The Bin – 4/30/10
Apr 30
It’s that time again — time to cram every bit of awesome and sort-of-awesome and maybe-not-as-awesome-but-shit-we-need-to-fill-up-some-space from the past week into one tidy little feature. We call it…The Bin!
This week there’s a bit of a twist – Saturday, May 1st is Free Comic Book Day! Yay!
Matty Potter's Favorite Harry Potter Moment
Apr 28
There’s something incredibly compelling in geek entertainment about the No-Win Scenario*.
Of course, the most famous No-Win Scenario saw Captain James T. Kirk defeat the Kobayashi Maru test during his time at Starfleet Academy. JJ Abrams brought that sequence to life in his Star Trek flick last summer; we first heard about it in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Later in that movie, Kirk conquers yet another No-Win Scenario, with a gutsy, naked bluff that allows the Enterprise to lower the Reliant’s shields, thus narrowly clawing out a victory over his arch-enemy.
There’s a couple great No-Win Scenarios in Star Wars. From Empire Strikes Back, we have Han, Leia, Chewie, and the droids desperately weaving their way to avoid any Imperial entanglements before narrowly escaping into the bowels of a giant space worm. Then in Return of the Jedi, the tremendous moment when Luke is walking the plank on one of Jabba the Hutt’s sail barges, steps toward the sarlacc pit, only to grab the edge of the plank and catch a lightsaber hurled into the air by R2-D2. (Minor Matt note: Some twenty-odd years after first seeing that flick, that moment still gives me goosepimples. Just typing this gave me some.)
We love the No-Win Scenario because it isn’t the No-Win Scenario at all; it takes us to the brink of a character’s darkest moment, but flips the script toward the dawn of victory, usually in an unexpected way. Geek entertainment, with its superheroes and Jedi and giant space-faring Horatio Hornblower starships, provides a unique opportunity for amazing feats that transform a No-Win Scenario into a thrilling win.
The Bin – 4/23/10
Apr 23
It’s that time again — time to cram every bit of awesome and sort-of-awesome and maybe-not-as-awesome-but-shit-we-need-to-fill-up-some-space from the past week into one tidy little feature. We call it…The Bin!
Lost 6.13 "The Last Recruit"
Apr 22Last time on LOST:
Nothing heals a broken heart like a bucket of chicken.
Hubby* picnic, make out, don’t get shot.
Michael is a terrible human being.
Desmond continues the long history of cast members committing car-related crimes.
Never play with dynamite.
Throw the Scotsman down the well, so the smoke monster can be free.
There was a point in time where I thought that James “Sawyer” Ford had really gotten his act together. And so it saddens me to learn that he can’t even run a con correctly anymore, can’t even anticipate a double-cross. I mean, we’ve already established that Charles Widmore is completely untrustworthy and that Jungle Strike Tina Fey is completely inept and even still they manage to pull one over on Sawyer. Did he swap bodies with Jack or something?
I love Sawyer, in a purely platonic Viking way, and I have spent most of this season waiting patiently, watching him play along with Flocke and Widmore and roll out some amazing long con that takes everybody by surprise. Because that’s what Sawyer does. Right?
To recap, this is the master plan of the professional con man:
- Convince the ageless, murderous smoke monster who knows everything about everything to walk into a trap.
- Convince Charles Widmore, who used to be the leader of the Others and who therefore knows most of the shit that’s going on the magical Bible wine bottle electromagnetic mystery island, to try to ambush the aforementioned ageless murder monster (because I cannot stress that shit enough).
- Grab (some of) your friends and ignore that the rest of them might be watching you escape.
- Sneak away in the least subtle way possible, barring Hurley playing the fucking tuba while everyone makes a run for it.
- Steal a boat.
- Take the boat to another island.
- Steal a submarine.
- Learn to pilot a submarine.
- Freedom.
Now, to be fair, things aren’t as bleak as they may seem. JSTF probably forgot to put bullets in her guns, first of all, and Desmond is probably going to come crashing out of the jungle with a machete and a Segway, cutting down Widmore’s goons and shouting “JUMP ON, BROTHER!” I don’t anticipate that our castaways are in any danger. And who knows? We may eventually find out that this was all Sawyer’s plan all along. “Well, Liz Lemon, I knew you had surveillance on our camp, so I pretended that I was good ol’ Barbecue Pit’s lapdog so that you’d try to double cross us when we defected. In fact, Mean Girls, I was counting on it.”
Meanwhile, let’s talk about Jack.
It is refreshing to finally see Jack embrace his insanity, represented by his new, “I could give two shits about my own well-being attitude” this season. He’s gone from control freak to a man who leads from the front with no regard for his own safety. He’s eaten poison, attempted to blow himself up, jumped off of a sailboat, trusted Sawyer’s ludicrous plan, et cetera. Oh, and nearly gotten hit by a missle. He is living on the edge and there is a certain, seat-of-the-pants charm to Edge Jack – he’s that crazy friend that just smiles and shrugs when you ask him what the plan is tonight.
Stuff is also happening in LA in the mirrorverse and all lines converge at St. Sebastian hospital, universes hinging on the fate of John Locke’s dural sac and shattered spine. Ilana is a lawyer! Of course she is! Sun sees Locke and flips out! Sawyer takes down Sayid! Kate displays guile, if not actual intelligence! Stuff is happening. It feels more and more to me like this timeline is some kind of monkey’s paw bullshit from the smoke monster. Sayid wants Nadia alive. She’s alive – but not in the way that he expected! And so on.
After a week of downtime, LOST is going to rocket into its final few hours and it’s still anybody’s guess how it’s going to shake out. And there’s still plenty of stuff left on the Mystery Board that hasn’t been crossed off. Next week, Matt and I will hit you with some general thoughts on the season so far and the show as a whole. For now, though, hit me with your theories and accusations in the comments.
*Hurley + Libby. Keep up.
Alert Nerd Press Spotlight: Ken Simon
Apr 20
Ken Simon’s “The Tygress Theory” was the very first submission we received for our very first issue of Grok back in 2008. The piece, inspired by our “Pon Farr” theme, charted Ken’s adventures in online dating (back before online dating was, like, A Thing), and his earnest attempts to forge connections that weren’t always meant to be. It was funny and thoughtful and self-deprecating without being self-flagellating — and it really set the tone for what Grok would become.
In Grok #2, Ken wrote about his longtime fascination with connectivity, from rotary phones to “party lines” (remember those, fellow old people?) to screechy modems dialing faceless strangers. I loved his willingness to reveal the depth of his obsession when it comes to this stuff, and the ways in which it connects back to the person he is today.
We’re hoping we can convince Ken — who maintains a mild-mannered librarian/superhero identity during the daylight hours — to contribute to future issues of Grok. In the meantime, we’ve conducted a little interview with him. Read on, then check out his excellent words in “The Tygress Theory” (page 20) and “Connected: The Secret Origins of Ordinary” (page 10).
