“Dr. Linus” certainly wasn’t the most exciting or most tense episode of the series, but it was a great episode to move the story along and start giving us answers (keep reading).  Here are a few thoughts:

But something that I wanted an answer for didn’t get: How did Ben escape from the temple?  Last week we left him in an unsettled state backing away from Sayid, and this week we see Ben running through the jungle.  Did he use the secret passage, too?  If not, how did he get past smokey?

Some future action (don’t know what yet) will reset everyone’s timelines at some point before the crash of Oceanic 815.  Therefore, the flash-sideways that we see now really isn’t an alternate realty like the writers have said; instead, it’s THE timeline.  This theory of mine was backed up by:

The most revealing piece to me was when Roger Workman mentioned the Dharma Initiative and leaving the island.  That was the first mention of the island in any flash-sideways we’ve seen so far.  Something happened to change what we know of their past.  What was it?  And when was it?  We also found out that Richard Alpert was given a gift by Jacob and that presumedly Richard came to the island on the Black Rock.

Back in “The Substitute” when we were first introduced to Dr. Linus, a friend of mine and I thought that his teaching subject, European history, wasn’t an accident.  For instance, why not have Ben be a statistics teacher or a grammar teacher; European history was chosen for a reason.  Perhaps that reason was revealed in this episode.  When discussing Napoleon on Elba, Dr. Linus mentions something about Napoleon being powerless on his own island—a parallel to Ben on the LOST island.

That wasn’t the only parallel between on-island and off-island Ben.  In both story lines, Ben was tempted by Locke and was given the choice of being the Ben we’ve known for so long or a different Ben; he could choose the self-interested path to power, or he could act for the greater good.  Both on-island and off-island, he resisted temptation and chose the more righteous path.

Final thought: Walter Peck is still a dick.

Can’t wait for next week!

The key thing that makes the third film an great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story. And in viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story…I’m very excited about the end of the film, the conclusion, and what we’ve done with the characters. My brother has come up with some pretty exciting stuff. Unlike the comics, these thing don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling.

I think I just peed a little.

For instance, my Stop-and-Shop-branded milk is produced by Garelick Farms in Franklin, MA.  They make their own milk, but apparently they also produce Stop and Shop milk.

Last week I had Market-Pantry-branded milk from Target.  This milk came from Byrne Dairy in Syracuse, NY.

I probably wouldn’t have thought anything of this, except I started watching Food, Inc last week.  The film mentions that so few food corporations control the American food supply, and even when you think you’re buying a different brand, you really aren’t.  Nowhere on either milk cartons are Garelick or Byrne mentioned.  That seems obfuscatory at best, nefarious at worst.

See where your milk came from (and who actually produces it).

Two Oscar-related videos here.  The first one says thanks:

And the second is “a trailer for every Academy Award winning movie ever”:

(Nod: The Daily Dish for both)

(Nod: TV Squad)

(Hint: they’re probably worth nothing.)  My coworker Jon Nagle has an Oscar contest, so I decided to fill out a ballot… and then decided to post my predictions (or, rather, guesses in some cases) here.  We’ll see how I did later.

Best Picture: Avatar
For anyone who takes the film-going experience seriously, the achievements of Avatar cannot be ignored.  In a recession economy, this film became the highest-grossing film of all time—by well over $100 MILLION dollars (as of this weekend, it stands at $720 million).  Dollars aside, the technologies both invented and pushed to the next level will have a profound impact on how movies are made in the future.  Was Avatar the best film of the year.  Perhaps not.  But its contributions to the industry are unmatched.

Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges
I didn’t see Crazy Heart (or any other on this list) (actually, come to think of it, I’ve seen very few of the nominated films this year), but the Bridges has the buzz.  And he won a Golden Globe.  And a Screen Actors Guild award.

Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz
He foxtrotted away with a Golden Globe, tangoed with a SAG, and tonight, he’ll waltz with Oscar.  Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock
This one will be close, but the feel-good-ness of the film and her performance (so I hear) will speed her away with this award.

Actress in a Supporting Role: Mo’Nique
Is this a competition?

Animated Feature Film: Up
Just because it’s Pixar doesn’t make it a shoe-in, but this one’s a shoe-in as it was the film that was hiding under our porch because it loves us.

Art Direction: Avatar
For certain the best on this list.  Breathtaking creativity.

Cinematography: Avatar
This will be either Avatar or The Hurt Locker, but the 3D-nature of Avatar will push it ahead.

Costume Design: The Young Victoria
I have no idea, but everyone loves a period piece, right?

Directing: Kathryn Bigelow
Because the Academy plays politics, this is her consolation prize for not winning best picture.  Pretty good consolation prize if you ask me.

Documentary (Feature): The Cove
I just started watching Food, Inc. (disturbing, very, very, very disturbing), but I hear The Cove makes a bigger, umm, splash.

Documentary (Short): The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Topical.

Film Editing: The Hurt Locker
Didn’t see the film, but I understand the editing plays a central role to the success of the film.

Foreign Language Film: The White Ribbon
Yep, just picking something here.

Makeup: Star Trek
If Frida can win for a unibrow, then Star Trek can win for pointy ears.

Music (Score): Up
Typing Up here and not Avatar hurts me.  This is the one category I feel I can give an honest prediction (does that mean I’m lying in the others?).  Up was NOT the best score of 2009.  Maybe Avatar wasn’t either.  But of the five nominees, Avatar was by far the best musical achievement.  Given my past abhorrence of everything James Horner, I can’t believe I’m advocating for a win over Michael Giacchino who is easily one of my favorite film composers.  That said, Giacchino has won a Golden Globe, BAFTA award, and a Grammy.  Tonight he’ll win his first Oscar.  If the Academy asked me (they didn’t), Up wouldn’t have been nominated because the best Giacchino score of 2009 was Star Trek.  If Up wins, though, I will definitely be happy for Giacchino.  And at least this year, the as-Oscar-worthy-as-Windows-is-bug-free rubbish of Gustavo Santaolalla won’t win.  (If you’re so inclined, you can read my reviews of James Horner’s score for Avatar and Michael Giacchino’s scores for Up and Star Trek.)

Music (Song): “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)”
It’s been winning other awards.  How’s that for concise compared to the above category?

Short Film (Animated): A Matter of Loaf and Death
Nick “Wallace and Gromit” Park will win.  But Logorama is awesome.

Short Film (Live Action): Kavi
No clue.

Sound Editing: Avatar
Sound Mixing: Avatar
I have no idea what the difference between these two are.  But Avatar had great sound.

Visual Effects: Avatar
Avatar should win this award and some other super-awesome-technical-achievement special-award.  Because the visual effects were better than Megan Fox, Scarlett Johansson, Miranda Kerr, and Bar Refaeli walking into my bedroom at the same time.  With whipped cream.  Seriously, there’s no competition in this category.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Up in the Air
The best?  Or a consolation prize?  Probably both.

Writing (Original Screenplay): Inglourious Basterds
This film will need something other than best supporting actor.  So screenplay it is.

Well that’s the end of the list.  Thanks for watching.

Full House:

Friends:

Smallville:

The Office:

That 70s Show:

The Wonder Years:

Road trip? More like a rail trip:

Walking from Grand Central, I ducked inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral:

Parked:

MoMA:

Museum-goers:

Claude Monet’s water lilies:

“The Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh:

Museum-goers:

“Cinema Redux” of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. A frame was captured every second in the film, and each row represents one minute of the film. More here.

In the same section of the museum, there was this amazing touchscreen application called “I Want You to Want Me.”  The application pulled together information from multiple dating websites and created this interactive display of what people want and who they’re looking for.  Read more about the project here.  The official video:

Post-MoMA, the Chrysler Building in reflection:

Back at Grand Central:

Headed home:

Via TUAW, the 2010 edition of the MLB At Bat iPhone app will allow you to stream audio in the background while you accomplish other tasks on your iPhone.

While Apple doesn’t allow 3rd party apps to run in the background on the iPhone or iPod touch,* Silicon Alley Insider notes that you can listen to audio in Mobile Safari while using other applications. It’s this trick that MLB exploited with At Bat 2010. With the tap of a button, At Bat will push an audio stream to Mobile Safari.

Note that MLB didn’t come up with this trick, nor is their app the first to exploit it. ESPN Radio does it, as well as Scanner911 and FlyCast. Still, it’s nice that MLB’s devs acknowledged that some users might want to check email or hop onto Twitter while listening to game, and made it easy to do so.

Dear Apple: please make this available sans-jailbreak and sans-hack.  Thank you.

Thus always to fans of Rome?  Entertainment Weekly is reporting the HBO series Rome may finally be headed to the big screen:

Fans of HBO’s critically-beloved (but short-lived) series Rome may not have seen the last of Vorenus and Pullo. Multiple sources have confirmed to EW that a big-screen sequel to the sword-and-sandals series is well underway. Rome creator/executive Bruno Heller — who went on to create CBS’s hit The Mentalist — has finished a script for Morning Light Productions, which financed the development and will produce the film. Series stars Kevin McKidd (Lucius Vorenus) and Ray Stevenson (Titus Pullo) will likely sign onto the movie, which picks up in Germany four years after the series ended. The next step for Morning Light is to find a director and a studio, since HBO Films won’t be involved.

Fantastic news if you enjoyed the short-lived series.  I caught the series on DVD, and I wasn’t disappointed.  The production value of Rome was astounding—the costumes, the set pieces—and the play on Roman history was delightful.  I hope this film happens.

(Nod: /Film)