one line: beyond blackness

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 09:03:16 -0800

He is both black (obviously) and beyond blackness.

I have only minor quibble with the films they selected (and those they left out) but reading the pieces, I get that really they are just using these films to talk about a person or a moment in time that they want to play out.

I have major quibble, however, with this statement and the context it is placed in. I'm growing increasingly of the opinion that we -- all of us -- don't know what the hell we're talking about anymore when we talk about race. Trying to understand what Will Smith's success means and relating that to Barack Obama's ascent this year is such an oversimplification that I can't quite deal.

What the hell does "beyond blackness" mean in this context? Transcendence? Cross-over? Neither word works. Neither man has eschewed nor, in most cases, traded on their race and, in my opinion, it is ridiculous to couch their success in terms of "because of" or "in spite of" their skin color.

I've seen this moment in time being discussed as post-racial. That's problematic as well. I do think we're differently racial these days. I also think, however, that we're quick to try to define where we are without understanding much of anything. This isn't unique to this matter, it just annoys me more than most things. We are both tentative and cavalier with issues of race in America that this kind of clunky, ham-handed attempt at writing about it only exacerbates the misconceptions.

And infuriates me.

FAIL. Try again.

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Lost: Concussed Perchance to Dream (Spoilers)

nobody@vox.com(Jason) — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:08:15 -0800

I usually wait two or three days before posting about TV shows to give the slow-movers time to catch up but since I seem to need to write today and I was supposed to be on a plane tonight instead of waiting for Grey's Anatomy to get sucked into the Tivo, I'm not waiting.

This week, Lost attempts to explain Desmond's premonitions without actually explaining it. I don't believe Desmond turned the key and went back in time. I believe he was concussed and had a seriously deep dream. The clues: we get the countdown beep from the microwave, the numbers are repeated, phrases are repeated, the song playing on the jukebox is the same song that was playing when we first met Desmond in the hatch, the jeweler's name is Ms. Hawking as in Stephen Hawking as in the author of "A Brief History of Time" (a book that was also featured in last week's episode), he's aware that things aren't quite right, the sequence is treated like our standard show flashbacks but it is the first flashback when elements of the Island are presented in "the real world".

And, it still doesn't explain why he woke wearing no clothes and well above ground of the exploded hatch or how and when he sees these flashes of the future.

Lost is currently exploring the concept of Time on the Island. The Lost Time anagram for Mittelos Science last week is an example as is the knowledge that Juliet and Desmond have been on the Island for approximately the same time, and so on and so forth. They just haven't gone at it head on. I still get the feeling that the show is too busy winking at the audience obsessives to actually move the plot along.

Also, does everyone have to have Daddy issues? Shannon and Boone had Mommy issues but they are both dead so what does that say? Fathers may piss you off but mothers kill you? Ugh.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Desmond episodes and anytime Charlie gets his ass kicked is a plus in my book but, sigh, give me something juicy or appropriately mysterious. Nothing in these first two episodes has been overly compelling.

At least those two new kids whose names I can't remember didn't show up to the drinking party.

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one line: beyond blackness

Lost: Concussed Perchance to Dream (Spoilers)