The Summer Has Ended...:(

Tuesday, 31 August 2010 by Al Kay
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Years ago when I was a lad, the Summer for me was a time to get away from school for 6 weeks so me and my friends could have mega waterfights, excitedly long bike rides and a few games of football on the field. Then, as I dropped out of school from the age of 15 due to the crippling nature of my Autism, it became a time for playing board games in the garden with my mother and that carried on until I moved to Sweden.

That was then though...

The Summer of 2010 has been the most enjoyable, most relaxing and by far the best time I've ever had.

We had the Eurovision Song Contest, the FiFa World Cup, Lisa's Graduation and a whole bunch of other stuff that I can't be fucked listing. For most people, my Summer would seem boring but when you can't exactly get out of the house much it's been a welcome relief to have some FUN! Obviously it's been packed here at the beach so most of the stuff we've done has been inside, not exactly a perk but at least I wasn't sweating buckets in the too-hot-for-fat-folk weather. I didn't actually go on the beach all Summer, shame really but what could I have done? I'm not risking panic attacks just so I can get some sand on my feet, fuck that :p.

Moving on...as the title of this post suggests, it is indeed the end of the Summer here, sure we'll maybe have a few nice days here and there but it's not the same, I can already feel the bitey wind that Gotland is known for. Gotland is also known for hedgehogs and my fuck...there were tons! The nature here is out of this world, I've never seen so many animals in all my life - foxes, frogs, toads, dragonflies, snakes, mice, lizards, caterpillars, rabbits and squirrels. There's even a shitload of crickets chirping away like you hear in American movies when it's night time. Mosquitos are a fucking bitch though.

Ahh, Gotland is fun.

Too bad I've been sick for the past 2 weeks though, I looked it up online and I'm almost positive it's the flu...I dunno what kind or "strain" it is but it's a pain in the ass. With a simple cold all you have to deal with is a runny nose and a bit of lightheadedness, with the flu you can't even get out of bed because of the aching joints. I'm in the latter stages of it though so I'll be fine within a few days I reckon.

I'm gonna keep it short and end it there, I felt like writing and I didn't want to over do it, sometimes I just go on and on, other times I just feel like writing a paragraph. So in closing, Summer was amazing and I hope everyone else is doing well. Thanks for reading!

'Till next time....


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Rambling about Summer and...stuff.

Monday, 26 July 2010 by Al Kay
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I don't blog much these days, the past few months have been quite different compared to when I first came here. Gone are the heaps of snow, graffitied walls and dead silence, replaced with dozens of cars, sunny weather and screaming children, yes the Summer is indeed here and it's...all right.

As I've said in previous blogs, I knew the Summer was going to busy on Gotland and since I live by the seaside there was no way to escape it. This place is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Sweden and I have prepared myself for the hundreds of people that come here from places like Germany, Norway, Denmark and Holland.
Everyday I would look out of my bedroom window and see and empty carpark with a beach and a swingset and I always wondered "...tourists come HERE?" I couldn't understand the hype of this place until around June, when suddenly flowers were blossoming and wildlife was everywhere. It was then that I realised that this place was no ghost town, this place was full of life!

Progress wise, things have slowed down a bit as was expected - however, I've managed quite well, indeed..very well if I do say so myself. I'm extremely proud of how I've coped with the amount of people right on my doorstep and I understand how the people who live here feel in the Summer. These tourist do tend to invade the local's privacy to an extent and you can see it on their faces that they're not too pleased about it, but the tourism and that cement factory is what keeps Gotland afloat (no pun intended) so it's the nature of the beast.
My walks have been cut down a bit, but I'm happy just to get out of the house really. They can last for 30-60 minutes but not really much more than that, I do feel quite vulnerable here this time of year but like I said, I'm managing.

The tourists are certainly...interesting. They don't really bother anyone alot but we have come across some posh cunts, ignorant twats and overexcited teenagers who act like they've never seen a beach before which is actually quite amusing. They're on their holiday so who am I to put a dampner on it? I just find it funny. Lisa does too, infact she overheard a conversation that went something like:

"Where do you think the people that live here work?"

"Oh I don't know, probably in that factory."

"Ah yes, most likely."

When Lisa got home and told me that conversation I just laughed at their stupidity and ignorance.

Last week was Stockholm Week...I don't know what it is, don't ask, but for some reason a bunch of people from Stockholm come to the island and party for a week. Lisa has told me about this a few times in the past before I came here...she doesn't really like the partying Stockholmers much at all, she says they're..and I quote:

All assholes


Have I ever told you how much I love her? Haha.

Yeah, some came to Slite and kept the whole town up with their "hilarious" antics. One of the more interesting things that did happen that week though was a car show..or something. We're not entirely sure what it was but, a shitload of fancy cars, old and new, drove around Slite and probably most of the island, we videoed some of it and are working on a project to do with that. That was pretty cool.

In other news I'm still Eurovision crazy, Lisa and I, on a whim, decided to buy the past 3 years DVDs and CDs! I know...mental. We liked them, not as much as this year's though, infact we watched the first semi final of this year's last night and we were blown away! We love it! I guess all couples have their little things that they love to do or watch together, it's all fun.

I'm still shit with people, even family, heck, even friends. I just don't know how to act or what to say and I'm stumbling quite a bit on my words. My memory has been extremely poor lately aswell, maybe I'm getting like my mum but I don't know, I'm getting distracted by small things and they overpower what's happening around me. For example, today was weird, I was on the laptop checking my Facebook and things and I asked Lisa if she could find my phone for me, anyway 5 minutes later I close the laptop and get up off the couch only to find that my phone was in my pocket, I thought this was strange...but it turns out that while I was checking my stuff on the laptop, Lisa had found my phone passed it to me and I'd put it in my pocket myself, I couldn't remember anything about this at all. These things are happening more and more frequently. We do have a theory about why this is happening though.

If you've read my Autism blog then you'd know all about my obsessions, particularly the guitar. A couple of weeks back the power supply to my FX pedal decided to...not work and for days we tried to find one online but Sweden are completely out of stock and importing one from England would be extremely costly so fuck that. In the end we have decided to wait for it to get in stock over here and that's where we currently are with that. It doesn't end there though, I believe the increase in memory loss and other odd behaviour is down to "guitar withdrawals" I know it sounds crazy but it's the only solution we can think of. Now, I don't have the shakes and I don't have crazy eyes, but I do feel that there is a feeling of emptiness in me that I can't explain, it's a bit of a sad feeling for me and I just wish I could play my electric again! I just feel extremely stressed without it to be honest, it was the one thing that really calmed me down. Along with the mental stress there's also the physical implications of not playing electric guitar, my wrist doesn't feel right, my fingers are starting to soften and my elbow is a bit sore. "Why don't you play your acoustic?" Well, I do, alot...but it's not the same, my strumming and picking technique is different with both electric and acoustic so it can't really be helped. It'll sort itself out in due course I'm sure.

One thing about my Autism that Lisa and I have discovered is that I have the ability to remember what key a song is in on the guitar without listening to it for an unlimited amount of time. Okay, that basically means that if you ask me for instance what key a song is in, I wouldn't have to listen to that song there and then, it's in my mind and all I need is a guitar or a piano to tell you what key it's in. Complicated I know, especially for people who don't understand keys, chords, notes and rhythm, but in the music world it's quite rare to have that ability. Wooo!

Well, I couldn't think of anything else to talk about (thank God, this has gone on long enough lol). Sorry for my all-over-the-place style but, it's just some thoughts that I figured would be good to jot down, I do it for myself mainly, like a diary, but I often get messages from people telling me they've read it and then we have a conversation about whatever subject matter I tend to delve into here. It's nice to see that people are interested and even if they weren't, I'd still write. Maybe this could replace my electric guitar for the time being? Maybe.

'Till next time...


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Eyam

Friday, 25 June 2010 by Al Kay
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Eyam

Been a long time since I blogged, it's because I've got quite a big blog in the works and I've had to do alot of research before I publish it. Now, in the meantime I have decided that it would be fun to a do a bit of a lighthearted picture blog so that anyone who reads these things knows that I haven't abandoned Blogger.

So, the topic of this picture blog is a day out I had with Jenny (my sister) and Lisa to a place called Eyam, to quote Wikipedia...

Eyam is a small village in Derbyshire, England. The village is best known for being the "plague village" that chose to isolate itself when the plague was discovered there in August 1665, rather than let the infection spread.
I'd been there before with school and I really liked it, it was such a small place with tiny roads and old houses, of course I never appreciated it at the time, I was too busy having a laugh and taking the piss with my friends. Ahh to be a teenager...

Anyway, it's EXTREMELY rare that I spend more than an hour or so outside so this was particularly special for me personally. Also, it was the last time I got to spend any real time with Jenny before I left England. I could just about handle it, I was already familiar with the place and I had two people I knew very well to go with me, so if I had any trouble with other folk or if I felt things weren't all right, Jenny and Lisa would be there to help me out

So let's get started...

On the way to Eyam, we found this lovely view so we had to get out and take a picture of it.


So...we parked where we shouldn't have. (Snooze, you lose)


Poor woman lost her entire family...how did she survive?!



Here's me and Jenny walking around, dunno why Lisa took this from behind. I look dead scruffy.



People still live in these cottages, I dunno how they can though because the two times that I've been it has been packed with tourists.


We got to this church, you couldn't really miss it in this small village.


We walked around the church, there were alot of graves, this one stood out to us as it's more of a tomb.



One regret about the trip that Lisa and I had was that we didn't notice the Anglo-Saxon cross to the right of the picture until we got home and looked up Eyam on Wikipedia, turns out it's dated to the 7th century! We would have tried to get a better picture of it had we known.



The graveyard behind the church. Amazing views looking up, lovely greenery.


We went through more than the church but, we didn't want to take too many pictures out of respect for the people that lived there, here's our final shot of Eyam, the museum.


That wasn't all of our day out though, on the way back we stopped at the Five Pits Trail for a bit of a walk. As we were driving there, we had a look at the crooked spire!



We found the Five Pits Trail, Jenny used to come here as a child when she visited my aunt and uncle.



This is a bench...nice place to sit, or stand on.


I look ridiculous in the photograph, typical fat kid, stains on t-shirt and all. Had to put it on though, think of it as proof that I went out? I couldn't make it to where Lisa was...not scared of heights or anything, I just didn't think the tree could hold me and if I fell I might have sunk into the ground.


Here's Jen on the same tree, she had no problem climbing it like Lisa.


The Five Pits Trail sign...


And one last look....



Looking back, it was as if we knew that I was leaving England that Summer, of course at the time that we went on the Eyam trip we had no idea, but when I think about it, it was obviously my last chance to do this kind of thing, to visit all these places before I left it for good. I'm happy with the way things have turned out, so I can look back and smile at days like these.

Time to get back to work on my other blog, thanks for reading and looking at the photos...Lisa did most of the camera work by the way, I took a few, but who's counting?

'Till next time....


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National Day of Sweden. (Sveriges Nationaldag)

Sunday, 6 June 2010 by Al Kay
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Just thought I'd do a quick blog about this public holiday in Sweden.

Sveriges Nationaldag is a public holiday in honour of King Gustav Vasa, who's election in 1523 is considered the "foundation of modern Sweden". It's a slightly low key affair, infact alot of Swedes barely acknowledge it, but others celebrate by flying a flag on or outside their house.

Why I decided to make a blog about this particular holiday is because of an issue I had with my homeland regarding similar things. The UK is overrun by immigrants, most do what I do and keep to themselves, others come into the country and preach their religion at us and change our culture to suit theirs, I like to call those people "arseholes". In the privacy of your home you can say what you want, do what you want, but screaming at the government to tell them that they're doing things wrong is barbaric...surely only citizens of that country should hold the right to do that.

My main gripe with these people is their lack of respect for the flags of the United Kingdom, whether it's the Union Jack or the St George's flag, they believe that hanging these outside our houses makes them feel unwelcome, so they complain to the authorities and tell them that anyone who has one is racist. How the fuck can the UK be racist if they're letting these immigrants in in the first place? I believe anyone can fly their flag in their own country as much as they want, especially in times of a crisis. It shows pride towards something they love. Now, if someone from the UK were to go to, let's say, Pakistan or Poland and complain about their flags making them feel unwelcome, then they would be laughed out of the country.

There are people in Sweden who also take issue with the flag waving, these are mostly immigrants that associate that flag with a racist government party (whose name escapes me). Maybe these people should hate the person that spouts this racism, rather than the flag itself. The difference between Sweden and the UK in this matter is that the UK is bowing down to these demands at the drop of a hat and are likely going to impliment some sort of law in the future, whereas Sweden's government isn't going to lose sleep over a few pissed off immigrants.

Today I went out for a walk with Lisa and saw 7-8 flagpoles with big Swedish flags at the top flying in the wind and did I feel unwelcome? Fuck no, should I? Well, I don't know what each individual person's feelings on immigration are, but I doubt it. It's refreshing to see a sense of pride, infact the people of Gotland are very proud of their island aswell, I've seen many Gotland flags out all through the year and not once did I feel uncomfortable. It's not about me though, they shouldn't have to care what I feel about this or any other immigrant, it's their island, it's their country, if I didn't like it, I'd fuck off or at least keep my mouth shut.

Anyway, short and sweet.

'Till next time....

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Eurovision 2010

Wednesday, 2 June 2010 by Al Kay
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I use coarse language throughout this blogpost. I don't care though.

I don't usually get hooked on the campness of Eurovision, but this year was certainly different.

Living in Sweden has given me a new respect for it, these people are mad for it and for good reason too, their biggest export (ABBA) was made famous by Eurovision and they've always had a great track record when it comes to getting into the Finals. The last 5 years however Sweden hasn't done so well, according to Wikipedia their average placing has been 16th, for a country that prides itself on this kind of competition, that isn't too good is it? This year was their worst though, they didn't even make it to the Finals and I wasn't too surprised either, their song of choice was "This Is My Life" by Anna Bergandahl, a sort of half assed ballad by a half assed singer who only got to represent Sweden based on her fame (she placed 5th in Idol) and I believe alot of fans sympathised with her because she seemed so innocent. In the semi-final, she was very trembly and seemed extremely nervous, sorry to say it but, I don't want to watch that kind of thing on a fun show like Eurovision. This is a classic case of someone being told that they're very good when in actual fact they're very shit.

The "Big Four" are four countries that automatically get into the finals because of their financial contributions to European Broadcasting Company. It's all politics I suppose and this is the kind of thing that has been around since the beginning of Eurovision and I doubt will ever change.

The good stuff about Eurovision though is that it's shit, we know it's shit, yet we can't help but love it. This year in particular was very interesting for me personally, because for the very first time, I got to see what it was like to actually qualify to be a competitor. Back in England, I only ever watched the Final, but this year I got to see Sweden pick their act and watch them compete in the semis. I was extremely impressed by it all, the production and the effort that people put into it was amazing, so many acts to choose from just in the Swedish competition (Melodifestival) alone. The semis were great, my only problem with it was that there was too many ballads for my liking, Eurovision is all about fun and being able to enjoy yourself, I don't want to be hearing some chick or opera singer wailing about losing someone, or important issues like the environment. We see all that shit in the charts and in the news as it is, Eurovision is a good chance to break free from all the crap in the world and just enjoy yourself.

Best (in no particular order)
  • Run Away by SunStroke Project & Olia Tira...(Moldova) There's really only 3 words that can describe their entry into the competition; Epic Sax Guy. I was there, sitting on the couch, chillin' like a motherfucker and suddenly theres a dude with a violin spinning on a spinning thing and a blonde guy with massive glasses, humping a saxophone. I think it's fair to say that they should have won.
  • We Could Be The Same by MaNga...(Turkey) I hate this kind of music, always have, always will...however, you can't deny that they put on a fantastic show this year. MaNga are quite famous from where they come from, which is rare for Eurovision as usually most countries put relatively unknown acts in the mix, not Turkey though. The song was good, not your usual Eurovision, although it was a tad outdated. Nu-Metal has come and gone, the whole rap/rock thing was laid to rest along with Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. However, they did really well for themselves.
  • OPA! by George Alkaios & Friends...(Greece) I have a good mate called Soto, I've known him for a number of years online, he's Greek and one day he told me all about how Greeks celebrate, for whatever occassion, they say "OPA!" So, when I heard this song in the semis I knew instantly that I was going to like it. When I heard the song however, I didn't like it, I FUCKING LOVED IT! It was how I imagined it to be and more, the dancing, the singing, the constant "OPA!"s...it was fun! Like I said, it's that kind of thing which makes Eurovision great entertainment. This was by far my favourite.
  • Ovo je Balkan by Milan Stankovic...(Serbia) Ehhhhhhh ehhhhhhhhhh eh eh eh eh. That's the first thing you hear when the music starts and then the first thing you see is a blonde Serbian bloke who looked Chinese and was camp as fuck. I loved his performance, especially with the chicks in the background doing the robot. Once again, brilliant.
  • Playing With Fire by Paula Selling & Ovi...(Romania) This was just weird, in a good way though. The guy was creepy, the girl looked like she needed to crap, especially when she reached that high note. The song was good, I could see it being a bit hit if they had the right ad campaign in England.
  • Lost And Forgotten by Peter Nalitch & Friends...(Russia) I fucking loved this one, I didn't like it at the time too much, but afterwards I couldn't stop watching the live performance on YouTube. I even learned it on guitar and piano, it was THAT good. Technically it's actually a really tough song to play, well I had no trouble, but that's because I'm awesome. I'm kidding. Not really. The frontman is obviously a big part of why I loved this song, especially the 2nd verse when he is looking at a really bad drawing of a girl and then banters with the guitarist about it.
Worst (in no particular order)

  • My Heart Is Yours by Didrik Solli-Tangen...(Norway) Now, I know we shouldn't base Eurovision on talent, but when you're singing a song which is vocal based, then I expect you to be able to pull it off dilligently. This idiot, Didrik, fumbled all the way through his performance with a shoddy voice and zero personality. How Norway could vote to have this guy in the final, I'll never know, maybe it says more about them, than it does him.
  • That Sounds Good To Me by Josh Dubovie...(UK) Heh, the title of this song is sort of ironic isn't it? I'm almost ashamed to call myself British after this terrible TERRIBLE mess. I don't understand the mentality of how people could actually vote for a guy who can't sing to save his life and has the personality of a dead fish on valium. The song was shit too. I refuse to comment further.
  • Butterflies by 3 + 2 & Robert Wells...(Belarus) They shouldn't even be allowed to have their own country, if this is the kinda crap they choose for music, then how in the Hell are they able to wipe their own asses? Go fuck themselves, thrice. I'm joking, but seriously, thank fuck for Greece.
  • Satellite by Lena...(Germany) I lost faith in Europe when they announced this crap as the winner. The likes of Lily Allen and Kate Nash annoy me to no extent, so when I heard this German girl...well you can't really call it singing but, when I heard her "sing" I felt like scratching myself with various scrubbers with chemicals on them. It wasn't too bad compared to alot of the other songs, but this is in my "worst" list because she won, so it's more of a dig at people who voted for her...HOW COULD YOU?! Lol. Each to their own and this is a fine example of that. Sidenote: When singing with a really bad accent, you should be very careful because at 2:10 of this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzOaU5H3P4c it sounds like she's saying "Love my anus straight and through"

In closing, I thought Eurovision was great, you HAVE to have bad acts, what else would there be to make fun of? And thank fuck it's EUROvision, because if a country like America tried to get in on this, we'd just have someone like Miley Cyrus screeching about experiences that she's never had in her life. I've ordered the CD online because I can't get enough of hearing it all, even the shit.

Anyway, that's enough for one blogpost.

'Till next time....

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Lost: The End.

Monday, 24 May 2010 by Al Kay
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DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FINALE!!


(I use such references as "Latin" and "Ltn. John The Flying Beaver" to describe what the afterlife could be. It would be too mundane to just say "Heaven" and "Jesus/God" plus everyone should have their own idea right?)


This is my 4th try at writing a blogpost on the finale of Lost and for the first time since I created this thing, I can't for the life of me put the words together that could describe the last 2 and a half hours of the most emotional rollercoaster on television that I've ever witnessed.

I still haven't come to terms with the fact that it's gone and never coming back. I'll never forget the first time I watched it, back on the day when it first aired in the UK...I just had this awesome feeling that I was watching something special and now that it's all over, it's very clear to me it was more than that, but I can't think of a fitting word. The ending wasn't bittersweet for me, I don't understand how people can describe it like that, is it the fact that everybody is dead? Like Christian Shephard says
Everyone dies sometime, kiddo.
In my opinion, it was more of a "....And they lived happily ever after" finish.

There is so much to go through that I'm going to do a rundown of some noteworthy major characters, so in no particular order, here they are:

Kate

Had I known what she would have done later in Season 6, then I might have been a little less harsh on the episode "What Kate Does", as that episode was necessary for the story to progress the way it did. She killed the MIB in epic fashion and for me, that totally redeemed her character. I've never been a huge fan of hers, always running away from her issues instead of taking responsibilty for what she did, regardless of her good intentions, she was still the reason for at least 2 people dying and then she even flat out refused to take the fall for it when she was making deals with the prosecution in Season 4. Her manipulation of the Jack/Sawyer situation didn't exactly do her any favours, but I was indeed happy that she and Jack ended up together right before he died...and then after...? From the very first episode I always knew that Jack and Kate were meant to be together and the Sawyer/Juliet stuff was just another bump in the road for them. Let's hope Kate doesn't become a homewrecker in Heaven/Hell/Latin.

Richard

Ah, his character was mysterious, exciting and in a way - loveable. Everything he ever did was for the good of the people on the island and that is ammicable. He's saved so many lives and yet...the average fan just sees him as that ageless dude that was taking orders from Ben/Jacob. His backstory shows that he has had the worst experiences out of all of the Lost gang and he never complained about it (that we saw). Jacob recruited Richard because he wanted somebody to communicate with the people that came to the island, so that the MIB couldn't manipulate them or even kill them. I'm not sure how successful that turned out to be (especially under Ben's regime with the purge and stuff) but essentially, I think it helped to have a 2nd in command. I loved the Richard character and it's a pity we didn't see more of him. Who knows what kind of life he ended up living after he left on the Ajira flight, but I'm sure after he died, he found his own peace with Isabella...in Heaven/Hell/Latin.

Illana

What a waste of a character, a shit one at that. Added nothing to the dynamic of the group and was essentially boring. Then she went and got herself blown up ("Blown up? You said my parents died in a car crash!!"...heh...had to.) Her character deserves a place in Heaven/Hell...but not Latin. Even though she was...was she Latino? I dunno. Who cares. Everytime I watch the dynamite scene from now on, I shall shout "OPA!" Just for shits and giggles.

Rose & Bernard

They weren't exactly Adam & Eve (I was wrong...I know), but they certainly added a light-hearted feel to whole thing. When things are going shit for everybody (like Jack's gonna blow up the island) they give us a different perspective to the one we're used to. In their eyes, they really don't care if they die or not, as long as they're together why should it matter? They have faith and that's what makes them accept their fate; that they're going to die no matter what. As little as they were shown in the last 2 seasons, their appearances have always been, to some degree, important. They were like the Grandparents of the Islanders, always there when there is a need for good, heartwarming advice. I hope they give God/Ltn. John The Flying Beaver some good times in Heaven/Hell/Latin.

Hurley

The big guy was certainly comic relief and in the finale he proved to be much more than that. The producers created the role FOR Jorge Garcia, something which is extremely believable as he is obviously such a tremendous character. Up until somewhere around the fourth season, Hurley was more of a background character, I never thought that he would be such a huge asset to the end game of Lost. He is most definitely one of my top 5 favourite characters as the show would have been extremely mundane without him...we totally needed him when the shit hit the fan. Who knows how long he lived as leader of the island or how he changed things, but I do know this; Ltn. John the Flying Beaver/God will be very proud to have him in Heaven/Hell/Latin.

Ben

Bringing Ben in was one of the smartest things the producers ever did on the show. He is truly the biggest cunt on the face of the Earth and yet pretty much redeemed himself in the last season, especially the Finale. He killed at least 40 people in the purge, murdered John Locke, was responsible for Sayid slaughtering all those men and women and yet...we still hoped that Ben was a good guy didn't we? He has alot to atone for and that's why I think he waited outside the church, to repent and hopefully one day join his fellow castaways to wherever they're going. John Locke's forgiveness of Ben and all of the wicked things he'd done was probably one of the greatest scenes in the entire series, emotion-wise. I hope he enjoys life with Danielle and Alex in the between life and I am glad that he and Hurley had a great time on the island, I always knew there was a certain chemistry (no homo) between them, especially after the Season Four episode Cabin Fever. To Ben: Give 'em Hell...in Hell!/Heaven/Latin.

Sawyer

I think for me, he didn't make much of an impact as I'd like in the grand scheme of things. I guess they didn't know what to do with him, too many cooks and all that. He went through alot of shit to be the good guy that he turned out to be, even when the love of his life perished, it didn't take long for him to stop blaming Jack and start getting on with what's important: Surviving. He felt great shame for what happened to Jin, Sun and Sayid, but luckily Jack reassured him that it wasn't his fault and it was this moment that I think Sawyer realised that Jack had only the best intentions at heart...just like him. Sawyer has been the victim of some really bad writing in the past (Recon), but it didn't stop him from being a great character. Do you think Ltn. John The Flying Beaver can be conned by him in Heaven/Hell/Latin?
Jacob

Just how is he special? What exactly are the powers he possesses?

The questions above are ones that I never need to have answered. What's the point? Do you ask how magic occurs in Harry Potter? No, because it's fiction, just like Lost. That is why, when Jacob first appeared I knew that he would be an epic character. He'd been mentioned as early as Season 3, but we didn't really have a clue who this guy was, all he did was give "The Others" lists with people's names on them and they acted like they feared him. It was at the end of Season Five that we actually got to see this guy...and he didn't seem scary at all! His evil twin brother on the other hand was nutso, yes that's right, I said EVIL. Jacob to me was a good man with alot of flaws, his job as protector made him that way, aswell as the fact that he made a grave mistake when he popped his brother into the source and thus The Smoke Monster was born. I think Jacob has always had the best intentions, his campfire chat with the losties definitely gave us some closure on that even if some will disagree. If it wasn't for Jacob, I think Season Six would have sucked even more than it did. Let's hope he doesn't make Ltn. John The Flying Beaver a candidate by "touching" him in Heaven/Hell/Latin.

Locke

They could have done so much more with this character, I have no idea why in the blue HELL they did what they did to him...however getting to see Terry O' Quinn as a legit bad guy was incredible and I forgive the producers for killing him off like they did.

What a troubled character he was though eh? From a young age he was tested to see how "special" he was, to see if he could be the new leader of "The Others" I suppose and it was only for a few minutes that Richard was able to welcome him into this secluded group of people when all of a sudden, Locke got time-flashed. His reign from that point on was over and the real struggle began. It's here that I began to think that Boone wasn't the sacrifice the island demanded, it was Locke all along, especially if we consider the Island to be the Smoke Monster (in the metaphorical sense).

His time on the Island was amazing, his interactions with people like Jack, Ben, Charlie, Boone and Eko made him one of a kind and it was from these people that he developed the drive to become a natural born leader. I'm glad that he got what he wanted in the afterlife and I sincerely hope that we can remember him as the guy he was in Seasons 1-2 and not the confused, pathetic guy that the producers turned him out to be in Seasons 3-5. Long Live Locke...in Heaven/Hell/Latin.

Jack

A man of Science and eventually a man of Faith, Jack epitomised what Lost was about. His life outside of the island wasn't too exciting (we don't exactly remember him for how he got his tattoos), but his on-island life had the ups and downs of a true hero and this is what made his character real to the fans. He saved many lives starting from the first episode and that never stopped throughout Lost's tenure. Never turning his back on his castaway friends, he was always loyal and ready for any action that the bad guys through at him, I would say this is why everybody loved Jack and why they needed him when the going got tough. Jack is overall my favourite character, which would surprise alot of people who know me because, I always bitched about Jack, especially during Season 3, but that was because all he could do was scream, make matters worse for himself and generally act like a tool. Like I said however, he NEEDED to do all that to make him what he was at the end of the finale...no not dead - a saviour. His relationship with Locke was unfortunate, they never got along and it was only after John died that Jack realised that Locke was actually right all along. What was he right about? The Island. It took alot for him to understand that not everything is down to science, sometimes you need to take a leap of faith. I know that Jack will rest easy now with his friends and enjoy his time in Heaven/Hell/Latin.

...More Thoughts

This blog has took me about a week to write, I've been doing it in portions here and there because I just simply haven't had the concentration to sit down and focus primarily on it. Life has beckoned and I've had to take a step back from some things and a step forward toward others. It has been roughly 10 days since the Finale and I was satisfied with how it ended, no matter how many loose ends there were. There are a few things that niggle at me about some of the answers though...

"Adam & Eve" skeletons could not have survived in the jungle for 2000 years. The producers had promised that they have known since day one who these people were, but it's pretty obvious that they had no idea and were playing it by ear. Jack said that clothing like that would take around 50 years to deteriorate and I know Jack doesn't know everything, but he was out by a couple of thousand years. Proof that they were making it up as they went along.

"The Monster" We never got closure on this, the biggest question of Lost. Guy gets shafted into the "Source" and becomes a black pillar of smoke who can read minds and shape shift? On the other hand, the source has been mentioned only briefly by John Locke when he described his encounter with the Monster as a "bright light"...at least I assume that's what he was talking about.

"The Rules" Wtf were they? They seem so specific and huge to the mythology of Lost and all we got was...well...nothing. We don't know what they are, who made them or why they were made. Were they the same rules that Widmore and Ben had to follow...even though Ben didn't follow them when he shot Widmore and nothing happened to him...infact it turned out he had an awesome life with Hurley on the island! Ehh, go bollocks.

That's all I can come up with. This isn't my final blog about Lost as I'm sure in the future I will be rewatching the entire thing, but for now I think I'm going to give it a rest and blog about whatever else comes to my mind. I love Lost and I know alot of my friends do aswell, but we have to remember that it's a TV show and our lives must come first, we can't obsess too much or it can affect our lives in a bad way. I know somebody who, just recently, got a little too involved in regards to obsessing about the characters and let it control their life...this person then posted a "suicide" status on Facebook, which I'm sure was unrelated, but nevertheless unnerving. I swiftly deleted this person from my list as I tend to stay away from psycho babble.

I'm really sorry for my bad grammar and lack of constructive sentences, I'm not an author afterall. Lost has been an amazing and I wanna say cheers to Laura for having some good, honest discussion with me about it, Lisa tends to agree with everything I say, but Laura's always been up for a good ole fashioned debate, so thanks for that.

Anyway, I must stop this blog before it becomes even more boring than it already is. Thanks for reading, it's been a blast!

'Till next time...


























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Some thoughts...

Wednesday, 19 May 2010 by Al Kay
...


Hi. Yeah I dunno how to start this blogpost off, which is a first for me because as you can tell by the others that I've written, I usually have a subject in mind. That being said however, I do have a couple of things that I want to ramble about, the first being...

Lost

I have just watched "What They Died For" and I can't believe what a fantastic episode it was! I wasn't that pumped for it to be honest, especially after last week's episode which was kind of like marmite (I couldn't decide whether I loved it or hated it) and so far the whole season has been like that in a way. "What They Died For" was a mixture of mythology, character development (even at this late stage) and nostalgia. There wasn't as much to take in as last week's episode and it certainly made me get that excited feeling, like it's coming to a satisfying end. The penultimate episode of Lost was a relief because I was almost beginning to lose faith in what has been a legendary series. I shall be celebrating the Finale next week with a few beers.

Time

I can't help but think how fast things are going, maybe it's my age but every year I feel time is passing me by faster than the previous one. Before I turned 21 last month, I did feel a bit down about how I had lived my life, especially in my teen years...wasted youth? While everyone else was getting their lives in check, I was in my room categorising my DVDs in alphabetical order and wondering what I would be having for dinner the following day. There was no way I could have done anything different though, so I can't really have any kind of regrets...you can't regret something that you had no control over right? Fear is something that everyone has to deal with and for some reason it has consumed my life since the day I was born, thus what should have been some of the best years of my life, were actually some of the worst. On a brighter note, I still have the future and anything can happen, so I will keep my chin up. If all else fails, they do have McDonalds in Sweden...that always makes me happy.

Music

I've been playing alot of Beatles songs on the guitar lately, I'm just getting to grips with how clever they were, technically speaking. I can understand why people think they're overrated, but I think they deserve every single bit of recignition they get, their songs had more meaning than anything in the Top 40 combined, although that's not saying alot is it?
I'm sick of hearing about this Justin Bieber guy, he's just some Canadian in a crooked hat that can't sing, same with Miley Cyrus...if she were to wear a crooked hat that is. You know you're getting older when you think stuff like that is the Devil...or as my friends would say "Divil". Kiwis eh? Sorry about the rant, but today's "icons" need shooting.

To be honest I don't listen to alot of music, which I'm pretty sure is down to the guitar. Everytime I listen to a song I'm thinking of what key it's in or what kind of equipment is used etc etc. It can be tiresome, especially when you just want to sit down and relax. That is one of the many faults with playing an instrument, you become a lot closer with the music and you strive to equal or better whatever you're listening to, it's an uphill struggle. It's not all doom and gloom though, nothing beats wailing out on the guitar, whether it's acoustic or electric, that feeling never goes.

The Blog

I still enjoy writing in this blog, somedays I make an effort, somedays I don't. I'm not going to set myself days to update because then I don't think I'd enjoy doing it as much. There are things that everyday I tell myself "oo, should write about that" and usually I do, somethings are very difficult to write about though as I'll only have about a paragraph of thought which I can leave to Facebook.
The response has been great, I didn't expect so many people to read it, especially family members who I haven't spoke to in years. It's not exactly getting us relatives together, but it's certainly helping me to interact with people who I've known all my life, but barely spoken to. Since my grandparents died, the family has kind of split up and now that I've moved to Sweden, there's not much possibility for me to see them anymore. Shame, I know, but that's life.

Reflection

I know i've sunk a bit in this blogpost, but it's that time of year where you get those nostalgic feelings of "What if.." and "If only...". We all get like this, this is why we all crave the hot weather, because it gives us chance to go out for walks and think about everything, past, present and future.
Speaking of walks, the caravans are parked up next to the beach now, I was aware this would happen around this time and as expected I'm feeling a bit of anxiety, it hasn't stopped us from getting out though, we just have to be a bit wary of the times that we do. I still need to teach Lisa how to be with me outside around this time with people...she forgets to be on the side closest to them, but I give her a little shove and she understands. I would have said "poke" but that sounds weird.

Anyway, she's graduating soon so that's fun. She's got a few jobs lined up for the Summer, luckily the hours are flexible so we can still spend alot of time together which is important. It seems we're moving on to bigger and better things, with University for her just around the corner and...well I don't have alot going on but hey, I'm making progress everyday. I still feel shitty around people but I think that's always going to be there no matter what, there is no cure for what I have, I have to make the best of it and live my life day by day.

As I said, not alot is going on in my life right now, still playing guitar and cleaning this mess of an apartment. When I'm not doing those things, I'm chatting online to Tari and Jimfuck which is always fun and sometimes uncomfortable due to Tari's gum fetish...long story. Oh yeah and when he was 3, Jimfuck kicked a baby kangeroo...that one had me laughing for a good 2 minutes. We have a thriving Facebook group called "I am a man...from Latin", the most random stuff gets posted there and we have a good time, Jimfuck and I are the dictators, with Lisa and Tari as our...well I guess they're dictators too now that we made them Admins. Immature stuff, but I really need the humour, Lisa's not exactly a comedian and Swedish TV is about as entertaining as The Weather Channel. Yeah, I gave it a try and realised I couldn't stand the adverts and subtitles. I will be looking into a way to watch British TV, possibly on my laptop soon, I don't miss it too much, infact it's done me some good to be away from it, but I think it'd be nice to know my options in regards to it.

Probably my most honest blog to date, infact it was more of an update of how things are, which I never thought I would do here. I tend to usually have an interesting topic and work around that, but today I just felt the need to do a rambling blog, so excuse my poor use of the English language. I realise my style is not to everyone's taste, so to those who have taken a dislike to what I write about...BLOW IT UP YER ASS! Just kidding, I really like saying that though.

So yeah, that's what I'm thinking about right now.

'Till next time....

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