Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Lost (Happy New Year)

I spent the better part of yesterday on the sofa watching Lost.

I've never before been the serial type, but was grateful - upon rousing myself from the hangover bed - to find my roommate's DVD collection.

Television is such powerful escapism. I'd forgotten about it during my six weeks of squatting. It's even more effective than, say, drinking one's own body weight in champagne and pretending to be a libertine.

Another New Year's Eve, another attempt to wipe clean the temporal lobe slate. This wasn't the first year that I'd drank too much on NYE, but it was the first time I'd done so alone. Alright, okay, so I was hardly alone. But I wasn't in the bosom of my long-time friends, and it had me feeling a bit maudlin.

I looked around the party and couldn't ignore what was missing: Loretta dancing in a giant pajama sack...Roshen passing out the lyric sheets...Friese tossing his wig under a canopy of paper foliage...Jennifer not knowing when to stop with the jello shots...

What? That was me?

And, of course, Jayson. In their place were some strangers who were doing a miserable job of already knowing me. Several hours after midnight, with the party nowhere near dying down, I grabbed my coat and fled to the Pont des Arts.

I stood for some time staring blankly at the city, waiting for an epiphany to bubble up from the Seine. In its place came a text message from Yorkshire, reading:

"I'm in a bar with lots of rough people with non-ironic mullets..." followed by some unrepeatable instructions on lightening the hell up.

In lieu of further revelation, I went back to the party. And I had, against all odds, a very good time.

Reinvention seems to be a little easier on Lost. A plane crash strands them on a tropical island and these characters can be whoever they want to be. The criminal becomes a do-gooder. The wounded cripple is suddenly a hero.

So what exactly am I supposed to be? Your suggestions, particularly if accompanied by costume ideas, would be appreciated.

And seriously, are there really polar bears on that island?

Happy New Year.

7 comments:

Lady K said...

I've decided that being in a new city for New Years is really, really, really hard and is an excellent excuse to rack up phone bills.

But you know you get two chances at New Years. Chinese New Years hasn't even happened yet. And it's all about Miss Piggy this year!

Wishing you all the bestestness!

Anonymous said...

It baffles me how intelligent people will invest a good percentage of their lives watching a show that thrives on throwing up questions and only occasional answers (presumably for those getting fed up with being strung along). But that's just me. The entire world, it seems, has given in to the lure of Lost.

I just wanted to say Happy New Year (not the same from a total stranger, I know) and that I am a big a fan of the blog.

Unknown said...

You, and only you can decide who you want to be...go back to the Seine and wait for an epiphany to rise up like Botticelli's Venus...

...or at least go there for me since I have never see the Seine...but trust me something will come up for you!

Anonymous said...

Just watch a little bit more and your hooked for life. I'm talking about the Lost thing.

Life actually resembles Lost a lot, only bringing up questions and when you think you found the answer, a polar bear appears and there goes your beautiful designed theory. It's addicting, not being in the know :D.

Anonymous said...

Yes, there are polar bears on the island. They showed them CGI in one or two episodes.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad to see that you changed "London" to "Yorkshire". People in London town only have ironic mullets, as I'm sure you are aware.

Wanderlusting said...

Congrats for giving in to the wonders of Lost...it's show that you can easily relate to, I know I do, anyway.

However, season 3 hasn't been as good as the first two...nay, actually season two wasn't as good as the first.

But when the show starts up again next month (at least here in Canada), I hope it can redeem itself like so many of its characters do.