crossover and numbers stuff of the first two seasons playing out in back stories.
And the war is in the past. I like that. And probably it will be the war against Ben.
OR- perhaps the Dharma initiative will turbo-charge, become like gods. Ben killed them to stop that from happening. Maybe our people need to HELP Ben. Probably, as others have said- jughead will blow up the whole place come the end.
Sawyer was excellent in this episode.He called Jack out directly. Right now he’s more stable and assured than Jack has ever been in his life- and he won’t let Jack come in and screw things up with his perpetually watery eyes. Also Jack looked skinny and weak next to Sawyer- a first.
Great stuff. Highlight of the week.
I’ll post this first without reading any above comments.
Where has this episode been all my life???
Perhaps three of the best scenes in the entire history of Lost happened in this episode:
BEST
-Jack getting put in his damn place when trying to chastise Sawyer. hahaha! when I saw this I was almost giddy! Finally Sawyer has a chance to turn the tables on Jack who was always always getting his way, pushing Sawyer around, never listening, etc.
When Sawyer told Jack his leadership style consisted of just reacting and not thinking, I was like ‘damn straight!’
2nd Best
-Jack getting relegated to the status of ‘workman’ based on his aptitude test. I figure he didn’t really take the test though, so was this just something Sawyer arranged as a little dig?
3rd Best
-Jack’s floored expression when he realizes that Sawyer and Juliette are a couple. Ha!
Juliette is really looking hot these days….
Also glad to see that a young Ben is there. Wonder if Sawyer et al. noticed him before? I suppose they have as Sawyer seemed to have already taken Hurley’s comments about them getting wiped out into consideration.
Wonder what happened to Faraday?
Here here. Am in complete agreement- a garbage movie that completely missed the point on what made a movie like the Matrix work. FX alone just won’t cut it, especially if not even that original.
Although this ep was ok, after the highs of episode 9 it felt like a pretty steep drop.
Ok so now we know why Sayid came back to the island but please. Having that chick beat him up, handcuff him and get him on to the plane by herself? Give me a break. Unless Sayid wanted to be beaten up, there’s no way that she could have accomplished getting badass Sayid to do anything.
Throughout the episode, and especially at the end, I felt the writers were taking the Sayid character, which has consistently been one of my favourites, and basically flushing him down the toilet. What’s Sayid supposed to do now? Kill himself? Join the others? Whatever happens there can be no happy ending for him.
So is Ben really dead? I guess the island wanted him dead so he probably won’t be coming back to life a la Locke. But if Ben is dead in the past, will he still exist in Locke and Sun’s future? It would be dumb if he just vanished or something, but would also not make much sense if he just continued on doing stuff. Hopefully the writers have some interesting final plan for Ben that makes sense. Oh and it seems that Daniel was wrong, and that the past can be changed, and changed quite a bit.
I want to know what happened to Desmond and Penny!!!!
Not a great one, but not a bad one either. I think more set-up than filler, and the flash-back style they did return to was not quite the old old style- but rather a total recap of sayid’s life- bringing to the fore the beginning of what has to be his main arc- how’s he gonna stop being a killer?
Why did they come back to the island?
That’s such a brilliant question- I’m glad someone finally asked it. Perhaps next week will be Kate’s slam-up-to-date flashback episode, perhaps we’ll even see what Ben said to her that time on the beach.
We know why Jack came back- Locke convinced him there’d be some meaning in his life if he did, and his father started to stalk him after that. He got drugged up, suicidal, and going back to the island seemed his only way out. He should be feeling relaxed right about now.
Hurley we’ll find out maybe the week after Kate.
Jack has to face something- his father I suppose, being able to relinquish control sometimes, and sometimes to take control, and to know when to do what. How to lead well?
Kate has to stop running and face the music.
Hurley, dunno, maybe lose some weight? Something about facing up to his madness perhaps.
Sayid, got to pay for his crimes and find redemption somehow.
Sun, hmm, nothing really. Maybe that’s why she didn’t get zapped back in time.
I don’t think Ben is really dead. It would totally screw up the timeline, and they’ve been pretty clear all along that you can’t change things. Desmond can, because he’s weirdly out of time, but the others cannot. So- Ben is either going to get saved by his own people, or the Others, or the island will heal him. One or the other.
Poor young Ben.
And Sayid, I guess he’ll run off and join Richard. He was acting pretty weird in the jail cell- he thought his purpose was to die? Or he knew Ben would let him out, and then he’d get to kill Ben?
Looks like Sawyer has lost control of the situation. Ah well. Though the purge is still some time away, so no need to worry about that yet. Maybe they can chill out some, be god-parents to little Ethan, atc…
And Jason, don’t start talking about the benefits of watching on your 46″ sceen, you’ll get Mike boasting again about how great his nano is for watching LOST on…
A brief farewell to Japan…
After 6 years in Japan, and 9 years total in Asia (unbroken), I bid farewell to Japan and all places I visited there and all the people I met….
Ha- you Japan Socced it! Wonder if Freedom will bite…
Was thinking there might be more of the ‘grand sweeping thoughts’, was looking forward to it, but fair enough- close that chapter, I get it. Got to move on.
No photos of me or the Can though? I guess you put a lot up in the slide-show, and didn’t take any of us at the farewell parties. But cold turkey? Ah well, I can handle it. Dunno about the Can however, he’s fragile…
All the best to the both of you in Florida- it was a pleasure having you around. It looks like Lukas might be stepping up to fill your shoes for Sunday night gaming, but he produces not nearly as much gas. Yet… we’ll stuff him full of beans and see what we get. He may in the future be able to produce wind at both ends- a feat I don’t think even you ever pulled off. I have high hopes.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 31st, 2009 at 1:06 AM
Thanks, you and SY should come and visit when you can. Maybe the wedding will be in October or November, so plenty of time to get it planned out.
Fragile? ha! You know the UK is the most fragile thing on the planet.
No need to say a farewell here as we still talk on Skype all the time. Hope to visit Florida one day though!
Jason Collin Reply:
March 31st, 2009 at 12:58 AM
Ha, yeah, with Skype things hardly feel different! Just a bit more “extended.”
what a view!
One chapter of your life is over and another about to begin. Good Luck!
Jason Collin Reply:
March 31st, 2009 at 12:59 AM
Our Florida apartment may have even of improved on that Shinjuku view! I’ll post a “real estate” photo gallery soon.
Six years… that’s how long I was in Japan before coming back to the States. Though, I didn’t have the previous 3 years of wandering like you did.
I totally know what you mean about the change being so sudden. All of a sudden you’re back. That’s that. New things begin!
Have a great transition man!
Jason Collin Reply:
March 31st, 2009 at 1:00 AM
Thank you Harvey.
I think that’s a good way to put my feelings upon returning, “that’s, that.”
I’ll miss you too Harvey. I hope you miss me ,too.
Since I have already seen 4×11, I’ll just say that I liked this episode–though at a certain point I just feel sorry for Sayid. He is the only one who didn’t choose to come back to the island it seems. He also always gets hurt when he loves someone/something.
He’s one of my favorite characters and I would like to hope the island will save him–he deserves it.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:05 PM
Hey Jei…yeah, sorry, was a bit lazy and uninspired to post a 5×11 review. Not a big Kate fan. She did pretty good in the ep though.
It’s definitely look magical. Don’t recommend spending the money buying the dolls tho.. it’s kinda disappointing.
The fist time I walked down Pontocho, the Japanese friend I was with didn’t clearly explain that this was a famous and historically significant street by the Kamogawa river. But it was so interesting, I permanently embedded the location in my mind.
Only years later, during my first 3 month adventure in Japan when I was actually living in Kyoto, did I come to realize that this was not just some random street we were walking down.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 5th, 2009 at 10:24 PM
I found the street to be cleaner and more manicured than I was expecting, almost sterile. I was also there during New Year’s time when many people might have been out of town or just home, so there wasn’t much buzz on the street then, unfortunately.
I was not awed by this episode, but it was good stuff.
Thing I liked-
-Locke’s demeanour. He’s just so chilled now, I love it. A bit like Jack has too. They know they’re pawns in some game bigger than themselves, and they’re ready to accept it and just go along. Good.
-Locke saying to Ben, as Ben is about to go ’summon’ the monster- ‘Better get to it then.’
-Finally seeing that Ben is not all bad, and how he got corrupted. He chose the lesser of two evils when he stole Alex from her mother. The same compassion that stayed his hand from killing Penny when he saw her son. We have seen him kill a lot, and fairly senselessly, before- but the times he went in for the worst stuff, he was stopped. He gave the order to kill everyone at the beach except for the pregnant women, and all his men got killed.
-The Temple, the wall, something on the inside nobody gets to see- presumably that which ‘lies in the shadow of the statue’.
Didn’t like-
- The monster saying Ben is planning to kill Locke again! When is he going to understand the island wants Locke alive? Why does he keep raging against it? Makes no sense for a guy who is penitent before the island to continue to so blatantly plot to defy it, again and again.
- At the end Locke being ignorant again of what happened, and so giving some of the cards back to Ben. I can’t stomach to see Locke fumbling around in the dark again. He needs to maintain at his current pitch of- OK, so kill me, I don’t care any more.
- The stuff with the people taking the guns and being agents now for some dark purpose. The Temple behind in the wall in the shadow of the statue has mad power, I guess.
- Stopping short of showing us what the Temple is. But, ok, fair enough. Cerberus was the goal of this ep, and the dog hides in a kennel in front of the house, not in it. The Temple will have to remain for the climax of season 6 I suppose.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 12:22 PM
I was ok with them teasing the temple again, at least they identified it and we got to see underneath it.
I’ll make a quick comment here.
First of all, although I liked this episode a lot, it wasn’t as good as could have been.
Very likable was the huge amount of screen time given to probably my two favourite characters, Locke and Ben. Everyone else except Sawyer is a minor character now in my mind.
And while I appreciated seeing the back story of Ben and Charles, it seemed a bit weak in my mind. That was how Widmore and Ben had a falling out? Because Widmore married some outsider and was banished? Huh… ok, but I was thinking, hoping for something a bit darker than that.
The fact that Ben failed to kill Penny was weak. That he shot Desmond in the chest was awesome, but then Desmond gets up and pounds Ben like Ben hadn’t shot him at all. Good to see Desmond manning up, but more Desmond please! More of that whole story line actually. What happened after that? Of course I didn’t want Penny to die, but I had been ready for that scene for a few eps. now, and was disappointed that Ben ultimately failed.
Of course after Ben survived being shot as a kid in the last ep, and they went to all the trouble of bringing Ben back to life again, I knew the writers weren’t going to kill him now., and perhaps not ever. But again, I was disappointed with the ‘judgement’. I expected the smoke monster to do more than just swirl around Ben while flashing a few images. Then Alex being her old, annoying, loud, no acting ability, self coming back and saying boring stuff like ‘I’ll hunt you down blah blah’ was a fail in my mind.
I seriously hate this new bunch of bad guys on the beach as well. They seem like pussies to me compared to the army guys in season 4. Is this what Widmore is sending after Ben now? He needs to do better than that. Was relieved to see Ben shoot Ceaser, even if he is much more interesting than that chubby, annoying Arabic woman that managed to subdue Sayid. Those guys need to man up fast if they want to get any respect from me.
3 stars.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 12:24 PM
From my view it only looked like Desmond was shot in the right arm which also caused the milk to explode.
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I liked Locke’s line: I’m still the same man. He showed it too in going to help Ben.
I liked Cesar better than anyone else on the plane, too bad he died so quick.
I wanted Lepidus with Sun and Locke so that was a bummer.
I liked the way Alex looked in an episode devoid of other attractive women. A little Electra-complex thing going on there for a moment.
What’s with the Anubis and Osiris references with the monster? And I agree with the Can–the judgment scene was disappointing. I did get the feeling that Ben was more being used to guide John at this point and he was just going to get judged again later tho.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 10th, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Maybe the staged nature of Ben’s judgment lessoned the impact. Everyone else was judged by a sudden rush by the smoke monster when the person was totally not expecting it.
I liked how Ben said his people didn’t even have a name for it. That’s pretty sweet.
The summoning way was pretty cool too.
They definitely aren’t real maiko, but girls that went to a maiko henshin studio. You can tell from their hair ornaments, makeup, and the colors and patterns used on their collar and obiage. They definitely look very pretty, though, so it’s no wonder they had a number of people trying to get a photo.
The picture of the leaves falling on the kid is beautiful, really timeless. Seeing pictures like this make me want trade in my digi for a good slr camera. But the price and learning curve both seem very high…
Jason Collin Reply:
April 15th, 2009 at 12:11 PM
Thank you.
A good SLR might be cheaper than you think. For example the photo of the leaves falling that you like was taken with equipment that would now cost about $500 (Nikon D80 with Nikkor 50mm 1.8D lens). It depends on where you live. If you live in Tokyo, you have great used gear options. I almost always bought used lenses when I lived in Tokyo. No reason not to. Much much cheaper. Even a used SLR body is sometimes ok.
The learning curve takes as little as your excitement level. No doubt if you have no one to give you pointers, it can take a few weeks perhaps before you get one good image you like. But if you read the manual and read a few key photography websites for tips and study the settings of photos you like on flickr, you can learn pretty quickly.
Give the DSLR world a try!
I think that if you look past how unrealistic the film and the storyline was it was actually quite entertaining in terms of the action and effects. It was one of those mindless action film that you shouldnt really take seriously while viewing.
The main thing that did annoyed me though was that they could easily shoot a moving curving bullet but kept missing the humans…
Jason Collin Reply:
April 15th, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Right, I tried to watch it as a mindless action film, and it still failed for me unfortunately. It’s very rare I can’t turn my mind off and at least get some enjoyment, but it was too much like watching someone play a video game for me.
Great pictures. I have always wanted to take the stairs, but no one else ever wants too. They also close them sometimes during really busy days.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 20th, 2009 at 4:39 PM
Thank you.
I couldn’t imagine waiting in the lines to take the elevators to the top. If no friend will take the stairs with you, then try it by yourself. Maybe any potential stair climbing partner wouldn’t be fit enough to keep up with you anyway.
Superb film, absolutely agree. I’m a huge Eastwood fan (hey, he is a 5.11 grade mountain climber..) – I think I might be going down to Tsutaya this weekend to get this out again – thanks!
Jason Collin Reply:
April 20th, 2009 at 4:41 PM
I didn’t know Clint was a mountain climber! That just proves his off-screen toughness matches his on-screen.
I want to go back and catch up on all older Eastwood movies I haven’t even seen, or only saw as a kid on some UHF movie channel.
Chris (i-cjw.com) Reply:
April 20th, 2009 at 7:59 PM
He did a film called “The Eiger Sanction” in the 70’s – the plot and dialogue are pure cheese, but the climbing sequences are among the best ever put to film. Not one of his more well-known projects, but worth a look.
The other cool/geeky thing to do is to watch the Leone series back to back with the Kurosawa series – Yojimbo followed by Fistful of Dollars, and so on…
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I would like to say hello as if you want me to connecting with you
I’ll do my best what I can . but Also I ‘m just scooping around the
webpage or thank tor your anniversary
You make me homesick, and I never even had a home.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 7th, 2009 at 10:28 PM
There’s also a Soul Asylum songs that goes, “Oooh, I’m so homesick. But it ain’t that bad, because I’m homesick for the home I’ve never had.”
Hope to see you soon….
Me too- I’m ready for something real to happen. The last few episodes have just felt like people being pushed into their starting blocks for the finale. Things happening that don’t matter.
Are they going to try and make Jack the bad guy, because he wants to blow up the island, or at least the Dharma village? They may. Either way though I guess he fails, as Dharmaville is clearly there 30 years later.
A similar feeling from the Star Trek movie. I really didn’t like the movie though. Time gimmicks and just a bunch of stuff happening, undoing all the stuff that really did happen. Ugh.
[...] “why in the world do we need another one of these spy movies?” Can any be better than SYRIANA anyway? Well, BODY OF LIES is not as good as SYRIANA, but it was a decent enough on the plane [...]
I completely agree with Jason- this was an excellent episode, an excellent finale, one of the best if not the best yet- not only because it had everything we could want- love, loss, betrayal, depth, intense complexity and huge reveals as well as more questions- but also because it channeled every other season finale from the past.
Season 1, blow the Hatch, we have that when Locke sits on the beach and points out the blown hatch cover to Ben, when we open on Jacob in his lair spinning in much the same way we opened on Desmond at the start of season 2. We have explosions and white light into the outtro as in seasons 1 and 2.
Season 3 and the future flashes- we have that happening constantly, with two time-lines going on at once and Jack taking action to prevent the future/past from ever occuring. Season 4 and seeing Locke in the coffin we have as we once more, delayed to the last possible moment, have Locke being poured out of a ‘coffin’.
Add to that the idea of an exodus and the walking to a confrontation music we had in seasons past, a vision of both the Black Rock at sea, and Jacob and the Statue, all of which have been teasing us for seasons, all of which combined make for a stunning finale.
All the things on Jason’s list of likes I agree with. Of the dislikes I actually like the way Jacob dies- he knows it’s coming and almost seems to welcome it. He could have stopped it if he’d wanted to. He clearly didn’t want to. And why? Well, let’s get into theories:
THEORY-
It’s all a game of chess. We’ve suspected as much for such a long time. Since Locke and Walt playing back-gammon in early season 1, gaming has been a motif, as has the idea of black and white to represent polar opposites. Our characters were the chess pieces, the island and the world the board. It was clear from the numbers cropping up throughout all the early flash-backs, through the constant coincidences, and through the talk of destiny by the likes of Locke- that some guiding providence was taking place- guiding our characters through a long and exhausting gambit, towards an ultimate end-game and check-mate.
It’s never been clearer than in this episode. We got to see Jacob actually plant the seeds in our characters that would steer them to their course. Sawyer to his first lie, and onto the course to become a conman and ultimately kill the real Sawyer. Jack to the understanding that maybe he shouldn’t hate his father, that maybe he really did need ‘just a little nudge’. Saieed onto a vengeful path that would lead him to Ben, and back to the island. Kate onto a path of internal conflict between right and wrong, and interventing in others affairs due to some driving idea of morality (killing her mother’s husband for her sake, and on the island constantly getting in the way and telling Jack and Sawyer what to do). And Locke- poor Locke. The most used of them all. A sacrifice. Jacob apologizes to him, as he knows he will have to use him. Start him down a path that will lead him through many essential actions, only to die in the cause of bringing the real strike force (Jack, Kate, Hurley, Saieed) back through time, while at the same time leading Jacob’s opponent into a trap with himself as the bait.
Two players, and a field of pieces. In this episode for the first time, we got a clearer idea of who the players are. Widmore, Ben, eloise, they are all merely pieces. The two players are the two men from the start of the episode. Jacob- who by his own words seems to represent a hopefulness about humanity, about their ability to overcome, to be moral, to be logical. And his opponent, who sees in humanity only violence, corruption, and death. Who would kill humans pre-emptively.
Two foes who have been fighting for a very long time. Who long to kill each other, but are for some reason unable. There are rules even for them. They are gods, it would seem. Perhaps diametric sides of the same god- and so unable to kill each other. They battle for the fate of the world and humanity with their pawns, influencing them as they choose.
Jacob influences with words, and healing. He manipulates, but he doesn’t use violence. And who is his foe? It is the risen Locke, the Lazarus- a form incarnate. It is the smoke monster- which told Ben to follow the fake Locke on pain of death. The smoke monster which only appeared to Ben after the fake-Locke had gone away. The smoke monster which read Locke years ago in season 1, and saw in him a fitting sap to cause the death of Jacob.
“You’ve no idea what I’ve been through to get here,” says the smoke monster to Jacob at the end. We think it is Locke speaking, but of course it is not. The smoke monster has woven a thread, just as Jacob has (‘it takes a long time when you make your own thread. But I suppose that is the point.’). It has been years of plotting in the making.
The smoke monster also kills, something we haven’t seen Jacob do. The monster killed Echo for refusing to submit to it. It killed the pilot because he was unnecessary. Oddly enough it killed Keamy’s men- I suppose to protect Ben, who it knew, as part of its plan, it would ultimately use to kill Jacob. It even tried to kidnap Locke in an early episode, dragging him along the ground- perhaps to then imitate him from an earlier stage. It failed in that attempt, but went to ground for the longer plan.
And who is the smoke monster? We saw in its lair the images of it almost as the pet of Anubis- the jackal-headed God. At least we saw, Anubis could summon it. In Jacob’s lair we saw swizzles of dark light beaming into regular people. Was that swizzles of the smoke monster? Or was that swizzles of free will? You have a choice?
And Jacob, who is he? He lives in the remnants of a statue to Anubis- the God of Death. Is he Anubis himself? Is he the last living God (now dead)?
“It only has to end once.”
What does Jacob mean by this? Does he mean- the humans need only rise up and kill the Gods once? Everything until then is progress. And when they finally do so- they will be free to determine their own course of evolution. Something Jacob over the ages has periodically checked in on by calling humans to the island. Something the smoke monster believes can never happen, as humans can not evolve to that level.
So- what was Jacob’s plan? Jacob’s plan was for Jack to do what he did. He snuck it under the radar, by allowing the smoke monster to think the most important thing was to kill Jacob. In chess it’s like sacrificing your Queen to get a check-mate. Or even sacrificing a king for mutually assured destruction.
So where do we go for the next season? What is the final battle? Will Jack et al face off directly with the smoke monster in the Temple? Will there be an argument- much like the one Death has in that movie by Bergman, much like the one at the start of this finale- between the smoke monster and Jack about logic, and faith, and human’s ability to overcome?
Perhaps. I’d set it over the events of the first two seasons, as in have our characters get warped back/forwards in time to the moment they first landed on the island. They move amongst the events of the first two seasons- intervening when necessary to keep things on track. The climax is in the Temple, at the same time Desmond is turning the key under the Hatch and destroying the energy pocket finally. Showdown in the blaze of white light, and what really happened, a climax they haven’t yet exploited to its full potential.
That could be cool.
Isn’t it great to have this aspect back to LOST- one of cosmic proportion and constant theorizing? It’s been absent from the past 2 seasons I felt. All the stuff with Keamy in season 3, and with future flashes and moving the island in season 4, that was human stuff. That was about Ben and Widmore having a power struggle. But they are just people. Now we’re back on track for something cosmic, elemental, and for the fate of all humanity. Rock on.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 16th, 2009 at 11:02 PM
I guess Jacob and whatever fake Locke is are servants of the once masters of the island, the ones the statues were constructed for. The masters have since withdrawn, leaving the servants.
Seems the Smoke Monster is the Fake Locke. The smoke monster before has been referred to as a security system. So maybe the role of Jacob was something else for the former master’s of the island. Maybe Jacob was human resources?
I haven’t ready your posts fully yet as I type this. I will, but I want to voice my initial feelings after just having watched the episodes…… I’ll go back and read your points and respond later this weekend when I have time…
Would love some feedback from you two on what I write though, so read on
Here is my RANT…..
All this time? All this fucking time and Jack’s entire motivation for coming back and trying to change things is because he is sad he couldn’t be with Kate? That’s Bullshit! Laaaaammmooooo!!
5 seasons of seeing Jack’s determination to save people….to make things better…and all he wants to do now is have another chance to be with Kate? Kate the flake? Kate the aloof, unpredictable run-away? How is she the guiding point in the plot? Sawyer summed it up right when he said. “Well why don’t you just go tell her Doc? She’s standing on the other side of those bushes!”
Then Juliette wanting to throw it all away because of ‘a look’ Sawyer and Kate shared? They have been leading us along the garden path with a pretty convincing arguement that Sawyer is totally in love with Juliette….even right up to the end….his love for her and the life they have built…..it is so evident right up to the final scene…..so how the Hell can she she doubt it all because of “a look?”
And THEN Saywer finally giving into to all this bullshit? Jack’s bullshit? Juliette’s sudden fear? That is ridiculous!
The entire sequence just felt so wrong…so out of character for all 3 of those characters with how they have been developed all this time. And to have that as the main motivation as to why they all rally together to make the bomb go off…while Sayid lies there bleeding from a bullet to the stomach…..it just doesn’t wash. It isn’t at all consistent to how these characters have been developed for the last 5 years.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved all the other reveals…..the fake Locke, the statue, flashbacks to the pivotal moments in each character’s lives, cameos by Rose and Bernard and finally getting to see Jacob……Actually though….I have some contention with this point too….Doesn’t it feel like the writers have kinda been adding this mysterious Jacob aspect all this time without a clue how they were going to bring him into the story, or what role he really would really play? Then just now they finally decide how they are going to include him and just now include him in all the flashbacks? I mean where the hell was he up to now if he was so important the the back story? Unless I am wrong, we haven’t seen him in the flashbacks before have we? They just threw him in for this episode.
Another thing I don’t dig at all is Ben turning into a puddle of his former self….. Totally buying into the simple rationale of John Locke that he should kill Jacob. And basing all this on the fact that an image of his daughter told him to follow Locke. Since when was Ben so easily manipulated? Since when did he reveal his inner thinking and motivations so that someone could use them as a weapon against him. This is the Ben that was always 3 moves ahead in his motivation…..the Ben who so cleverly and calculatedly manipulated everyone on the island, manipulated all the returning 6 back in the real world…and got them back on the plane…..Why a sudden loss of backbone now? So he winds up on the island again and just because Locke is back from the dead, he buys into his ridiculous plan and kills Jacob? Doesn’t anyone else see this an not really fitting of Ben’s character?
And if Jacob was so concerned with self preservation…which we are led to believe as he tells Ben he has a choice….. if he we so intent on staying alive, why did he throw it back in Ben’s face at the crucial moment with “What ABOUT you Ben?” and put him over the edge\? It wouldn’t have taken kung-fu….just a bit of reassurance to Ben who has, after all, been following him for 30 years and now is confused.
It just all doesn’t make sense to me. It doesn’t fit the mold of the characters that they have been so deliberate in shaping all these years and all these episodes. I’m sorry, but this episode…this season final is a cop out. It is a sell-out to have some resolution…to tie up some of the loose ends that they have created. It tells me that they really haven’t been planning all along very well how the final of this show is going to play out. They are running out of time and forcing it to get it to its conclusion….and ruining it in the process..
Jason Collin Reply:
May 16th, 2009 at 11:03 PM
That’s a good point about Jack’s motivation.
MJG Reply:
May 27th, 2009 at 11:26 PM
About the characters motivations:
Jack- Jack has always wanted to ‘fix’ things. Ever since successfully sewing up the girl’s nerve cluster (count to 5, Jack), he has been trying to fix what was broken. He tried to fix his past relationship beyond the point that it was possible. He tried to fix the situation for the LOSTies, by evacuating them, even in the face of Locke saying it was the worst move. Then when he got off he island he realized that all of that might have been a mistake- leading to losing Kate, going a bit mad, flying over the Pacific repeatedly (that’s dark, Jack), and becoming a junkie drunk. He comes back to the island and has the chance to undo all of that? Ha, I’d take it!
The Kate thing is merely the reason he gives Sawyer. But now that has been ruined by events. He has been ruined by events- she doesn’t respect him the same way, he’s lost what he had. And he wants it back. He won’t get her back, but at least he’ll get himself and his self-respect back.
Sawyer- Is plainly in love with Juliette, though also plainly Kate still has a lot of meaning for him. That he does whatever Juliette says is not surprising, though I think they showed him incredibly frustrated by her- so he wasn’t exactly rolling over mildly. But he did- such is his love.
Juliette- A lot hangs here on Juliette. She is the instigator a lot of times- she lets them go to save Ben, she gets them off the sub, she helps to block Jack, and finally she gets Sawyer to let Jack continue. Why does she change her mind so much? Well, because of love, and loss. For 3 years she and Sawyer had the best thing ever. No doubt it was magical and unreal, and they were totally wrapped up in each other. With the return of Kate to that world, the bubble was broken. Everything that happened to her before, all the bad stuff with Ben, Goodwin, that belonged to the world Kate was a part of would come flooding back in, as well as the memory of seeing Sawyer and Kate haveing sex in the polar bear cage. She’d be reminded of the callous person she was then, and that Sawyer was too.
Their fantasy of the past 3 years was too much for her to lose. When she saw Sawyer look at Kate, she realized the fantasy had always been underwritten by Kate and all that other stuff, and couldn’t be real. I can believe that would be a huge feeling of loss. Perhaps even a feeling of betrayal, and of foolishness that she’d allowed herself to believe the fantasy was real.
So, she agrees to end it all. It could be interpreted as spiteful or jealous, and maybe it is, but it’s also just sad. What they had before could not continue, because things had changed. Though Sawyer staring purposefully at her after Jack first dropped the bomb would have gone a long way to cement them back together.
At the bottom of the hole, of course she smashes the bomb. Wouldn’t you? It was her only chance at life, at that point.
BRADY Reply:
May 28th, 2009 at 12:43 AM
Thanks for responding Mike…..I’m glad I got some reaction other than Jason’s feeble attempt to appease me…..
I get what you say.. I do. And I don’t doubt that Jack wants to fix things. There is no disagreement there. My frustration is that what he tells Sawyer is that he is trying to fix everything because of Kate. This makes no sense to me. You say that it is merely the reason that he tells Sawyer…….but that is a bit of a cop out. I mean here is the climatic scene of the episode……of the season. Sawyer comes up with the killer line of “What I do understand is that a man does what he does because he wants something for himself….What do you want Jack?” But Jack answers that it is all about Kate and the fact that he lost his chance to be with her….and this is the part that greatly disappoints me. It just doesn’t follow the story line, and since I HATE Kate, it infuriates me all that much more. (Why, why, why didn’t they just kill her off in season 2) Yes, Jack and Kate had a past that didn’t work out. But wasn’t that because of Jack’s frustration with Kate and where her priorities were? (Aaron, and doing favors for Sawyer) He left. He moved on…..Yes, then his life went into a downward spiral, and now he wants to fix things. This I get. You don’t have to sell me on that. What I don’t accept is that at the climax of the season, it all comes back to Kate and that he wants to be with her. It just doesn’t fit. They could have written anything else on how Jack is on a mission to fix things…or that he has come around to Locke’s reasoning, which is what it looked like they were taking it. But all this bullshit about Kate just pisses me off.
Then to see Sawyer give in so easily to what Juliette says…..to give up on what he has done with his life and what they have…regardless of how she feels in the moment. Yeah, Juliette is affected by that look….which is still ridiculous, but I guess you have to believe it since they put that flashback with her as a little girl finding out her parents were divorcing…..they cover the bases there….But to see Sawyer cave to the plan and give up all he has gained is just weak writing. It doesn’t cut it for me. That Juliette doesn’t see is love and recognize he love is ridiculous….. But I guess they had to advance the plot somehow eh? It just seems weak…that’s all.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the episode and all the reveals and the mythology…all the stuff you wrote about. I dig that. I just also dig the character development. The characters also drive the story and when I see that the writers have does with 5 years of building this at one of the major climax scenes in the final episode….it just infuriated me….. I’m surprised everyone else was wowed by the mythology and didn’t feel a twinge of what I felt.
MJG Reply:
May 28th, 2009 at 1:00 AM
Ok.
Jack- Maybe you misremembered what Jack and Sawyer say. Jack says he’s doing what he’s doing because of a strong feeling of destiny. He never says- ‘I’m doing this for Kate’. Unuh, no sirree. He doesn’t even suggest that. Sawyer goes on to say- ‘a man does what he does because he wants something’. That’s Sawyer’s view, not Jack’s. Jack tells him what he wanted- past tense. ‘I had her’. That is the answer to Sawyer’s question- ‘what do you want?’ not ‘why are you doing this?”
He’s doing it cos it feels right to his sense of fixing things. He always tried to get people off the island, in a sense to undo their lostness. Now he has the perfect chance to undo everything. It’s not about Kate at all, that is wholly in the past. They are two different things.
Right?
Sawyer- I don’t get your problem here. Sawyer wants to leave the island with Juliette, he doesn’t care about the bomb. Juliette changes her mind, Sawyer follows. He has her back. He wasn’t passionate to stop Jack, he was like Rose and Bernie, he didn’t care. Then he fights Jack, because Juliette put him in that position, what is the big deal that he stops when she asks him to? He’s only there because of her in the first place! If she wants him to stop- of course he would, and then want to know why.
Juliette- She’s taking an immature choice. Like the little girl in the flashback, essentially she hasn’t changed. She’s saying- I want the fairytale romance, or let’s end the world. I don;’t want to have to grow up (again) and accept that this love we have is not absolute – because there’s a peek of Kate in there.
I’ll post this first without any influence from the above comments.
Well only one more season to go after this, don’t know what I’ll do with myself without having Lost to look forward to.
First let me say that Lost delivered on this finale, and that it, and this whole season in fact, was both entertaining and fascinating, Lost is the best TV show out there right now, nothing else even comes close.
However I’ve got issues with this finale that I need to get off my chest.
The end of season 5 saw the list of characters that I like suddenly dwindle down to almost zero. As I’ve stated before, my favourite consistent characters were: Sawyer and Locke, followed by Sayid, Hurley and Desmond. With this finale, I found myself pissed off at the story lines of both my top two faves.
Sawyer getting screwed around by Juliette and Kate was hardly something he could control, but the total turn around from the calm, thinking Sawyer of this season when he attacked Jack and tried to kill him with his bare hands was too out of character for me. The fact that Jack could also outfight him also made me ill, although throughout Lost, Jack has for some reason, always been able to beat Sawyer. Watching him loose control of everything he’d built up made him look weak and ineffective again, which pissed me off.
Locke was probably my favourite until I found that he’s actually dead, and the Locke we’ve been watching is actually possessed. At least there’s a reason why Locke has been acting increasingly out of character these last few eps. When Locke told Ben they’d have to ‘take care of’ the newest batch of plane crashees, I was like ‘Is this Locke??!’ The new Locke is cool, self-possessed, strong, and knows what he’s about, but it’s not Locke, so I find myself not liking him anymore.
Sayid was a likeable character for me until he started acting stupid, like refusing to let Sawyer help him, killing young Ben, etc. Now he’s been shot, but I doubt we’ve seen the end of him, or anybody else from the last ep. for that matter.
Desmond and Hurley remain likeable to me, but Desmond seems to be off the show now, which is maybe for the best. He’s suffered enough.
Hurley is great, but he gets hardly any screen time anymore.
Other things that I really didn’t like?
-Kate, and everything she did this whole season. Damn!!!
-Juliette in the last ep. I was really liking Juliette this season until she screwed over Sawyer like that. What a bitch! So he looked at Kate. Who cares? Very very lame excuse for her behaviour.
-That entire group of new Jacob followers. If they really do end up being the good guys, I’ll be seriously pissed off.
-Sun and her storyline. Weak, boring, and unnecessary.
-The whole deal with the nuke. Just seems too mundane and silly.
-Jack suddenly manning up again, running around shooting people like a commando while everyone else with guns always misses him. Jack has been a loser and wuss for so long it’s almost too late in my mind.
Things that shone through.
-Ben, but mainly because he’s such a good actor. As usual he has some of the best lines: ‘It’s a door, how about that!’ ‘I’m a picses’.
-Finally seeing Jacob. I was convinced for a long time that Jacob didn’t really exist, and that when Locke said he was going to kill him, what he actually meant was that he was going to kill the ‘idea’ of Jacob, meaning that he was going to prove that there was never any Jacob.
-Rose and Bernard, and the things they said. Awesome. Glad they’re still alive.
Anyway despite the above criticisms, It was a good finale, and an even better season.
LOST!
Jason Collin Reply:
May 16th, 2009 at 11:07 PM
Never speak ill of beloved Juliette!!!
She is totally in her rights to be angry at Sawyer for the look he gave Kate. I knew instantly when Sawyer did that that Juliette would never feel the same about Sawyer again.
Yeah, I was thinking too, “when did Jack ever learn to shoot like that?” From his flashbacks it didn’t look like he spent hours on the shooting range. I guess he is just a quick learner.
[...] was ok, but I certainly was not impressed in even the slightest way. This movie is a shadow of CASINO ROYALE, which was not that spectacular [...]
Absolutely agree. I actually really enjoyed Casino Royale, and was looking forward for some of the plot lines to be resolved in QoS. Instead, I felt I’d spent 90 minutes watching footage from a PlayStation game.
Coincidence that it’s a Sony Pictures movie….?
Great points all.
Here’s some theories:
First, to defend Jason’s beloved Juliette, today I heard a great theory (not mine) that totally makes sense out of Juliette’s actions: she’s pregnant, so she knew she was going to die. This would tie everything together for her character, the doctor who came to the island to help the inhabitants have children again. This theory also means she has to be alive next season, which is something that is very uncertain.
Second, I think Miles was right: the incident was the bomb, meaning nothing is changed, but there is a Desmond-like effect and they all live, albeit shifted somehow.
Season 6 features Claire, Christian, and Walt in some important roles.
The “good guys” are not “bad guys”, but they aren’t “good guys” either.
Hurley will take Jacob’s place.
Desmond will be back, but now all of the Losties who survived the explosion are outside of normal time like he is.
Some of the Dharma guys survived to be villains.
The season will start with a plane landing at LAX.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 7:16 PM
That’s a good theory about Juliette being pregnant and makes her loving Sawyer so deeply seem more plausible.
Ha, can’t see Hurley taking Jacob’s place though.
UK and I were talking that as implausible as it sounds, we feel the opening scene of season 6 could be in LAX.
MJG Reply:
May 20th, 2009 at 10:20 AM
Interesting theories, Jei.
I like the possibility that, by blowing up the nuke, nothing was changed- and that was actually all along ‘The Incident’. It rolls to some extent with what Richard said to Sun in ‘07- ‘I saw them all die’. The only time he could possibly have seen them die was then. There’s no chance they would have been there for Ben’s dharma purge. Plus other things like Chang getting his hand messed up suggest the Incident was always like this.
Roll on from that and you’ve got our ‘77 Lostaways blown out of time- like Desmond. I like this idea. They are freed from the continuum in a way, though who’s to say what power they’ll actually have to change things.
One thought- as he dies Jacob says- ‘They’re coming’. It seems he’s talking about Elana and the crew with Locke’s body in the box- but maybe not. They are no threat to the Smoke Monster anyway, he’s already killed Jacob, and that’s all he wanted. Rather he is talking about the ‘77 Lostaways, coming through time to wipe him out.
“What lies in the shadow of the statue?”
“He who will save/protect us all.”
I like Jason’s idea that Jacob and Smoke Monster were both servants (or perhaps lesser incarnations) of some now-dormant God. I guess he will be the one to rouse from the Temple and kick some butt in short order.
I still think they all acted out of character and I’m surprised that none of you acknowledge that. But whatever….
I am deeply entrenched in True Blood…..HBO’s new, hot, bloody series. HBO does series unlike the regular networks do….there is no holding back in any regard. True Blood takes the sex, and violence of Rome and Deadwood and adds mystery, cliff hanger endings and by the way it is going, I doubt it will run its course in 2 years like it HBO predecessors.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:25 AM
Brady…True Blood is not new! Its first season has long been over, or is it just coming to Canada now? I really liked that series and reviewed the 4th episode here:
http://jasoncollin.org/2008/10/03/true-blood-episode-04-escape-from-dragon-house/
MJG Reply:
May 24th, 2009 at 7:05 PM
True Blood starts strong but absolutely whimpers out. A little bit like ‘Heroes’, The high-concept idea has a lot of potential for a great wide world filled with a huge conflict that will widen taking in more and more people until there’s a huge climax. Like Heroes though- True Blood instead goes the route of weakening all its most interesting characters because the writers were too wimpish to bring them into a big ending.
Lame. I could barely stand to watch the last few episodes.
[...] THE TERMINATOR is a sci-fi masterpiece. So incredibly simple and focused, and entirely gimmick free. I now think that anytime you introduce a kid into a movie franchise, that is the point of its failure, or at the very least, its fall into gimmick. For comparison, T1 had ZERO one-liners (at least no lame ones Arnold), while T2 was chuck full of them and lines I perhaps thought were badass when I was 17, I know cringed at. [...]
MJG, i really loved your theory. i thought it was true for some reason because ur theory does make lots of sense and how ur theory about the climax of the ending of the show was great as well. i was reading a transcript of a podcast from the lost writers (darlton) they said that the climax of the show will not be heartwarming or heartbreaking but it will be heartstopping. they even mentioned where the climax would take place. im not gonna say because thats a big spoiler. JEI, ur theory sounded alot like spoilers copypasted from spoiler websites, no offense but if that theory u posted were spoilers, i’d be really dissapointed because i would want the first scene of season 6 to be a surprise. but if ur theory is not a spoiler then i say that ur theory was very good. i just found this site today and im glad i did. its a really good website and keep it up JASON COLLIN
Jason Collin Reply:
May 25th, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Thanks Steve. Yeah, we don’t like spoilers of any kind here, but no one has ever posted any before so it should be safe.
yeah its steve mcjean again, i want to apologize to jei for accusing him of postings spoilers. my bad. and i want to talk about this season’s lackluster of great episodes. season 5 is probably the weakest season of lost in terms of story. 1)storytelling was really slow and painful until we reached the last 2 episodes of the season. 2)there were so many filler episodes (maybe like 9 to 10 episodes that were so useless in terms of moving the plot forward). 3)i an only think of 5 episodes that were really good this season (this is not common for lost in my opinion).the episodes are “the incident” (this episode is in its own league in my opinion), “dead is dead” (i’ve never been so excited while watching an episode of lost and its ending was a great payoff), “follow the leader” (this is the best penultimate (of any season of lost) since “greatest hits” from season 3, “this place is death” (i thought this episode was fantastic because its storytelling was fastpaced) and finally “jughead” (this may not be lost’s most mythologycally filled episode but it was a great emotional episode that calmed things down and had great emotional scenes) again i apologize to jei and i hope u accept this apology.
Hey Brady,
Finally got around to watching this one, I have to totally agree with your criticisms of the Jack/Kate/Sawyer/Juliette scenes.
Other lesser annoyances, pretty lame/unnecessary gunfights, Ben’s easy manipulation was a little odd, I thought he’d put up a little more of a fight, be more demanding before being set off, the rose/bernard cameo was nice but the dialogue was pretty clunky.
Liked it though, left with a big what now? and the reveals were certainly interesting.
-b
P.S. Jason, RE attention to detail – I think you confuse cause and effect with regard to the VW van. Much more likely that once they had it in the can they decided to introduce it all over the place.
Jason Collin Reply:
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:26 AM
I’d have to disagree with you on the VW van once being used just getting used all that time afterwards. Knowing that Damon and Carlton put everything in the show for a reason, to make the VW van the centerpiece of an entire ep, I am sure they had already known it would play future key roles in the show.
I never like the gunfights in the finales either.
This review by Tim Goodman captures a lot of my misgivings about the episode. Though some things annoyed him more than they did me.
http://www.sfgate.com /cgi-bin/blogs/tgoodman/detail?blogid=24&entry_id=40156
(remove the space between ‘.com’ and ‘/cgi-bin’ – spam filter won’t let me link directly)
Jason, I’m sure they put everything in for a reason – I just don’t think that the reason is necessarily unchanged by the time they get back to it or more than just a vague notion of usefulness.
I just finished watching the series on the weekend, and I have to side with Brady. Everything felt rushed, action-oriented, building to a final climax more like this was the very last episode!
I would have appreciated something more creative than an H-bomb as the focus/turning point of the entire show?
The main characters – seemed wishy-washy or decisive against the original grain of their characters; acting like teenagers, not adults. Or am I emotionally-challenged?
I never liked Locke but he seemed more interesting as this Schemer than ever before, so glad that this Locke isn’t supposed to be the real one. And did they kill off the only stand-up guy with a pair of balls?? I hope Sayid survives to show Jack and Sawyer the real Way of the Knife for being such pansies.
Hope the final season can redeem the last few (okay, season 5 wasn’t too bad). If I remember the show in 8.5 months, I’ll find out.
Loved Gran Torino. Loved the ending, too; you knew what was coming when **nospoilers** Clint was getting his hair cut. I thought he hammed up the, “Grr, I’m always crabby” aspect a bit too much in the first part of the film, but solid performances and a great story all around. Loved it.
Hi I am Matthew and i saw your footage of the Earth at the Mirakan….Its great can you send me some footage I love Earth and i am collecting all images of Earth into a collage…..As I make giant Earth Globes…..so would love if you could send me some footage…
The museum looks great…..Cheers Matthew in Hong Kong…
matthew@timestudios.net
That’s life, changes are constant. Good luck! This site might interest some of your Japanese friends. Thanks.
Well, got to say I heartily disagree with you here Jason. I went into the movie with very low expectations, but expecting to at least enjoy some hacking action. What I got instead rather blew me away.
I very much enjoyed it. You say no story, but it had basically the same story of all the other Terminator movies- a chase movie with save John Connor as the main quest, with the added sub-quest of save Kyle Rees. It introduced a new kind of Terminator, as all the movies before have done, and set a Terminator against his own programming, as both 2 and 3 did- giving us a lovely self-sacrificing swan-song similar to both 2 and 3.
Christian Bale’s character I felt was given depth by the weight of the past. It was less what he did, but the burden we know is upon him. Listening to old tapes of his mother’s voice, speaking to the resistance over the wireless. And of course, his battles with the new Terminator, and what he says.
But the brilliant thing, he wasn’t really the main character. The main character was the new guy, and I thought he was excellent. ‘Sync complete’, love it.
The cameo- I totally didn’t expect it, and it drew an involuntary yelp of glee from me when he appeared.
As for no good action scenes- I thought all the action scenes were genius. From the very beginning as we follow tight on him through a helicopter getting nuclear blasted, to the escape from the gas station, right to the mano a mano stuff by the end. Some of the camera-work was without a doubt innovative. CG I thought was seamless. I hardly even stopped to think- ‘wow that looks real’ because it DID look real, not the quasi-real that normally draws such comments.
And the tones- it was sepia, no doubt. But I like that. It’s a washed out dust-bowl of a post-apocalyptic world. I loved all the stuff in ruins, as might be expected.
But maybe this is no surprise. Did you like movie 3? I really enjoyed that one too, much to my surprise.
SK Reply:
August 8th, 2009 at 8:29 AM
You liked T3? It was universally acknowledged as junk, they completely ignored it in Terminator Salvation with the vain hope that it would pass into movie trash history never to be spoken of again. T2 was the greatest movie ever made. Your positive review of TS is now moot due to your view of T3. When are they going to make a good sci-fi that doesn’t treat the audience like idiots – “Sync Complete”…ohhh yeeea like my ipod……duhhhh – Bring on Avatar (hopefully).
[...] saw some great sunsets while living in Tokyo, but I always remembered there is nothing quite like a Florida sunset. I [...]
Beautiful, Jason. As I sit here watching the rain drip down the windows during rainy season, I have to say I’m pretty envious! Good to see that life in Florida is treating you well.
Jason Collin Reply:
June 18th, 2009 at 10:44 PM
Thanks Chris. Yeah, I remember very well all the gray and rainy days in Tokyo, and how there is no summer usually…no summer because of rain and because it never stays light for very long. Even in Florida’s low latitude, it’s still light until almost 8:30pm here now.
And of course it’s basically sunny every day, with sub-tropical thunderstorm patterns every now and then.
Are you descended from Rapael Collin who taught western style (impressionist) painting to the early Japanese Artists who traveled to Paris in the early 20th century?
Jason Collin Reply:
June 21st, 2009 at 10:01 PM
I am not sure. It would be cool if I was though.
Overall I was very impressed with this movie. I too have always liked Liam, and since watching the first Batman, it was obvious that he possesses, or at least makes a good show of possessing, superior ass kicking skills.
The movie was fast paced and interesting, and kept me on the edge of my seat almost the whole time. Acting from all participants was top notch, and the fight scenes were excellent.
I agree that the story was a bit simple, and the bad guys seemed to have very little infrastructure, but that didn’t bother me too much.
The only weak point I thought was the ending, where Liam and his daughter get off the plane in the US like they’d just come back from a vacation. Surely the police would’ve organized themselves by that time to stop him from boarding a plane, even a private jet? Perhaps them getting home was an adventure in itself, but I was prepared for Liam to get killed at the end while sacrificing himself for his daughter, or at least have to go into permanent hiding to avoid any future repercussions from the Albanian mob…
I’m glad Liam survived the ending. He did all that to try and have some relationship with his daughter, and would have been a shame for it to not come to fruition.
I hope this taught silly American girls how to travel smarter and to most of all, DO NOT trust anyone you meet at the airport, anywhere.
I agree with the review in it’s entirity. The battle on the staircase is crucial to a lead in for Deathly Hallows. The development of the young love crucial to our empathy of separation from loved ones during the war in Deathly Hallows. And the firestorm destruction of The Burrow held no meaning for me whatsoever – I didn’t get it. Me thinks that current shooting of the final two pictures may produce equally disappointing products. As a reader of the books I’ll admit that I fell in love with the hearts of the characters and was only charmed by the magical abilities – I found no heart in The Half-Blood Prince.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 18th, 2009 at 10:41 PM
I think there was some heart in the scenes with Harry and Dumbledore and Harry and Slughorn, just too much Lavender and other nonsense scenes instead of the actual main plot scenes we were all expecting.
OMG!!! I know that guy! Well, not really know, but I’ve seen him everytime I’m out doing street photography in Shibuya myself.
My Japanese friends tell me he is recruiting for hostess clubs.
Jason Collin Reply:
July 22nd, 2009 at 7:31 PM
Teban I’d love to see an updated shot of him in action if you can take one next time you are out.
I think your review is dead-on for those of us who have read the books, Jason. I came out pretty disappointed and the more I think about it, the more the movie’s faults stick out in my mind.
Another couple examples:
As you say, there had to be omissions…he couldn’t have kept everything from the book. But I was disappointed that there wasn’t even a mention of the new Minister of Magic. I thought the exchange in which Harry admits to Scrimgeour that he is “Dumbledore’s man through and through” was important for setting the tone of the 6th and 7th books, and is important for exploring Harry’s relationship with Dumbledore, especially when future facts come to light.
The secumsempra scene was completely botched, especially when Snape runs in to heal Malfoy and just lets Harry go. Would any teacher just let a student go after they used dark magic on another student? And this is Harry and Snape we’re talking about, making that scene even less believable.
Perhaps I’m being nitpicky, but in the scene in which Katie Bell is cursed – Hagrid just struts over and carries her off, without seeming surprised or anything. There was no time in the movie to have Harry run and get him, fine – but they could have at least had Hagrid run over with some sense of urgency.
Aside from the battle at the end, I thought the most glaring omission was the fact that Dumbledore seemed to know much less about the Horcruxes than his literary counterpart. In the book, Dumbledore tells Harry what the other Horcruxes are likely to be. In the movie, he tells Harry that they could be almost anything, leaving Potter pretty clueless at the end of the movie. I was surprised at this, since they included the scene where young Tom Riddle steals things from other kids, but in the movie Dumbledore didn’t point out the significance of this behavior. It’s frustrating to think that they will probably allay this problem by having Hermione figuring out what they are.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 4th, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Paul you point out a lot of other significant omissions that I totally forgot about. The minister of magic being replaced is significant and that was a great line by Harry “Dumbledore’s man through and through” that adds to the emotional impact of D’s death at the end.
Yeah, Snape not punishing Harry for something? Totally inconsistent.
And I did think something was off about Dumbledore and knowledge of the horcruxes. It seemed that Dumbledore wasn’t even sure Voldemort used any, while in the book if I recall he needed Slughorn’s memory only to know the exact number to look for.
Let’s hope Yates hears such complaints and remedies them for the two final movies.
It is possible if not probable that the SAG and WGA stikes during the production of Half-Blood caused a good portion of our disappointment. Each Union has a membership and chapters that circle the globe, many writers and actors won’t cross a line, and many are hyphenates as writers-producers-actors. What we got in Half-Blood was a glossy, set dominated production with minimal cast and limited dialogue and therefore a greater loss of J.K. Rowling’s storyline. Personally, I find that situation to be a clear demonstration of the value of the hard work writers do and our need for house elves to take up the slack.
Jason Collin Reply:
August 4th, 2009 at 12:02 PM
Excellent point. I had forgotten about the writer’s strike. It’s really a shame then. They should remake the movie!
The movie was freaking horrible!! what happened to the story, dark, non human side of the terminator, the seens out of future in T1 and T2 looked much better, no intensity, not cool looking T’s, what happened with music.. just.. such a disappointment. I knew it was not gonna be Cameron quality but this movie is junk, the is no point made, the only thing we know is that they gonna come out with T5, no thanks..
Jason Collin Reply:
August 14th, 2009 at 2:53 PM
I totally agree. The brief glimpses of the future in T1 and T2 were tantalizing teases that looked super cool and showed a unique world. The world in TS was just a generic apocalypse world. You never saw day light in the future in T1 and T2 and I think TS should have kept it that way.
I really wonder, in the CGI era, is it possible to make a good sci-fi action film? Was The Matrix the last one?
This movie does look very interesting. I’m dubious about Peter Jackson’s involvement, as I was quite unimpressed with the Lord of the Rings movies, and King Kong. But at least he’s not directing. Trailers make it look very promising- but don’t imagine it’ll be here in Japan for quite some time.
that sounds like 110 lucky kids if you ask me….happy calculating! congrats!
Jason Collin Reply:
August 27th, 2009 at 9:51 PM
Thanks W! Those lucky kids have already crunched thousands of math problems by hand (in total) in just the first 4 days of school!
I enjoyed this movie, but not in a barrel of laughs kind of way. Couldn’t say for sure I laughed out loud at all, though I did enjoy following their antics. Am quite surprised you liked it, since the whole premise is about getting drunk and acting like louts, which I would have guessed you’d steer clear from.
[...] I had even prepared by re-watching the original film. I actually saw the third installment, TOKYO DRIFT, second. Liking that I went back and watched the first sequel, TOO FAST TOO FURIOUS, but could [...]
[...] not directed by, John Hughes is not a complicated movie. It does not have the manic energy of BUELLER. PINK instead focuses on (economic) class differences between a small group of high school [...]
Sorry to hear how you feel about my movie.
Lary Crews
What role did you play in FIVE EASY PIECES Lary? I checked IMDB and so no listing and on the website larycrews.wordpress.com I do not see it listed as a movie you’ve appeared in.
Movies like FIVE EASY PIECES just do not appeal to me. However, the movie obviously has its many admirers as repeatedly hearing about it prompted me to check it out.
I couldn’t agree more. Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan have outdone themselves to bring us a treasure of inestimable value. Kudos go to many others who collaborated with them.
Jason Collin Reply:
October 6th, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Thanks for commenting Richard. It’s good to know it wasn’t just me thinking it was a work of unique value and significance.
Yes,it was not for children,kind of sad movie.
The feeling isolated and loneliness make people depressed and sad, then try to change something to be happier.
I can easily understand that I am now.
They wanted change their life, so Max did ?…..I guess.
I don’t know the original book.I wanna read it.
[...] tagline for Pixar animation studios because with 2009’s UP, they have indeed done it again. WALL*E was a perfect masterpiece of a movie to me. I can still feel watching it. The premise for UP [...]
Well written and excellent photos too! You missed your photojournalistic calling.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 11:26 PM
Thanks a lot Gary. Yes, I wish I had thought of photojournalism when I was 18. Maybe it’s still not too late. It would be my dream job.
Great to hear you’re back in the saddle- have been wondering what happened to the skimming since I also thought it was one of your main reasons to return. Especially after some of the tough stuff you’ve had recently- sounds like The Golden Flair was really needed. Glad you got it.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 11:32 PM
Thanks, yeah, much needed.
Being married and having a dog have changed things too, different than when I used to live here solo.
I’ll make up for it next season for sure. Maybe even get a new board and retire the Sander.
Aya Reply:
December 13th, 2009 at 9:52 AM
you can go anywhere anytime you want! You know I like being alone too. haha ;P
Jason Collin Reply:
December 13th, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Yes, I know you always want me out of the house so you can have alone time!!
you shred, J. you inspire. love your pics…not the bloody knee so much, though. just got back from the skate park myself and tackled the big ramp on my board under the stars…exhilirating! xo.
Jason Collin Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 11:42 PM
Thanks for stopping by W!
Sorry about including the bloody knee….
Congrats on the big ramp! Would love to see you skate! Any video of that? When you come down here we’ll have to go to a skate park and setup some of those awesome above the lip method-air shots!
[...] trip. Mike and Mike have already posted shots from the Volcano Museum, the same one me, Mike, and Jason visited about two years ago- one of the first we ever explored. I’ll hold off for a while on [...]
[...] mom’s for Thanksgiving, long as in since 2001. The past few Thanksgivings were spent at the Pink Cow in Tokyo. Before that I cannot remember. Despite the time away I did try to revive some of the [...]
Your pictures were a very nice way to share your special Thanksgiving. Ours was a little bigger. We had 16 people. Of course, we are a crowd by ourselves.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:43 AM
Thanks Ann….maybe next year we can work on a combo Thanksgiving where Aya and I visit more than one place. When I was a kid we often did that as well.
Any photos from your big Thanksgiving day?
[...] MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO [...]
[...] HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE [...]
I just finished watching Ponyo and I feel the same way. It was nice to watch but nothing special, nothing as good at anything made by Miyzaki in the past.
Even the sorcerer, he’s a character already “seen” in past productions…nothing new.
Kinda delusional, hype was way too bigger than what the movie actually is
Jason Collin Reply:
December 10th, 2009 at 9:10 PM
Thanks for the comment Jowah.
I was living in Japan still when Ponyo came out and there was a lot of hype there, but it definitely came off as more of a children’s movie in the promos I saw there. That’s why it has has taken me so long to getting around to see it.
Still, it is good to see some real 2-D animation every once in awhile, as other than Pixar, I cannot bring myself to watch and CGI animation at all.
[...] THE STONE is definitely a fun romp, no doubt greenlit because of the success of RAIDERS. The story is simple enough to not get in the way of the characters, so when Kathleen Turner goes [...]
Finding $40 on the ground–good deal! Worth keeping your head down when you’re walking
I loved this film, despite the need to suspend disbelief quite often, and it’s the best role Michael Douglas has had. But I agree, why remake a genuinely funny and fun film.
Jason Collin Reply:
December 13th, 2009 at 2:39 PM
I think remaking this type of movie is really challenging, and only should be done if the the two leads did not have good chemistry, but of course they did. Not to mention can they find as great of locations as they did in the first one? And how fake will the bridge crossing scene and over the waterfall scene look with CGI, because you know they won’t be paying stunt people to do that.
Very nice poem. I also write a little sometimes.
[...] to other recent nostalgia movies like THE KARATE KID or at least have some watchability like THE LOST BOYS. Yes, by the end I felt that GREMLINS was basically [...]
Thanks…I’ll check out your site.
Cute cute cute my baby! She was so tiny and so baby! She also gave me an opportunity to socialize to people! Thanks, Kiki……
Since you have a knack for photographing people unawares, have you considered becoming a paparazzo? Your proximity to Miami and the price of the photos could solve your troubles….
Jason Collin Reply:
December 29th, 2009 at 4:10 PM
That is an idea I’ll take into consideration Dy, but I might feel bad profiting off of invading people’s privacy when they do not want to be photographed.
Then again, the hunt for THE shot does have some allure.
[...] quite enjoyed the first NATIONAL TREASURE movie, a fun romp with a bit of academia for the mind to chew on while the mouth chomps on popcorn. [...]
[...] to see it in a new light. See those shots on Mike’s site, Lee’s site, Gak’s site, Jason’s site, and my original [...]
hello
Never seen movie this before it was like that imagination of a
computer game .
when I hear about this , it is very fantastic movie .
human race is powerfull more than naturallty of the creature to the
Earth. But also I can think so as you can say like that .
if you recommendation for me , let me get a pick it up.
[...] be a very feel-bad movie, but it was not. For me it did not have nearly the emotional impact that GENERATION KILL [...]
The long conversations are trademark Tarantino. Actually, I found this to be his LEAST dialogue-driven film. And the dialogue is what I appreciate in Tarantino films. Nonetheless, I enjoyed Basterds. And I’d argue that Colonel Landa is one of Tarantino’s best characters to date.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 1st, 2010 at 10:08 AM
Yes, Colonel Landa was good which I had heard before seeing the movie. Did you think his decision at the end was out of character though? (avoiding mentioning specific spoilers here). I guess it’s hard to say because we know no background on him really, except the info we got from his initial rats analogy.
None of the characters save for one did I really care about, and she was the only character that had an actual background. I didn’t care about a single one of the basterds as those out of place brief backgrounds Tarantino did show for some of them did not provide much.
Tarantino can direct and write sitting around a table scenes very well, and he can create a cool character or two per movie, but do we ultimately really care about that cool character?
What I think is funny is that so many people think this kind of story is something new. It’s not. It’s called “alternate history” and there are oodles of “alternate histories” written by science fiction authors and mainstream “historicals” authors. The folks in Hollywood and critics and reviewers in general need better backgrounds in literature.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:20 PM
I did not know ahead of time the movie was going to portray an alternative history, but I liked how it played out.
It`s been so long since we last discussed LOST on this site, and yeah, a whole lot has changed. It`s good to have it back, even if it is the final run.
Of course- SPOILERS.
Where to begin with thoughts on the opener? While waiting for this episode, theories abounded. They would land in LAX. They wouldn`t. Well, it seems they`ve split the difference and done both- and I`m in for the ride. I loved every bit of interaction on the plane. Jack and Rose having that interchange we`ve seen before. Locke lying to Boone. Sawyer being smart. Kate being some escaping dumbass. Poor stupid Charlie. And best of all- Locke and Jack. How bizarre that after 6 years, I never really made the connection that it was such a coincidence that Jack was a spinal surgeon, and Locke a man with a broken back.
Now it seems obvious. How could that be coincidence? It seems like it couldn`t, like the writers knew this scene was coming from the very beginning of the show, when they put Jack and John on the same island together. Well, whether they did or not, whether Jack`s efforts to `fix` Locke will play much of a role at all in these `sideways` flashes or not, it`s a great capitalization of a long-known fact.
As to theories on the sideways flashes, good question. Looks like a whole other universe, not at all connected. One where the electromagnetism never happened, where Hurley has no bad luck cos no numbers. A world with the island at the bottom of the ocean, and so no manipulative Jacob and old friend.
Loved everything with not-Locke. Loved him describing how pathetic, but still admirable, John Locke had been. The last words in his head- `I don`t understand`. Brilliant. What we`ve been thinking for so long- looks like we get to move beyond it. And again, looks like the counters have been reset- and we`re back to having no real clue as to who the good guy is.
Not-Locke says- `Good to see you out of those chains` to Richard, says `I`m very disappointed in you all` to the beach Others, says `I just want to go home`, to Ben.
How can he be the bad guy if he just wants to go home? Was Jacob keeping him trapped there? Richard too? To what end?
Phew. A whole new mess of things to think about and theorize over. Genius.
Sad to see Juliette go. I hope she gets brought back, but who knows. Maybe in the sideways flashes.
Very promising indeed.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 3rd, 2010 at 8:00 PM
Yeah, to me best line of the episode was the Locke smoke monster incarnate saying to Richard something like, “nice to see you out of the chains.” Hope we get to see a flashback to him in those chains!
For some reason, totally not sad to see Juliette go, and we all know no one liked her more than me. Maybe because she was tainted by Sawyer?
Watched with a big crew of folks in Tokyo. First time to not watch an episode by myself (well, Juri is usually not paying attention) so that was weird, but in a good way.
I was totally pissed that everyone just left Sayid to die while Sawyer was trying to save Juliet. Now it seems like Jacob is going to try to take over Sayid’s body? What will it mean if Jacob takes over the most morally broken character (Sayid) vs. the physically and mentally broken Locke. I’m curious to see if Locke or Sayid will have any free will to resist (since free will seems to be the theme of season 6).
Also, what’s up with the random cliche last samurai and his JET program flunky? I dig the stewardess–she’s sexy and hopefully not as annoying as Kate. But Juri scoffed at the Japanese dude’s herb garden.
Finally, my prediction for the end of the series: somehow each character gets to choose which life they want.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 4th, 2010 at 10:39 AM
I like that prediction Jei! Getting to choose island or off island life at the end. How was the guy’s Japanese? Too funny, “JET program flunky.” I know I recognize that actor form somewhere, but haven’t looked it up yet….took some digging but found out, his name is John Hawkes and he played Sol Star on Deadwood.
About Sayid, right? I mean, I was just thinking the whole time, “they are letting Sayid die. Umm, why didn’t Hurley tell Jin to take him to the Temple as soon as he returned to the van!”
I wonder how Widmore will play into both the island reality and the flash-sideways reality of LA X?
Jei Reply:
February 6th, 2010 at 12:52 AM
The Japanese actor was Hiroyuki Sanada and he’s a big deal over here. You’d recognize him from The Last Samurai as the swordsman who gave Tom Cruise a hard time. Accodrding to Juri he’s a badass former stuntman who can do crazy flips and fight scenes as a samurai/yakuza.
Thought ep. 1 was pretty slow and not much good to say about it, although still very watchable of course, this being LOST.
Basically the whole thing with Sawyer and Juliet was annoying, and barely watchable, and if she’s just going to die, why even bother finding her in the first place? I guess so she can utter her ‘it worked’ line, and I’m supposing that if a character is about to die they can maybe ’see’ the other time line they’re in, and move there, or something like that. Really didn’t like to see Sawyer in his ‘rage’ mode again, I like him much more when he’s calm and in control.
Jack, who has manned down severely in past seasons, and who was starting to man up again at the end of season 5, is once again on the bottom, looking like a failure in everyone else’s eyes.
Very interesting to see how their lives wouldve unfolded had they all survived, and the dialogue with Jack and Locke in ep. 2 was especially interesting.
Actually ep. 2 more than made up for things, with Locke staying firmly on top as the most interesting character, even though he’s not really Locke anymore. Loved the scene with him becoming the smoke monster and killing those new Jacob protecting fools who just annoyed me in season 5. Only that chubby lady is left now, and I’m wondering why she didn’t take a shot at Locke when she had a gun pointed right at him? Did she know right away that bullets wouldn’t stop him?
Was a bit put out to see Hiroyuki Sanada and the guy from Deadwood suddenly appearing in the show, and amused that I could understand all his Japanese without any translation either, how many people watching Lost can claim that? Well us guys in Japan of course. Don’t like his comment about him not liking the way English sounds on his tongue, and I’m wondering how long he’ll be around in the show. The ‘translate every word he says’ bit will get tired pretty quickly I think.
Of course Sayid came back to life, like Jason said, was not a surprise at all. They’re obviously not going to kill off anymore of the original characters at this point.
Damn Kate, still escaping and annoying me. Glad that on the island she has learned a bit of control though.
How did that stewardess get to be part of the ‘in’ group so quickly I wonder?
Well… this episode had me teetering both ways between love and hate. A big part of me was disappointed because they laid the story arch out for us and it seems to clean cut which I will not appreciate if I am right. The other part of me was super excited and intrigued by the “it worked” scenario. Flashbacks have always been my favorite tool in the hands of the writers of Lost, so this has potential which will hopefully play out better than the flash forwards we witnessed last season.
Here is my sense of what is going on:
The island really was a place where everyone who’s life was super fracked up could start over… yet who wants to accept that? If given the keys to paradise knowing that you could never go back to what you left behind, and who you left behind, would you truly go? Ultimately the island is Jacob’s paradise. Somehow though I forgot about the guy I call Johnny Cash – the man in black. His struggle and disagreement with Jacob.
Here all of the answers are made clear. The smoke monster is Johnny Cash who now has control over John Locke’s body, who really is dead. I am gonna go out on a limb here, but if I had to guess, we are not getting Sayeed back, Jacob is going to take over his body just like the man in black is controlling Locke’s. Jacob died within the hour, the instructions were get Sayeed to the temple or we are all screwed, and wallah… instant body to reincarnate into.
So now Jacob/Sayeed struggle with The Man In Black/Locke over the final outcome. Will they escape Eden to head back to reality where it seems some of the people on the island are living a dual existence or will they stay and realize how wonderful paradise is. My other guess is that the people back in “real” life will start living their lives for good – e.g. Jack healing Locke or Sawyer and Kate finding each other and living out the life Sawyer and Juliet created on the Island.
Strangest moment from the plane… was it Hurley is the luckiest man alive or was it that the weird incestual brother dude was there without his sister who decided to work out her relationship in Australia?
I like the potential here and am looking forward to riding this out, a little sad this is the end, but feeling confident that they can pull off a killer season and end just at the right moment in time.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 10:11 PM
There are still 16 more hours of LOST so things could still end up anywhere with that amount of time.
It’s about time to watch the 3rd episode now!
I’m not as down on this ep. as Jason is, and thought it wasn’t too bad until the last scene, and that pretty much ruined everything for me. Seeing Claire, holding a gun, and with a confused/dumb look on her face… and when Hiroyuki Sanada goes ‘it happened to your sissssta’ I was like, who do you think you are? Darth Vader? COME ON!! I’ve always been impressed with the Lost writers in how they tie stuff together, but wow, big slip tonight fellas. I guess it also didn’t help things that two of the most annoying characters on the show (Claire and Kate) were central in this ep. Kate as always with her stupid antics, this running back to give Claire her bag, then driving her to the house of the people supposed to adopt her baby, then driving her to the hospital, all while she’s supposed to be on the lam… and back on the island just leaving Jin stranded and walking off after he offered to help find Sawyer. Goddamn that pissed me off.
and Claire, she’s just useless, and I thought we were well rid of her in season 5. So now what? She’s got some monster inside her now? Ooooo, very scary.
And were we supposed to feel some big thrill of fear/excitement seeing Ethan again? Didn’t work.
Don’t agree with you Jason about Sawyer, of course he’s still down and crying! He loved Juliet and they were living together for 3 years! If he wasn’t still upset it would be 10 times weirder.
Still a bit early for me to make a call on the whole Sayid thing, it could go either way, stupid or cool, depending on where they take the storyline. However it does seem a bit far fetched that they want to kill Sayid with poison when Jacob asked them to keep him alive, and if they really want him dead, why ask Jack to give him poison? Why not just stab him through the heart with that red hot poker when he’s tied down?
Finally Jack approached a situation where he didn’t try to punch out everyone in the room!! Was very refreshing to me to see him actually sit down and talk instead of shout, charge in and then get beaten up. Liked that at least.
Miles, yeah it totally sucks how he’s treated like a servant, wonder if he’s going to get offed this season as he doesn’t really have any use now. No need to have two guys who can see/talk to dead people, and they obviously won’t get rid of Hurley. Speaking of which, more Hurley screen time!
Hopefully back to better characters next week, like Locke and Ben.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 3:49 PM
Yeah, was pretty surprised Kate just left Jin there. What does Kate need Sawyer for to find Claire anyway? Like Sawyer would give a damn to find Claire.
It seems the monster inside, or the infection, is actually the “sickness” that Rousseau warned about way back in season #1 and that which killed her crew. So if so, that would be a good way to bring back something that was really important in the first season but just totally was forgotten about (hello, Walt??!).
This blog post about LOST was a good read, and pointed out the sickness connection (not my idea) and that Dogan tortured Sayid just like Rousseau did to Sayid to test him in season 1.
http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/10/claires-fate-revealed-on-lost/?hpt=T2
The whole pill thing was just silly, just shove it down Sayid’s throat if you want it done, don’t make some lame writing loophole that if Sayid doesn’t take it willingly it won’t work. Someone’s will can make the poison inert? Come on!
I feel the only character I really want to know about now is Richard, and him being in chains. He is the only one we really do not know anything about still.
And Sayid failing the test? So if he didn’t scream that means he would have passed?
I’d say that Hurley is the one sacred cow on the show, anyone else could be killed, or rather should be killed?
The problem with getting Hurley more screen time is that he’s not mobile, so can’t easily tag along on Kate’s recon mission, can’t escape himself, can only hangout and maybe drive a bit.
Ahh the sickness. Makes sense I suppose, but it also bothers me that they’re bringing that back now, when nobody else ever got infected before…
It would definitely be interesting to finally discover how and why Rouseau’s crew got infected and she didn’t. They never did explain that.
Went into this episode really hoping Kate would get captured and locked up. Good end to her story. So as she continued to escape, for some unfathomable reason terrorizing the pregnant girl and forcing her to stay in the cab, I was yelling at the screen, wishing someone would man up and knock her the hell out.
Everything about KAte in this episode was annoying, All of her most annoying traits. Follow Sawyer- wtf! He`s just lost his girlfriend because you insisted on coming back- he deosn`t want to be consoled by you. Abandoned Jin to do his own thing, jesus. Abandon Jack (after telling him previously she had his back) to go gallivanting off with more Others.
She just needs to shut up and sit down like Miles and Hurley are doing. Everything she does is aggravating.
That said- I liked the way Sawyer reacted to her. “I shouldn`t have folowed you.” “Which time?” “I`m sorry”, “You already said that.”
Damn straight James, call her out. Like how he tells her to go back. Like how he blames himself. Like how he thinks he ought to live alone, in the ruins of their house together. Responsible and understandable. Doesn`t want to hurt anybody else, and wants to e punished. I get it.
Jack and Dogen- annoying. These guys coming saying- “hey we need to talk to you alone, wink wink, that means we`ll force you to come,” that`s annoying. Glad JAck took the damn pill himself. Annoying Faraday-style -”I can`t possibly explain what`s i the pill, it`s too complicated.” Nice job Jack, consummate poker player.
It`s not Jacob that has claimed him. Perhaps it is Radzinsky, or Phil. Perhaps Claire was claimed by Rousseau, who has been wandering the island like a real doofus setting traps for God knows how long.
The Sickness, I think that has been explained as never being a sickness. It was the black smoke. Didn`t we directly see that when Montan got sucked into the declivity under the temple wall? Rousseau called it a sickness cos she didn`t know what else to call it. But in reality it was just the smoke monster. We know cos Montan`s skeleton was found in the tunnels.
Though it is interesting, when Rousseau shoots the dude on the beach, her ex-crew, in flashback with Jin, he dies, unlikethe smke monster in the foot where he turns into smoke and kills everybody.
Still, not the same thing Saieed has, I`ll wager. Why would they be allowed into the Tempe, healed, then banished back to the beach to die? Nonsensical.
Oh, and I don`t think Richard was ever in real chains. Metaphysical hains. Somehow he was in bondage to Jacob, and not-Locke freed him by kiling Jacob.
Place-holder episode. Only moment worth rewatching, Sawyer talkign to Kate on the pier.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 10:31 PM
Right, there shouldn’t be any filler episodes, ever. That was the whole point of picking a firm end date for the show so they could stop with the filler eps in seasons 2 and 3.
I didn’t catch Sawyer saying “which time” even though I rewound the DVR at least twice to try and catch it, should have turned on the caption. So that scene does sound cool now.
The only thing better about Kate now is her hair. They are really putting some good shampoo in it or something as it has never looked shinier, thicker, or more like she just stepped out of a salon yet is actually on some crazy jungle island sweating all the time.
Why do you keep saying Dogen-Locke? Dogen is the J-dude in the temple. Locke is Locke, or fake Locke.
Wasn`t so taken with this episode myself. Of course I liked the call-backs, and also seeing other characters moving through Locke`s sideways flash life, but felt a bit gimmicky.
Callbacks-
Fake Locke yells out- don`t tell me what I can`t do, the same way real Locke did.
Locke`s bag of knives is opened up.
Locke lies in the water from the sprinklers like he sat in the rain on the beach.
Probably more too. But what did it all add up to? Well, not much. We had it confirmed that Jacob manipulated everybody onto the island the first time, and in some cases for the second time-
Sawyer- Encourages Sawyer to write his letter, so he spends his life trying to kill the real Sawyer, goes to Oz to do that, kills the wrong guy, gets on 815.
Kate- Helps Kate get away with the theft of a lunchbox, so she thinks she can always get away with it and not be punished. Hence she runs away all her life, then runs to Oz, gets caught, gets brought back on 815.
Locke- Heals him with a half-miracle from a broken back, leaving him with the hope that one day he could be a real boy again. Goes walkabout, fails, comes back on 815.
For Hurley and Saieed he only manipulates them as adults, ensuring they come back. Hurley is suggestible, especially to a guitar case cos it evokes Charlie, and Saieed`s wife is killed so he has no reason to live, which sets him up with Ben, which gets him caught by Ilyana and on the Ajira flight. Jin and Sun hmm, doesn`t do anything much really. Helps keep them together, maybe, so Sun will get back on the Ajira plane to find Jin.
So we already knew that stuff fairly firmly already, from the end of season 5. They just confirmed it- it`s Jacob`s plan. Ok.
The one new thing we learned- Fake Locke was human once, and also sees visions on the island- possibly of a young Jacob. People had thought those visions were manifestations of the smoke monster, but I guess something bigger even than him is playing games on the island.
Most interesting question I want to know, which is the same as it`s ever been- what is so special about the island, to make it worth fighting over for so long? I guess we`re inching closer to an answer.
Not a bad ep, but nothing amazing in it.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 18th, 2010 at 10:39 AM
Ha, thought Dogen was the name for the fake Locke from reading some other site, maybe they got it wrong too. It was interesting to learn that fake-Locke was once human, and I would guess THAT is the reason why the island is so special, its ability to make a regular person a near immortal, which maybe it has done for Richard too, though Richard seems to fear death quite a bit at the hands of fake-Locke.
So I would guess Widmore wants to get back to the island to get that immortal status seeing as a man like that probably isn’t going to be satisfied with any kind of normal life span.
But yes, I’d agree the biggest remaining question, really the biggest question since will they get off the island was answered, is what makes the island just so damn special and coveted and in need of protection in the first place?
Yeah nothing stood out for me much in this ep. either, and there is no way in hell I would ever add this to the list of ‘classic’ Lost episodes. Not that I didn’t like it though, I enjoyed watching Sawyer and Locke banter back and forth, maybe they are the two characters I’ve consistently liked the most throughout the show. Had to laugh out loud at Locke calmly asking Sawyer ‘What’s on your mind James?’ when Sawyer had a gun pointed at his head. And the pre gun warmup story of ‘Of Mice and Men’.
On the downside though, I like them both less now as Locke isn’t really Locke anymore, and Sawyer has seemingly joined the side of ‘evil’ now, and has reverted to his old raging, uncaring self. Hmmm. It seems so obvious to me now that the two of them are going to end up losing in the end. To what? Dunno, but I just know that the writers aren’t going to let Sawyer and Locke come out on top of Jack.
Didn’t like Sawyer’s analysis of the old Locke, at how he was ‘always scared even though he pretended not to be’. Didn’t seem quite fair or accurate to me.
I was unimpressed at the cave and names written on the walls, seemed a bit anticlimactic somehow, and I totally expected Sawyer to voice that comment with a ’so what?’
Anyway now that we know that someone may replace Jacob, I kind of hope it will be Hurley, as he’s the only character left that is still pure in my mind. It soooo better not be Jack as he deserves it the least out of everyone.
God damn Locke being so pathetic in his side life, makes me sad.
Richard acting like a wide-eyed boy weakling… yep, not what I expected out of him.
Totally don’t like what is going on with Ben now, seems like they threw away one of the best characters, and now he’s been reduced to nothing.
For god sake, just let Sun and Jin find each other again, why are they saving this? Any reunion between the two of them will no doubt be boring, and I can see no interesting reason to keep them apart.
Totally not digging the characters that are SUPPOSED to be on the island being randomly found in LA. Ben as a teacher, Desmond on the flight and Ethan in the hospital. WTF?? I hope they know what they’re doing here, because it seems to me they don’t really have time to add more bizarre elements to the storyline. Time to start tidying things up!
Don’t know if its the gimmicky feeling about the eps so far, but I find myself not really caring about Lost like I used to. Hope things pick up soon. Will give it three stars, which I feel is a bit generous, but two would be disrespectful.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 18th, 2010 at 10:46 AM
Actually I felt Sawyer’s description of real-Locke as “always scared even though he pretended not to be” was a great line and a dead-on analysis. Locke is not a natural born leader. He has some survival skills and got his legs working again on the island. So even though he was brave to face the smoke monster, skilled to hunt and kill a wild boar with only a knife, inside he was actually scared because he never knew when or if his legs would give out again, and had no history of success, only failing and being at the bottom, so no real confidence to base his leadership on.
Then he was totally wrong about pushing the button too, just when he had thought he had the island figured out, he goes and blows up the whole damn hatch.
Yeah, the show promises to nearly wrap everything up but they’ve got a long way to go still and just 14 more hours to do it in. Widmore will have to come back in to play somehow, hope that’s sooner rather than later.
Ben not having answers, letting that wench lead them across the island, not good. Maybe he feels bad over killing Jacob and Locke. It was nice of him to say he felt sorry for doing it at his grave.
I feel a bit like Mike does, a bit that it doesn`t seem to matter at the moment. Essentially it`s just a lot of stuff happening. I think it`s an offshoot of the writers` refusal to tell us who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.
For a while we had clear bad guys. The smoke monster, Tom, Ben, Widmore. But now it`s even less clear than ever. Fake Locke says it`s all for nothing! That`s probably a lie, but we can`t help but feel some malaise from that All this effort, for nothing?
They need to give us a bad guy, and soon. The smoke monster Fake Locke doesn`t seem so bad. We need someone to hate, otherwise it`s all just a bunch of wandering in the jungle for an island that doesn`t matter. It HAS to matter in a serious cosmic way for us to care.
Theory to that end- The smoke monster Fake Locke guy must be super evil. Super evil, so much so that releasing him will unleash serious pain on the world. Will destroy everything, essentially. Then the island is a prison. So in that sense, what Fake Locke says about it not mattering is true. What matters is that Fake Locke is kept imprisoned on it.
Who`s good and who`s bad here becomes clearer if we look at Jacob. He seems to be the jailer. He`s given up everything to jail this guy. He`s ruined countless lives just to keep him jailed. Unless he`s seriously masochistic against this one guy (which doesn`t seem to be the case, he doesn`t torture him, just imprisons him), then he`s doing it for the greater good.
So. what they need to do is show us what a bastard the smoke monster Fake Locke is. Perhaps it`s not even his fault, just his nature is to be a bastard. In a way, he`s innocent, but his very existence off he island will cause destruction.
If any of that is gonna be true, they need to start showing it to us soon. Perhaps in the sideways flashes- the world will start to unravel because in that world, the prison is sunk and the Fake Locke is escaped. To that end, the electromagnetism was a restraining field of some type. By blowing it up, Jack et al opened the door and released him.
Agreed that the cave filled with names didn`t mean much. No proof even that it was Jacob that wrote it. Could easily have been Fake Locke for all Sawyer knew. Certainly underwhelming. I guess one episode where they reined in the budget.
Now THAT’S a cool boat!
Jason Collin Reply:
February 22nd, 2010 at 11:24 AM
Hi Mark….thanks!
The interesting point for me was that Locke’s personality seems to have imprinted on the Smoke-monster in a meaningful way. The final battle may be subverted by Locke taking control (for once).
Also, shout out to Rose the HH’er and bizzaro Hurley’s random awesomeness.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:54 AM
HH’er? Is that a reference to the size of somethings?
A good episode, but infuriating. Jacob is a real pain in the butt. For God`s sake, I mean for GOD`S SAKE, just tell someone what the hell is going on.
It`s necessary at this stage to have a character like Hurley voicing our thoughts. If not for him, we`d be far more negative on the show than otherwise. The writers are using him to basically call themselves out.
“Oh, here we go trekking through the jungle again. Good times.”
“Here`s Adam and Eve, I wonder if we`ll time travel and become them?”
“How come we never saw this lighthouse before?”
Jin lying to Claire I think was done out of self-preservation. He could see she was murderous and absolutely convinced that the Others had her baby. To say anything different from that would make her torture and kill him. So he just told her what she wanted to hear. I was annoyed though that he didn`t tell her it earlier. Why lie there doing nothing for so long?
Nice pointer to her `friend` seeming more evil. He has made her nuts, and will send her to kill all the Temple folk if possible. I guess he can`t enter past the line of ash himself but he can send her in with dynamite to blow them all to crap.
I really liked the Jack sidestory too- him sayign that to his son was kind of a pivotal moment for him. I am not my father, all that. Great stuff.
Jack smashing the mirror though, again annoying. I understand the desire to not be a game piece, but why not just take a look at all the images. Ugh.
Very mixed up plotting so far. Jacob sent them to Temple to save Saieed, but that failed. Then everyone left the Temple, which seems to be a good thing because it looks like all the Temple people will die. It really is like a game of chess now, endless gambits and sacrificial moves being made way in advance, just to get the characters into the right position for a checkmate.
If Locke is at Claire`s, is Sawyer right behind him? Will Jin get co-opted in a search for his wife?
Hurley finds a secret tunnel, we don`t even get to see it! Secret tunnels are so par for the course now on LOST that we don`t even see it.
A lot of Star Wars references this episode? Hurley mentions Ben Kenobi as comparison to Jacob. Was there one more?
Jason,
The candidate thing was mentioned last ep. don’t you remember? Someone to replace Jacob. Locke talked all about it to Sawyer.
So basically I liked this episode, most of it at least. I agree with both of you that Jack was just ignant in smashing the mirrors, and that Jacob should stop messing around with everyone and just SAY what the hell is going on or what he wants them to do.
A lot of Hurley in this ep. which is good, as he’s really the last ‘pure’ character in my mind, the only one unsullied one of the whole bunch. Jack’s story with the kid was interesting, but I’m not sure where they’re pulling all this new stuff from, and to see that Japanese dude back in the real world. I guess they’re going to eventually explain why EVERYBODY is back in LA because they keep on doing it.
Jack was likeable in this ep., at least when he wasn’t going off on one of his pointless rages like smashing mirrors. Seriously dude, you really need to calm the f*** down.
LIghthouse didn’t really do much for me though, more names, but at least this time there was a way to find out some answers from them, of course until Jack came along, dumbass….
Glad Kate didn’t come along, and glad she’s not a candidate either.
Too much Claire time and her acting all tough and crazy, just didn’t work for me. Even if that big black dude was shot he shouldve grabbed her neck and snapped it before she tied him up. Damn it would suck to get an axe in the stomach like that.
As for who’s coming, hmm, my vote is on Widmore. I really hope it’s not Erin as taking him out of the show was a smart move. We don’t need to go back to the baby scenes again.
Got to give this ep. a 3 because we didnt get any answers, just more questions.
Jason Collin Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 5:27 PM
Yes, remember the candidate thing but they are accelerating it now, not just something they mention once and never again.
Listening to the LOSTcast now and it seems that each number of The Numbers is associated with each candidate, and the lower the number, the better the candidate. Jack is associated with 23, and Locke, more of a man of faith, is 4. Then when I heard them say that, I realized Locke-centric episodes have been 1×04 and again this season 6×04, not sure about the others ones in the past, but that can’t be a coincidence I think.
It’s nice that for us on the U.S. east coast we get 24 on Monday then LOST on Tuesday, a strong way to start each week, however, come today (Thursday), my long time LOST watching day, things feel a bit anti-climatic, like there should be something to punctuate the week with.
Just thought of something else while listening to LOSTcast, they mentioned once again how Jacob and Fake-Locke could not kill each other, those were the rules. That triggered in my mind how Widmore and Ben cannot kill each other due to I would presume the same rules.
I wonder if those rules are honor bound or tangible, as in if Ben shot Widmore, he wouldn’t be able to raise the gun at him as some force keeps his hand down, or something.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie–even the surprising ending. I thought the tavern scene was equally amazing as the opening scene–it is amazing how all the actors carried on in multiple languages without losing the energy in their delivery of their dialogue.
I guess it is partially because I approached the movie expecting a “Tarrantino flim” that I had no problem with the violence, the dialogue, or the plot. For me it was just madcap, over the top fun (if the violence had been more subtle it might have been disturbing, but it was so bombastic as to lack a realistic punch).
Jason Collin Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:19 PM
Yes, the tavern scene was good, but hard contrast between the careful dialogue then sudden extreme violence, I guess I don’t like that abrupt transition and Tarantino loves it.
I`m surprised you didn`t like this episode, since I thought it was excellent. Saieed kicked ass unremittingly and without apology. That`s what I want to see.
From the beginning was calling out at the screen as Saieed and Dogen whup each other. Everybody was annoyed by Dogen- just another dude guarding what info he knew and only doling it out in tiny chunks. We`re sick of people like that, and so I loved it that Saieed did so well against him. and of course, killed him ultimately, and his damn annoying John Lennon sidekick.
Excellent. Loved it. About time somebody did that. Also got to enjoy Kate slamming the sidekick into the wall and yelling- `now!`
Dark Saieed, I`m liking it. It`s all the better because he really did try to do the `good` thing. This is why I liked his side story too. In that he is trying to be a reformed man. He tries to stand back, be there for the kids. But if you put him in the situation where he has to kick ass, he will do it stone cold.
Was great to see Keemy again. I always liked that guy. He`s badass too. And crazy eyes. And great eggs! Again was yelling at the screen for Saieed to end him. So glad he did.
As for plot advancement, this was a lynchpin episode I think. The sides are pretty much delineated.
With Jacob- Lapidus, Sun, Hurley, Jack, Ilyana, Ben, Miles.
With Evil Locke- Saieed, Claire, Sawyer, Jin (?), Kate (?)
These are the sides we`re going to see going into the finale against each other. We know why most of them have chosen those sides, and what motivates them. Saieed is doing it for love. Sawyer to get the hell away. Claire for her baby. Jack to just heal himself an ddo what`s right.
Each of these are unswayable. Once Saieed thinks he can get Nadia back, I`m pretty sure nothing will stop him. He would kill Jack without a moment`s hesitation. He`d probably say sorry as he did it, but would still do it.
Great scene where Ben realizes what Saieed has done, sees the blood on the blade, and runs the hell away. Saieed as damn creepy.
Feel like they`ll have to start bringing the side stories and the current story into alignment pretty soon.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:28 AM
Seeing Sayid be a badass is cool, but not enough for me. Seeing the Sol Star-weak-Lennon looking dude get ended was satisfying. But in the end those were the sources of what little answers we were getting and Sayid made sure no more answers came forth. I don’t think Flocke (as they call him on LOSTcast) is going to be dolling out any answers anytime soon. Just pie in the sky promises.
Again, why in the world does Flocke want people to join him? Especially if they were once followers of Jacob. Guess to just kill them? Seems petty for a being so powerful, just leave the island and go be evil in the real world instead of picking on some hippies in a jungle.
I would guess Kate is going along with Flocke thinking maybe she can still hookup with Sawyer.
The only intrigue I see with the proposed sides you mentioned is Jin having to face Sun on opposite sides. Did we see Jin with Flocke at the end of the episode? Don’t recall actually seeing him.
And I was thinking, Ben used to have some control or at least alliance with Flocke, as he could go into his secret closet room and summon the smoke monster to take out the mercenaries, etc. Is that because Jacob had dominion over the smoke monster (a kind of security system) but with Jacob gone Ben lost the ability to have any control over the smoke monster?
Jei Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:51 AM
Jin was not with Flocke.
I thought the same thing about sides forming up but I think it will be a little more complicated with some more switching back and forth. Ben and Jack still need to pick sides, and there are still wild cards like Richard and Christian out there.
Still there should be some sort of balance so…
Team Flocke: Sayid, Sawyer, Claire, Kate, Jin, Ben
Team Jake: Hurley, Jack, Lepidus, Ilyana, Sun, Miles
Prediction:
Jin and Sun cancel and leave, Claire kills Ilyana but then goes with Sun who knows her baby, Hurley and Miles send all the people Sayid has killed after him, Ben takes out Lepidus, Hurley and Miles but goes down himself. Locke overpowers Flocke like Vader. Final 3 are Jack, Sawyer and Kate.
Well, this ought to fulfill the request for FLocke to really be evil and for the struggle between him and Jacob to mean something.
As for me I was holding out for some real moral ambiguity–making Jacob the possible villain and Flocke just misunderstood–but I’ll take this too. I also wanted Sayid to get killed by Flocke in the temple to pay for his sins: that would have been unreal.
Sad to see Dogen and the Jet go. Surprised that Ben somehow survived. Loved that Miles keeps on truckin. Gotta hope he has something big to do.
Still digesting, but gotta say that immediately after the episode ended my adrenaline is pumping and that I am super excited for the next episode.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:47 AM
I’m not exactly sure we can call Flocke evil yet. It just appears that Jacob was good and nurturing. But what if Jacob was keeping Richard in chains and Flocke in a kind of prison also (keeping him on the island)? But yeah, it does appear Jacob is on the good side. Ben long ago told the fab-5 when asked who they were, “we’re the good guys.”
Down to just a dozen hours for LOST to wrap things up.
Lots of LOST questions and answers here actually, going though it now, list questions that still need answers by show’s end:
http://scifiwire.com/2010/02/lost-questions-and-answer.php
Yeah I’m still not COMPLETELY convinced of the good/evil equation here. Jacob surely isn’t a saint, and while Flocke is obviously not the good guy, is he really that much more evil that Jacob? What evil has Flocke (which sounds stupid) really done except clean up house a bit? Killed a few guys who we really know nothing about except that they were keeping the regulars prisoner? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Great Sayid episode, like Jason said, always an interesting and intriguing character. Doubly great to see him kicking ass, especially that Keemy guy, damn, can’t stand him and his huge ass teeth.
That creepy smile that Sayid gave Ben at the end of the ep…. wow, Ben was smart to take off like he did. I did feel kind of bad for Dogen though, his final story moved me a bit, and highlighted the fact that Jacob isn’t as pristine as we’re all thinking.
I wonder though if Sayid would’ve managed to kill Flocke if he actually stabbed him before he said ‘hello Sayid’. Dogen did say to kill him before he uttered anything at all.
Good to see John Lennon go down like the fool he is.
Kate was annoying as ever, and she has never looked more like a man as she did in this ep. Is she really going to join Flocke’s flock though? Somehow I doubt it.
And I doubt either Jin or Sawyer are really ‘evil’ now either as Sayid and Claire are the only ones currently infected.
The ‘rescue party’ of Sun, Ben, et al. was just too much of a cliche for me, didn’t like it, although I do like the fact (like everyone else) that Miles is still around, even though he is doing absolutely nothing (ie. playing solitare)
Finally, Jin in the meatlocker… just didnt work for me. However it seems to me that the pattern they’re working towards is that all the ‘main’ characters are being drawn closer and closer together in the ‘alternate’ world, obviously for some future purpose.
I liked this ep. but like Jason, not quite sure if it is worthy enough for a 4 star rating. Will give it a 3 again. Nothing has been above 3 for me so far this season.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 4:14 PM
Yeah, with you on not being sure exactly who the GOOD or BAD people are. I mean, Flocke does kill, so there is that. Then again, Jacob has not revealed much about himself. We only have that one conversation on the beach between Jacob and pre-Flocke dude to judge them by, other than the damn cryptic non-answers Jacob and Flocke have given this entire season!
LOST, you chose to end the show on a schedule to not run out of story, have filler, etc, I want to be WOWED every episode here on out, there are enough major questions that need to be answered still. Far too many for a 2-hour series finale. Wow me fools! If you can.
Wow, I need to go back and rethink my battle lines. Ben makes a play to be a “good guy.” I get the sense that the smoke monster needs someone to replace him too in order to stay. So there has to be a balance of 2. Only now, while Jacob is dead can he escape. Jacob and Whidmore would both be candidates for the Flocke role.
Random thought during the episode: … Jin is the candidate who will end up on the island forever. Sun is not a candi because she didn’t go back in time.
VERY Cheesy sub entrance but you knew he was coming.
I think the next episode is Richard centric?
Jason Collin Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 4:27 PM
Good call, it does seem Widmore and Ben are totally set to replace Jacob and whatever Flocke was before he was Flocke. They seem to have the same relationship as well, when Widmore said Ben could not kill him. So that’s why Widmore went after Alex and why Ben tried to kill Penny.
Closing shot of the series, Ben and Widmore sitting on the beach next to the 4-toed statue seeing a plane crashing into the island, BOOM, LOST logo, end of series.
Great episode, the redemption of Benjamin Linus. Loved his choices, and the weight behind them.
At the end he goes up to Sun and says- `can I help` and as if reciting a line in a play she says `please help me with the tarp`.
Loved that, shows that she`s surprised she`s even saying it, can`t believe he`s alive, can`t believe he`s getting stuck in with the rest of them. The last time he was involved with the beach it was to steal all the pregnant women from it and kill anyone who got in the way. He had her husband tied up with a gun in his face. His other men got killed.
Now he`s here, getting stuck in. Wonderful arc for him. It`s true, he did do everything he thought for the greater good. It may also have been a lust for power, but like with the school situation, he would have been doing it for the betterment of all students.
The situation to burn Alex I didn`t quite get. It`s a counter blackmail? I guess. Worked out well. And now free of Jacob`s influence, which is probably connected to being freed of Daddy issues, he`s able to be his real character and do the right thing, in both storylines. Good for him!
Parallels and callbacks across storylines and to the past were awesome-
Ben is giving his father life-giving oxygen. In island story he killed his father, and everyone, with gas.
He has choice to sacrifice Alex again for `greater good`. This time doesn`t take it.
Miles finds Nicky and Paulo`s diamonds! In scene where everyone else is hugging and remeeting, e checks out his new glittering friends.
Locke gives a vote of confidence to Linus in the staffroom, to become principal, when all along on the island these two have been vying for leadership.
Arzt calls Ben `killer`, as he sets off on his path to blackmail and manipulation- just like the old Ben.
On the whole, so great to see this character redeemed. Slo-mo beach scenes definitely emotive. These people really do like each other, and are genuinely happy to see each other. Makes us care too.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 10:54 PM
Nothing like extreme adversity to bring people together and build bonds stronger than any normal relationship.
Just ten more Tuesdays of quality, serial, scripted drama, then that’s it, possibly forever. No major network will launch an expensive hour long drama again in the near future at the very least. 24 will be getting the ax this year because of its budget, and also it’s run its course too.
The past decade already saw the death of genre trilogy/series movies, and LOST will be the final genre entertainment to bow out, leaving us with only reruns.
I’ll comment before reading anybody else’s post.
THIS is the episode that I’ve been waiting for this season. Of course it helps that it was a Ben centric ep., who is one of the best actors on the series.
Loved his back story as much as what he’s doing on the island. Crazy to see him in a good relationship with his Dad, and to see Alex again (I know nobody else agrees with me, but I think she’s hot), and even ‘what’s his face’ the science teacher. Didn’t fully understand the ending though with the principal of the school, what kind of deal did he make? Did he save Alex and resign?
Of course his story on the island is just as fascinating, and his final teary speech at the end totally moved me, and of course once again Ben avoids near death yet another time. I was actually prepared for Ben to get killed in this ep. I mean I was reasonably confident he’d survive, but not 100%, even though he is one of the candidates. (I think I saw his name written on the wall)
Other stories lines were almost as good.
-Jack actually manned up in this ep., kept his cool instead of going off half cocked as usual.
-Richard wanting to die, and hearing FINALLY why he never ages, great revelation.
-Locke once again showing that he may not be as evil as he’s being made out to be.
-No Claire or Kate
-Hurley saying ‘cheese curds’ before waking up.
Small things I didn’t really like:
-Miles practically rubbing Ben’s face in his imminent execution.
-Widmore arriving on the sub, seemed anti-climactic.
-Still not at all cool with that last surviving Jacob-following chick just taking charge. Hopefully now that Jack and Richard are back, she’ll get replaced.
Maybe not quite a 5 star ep, but worth 4 for sure.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 11:38 PM
The principal kept his job. Ben kept quiet about him pounding the school nurse in exchange for the principal writing a glowing letter for Alex and possibly an upgraded parking space for Ben.
Ben was a Candidate, #117, which is the sum of the numbers if you replace 42 with 51, which was Kate’s number (learned from LOSTcast, definitely worth listening to).
Did not think for a second Ben would actually die.
My own flash sideways, buying lottery ticket today at Publix, of course used some of the Numbers as my numbers (didn’t win though, damn it). Waiting in a slow line to get my ticket. Some huge dude, even bigger than Hurley I think, walks right to the counter when it was my turn. I was in a hurry of course and said out loud, “it was actually my turn next” as a burn to the cashier who should have gone to me next. The huge dude said in an eerily Hurley way, “sorry dude, didn’t know you were next.” The word “dude” stuck in my mind. Made me think I was fated to win the lottery this time like Hurley, but ultimately didn’t.
There is nothing quite as comforting in the English language as dropping a poignant “dude” in a conversation.
In total agreement with you Jason. Felt like something was gonna happen, and nothing did. All the while am hoping Sawyer is running some complex double-con, trying to do the right thing, then learn that all he cares about is just getting him and Kate off the island.
Really unbelievable. Unless this is some long con, it just doesn`t seem real. I think the last thing he wants is to get off the island. He wants to die on the island, next to Juliette`s grave. To that end, the moment he`s holding Kate`s dress in the polar bear cage made me feel ill. All this stuff with Kate makes me feel ill.
This whole side of the story, actually. Too damn depressing. Sayid is just godawful. Kate is out of it. Locke can`t control his stuff, and needs to send lackeys off to do his bidding. I want more badassery from my bad guy. A little joy de vivre. This bad Locke is dull and about as weak as the original Locke! Beating him will hardly seem like a big deal.
And the end of the flash-sideways, no redemption for Sawyer. After Ben`s redemption episode last week, all I want to see now for every character is their redemption. I don`t need to see them go any darker. I want them to start taking responsibility and finding the right path to get happy.
And I need Locke to be more of a bad guy. If he`s really just this miserable bastard who wants to get home, and can`t even do half his dirty work and scouting for himself, can`t even control the crazy Claire he made himself, then I say just let the poor bastard go.
Sigh.
Turn it around, guys. You gotta make the bad guy more bad ass. He`s looking more and more like season 3 and 4 Locke than ever, which is to say- weak.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 17th, 2010 at 10:31 AM
Next week Carlton and Damon pen the episosde, so it is their show and that will be their episode to put a stamp down and say THIS is when the final season of LOST starts to dominate.
Damn it, and noticed I still can’t get rid of the damn typos in the poll, need to start making them earlier than 1am after watching the episode.
I more care about the island now and why it is so damn special rather than any of the characters!
Jei Reply:
March 17th, 2010 at 10:45 AM
I thought Sawyer got great redemption in this show. The punch of him giving up his secret to Miles was taken away by the cheesy crash and Kate revelation. Sawyer gave up his isolation and his vengeance… Miles is not going to let him kill Cooper. Plus, sideways Sawyer is gonna get an even sweeter finale when he meets sideways Juliet.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 17th, 2010 at 10:55 AM
If anyone meets flash-sideways Juliet it is going to be me!!
i think he is ignored.
I don’t know how the hell the writers think that they can suddenly make Sawyer a cop after all this time, but I LIKE it. Plus I like seeing Sawyer get the best of everybody he comes across, sweet.
Seems you guys are pretty down on this ep. but I liked it alot, mainly because of Sawyer though who is definitely in my top three fav. actors in this show, the other two being Locke and Ben. He just carried the ep for me. Other stuff was just noise though, that we can agree on.
Clarie and Kate stuff, pure garbage. The last thing I expected was for Clarie to weepingly say she was sorry for what she did. boring.
Where the f*** did Jin go when he hobbled off? Just walked off the set completely? MORE JIN, less damn Kate!
Locke is way to weak and ineffectual seeming yes, but I still have faith in the writers that it’ll all add up to something in the end, they haven’t disappointed me yet (for the most part) with their ability to tie up seemingly loose and random plot lines.
Charlotte, still looked like a skull with red hair when we first saw her turn around, but by her last scene she actually looked pretty good. Her eyes can’t possibly be that shade of blue though, must be contacts.
New characters, totally dont need them, especially when they’re mannish looking chicks with glasses.
I wonder how dumb Locke thinks everyone is that they’ll believe they can take off in a very run down plane using a sandy beach for a runway?
Have to give this ep. three stars though, but it’s all for Sawyer.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 10:33 AM
yeah, I think what is really lacking in the story telling now is telling the viewers each character’s motivations. Why does Widmore want to come back and fight a monster? What’s his specific motivations?
Why does Flocke want off? What are his motivations?
Sawyer wants off the island, I can understand, he’s been stuck on it longer than any of the other main characters other than Jin.
Jason, I have to disagree with you–what exactly is filler for you and what exactly is the show? This was one of the coolest episodes I’ve seen yet–and one of the boldest to take almost a whole episode out for flashbacks.
The only thing that keeps this from being a rare 5-star episode is that they didn’t quite get the payoff right–as you alluded. The redemption of Richard could be a storyline that played out over a number of episodes… or at least left you in doubt about what would happen. Instead they took the easy route of having Hurley speak to his dead wife.
If the episode had faded out with Richard asking if the deal was still valid–or better yet–cut to Locke and then faded out… it would have blown my mind.
Here are some things I loved:
MIB giving Richard the dagger with the same words as Dogen gave it to Sayid. (Both failed).
The difference between Locke laughing at Sayid and Jacob kicking the crap out of Richard and nearly killing him.
“Now THAT I can do”.
The paradox that Jacob is committed to free will–for everyone except MIB (and presumably the candidates). Also I like that Jacob doesn’t care who lives or dies… they all die.
An hour of network TV shot almost entirely with subtitles.
The wine bottle–and MIB smashing it.
Richard’s laugh at the beginning.
Things I didn’t like:
The quick “made for TV” resolution to Richard’s dilemma. I want more drama.
The boat smashing the statue to smithereens
The potential of this episode to be 5 stars not quite getting there because they couldn’t be patient.
That we didn’t get a glimpse of Isabella earlier.
Ilyana flashback at the beginning. WTF?
Hurley and Miles having the same basic talent.
Jei Reply:
March 24th, 2010 at 9:25 AM
Oh yeah: “Come on! In the flash sideways and flash backs the world seems ripe with evil, who cares if a little more gets unleashed on it?”
So the big problem with the world where the island sank because the bomb worked is that the plug was pulled! The MIB should appear in the sideways world.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 24th, 2010 at 10:12 AM
Yeah, no idea why Ilyana had a flashback in the beginning, just to use the word Ricardis? That’s not even how his name is said at any point in the episode.
Love the MIB actor, I thought he was familiar, then saw someone say he is Adams (hung out with Al later on, a bad dude on his own) on Deadwood. Seems once an actor gets on one of those quality HBO shots, they pop up in other places.
Filler, hmmm, I guess I consider anything filler that does not advance the show toward its ultimate reveal and conclusion. This was totally all backstory. The only thing that changed in the present was Richard saying he changed his mind, but then instantly changing his mind back. So basically ZERO advancement of the main storyline. The time for backstory was the first 5 seasons, the time for only moving forward is now.
So if you have an ep where you see nothing happening with Widmore, learn nothing about why in the world Widmore gives such a damn about getting back to the island, see nothing about what Jack and the beach group are going to do, learn nothing about how the two main players (Jacob, MIB) got on the island, then I will not be satisfied.
I guess I could have been satisfied if Richard’s backstory was anything but a lame love story. Now he is totally out of established character seeing him run around like a frightened rabbit in the present, all wide eyed, and in the past was just a blubbering beggar, I would have told the priest to F off, the doctor was a bastard and would not be reasonable with his request for medicine, and if the dude did not have a huge table for just one person, never would have got his head bashed in. And single episode love stories DO NOT work because there is nothing established. Nothing to make me think, yeah, does suck Richard can’t be with his wife because I’ve seen how much he totally loves her and I want him to be with her. Me, just seeing all that screentime they got, I was like, umm, let’s get back to the island please.
Hurley randomly being able to talk to dead people, totally plot device. Gimmick.
Right, I agree, Richard yelling I changed my mind, cut to a long shot of Locke-MIB looking in that direction, boom, LOST, then that would have been a sweet ending making you want to see the next ep.
Instead, we are at the exact same position as the end of the previous ep!
And all this stuff about hell, etc. And about being dead, or going to hell if MIB gets off the island, etc., etc. It’s just annoying because you have no idea what to believe or not.
Maybe I just wanted something cooler for the fate of the Black Rock than what we got, and I wanted Richard’s life to have spanned many more centuries than just the less than 1.5 it did.
Btw, I was listening to a Bill Simmons podcast and they talked about this episode and said something I totally agree with: If Miles and Sawyer as cops was a show, I would definitely watch it.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 24th, 2010 at 10:00 AM
I’d watch that show too!
And add Hurley just as a dude they hangout with after work.
Have them have a game night and Sawyer be like, why the hell am I here with these two??
I enjoyed the episode but felt that something was missing. It`s hard to say what. Partly it`s that we`ve lost the Richard that we liked. He used to be a bad-ass, walking in and always knowing what had to be done. In this episode we saw him in both front and back story just be weak. It`s quite annoying to see such a beloved character be so weak.
Who is left who is a bad ass for the good guys now? Who is even left that is a bad ass for the bad guys? One concern I have is that they`ll water down both the good guys and bad guys (Locke has already seemed quite feeble at points, down to yelling out- `don`t tell me what I can`t do`) so that when they clash it`s more of a whimper than a bang.
I want unapologetic, un-needy, bad-assery. For that, I like the old style man in black the best. Locke just has too much weak baggage to carry around- doesn`t seem like anything we should worry about.
Jason- lot of what you said about the episode I agree with. It`s hard to call it filler, since we`ve wanted this story forever, but when we got it it just wasn`t nearly as cool as we thought it would be. Some peasant lost his wife, believed in hell, and got manipulated. What else to say? Trying to bring Richard to this suicidal then turncoat `resolution` just feels contrived to me. But, well, it`s done now.
The stuff about the island being the cork that keeps the evil in the bottle was good. And since Isabella basically repeated it, and we tend to think of Hurley`s visits with the dead to be authentic and not just smokey visions, then she confirms that Jacob is the good guy.
Hmm. I think what I`m missing at the moment is any sense of threat. It just feels like a bunch of stuff is happening. What is at stake if whichever side is good loses? We don`t know. Some dudes in the Temple died. Well, fine, but they were mostly pains in the ass anyway. Locke wants to get off the island. So Jacob should let him off. If he really believes mankind is ready to have evil and free will dumped on them on the island, why wouldn`t they be ready to let smokey go and do his worst?
Hmm. Perhaps this is the fate of Jack and the other candidates. They`re not supposed to continue caging smokey (god, give him a name already!), they`re supposed to decide that mankind is ready for it, and let him go! Can`t think what other purpose bringing people to the island has. Just test them? Test them for what, unless you`re thinking to one day let smokey go and sick him on the whole world?
So flash-sideways, the evil is free. Which is weird though, because in that universe things actually seem pretty good. Doesn`t make much sense.
Hmm. More threat needed if I`m to care. Showing us any moments of weakness for smokey-Locke was a mistake I think. Like showing us the internal workings of the Cylons (uh, no plan, actually, just a bunch of argumentative nitwits) or showing us Sylar`s back story (just some dumbass who killed his own mother), they took away the sense of threat and danger. Locke might kill people now, but it seems pathetic.
On the other side of this, sense of threat is created by making us care about characters. Hurley just became annoying for keeping secrets. Jack is annoying for being belligerent. Sawyer is annoying for just being a conman in all stories again and for moving straight to Kate after losing Juliette. Kate is always annoying. Sun and Jin are window dressing. Claire is annoying for being mad. Locke is weak. Saieed is off the wagon.
Maybe the only one I still like now is Miles! Honestly in it for the money, and still smart-mouthing people. Everyone else feels compromised / forced to act out of character.
Oh, and Ben, for completing a true character arc seasons in the making. Ben and Miles. And Frank, cos he`s just hanging out making dry comments about stuff.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 24th, 2010 at 10:22 AM
Yeah, it’s kind of crazy that Miles is the only character that no matter what happens, stays true to form! Maybe he has gotten a little more loyal over the years, but nothing wrong with that.
Right, by 9 episodes into the final season, I want to have glimpses or even see what the end game for a 6 season long show is going to be. I want things building like in any good story. The show certainly has not been building all this time toward a showdown with Widmore (!) and Flocke/MIB. That just came out of nowhere recently, and are they even building toward that? When you have a whole episode that does not touch on that, that is not a show building toward that final clash.
Plus since we know zero about Widmore other than he was on the island, got kicked off, got super rich, and said he wanted to go back to the island, we do not know the “why” to any of those questions.
24 might have become total crap, but I still care a lot about Jack and even Chloe. I will feel really roughed up if Bauer dies at the end of the series (likely this season I hear, I mean the end of the show will be this season, no idea if he dies or not). But what character on LOST dying will rough you up? I say none because death is never really sure on LOST. The only main character to die that lasted more than a season was Charlie, and we already established it was ignant and he didn’t ever really need to lock himself in that room.
So yeah, characters are left and forgotten for so long I forgot why Sawyer would be pissed at Widmore, oh yeah, he sent a freighter of mercenaries to kill them.
I guess next ep going back toward the Widmore/Flocke conflict. They need to right the ship damn quick.
And you can have a badass show some weakness, but has to be totally badass for most of that time, like Vader, ultimate badass, but ultimately redeemed, but done well. Wishwashy is not the same as redemption.
An amazing ep, was totally surprised to read such negativity here! Personally I was very moved by the whole Isabella/Richard + Hurley story, thought it was the greatest thing since ‘the Constant’ (agree with whatever poll you looked at Jason).
Was totally not feeling anything from Richard this season, but this ep. turned me around. Not only did he do a great acting job, knowing his backstory helped me understand what he’s been through. I’ll agree that I was a bit disappointed to learn he is less than 200 years old, doesn’t seem like much true, but no big deal.
Not learn anything???? Damn, we learned lots of stuff, not in the least the knowledge once and for all that Jacob is truly the good guy and Locke is the bad, which to me wasn’t entirely clear until now. Plus we found out the true purpose of the island, and while I’ll admit that it acting as a plug to hold in evil is a bit removed from what was going on in earlier seasons, it seems to me that it’s the only really story line they could go with.
It was a pleasure to see the MIB again, I liked him right from the beginning back in season 5. I also digged the ‘friendly on the surface’ chat between him and Jacob, the same way I liked it the first time around.
Small disappointment in learning that Sun is a contender, and not Jin. Sun?? Sun is hot, but in every other respect she’s boring.
Slightly amused that the gold chain would be right where it is under a few handfuls of dirt after 200 odd years of wind and rain and what have you.
Jason, didn’t Jacob make a point in saying that the island ‘is not hell?’ I’m sure they’re not going to fall back on that lame cliche in the season finale.
Anyway this ep was far from filler to me, and I will give it a 4 star rating because the final scene between Richard and his wife brought a tear to my eye.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 25th, 2010 at 1:54 PM
If the island is just a cork to keep the MIB from roaming the planet, then what’s with all the other powers of the island? Why can’t women survive having babies on the planet? Why was Walt so important in the first season? Why did the island heal Rose’s cancer and let Locke walk again?
Also, to me Flocke does not act like MIB. The MIB is way cooler.
Wow, 22 votes? and 6 five stars??? Who are all these people that vote but don’t comment?
Jason Collin Reply:
March 25th, 2010 at 1:50 PM
That many really? By far the most ever. I posted the review link on another LOST review comments site.
I have to agree with Jason C, clumsy and amateurish. Most moments with MIB and Jacob were ok, but pretty lame otherwise.
-b
Jason Collin Reply:
March 25th, 2010 at 1:54 PM
Thanks Bruno, a sappy, made up in one episode love story, cannot be pulled off.
One of the most polarizing episodes ever it seems. What’s next? I have a feeling it will be a Jin/Sun episode, but I’d really like to see a Desmond episode.
A few more questions I’ve just thought of reading everyone’s comments:
If Hurley sees dead people, why doesn’t he see he real Locke? Is RLocke causing the weakness in FLocke?
For that mater, why can’t he see everyone?
Desmond/Penny symmetry with Richard/Isabella: Does Desmond become the intermediary for the candidate who replaces Jacob?
How can they possibly end the series in 6 episodes?
Jason Collin Reply:
March 25th, 2010 at 2:00 PM
Yes, the next episode does look to be Sun/Jin based. I do not see Desmond appearing on the show again. Too late in the game for him to arrive on the island.
I think Hurley only sees the dead people that come to him, or know where to find him, he can’t just see dead people all around him. Miles has to find them using personal items, Hurley gets found by them.
I really don’t know how only 6 more eps can even come close to wrapping up everything:
1.) Why was Walt so important?
2.) Why can’t women deliver children on the island?
3.) Why does the island heal Rose & Locke?
4.) Who built the 4-toed statue?
5.) Who are Adam and Eve (found in the caves)?
6.) What does Widmore really want with the island?
Please add anymore questions you want to see answered…
Wow, the first ep. so far this season that really sucked! Nothing happened!! I’m not sure why the writers would even bother giving Jin and Sun top rating as they’re both practically nonexistent characters now. We’ve seen maybe 5 minutes of them in the first 9 eps and ep. 10 just reinforces the fact that they have zero purpose in the story. OK so Sun is a candidate? Really? Why?
Jin does nothing except lose the money, get tied up and almost killed. A bit of badassness from him at the end was good, but not at the expense of Sun getting shot? Actually I’m not quite clear what actually happened to her.
And THEY ARE NOT MARRIED? WTF?? So this sideline future Jin is really just a bodyguard? Weird.
I really want to know WHY Widmore would want Jin? Because he signed some maps? huh?
Sun bumping her head and forgetting English = lame. Please stop shouting at people in Korean! We can’t understand you!!
Sawyer, would you please stop complaining and mouthing off all the time? Getting real tired of that.
Everyone in Jack’s group is useless in this ep. Yeah, let’s just wait around some more for Richard who is probably not coming back. Even Ben was annoying in this ep! Jack with his annoying ‘Candidate’ smirk at the end telling Sun he’d get her and Jin off the island. This is quite a turn around from smashing mirrors in a rage a few eps ago.
And those horrid Widmore people. I was super pissed off when it turned out that a chubby little nerd with night goggles and that man-chick with glasses took out Locke’s whole camp. I don’t care what else happens, but I swear I want to see all of Widmore’s people get destroyed by the end of the season. And I hope, I pray, that Widmore is not the good guy in the end.
Desmond again? Why can’t they just leave him in peace? So is he the ‘package’? Is Desmond the thing that is supposed to battle Locke?
Good points were few and far between:
-Mikhail again! Was good to see him, even though he spoke mostly Korean.
-Sun’s cleavage
-Zombie Sayid about to do some badass stuff
-Claire not really being sorry to Kate
Can’t think of much else… Will give this ep. 2 stars, which is generous.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 31st, 2010 at 8:54 AM
Why does Jacob need to be replaced and who is going to make the final decision on which candidate gets Jacob’s job? I mean, why didn’t it happen instantly after Jacob died? It would seem there needs to be an even higher power to decide who becomes Jacob and instills his powers into that Candidate.
I guess I am ok with Sun and Jin’s sidestory, but no resolution like with the others actually.
Yeah, it seems Desmond is the Package. So what does that mean? Is Widmore just going to present Desmond to Flocke and be like, “dude, package.” Flocke, “damn, I’m F-ed. I’ll crawl back to the jungle now. Touche.”
Was Desmond’s name on the cave wall? I would guess he is the real candidate.
Agreed, again. A weak episode, for these reasons-
- Frustrating. Incredibly so. Everybody is just sitting around waiting. Get the F up and DO something, you sons of bi#%$es! There are three camps of people and they`re ll just sort of sitting around peeling fruit and stuff. No wonder Sun got frustrated and stormed off.
- Aphasia? Seriously, are you kidding me? That`s total JV storytelling crap! And to what end did they even use it? Sit on a beach and give Jack a chance to do some more persuading (let`s get off the island, let`s go back to the island, let`s get off the island again. goddamn!)
- Sideways flash was pointless. Just stuff happening. A slight variant on reality, but in no way telling, revealing, or cathartic. In both Ben, Jack, and to some extent Locke`s sideways flashes there was important resolution of long-standing character arcs. Jack dealt with his daddy issues by being a daddy. Ben learnt that the ends do not justify the means. And Locke sort of learnt to accept his wheelchair condition, and Helen`s abiding love. Good stuff. But for Kate, Sawyer, Saieed, and now Jin and Sun, nothing. Just more F-ing around. Nothing vital displayed, no catharsis, no important character stuff. Just a bunch of stuff!
- The rules of engagement for Widmore, Locke, and Jack`s crew. Whatever these damn rules are they just piss me off. Agreed with Mike, why not flip the damn pylons and kill everyone? Why not get a gun and shoot them all? Why not kill/capture all of Locke`s army/camp when you (Widmore) have the chance? Why not go talk to Locke directly and just get it over with (Jack)? Frustrating!!
- Locke seems like a pansy now. I`m not afraid of him. He can`t control any of the people supposedly under his control. He leaves them for a minute and they all get drugged and stolen from under his nose. His entire army could have been wiped out! How weak is that? How can I fear him the way I`m supposed to, if this is all he`s got? Seems like he`s supposed to be the snake in the garden of eden, using temptation to get his way, but he`s not even doing that very skilfully. None of the people on his side are really fighting, just sitting around.
- Claire hating Kate again? Wtf?
- Desmond, really, who cares anymore?
- So sick of people just stealing other people without asking, then zapping them with drugs or tasers. Enough!
- Sawyer playing some long con. The only truth for Sawyer I would respect is him sitting in his old house drinking himself to death for the loss of Juliette. This plan to leave, why the hell does he want to leave? I think he wants to just drink and die. Some names on a cave wall would not change that for him- he wouldn`t care, and certainly not enough to want to save Kate, who screwed everything up for him anyway.
Phew. Many more. Were many moments I was just like- come on! Do something! They had some momentum from the bad ass moment Locke slaughtered the Temple. But lost it by having everyone sit around on their asses in the jungle for a couple of days now. No sense of forward momentum at all. No sense of a conflict coming. Just kill all these sodding people.
Basically, am glad LOST is ending. If there was a whole other season to wait for, I might have just disengaged now to avoid further disappointment, catch it when it goes to DVD. As is, just want it to be over. Don`t see how it can even end with a bang now though, with Locke being so completely un-terrifying. Only villainish dude left is Widmore, only dude who hasn`t been compromised or shown to be weak (along with the past-era MIB). Maybe he`ll take over from Locke? I hope so. Perhaps he`ll be the true MIB? Somehow got off, but couldn`t use his powers, left the Locke-thing as some kind of shadow? That would be good. But doubtful.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 31st, 2010 at 9:02 AM
Yeah, in other arcing stories, like Harry Potter, the final conflict between Harry and Voldemort was set basically from page 1. Here, just 7 eps from the end we still are not sure, and MIB was really just introduced a few eps ago. Widmore is just Widmore, we really don’t know anything about him other than he was on the island, got kicked off, wanted to find it and go back. We do not know the important WHY to that story.
Yeah, since no resolution to the Sun & JIn storyline, even though I thought it was interesting, no resolution means not very satisfying as there is no more time for another flash sideways to tie up their story.
The time for waiting around doing nothing was in the 1st season when no one knew much about the island and they were just waiting to be rescued.
Like I mentioned before, basically no shows besides The Wonder Years have ever had satisfying series finales. Hell, even the epic The Wire floundered in its final season and especially its final ep. Didn’t care for the ending to Buffy. Even Deadwood was totally weak. If that badass show can end things right, who can? Maybe ROME was ok.
Momentum is key. I want to see a juggernaut rolling down hill. Want characters to be really dying or really making huge choices every ep. Can’t stand all this fake dying. Like Locke is gone, but we never got to feel his death because it was all gimmick. Jin too, died, but wait, won’t he come back? Charlie, who cared? Let him die his stupid death. Sayid, maybe kind of dead but yet another gimmick death. Same with Claire. I guess the only truly real death in awhile was Alex’s. That was a rough one.
The next episode is a Desmond one, and those have never failed us before.
First, I’m just stoked because I predicted (without seeing any online stuff or listening to the podcast) that we’d have a Jin/Sun episode and Desmond sighting. I had a feeling he was the package.
The aphasia might make sense if there is feedback from the sideways characters interfering in the main universe. Otherwise very weak gimmick.
So…
Crazy theorizing out loud:
Desmond is the variable. He can move between times but also between worlds. He was the first example of a character moving between two sideways flashes. He needed to find a constant in both. Penny is his constant, and allowed him to slide comfortably into one or the other. A couple of the other crew on WIdmore’s last boat had it happen to them and they died without a constant.
Faraday knew how to move in time, and was able to follow Desmond. He died–but not before he had almost 3 years in the 70s to travel time and maybe different worlds. Desmond was his constant–never used yet in the series but I am pretty sure we’ll see either alternative Faraday or 70s, not dead yet Faraday appearing near Desmond.
Something that happens in the side universe or on the island will pull the characters into resonance with their alternate selves. We may also see that there are an infinite number of possible alternate lives that could be happening. The energy pockets are where the worlds come together close. The explosion in season 5 and the end of season 2 have damaged this universe significantly.
If the MIB escapes in one reality he escapes in them all. But Widmore just wants to tap the energy for some reason — Penny!? Could this Widmore be from a world where Ben killed Penny and he wants to get to one where Penny is alive?
What does it all mean? We’ll find out next week.
Jason Collin Reply:
March 31st, 2010 at 2:24 PM
I just hope the writers can tie this up without a super messy explanation of things.
Why is Widmore seemingly surrounded by idiots who botch the capture of Jin and over-drug Desmond? Can he not afford the best there is at this stuff? Tiny Fey is messing up all his plans!
I think that at the end, Jack will become the new Jacob. Flocke will eventually gather all the candidates and after Jack and who ever else refuse to leave with him, he will try to kill them – fail, and presto, jack is the new jacob. after all, MiB said in Ab Aeterno that he would just kill whoever may replace jacob, but i dont think he will succeed in leaving the island.
I thought this one was great. Love the complexity, the moments of bafflement where we`re thinking- wtf? Love it that Eloise still seems to know what is going on, is still manipulating Desmond. Love his relationship with Widmore, love Charlie being suicidal, love all the echoes of his death.
This episode was built on echoes. It positively creaked with emotional weight. Almost all of season 6 has done that, caching in on our past investments in characters. It makes sense I supppose- it certainly seems the writers only have one last hand to play in terms of the forward story, so they`re just trying to amp up the emotional weight as much as possible so that when it hits, it`ll be a tsunami.
Hopefully they`ll pull it off.
Some notes-
George Minkowski (the limo driver) was the guy who died in the Constant from nose-bleeds. He was guiding Desmond then too.
They were reading the list of names out loud because it wasn`t top secret. Eloise only made a big deal out of it because it was top secret from Desmond. As she said, in her wickedly cryptic way, he`s not ready to see it.
Saieed taking Desmond is not Widmore`s plan. It`s simply that Desmond is not bothered. He seems to know, in both timelines, what he has to do. His trance state seems something like a state of grace, like nothing can touch him. He`s not worried about Saieed.
Charlie digging into Desmond`s psyche is largely explained by the fact that Charlie is suicidal for the ultimate junkie rush- near death/death, and seems to be seeing through the veil a little himself.
I feel this episode was all advancement. There`s very little room for things to happen on the island I think until all the pieces are arranged and the final climax comes. This is the way the story can expand.
Agreed on the Penny/Desmond relationship. It has huge power. Hard to say why. Perhaps because of Desmond`s back-story, and the time he went nuts in the hatch, smashing everything and yeling out- `it`s all gone!` Just before Locke hammered on the hatch lid and snapped him out of it.
Great episode, cutting to the core of what makes LOST fascinating- mystery and meaningful characters.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 7th, 2010 at 10:30 AM
An episode of LOST is really dependent on if it is centered on a character we actually care about, like Desmond, Ben, Locke…..obviously Kate eps get no love, but funny how even a Sawyer ep had no weight, just a single dude with an attitude, who cares about that?
It would be nice to hear on the Official podcast Carlton and Damon talk about why the Penny/Desmond relationship works so well on screen, or why they think it does. I guess the tragic nature of their relationship makes it more intense, her father does not want them to be together, he gets marooned on an island, never stops thinking of her, she the same searching for the island, just the desperateness of it all, I think makes it great.
Desmond ep comes through for a huge emotional payoff.
Here’s the crazy thing — Eloise is right that Desmond shouldn’t look for Penny yet. He has everything he wants: the trust of Widmore, freedom, a great life.
Hurley has his luck
Locke has his love
Ben has his dignity
Claire has her baby
James and Miles have honor and respect
Jack has a good father-son relationship
Faraday is a musician
Sun and Jin can run away together
Sayid has the love of his life alive
Dogen has his son
Even Eloise and Widmore have their family
…
So far almost all of the flash-sideways characters have “what they really want”.
Why would they ever choose the island’s reality?
That is possibly the main question of the next 7 episode flash sideways.
____
As for Desmond–I wasn’t bothered by his trance. “State of Grace” is exactly right. He knows that the other reality was screwed up and that only by saving this one can he save what he has with Penny.
I’m not quite sure what will happen next on the island…but I’m sure Desmond will be at the heart of it.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 7th, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Like Charlie said though, Desmond wasn’t really happy, and pretty damn soon he was willing to throw it all away for Penny. Desmond at least, has already chosen the island reality.
But yes, it is good to have Desmond back and integral. Him turning the secret key at the very bottom of the hatch was the highlight of the series for me so far.
The way Charlie just says ‘you’re not happy’ is totally appropriate for a junkie to say…rehabs (or the rehab-based reality shows I am basing this opinion on) seem to be full of people making comments like that to people they have just met, because they are talking about REAL stuff i.e. their emotions and not what the weather is like. So anyway, that would not have been a weird thing for Charlie who is dying for more heroin to say IMO.
I love that Desmond says brotha too.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 7th, 2010 at 12:16 PM
Desmond saying “brother” and Hurley saying “dude” are always gold for me.
Even though nothing much happened to advance the story, still a good ep for me, mostly due to it being Desmond-centric. Has any Desmond ep. EVER been bad in the history of Lost? Don’t think so. Maybe he’s the true hero/star of this series, perhaps not to the writers, but to the audience. Unlike any other character on the show, I can connect with Desmond in a real way. None of the other characters have that quality for me.
Gotta agree with UK Mike in that the reason Desmond was so calm at the end of the show when Sayid took him away was because he could suddenly see his grand purpose, and being taken to Locke was exactly what was supposed to happen. What did bug me was that Sayid let man-chick-with-glasses live. I can only hope that his purpose in doing this is that he WANTS her to tell Widmore what happened and maybe even give chase. Otherwise just no reason for not smoking her.
I also don’t really like the idea that Widmore is suddenly looking like the good guy in this fight after all that sh*t that he’s done. Hopefully looks are deceiving though…
Gave this ep three stars. Would’ve easily been four if it wasn’t just one big sideways flash.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 8th, 2010 at 1:46 AM
I’ve heard the girl with glasses referred to as a “dirty Tina Fey.”
Any speculation on what kind of hurt Desmond can bring to MIB/Flocke? By that I mean, exactly HOW will Desmond be able to defeat MIB/Flocke? By shooting energy from his hands? By releasing some huge energy pocket again?
Great points Jei- it does seem like everyone has what they would most want. Except perhaps Kate? Unless we think that what she really wants IS to be on the run. She was headed down that kind of path before Jacob stopped her, stealing the lunchbox. And even with that, she still did plenty of bad stuff. Who knows how much more she did without his influence.
Mike, excellent point about Desmond being the most relatable. Of all the characters- he`s the one who has most stuck to his guns, and generally tried to have nothing to do with the island. Though he`s intimately bound up in the island, he`s gone to great lengths to get out from under it, and pursue his life off island. He seems to be the only one who actually was able to get a life once they got off. The others were all still playing out their odd little dramas, brought on by the island. That plus the extreme pathos of Desmond`s hard life coupled with his strong desire for something better, must be what makes us like him.
It also probably helps that his back-story has not been strung out with lots of filler like all the other characters have had.
Will post here before reading other comments just because uhh, this ep made me say ‘WTF??’ a few times.
First of all, Alanna blowing herself up out of nowhere. What a useless way to go, but I’m totally not complaining. Basically she was just getting in the way of the show and needed to be written out, but whoa. I’ll admit it took me by surprise. Crazy how she was stuffing huge water bottles on top of the dynamite. What a retard.
Then Desmond getting thrown down the well by Flocke. Uhh, what was the point then of taking him on a long walk and chatting him up? Guess Flocke wanted someway to keep his body from getting discovered, but why not cut his throat first? Nobody believes Desmond is dead of course.
Story still moving by increments. Only thing that happened is that Hurley and the gang went to meet Flocke. Is this series really going to wrap in in only 4 more eps? DO SOMETHING!!
Some good things to this ep.
- I like the new laid back ‘following’ Jack, good that he finally seems to know his role.
- Hurley’s back story is great mainly because of Hurley himself. Such an easy character to like and a great actor.
- Good to see sweet Libby again, but not so good to see Michael. Only a few old characters that haven’t put in an appearance yet, namely Mr. Eko, Anna Lucia and Shannon. Have we seen Walt yet? Can’t remember.
-Hurley’s greeting to Flocke: “Ummm, hey.” delivered in a classic Hurley way.
-The look of fear in Jack’s eye when he sees Flocke.
Things not to like:
-Richard, Ben and Miles taking off on their own. Is the island done with these three I wonder? None of them are candidates.
-Sawyer and his incessant attitude. Dude, you’re annoyed I know, you want to do something, I know, but please, just shut up for a while! Guess Flocke needs him to get off the island or he would’ve killed him long ago.
-Nobody giving a crap about Alanna dying. Only Ben even mentioned her, and with mostly scorn at that.
-Sayid having turned into the Terminator or something.
-Desmond acting all clueless with Flocke. Uhh, is this part of your master plan Desmond?
-Desmond running down Locke in the parking lot.
-Jin and Sun STILL NOT REUNITED!! Just get them back together again!! Who cares that they’re separated???
Even with a few surprise WTF moments, this ep. still doesn’t rate anything more than a 3 in my book.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 14th, 2010 at 7:59 PM
We still have 5 more eps to go and 6 hours total of LOST remaining (2-hour finale).
Mr. Eko and Anna Lucia too minor to make a comeback I think. Shannon, maybe, but also pretty minor, just had a totally unrealistic romance with Sayid then got whacked.
Ha, goo analogy with Sayid being like a Terminator. Minimal speaking, deliberate, stiff walking, and efficient killing.
3 stars. Seconded on all of the above. It`s hard not to feel impatient, especially when all everyone is doing is just sort of sitting around.
Sawyer-
Sawyer complaining is just too annoying. Just shows how powerless he is. Also, if Hurley is still broken up about Libby over 3 years after she died, why can`t Sawyer be upset about Juliette a bit more? In fact, why did the writers even bring Sawyer into the Locke camp so early, when all they`ve had him do is sit around and mope? Kate could have done everything he did- like go over and do recon. Let Sawyer wallow in grief until you really need him.
Ilana-
Ridiculous that she is dead. What a ridiculous way to die, when there are two dudes RIGHT THERE who could juggle with the bloody dynamite if they wanted to and they still wouldn`t die. Just a massive waste. Stupid and cheap.
Ben-
Complaining, really? Put a sock in it.
Desmond-
I like him off-island, until he drives down Locke. Just how much does this Desmond know? Seemingly, everything, both on and off-island. Again is annoying, because if he knows, why hold it back?
Hurley-
Why not tell Jack you`re talking to Michael? Just tell him. Hurley used to be the guy who felt out of the loop, and wanted more transparency. Now he`s the one with-holding. Will he tell the others what the whispers are? Probably not, at this rate.
Jack-
Agreed with Mike, I like his chilled out attitude. Remarkably like Desmond. He`s just going with the flow, finally. If only most of the other characters (uh, fugitive Kate, whiny Sawyer) would do that, they`d all be more appealing.
Black Rock-
Back to the Black Rock, again? Hard to care. Definitely a played out location now. Am glad it`s gone.
Despite what I`d heard about this episode (bigging it up), I kind of thought it would not be so great. Hurley episodes are usually light relief. This one wasn`t light, but wasn`t anything definitive.
I think from next episode on, we must be in the home stretch. Surely now it`s pedal to the metal until the end.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 14th, 2010 at 8:01 PM
Yeah, Richard should have said I’ll carry the dynamite since I already tried once to kill myself with it and it wouldn’t work. Silly. Who plops down a bag filled with anything like she did, never mind 200 year old TNT??
Black Rock definitely got played out.
Let’s damn hope the show has reached the home stretch by next ep.
This episode just struck me as cliched. Not one time was I really surprised, except when Michael first appeared.
Random thoughts:
No one mentioned the best line:
Desmond to Hurley – “Go with your gut!”
Desmond into the well was cheesy but easy to see coming. The question is why. Clearly Locke could have killed him in any other way so he threw Desmond in for a reason. Either this is his version of the hidden room on the sub (only candidates/Desmond can go in) or he wants the power that Widmore does? I was really hoping for a little more subtlety or a chance that the evil vs. not evil debate could go on.
Desmond running down Locke–I saw it coming for a split second before Ben knocked on the window and then talked myself out of it… and then it happened. Turnabout is fair play! Off island Desmond is acting like Jacob.
Libby and Hurley’s kiss unlocking Hurley’s memory of the island–cliched, even if it was awesome for Hurley. Would have been better storytelling had they not given us the grave scene first–if they had just cut straight to the date and Libby showed up it would have been more powerful.
Alynna gets the show’s shortest ever flashback–then gets blown up 2 episodes later. Did she get caught drunk driving in Hawaii or something and have to leave?
The whispers being ghosts who can’t leave the island– not so great for the “Island is not purgatory” promise. Didn’t someone promise that?
Last thoughts
- Michael didn’t ask about Walt
- Hurley must remember that Libby dies
- Sideways Locke is gonna meet sideways Jack after all
- In fact, sideways Charlie, Jin, Sun, Locke, Jack, Claire, and Sayid (and maybe Miles, Sawyer, and Kate?) all have a reason to be at the hospital… as does sideways Juliet??
Jason Collin Reply:
April 14th, 2010 at 8:07 PM
Great call with Desmond’s line of “go with your gut,” I did not realize it at the time, but in retrospect it’s a classic!
Everything so damn predictable is true. No Libby grave scene, a bit more surprise seeing her in the restaurant. The only reason Michael was a surprise is because he appeared before the opening credits and didn’t see his name.
Yes, I remember someone saying it is not purgatory also. Pretty lame explanation for the awesome whispers throughout the show.
I completely agree, I think was a really poorly written episode. Although was nice to be given answers that connect the dots, they were handed out as if they didn’t mean nothing at all.
If that’s all the whispers are, why didn’t they just explain them far earlier? It was pointless anticipation.
I think major problem with this season is that instead of writing, concrete, fundamental reasons in why each character should ‘care’ that they are candidates, a lot of them are just wandering around and doing what they’re told based on pure blind faith.
Why can’t the monster leave the island? Oh that’s right ‘because he can’t’
Why is Hurley going to see the monster? ‘because he’s meant too’
The only real answer this show has ever given, it that things are a certain way, just because they are.
It’s just poor writing, I don’t go and work for a living ‘because i meant to’ – it’s because I’m a human being with desires and emotions, and these characters use to be too.
Disappointing, I really love this show but I am truly beginning to lose faith in it.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 3:16 PM
Pete that’s a good point, there is not stress or explanation on the significance or importance of being a candidate, and what it means for the person that is a candidate.
The writers will have to pull off a major recovery job to give LOST any kind of remotely satisfying conclusion I think.
I still stand by the point that at the end of season 4, as soon as any character got off the island, the show was over to me, the main drive of the series up until that point, had been satisfied, they got off the island. None of the characters other than Locke cared at all about the island, they just wanted to get off it, so turning the show into being all about the mystery of the island when characters have already gotten off and returned, lessoned me caring about the mystery part and just blurred the point of what the show was for the characters.
Hey Jason,
Great coverage of your Akadake hike. I’d like to ask if you have any idea if it is safe to hike alone (for now..I might meet up with other hikers..who knows) beginning of the Golden Week. I am prepared for snow but don’t have an ice axe (maybe not necessary). And one more thing …are there emergency mountain huts available…?
Thanks in advance,
Dirk
Jason Collin Reply:
April 19th, 2010 at 12:47 PM
Yes, it’s totally safe to hike alone, no special challenges really. It’s not that kind of huge mountain really, just a 2,899m summit. We stayed at a lodge at the foot of the beginning of the trail, so you could stay there, or the lodge about an hour further up even. You could also camp there.
About there being snow, I’m not sure, we hiked it in September and of course no snow then. There are a lot of stairs and the top is very rocky, so there may be no snow.
Try asking Chris at this site:
http://i-cjw.com/
He is a real Japan climbing expert.
Dirk Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 9:02 AM
Thanks Jason..much appreciated….I can’t seem to get hold of Chris through is website though…any other way to get in touch with him.
Dirk
I didn`t like this movie. I had the same feeling as you- the `is this really it?` moment. The rest of the time we were sitting there waiting for the story to begin. It felt like it never really did, just a bunch of stuff happening. About halfway through I started rooting for the `villains`, the three humans. They did nothing bad other than being rich. Of course they want to kill Mr. Fox, he`s a persistent thief. But they are so weak, or Fox is so strong, that they can`t catch him.
So the movie is not about that as the story. There`s no tension in it, so instead it`s just a poorly wrought frame for Anderson to stick stuff on. Any scene was ok, because nothing really added up to anything. Fox shows off, then again, then a bit more, then some more. Lots of dialogue happens, showing off, but none of it matters because we know Fox is invulnerable. He screws up the lives of all his friends but seems to never learn anything from it, instead vows that he`ll probably just do it again. He`s barely even apologetic.
Smug and self-satisfied, left a bitter taste in my mouth and the feeling that I`d just watch someone pat themselves on the back for 90 minutes.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 21st, 2010 at 6:27 PM
I didn’t think Mr. Fox was invulnerable, he got his tail shot off after all! He lost his home. I felt like there were big consequences for the things he did.
It was like Mrs. Fox said, you either accept that bad things that come with someone who has reckless tendencies, or you don’t. When he’s not reckless, he is damn fun around. All the other characters accept for his nephew were sticks in the mud. Mr. Fox enriched all their lives with spice. I can relate to that.
Hmm, not amazing, but agreed that it is good to have some actual movement.
I liked-
Desmond asking Saieed the exact right question- what will you tell the woman you love about how you got her back?
Ben, Locke, Jack, David in flash sideways. I`ve always cared about Jack probably the most of any characters, so it just makes me happy to see him getting on well with his son, to see his son so obviously glad that Jack is his dad. Ben caring about Locke is touching and decent. Locke saying his name is John, he wants to be known by his name, touching too.
Jack flying through the air after Widmore`s ordinance goes off. Great effects, looked very real.
Jack`s heartfelt apology to Sawyer about Juliet. About time someone mentioned that again.
Annoying things-
Just more pieces being moved into place. No clear idea still what is at stake and who will benefit from what happening to who.
- General theory now feels that they all get off, and the sideways world is what Locke offered them as part of the deal, so their lives are good. They made a deal with the devil and got what they wanted most- though if they did make that deal, seems strange that the world hasn`t ended as Jacob said it would when MIB escaped.
That aside, Desmond is a warrior sent through time to wake them up to continue fighting the good fight. Could it all end with Locke in his hospital bed, surrounded by all the others who have remembered their sideways life? With them there Locke remembers, and somehow manages to reach across time and into the body of the smoke monster, and claim the body back?
Hmm. Seems like it might hinge on something like that. Otherwise I can`t see what role Locke can have.
Jason Collin Reply:
April 21st, 2010 at 7:10 PM
It was a good question by Desmond to save his skin, but will Nadia care more how she was brought back to life given that she was somehow brought back to life?! That’s just an easy lie. Just say it has something to do with the island, she doesn’t need to know.
Jack’s logic was sound about MIB/Flocke. It just goes to show how tunnel visioned Sawyer is right now and it will get someone on that boat killed, if not at least himself.
To me right now Desmond is just so tooth fairy glittering around the flash sideways world and the island, floating about. Hardly seems like the Variable or some important person.
It does seem most people in the flash sideways are headed toward the hospital one way or the other.
I think the MIB/Flocke has Locke’s body for good. The only Locke that can exist now is the one in the flash sideways.
Random thoughts:
-Jason, it is Desmond/Libby’s boat.
- Why did Sun remember Locke in the flash sideways?
- Why the gimmick with the no English?
- I was more moved than I thought i would be by Jin and Sun’s reunion. Awesome touch that Sawyer tears up.
- WEAK explanation of Christian’s “secrets”. Why did Christian appear in the chair in Jacob’s cabin?
- Really liked Ben caring for Locke
- Jack saves Locke in one world, Locke saves Jack in the other?
- When Jin said “The baby is fine” and the camera panned slowly to Jack and David, I totally thought Juliet would be standing there.
- Also got the feeling that Juliet might be David’s mother.
- Kate and the Russian chick both look good in the flash-sideways. Kate didn’t piss me off the whole episode
- They should totally spin Miles and Sawyer off into a show. Great team
Jason Collin Reply:
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:24 PM
Most of the thinking I have heard is that Juliet is the mother of David also. Ha, or Sharon?? Or Danielle?
The no English was pure gimmick and below LOST’s standards. As we both know, NO WAY would non-native English speakers use English in a reunion situation like that.
Sawyer teared up for the Jin/Sun reunion? Didn’t notice that.
No episode next week, just furthers my anger toward ABC, which a few weeks ago had a damn countdown timer for V taking up a huge portion of the screen for an entire LOST episode. Doing stuff like that makes me want to start downloading the episodes from bit torrent again to get a clean version of the show. Plus I still feel 720p rips on my old AQUOS look better than the HD version on cable here on my SONY Bravia.
Random thoughts:
-Jason, it is Desmond/Libby’s boat.
- Why did Sun remember Locke in the flash sideways?
- Why the gimmick with the no English?
Jason Collin Reply:
May 2nd, 2010 at 11:48 PM
I heard Sun may remember Locke because she was never actually talked to directly by Flocke/MIB so she is not “affected” by him. This may be true for Kate also.
I’ll have to agree that things are really moving now. In this episode we finally came to understand just what it is the MIB/Locke wants. We can infer from that all the rules of the game, what’s at stake, and perhaps even how it can be won (by either side).
RULES
- Candidates can’t kill themselves. They can however BE killed (a la the Kwons and Saieed). At least- they can kill each other (in this case Saieed and the Kwons killed by Sawyer’s action). It’s not clear yet if they can be killed by someone who is not a Candidate. A case in point is Michael. He couldn’t kill himself, but was killed by a non-candidate- Keamy. Does that extend to the others too?
- How do these rules extend to others, like Widmore and Ben (who can’t kill each other) and Richard (who can’t kill himself)? Perhaps as ancillary pieces in the game they follow a special set of rules. Like the Rook moves this way, the Bishop this way, etc… They are not endgame pieces, but they have importance.
ENDGAME
- For MIB, it is to get the Candidates to kill each other. This will prove that mankind is warlike, immoral, and ultimately self-destructive. This can stand in for a wider position- that of a Doomsday nuclear scenario. We have the power to destroy all life on Earth. Is that battle playing out on the island in microcosm?
- For Jacob, it is more surely than just finding his replacement. He said on the beach- ‘it only ends once’. His gambit, of him dying to get his ‘pieces’ in position, must be for an endgame. In that endgame, MIB must be defeated. How to defeat him is a different matter, but no doubt one that involves Desmond, and pockets of Electromagnetism. Either to more deeply imprison, or ultimately destroy, MIB.
AFTERMATH
- So the flash-sideways are what we are left with after Jack accomplishes this vanquishment. The island test-bed/microcosm is gone, no longer needed. MIB is gone, and far more is right in the world than is wrong. Anthony Cooper and Locke loved each other. Hurley has his luck. Kate perhaps is actually innocent. Sawyer has more than just his revenge. Jack has been able to move on from his divorce. Some of the evil (of course there are still idiots like Keamy around) is gone.
I scored this episode four stars. For me personally, the deaths of Jin and Sun were a little empty. It’s nice for Jin to go down with Sun, but doesn’t he remember he has a daughter now? I thought that would be Sun’s trump card to get him to go.
It doesn’t stand out like Charlie’s death did for me- when he died to save Desmond, and in his dying moments gave a dire warning. That was heroic. This was tragic for Sun, romantic but irresponsible for Jin.
My favorite bits are increasingly in the flash-sideways. Jack’s conversation with Claire was great, love to hear that piece of music again. Jack and Locke was fantastic. Jack’s desire to fix things is not as obsessive as it once was. Perhaps this is a healthy level. Wanting to fix things in itself is not a bad trait. It’s a good one. It seems though that Locke’s need to punish himself is greater. Understandable, considering what happened. Poor guy, in both situations.
Am glad to finally know who is good and who is bad, and have a clearer idea of what’s going to happen. Can’t wait to see Jack and Locke go head to head for real now. Can’t wait to see Jack and Sawyer for once fully on the same team!
Final images- Locke in the flash-sideways allows Jack to heal him, gets out of his wheel-chair, and walks.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 5th, 2010 at 9:48 AM
I at first wondered why Sun didn’t say think of Ji-yeon, but then I thought there is NO WAY Jin could ever live any kind of life with his final vision of Sun being her sinking away drowning. He could not be any kind of father to Ji-yeon like that. I know I would not be able to. I would be eaten alive. It is better for Ji-yeon to be raised by her extended family. There is no way Jin could leave Sun again, and the thought of her dying alone, lonely, in that manner? No way. Jin would not let her die like that.
Remember Charlie died for no reason, he did not need to lock himself into that room, it was a gimmick to a degree.
Plus, there was only one oxygen bottle left, maybe not enough for Jack, Sawyer and Jin to make it, and Jin said you guys go without him because he did not want to go anyway.
I am still roughed up by Jin and Sun sinking to the bottom of the sea.
And Sayid making a sacrifice. And what of Leopedis? Since he was all the way in the front engine room and the only escape was out the back of the sub, I cannot see how he would have made it.
This is the final scene for LOST I envision:
Jack, standing on the beach with Jacob’s powers/responsibilities, watches a plane slowly sink in the sky and crash on the island. Final line of the series uttered by Jack in that moment, “I can fix that.”
I thought more about Jin’s situation after writing that comment, and have come round to your way of thinking. It’s probably best for him to die alongside her, and leave his daughter to be raised by others. He’d be a haunted and broken man if he returned to parent her.
Saying Charlie died for nothing will of course get a debate out of me. He died (in the specific instance) saving Desmond, and (in the general instance- as in, why he was down there at all) allowing everyone on the island to escape. I don’t think it was a gimmick. If he hadn’t slammed the door closed, the whole structure would have flooded in seconds and they would both have surely died.
Which action was more heroic? Tough question. Neither wanted to die, but both agreed to with the intention of alleviating the suffering of others. Jin’s death has some overtones of suicide (and giving up) though, since he wouldn’t want to live on without Sun. Charlie however had everything to live for, but still made the decision to self-sacrifice. To me, that puts Charlie’s death at a higher, more selfless, level than Jin’s, and so- more heroic.
Considering the oxygen bottle situation though- Jin insisted Jack take it. Has he then saved Jack and Sawyer’s life too? That would elevate his sacrifice a step higher, even if it was only a by-product of his decision to die anyway.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 5th, 2010 at 8:11 PM
I don’t think in terms of whose death was more heroic, etc. Just reacting emotionally to Jin and Sun’s super tragic situation.
Yeah things are really moving now. A very good ep. overall, but somehow just not quite in the 5 star range.
Finally, FINALLY flocke does some bad-ass stuff instead of just seethe and whine in seeming impotence, and finally we learn once and for all that he is NOT the good guy to Widmore’s bad guy. Slightly disappointed about that actually as I’ve never liked Widmore as a character. Whole different story as an actor of course, but he’s never been made out to be even slightly likable or ‘good’ in any of the previous seasons…
Jack really stepped up suddenly, and while I really like the new Jack (acting like the previously likable Locke in earlier seasons) it’s still a bit too sudden for me. I feel they should’ve built up Jack’s new wisdom and understanding in a more gradual way. Still, can’t complain too much as now all of a sudden, JACK is the most interesting and likable character on the show for me (except for the incorruptible Hurley), replacing my previous favs of Locke (just can’t like this Flocke character at all really), Sayid (now dead) and Sawyer, who has failed in every respect possible this entire season.
Sawyer is done I feel, past redemption really. He lost the woman he loves and has since been out-conned, the thing he does best, at every single turn this season. When he wasn’t trying to take charge he was whining and complaining. A waste of a good character really, but I guess the writers want to make Jack’s path to the top very clear and obstacle free. Sawyer was really the only other character with the leadership skills to compete with Jack. How will Sawyer live with himself knowing that he’s responsible for Sun and Jin’s death, not to mention Sayid and Frank. I’ve got the feeling Sawyer is not going to make it to the end of the series.
Good death for Sayid, and glad he redeemed himself by turning back to the light, and giving Jack Desmond’s whereabouts. Total foreshadowing in Sayid’s comment saying to Jack ‘it’s going to be you Jack’, although we’ve known all along that Jack is THE main character of LOST, so no big surprise.
I’m with UK a bit on Jin and Sun. Not that their death wasn’t moving, but it seemed unnecessary somehow, like the writers just wanted an excuse to write them out of the show. More foreshadowing I feel, if Jin and Sun can be so quickly and suddenly taken out, I’m wondering if everyone except Jack will die before the end? If Jack is to be the new Jacob, he’s probably not going to get helpers. And it seems very unlikely that the others will escape now that the sub is gone and no Frank to fly the plane (plus there is no way I’m going to believe that plane would ever fly again anyway).
I agree with Jason in that there is NO WAY Jin would ever be able to look at himself again if he swam away and left his wife to drown, who he just found again after (relative) years of seperation. At least I would never be able to look at myself again. I would totally have done what Jin did.
Still, for me Charlie’s death seemed somehow more meaningful, more emotional, not really sure why. Maybe because Jin and Sun’s death seemed so hasty, and served no purpose to whatever the final end will be. There was no sacrifice for them, they just died.
It’s a small point, but the small things bother me. I was annoyed that none of the survivors shed a single tear or even mentioned Frank, who was so steadfast. Hurley wanted to save Sayid, and cried over Jin and Sun, Kate asked only about Jin and Sun, but nothing, and no good death scene for Frank. Guess he was just too much a minor character after all.
Like you guys I was awed by the side story, though a bit action-less and dull, the acting and emotion were top notch. The scenes with Jack and Locke were pure gold.
At the end of the show Kate seemed to be totally healed and fine from being shot, and almost catatonic in the sub. I guess a swim up from the depths of the ocean will do wonders for that kind of thing. For a brief second after she got shot I thought Kate was dead. Still wondering if she’ll survive to the end though, but since she’s pretty much got second billing on the show, and is the main female lead, maybe she will. As usual she did nothing at all in this ep. I cant even remember the last time Kate was useful.
Was very glad to see ‘doughboy’ kick it. He and mannish chick with glasses are almost unbearably annoying to me. One down one to go.
Really liked Bernard’s little cameo in this ep.!! The way he said ‘of course Jack’ was awesome.
Ben, Richard and Miles???? They’re out there somewhere forgotten, but I suppose they’ll have their moment soon, maybe next ep?
Would give the ep. 4 and a half stars if I could, but since I cant will give it a 4. Just can’t see my way to giving it that elusive 5.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 6th, 2010 at 12:42 PM
Damon and Carlton explained why they killed off Sun, Jin and Sayid here:
http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/05/04/lost-producers-actors-candidate/
Basically to show how bad Flocke/MIB is and his “malevolence. They did not mention anything about Frank Lapedious being dead. If he his, the everyone on the beach did not have screen time enough to ask about Frank, and I think once you hear the news that people so close to you just died, it does not occur to you to think of asking about someone you hardly know, especially since Jack and Hurley were not around Frank as much as Sun was.
Can’t just have red shirts dying, that will never get us angry at Flocke/MIB.
Can’t believe all you guys having more feeling over loser Charlie dying! I felt nothing when he went.
The mannish chick with glasses I think is very cleverly referred to by some as “dirty Tina Fey.”
Jack could be the last one left standing, but maybe with Hurley as his Richard Alpert/advisor.
Ah, and I think they did give enough time showing Jack’s coming around. I think it started with the season 4 finale with him saying to Kate at the airport’s edge at night that we’ve got to go back to the island. He became a believer in the island then. Richard showing that they cannot be killed further solidified that. Seeing himself in the mirror at the lighthouse as well.
I have a feeling I may be giving 5-star ratings to all 3 remaining episodes.
I thought 4.5 starts, but gave 5. I agree that Jack’s transformation has been slow enough – too slow for me, as I relate most to his character. These last few episodes should be great.
As for Jin and Sun, I breathed a sigh of relief when Sun was finally killed. I haven’t liked her character from the start. There have just been glimpses of likeableness. I think that stems from my inherent, “don’t just sit there and cry, yell out helplessly and whine – DO something!” Much doing will come to pass in the next episodes.
I liked Lapidus. Hope he pops up later.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 9th, 2010 at 3:24 PM
Yes, it’s true Sun is a bad person and pounded someone else and did other things. Somehow though, she makes it easy for me to forget those things and forgive her. Jin is a solid character and has been unflappable with his honor on the island. So got roughed up when he had to see Sun get pinned like that and had to accept her and his fate. Did it with honor.
Well, we learned that Jacob (who, like his FMom, is just a touch on the nutty side) can now see his DEAD brother, when before only his brother saw the dead. I guess that comes with being a candidate — or, special or, whatever the writers want to call it this week — as apparently his brother once was.
We also know that at some point Jacob decided to travel off the island, much like ‘Brother’ was never allowed, to find him some more candidates. Maybe because Jacob is indeed not ‘the one’ that his bro should have been. This part seems a bit vague, however, since “They always come. They fight, they corrupt, balbbity, blab, blab, blab.” But, we’ll let it fly.
We also are reminded that we don’t (PLEAAASE!) have to be reminded by cheesy, vaseline-coated flashbacks that “Oh, yeah, I remember THAT Adam and Eve couple NOW. THAT’S the answer I’ve been wondering for 6 years.” What?! Did the writers really felt we needed that tripe. (Next episode: The Numbers. Episode after that: Hieroglyphics. After that: Statue and buildings. Oh, wait, we’re out of time eps.)
And, finally, even though I will truly and sadly miss, and would love to prolong the ending of, this show until ALL answers are answered — HEY, ABC, COULD YOU HAVE JAMMED A FEW MORE COMMERCIALS INTO AN EPISODE? Crips!
At least the answer to the mystery to the 30 minute extension to the finale has been answered. It will be chock-full of commercial breaks.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 12th, 2010 at 1:15 PM
Yes, the Adam and Eve allusion had one too many flashbacks to it, be subtle, and let it resonate in our minds.
I risk having my DVR record the LOST episode because I could NEVER watch it live with commercials. For the first 4 seasons I downloaded the show to watch it as I lived abroad and, especially the last year, was able to download the 720p version with commercials edited out and that was by far the best viewing experience. Watching the “HD” broadcast now on my 1080p Sony Bravia, I feel the image quality is not nearly as good as the 720p download on my old 720p Sharp AQUOS was.
I would still watch the download, but am afraid of getting spoiled and being behind by a day.
But the number of commercials is preposterous, and they are jackass commercials.
Last week, right after Jin and Sun died tragically, I was slow on the draw to grab the remote and first mute the damn commercial, then begin fastforwarding, so while in that emotional state I was suddenly blasted with some jackass getting his arm comically bit off by a shark. Even just seeing those ill images rush in front of my eyes as I fastforward past them greatly lessons my viewing experience. Then there was the debacle earlier in the season with a V promo being on screen the whole damn time!
As I said after that, I WILL NEVER WATCH ABC again after LOST finishes.
At about the 10 minute mark I realized that this ep. would be all back story, and the main thing I felt was disappointment. I mean, after the totally adrenaline filled ep of last week i was soooo looking forward to seeing what would happen next, but we got nothing except Jacob and MIB’s back story.
Right from the very first SECOND that that pregnant woman washed up on the beach I KNEW that it was Jacob’s mother. I probably could’ve written the whole sequence of events down before seeing anything else, that was how predictable it was. Of course real mother gets killed, of course Jacob was born first, of course they start out as friends then fight, become enemies, of course MIB kills mom, etc, etc.
Totally agree with Jason in that this ep would’ve made a good filler ep early on this season, but as the second last ep (before the 2.5 hour finale) in the history of LOST? COME ON!! No major answers here, at least none that we really care about. The ep seemed thrown together at the last minute. So MIB gets turned into smoke because he was thrown in the light tunnel? Why? Just adds another question instead of answering one.
Ok the story was mildly entertaining, but only just. A whole ep. devoted to three characters, one whom we’ve never even seen before. Jacob spent most of the ep. seemingly like a know nothing boy, and it seemed to me that this was more of a MIB centric ep. designed to make us feel something for him. Pity? Empathy? It almost seemed that they were trying to once again confuse us as to who the good and bad guys are. If Jacob’s allegiance was to a woman that murdered his true mother right after he was born, which I found sickening, as well as killed the other members from the ship, then is Jacob truly ‘good’ and MIB truly ‘bad’? They once again blurred the line so that it seems that nobody is truly good or bad. What the f***?
Good point Mushi in that Jacob seemed to be able to leave the island for his recruiting. Why not MIB? I suppose it’s because Jacob would come back? Still, another small unanswered (and annoying) point.
So anyway, we’ve got about 2 hours (minus 30 mins for commercials) to wrap up the entire story. Seems almost impossible to me as there are too many loose ends. However instead of trying to answer all of them, which would make the show too way too busy and fast paced, and would ruin it, I hope instead that they focus more on the filling out the main storyline, focus on the main characters, and giving us a decent, respectable, ending, perhaps with a twist to give us something to think about.
I’m tempted to hit 2 stars for this one, but will give it three as I was still entertained enough I suppose, mostly by MIB whom I like.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 12th, 2010 at 1:19 PM
Yeah, LOST is getting very predictable in its old age. Remember how shocking 1×04 WALKABOUT was when it was revealed Locke was in a wheelchair the whole time? That was awesome. Now we can see things coming from a mile away.
Yeah, just going down a checklist of things they need to answer would make for a poor series finale. They really need to play on the emotional connections we have invested in with the long established characters.
I actually really enjoyed this episode. 5 stars. I`m very surprised to see in the votes that some 15 people (so far) have ranked it only 2 or 3 stars. This back-story is one we`ve been waiting for since the very beginning, since the pilot episode when the black smoke killed matt tubman, since adam and eve in the caves, since locke playing backgammon with Walt.
What is the black smoke? What is the island? Why are our people there?
These questions have only deepened as the seasons progressed. We learnt of Jacob, and the destinies of our characters, and `what the island wants` for them. We learnt about ash lines, Jacob`s cabin, and a creature that has waited for a damn long time to kill Jacob.
This episode addressed all of these questions head on. Granted it didn`t answer them all fully, often spawning only more questions, but it got just about as clear as it could without getting into `midiclorian` territory.
What really grabbed me in this episode though was the anguish of the two brothers. How can that kind of pain not grab you, especially when we now know that it`s been present throughout the entire show, as the backdrop to everything that happened.
MIB is essentially like Locke. A poor, abused, unlucky bastard for whom everything goes wrong. He tries his damnedest to improve his lot- he gets away from the woman who murdered his mother, tries to save his brother from her, and is betrayed. He is betrayed by Jacob at every turn.
And Jacob is not so pure. He is filled with jealousy for MIB. That is so fascinating to see. It makes us rethink everything he`s done so far. We also have to rethink everything about MIB. The poor bastard just wants to escape. Jacob murdered him, and even after that stands somehow in his way.
That is some serious anguish, for both of them. When MIB asks the woman he has just murdered- `why didn`t you let me leave`, my heart goes out to him. He was done wrong by her from the start.
And Jacob, his beloved brother, sided against him at every pivotal moment. He beat him down numerous times, then killed him.
Yeah, this episode gives us sympathy with MIB. It`s smart. There is no evil, it`s telling us. Nobody thinks they`re evil. MIB is a wounded animal driven mad with entrapment. He just wants to leave.
Next episode we`ll be returning to our Losties. Of course I want them to prevail. We care too much about them to not feel that way. But now I feel for MIB too. I want him to get off the island. I want him to find his peace. I want someone to pay for all the anguish that`s been caused.
Should it be Jacob who pays? Should it be Jacob`s mother? These are the questions this episode raises for me, and that I`ll be going into the finale thinking. Will anybody pay? Will anybody find peace? Will there be righteous justice and order restored?
And of course there are the other questions, about motive and mythology. If Jacob is now the sworn protector of the island, why does he bring people to the island? It seems all the people do is dig into the ground and try to mess with the source. Bringing people seems like something the MIB would be more likely to do. Then he could tap the energy to escape.
What is it that Jacob hopes to end by bringing them there? Is he truly still jealous of his brother, keeping him trapped out of spite? Or does he genuinely believe MIB is/has become pure evil? And even if he was pure evil, why should Jacob care? He has no one and nothing off the island, and his mother taught him to believe those other people are all evil anyway. What would it matter if MIB killed the whole world. It`s his brother, let him do what he has to do!
And then onto the candidates. What does Jacob hope they`ll do? Is it really just to replace him, to keep his poor bastard brother enslaved further? That`s too cruel. To that end, what are the criteria for being a Candidate? Why is Kate crossed off, when Saieed wasn`t? It can`t be a measure of purity, because Saieed has killed plenty. What is it a measure of? Amenability to coercion?
Phew. Heavy. So much going on, just on the island alone. When we try to factor in how the sideways flashes are involved, it starts to seem hideously complex. I can`t wait to see how it ends.
Next week there`ll be 3.5 hours of LOST; a regular episode on Tuesday then the 2.5 hour finale on Sunday. I can`t wait.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 12th, 2010 at 1:33 PM
The pain and anguish of the brothers did not grab me because they just introduced these child actors right now after 6 years. And really, Jacob and MIB have had very little screen time at all in the series. Jacob only existed as some demi-god like entity, so hard to feel any emotion toward him in the little time we have seen him so far, and when we did see him, since we had no idea of his role/importance/purpose seeing him get killed earlier was no real big deal. If we knew then the consequences of him getting killed, then I could have been like, “damn, they are all boned now.” Instead it was just Illaya some new character who has no trust built up with us saying stuff, etc.
I think this ep and the one before definitively shows us that there is evil in the LOST universe. Damon and Carlton said so themselves about 6×14, that they wanted to show MIB as being bad. The Fake Mother also painted basically all people has having something bad/evil in them, and that their quests to find that light cave would bring on a darkness for all people, even the (few?) good ones.
The episode did not answer a thing about the issues you said it address full on. No mention of the smoke, of Jacob’s cabin. The major thing it did do is reveal the motivation for why MIB wants to leave the island and for why he despises Jacob, which is important, but don’t think a whole ep right at this point should have been devoted to that. How about combining this ep and the Richard ep to do that all?
We don’t know the Fake Mother did wrong by MIB or Jacob yet. How do we not know she was right all along? Seems like the island was going along well up until that point. Maybe she was just trying to protect them as much as she could, hence making it so they cannot even kill each other. Locke was dead wrong about not pushing the button anymore. Jack seems to have been dead wrong about detonating the nuclear bomb.
Kind of surprised you can rate this ep 5 stars when you asked like 50 questions in your comment, and how can just the two remaining nights of LOST possible answer them all or in a sufficiently satisfying way? Some of those questions should have been answered in this ep.
This was a bit of a head-scratcher. I felt all the things that everyone who has commented felt. After last week’s episode when they wanted to truly show that the MIB is evil (btw, give him a bloody name–what, are we gonna be crushed when his name turns out to be Aaron or Walt?) by having him cause the death of at least 3 main characters, why make him sympathetic now?
Seems to me that pre death MIB is similar to Desmond–stuck on island, exposed to light, just wants to leave.
Just too exhausted after this episode to comment coherently. Weird.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 12th, 2010 at 1:37 PM
I just think this episode of LOST was a classic momentum killer. After building no momentum at all for the WHOLE 6th season, 6×14 finally did, but that all came to a grinding halt with this allusion of an episode. LOST has done this repeatedly in its history, think of the ep titled something like “The other 28 Days” that killed a series premiere’s momentum, or the constant switching of on island off island eps, etc.
The real rules/answers that should be revealed, like why MIB needs to kill the candidates to get off the island, how he found the loophole to be able to kill Jacob, how he was able to take on Locke’s body, why he even needed to in the first place, etc, I would have preferred getting those answers instead of taking a whole ep this late in the game to show the motivation of why MIB wants to leave and does not like Jacob, which should have been done a season ago.
17 votes in the poll and only UK’s over three stars. My guess is no matter how interesting this ep may have been, it’s momentum killing-ness stops anyone from liking it. I may have loved this ep . . . last season.
Still not another vote over 3 stars, I am surprised. I am surprised actually that I liked this episode this much, after not really much liking Ab Aeterno. What`s the difference between these two?
Hmm. Ab Aeterno shows Richard lose his g/f and want her back. Was there much more to it than that? He was not horribly screwed over. In fact, people lose their partners all the time, to disease and what not. That is what happened to Richard. The pain of it didn`t grab me.
But this episode, about two brothers who are each others only friends in the world, and how one betrayed the other? That`s emotional. That grabbed me. I immediately want to know- a la the back story to Darth Vader- how did they get to be this way? They were once so close, how was all that lost?
For me that`s one of the deepest threads running through LOST. Who is the black smoke, and what does he want? That is the issue I said was addressed directly in this ep, perhaps the most important question so far, alongside- what are the powers of the island, and what does `it` want?
Also of course Jacob, and what he wants.
Other questions that are addressed (though not wholly answered) include how MIB became the black smoke. This process looks very similar to what happened to Saieed. Die, go into the holy water, come out forever changed. Granted Saieed didn`t become smoke- but he didn`t go straight to the heart of the power and get atomized.
As to evil existing, sure it does. But not in black and white shades. I think that is one of the biggest points of LOST. Nobody thinks they are evil, unless they`re crazy. They think that what they`re doing is right. Perhaps the Fmom thinks what she`s doing is right, but can anybody support her stealing babies and killing the mother? Likes wise with MIB, he`s only killing people he thinks are in his way, after he`s been dumped on by others all his life.
As to comparisons to The Other 48 days- I also very much liked that episode. I like these glances at the wider LOST world, seeing the story behind the story. Perhaps it`s the haikyo-explorer in me, but I want to know how things got to be the way they are. This episode showed that very well.
As to it being in season 5, or several episodes earlier- that wouldn`t have worked in the structure Damon and Carlton have set up. Their mystery requires that we don`t know these key points right up until the last moment. I think it`s wise. Seeing HRG`s and Sylar`s backstories in Heroes instantly neutered them both. Now though we`re rushign to the climax. It`s the perfect time to show us all the cards.
And still plenty of mysteries left.
Am glad I liked this episode.
[...] I can also credit Netflix for getting me to watch this movie as it recommended it since I watched (500) DAYS OF SUMMER last week, which was a far better movie, though THE NOTEBOOK was like a cup of soothing warm tea, [...]
Can’t ask for much more in the penultimate episode. I gave it fives stars just because they could not have executed any better for that episode. Good pacing. Lots of answers. Fun in the sideways universe. Tina Fey getting taken out…
To list what I liked:
-Ben walking the line between good and evil on both sides of the side flashes. I still think Ben has one more betrayal of Locke up his sleeve.
-Miles choosing survival
-The last campfire
-Sawyer and Jack
-Jack and Locke in the side flash. It seems the concert is the big moment for the finale but could Jack saving Locke also have something to do with it?
-Jack and son responding to pregnant Claire. Made me laugh.
-Desmond’s plan
-Hurley’s Camero
-”Oh, Hey Anna Lucia”
-Ben and Rosseau . Actually, I have to give her credit. She was kind of foxy. Er, in an older woman sort of way
-Alex too in an “I’m sure the actress is older than the character” sort of way
-Richard getting what he wanted… sort of
-”He doesn’t get to save his daughter” was really chilling.
-”You were all like me”
Things I didn’t like:
-Richard (maybe?), Lepidus (unless he’s not dead), Widmore all dying before the end
-I thought (still kind of hope) that Sawyer was going to be the one. I guess it had to be Jack but…
-No Jin and Sun even in the flash sideways.
Biggest question:
What is the purpose of the concert in sideways land?
The concert is definitely going to have the following characters:
Widmore, Penny, Desmond, Faraday, Eloise, Jack, Desmond, Kate, Sawyer, Miles, Dr. Chang, Charlotte, Jack’s ex-wife (Juliet??), Charlie
It will probably have:
Sayid, Hurley, Libby, Dogen, Claire
It could logically have:
Sun/Jin, Locke, Ben, Boone
What is the point of all these people being together? Should Jacob or the Monster kill them all?
Jason Collin Reply:
May 19th, 2010 at 7:45 PM
Ah yeah, forgot that Richard did want to die. I would say he’s dead for good.
It will indeed no doubt be one helluva concert!
So here is something, if the ash is part of Jacob’s body, and Ben was pretty much actually meeting up with MIB the whole time, not Jacob, and what we thought was Jacob’s cabin was surrounded by ash, how could it be MIB since it seems he cannot get past the ash? Or was there a slight break in the ash?
Yeah, Ben went hardcore with the he doesn’t get to save his daughter line. As full of malice as a statement can get.
Pretty much a 5 star episode in my mind, except for 2 things that bothered me.
First thing: Um, Ben killed Widmore. Uhh, I thought this was against the rules? And no explanation of why Ben could suddenly break them. Did I miss something?
Second was Locke saying he would destroy the island after kind of promising it to Ben.
However these two points weren’t enough to mar its 5 star status for me.
High points, and there were many
-Rousseau finally making an appearance, and being hot! Don’t need to dance around it Jei! Just say it like it is! (Alex too is damn hot, though I’ve always thought so.)
-Locke finally being a total badass. Really, what took so long?? Seems a bit weird that he didn’t kill people before, or was waiting for them to kill each other in some weird episode filling way, but there doesn’t seem to be any restraint on him now. Took Richard out without even saying ‘hi’. Speaking of Richard, it was weird to give him a whole ep. before when he gets killed so ruthlessly and unceremoniously.
-Jack finally manning up and becoming a character I like. FINALLY! I hated Jack for so long, maybe all through seasons 2-4, but Jack is the ‘one’, and the role suits him.
-All the acting from Ben in this ep. Amazing character really. Not sure if I like him becoming evil again, but maybe, like someone mentioned above, he’s got something up his sleeve.
-Sawyer quietly grieving, not going off on some self pitying rage as you’d expect him to after realizing that he killed Sun and Jin.
-The end of the mannish chick with glasses, though she had a good death scene, even Richard didn’t get that much screen time!
-The end of Widmore! I never liked him, (I blame him for Alex like Ben does) but even up until the last moment I was wondering if they were going to have some cheesy way for him to escape his doom. Glad that Lost didn’t wimp out on that though.
-Miles escaping with his life yet again!! haha.
I’m with you Jei in that I was kind of hoping Sawyer would be the ‘one’, as that would be a great twist ending for the show, all of us thinking it will be Jack. How about this? Jack gets killed by Flocke in the finale but manages to make Sawyer the one before dying?
Still wondering how many more are going to die though in the finale. So we have: Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Miles, Ben, and Desmond still alive (Richard and Frank are both dead I’m sure, not enough time left for Lost to give them comeback scenes I think) There might be a few other random minor characters around, but they’re not important and I doubt they’ll make a final appearance.
The only characters we haven’t seen now are Eco, Shannon and Juliet. Will they show up?
I’m predicting at least a few more deaths before the end, probably Sawyer and maybe even Kate. Miles might make it the whole way a la Wedge in Star Wars, but I doubt it. Ben also, I predict will fall, but not after sacrificing himself somehow. The only character I just can’t see dying is Hurley, he’s just to big, soft and pure to kill.
See you all one last time this Sunday!
Jason Collin Reply:
May 20th, 2010 at 9:05 AM
I was thinking sometime after watching the ep that well, there it is, Jack will be left alone on the island with everyone else returning to the mainland, MIB will be defeated, wow what a neat and tidy ending. Then I was like, umm, I do not think LOST will end so neat and tidy.
So I bet the odds are that if Jack does remain in the Jacob role, there will be significant Van-damage between now and then. Jacob still hasn’t said how MIB can be killed/stopped, we only know the island can contain him.
This also just made me think of the symmetry with Desmond/Kelvin being in the hatch all that time keeping the island safe, but always waiting for their own replacement. They wanted to not be in their job forever. Maybe the show will end with Jack alone on the island with MIB/Flocke as he begins his own first recruiting of his replacement, i.e. the show ends with Jack on the beach eyeing a plane going down.
I have a feeling we won’t see Ecco again. Shannon and Juliet, well Juliet definitely as I am sure she will be Jack’s estranged/ex wife.
Think about it though Can, if the writers wanted to end the show with maximum emotional punch, the death of Hurley would be the hardest for any fan to take. The writers have not really ever put Hurley in the sacrifice role before, he is often protected by the other characters, save for a few times he got badass and saved them (i.e. driving the van to the beach in the s2 or s3 finale was it?).
It still could be Desmond maybe too ending up as Jacob’s full-time replacement, but my feeling is making Jack the replacement and then having him perform that ritual virtually the next day on someone else, I cannot see that happening. So either MIB is destroyed and the island can be left alone, or Jack stays in his role with the others staying with him because as candidates they cannot be killed.
Unless, now that Jack has taken on Jacob’s powers, is the candidate status the others enjoy revoked and thus they are able to be killed by MIB? That would be very intriguing? Like MIB shows up and Sawyer says, go to hell fool, I know you can’t kill us, and MIB says, oh really? Smokes out and takes out Sawyer, then the hunt is on for the rest of them with Jack scrambling to protect them.
I believe the scientific term to describe Rousseau’s hotness in the ep is “cougar.” Alex used to be horse faced and awkward, but now she is looking like a brunette exotic semi-goddess type.
Hmmm, maybe Hurley is going to die. Am starting to feel it. That is the event that gives Jack the strength to be able to take out MIB.
Jei Reply:
May 20th, 2010 at 10:39 AM
Yes, Cougar is right.
And Miles as Wedge is a great idea. Betcha Hurley says it too.
Great episode, 5 stars. Many of the great scenes have already been commented on above, so it’s hard to add anything. Thoughts:
- Did anyone mention how cool Desmond was? Gotta love him playing the Jacob/manipulator role, shuffling his pieces into position for the big concert. Love his manner as he goes about it, casual, self-amused, supremely confident.
- It didn’t even occur to me that Ben was going over to the dark side. What would be the point? He already accepted redemption at the hands of Ilyana. He already turned down Locke’s offer to go to Hydra island. To then have all that important character arc stuff just turned off and backslide to wanting power again would be ridiculous. His character reached a peak with the understanding that it was his lust for power that got Alex killed. He blames his lust for power for her death. No way he’d just become that guy again.
So the only way I interpreted his actions was as triage. He knew Widmore was gonna get killed, so used his death to inveigle himself into Locke’s confidence. He knows Locke will believe he (Ben) wants the island, and wants Widmore dead, because Locke believes the worst of everyone. So he is playing Locke.
Think about it- what he says after shooting Widmore- ‘he doesn’t get to save his daughter’. That is a staged line, for Locke’s benefit. He only did it in a- the hopes that Widmore would not help Locke and b- it would deepen him into Locke’s confidence.
If he’d really wanted Penny dead, as that line seems to suggest, he’d have done it when he had the chance back at the jetty.
The same with Widmore. It seems there is no hard law stopping him from killing Widmore, so he ‘could’ have done it way back when he was in Widmore’s office. He just chose not to, it would seem out of respect for a law of the Others.
No, Ben is trying to set Locke up, no doubt in my mind.
- The line about ‘I thought I was summoning the monster, but he was summoning me’, I think is not meant to be taken directly. Ben said before that he never saw Jacob, never even thought he saw Jacob. I don’t think he was lying then. So he never saw Jacob, or anybody pretending to be Jacob. All he meant by the ’summon me’ thing was that in the long run, MIB was setting him up to be Jacob’s assassin. No more than that. Also, that the one time he did summon the smoke monster, his daughter ended up dead and that was the final bit of manipulation that MIB used to get Ben to follow LOcke and kill JAcob.
(In the under-temple, smoke monster appeared as Alex and ordered him to follow Locke, playing off his guilt at her death. A manipulation, started with the the summonsing pool)
- Desmond says he’s only trying to help Locke ‘let go’. Is this really about letting go of his guilt over his dead father, or is it actually about letting go of his too-firm grip on this single reality? Everything Desmond is doing seems to be aimed at getting the Losties to remember their alt-lives. He’s clearly succeeded with Hurley, who seems to know everything from the island (including Ana Lucia). Now he’s working on Locke, get him to let his consciousness go.
What does this remind us of?
‘Only fools are enslaved by time and space’
Desmond is trying to un-enslave them, get them able to operate across dimensions. Presumably because then they can better fight MIB. In that it seems wheelchair Locke is bound to play a significant role.
- Makes me happy to see Jack and his son getting along.
- Also makes me happy to see Jack stepping up to the plate to be the protector.
- Seems like MIB/Locke will succeed in destroying the island, since in the sideways flashes we saw the island sunk (with no trace of magic light) at the bottom of the ocean. He will somehow succeed, perhaps even with Desmond doing his fail-safe bit again and neutralizing the light, but in the process MIB will escape.
Then the baton will be passed to the sideways people, and the truly big showdown will happen in the concert hall. No clear idea of how that will happen, but will probably involve lots of flash-backing and forwardsing, perhaps showing us pivotal moments from throughout the show but from a different angle, to make us realize there was a plan all along.
Those flashbacks and forwards will crescendo, perhaps even with MIB’s mom getting involved, and for one blissful moment he’ll get to see and experience the outside world.
Then he’ll die, the time strands will suck themselves back into continuity, and we may well be left with the shot of Jack on the beach looking out to the ocean, just as we can all imagine. Perhaps off-camera we hear a woman’s voice, maybe Kate, and we get to feel good that in that reality he’s not truly alone.
Hmm. Can’t wait for the finale. Have to agree with Jason though that there is no other genre event foreseeable to compare with LOST. I’m sure one will come, but there’s nothing even close yet.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 20th, 2010 at 11:33 AM
No way do I believe Ben’s wicked line, “he doesn’t get to save his daughter” was staged at all. He may or may not have gone to the dark side with MIB/Flocke, but for sure he meant those words 100% and has long held malice toward Widmore for breaking the rules and going after family.
Desmond getting Locke to let go could be two fold, or maybe one fold. I think he definitely is trying to get Locke to remember the past like Hurley and Libby did (with their kiss), so maybe fixing his legs in surgery is the catalyst that will help Locke remember (so two fold), but it would have to be quick as I do not think there is much time before the concert!
It is sad, isn’t it? No more genre events? Seems more and more unlikely one will just come out of the woodwork either. Things are not setup for that anymore. They can be seen coming and analyzed to death too far in advance. I guess maybe the sequel to the Dark Knight could be the next big genre event, but that is unpredictable. TV shows are of course highly predictable, seasons come and go on a schedule. We knew there were going to be 7 HP books, we knew three movies each for SW prequels and LOTR movies.
Basically, it is about having a rabid fanbase and what is going to be the next thing? Maybe it’s over. I’d like to see Harry of AICN write an article on this topic, or maybe rather Hercules as Harry does not care much for TV I think.
MJG Reply:
May 20th, 2010 at 5:24 PM
I’m not as pessimistic about the future of big fan events, in fact I’ve no doubt there’ll be more. Twilight is one, though just not for our demographic. LOST came into being in a matter of weeks- so totally came out of the woodwork. Possibly the coming Avengers movie- combo-ing all the Marvel comic heroes from Hulk, Iron Man, etc…
As to whether there is the setup for it or not, I think there’s more set up for it than ever. Ideas may get carefully scrutinized more closely before being greenlit, but you’d have a hard time arguing there are fewer ideas around today.
Something will come to the top, and soon. One thought is- perhaps there’s only room for one big event at any one time. The current one is LOST. The fanbase will find something else to latch onto after it’s done.
I just want to say on the eve of the finale (for me at least, since I’m watching Monday night in Tokyo) that one of the most exciting things has been to come to Jason’s site and read everyone’s responses.
Whatever comes next, I will miss this particular interaction, especially since it’s hard to see a lot of you guys because of our schedules/locations etc.
Anyway — whether the ending is 5 stars or 2, I’ve enjoyed the run so here’s to a satisfying conclusion and to seeing you on the other side.
Jason Collin Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 10:56 AM
Meant to make my comment below a reply to you Jei . . . .
Great comment Jei. A lot of things will end tonight, as you pointed out, the last time for us to all come together and discuss things. With us being physically and otherwise apart at least we had a weekly check in from late winter to late spring, but that will abruptly end this week. Will we find a new way to stay in touch? Who knows. Maybe a movie club or something.
Just read an article on LOST in my local paper, the St. Petersburg Times, and it did an excellent job of reviewing the show as a whole, describing why we loved it, and putting it in its place in television/entertainment history.
Regarding the latter, it basically said, as we have also, that LOST is the last of its kind. In its wake many shows tried to use time travel and science fiction in their plots, but they all have fallen to the wayside. LOST showed that after The X-Files and Buffy that there was still demand for serialized, if not series long at least season long mysteries. Now a show like LOST can no longer be supported as people are not willing to invest the time it takes. Hence the illness that is the current prime time TV lineup.
A six year long story? Unfortunately, I really do not think we will see it again on network television. Certainly at least not on the scale of LOST, with its budget and network support. Maybe something underground. Maybe something on HBO, but six years?
What will we have to look forward to after tonight? It will be the first time in the genre fan’s life nothing major to look forward to, at least for me.
That said, I could not be more stoked for the finale of LOST tonight. That article has gotten me into the mindset. The writer also mentioned how important “choice” will come into play, as the show has always been about choice, and we saw how large it was just last episode, with Jacob giving the core characters something he was never given, a choice to take on his role or not.
No doubt choice will play a huge role in the finale.
So I wonder, whose choice will it all ultimately come down to? It was already Locke’s choice to not push the button that caused the first real on island disaster at the end of season 2. Followed immediately by Desmond’s choice to turn on the failsafe. Jack’s choice to leave the island. Jack’s choice to return to the island. Ben’s choice to kill Jacob.
I see the ultimate decision that will govern the fate of all coming down to either Jack, Desmond or Ben. Ben will be to kill the smoke monster. Jack perhaps has already made his just by taking Jacob’s role. Desmond’s choice may mean never seeing Penny again but by being the failsafe he’ll save her and everyone else in the process. Getting all emotional just thinking about the possibilities.
I am going into this as the last great genre event of my life.
I played the LOST numbers in last night’s lottery, not a single one came up!
This is pure BS. I understand people have their own opinions and such but I am truly disappointed with my fellow Lost fans out there who just ‘didn’t get it’ and had their theories shot to little pieces. This is an obvious case of that.
The End truly sums up the show in a matter that will never be experienced on television ever.
We don’t need EVERY question answered, where would be the fun in that. The ending was about the characters we’ve been with for 6 years, and without these characters, there would be no show to end.
Bottom line, it was a brilliant ending to a brilliant show even though it might be confusing, but thats where all the fun lies in my opinion.
There are really only two endings you can’t use, in fiction/drama/media writing. 1) Its all a dream (Dallas) 2) They’re Dead (Sixth Sense.) These things were fine the first time they were used, but are too schticky to be used again. There is an entire infinte universe of possibilities for endings out there, pick one, but not one of these. If you do you are a lazy good for nothing hack, period. Your emotional attachment to the characters aside, (yes we all would love it for all dogs to go to heaven) this is a lazy cop out, and they promised in print years ago it wouldn’t end like this, or I wouldn’t have watched.
I think they actually promised it wouldn’t be that they were all dead and in hell or the island wouldn’t be purgatory and they weren’t all dead and the island wasn’t purgatory. The end is suppose to be after all their lifetimes that they are dead and meeting at a crossroads before they move on. And the island didn’t end up being Hell. I don’t think they really answered what the island was or what the light actually was. Maybe in some sense they hinted on it, but nothing exactly I think. I think it was pretty good ending, I like how it ended the opposite it started. He closes his eyes and just before that Vincent sits by him on the opening Vincent doesn’t stay with him and Jack is opening his eye. I think that was cool. Although of course there is so much that could have been answered, but I think it was a proper goodbye to the show and the characters. I am disappointed in I think all of the characters should have been in the church or at least seen right before they go in the church.
I think I won’t sully the last episode of Lost with any kind of summary, or talk about the things I liked and disliked. However I will say that I had a tear in my eye more than once…
Farewell to perhaps (for me) the greatest TV show ever created.
5 stars.
I’m with Mike, it got a little dusty in the room a couple of times.
I’ll still have to figure out what happened and what it meant to me at some other time, but for now the only thing that shocked me was that Jason did not even comment about Juliet at the concert.
I’m content.
P.S. – Shannon! Where have you been the last 4 seasons?
Jason Collin Reply:
May 24th, 2010 at 10:51 AM
Oh, I noticed that Juliet was the most stunning woman at the concert and wore a very flattering dress!
Jei, how many stars did you rate the finale?
Jei Reply:
May 24th, 2010 at 6:09 PM
A night’s sleep later and in a total vacuum I would have given it 3 stars… but as payoff for 6 seasons of enjoyment there is not much I can ask so I gave it 5 stars.
Maybe Walt, Michael and Eco and some of the other season 4-onward characters should have been in the church though…
Jason Collin Reply:
May 24th, 2010 at 9:00 PM
Right, I decided not to give it 5-stars just because it was the finale. Eco’s absence was conspicuous, but I was ok with it. MIB chose to kill him early on, so he was not really worthy of being in the church.
The most preposterous thing on LOST is Sayid falling in love with Shannon, him an older bad-ass, very seasoned dude, with made skills, Shannon basically just a semi-attractive blonde with no redeeming qualities, basically could find thousands of her anywhere in the U.S. Add in Sayid is supposedly totally in love with Nadia, and it makes them as a couple perhaps the most preposterous in TV history. In no reality would I believe a girl like her could be attracted to someone like Sayid.
[...] feel like two best friends have gone away. First it was LOST last night, and now 24. It is a hard blow for me and a breaking off point in my life ending my [...]
We watched it last night on DVR and skipped all the commercials, thank god!
After a good think about it, I’m pretty happy with the final. I accept it as a way to say good-bye to all the characters and wrap up and insanely complicated and mysterious plot, AND tie together the flash sideways with the island stuff. That is quite the daunting task…especially since they probably didn’t know how they were going to do it as they made up a lot of the mysteries. So it was good in that sense.
When I was watching the episode, I couldn’t help feeling that the action on the island just wasn’t the regular LOST quality as they built up to the final moments. It just seemed a bit forced and unnatural…the conversations, the lowering of Desmond and then Jack down the waterfall, and the simple ‘rock plug’ removal and then place back….. never was I on the edge on my seat. The whole Jack drinking the water and becoming like Jacob and then Hurley the same…but not really being any different, kinda bugged me. But I’m just being picky.
I’m ok with how they wrapped it up and the flash sideways being a sort of purgatory, if that is what it was….but I can’t help thinking, what was the point of most of the drama on the island for anyways? Maybe a lot of it was just that…unnecessary drama.
So I gave it a 3. I don’t think it could have gotten a 5. It was just such a tangled web the directors/producers spun, and I feel they also got LOST in LOST…
Jason Collin Reply:
May 25th, 2010 at 11:18 PM
Too true, I could not fathom watching the show with commercials in real time. Even fast forwarding through them on the DVR is a labor. I have to be real quick with the mute button also as I once again cannot fathom going from some emotional point in LOST to some jackass commercial barking some junk, environment killing product no one needs. It just takes you out of it all. Like I said, I would have been tempted to download the ep and watch it like that. Hell, if ABC made the ep available for purchase at the same time it aired, I’d of paid $20 to watch it commercial free in HD.
That is a good point I hadn’t thought about, how the action on the island did seem un-LOST like and was never edge of the seat thrilling. I mean the whole time in that cave I just kept thinking I cannot believe Jack is putting his back to MIB!
Right, I wanted to see Jack exhibiting some of those new Jacob powers, or at least some kind of visual cue. I was suspicious of how Jack could pass his power on to Hurley with the stone unplugged as he seemed to only be ordinary, as MIB was, at that time. Plus, he did no chant.
From a plot and story perspective, the finale only did barely a competent job. As a farewell to the characters, it did a pretty good job.
WIsh we would have found out why Widmore came back to the island. What did he want with it? Why risk so much to return?
Again, the flash sideways having NO connection to the action on the island shows that the writers had not enough plot/story ideas to sustain a whole other season.
A beautiful and haunting ending to an epic saga. I didn’t get around to watching it until last night, and all this morning I’ve been in a kind of fugue state. It feels like mourning. As the characters sat in the church waiting to ‘move on’, I found myself powerfully empathizing with them. I was ready to move on with them, to see what was next. I felt at home alongside them, overjoyed to see them all embracing, laughing, crying. I was so happy for them, and glad they could be together again.
Phew.
It makes you think. And ultimately it was very powerful. Everything was real, but nothing is forever. Even after death, there are things to be had. New worlds to know.
That is one of the beauties of LOST. Each season they clicked back the focus on the story’s lens. First it was very tight, just these people on the beach. Then into the relics of Dharma, and saving the world. Then off to some other camp, then dipping into the future, then diving into the past with Dharma, and finally the ultimate click-back, beyond the boundaries of life itself and into the hereafter.
I love that. I love it that they found a final broadening of scope, and I love it that they did it without anybody (to my knowledge, and certainly not me) guessing their true intent.
This show said something. How many other shows do that? It synthesized so much of our shared culture, our shared understanding of life, into one multi-faceted story, and held up that synthesis up as a mirror for us to look into.
I’m very pleased. The sadness is passing now, and I just feel glad. I feel they went the right way with it. I can’t imagine any other way it could have gone, and given us as much resolution and redemption as it did this way.
My favorite parts-
- Hurley seeing Charlie. He really loves that little guy.
- Locke moving his toes, syncing with him moving his toes on the beach after the crash.
- All of the church scene, especially the final shot of them sitting in the pews like passengers on the plane, as the light erupted behind them just like Oceanic 815 tore in half behind them and sucked them down into the island.
- Realizing that Jack’s appendix scar and throat wound were holdovers from the way he died, and subtle reminders that the flash-sideways wasn’t really real.
- Locke says to Jack- ‘your son isn’t real’.
- The cross-cutting at the beginning, moving through each character on island and in the flash sideways.
By far the best though-
- Jack’s final death walk through the bamboo forest alone, intercut with the scenes of reunion in the multi-faith church. Jack lies down to die, sees the plane fly overhead, then Vincent snuggles up beside him so he won’t die alone. His eye closes. Excellent symmetry with the beginning, excellent book-ends to the story.
And many more.
There is really good in depth commentary by Doc Jensen on the EW site- http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20313460_20387946,00.html
I read a lot of comments on there, and many people seem upset by the lack of ‘answers’. By which they seem to mean- no role for Walt, and Walt’s past role not explained, no scientific explanation of the smoke monster, no explicit statement about how the island and the light relates to everything, and other such things.
I’ll answer these questions.
Walt was never terribly important. Really. He was a kid with some peculiar electromagnetic properties. Birds hit windows when he was around, cos birds have magnetite in their beaks. End of story. There is nothing more to it. He was an interesting phenomenon, but that’s all. But I guess if you’ve been holding out for Walt to be key to everything for all this time- (5 seasons since he had any kind of role), you’ll be disappointed if you find he truly has none.
As to scientific explanations of things, or explicit explanations of things- this just seems silly to me. Do you think the LOST writers somehow know more than the greatest scientists of our age? Do you think they know more than any other mortal about what really drives life, sentience, consciousness?
No. Of course not. Just as you couldn’t explain a nuclear bomb or a Bluetooth wireless headset to a person living even only a hundred years ago. Just as you can’t explain what it’s like to feel emotions to a plant. Any answers they give on these points would sound trite. It’s magic, it’s light. It manifests itself to us, on our instrumentation, as extreme electromagnetism, time travel, and what have you. But at it’s core its a macguffin. It can’t be explained. And that’s what’s best. To be upset about that is to miss the point.
4 stars. 5 stars (+) for the opening and final ten minutes.
Jack definitely went out in style. He was the conscience of the President, and by extension of the country, and through his outright heroism, selflessness, and by the example he set, managed to change the course of global events by bringing people wavering on the edge of morality back into the fold.
He was there for us after 9/11, to help us understand what that meant, and to help us understand what the reaction to it would look like.
Of course he’s just a character made up by writers, but Kiefer Sutherland imbued him with realness. Some of the times when he suffered, it seemed inconsequential. He could always shrug off numerous injuries. But in this finale, the emotional wounds felt real. He lost Renee, his last shot at a happy and normal life. He lost any chance to see his daughter and grand daughter again. He lost it, and I felt it. To see the President apologize to him, to see her anguish knowing the pain she’d caused him, that was so meaningful.
It’s a shame it’s over, but like with LOST, it’s good that it is. I feel this season was the strongest since season 2, season 2 being the last time I can even remember what the topic of the season was about. Good things have to end, or face tailing off into nothing. My feelings about 24 had been in that state for years. I’m glad they came back from that for a powerful finale.
I was surprised that I actually quite enjoyed this movie. I expected to be disappointed, as I always am with Tim Burton movies, but not so. Perhaps though I’d already sufficiently lowered my expectations, to the stage where I didn’t expect much of a story, and instead a lot of technicolor curling-tree branch Burtonesque world making, which is what I got
The story got fore-told, how so? Do you mean in the parchment thing, the prophecy? That didn’t bother me, that’s a staple of fantasy fiction. The question is ‘how’ Alice will get the ability to fulfill her destiny. In this movie, I was touched by the scene where Alice counts down the reasons she can beat the Jabberwock.
The made-up words were probably all words taken directly from Carroll’s poetry. The plot of the story, Bandersnatches and Jabberwocks and Vorpal swords, is from a very well known poem, so I quite enjoyed that. The raven like a writing desk thing is infamously Carroll’s.
My problem with Burton’s movies is that they are saccharine and empty. There is little story, and never a sense of threat, because the characters are mere cutouts we don’t care about. We’re along for the ride, to see how Burton Burton-izes a world we’re all already familiar with. Even when he includes dark imagery, like mini-Alice jumping over severed heads, there’s very little atmosphere and zero tension built up. It’s not what Burton does.
I can accept that, I guess. I just have that as my expectation.
Jason Collin Reply:
June 7th, 2010 at 9:21 AM
I know there are prophecies often in this kind of movie, but putting it on that magic paper thing and actually seeing it like five times before it happened was too much for me. Add to that the zero tension you mentioned being built up, and you just get a disjointed movie of gimmicks and jibberish dialogue with characters acting strange. I saw no reason at all for why Alice would like Hatter as much as she did as soon as she did.
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Classic movie, though if they redid it now I’m sure it would be a little tighter in the editing and they wouldn’t be able to capture the “earnestness” you were talking about.
It might be interesting to see this movie made today, but kept with the same 1954 setting. Hard to imagine though keeping the same non-ironic, non-gimmick one-liner script though.
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haven’t seen this yet, from skimming through this review (for fear of spoilers) I think I should!
Jason Collin Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:25 PM
No real spoilers of any kind in this review or any of my movie reviews, unless there is a bold spoiler heading. You should definitely go see INCEPTION, no matter what, it will make you think and show you something requiring discussion.
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