What I'm...(Hiatus Edition)

I’ll be doing some traveling this fine Memorial Day weekend so I’ll be taking a brief hiatus from posting. To tide you over here’s an early installment of “What I’m…” which includes my thoughts on the Lost finale, so if you’ve got it recorded, beware of spoilers below. I’ll be back posting next week after I’ve had a weekend to memorialize my liver.

What I’m…Suffering Buyer’s Remorse From.
Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Diner- At $1.95 it’s tough to suffer from too much regret but I was expecting so much. I had read how Colbert skewered the administration smack dab in the belly of the beast. I had read how the audience reacted coldly to his speech but that it did not deter Colbert from his task or detract from the humor. So you can imagine that when I saw the opportunity to download it off iTunes I jumped at the chance, after all it was only $1.95. Well maybe it needs the video feed, because while some of it was entertaining overall it fell flat and Colbert seemed extremely awkward at times. To top it off, my download had 2 glitches in it. I’d write to iTunes but then again it was only $1.95.

What I’m…Reading.
“Who’s Your Caddy” By Rick Reilly- I still find it hard to say out loud that I love golf. Growing up I always looked down at golf as a sport for the rich, the elite and the establishment. I remember being introduced to it as an eight year old at my grandmother’s house. She always watched the PGA tour and she had a golf bag in her closet. I was bored to tears watching it on TV and while I enjoyed the putt putt course across the street, that seemed to be a different animal altogether. As I grew older I become a huge sports fan and I began to pay attention to the majors but I still openly mocked people that played.

In 1998 I played my first round of golf under quite possibly the worst conditions ever. As part of a bachelor party I was attending we went to one of the nicer courses in town. The whole group of us were relatively new to golf and our fearless leader turned down a cart and said we would walk the 18 holes. I didn’t know any better so it seemed like a fine idea to me and it might have been except for the fact that it was 95 degrees in the shade. By the time we had walked all 18 holes I had plenty of new ammunition to hate the game.

A couple years later I started playing with some friends my perspective changed. Maybe it was playing with different people, maybe it was playing shorter courses, and maybe it was playing in weather that was fit for an actual human being, whatever the reason I fell in love with golf. Now I try to play as much as possible. I still have the ability of a fourth grader but I don’t care. Many people have noted that I have a competitive attitude that’s on par with Genghis Kahn but somehow on the golf course I could care less if I beat my opponents or not. I just enjoy the game, which finally brings me to the book.

Reilly, who many might know as the guy who writes the back page column for Sports Illustrated, spent a year caddying. In the book he caddies for pro players and celebrities, in tournaments and pro-ams. The result is a crazy funny read that also reminds us why we play the game. His description of being inside the ropes at Amen Corner at the Masters makes me dream that someday I’d be good enough or rich enough to play there. Since neither of those will happen, his description is about as close as I’ll get. Reilly is master of self deprecating humor and manages to bring the funny while also getting to some real truths of the game. My #1 truth is still, “Don’t walk 18 holes when it’s over 90 degrees out.”

What I’m…Listening To.
Top 5 on My iPod
1. Smiley Faces- Gnarls Barkley (Seriously I don’t know what more I can say about these guys. They’re so good they make you regret buying single songs on iTunes ‘cause you know you’ll probably end up buying the whole album.)
2. Promiscuous- Nelly Furtado (I know I called her a pop whore in an earlier column but I also said the song was catchy…damn catchy. Timberland continues to provide some of the best beats in the business.)
3. Just a Thought- Gnarls Barkley (How can a song with such depressing lyrics make you want to thump your speakers cruising down the boulevard?)
4. Girl Next Door- Saving Jane (Before you judge, I did NOT buy this song because it’s the theme song to MTV’s Tiara Girls. I heard the song and then found out it was the theme song. Honest, I still haven’t watched an episode of the show.)
5. Crazy- Gnarls Barkley (Yep, I might have to rename this section, “What Gnarls Barkley songs I’m listening to.”)

What I’m…Watching.
Lost- After watching the series finale of Lost I made the mistake of going online to a couple of message boards. Two hours later, one thing was for certain: Lost is still a show that sparks a passion in people. I read post after post from people swearing off the show for good, complaining they didn’t get enough answers. I’m guessing these same people posted something similar after last year’s finale. Then you had the all the posts from people going over the top in praising the show. These are the fans that post after every episode that the show has achieved a higher level then Twin Peaks or X Files. The best posts last night though, came from people on both sides as they debated whether Man #2 in the snow station scene at the end was actually Matthew Fox (Jack) with a prosthetic nose and make up. Within an hour after the finale there were screenshots that put the two side by side and nicknames for the new guy like “Jacques the bad twin”. About 90 minutes after the show someone had posted a link to IMDB.com for the actor listed in the credits as Man #2. It seemed to prove that it was not Matthew Fox, but as of this morning there were still those that argued it was. This is why the show succeeds. It infuriates, it satisfies, and it challenges the viewer.

There were definitely some infuriating parts last night especially the scenes after Charlie returned to the beach. I’m so tired of these people not talking to each other. While I realize there wouldn’t be much of a show if everyone sat down and shared all their knowledge it gets to be a bit much sometimes. Furthermore, it continues the haphazard way Charlie has been portrayed over the season that has damaged his character. It feels like they let a different writer script Charlie’s scenes from week to week.

The satisfying parts for me came throughout the show. Nice to find out the truth about the crash and the button, but my favorite part came when Jack and co. found the canisters from Pearl station. When “?” aired a couple weeks back I was telling people that maybe the observers are the test subjects and not the button pushers, so seeing that play out last night was satisfying from an egocentric point of view.

Of course like all good cliffhangers the challenging aspect of the show took center stage. What’s the relevance of the four toed foot? Did the look Jack gave Kate and Sawyer at the end mean his plan was to get captured? Will Michael and Walt be rescued? Is that really Walt that left on the boat? Is Penelope Windmore hiring Jack look-alikes to search for Desmond or the Dharma Island? Where are Locke and Ecko? Why is Henry Gale such a badass? All these questions and more are sure not to be answered next season and you know what, I don’t care as long as the wild ride continues.