I have this habit of having movies or TV shows playing on my computer or in the background while I work. Since I’ve seen most of them dozens of times before (otherwise, it’s distracting), I end up listening to them more than watching. Late last night I had M:I:III on in the background and heard a violin phrase I knew I’d heard before. Quick thought later and I realized that the music was very similar to Lost. JJ Abrams directed M:I:III, so I started wondering if he had a favorite composer he brought along with him from project to project. Quick Google later and I find that the composer is Michael Giacchino and that I do indeed like a lot of his work:

In 2001, J.J. Abrams, producer of the television series Alias, discovered Giacchino through his work on the video games and tapped Giacchino to provide the new show’s soundtrack.[8] The soundtrack featured a mix of full orchestral pieces, often mixed with upbeat electronic music, a departure from much of his previous work. Giacchino would also provide the score for J.J. Abrams’s next project, the 2004 television series, Lost[9], which was an acclaimed soundtrack that used a unique process of using spare pieces of a plane fuselage for the percussions. His score for Lost is notable for a signature thematic motif - a brass fall-off at the end of certain themes.[10] In 2004, Giacchino was given his first big feature film composition, when he was called on to provide the soundtrack for the Pixar film, The Incredibles.[11] Director Brad Bird had heard Giacchino’s work on Alias and asked him to work on the soundtrack for the new movie. The upbeat jazz orchestral sound was a departure in sound not only for Giacchino but for Pixar, who had previously relied on the works of Randy and Thomas Newman for all of their previous films. Brad Bird had originally sought out John Barry, who was best known for composing many of the early James Bond movie soundtracks, to compose the music, but was reportedly unwilling to write music for an animated movie. Giacchino was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2005 for his work The Incredibles: Best Score Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media and Best Instrumental Composition.[12] Giacchino also composed scores for the 2005 films, Sky High and The Family Stone, and the television movie, The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz. In addition, he wrote the music for Joseph Barbera’s final theatrical Tom and Jerry cartoon: The KarateGuard, premiering in Los Angeles theatres on September 27, 2005. Giacchino also composed the score for the movie Mission: Impossible III, directed by J.J. Abrams, which was released on May 5, 2006.[13] Giacchino’s latest musical achievement is his Paris-inspired score for the newest Disney-Pixar film, Ratatouille, which includes the theme song, Le Festin performed by French artist Camille. He has received his first Academy Award nomination for this score.

As of late, Giacchino appears to be deepening his collaboration with JJ Abrams, as he wrote an homage to Japanese monster scores in an overture entitled “ROAR!” which played over the credits of the Abrams produced monster movie Cloverfield. It was the only original music for the entire film. Giacchino is scheduled to score Abrams’s upcoming Star Trek film as well.

His work is good, and I’ve even played some of the video games he’s scored prior to hooking up with Abrams. You can find his stuff on Amazon if you’re interested in hearing clips. The M:I:III soundtrack is pretty good.

There’s a great story in The New Republic on the arrival of the latest set of Lost episodes. Like me, the author feels the show has lost some of it’s allure. From the article:

At first, I followed “Lost” with devotion, assiduously avoiding all press about the show for fear of spoilers. I paid close attention to the backgrounds of the flashback scenes for clues. And I felt certain that I would follow John Locke to the ends of the Earth were I on that enigmatic island. And yet, with each subsequent episode, I started to wonder: Are the writers just throwing crazy ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks? I started to imagine scruffy writers with masters’ degrees sitting around saying, “You know what would be cool? Let’s make the hatch blow up and some scientists in the–get this!–the arctic notice the electromagnetic force it creates. And then, let’s not refer back to this for, say, ten episodes!” And here I am. I feel used and disillusioned.

I’ve had the same problem with the show over the last few months. I’m searching for something to grasp in the plot, a coherence that just has been lost over the last few seasons. The show is still decent, and I still don’t want to miss it, but it’s no longer amazing. The discoveries and parallels are more mundane and the characters far less interesting.

On top of that, we’ve lost the smoke monster, we’ve abandoned the two new characters introduced awkwardly at the start of season 3, and some of the best characters were killed off. That last is emblematic of the shows current problems. Eko was killed off unexpectedly but completely without surprise. It just wasn’t shocking.

On top of this, there is a lack of underlying coherence. How did we not know a second island was there? If they have television and connectivity from the island, why couldn’t they get in better medical supplies or a doctor?

You see, the coherence of a good piece of science fiction is incumbent upon it having rules. Not rules that obey the laws of physics, time, or “reality,” necessarily; there can be aliens and clairvoyance and, yes, smoke monsters. But, whether your scene takes place in Middle Earth, zero-gravity, a Quidditch field, or the distant future, the story must be conceived with the parameters and limitations of that new world. Otherwise, there is no prism through which to view the struggles of the characters. Without rules there is an anarchy of story–an unsatisfying state where the author can simply say, “Hocus Pocus!” and all is well or, worse, leave all the loose ends unresolved and say, “It was all a dream” (as was the case when “Dallas” producers brought Bobby Ewing back to life–his death a year earlier having been nothing more than Pamela Ewing’s nightmare. The seventh season of “Dallas” now lives in ignominy as “the dream season”). Like all great narratives, a supernatural mystery still needs the elements of any good story: a setting, themes, character arcs, struggle, resolution. In other words, a plot. To this end, I fear “Lost” has, er, lost its way.

I’m really hoping that the break allowed them to write more than just the next few episodes. The show still has a rich universe to draw from. I hope they get it right this season.

I was just complaining to Heidi that the first two episodes have been a disappointment for me because we’ve gone two whole shows without finding out what happened to the Hatch. The most intriguing parts to me about the season finale was the revelation that a) someone detected the magnetic event and b) that the failsafe key was used. Two episodes and we got nothing. The season premiere for Season 2 was far better. Walt gets taken and the hatch is opened. We got it all right there.

Anyway, while poking around YouTube, I found this extended preview from the Canadian network that broadcasts Lost. I don’t remember the preview on ABC being this informative:

Oh boy, this is going to get interesting.

Just saw on Amazon that the second season DVDs for Lost are coming out on September 5th. I think Josh and some other folks were asking me. You can pre-order today and Amazon will probably deliver by the 6th. Just click on the image to go to Amazon.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Holy crap.

Tonight’s Lost was absolutely nuts. Spoilers after the jump.

(Click here to read the rest of this post)

If you’re looking for an interesting gift idea for me, Josh just sent me a link to this fancy t-shirt.

Yeah, so I am nuts and got the second season of Lost (iTMS link) from iTunes. This is good stuff. Added it to Tivo, too. (and yes, this means that in the last 48 hours or so, I’ve watched about 18 hours of Lost. Really. (Well, listened to is more like it since I’ve been doing wedding planning and work at the same time…, but still)

I’m watching the first season of Lost on my computer and I have to say, I’m now up to 3 hours straight where I’ve only been watching instead of working and watching. This is way better than I thought. I think part of it works because the cast is big. Each episode can focus on a different back story for a different character. The writing is pretty good, too.

This is the first thing I’ve really watched from iTunes (well, except for the Lazy Sunday (iTMS link)). Gotta say, the quality is pretty good, better than I expected. It’s watchable, even at double size. The full screen presentation stinks, but that’s not surprising, honestly. I’m curious whether Front Row does anything “smarter” with the video to get a sharper full screen picture. Otherwise, on my 20″ it’s pretty much unwatchable. Of course, Evangeline Lilly would probably look as good regardless of the video quality.