Lost Tangent

I wrote a couple songs this weekend. This is the simpler, less “minor” driven one. It is the first of two “Odes to Philadelphia.” For all the people that are the inheritance that we receive in this world. It is pretty stripped down, I hope you enjoy it.

I Am Blessed (Ode to Philly I)


Download it: Here

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Ok, I am taking a bit of a detour today. What was with that BS lost finale, and what is with the universal admiration of some sort of pop-philosophy purporting to divulge the true meaning of existence in a seemingly meaningful (though ultimately meaningless) chain of events in “reality”? Am I the only one that thinks it was the ultimate copout for a giant hole that was dug and never could be infused with actual meaning. OK, so they’re all dead, but they weren’t dead on the island. Let’s just side-step the continued significance of the islands ultimate meaning for the fate of the world. For 5 seasons (arguably most of the sixth as well) they played up the ultimate significance to the work on the island, and then in careless fashion devolved the significance of everything to the ultimate reality of life experienced and relationships gained. See the shift, it is from the significance of the island to human existence, and then this is ignored to say, “well what is really important is realizing the true nature of reality.”

Several blogs have stated that if one was expecting to get the minutia answered you’ll be disappointed. That’s not even it. I’m not disappointed with there facile explanation of the numbers that reality didn’t touch the surface of the meaning the writers infused them with, or their inability to even discuss the “religious” rituals and cultus on the island. More importantly, they didn’t even answer what the island was. If they took the even easier way out and said it was purgatory, then at least that would be an answer. Of course that would have additionally been disappointing (especially since they said they wouldn’t do that). However, to just say the alternate reality was purgatory does not answer any questions about the reality they existed in. What the heck was the island?

I don’t care if the experience on the island galvanized them relationally and provided the basis for their understanding of some sort of existential reality as they achieved enlightenment in a pseudo-purgatorial existence. That answers nothing about the experiences that they had. What about the time travel? What about Jacob? How did they get to the island? How does the island relate to the existence of the “real” world (since they maintained that it was the real world)?

To simply supply some sort of “well what is really meaningful is…” does not conclude anything. And my problem is not living in questions, nor is it with a story that has as its ultimate goal to enlighten existentially. This story was just poorly executed. Waiting for Godot, in its seeming meaninglessness, was at least a sustained effort to speak about existential reality and metaphysical conceptions. Lost was simply a sloppy science fiction story that needed an easy out. Don’t tell me that everything is meant to be put in proper context by the finale, that the events get proper perspective. They don’t. Life might get a certain perspective, but the “enlightenment” angle does not get them off the hook for a series that ultimately purported to be more than it was.

You may love the final conclusion. You may have thought it was beautiful in its explanation of reality. But, as a series, Lost is an epic failure.