The National

The National are a Brooklyn-based indie rock band formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1999. Thmb band's lyrics are written and sung by Matt Berninger in a distinctive baritone. The rest of the band is composed of two pairs of brothers: Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Scott and Bryan Devendorf. Aaron plays guitar, bass and piano, Bryce plays guitar, Scott plays bass and guitar, and Bryan is the drummer. Padma Newsome, from sister band Clogs, often contributes strings, keyboards, and other arrangements and instrumental flourishes. The band's influences range from Bruce Springsteen to Joy Division.

A Summary of LOST

Plane crashes on an island.
People survive.
People fight, scheme, love, and bond.
Weird stuff happens.

Eventually, the people all die.
The people meet up after death.
The end.

As sad as I am that it's over, I loved the ending of LOST. There are so many unanswered questions such as "What happened to Walt?" and so on. My reaction to those questions is, "Who cares?"

In the end, the entire series was all about the people and the bonds they formed. All the hurrying around, criss-crossing the island and atom bombs were vehicles for the survivors to get to know each other and for the audience to get to know them.

"What about the Dharma Initiative?" people complain. "Was Charles Widmore good or evil?" Don't care. Unlike Star Wars -- even with Hurley's countless references to the Jedi saga -- Lost wasn't about the epic battle between Good and Evil. When all is said and done, six seasons later, this was all about characters and redemption and about love.

The series was full of characters with father issues, so it is quite appropriate that Jack's father, Christian, is the one who explained it all in the final scene:

Yeah, I'm real. You're real.
Everything that ever happened to you is real.
All those people in the church - they're real too.
Jack asks: They're all - they're all dead?
Everyone dies sometime, kiddo.
Some of them before you, some of them long after you ...
But why are they all here now?
Well, there is no "now" here.
Where are we, Dad?
This is the place you all made together so you could all find one another. The most important part of your life was the time you spent with these people. That's why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them and they needed you.

I found it perfect that Jack was the last one to this spiritual "party," the endless fixer, the one who always had to be the leader. His final lesson, even in death, was that he needed others, and that they needed him.

Iron Man Drinking Game

The weekend is here! Not just any weekend either, but the one before Memorial Day. Unless you're taking the entire week off and going somewhere fantastic, there's not that much going on. You have to make your own entertainment.

We're here to help. How about watching a Big Summer Movie?

It doesn't get any bigger or summerier than Iron Man 2. There are more villains, more beautiful women, and more dilemmas for Tony Stark to face in this one. Is it a better movie than the original Iron Man? No way. But it's more entertaining, louder, and funnier that the original, so it's all good.

One thing that made me laugh out loud -- other than Robert Downey Jr.'s quick wit -- was the sequel's direct and obvious references to the first movie. If you've seen the first movie more than once (okay, I admit it, I have), these callbacks are really fun to watch for.

Drinking Game

So get a copy of Iron Man on DVD or BlueRay and pop it into the appropriate player. Or head to the multiplex and get in line for Iron Man 2. Take a drink of your frosty beverage (or take a sip of your $6.00 soda at the multiplex) if you spot any of the following occurrences.

Every one of these things happens in BOTH movies. 

Tony says "I know exactly what I'm doing" and then something goes wrong.

An adversary refers to Tony as a "little prick."

Tony does significant damage to his house and is completely unconcerned.

After a big event, a beautiful woman with questionable motives waits by Tony's car.

Tony and Pepper share a very romantic moment on a moonlit rooftop.

Tony trash-talks his robots, threatening to do something bad to them.

Tony builds something:

• scientifically impossible
• important to his future survival
• while wearing a black undershirt
• in captivity
• under extreme pressure.

Come to think of it, Iron Man and Iron Man 2 are kind of the same movie.

If you can think of things that happen in BOTH movies that I haven't posted, add them in the comments.