My Two Bits
(The Editorial with one-quarter byte!)

What is "My Two Bits?"

My Two Bits is the official editorial page for the editor of Techtite.com. Techtite will accept reader submissions, for reviews as well as any editorials deemed well written and pertinent to this web site's audience.

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---January 16th, 2009: Galactica and 24

---January 9th, 2009 The New Format...

---Prior to 2009...

No sidebar comments for this editorial. Yet.

My latest Two Bits for the week ending:

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

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A New Year, A New "Bits".

    So continues the new weekly format of My 2 Bits. Simply put, for those readers who haven't checked the site out since 2008: this editorial will be updated weekly to coincide with the web site's weekend updates. What TV, movies, and other media caught my interest? Here's where I will break with tradition, stop simply being "informative," and speak my mind for awhile.

Lost Returns; some first thoughts.

    So unless you live in a cave you probably heard Lost is back for its fifth season, with a two hour premiere last Wednesday. Overall I was very pleased with this premiere, as well as the format. I was a bit concerned how they were going to successfully merge stories "off the island" with the people still on the island, though I think they handled it well. Of course; this presumes you saw it and aren't a total spaz waiting for the DVD set, so if you hate spoilers feel free to click here and jump to the next editorial topic, which is spoiler-free.

One of many intriguing plot points in this premiere is the fate of the people still on the island. In short they are jumping back and forth through various moments in time, while on the island. What makes this so imaginative is how it fits perfectly with the series' flashback format. This season, we apparently won't see any more flashbacks, though instead the castaways will time jump there and see that moment in time for themselves. What happened that caused a shipwreck so far off coast of the island? What happened in the island's history that caused millionaire Widmore to presume the island was "his"...? What is the back history of Rupert, who said that the next time Locke sees him they will have never known each other? That's an intriguing comment to make since the never-aging Rupert has seemingly known Locke since birth!

The fun part of this premiere were all the cameos. You had no idea these cameos would happen since to the best of my knowledge their names were not in the opening credits (and if they were I missed them completely). These were excellently handled surprises that enhanced the story brilliantly. The best example: Hurley getting pulled over by a police car. You then see who the policeman is and you realize right then and there that he's seeing things at best, and getting reprimanded by "the island" at worst. It's cameos like these that made the premiere even more entertaining, if that's possible.

Then there were three peculiar cameos. We see Ben able to communicate with two "others" who seemingly exist off-island. One "other" works in a butcher shop and explains where they'll put Locke until he can return back to the island and presumably be resurrected somehow. The other "other" is the same old lady who Desmond met during his time travelling episode. She apparently is trying to discern where/"when" the island is right now, in time and space. One thought that's pretty obvious: Faraday mentioned a mother he wanted Desmond to contact somewhere in Oxford. Is she her?

The third peculiar cameo was "frogurt." One early bird review of this premiere went on and on about frogurt's larger role in the premiere. Personally I don't see how complaining for awhile and then getting pummeled by a fire arrow counts as a major role, though whatever. Speaking of which; who shoots fire arrows at their opponents? Just what "time" are they supposedly in now?

That's about it for Lost. Let's jump to the next spoiler-centric conversation, which I hope you watch, too...

24 week 2

    It's always a bit of a letdown when 24 starts its second week, after offering four hours in its first week. Just one hour? Bummer. Yet the surprising thing is: there seemingly were more plots added in this hour than the first four combined. In short; I hope you saw it, though if you didn't, again; click here to jump to the next topic. There's no way to discuss this without spoilers.

The most intriguing debate about this episode is the fate of Agent Walker (Annie Wersching). She seems alive enough, regardless of Jack shooting her while the bad guys were watching. Then the bad guys insist he "bury" the evidence, with her eyes open beneath the plastic wrap she's covered in, as they seemingly bury her. Then the real paradox for 24 fans emerges; no "ticks" on the final clock. As fans will tell you; the clock always ticks, except for those instances when someone is gone for good. Mind you; diehard fanboys will tell you there has been an exception or two (Tony's "death," for example, as well as the departure of one character who leaves with the "no ticking" clock, yet returned for a dramatic additional moment just minutes later). Does this mean that Walker was buried alive, and is now actually dead? Yikes!

Another plot point bothers me. Last week, Tony whispers to Jack about their plans, away from earshot of the "bad guys." He makes Jack admit that he's working undercover, among other things. Just before this conversation, Tony is shown putting some sort of recording device of some kind near where he and Jack are talking. It is presumed that he's putting the device there so Chloe and Buchanan can listen in to everything the bad guys are doing. Though what if it's not that simple? Maybe I'm reading too much into this though 24 is all about the big plot twists halfway into the season. Is Tony recording what Jack says so he can show it to the bad guys and double cross him? I hope not, though what if he is? The only good news, so to speak, is how this doesn't make total sense. Why keep Jack alive only to double cross him later on?

Road to Oscar

    A week after I put the finishing touches on this site's Golden Otto Awards; the Academy Awards nominations are announced, early yesterday morning (Thursday). No big surprises except that apparently the Academy loved "Milk" a lot more than the foreign press, since the only Golden Globe nomination was for lead actor Sean Penn, and he lost.

If I were voting, I would give the Best Picture honors to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, for two reasons. One, I loved the movie, and in this site's so-called Golden Ottos (aka, The Best of 2008), I named it Movie of the Year. Yet I'd really love to see the director of Fight Club, David Fincher, finally get his due, and earn the Best Director Oscar. If they have to dramatically give Best Picture to something else, I say: give Fincher Best Director anyway. I know that the ongoing joke from the movie is that "rule 1: never talk about Fight Club," though seriously; that movie was robbed, as was Fincher. This movie could be the one that gets Fincher his due accolades. Make it so.

Snubs? I didn't notice any off hand, though I find it intriguing that Heath Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight is nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Conversely; Kate Winslet is nominated as Best Actress for her role in The Reader. What makes this so intriguing is that both actors received a Golden Globe for alternate acting awards: Ledger as Best Lead Actor, Wnslet as Best Supporting Actress, for the exact same movies. Curious.

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...That's about it for the first "weekly" editorial. Until next week!

As Always: I'm Techtite, and these are My Two Bits...