The End is Near

After 6 years of running through the jungle the journey is almost over on Lost. The season premiere of the final season airs next tuesday. After geeking out one lazy afternoon I realized I spent hours reading interviews and watching youtube videos trying to get some tidbits on what's in store for the final season and how the story might get wrapped up.
Two articles, one on NPR and some other one interviewing the creators and writers of the show made me give up my frantic search for answers. The arguments in these articles is that there's all this expectation for evey question to be answered and this show has struck such a passionate cord with so many people that there is no way everyone will be satisfied. Those wrapped up in the mythology will want to know every last possible detail of the origins of the Island and the connections of the castaways while those who watch for the soap opera part of it will only care how the Jack-Kate-Sawyer-Juliet love stories end. So in a sense whatever happens the show is "doomed" to drown in it's own ambitious creativity. There will be loose ends that will not be tied and questions left unanswered. It will not be all wrapped up in one neat little, all encompassing bow. But after 6 years is that the ultimate goal?
Whatever the case may be Lost has been a master of story telling, weaving a mysterious web often times so thick and intricate with possibilities that it's hard not to get confused. Like a book, some chapters were gambles that worked (Sawyer-Juliet romance, time travel) and others not so much (Nikki and Paolo could not be killed off any sooner). But like any good story it's more about the process and the journey than the final chapter or last sentence.
What creates investment and attachment to a story is rich and complex characters, where there is no clear and true hero or villain, because in life we are both.
Intelligently written shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Six Feet Under aren't remembered for their last episode or how tidily they concluded. They are remembered for moments and characters and great story arcs that created emotion.
So while I await as anxiously as everyone else I have decided to sit back and enjoy my last adventures on the Island one episode at a time and yes, hoping some questions will be answered but ultimately savoring the ride because like this one there has been and there probably will be no other.
Also, these lovely pics are by photographer Peggy Sirota.

Dear Sarah Michelle Gellar

Oh Sarah Michelle where did you go? I had such high hopes I would see you more often once Buffy was finished but you made some silly movie choices and then you went off and had a baby.
Upon some research though, I discovered your new project. I have to say I'm excited once again. Pablo Coehlo's Veronika Decides to Die was one of my favorite books when I was in college. The story of a jaded, lonely woman who commits suicide and fails, ending up in a mental institution with weeks to live...sold! The exploration of society and depression, relationships that develop within a place where people live in their own reality, what is considered crazy, what is considered sane and the revelations that come to light in the last few weeks of life in a mental institution are all such good themes!
So yes...I hope that in 2010 I get to see you more often. Nevertheless you'll always be golden in my book for 7 amazing years of Buffy. But please, no Scooby Doo 3!
From what I can see here you are on the right track.

A Fly(er) on the Wall

My roommates and I recently unearthed an old scanner that I'm sure will provide hours of replicating fun. One thing I decided to do was rescue a bunch of very charming old fliers from old dance nights and parties around the town.
San Francisco being the gay mecca that it is, doesn't always provide the best dance night for those of us queers who are looking for an alternative to the cookie cutter gays, muscle mary's and Castro fags that invade, well...the Castro. Luckily most of the better, divey queer bars are in the Tenderloin and Soma.
DJ Bus Station John is a well known this scene and has been hosting some of the funner, grittier dance night in the city for decades. The Tubesteak Connection at Aunt Charlie's Lounge is a sweaty Thursday night staple, and there have been parties at other bars as well with equally lascivious names like The Rod and Manquake! where '70's bathhouse music and disco obligate all present to slowly disrobe as the make their way to a sweaty dance floor.

Basement Performance

Thanks to Pitchfork and Juan for lending his basement.

Somebody's Watching Me

...and you too. Chances are if you live in the city and at some point have walked up Church St. he will be observing you. A very ominous presence I recently became aware of on of the many times I transit up and down this block. He is ever present. Perpetually perched above as all, silently spying on us. A mysterious being who by now knows so much about us, yet we know nothing about him. Oh the stories he could tell.