We finally got around to finishing FlashForward tonight. Pretty decent season finale overall, but definitely unsatisfying as a close to the series.

At this point I’m ambivalent to the show, but overall I think canceling it was the right idea. The first half of the season was slow moving and all over the place: we didn’t really know what was going on, and it was frustrating to watch these characters struggle to figure out anything. After the winter break the show really came together, and it was enjoyable to watch. I cared about the characters. But somewhere at the end – maybe in the last four episodes – it just went back to how it was in the beginning. And by the end I really just didn’t care anymore.

For me, getting to the point where I don’t care about a show is a big deal. In all honesty, I watched every episode of Heroes – yes, even the last two seasons – if only to see how the show came together. So to then be able to walk away from a show like this with only lukewarm feelings is fairly sad.

The other thing is that the characters got exceedingly stupid towards the end. No, Mark, don’t have that drink of alcohol even though you know it’s a terrible idea! No, Olivia, don’t kiss that guy even though you know that you’re cheating on your husband! At the end I think we compared it to Pan’s Labyrinth where all of those characters do really dumb things as well. Yes, let’s mess with the Pale Man even though everyone said never to do that. Do people in media just not listen to directions anymore?

I think the biggest loss for me is the cast. The show really did have a lot of good people on it, my personal favorite being John Cho. Maybe it’s the slight nostaglia for Lost kicking in, but Dominic Monaghan and Sonya Walger were pretty good too. Joseph Fiennes was fine – he played the part decently well. Oh, but big thumbs up on getting some BSG alums in there! (James Callis doing a rather strange American accent, and Callum Keith Rennie being evil as usual)

Anyway, there’ll be one less thing for me to watch in the fall, and I guess that’s kinda sad. Here’s hoping the cast moves on to bigger and better thins.

The Internet is all abuzz right now: Guillermo del Toro won’t be directing the two Hobbit films. Big bummer – I thought he would do the series some justice. I don’t anticipate them picking Peter Jackson to direct them, though, as New Line and him were at odds over it.

On the other hand, I’m seriously hoping that they take this chance to make the films not be in 3D. This new fad is really killing my soul, as I feel it’s just excessive and a marketing ploy of sorts. Further, when I saw Avatar with those glasses on, it just felt very blurry – like none of the edges were sharp or something.

Anyway. Sorry to see del Toro go from this one, but here’s hoping the films are still awesome.

I know I got to this two days late, but that doesn’t stop it from being horrendous. Obama gave the commencement speech at West Point, and he got applauded here and there. When Fox News aired it, though, they just completely blanked out any applause at all, thus making the President look far more awkward. This article shows a comparison of two videos: one from the White House (that is, the official feed) and then a clip from Fox. What’s particularly hilarious is that there’s a visible clip in the Fox version where they removed a section where Obama closes a book, so it’s not even like they were trying to be discreet about it.

Still, this is a pretty new low for Fox. It’s one thing to take phrases and sentences out of context, but to actually alter the audio in the video? Shame.

Last night we saw Imogen Heap at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Yes, I went: my girlfriend wanted to go, and Imogen Heap is extremely talented, puts on a good show, and in general it’s just interesting to watch her make music. Anyway, during the show people kept calling out for “Hide And Seek”, her most well-known song, and for the first two calls she said something like, “I’ll get to that eventually”, and just ignored the later requests.

It got me thinking about how artists get known for just one or two songs and how they have to play those songs over and over. I can’t imagine being a musician and having to do that. Wouldn’t it get boring? “Hide And Seek” is a nice song, sure, but wouldn’t it lose some of its meaning if you had to constantly perform it? Further, she’s seriously talented, and there are plenty of other songs she performed that I think are just intrinsically better. Maybe it’s the alt side of me preferring less well-known tracks.

I read an interview with Trent Reznor awhile back where he directly addressed it. It was in Mojo magazine. Here’s the interesting part (emphasis mine):

Mojo: You’re on tour with Jane’s Addiction and then you’re taking a break from Nine Inch Nails. There’s a certain symmetry between this tour and the early 1990s when Jane’s took you under their wing…

Trent: That’s right, they gave me a big break on the first Lollapalooza, bringing us in to play in 1991. Then, they were breaking up and we were starting out. Now, we’re stopping and they’re coming back and trying to keep it going. For me, it’s added a lot of weight to the everyday things. These days, there’s always an incentive to tour because that’s where the money is in the music business now, but as I get older it’s tedious and repetitive. The pages on the calendar start flying off too. My buddy just got married, wait, now he’s got a four-year-old kid and what have I done? I sang Head Like A Hole 600 times.

So here’s a guy who’s been performing for twenty years, and he’s sick of playing “Head Like a Hole” at every show. And Reznor’s a supremely accomplished artist with a huge repertoire, so why does he feel the need to play that one song every show? Is it just fan service? I would hope not, as we know that Reznor hates some of his fans and, I would hope, doesn’t feel like he needs to placate them.

On the other hand, I guess if Imogen Heap didn’t play “Hide And Seek” the first time you saw her, you’d be somewhat disappointed, so maybe it’s not as easy as it sounds.

Yeah, so.. that ending to LOST was about as epic as it gets. Seriously excellent episode, and it brought the show together at least enough that we can all feel at peace.

I won’t write more in case of spoilers, but I’ve decided to grow out my chest hair so that it acts as both a shield and a flotation device.

Anyway. I might start watching Fringe this summer. It’s only been two seasons; surely I can catch up! I did with BSG…