...Excuse me, do you have an appointment...television

For the first time ever, tonight, i watched Lost as it was intended, as a weekly television show. Having seen season 1 on DVD & downloading all of season 2 off of iTunes, then having to miss last week's episode, picking up my brother (and waiting for brooke to finish season 2 {and ultimately having to download the first episode of season 3 from the increasingly inferior iTunes 7, because my other brother [not Daryll] either failed to record the premiere or gave me the wrong tape [although he did give me a tape with most of the Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner, so all was not lost]})

I non-figuratively cannot recall the last time a show was on that i truly felt i could not miss. Of course, with the luxury of being able to see anything you miss on abc.com or iTunes or even (if you are so archaic) video tape the necessity to absolutely be there is less extreme, and, since this is the first time in a long time since i've been in this situation, i am, clearly, no expert... But damn i've missed it. I've spoken before about the beauty/loss of the TV-on-DVD (o fuck... we've got one of those giant ass late season flies in the house {he seems to have gotten a lot bigger just over the course of the afternoon/evening} and i've just watched him, seconds ago, get caught in a spider web. Now, i know this spider. He's a big guy & i've killed members of his family in my house, but i generally let spiders live, because i know it is their policy to kill other pesky bugs. But to see the brutal reality laid out in front of me... i wonder if i sit here long enough, if i will be able to watch him actually come out and chow down on this fly...) anyway... I loved the wading through the commercial breaks, the rush to grab a fresh drink and the challenge at the end of the episode to have to wait a whole week to find out what might happen next (truth be told, i figured out this evening what the scope of the storyline is for the next 1 to 1.5 seasons, but i'll not spoil the suspense for you all)

And so, i'll wait for a week. I'll play along with the bargain you're striking with me, ABC, just this once. Mostly it's not worth it, but occasionally it is... and i have the next Battlestar Galactica, Season 2.5 DVD coming from netflix tomorrow, so i'll have that to tide me over. Galactica is in fact the other show that i would be willing to log in as my appointment TV show of the year, but alas, i have not yet caught up (i discovered it too late), i don't get the Sci-Fi channel (something i would remedy if i were caught up and cable companies allowed you to just choose a couple of the channels you wanted), and it's on friday nights... come on, even Friday Night Lights isn't on Friday nights...

Anyway, get Lost, that's the first thing... as you're catching up on it, start trying to find your way back to Earth with Battlestar Galactica. These are the two best shows on television right now, and you can take it from me, someone who really doesn't watch or enjoy much tv.

For Your Consideration

Last night i tried a new drink and was very impressed: the Lost-inspired tequila & tonic. It was all the good flavor of tequilla with none of the blechy-suckiness that often goes with it (though i didn't drink 8 of them, so you never know).

Tequila & Tonic


2 Parts tequila (preferably an añejo or a reposado, but any gold will do in a pinch)
3 Parts Tonic Water
1 Lemon Wedge
4 Ice Cubes

Mix the drink in an 8-10 oz. glass, squeeze the lemon over the ice & drop it in, then pour the tequila and top off with the tonic.

I can't guarantee that the drink works with rot-gut tequilas like Montezuma or Jalapeño Pepé (seriously, it existed - though it seems it may be no longer) as we made it with the Mexico-bought Reserva 1800 Añejo. It may have been just that the watered down good taste of that tequila made an excellent drink, but i think there's more to it than that. I found that the lemon wedge (as opposed to the traditional lime with tonic) accented the drink much better (also only had lemons around at the moment).

So, a new drink to add to your bar & home-bar repetoires. Via con dios.

What the hell is down there?

So, yesterday i hosted my own private Lost party. And man, i just cannot believe it. What a cliffhanger, so many unanswered questions, who will live, who will die? What's with Walt? And what the hell is down that hatch?

That's right, i am still catching up and just finished season 1 of Lost. My current theory is that there will be a House of Leaves tie-in episode where Locke will climb down and run into Stephen King wandering the halls of the house.

Lost is an amazingly remarkable show, though, i think they do miss artistic opportunities by tying everything up together to neatly in a tv-shaped package. The flashbacks in any given episode invariably tie-in to whatever will happen later in the episode (those of you who often experience flashbacks know this is not the way they function in real life) & there are just too many damn cliffhangers, which i understand is a part of the medium itself, because of its serialization, but still, sometimes it seems like Dan Brown is a guest creative director on this show.

But, all in all, it's just too good to be true. Well written, good looking television that's popular. After finishing Season 1, i so desperately needed to know what was down there, i bought the first episode on iTunes... but then episode 1 had such a cliffhanger... well, it's gonna get worse before it gets better.

Anyway, happy Thursday everyone & know that you have my love & support in coping with your summer Lost withdrawl.

Random Momentary Elation (RME)

Once in a great while, a brief moment comes along in my life when suddenly everything seems alright... All my looming problems suddenly have solutions, the sun looks sunnier, my thesis has a thesis... Things seem great. Today this moment lasted from 4:36pm - 4:51, a longer period than such a feeling usually lasts for me, but i was biking home, waving at cursing motorists & smelling the fresh spring dumpsters of Hyde Park...

But now i'm home, and after delaying the Real for an hour with the first episode of Lost (thanks Eric & Bethany) i am rather back to feeling nervously content, happily trepidatious and not a little swoomy. But, this afternoon's RME is not utterly gone from my life, i still have the memory of it and the hope of another such moment soon... now, if i can just remember what the line after "Zombies are good to think with..." is.