Well, for a 5th time I've had one of my photos featured in Seattle's The Stranger SLOG. I really should figure out a way to get them to pay me, heh.

SLOG link.

I have no idea how this movie has slipped under my radar until now. "Moon" starring Sam Rockwell (essentially by himself, with Kevin Spacey as a computer voice only) appears to be a hard science fiction puzzler about an isolated near-future moon base. It opens tomorrow in NY/LA then on July 3rd in Seattle, and has all my "MUST SEE" alarms going off at once.

It's so rare to see something come along that resembles actual extrapolative science fiction instead of the action movie in space with laser beams dross that usually passes for "sci-fi". Also, I guess I'm surprised I haven't heard about it until the eve of its release since I tend to follow these things very closely. Ponderous.

Interestingly enough, this is the directorial debut of Duncan Jones who is the son of David Bowie. I can only imagine what that sort of childhood would do to a would-be director. I'm curious to find out though.

In case you don't know "V" is a story about aliens that come to Earth with supposedly peaceful intentions, but of course have a dark secret, and Humanity must fight for survival. "V" originally stands for "Visitors" but later means something else.

When the original "V" miniseries aired in 1983 I was awestruck by it. The week it aired, all my friends in elementary school were talking excitedly about it during recess. It was my first "water cooler" TV show experience and it has stuck in my head ever since. In my mind it is an iconic tale of optimism vs caution, heroes vs villains, good vs evil. It still is, although on a recent re-watch of the miniseries, I couldn't help but notice it's painfully obvious 80s production values. heh.

Anyway, I heard ABC was re-making it and to say I was dubious was an understatement. Today the first clips were released, and I have to say, I'm pleased! I can already tell numerous things will be different, but on the whole, it seems like they might've just done this thing right.

It also looks like it stars Juliet from LOST, which is a huge bonus in my book.

I saw the new Star Trek last night. While it's not a disaster, it's not especially good either. The casting is spot on and some of the characters, especially young McCoy, are pitch perfect. However the actual plot itself isn't very convincing and seemed arbitrary to me. If this weren't a vehicle for the re-imagining of one of the most beloved franchises in media history, it'd be a D+ sci-fi film with A+ special effects.

On almost the exact opposite end of the spectrum this week was the LOST season 5 finale. Oh, hubba hubba, what a show! Some of its FX are sub par (could that submarine have looked any more fake?) but as plot and mind-bending Sci-fi entertainment goes, is world class. What I find so interesting about LOST is that despite it's absolutely chaotic timelines and story telling style, it has done an impeccable job of weaving its layers together in a compelling and CONSISTENT way while all the while peppering in plot hooks that seem random and mysterious at the time but turn out to be major revelations a few episodes or even entire SEASONS later. The forethought and execution of this show is unmatched.

The other great thing about LOST is it's sense of scale. Especially with this season's finale, we get a glimpse of how EPIC the Mythos really is. I find it forces me to think in classic mythical ways...watching the show is almost like listening to a new epic poem by homer. It's a tale of gods and mortals and wheels within wheels. I find the whole thing immensely satisfying.

It was after midnight in midtown. I was trying to catch the uptown N train at 57th/Carnegie Hall but the station was closed and service was limited. I started trekking to the closest N station, which just happened to be 42nd/Times Square...just my luck.

I hoofed it the dozen or so blocks into the consumers mecca. As I was walking through, I was mildy surprised to find it was mostly empty. I had been there almost exactly 24 hours previously and it was a ghost town by comparison. As I was walking by the TKTS ramp, the police totally sealed off Times Square so no one could get in, or get out. Trapped.

Turns out Disney was shooting a movie and the set had just gone "live". Great, all I wanted to do was get home. I asked around to find out what the hell was going on and the answer was they were filming a Nicholas Cage movie called "Magicians Apprentice"; it was all wet roads and racing cars. The cops said it'd be about an hour before we could leave the square, so I made the best of it by taking a few photos.

Here I am: man on the scene in Manhattan:

New York has been pretty fun so far.

It was troublesome getting here though.. My originally scheduled 2 hour layover in Washington DC at Dulles Airport became a 10 hour ordeal of flights being delayed, delayed again, delayed some more, canceled, re-scheduled, delayed once more. It wouldn't have been so bad if they had said "you will be delayed 10 hours" but instead we were almost always supposed to have eminent departure, and we had to just sit at the gate constantly. Bah.

Anyway, it has been an absolute trip meeting my sister. We look a lot alike (I think) and we have similar viewpoints on many things. I'm actually a little shocked at how much we have in common considering she was raised in Connecticut and I was raised in Seattle.

We both have lots of stories to share about our varied experiences with our absentee father, but when combined we both feel like we almost have the complete story. We also experienced a lot of the same things as a kid with our dad, but separately... Things that I thought were uniquely mine and formed the basis of my personality, such as visiting my father in the summer and exploring Golden Colorado on my bike...the autonomy he gave me and questioning nature he instilled in me. Turns out, she had *VERY* similar times with our father, just on alternating summers when I wasn't there! Fascinating!

I've gotta run to go catch a train and have dinner with friends at some cuban joint on the upper west side, but I have lots and lots to think about. I'm having a great time but it's so weird.

My sister: