Odds and ends

Glowing leaves at Ohio State (Mark Pfeiffer/October 28, 2004)

A bargain bin’s selection of a photo, some ramblings, and links…

Are you keeping up with LOST? As with ALIAS, a family drama masquerading as a spy series, it isn’t what it appears. Oh, sure, the characters are stranded on a mysterious island, but that’s just the attention-grabbing scenario so that the creators can tell stories about people adrift in their personal lives being confronted with and forced to move through their past problems. LOST’S simple yet brilliant stroke for remaining viable through a season with twentysome episodes is to focus each show on a different character. With more than forty castaways and the secrets of the island, it can easily sustain multiple seasons without keeping them lost for years. LOST boasts some of the finest character-based storytelling that serial television offers. Bully for the ABC programming executives who are wisely moving ALIAS from 9:00 Sundays to Wednesdays. Bringing the J.J. Abrams shows together should give a ratings boost to Jennifer Garner and company.

I love, love, love WAKING LIFE, Richard Linklater’s transporting animated existentialist film. Wiley Wiggins is the main listener and participant in the philosophical discussions. He’s also a real person who keeps this blog. The first time I came across his blog he was linking to a news item about the lawsuit filed against Linklater by some guys who were the basis for characters in DAZED AND CONFUSED. (The Yahoo! News link seems to be dead. The AP story is also here.)

I took the photo of leaves during the John Kerry rally at Ohio State. There was a lot of waiting and then some more. Finding interesting things to shoot helped pass the time. (Not having to be selective with your shots is one major area where digital far exceeds film.) The bank of lights flooding the stage was also illuminating the leaves so that they gave off this glow.