A TV Series By J.J. Abrams

This giant question mark masked as a serial drama has its audience guessing on many levels episode to episode. Lost is full of mystery and creates an extraordinary world that crosses fantasy with reality. With a brilliant ensemble, the show manages to give and take the focus of the story so that no one character is too important for a surprising end.

As with any show, Lost has had its dry spells, but has more or less continued to grow its fan base through a communal desire to find out the truth about the island. Each character brings something special to the screen which allows discussions of enthusiast favorites and who’s right versus who’s wrong.

Some find the show frustrating due to its lack of answered questions, but since the announcement of the shows lifespan, the writers have hit their stride and clearly have an end in sight. More than anything else, Lost is an amazing week to week experience and should be sampled by all.

Website: http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=index

A Film By John Hamburg

A brom-com (romantic comedy dudes can attend together) through and through, I Love You, Man is full of genuine moments between two of today’s premiere comedy actors. Peter Klavin (Paul Rudd) is newly engaged and sets out to find a “Best Man” for his wedding when Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) walks into Lou Ferrigno’s open house, for which Peter is the realtor.

Rudd and Segel are at their best during every second of this movie. Paul Rudd’s character is a very believable “girlfriend guy” with no male friends while Jason Segal plays a carefree man-cave hermit. (and by “plays a” I mean “is a”) Both shine as authentic everymen thirty-somethings still trying to find themselves.

Taking it for what it is meant to be, there should not be any let downs because start to finish, this film gives its viewers a great overall experience with heart felt laughter and unadulterated smiles.

Website: http://www.iloveyouman.com/

A Graphic Novel By Neil Gaiman & John Bolton

With a contemporary take on a classic commedia dell’ arte tale of ridiculousness and optimistic love, Neil Gaiman and John Bolton re-explore the relationship of Harlequin and Columbine. A foolish, sometimes mythical, Harlequin nails his heart to Columbine’s door and she, not quite knowing what to do with it, searches to find out who’s heart it is.

Seemingly photographic art accompanies a story told many times in this 35 plus page short story about love on Valentine’s Day. Although unique in style, the art seems a little cheap when compared to a hand drawn comic, but still somehow fits with this anecdote.

Generally confusing for the non-theatrically educated, the story is very choppy and the captions a hard to read. This graphic novel has run of the mill imaging and severely lacks story, but is still worth a glance.

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin_Valentine

Neil Gaiman’s Website: http://www.neilgaiman.com/

A Podcast By Tim Henson

Bizarre and twisted are the two words most used to describe this podcast. Tim Henson combs the internet for stories that will leave the listener in disbelief. For mature audiences only, Distorted View Daily is a mix of crass, vulgar, childish, and exclusively inappropriate material.

Consisting of audio clips from the web, news stories from all over, and voicemails from listeners, DVD takes all of the stuff no one really wants to hear and puts his own unique spin on how hilarious he thinks the information is. If kink, death, drugs, and stupidity trip a fancy, this podcast will fulfill any void that may exist.

This podcast is not for the faint of heart and must be listened to with an open mind, and by an open mind I mean a very loose sense of moral integrity (not always a bad thing). Laughter is not necessarily constant on this podcast, but more or less worth the time if the sick and disgusting is considered enjoyable to the listener.

WARNING!!! VIDEO CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT!!!

Website: http://www.distortedview.com/

A TV Series By Ronald D. Moore

Science fiction is one of the easiest genres to create, but the hardest to perfect. Ronald D. Moore is an elite sci-fi TV mind behind Star Trek (TNG, DS9, & Voyager) and Roswell, but stamps his name in the sci-fi history books with BSG.

Starting with a three hour miniseries, BSG would become one of the ultimate sci-fi stories of all time. In short, humans created Cylons (robots) who revolted, resulting in war, and after a 40 year armistice come back to destroy the human race. Although the idea of technology coming back to haunt the creator has been done before, none create a world in which it truly matters the way this show does.

Besides a few episodes when the Sci-Fi Channel changed the episodic format, the show has been solid from the start. Characters that draw you in, plots eerily relevant in a world ever affected by technology, and plot development continuing to raise the bar push this show to the top of the all time greats of the genre.

Website: http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/

A Film Directed By John Moore

From video game to the silver screen, the film centers around a New York City cop who has spent years trying to find the killer of his wife and child. A stereotypical plot, followed by a disengaged group of characters and plot make this film unbelievably awful.

Few and far between are the striking super slow motion shots and computer graphics that give the movie a few seconds actually worth watching. Mark Wahlberg (Max Payne) is completely bland in the lead role and creates no on screen chemistry with any of the characters that are supposed to have connection.

Assuming knowledge of the video game series, the writers and director try to correlate the beginning to the end without anything to support this notion in the middle. As the credits begin to roll, the mind sighs relief that it will no longer be subjected to the drivel that has clouded its ability to function for the last 100 minutes.

Website: http://www.maxpaynethemovie.com/

A Blog By Jon Erik Peterson

Although there are many reasons to start a blog, this one seems to be an outlet for the author’s poetic mind. From prose to poems, this author has a repertoire that covers many forms of literary arts, but unlike most that dabble in a little of this and that, Peterson finds a way to have strength in many.

Varying in type, the 16 posts over the last eight months have shown the wing span of the author. Starting in June of 2008 with a lyrical narrative titled “Scotch and Granola,” Jon Erik manages to mix some of the beauties of life with the tragedies of reality. Other pieces such as “Nothing, Provocative” and “Lover, Don’t Go” ring of truth, suffering, and discontent with the status quo, all of which are telling signs of a real artist.

Needing few words to express genuineness, Jon Erik Peterson has a way to connect his audience with an ideology that he or she may have never come in contact with previously, and that communication is his definition.

A Music Video Co-Created By Jon Erik:

Website: http://jonerikpeterson.blogspot.com/

With the alternative rock genre in their pocket, Jimmy Eat World put out their third major release, Chase This Light, in October of 2007. Easily their most complete album to date, Chase This Light mixes catchy hook driven vocals with both fast paced alt-rock and beautifully sincere ballads.

Big Casino booms out first to show you what the band is made of, but by track four, Carry You, the first genuine ballad has graced itself upon the listener’s ears. Track six, Gotta Be Somebody’s Blues, feels as though the words are being ripped straight out of Jim (Jimmy) Adkins heart by the dissonant stringed instruments in the background, and the audience cannot help but feel the same.

Dizzy closes the album with the words “This must be how it feels when the feeling goes” as the bridge leads into the final breakdown of the album. Full of wonderfully built riffs and unbelievably true lyrics that ring in the mind for days and days, the disc does not miss a single mark.

Website: http://www.jimmyeatworld.com/

A TV Series By Alan Ball

Death is a subject often explored in movies and television, but none to the extent of the HBO series Six Feet Under. The Fisher family runs a funeral home, and during the first five minutes of the series, the patriarch of the family is killed in a car accident. The next 62 episodes encompass one of the best, if not the best, dramatic television series of all time.

Dealing with death is one of the hardest things a person has to go through, but what about the people who live with death on a daily basis? How would that affect a family’s dynamic and the children brought up in it? These are the questions this series has the guts to ask, and answer.

Yes, life sucks, but how one deals with it is a testament to that person’s character. No show has felt truer in its portrayal of life, and the garbage that can come with it. This series will not disappoint, and gives a new perspective on what matter most in life, family.

WARNING!!! VIDEO CONTAINS ADULT CONTENT!!!

Website: http://www.hbo.com/sixfeetunder/

A Blog By Unknown Author

“Satire? Check. Giant Ego? Check. Unearned Sense of Entitlement? Check. Occasional Dick Joke? Check and Mate.” The tagline from this blogs main page says it all.

With headlines ranging from “The Pros and Cons of Peeing on Jeff Van Gundy If He Were on Fire” to “Babies, Jeff Goldblum, and Other People I Don’t Want To See My Penis,” sarcasm and truth are seemingly in a heavyweight battle over the author’s mind. Knowing exactly how far each joke can be taken while pushing every envelope possible is this author’s forte, and without any hesitation for censorship, each article has its own sense of facetious bite.

Top notch social commentary followed up by quick witted jabs at familiar faces are what set this seemingly run of the mill blog apart from the pack, but unlike a Carrot Top joke, Rites of Patches leaves you with a desire to come back for more.

Website: http://ritesofpatches.com