Will the return of Lost live up to the hype?

And more importantly, will I be able to get my damn Letters of Transport without a birth certificate? Or am I a hostage in my own country?

Jimmy Carter was right ...but does anyone in the US government understand the implications of this (even off the record)?

Every statement of indignation by the Bush administration only underscores how spot-on his assessment is. It isn't like Carter is some crackpot off the street, after all.

And the MTA would appear to be trying to destroy mass transit in Southern California... just as millions of drivers begin to seriously contemplate giving up their gas-guzzling cars.

I guess it's official: we're going to Hell in a tacky knock-off handbag that doesn't match our shoes.

No more Veronica Mars. No more Gilmore Girls. So The CW wants to prove they can mismanage their best assets as good as ABC, eh? Lost is drifting aimlessly somewhere in the South Pacific (who has a pool to bet it gets cancelled before they get off the island?), and no word yet if Jericho will receive a reprieve. I guess that's a hint for me to get back to my reading.

On a "lighter" note: only thirteen months after I suggested Annie Proulx for "One City, One Book," Frontiers magazine came to the amazing discovery while in Denver about the nationwide program, and have chosen "Light Before Day," by Christopher Rice as their first annual Summer Book. Japhy Grant has a great cover story on Christopher Rice in the June 5, 2007, Frontiers, and there's a link to Christopher Rice's website on the left. Rice is a Lambda Literary Award winning author of three novels; his fourth, "Blind Fall," will be released next year. "Light Before Day" was chosen in part because it is set in West Hollywood, but beware: it's not a book for the squeemish. You'll want to leave the lights on and don't let anybody tap you on the shoulder from behind while you're reading!

What were they thinking?!? (Continued)

I read today that ABC is cancelling the series, "Six Degrees," after shuffling it around their schedule and not giving it any real promotion. Are they taking a page out of George Bush's Iraq playbook to run their network? The chorus is growing at every juncture about how they have split the airing of the most popular shows in order to showcase some of the most inane drivel. Of course, this is coming from someone who has made himself a near pariah in Hollywood by professing his hate of all things tainted with the brush of "reality television."

At this rate, I wonder if people are betting that "Lost" will get cancelled before there is any resolution to the puzzle.

With any luck, perhaps we can get the folks at ABC/Disney to run the 2008 Republican presidential campaign.

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La Mer by Charles Trenet

La mer
Qu'on voit danser le long des golfes clairs
A des reflets d'argent
La mer
Des reflets changeants
Sous la pluie
La mer
Au ciel d'ete confond
Ses blancs moutons
Avec les anges si purs
La mer bergere d'azur
Infinie
Voyez
Pres des etangs
Ces grands rouseaux mouilles
Voyez
Ces oiseaux blancs
Et ces maisons rouilles
La mer
Les a berce
Le long des golfes clairs
Et d'une chanson d'amour
La mer
A berce mon coeur pour la vie

English translation

The sea
which one sees dancing along the clear gulfs
to sparkle of silver.
The sea
Of changing sparkles
Under the rain.
The sea
Confuses the summer sky's fleece
With angels so pure.
The Sea
Shepherdess of blue infinity.
Look!
Next to the ponds
Those tall wet reeds.
Look!
Those white birds
And those rusty houses
The Sea
Has cradled them
Along the clear gulfs.
And with a song of love
The Sea
Has cradled my heart for life.

So yes, I'm a fan of Lost; perhaps a little obsessed. There is something about the mysteries of this show that pull you in and confuse you to no end.
With all the troubles of the world, a little escape is called for, no? Why else would we resolve the issues of our day when we dream...

As hardcore fans will know, this song was from Episode #12. The instrumental version with which they ended that night's episode was particularly haunting.
I guess the bunker at the bottom of the hatch is all the more plausible to me given that my father was serving on a missile crew underground during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I presume the bunkers the crews had then were much starker than that on the show, yet memories triggered by the revelations since the start of the second season (sorry if I spoiled it for anyone who hasn't yet watched the program) keep cascading daily. As a kindergardener, we had a field trip to visit the non-classified portion of the man-made cave in the middle of the mountain.