A Beer, A Movie and a Blog v2.2 "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One"

(Now also seen at www.popcultureasylum.com)

The text I sent out after “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One” around 2:30 a.m. Friday morning said, “Followed the book pretty well. Acting was top notch. Cinematography was excellent.”

The first half of the final book to Jo Rowling's epic tale not only met my expectations but pulverized them to tiny bits even Hermoine would have a problem putting back together, and that's something.

SPOILERS BELOW

The film begins with the Warner Bros logo falling apart and a horcrux crying out from the darkness until Minister of Magic Rufas Scrimgeour’s eyes appear close up as he begins to speak He assures the wizarding world their Ministry will remain strong in the face of the dark and dire times being faced. The tone of the film further is more fully set next as each of the Trio individually prepares for what’s next: Harry packing his things and bidding the Dursley's farewell; Ron outside the Burrow gazing into the distance and unknown future and the real emotional kicker, Hermione erasing her very own existence from her parent’s memory and home. Her seeing herself disappear out of family photographs stunned me.

Only then does the now iconic "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One" logo show as Snape arrives at Malfoy Manner to attend a meeting of Death Eaters and Voldemort.

The rest of the two hours and twenty six minute (I believe) long film was pure cinematic perfection. FINALLY we got our Harry Potter movie that stands as an outstanding testament to its source material.

From the set designs of the Ministry of Magic and the Lovegood's home to the on-site locations used at the Trio camped across Great Britain, Director David Yates and his crew presented us a film that sprang forth to life a visual representation of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” in a way I never dreamed could actually happen.

What was even more greatly captured were the human elements of this tale, especially the emotional weight each of the Trio carries and the manner in which they deal with it. The biggest testament to this is how the horcrux wears the most on Ron as it eventually drives him to leave Harry and Hermione and later fights against him as he attempts to destroy it with the sword of Gryffindor. Seriously ... that horcrux-projected kiss between Harry and Hermione was absolutely amazing. Plus, side boob!

All of this was aided by Alexandre Desplat’s score, which did not detract from scenes but added an extra emotional element throughout the film. His music breathes even more life into the film.



I must offer the deepest praise for the added dance scene between Harry and Hermione after Ron leaves, for it was nothing short of a completely brilliant idea from Mr. Yates. It was a beautiful moment captured and carried the film past the point of Ron's departure and to the next segment of "What next?" as one friend simply decides to comfort his beat friend after everything has fallen apart. The melody made the scene perfect but the words of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds even hit home, as the song "O Children" to me on a very basic level is about the growing up of children, which the trio was doing. It was the end of that innocence and beginning of adulthood.

Also, production designer Stuart Craig’s idea to enlist animator Ben Hibon for the “Tale of the Three Brothers" was a great and unique idea. Plus, Ron adding that, “Mum always said midnight” and Hermione’s stare back was straight from the text and excited me to hear as that is something that used to be easily cut from the script it seems.

And I called it ... the point in which the film would simply go to the credit and leave us waiting eight months to find the story.  It wasn't after Harry buries Dobby the Muggle way, with a shovel and no magic and decides Hallows of horcruxes, but I was close! But wait,  it continues ... and sets up the mood of the next film as Voldemort desecrats Dumbledores tomb to steal the Elder Wand.

Sure, there were changes made but the changes made to the book canon did not detract from what book-fans know about the series as the past has. Hell, several changes and additional scenes added to films breadth of greatness as it built character relations with each other (Ron and Harry talking outside the Burrow) or a character’s own self (Hermione Obliviating her parent's memory). When was the last time you saw a Potter film and didn’t say “If only they had done this?!” within the first five minutes of leaving the theater? It used to be "The films stand on their own right away from the book," but this time.

A film, however, is nothing without the cast. And this cast - from our old friends in the Order of the Phoenix and Hogwarts, to new introductions - was absolutely outstanding. While the others deserve recognition I want to focus just on the Trio.

Maybe it's because we are not at Hogwarts but to me this felt so much like a character film and less like a fantasy film. The locations used only set up wonderful shots and scenes but it was the trio of Dan, Rupert and Emma that brought these characters to life as they grew - both apart, together and individual maturity - in a way we have never seen them filmed. This film would not have worked in not for them, each of whom has taken on other roles in recent years. Roles I can’t help but think helped their portrayals.



Rupert Grint has been allowed to take Ron Weasley from a goofy-faced-side-kick in the first few movies (mostly due to Klose writing I argue) to a best friend who has his own emotions, talents and issues to sort out that are not just what Harry has to deal with. He has been given dialogue and substance Mr. Kloves tended to take away, opting instead for Hermione to speak more. Rupert Grint's eyes in this scene really were mad with rage as he was ready to kill or seriously injure the two Death Eaters who attacked them in London after the escape from the wedding. His emotions continue to weigh him down after the Trio steal the locket and up until that very point when he walks away from them. “You’re parents are dead!” Shivers. His return and battle with a horcrux was just epic.

Emma Watson shined throughout the film whether it be as Hermione bid goodbye to her parents, take over as a well planned command after the attack at the wedding or even in dealing with a moody Ron in the Forest versus her brainpower working to figure out the horcruxes. I must mention her being tortured too. I felt there was so much power in her painful screams and pleading sobs at the hands of Bellatrix LeStrange. Or maybe it's just the act of Hermione in outright pain and terror.

Finally, there is Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. He can flat out act and it is quite apparent after this film. All the work he has done - on stage in "Equis" and on film in “December Boys” and “My Boy Jack” - outside of Potter has set him up to take the character to the next and final level of the journey. Daniel Radcliffe simply is Harry. He has taken command and is ready to set out and destroy some Horcruxes. You feel his stress of the situation at hand as things unravel at different moments. There has always been comedy with Ron but Dan's slight comedic side when needed really adds a bit to the character. It reminds me they still are kids out there doing what the can to fight Voldemort but even moreso, the comedy in the film gives a pause of the dire straights being faced. In the end, though, it is his maturity as a wizard and the determination he has accepted upon himself to defeat Voldemort and this is what Dan displays.

When it comes down to it, this film is simply the perfect Harry Potter movie. The changes made do not take away from what is probably the most faithful adaptation of Jo Rowling’s saga yet, though the first two very well could be in terms of quotes lifted from the text.  This is the film I have waited to see for five years now while others have waited a decade. This story and world of Harry Potter given as the utmost capable visual representation one can give it. And just think ... we have the whole second half of the book to come in July.

A Beer A Book and a Blog v1.2 - "Paper Towns" by John Green

I just finished reading John Green's "Paper Towns" and I am still digesting it. To be completely honest I do not really know where to start or even finish with my thoughts on such a great book.

I originally picked it up because John and his brother Hank are known as the Vlog Brothers (http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers) on YouTube. I first heard of them when Hank sang "Accio Deathly Hallows" in 2007 for John. Then I heard from the Pottercasters and others his books were reallllly good too. John, not Hank. And they invented being Nerdfighters. 

As Green's agent says via telephone in his Amazon.com video (link below) promoting the book, "It's the funniest serious mystery novel ever written about love and Walk Whitman."

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2LPBA0SKVWTR7

This truly does summarize this book, yet it does not.

A few stanzas from Whitman's "Song Of Myself" are used as clues at one point in the novel yet the entire poem becomes studied and analyzed throughout the book. This actually made me interested in reading it, though poetry often is hard for me to sit and ponder on. Either way, I will read it eventually.

But on to “Paper Towns.”

                         The Author (@realjohngreen) and his (paperback) book. 

First you meet a nine-year-old Quentin and Margo in the prologue. They discover a body in their Orlando neighborhood park while playing. Each has a different reaction to finding the deceased Robert Joyner, who shot himself. Margo is taken in by the mystery and detective work she does as to “why” (by asking around) and then adding her on theory as to why the man would kill himself.

“Margo always loved mysteries. And in everything that came afterward, I could never stop thinking that maybe she loved mysteries so much that she became one.” 

And thus comes the bulk of the book, in three parts. 

Part One “The Strings” finds Quentin as a high-school senior near the end of the school year. He and Margo have grown distant though they remain neighbors. He is the geek or non-popular guy and she is hot-stuff on campus. Quentin (or Q as he goes by mostly) hangs out with a lot of band people - though he himself isn’t in band - which includes his best friends Ben and Radar. Ben and Quentin have been friends since fifth grade and along the way picked up Marcus. Marcus, however, goes by Radar because - outside of the fact that he is black - as a younger lad he resembled the M*A*S*H* character. Oh, his parents own the world’s largest collection of black Santas too. Ben himself has a nickname, but one given for reasons outside of his approval as a sophomore. Poor guy has one kidney infection ... 

Anyways, this is the crew. Quentin doesn’t believe in prom, Radar has a girlfriend and thus a date and Ben has the car they all ride around in, when it starts. 

Late one night Margo bursts into Quentin’s window late one night dressed as a ninja and the two use his mother’s minivan for an evening of personal payback on those who wronged her. There are hidden fish, surprise photographs and escapades like breaking into Sea-World into the late hours of a random school night. 

And thus comes the mystery side of the novel. Because Margo simply disappears. 

Part Two “The Grass” explores how friends, former friends, parents and the student body deal and react to Margo's departure. It also more importantly explores how Quentin (and his friends) search for Margo following clues including but not limited to Woody Guthrie and Walt Whitman to figure out where she went.

Part Three “The Vessel” should remain spoiler free and deals with maters once the clues are figured out. The dialogue alone in Part Three is worth reading the book.  For instance, Ben has to pee. A lot. And has to on a road trip and only has a beer bottle available.

But Radar feels differently. “If you don’t throw that shit out the window right now, I’m ending our eleven-year-friendship,” he says. 

“It’s not shit,” I say. “It’s pee.”

“Out,” he says. And so I litter. In the side-view mirror, I can see the bottle hit the asphalt and burst open like a water balloon. Radar sees it, too.

“Oh my God,” Radar says. “I hope that’s like one of those traumatic events that is so damaging to my psyche that I just forget it ever happened.

At the same time deep points are made during this road trip. 

“The thing about That Guy Is a Gigolo (a game the characters invent),” Radar says, “I Mean, the thing about it as a game, is that in the end it reveals a lot more about the person doing the imagining than it does about the person being imagined.” 

Throughout “Paper Towns” there is theme exploring the "idea" of who Margo is to each character, but mostly Q.  had of Margo. The idea of who she was and what people thought she was. Q likes his idea of Margo but realizes he does not know her really at all. He begins to know the real her, or at least figure out some of who she was, as the book progresses via introspection and clues, especially as he reads more than the few lines of "Song of Myself" left as a clue. Yet he still does not know her.

I quite enjoyed the characters because to me they really are believable.  The last few years have been spent reading books about an orphaned wizard who bears the mantle of responsibility to defeat a dark wizard; a human who falls in love with a sparkly vampire but is loved by an Indian who shapeshifts into a wolf; two characters known simple as the Man and the Boy in a post-Apocalyptic America walking down a road; a murdered girl watching her family and friends’ lives change after her murder or even a zombie-love-quest book. “Paper Towns” is a believable tale with developed characters that are not out-of-the-ordinary. 

We have a main character who really finds himself while searching for another; best friends whose traits, mannerisms and quirks as friends are realized by Q and then settled upon and finally a girl who hid her true self from everyone and that she was “the flimsy-foldable person” to the world, not everyone else. 

By the end of the book I was pondering about the idea's of people I know. There will be a girl I am interested in but to me I am infatuated, interested or crushing on the "idea" of her rather than the her herself. Why? Because I don't know the real her. Maybe that's why I like the Dave Matthews Band song "Idea Of You" so much, because I identify. I like the “idea” of her before I know the real her. I suppose that’s where you learn if you like the real her though. 

But, like Ben says late in the book, “People are different when you can smell them and see them up close, you know?” 

And thus leads to the conclusion of the book, which - as spoilerfree as I can say it - I liked  and understood it. One line makes me know how it ends.  It made sense and fit rather well. Again, believable rather than fantastic. 

I too shall participate in self-photography with "Paper Towns" as others have. 

I honestly plan on reading “Paper Towns” again so I can pull more from it because I honestly did feel as if it is more than just a mystery novel. There are some lessons I can take away from it that I will only learn when I slow down my pace and take the book in as you would Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” 

What those lessons are I am eager to realize, but I really hope to think about “Paper Towns” and moreso, being paper myself. 

I just hope John Green doesn’t think this is all rubbish writing, I just really want to ponder about it all more. 

A Beer A Book and a Blog v1.2 - "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold

Since I knew the basic premise of the story, the opening chapters of Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones" were hard to read.

<<<< SPOILER ALERT >>>>

The novel centers around a 14-year-old New England girl who is raped and killed and watches her loved ones lives play out from heaven. As if that alone is not enough to make the reader uneasy, the novel begins with the foreboding opening lines, "My name is Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973."

I was hooked from the start, eager to learn how this was going to play out. I settled in reading Susie had a poet's quote in her junior high yearbook photograph so it would mark her as literary, that he was in the Chess Club and Chem Club and her favorite teacher taught biology. 

I realized the plot defining moment of the novel would literally happen at the beginning of the book when I turned to page two and read halfway down, "But on December 6, 1973, it was snowing, and I took a shortcut through the cornfield back from the junior high" 

As I read the rest of the first chapter intently as Susie was coerced towards the site of her rape and murder I felt uneasy yet hoped it would not happen. That she wouldn't follow, that she wouldn't continue, that she would get away. But it's not just a coercion and murder. This takes place while you learn more about Susie's past and also her family's future after the murder. It was really interesting to go from present to past to future time here while reading a book in the past-tense. 

I felt the chapter was written so as to prevent a sensory overload while reading the opening pages full of a young girl's impending doom. To show you a little of what was going on but also pull back so you get a picture of who this girl is. To form an emotional connection perhaps with her or to at the very least show who she is, slightly. 

Still, it was horribly hard to read the opening chapter. It bothered me because it hurt to read that happening to Susie, especially since I visually picture scenes in a book. 

We go on to learn not only how Susie is affected by her own murder but also her family, friends and even strangers or acquaintances who later come more into the fold. It's about how one life can touch many. How one life can change another's path and lead it towards someone else's. 

Everyone deals with the pain differently.  Some relationships are tested and torn apart while others are formed and defined from the tragedy. All of this while a murder mystery takes place with the reader knowing all the clues. 

I liked the idea of Susie's Heaven where she has a roommate, a counselor to help in the adjustment and how she watches the people on Earth live out their grief, their hope, their love and their lives. I found it important to picture her within the scenes on Earth rather than just as a narrator too. 

This is a reallllly short review of the novel but I wanted to get it down and return the book to the library - overdue - and I apologize for any brief or vagueness within. 

Regardless, I do recommend the book. It is a heavy read emotionally at times yet one that makes you think and appreciate some things while hoping for others,  all while seeing how lives are impacted by the death of a 14-year-old girl. 

Dharma beer and Free-Will and Polar Bears ... oh my! The L O S T thoughts.

Please right click/open new tab HERE and listen to the approx. 5:28 minute long "Parting Words" from s1 while you read for better effect..

“Pilot”

On September 22, 2004 I sat down on a couch with my dad and sister to watch a a pilot for a new television show co-starring “the Hobbit Whitney has the hots for”.

The only premise of what was to come was something I had read (I think) where Dominic Monaghan said he is a rock star who survives a plane crash on an island with a resort on the other side unbeknownst to the survivors.

I had no idea I would immediately latch on to this show called “L O S T” but it sure as heck was not how Dom pitched it.

A hot Hobbit

We started with an eye opening and Matthew Fox stumbling around asking himself “WTF!?” - not in the script, but you could tell he thought it - before launching into what we came to recognize as Dr. Jack Shepherd mode. He took charge to fix the situation.

It was a very intense few minutes and then things settled down.

But what kept people watching, or most people?

A few WTF moments.

A polar bear?! A monster?! Some French lady broadcasting a 16 year old message?! Flashbacks to these people’s pre-crash lives?!

But it worked.

L O S T presented us with flawed characters - who at times either infuriated us or made us cheer with their choices and actions - plus a great thick plot and writing.

The season progressed, drawing me in more and more and then it happened.

A hunk of metal was found in the ground and then ... a death. Followed by a character moment with Locke letting it all out, pounding on the hatch with Michael Giacchino’s score playing perfectly in sync with the emotions as a light came from within the hatch.

“WTF?!” indeed.

For six seasons moments just like this came and went in L O S T, always adding a new element to the story and to our Losties’ experience on the Island.

Some were good (the tailies, new Dharma stations, Locke was in the wheelchair!) some were bad (the season 3 hiatus, Nicki and Paolo even though Lando Calrissian had a cameo, Sawyer and Kate locked up and digging the runway, which I suppose actually worked out in the end) and some were just freagin’ great (the Numbers, introduction of Ben, the freighter coming with Dan the Man, time travel, Desmond, quantum physics, Hurley writing “The Empire Strikes Back”).

Always with Giacchino’s score in the background.

Example of a great "WTF?!"

"Whatever happened, happened"

      People came together with this show.

They came to watch it with one another. They “SHH”ed each other if someone talked, they jumped in alarm or cried or groaned with disapproval together. And then they talked about what they just watched.

L O S T was - and will be for a while - something people could discuss, theorize and maybe even politely debate about.

We were able to use those almost literary devices picked up from English Lit to analyze and ponder about L O S T. Not because we are losers but because it was fun to do so. The show challenged us to pay attention and think about what we were seeing, what would happen next and what things meant. It, as Andrew Dickerson said, “begged us to dig deeper and investigate the mysterious happenings surrounding the Island.”

People met fellow Losties and friendships emerged because of the common interest, friendships many most likely will carry for a long time or for their whole lives.

That it helped form friendships itself is a wonderful thing.

Besties

“The End”

  Two and a half hours.

We knew the end was coming and we found out we would get another half hour to finish it. But still, two and a half hours on Sunday May 23, 2010 and the tale would be told.

So I settled in as I have done for much of the past two seasons - on a couch eating pizza with Keith and Tara (and for the finale, Trevor) with Jabba and Obi making themselves available to be petted if they so wished.

“Here we go,” Keith said as he hit Play on the TiVo remote. “Six years in the making, or in Dru’s case 12 since he watched it twice.”

And in the end “The End” was a proper finish to L O S T.

It was an ending I did not see coming, well not the sideways world. I suppose that was big finale. The ultimate end. THE END.

Over the course of the two and a half hours the show went from “what’s next” to “hold on” to “sniffle”.

Sure we have loads of unanswered or unthoroughly explained questions but I think we got something EW.com L O S T writer Jeff “Doc” Jensen hit on in his recap of the penultimate episode “What They Died For” ... it gave the show meaning.

Unanswered Question number 15

SPOILERSSSSSS

      Jack became newJacob last week.

Jack and Flocke this week went to the source. Desmond did his outsidetheelectromagneticrules job and pulled the plug. Uh-oh moments ensued. Jack fought Flocke. Kate killed Flocke. Flocke gets kicked off the cliff and goes “splat”. No more Smokey/TMIB. Jack and Kate declare their love and kissy face. Kate and Sawyer swim for the boat Flocke was going to escape on. Jack knows he has to plug the hole back up. Hurley becomes newJack/Jacob/Islandprotector. Jack fixes his ultimate patient, the Island itself and in a way, his own self. Desmond gets rescued from the bottom of the cave and Ben becomes newRichard.

Whew.

el Jefe

      All this happening as we go back and forth from Island to sideways world. People getting the realizations. People showing up at a church. People knowing each other.

People remembering.

It was so, perfect.

Locke forgave Ben who in turn had just motivated John to walk again. Then Hurley asked Ben to come inside, and after a polite “no thanks, I have some things left to do” Hurley said’s Ben was an “awesome number two.”

“Thanks, you were a great number one.” Ben said in reply (or something like that) as he sat on a bench outside a church.

And then it alllll started to come together.

Jack arrived with Kate who says she will meet him inside with the rest of the others. Jack goes in to see his dead father’s casket and touches it. Flashes happen.

Bam.

Remembering but not understanding. Not understanding and scared.

And then daddy comes in and explains it all ... what the sideways world is.

Queue the wet eyes on my side of the couch.

They are dead and are meeting up with each other so they can go on together with the people that meant to the most in their life.

But surprisingly to me the sideways world was nothing to do with the present or past but a future of sorts for our L O S Ties. It was the waiting room of all waiting rooms. Meaning came finally to Jack as he joined his friends - no longer strangers - to journey together into the light ... of the afterlife, Heaven, Paradise, whatever you want to call it.

Jack walked out into the church to see his friends and journey to Heaven happily ever after as we see Island Jack walking out of a stream, through the bamboo and lay down where it all started.

With Vincent giving him comfort so it is not “Live together, die alone,” L O S T ended exactly as it began, with Jack laying in a bamboo clearing and the camera on an eye.

Except this time, rather than open to confusion and disaster it closed after seeing a plane carrying those he cared and protected fly away safe.

Beautiful.

And I could not help but have wet eyes and a smile on my face.

Me Sunday night, kinda.

      A dual meaning was accomplished. The Island was protected and much of our cast met up and walked into the light, happily at peace and together.

To me the finale gave meaning to the show, to the characters, to the idea that is L O S T even if it didn’t flesh out all the unanswered questions.

They were brought - broken, flawed, lost - to the Island by it’s protector Jacob as a way to fix his mistake of killing his brother and creating Smokey. And it worked. And then, in different times of their own lives, they died and met each other so they could go to Heaven together.

“The End” indeed.

"Closing Credits"

  Over six seasons we have met characters who were all, as I said, broken, flawed and lost. People with daddy issues, trust issues, relationship issues, honesty issues, self-esteem issues , drug issues and many other burdens.

Through it all they grew, for the most part. Or at least we could see they tried to change.

People attached to these characters for different reasons: they were attractive, had a specific demeanor or attitude, or were just plain cool.

We learned about these people and why they did whatever it was they did on the Island and what they did before the crash of Oceanic 815.

And it was because of the geeky lore the show threw at us mixed with these characters that made it a success.

Who wasn’t completely intrigued by Dan the Man? Who couldn’t pull for Charlie to kick his habit and didn’t feel their gut bottom out when he bravely died? Heck all the deaths were pretty tragic, except for the girl that drowned in season one. Who was that anyways? And maybe Arnst.

Dan the Man

Dammit.

  We had Team Jacob and Team Flocke. Skaters and Jates. Sullietes and ... Jack/Julliette?

Of course, the characters would not be there if not for the actors portraying them.

While there were little nuances that were annoying in some portrayals (Jackface) I think we can all agree it made the characters real.

Watching Michael Emerson specifically over the years as Benjamin Linus is what really sticks out to me. Through him and his facial expressions we really didn’t know what Brad Bagby calls “that bug-eyed bastard” was up to until the very end.

A Bug-eyed Bastard / the Island's Severus Snape

      Other excellent casting choices were Terry O’Quinn as John Locke (especially when it came down to Locke playing two different characters this season) for making Locke’s faith passionate and believable. On my second time through the series Josh Holloway‘s Sawyer - or rather the pain and yearning to be a good guy - was very evident. I always liked Matthew Fox as Jack. I liked how he really showed a broken and confused character who always had to fix something and was steadfast in whatever it was he believed in.

Hell, I won’t lie ... 99% of the cast had to be in it to make this thing work and it feels a disservice not to mention them all.

L O S T also was just as rich in exposition as it was in plot and characters.

There were aspects of faith, free-will, destiny, science, theoretical physics, time travel, Volkswagen buses, Dharma beer and the many head-nods to geekdom, literature and famous names just to give extra meaning to most of the story.

We even got L O S T fanbands (see The Oceanic Six “Good Morning Charlie”).

Dharma beer. Mmmmm.

      L O S T and I have been close friends since day one because of all these reasons.

I came into Scrubs late but it had an enormous impact on my life and continues to be one and the emotional impact of the true finale (not Scrubs 2.0) was large, similarly to that of L O S T's

With this said it is still hard for me to say L O S T is my favorite show ever (I Love Lucy always has been, I say) but is it possible to have three favorite shows, especially if they are different genres?

Because as far as I am concerned it should be allowed and after reading this at least my case should be spelled out.

Farewell L O S T and thank you for all the memories. You will be missed.

"I’ll see you in another life, brotha."

A Beer, A Book and a Blog v0.1 - "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

"The Road" is unlike any novel I have ever read.

Hell, the punctuation - or lack thereof - alone makes it most unique.

But there is more.

A nameless father and son team as main-characters known only as "the man" and "the boy". A journey down a road in a post-apopolyptic world that exists for an unknown/unnamed reason leaving these two pushing a cart with scavenged supplies while hiding from man-eaters and the elements of nature.

Not really something I can say I have read about.

And I liked it. A lot.

I am not sure why exactly. But I did.

Yes it is depressing and bleak, but I found myself enthralled in their journey once I decided to simply sit down and finish the book.

There are sentences I found simply beautiful, darn near poetic.

"It's snowing, the boy said. He looked at the sky. A single-gray flake sifting down. He caught it in his hand and watched it expire there like the last host of christendom."

There were also those I had to read several times, sometimes still not grasping their full breadth of meaning and storytelling.

"At a crossroads a ground set with dolmen stones where the spoken bones of oracles lay moldering. No sound but the wind. What will you say? A living man spoke these lines? He sharpened a quill with his small pen knife to scribe these things in sloe or lampblack? At some reckonable and entabled moment. He is coming to steal my eyes. To seal my mouth with dirt."

In fact, I think I can see myself reading it again one of these days.

After I give Mr. McCarthy's other works a shot, courtesy of the Davidson Public Library.

Oh ya, they just made a movie about it too. Dunno if it is any good though.

A Beer, A Movie and a Blog v2.1 - "Into The Wild"

Cross another one off the list and add another to another list

Last month I finally watched "Into The Wild".

Wow.

Actually, wow does not really explain everything I felt after watching this film, written and directed by Sean Penn and staring the very young and talented Emile Hirsch.

The acting was superb (especially Hal Holbrook), the cinematography was interesting with different techniques used (and even once Hirsch making a funny face into the actual camera) but still beautifully shot and the philosophy and lessons learned were exceptional.

A lot of emotion came to surface during this movie - hope, desire, pain, sadness, confusion, love, anger. Many emotions I have felt lately whilest dealing with this matter or that matter. Watching Hirsch play the just college graduated Chris McCandless made me ponder how to deal with some of these matters. Do I write my saster? Do I call my saster? Do I just continue to do as I do - not talking, praying for her and hoping or fearful of one day having a relationship? Do I just swallow my pride and throw myself out there with her ... with life ... with mankind?

" ... when you forgive, you love. And when you love, God's light shines through you." Ron Franz

Either way I must be careful not to get in too deep and deal with it in what could be the wrong way. Because the film is a tragedy of getting in to deep. Not swallowing that pride sometime and dealing with things in your own way. But we must be cautious too, not to let it get the better of us. It is a thin line that must be walked.

Some things do need to be journeyed away from. Yes.

I have oft thought of going on my own "Great Alaskan Adventure" ... but across the pond and to the land of Erin. Pack it all up and head there and live in the land of my blood. See if I can do it, why not?

Maybe what really spoke to me was a conversation between Chris and Vince Vaughn's Wayne Westerberg, where the two are discussing Chris' thoughts. Even reading Kraukar's original 9,000 word article on the matter reached out to me, as Westerberg in the article mentions Chris' ethics and his way of thinking. Because in many ways it is like mine.

"The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences." Christopher McCandless

But we can go on our own adventures without our many possessions and without having to go to Alaska. We can do things to prove our own strength without journeying across the country and then living in a "magic" bus. We can live our everyday lives right here and push ourselves, test ourselves, see if we can do "it" - whatever "it" is for each individual.

Right? Right.

Getting "L O S T" again - Part 1 of 5

***If seeing on Facebook please go to http://abeerabookandablog.blogspot.com instead, Facebook never publishes these the way I want and messes up the pictures****

A borrowed idea from my friend Brad, whose blog is at http://bradsasylum.blogspot.com/

On February 2nd, 2010 - Groundhog Day - a show that changed television will begin it's sixth and final season. These are my thoughts on each season as I re-make my way through the first five seasons of this gem of a show. It is bittersweet and sad that this will be the final year for L O S T but the producers and writers are going out the way they wanted to do things - end the story arc in six seasons and tell the story they want to tell. Plus, the characters will be able to live the fictional lives the writers/producers always wanted them to rather than altered when the actors and actresses head off to the silver screen.

I first started watching the show with my saster (yes, that's her term of endearment) and padre with only the knowledge that a LOTR Hobbit was to play "a rock star who crashes on an island in which the survivors are unaware there is a resort on the other side." Guess that was kind of right. Over five years later I started my re-watch - originally slated to start in December but pushed to January - with the anticipation to finish by the sixth season's start.

These are my thoughts.

To begin ...

Top-Three Favorite Episodes

1) "Walkabout"

Sure, there were some "WTF is up with this island?" episodes before with polar bears, monsters in the jungle and the fact that most survivors walked away muttering "It's only a flesh wound!" but this John Locke centric fourth episode showed us he not only arrived with a box full of knives and the ability to use them effectively but a wheelchair ... since he was paralyzed from the waist down. Not only did this episode provide the basis for an amazing limited edition Hitchcockian film art print over the summer of 2009, but it also showed us John Locke had some pretty big cajones (or is crazy) as he faced Smokey down and, "Saw into the eye of the Island ... and it was beautiful." Oh ya, after that he returned to the beach with a boar over this shoulder for the whole bunch to throw on a spit and feast on. Right after we found out he couldn't go on a walkabout in Australia because he was paralyzed!

"Just don't tell him what he can't do ... "

Theory out of this? Smokey - or the Island - showed him some of his future role on the Island, because after this he was more of a man determined and with a lot more wealth of knowledge on how to do things.

2) "Outlaws"

I gotta agree with Brad, this sure is a heckuva an episode. Up until now - the 16th episode of season one - we didn't really know why Sawyer is douchey. As the episode opens we see a mother telling her son to hide under his bed no matter what he hears. An argument ensues with the mother and father. A gunshot rings out. Then a man walks in, sits down and another shot rings out. Sawyer was the boy. Sawyer told Kate about it when he read her the letter he carries but still ... what an opening. Over the course of the next 40 or so minutes we see him track down the man that supposedly conned his mom (resulting in his dad's murder-suicide) ... and finds him in Australia. Not only did he wind up in the Land Down Under (because of his old partner) but he made drinking buddies with a Dr. Christian Shepherd who says a little line about "And that's why the Red Sox will never win the World Series." This comes in to play later on when Sawyer tells Jack he met daddy after Jack uses the same line and was the first time (I think) we are introduced to the concept of running across other characters in the past.Oh ya, at the end Sawyer pops the guy in the chest and it wound up not to be the right guy. This is when we find out why Sawyer is so tormented, especially when the guy says "It'll come back around ... ", the same words he keeps hearing whispered as a boar stalks him on the island. From this point on Sawyer - I feel - is more of a good guy acting tough than a douche bag. And he changes afterwards too.

3) "Exodus: Part II"

This is not a character centric episode, this is a cast centric episode as we see our LOSTies at the airport in the two-hour finale. More importantly we see a lot of happenings on the Island. Rousseau took baby Aaron and faked a black-smoke fire to freak out the LOSTies because of what happened to her kiddo. Luckily Charlie and Sayid tracked her down, got the baby and had a moment to offer her hugs as she cried about it all. But this was not only it ... Walt and Michael, Sawyer and Jin were on the raft; we went to the Black Rock - a ship, not a rock! - to get dynamite and then saw Arnst the science teacher get blowed up by TNT; nearly got drug down a hole by Smokey with Locke and blew the hatch to hell and back as the raft dwellers would up on a blowed up raft by Steamboat Willie and friends who took Walt and shot Sawyer. Oh ya, we were introduced to the L O S T cliffhanger ... as Jack and Locke looked into the hole that was the hatch - did I mention the numbers were on the hatch? - and had to wait three to four months before we started season two with a Mama Cass Elliot tune. The Pilot could easily be a top-three for the season. Easily. Hard choice.

Honorable Mention: "Do No Harm"

We have gotten to know Jack but here we really see him pushed to his limits - both mentally and ethically - as he first works to fix Boone up from being crushed in the NigerianplanefilledwithheroineVirginMarystatues on top of stressing about Claire going into labor. The flashbacks of his wedding are not so much what gets me in here as everything he does as he attempts to treat Boone, even so much as to nearly chop off his leg. This not only was the biggest reason our castaways needed to actually be upfront about things they have experienced - ya know, Locke didn't tell Jack what REALLY happened so Jack could not treat Boone correctly - but it was also our first real death. Ya sure, a few died here and there, but nobody we even really met. But Boone died tragically ... and was talking to someone on the airplane's radio too! Jack did everything he could do and more to treat Boone and it was another example of how far he pushes himself because he has to succeed. Another favorite is "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" when he brings Charlie back to life with CPR.

MVP - Jack

A single eye opens with a sudden gasp escaping from the character. This is Jack and he is the first person we see on the Island. He immediately rushes into action to help people in the crash. Why ... we learn in a few minutes. Jack is a surgeon and over the course of the season we come to learn he is a dedicated one at that with some major daddy issues to boot. Daddy issues that push him in a positive way but end up pushing him too far oftentimes to territory he does not need to be in - both mentally, physically and emotionally. Jack kind of is a little annoying in season two but in season one he definitely is the drum beat pacing the rest of our LOSTies on the Island as he takes on the role of El Jefe handed to him by the survivors.

Characters revisited

Locke - As I mentioned before, I think Locke saw part of his path on the Island when he looked into Smokey because his behavior completely changed after that. More confidence and understanding. I remember being a little annoyed with him towards the end of this season originally but now ... I think he just was confused as to what his path was on the Island after seeing part of the result, but not the getting there.

Sawyer - I must say, I never did notice the way he changes moods so much in season one before. He is mean and downright cruel sometimes but afterwards you see he is tormented by his actions. Sure we see him get tortured by Sayid early on but he still feels the need to play a tough guy when he knows he does not need to later on in the season, and it kills him afterwards each time.

Sun - Talk about a character surprise. The buttoned up Korean girl speaks English but is smoking beautiful in that blue bikini too! And she knows herbal remedies and gardening techniques? The Sun/Jin story over the first two seasons was a good one to see as a relationship in turmoil was turned around.

Charlie - Lovable character with a huge flaw - his addiction to heroine and the need to feel wanted and useful. Love this guy and pulled for him the whole season.