SPOILER ALERT – Lost Season 6 “Across the Sea” Follow-up

After all that I’ve already written about last week’s episode of Lost, “Across the Sea,” I still have more to say.


Deepak Chopra appeared on The Colbert Report last week, and I finally watched it. He unknowingly provided further insight into the black and white imagery of Lost, in that he spoke of the ambiguity of good and evil within each person as well as within divine entities. Of course, I related this to Lost; it’s hard not to relate Lost to greater and broader things in the world.

Chopra (who should marry Oprah so she could become Oprah Chopra (I think I stole that joke from Jay Leno (funnily enough) and from Chopra himself was he was on one of those late night shows, possibly Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show)) explained that the Christian belief is that our souls only contain the Light; however, Chopra believes there is a duality within each of us of light and shadow. Furthermore, the Devil, as a fallen angel, is divine as G-d is divine.

I think these are some of the points Lost is trying to make – that everyone, including the Divine, inherently has Light and Shadow within their souls, and nothing and no one is purely light or shadow, good or evil. That is the point I made in the first in what has become this series of blog postings about “Across the Sea.” Furthermore, perhaps this acceptance of the duality of our souls is the reason Jacob told Ricardo/Richard in “Ab Aeterno” that he could not absolve him of his murdering sin. That is, perhaps Jacob could not absolve him, not because of a lack of divine power, but because we cannot be freed from the evil things we do, and we must accept those dark things as well as the Light of our souls.

I think Chopra’s point was that we should harness our shadows for Good, and that with our shadows come gifts. I assume he means that we should find a way to utilize our dark sides to create some good. I would probably get a better understanding of all this if I read the book he was promoting on The Colbert Report, The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self. I just read the description of the book at Amazon, and I was close. Chopra’s point is actually that we should embrace both the light and shadowy aspects of our whole, true selves so that we can attain our full potential, happiness, and our gifts.

ABC Removed from the TV

UPDATE February 8, 2010
WABC returned to the TV about 15 minutes after the Oscars began. So we Cablevision customers missed the opening of the Oscars, as well as Barbara Walters' last Oscar special ever. I'm glad ABC and Cablevision are resolving their issues and gave us back our WABC, but I don't think they listened to me, since it sounds like Cablevision caved and is probably going to be paying ABC/Disney more money, which means Cablevision will likely increase their cable prices. My loss of respect for both companies -- but particularly ABC/Disney -- endures, similar to my remaining feelings of resentment toward Scripps Network because of the time they temporarily took Food Network (and HGTV) away as a negotiation tactic.

[Originally an email written to ABC on February 7, 2010 (yes, today). Some ideas came from a friend (yes, I have a friend).]

Dear ABC,

Rather than demanding more money from Cablevision, why doesn't ABC simply ask Cablevision to stop charging their subscribers for broadcast channels such as WABC? I would think that would resolve ABC's problem, since ABC is claiming that they should be paid since Cablevision charges us for ABC.

If ABC/Disney is actually concerned about the viewers/consumers, they will simply ask Cablevision to stop charging us for what should be free, rather than demand to be paid because of those charges. The fact is, if Cablevision pays ABC more than they already do, Cablevision will inevitably raise their prices, and therefore, we the consumers will suffer.

I understand that pulling ABC from Cablevision the night before the Oscars is a negotiation tactic, but ABC/Disney is only hurting the viewers, Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, and America. ABC's move is a slap in the face to all of the above, and demonstrates a complete lack of respect for all of the above.

Every minute ABC remains off my TV, I lose more respect for Disney and ABC.

I will NOT change providers. ABC/Disney is not hurting Cablevision, ABC/Disney is hurting its (former) viewers.

Please put WABC back on Cablevision. Please do what is right and what is fair.

Thank you.
~Shirley

The Leno Saga Continues on the Super Bowl

David Letterman and Jay Leno, along with Oprah Winfrey, have come together for a rather funny Super Bowl ad for The Late Show with David Letterman. According to Late Show executive producer Rob Burnettt, all parties, led by Letterman, did it simply to entertain people. They have succeeded, assuming I am people.

The Super Bowl ad is sort of a sequel to Letterman’s 2007 Super Bowl ad with Oprah, following their pseudo-feud.

Of course, this year’s ad follows weeks of comedic clashes between Letterman, Leno, and Conan O’Brien regarding The Tonight Show and Leno’s insistence on hosting it without regard to its rightful host.

This Super Bowl commercial accomplishes two things that Leno was unable to do recently: reinstate his nice-guy image and be funny – or at least recognize what is funny.

Three Things that Irritated Me about Leno’s Oprah Appearance

Everyone seems to be upset with Jay Leno (I mean more than they were before) because when he was on Oprah on January 28, he admitted to lying. He explained that he told a white lie in 2004 when he said he would be retiring in 2009.

This lie isn’t what bothered me. I don’t think I really expected Jay to retire – I only expected him to move on from The Tonight Show. When celebrities say they’re retiring, I generally don’t believe them; I actually share Jay’s view on this, where he told Oprah that while he believes that Oprah believes she will be “retiring,” he doesn’t believe she actually will. Of course she explained to Jay that she has not said she’ll be retiring, rather she is just leaving her show, but the point Jay was making about celebrities in general is the view I share with him.

What did bother me – what drove me insane actually – was the following three things:

1) Leno, as usual and as expected played the victim; he did not take any responsibility for what he did. He refused to accept that he had anything to do with killing Conan’s dream. He blamed the network (as he should), and he blamed the low ratings of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. However, he couldn’t admit that he had anything to do with Conan leaving The Tonight Show. He didn’t seem to have any awareness that Conan’s ratings were low most likely as a direct result of the low ratings of The Jay Leno Show, as well as the very existence of Jay’s 10 p.m. show. As many have stated, when Leno hosted The Tonight Show, he had dramas such as Law and Order as his lead-in before the local news – shows that, as David Letterman said, keeps people staring at their TVs for days. Conan didn’t have that; Conan had as his lead-in the low-rated Jay Leno Show whose low ratings almost caused the NBC affiliates to revolt. If NBC didn’t have to remove Jay from 10 p.m., and if Jay had chosen to leave NBC, as one would have expected him to, NBC would never have put Leno back at 11:35 p.m. either to push back The Tonight Show to 12:05 a.m. or to remove Conan from The Tonight Show. Without The Jay Leno Show, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien would have had better ratings and therefore would have remained on the air. In fact, even if for some other reason (such as the fact that it was a transition or the increased ratings Letterman got from his scandal) Conan’s ratings hadn’t been good enough, his Tonight Show still would have remained on the air. After all, Leno’s ratings weren’t good for his first three years on The Tonight Show, but NBC kept him on the air. Which brings me to…

2) Leno told Oprah that Conan has been removed because of Conan’s poor ratings. He also claimed that this was the first year in The Tonight Show’s 60-year history where it would lose money. However, if losing money translates to poor ratings, then Jay seems to have forgotten about his first three years on The Tonight Show, where he had poor ratings. No one watched Jay’s Tonight Show until Hugh Grant kindly granted him an interview (that was previously scheduled) after being arrested for prostitution usage. Three years of bad ratings, and NBC didn’t cancel Leno’s Tonight Show. Yet Leno seems to really believe that NBC is canceling Conan’s Tonight Show after seven months of bad ratings. It just doesn’t make sense. (Yes, I do realize NBC cancelled Leno’s 10 p.m. show after five months because of bad ratings, but that is only because of the damage he was doing to their affiliates. When Jay had bad ratings on The Tonight Show, I don’t believe it was affecting the affiliates in such a way.)

3) Jay whined to Oprah about Jimmy Kimmel’s alleged “sucker punch,” where Kimmel made a joke about the Conan-Jay brouhaha. Of course, as Jimmy explained, he thought that since Jay used to be a comedian, he could handle a joke made about him, and go with it, rather than continuing to robotically read cue cards and later rat Kimmel out to Oprah. So Jay whined about Kimmel making a timely and relevant joke about him, yet Jay felt there was nothing wrong with his own “joke” about Letterman, which, really, was a sucker punch…to Dave’s wife. Jay’s joke was in response to Dave’s relentless and hilarious Leno jokes and discussions since this began, and Jay felt that one joke in response to Letterman was sufficient. But Jay’s joke was personal, it was more hurtful to Dave’s wife than to Dave (I would think), it was not timely since the tale of Dave’s infidelity is no longer a current topic at all, and, most importantly, no one found it funny. I didn’t fid it funny, the audience responded with “Oooo”s, and Oprah made it clear that she did not find it funny, and that she felt the joke was beneath Jay. But Jay thought it was funny.

Maybe that’s the problem: Maybe Jay isn’t funny anymore because he just doesn’t know what is funny anymore.

Evolving Perceptions of Lady Gaga

My hatred of Lady Gaga (whose real name is Stefani Germanotta) was immediate, from the moment she entered my consciousness. She is just a wannabe Christina Aguilera (whom I love, and whose talent is unquestionable; if there was ever any doubt regarding Christina’s talent, her impromptu a cappella performance of “Beautiful” on Saturday Night Live very clearly elucidates her talent), I thought, as I’m sure many people did. So, as I mention in my previous blog posting, I hated Lady Gaga for what I thought was: an obvious lack of originality. I thought she was a derivative and therefore fake pop singer who, beyond her lack, of originality, appeared to lack talent. Another Paris Hilton-like pop quasi-singer, manufactured to sound decent.

I was informed at some point that according to Perez Hilton, Lady Gaga is, in fact, original. Apparently, he provides evidence that Lady Gaga’s fashion precedes Christina’s, so, assuming he is correct (which I do), Lady Gaga is original and therefore is not fake. Yet I continued to hate her, despite the elimination of my perception of her as a wannabe Christina.

Her music itself didn’t anger me quite so much; I kind of like “Just Dance,” though I couldn’t listen to the whole song since it just got annoying. I did (and continue to) like “Poker Face,” but I hated (and continue to hate) “LoveGame.” I also continued to hate her.

My hatred began to change when I saw the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, where Lady Gaga performed “Paparazzi.” Until then, I hadn’t heard the song at all; I occasionally reside under a rock where I somehow manage to (usually inadvertently) avoid any exposure to new music or celebrity and newsly goings on. As I watched the very dramatic performance, I found myself…enjoying it…a lot. This came as quite a shock to me. The song was fantastic. More notably, it became clear that she actually does sing, and her voice is kind of good and unique in that its distinctiveness makes the Lady-Gaga-ness unmistakably recognizable. In addition to her singing talent, I noticed she plays the piano as well. I had seen her perform “Poker Face” on American Idol where it was evident that she actually sings and also plays the piano, but somehow her talent didn’t strike me then; my hatred at the time was too strong because I hadn’t yet learned of her originality and so I still thought she was a wannabe Christina at the time. But at the VMAs, the song and her talent struck me, and I began to realize that she is not only original in her fashions, but she seems to have some real talent too. My hatred was dissolving, and I was beginning to like her.

My hatred further dissolved as I watched her further demonstrate her talent on SNL, where in her second performance of a medley of her songs, she appeared to improvise on the piano and with the singing. I was impressed. I didn’t see the whole episode at the time, so I had missed her talent-displaying performance of "Paparazzi" as well as her rather funny appearance in this funny sketch. Apparently she has comedic talent as well as musical talent.

Then, a few weeks ago, I heard somewhere (probably on MTV or VH1) that Lady Gaga had spoken and performed at a Human Rights Campaign dinner, and then participated in the National Equality March on the mall in Washington DC, and that she had stated that it was the most important thing she has ever done in her career. Upon hearing this, very much to my surprise, I thought to myself “I love Lady Gaga, she is awesome.” I am a huge fan of equality and of not discriminating, and also of GLBT people and their rights, so it truly warmed my heart to hear that Lady Gaga shares my love for the gays. My perception of Lady Gaga was fully transformed. My initial hate-filled perceptions were based on misconceptions. She is a talented performer, and a kind-hearted person.

Since antipathy had turned to admiration and fanliness (if it hasn’t become obvious, I like to make up words), I became interested in how far her talent goes. Apparently, before releasing her own album (for which she wrote most of the music and lyrics), she had been writing songs for other singers. More interestingly, her talent seems to be quite a natural one; she learned to play the piano by ear when she was four years old, and has been writing music since she was 13. She is vastly more talented than I had thought, and is the antithesis of the Paris-Hilton-esque quasi-singer that I thought she was.

Since I now love her, I find that I like her music more than I had. However, I still hate “LoveGame,” both the song and the video, but that could just be because I’m not much of a fan of pornography.

UPDATE December 24, 2009
Since writing this blog posting, my love for Lady Gaga has grown. Since then, I've seen her in a few interviews on the TV, where she appears to be a genuinely kind and sweet human being who loves her fans and always remains true to herself. Additionally, "Bad Romance" in particular and The Fame Monster as a whole are fantastically good. Shockingly, "LoveGame" has grown on me, and now I kind of like the song, though I continue to not like the video.

I heart Lady Gaga.

UPDATE February 1, 2010
As if I didn’t already love Lady Gaga enough, she just keeps making me love her more. She kindly donated proceeds from a concert and from merchandise to Haiti earthquake relief efforts. I know a lot of celebrities do things like that, and I love every one of them.

Lady Gaga’s sweet, genuine kindness pours from her in interviews, including Oprah’s interview, where Gaga said about her fans, “I want them to free themselves, and I want them to be proud of who they are. I want them to celebrate all the things they don't like about themselves the way that I did, and to be truly happy from the inside.” She said something similar to that (somewhere, possibly also on Oprah) about the meaning behind “Bad Romance.” She explained that the song is about loving someone for everything he or she is, for all the good, all the bad, and all the things the person doesn’t like about him or herself. She spoke as though these are the things she wants, and, therefore, she read my mind…I think that might just be what every human wants, and she captures that perfectly.

If you missed her amazing performance with Elton John at the 52nd Grammy Awards last night, you should watch it right now – it’s fantastic. I was very happy to learn that she won two Grammys last night (during the un-televised portion) for “Poker Face” and The Fame. I love her so much.

I think a big part of what makes me love Lady Gaga is that she seems to have always felt like a freak and an outsider, and she makes such an effort to keep other people from feeling that way, or from feeling bad about being a freak or an outsider. I imagine most people (myself definitely included) have felt like freaks and like outsiders in some way, and Lady Gaga makes us realize we’re not alone. She is a wonderful human being.

UPDATE: May 23, 2011
The TV, or more specifically, the Fuse, has explained that what I called pornographic in the LoveGame video was an homage to Michael Jackson's "Bad" video.  I guess that makes it less gross, but still...ew.  In Gaga's defense, I think it's gross in the "Bad" video too.  I suppose I'm just too prudish.