Why You Should Get Lost

The final season season of Lost is right around the corner, and I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am.  February 2nd could not get here faster.  Lost is one of those shows where you’re either in or you’re out.  As you can already tell, I am completely in.  I think it will go down in history as one of the greatest television dramas ever created.  Now let me share with you a couple of reasons why.

For starters the character development is completely unparalleled. They are able to go farther with these characters than any other show, because of consistency and the intentionality in which they write. I heard recently that each writer has a certain character that they know, and I mean they know everything about them, even things we as the audience don’t know, things that may never even come into play with the script.  So then as they are writing each episode, and ideas are thrown out, they can then respond with “no, that can’t happen. Kate would never do that because…”  I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but I love that idea.  Also with all of the background stories and intimate details of their personal lives that we are given about their lives prior to the crash, you feel like you truly know these people.  Which makes it all the more easy to fall in love with them, no matter how flawed they may be.

I think that overall the acting is pretty superb, especially when you consider the enormity of the cast from season to season. From guys like Dominic Monaghan playing the fun-lovin’ drug-addicted rockstar, to Michael Emerson playing the creepy and sinister Benjamin Linus, to Jeremy Davies playing the extremely nervous, but lovable physicist Daniel Farraday, they are all just excellent.

Not to mention they do a fantastic job with the music. Very rarely do they use pop culture songs to score the show, but when they have it has worked really well, like in the end of the Season 1 episode “In Translation”, where they used Hurley’s discman to play “Delicate” by Damien Rice.  That was a great moment. But the best thing about the music is the original score performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra and composed by Michael Giacchino.  They often use the score to invoke some sort of emotion in the audience, be it suspenseful or joyous.

Another highlight of the show for me is all of the incredible philosophical and biblical references and metaphors intertwined in to the story, which I won’t get into, for I do not want to spoil any of the plot-lines for those of you who have yet to buy in to this incredible series.

This last love of mine is a piece of contention among many viewers.  This is where Lost has lost a great portion of its audience.  It’s the fact that each episode leaves you with more questions.  Every time you think the show is about to go somewhere and give you some answers and a bit of resolution, it turns a corner.  And often when it does give you an answer, that answer merely leads to more questions.  Where some people find this infuriating, I find it invigorating.  I love this aspect of the show for many reasons. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve finished an episode of Lost and immediately turned to the person next to me and started to ask them one of the many questions that I was left with.  And more often than not, that question has led into a great and very deep and meaningful conversation.  Not only that, but I feel like this is more true to life.  More often than not, in our quest for truth, and for answers, we have to wait a long time before we get them.  And then when we do receive answers, they often lead to more questions.

I think this is the way that our God often relates to us. “I am coming soon.” I mean how much more unresolved can you get than that. It’s been what a little over 2,000 years now .

It has taken me a long time to come to grips with the fact that I am never going to figure it all out. That I will never have all the answers.

So what do you think?  Is it ok for things to be unresolved?  What is your reaction to Lost when it leaves you with more questions than you can handle?  What’s your reaction to God when you seek Him in prayer dig into His word and all you are left with is more questions? Knowing that we will never be able to figure it out, do we just stop seeking?  Or do we seek harder?

Adam Arcuragi

Earlier this week, NPR gave us another stellar episode in their excellent series of Tiny Desk Concerts. If you have never seen one of these, they invite artists to come in and play a short little 3 song acoustic performance right there in their office behind one of the desks. It’s quite hilarious, and often very moving. Through this series I have discovered several great artists that I was completely unfamiliar with. I’m amazed how ideal of a setting this is for an introduction to a new artist. Therefore, I introduce to you Adam Arcuragi. Try not to fall in love with this guy.

Vampire Weekend Avoids Sophomore Slump

Everybody’s favorite east coast Jewish-American afro-pop quartet, Vampire Weekend, accomplishes a few things – perhaps more than they might have aspired – with Contra, their second full-length album.  After keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij worked out some music management kinks last summer with his collaborative pool-party-mix triumph (Discovery – LP), Vampire Weekend’s sound as a full ensemble hits the ears of longtime fans as something abnormally fresh and worthy of stationary break-dancing.  But Contra caters to the new listeners seeking a decent place to start too.  With tracks like “Cousins” and “Holiday,” novices to the witty foursome can witness VW ever-so-subtly hark back to the catchy lineup of overly repetitive riffs and beats that was their self-titled debut.  Fortunately for defenders of independent music, this band’s sound has shifted to the point of deserving a dignified double take.

Shamelessly depicting such nuisances as melodramatic Nietzsche-crazed youths in “Giving Up The Gun” and the paradoxes of modern college students psyche in “California English”, lead singer Ezra Koenig coolly sidesteps the hallowed sophomore slump curse as any forward-thinking songwriter would.  Koenig relishes in his past follies, makes them intimate and personal – only now can he mock and poke fun without losing self-worth.  The occasional voice cracks of “Run” and the boyish shrieks and swoons of “White Sky” add to the comforting idea that growing up is not the same as accepting boredom and dull ennui.

Rostam Batmanglij seems nonplussed with his band-mate’s new direction and certainly has plans of his own concerning track arrangement, instrument selection, and even unexpected cross-genre influences (“Diplomat’s Son” features an M.I.A. sample that cleverly fills the soundscape between Koenig’s verses).  Much like a musical Kurt Vonnegut, Batmanglij boldly unveils new aspects of his creative style without reinventing his art to the point of disassociation.  He defiantly recommences the old signature marimba base beats that earned the band much negative feedback from the critical “authorities” of the day; yet display VW’s deep respect for some of the world’s most sincere music – West African percussion.

Despite being dubbed the “whitest band” two years ago (by none other than the founder of Stuff White People Like, Christian Lander), Vampire Weekend lashes back after a brief hiatus of recharging and realignment with Contra, a track list more like the intersection of experience and fun than the straight-as-an-arrow highway that forms most sophomore efforts.  Who needs music industry guidelines anyway?

Music Video: Alcoholic Faith Mission “Nut In Your Eye”

Beautiful video and beautiful song.

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