Lost - Making It Up As They Went Along

I did not follow lost for the first couple of seasons. I watched a few minutes here and there, but just could not get into it. Then after reading some of the poker blogs that recapped the show, it seemed more interesting, so I started watching. There were some many twists, turns, and unanswered questions, that I found myself convinced from the beginning that they were just making the story up as they went along. As a result there would be no way to tie everything together and explain everything at the end. I found myself watching this season, just to see if they would even try to explain everything. After about 15 minutes into last nights series final, it was obvious that they had no intentions of explaining anything (because they could not), so they went with the "It Was All a Dream" type ending. No reason to explain what happened in a dream, right? So if you make the story up as you go along, and can't conclude things, you just call the whole thing a dream. Sorry, but you guys are not cutting any new literary ground here, you are just literally lazy. A good writer knows the end before the writing starts. That's how you keep things consistent. With no idea how the thing is going to end you just leave a giant unresolved mess. That's what the ending of lost was. A giant unresolved mess.

Now the losties that were interviewed after the show loved it, and claimed that it answered their questions. LOL. What was exactly explained? To me there were still more questions than answers in the final. Lazy viewers impressed by lazy writers. That's all. I am not going to bother trying to give my thoughts on the island stuff, since it never really happened and was all a dream. A couple things bothered me in the final though. After all this build-up, the smoke monster gets killed by getting shot? And after the smoke monster is killed, he retains to form of Locke? I thought the smoke monster was just arranging the smoke to look like Locke? How does this work when he is dead? He should have just dissipated or returned to his original human form, but again lazy writing. Now for the church ending. You really can't have it both ways here, but that’s what the writers went for. If the whole thing (island sequences, flash forwards, flash backs, flash sideways) were just a dream to those who died in the crash, and never really happened, then how come these people are so special to each other that they had to reserve a meeting place in heaven or wherever they were. If the whole thing was a dream, then they are just random people on a doomed airplane, and have zero connection beyond that. You really need the island to be real for these people to mean something to each other. You can't have it be a dream, and a meaningful reality at the same time.

Now for those losties out there that can't wait to rewatch the 6 years now that they know how it has ended, to better understand it, you are simply crazy. The writers did not know how it was going to end back then, so anything you notice on rewatching, has zero to do with an ending that was not conceived at the time. What powers did the island ultimately have? The power of cupid. Look how many hook-ups the island gods made happen with just a handful of people of the island. Lost island is a great place to go if you are a complete loser and need to find a soul mate, as long as you are willing to die before any of that really happens.

Retarded Congress Still Investigating the "Flash Crash"

Last week the Dow dropped 10% intraday before recovering most of it's losses. The mid-day sharp drop off was called a "Flash Crash". There was speculation that a single error by a trader caused this, and measures need to be put in place to stop it. Congress is just getting more retarded by the minute here. This is what really happened. The Fed has been building another stock market bubble over the last year or so. They have interest rates so low, that you can't earn any return on safe investments like savings accounts or CDs. That puts a ton of pressure on people to move their money into the stock market, to get some form of reasonable return. These people do not want to put their money into the market though, because it is not safe, and is way overvalued. Now that the bubble is pretty well inflated, people are looking for any sign of trouble to get out. A bad start to the trading day last week was the sign of trouble people were looking for, and they got the fuck out of the stock market. They were behaving rational, while the stock market is not. So how about this Congress? The stock market is way overvalued as a result of the Fed's easy money policies. The correct value is way below 10,000 for the Dow. The flash crash did not even get us close to fair value, but it was a step in the right direction, proving stock markets can get it right over time. So today, while Congressional hearings continue on the subject, the market is trading near the intraday bottom from last week. This tells me the markewt was simply overvalued and moving towards a correct valuation, but I knew that already. Congress should be investigating why the market snapped back intraday during the "Flash Crash", as that was a move that can't be supported by fundamentals. How about this? If you don't want to see the stock market crash, quit creating stock market bubbles. Bubbles can never last, and this one will not either. When you see the stock market running up day after day, you know something is not right. This was the behaviour prior to the Tech bubble in the late 90s, and we know what happened after that. Learn some lessons from the past, and stop with all these bubbles please. And don't act stupid when a bubble you created bursts. It just makes you look even more retarded than before.

Both Wars and Economy now Officially Obama's

Obama promised to do many things when he ran for office. He promised to end the war in Iraq within 16 months and close down the Guantanamo detention center. He promised to fix an economy that he claimed was broken by Bush. He promised to bring positive change to Washington. Well you have failed on all promises and now its time to own up to your own actions and stop blaming Bush for the problems you have created or allowed to continue.

Iraq War

You have had your 16 months and we are still there with no end in site. This war is now your war Barrack Obama.

Afghanistan War

You chose to execute a surge strategy vs. cutting our losses and getting out of a war that can never be won. What would winning in Afghanistan look like anyway? This is now and will forever going forward be your war Barrack Obama.

Guantanamo Bay Detention Center

You signed an executive order your first week in office to close this facility with-in one year. Its been way past a year now, and it is still open with no plans to close it. This is now officially your terrorist detention center Barrack Obama.

The Economy

You have spent 10x the amount of money that any president ever has in an effort to "fix" the economy. You have had the Congress on your side, and had the ability to get just about any bill you wanted through. You spent the second $400 billion of the Tarp funds. You signed a $800 billion "Stimulus" bill. You have had a never ending string of programs like "cash for clunkers", "cash for caulkers", and numerous foreclosure prevention programs. You point to the GDP numbers and the stock market, and take credit for turning the economy around. With all the money you have spent, and all the programs (your programs) you have initiated over the last 16 months, it is pretty hard to argue this is still Bush's economy. Bush would have had it fixed by now like he did after 9-11 by actually cutting taxes. It is now officially your economy, and your problem. Unemployment has risen from 6% to 10% during this time when all the money was spent, and it is not coming down anytime soon as a result of your retarded policies that incentivize laziness, and discourage hard work. Foreclosures in the recent quarter are at an all-time high, as are mortgage delinquencies. You have completely wrecked the housing and private employment markets, and it is time you own up to this Barrack Obama.

Positive Change in Washington

OK, you did not technically run on positive change. You ran on just plain change, and change things you have. You are not willing to work at all with the Republicans, who are the only ones with actual solutions. You have cheated and bastardized the system to ram unpopular bills though. You have lied over and over again about the contents of bills, while accusing your opponents of distorting the facts. We are stuck with your crappy health care bill that will bankrupt the country, and does not lower costs or the deficit as YOU yourself promised over and over again (The American people never believed you and were solidly against this bill). Now that the CBO has re-scored the bill to show that it does not lower costs, and increases the deficit over the next 10 years, an honest politician would be looking to fix those two substantial issues, and deliver what he had promised. Are you going to revisit the health care bill now that you have been proven wrong, or are you just going to throw it over the fence so the next president can repeal it before it takes effect. You are a slimy Chicago politician, who lives and breaths corruption, and will go down as the worst president ever.

BBT5 Musings

Well I am not off to a great start in the BBT5 to say the least. I have played in just 4 of the first 7 events, with no cashes. I bounced out first or second in my first attempt. This was noticed by Hoyazo who grouped me in with some other bloggers who he believes are playing poorly so far in the BBT5. I already recapped the hand, and I will stick with my play ( I had much more than top pair BTW) in that one. The other three that I have played I really got nothing going early at all. Early in MTTs when I am deep stacked, I play pretty much automatic poker. I just play my game and let what happens happen. I never go into a MTT expecting to win or even trying to win. I go in expecting to play my special brand of MTT play that I know works. If I play well and play my game, I am happy regardless of the results. I was profitable in each of the prior (4) BBT Series taking this approach. So even though I have 4 poor results so far, my play has been decent with no major mistakes. I just have not been getting into any good situations early on. When this happens, I am perfectly happy skipping along the bottom of the leaderboard from the mid-point on, waiting for things to start going my way. In the Mookie, last week this was the case, and I skipped along the bottom until about 2/3 of the field was gone before running my QQ into JJ all in preflop on a 14k+ pot that would have finally provided some breathing room for a final table run.

So tonight brings another Mookie that should have about 100 runners. I am running out of time for a TOC seat, and for some cash to get me positive on the BBT5. I am not expecting to win, but I am expecting to have an easier run through the early stages one of these times. When I run good early, it helps me to focus and target the final table. Looks like I could use the help.

BBT5 Info

Tournament: Poker From the Rail
When: Monday, April 19th through May 24th starting at 22:00ET
Game: Deepstack NLHE
Buyin: $24+2 (or token)*
Password: 2010WSOP

Tournament: The Mookie
When: Wednesday, April 21st through May 26th starting at 22:00ET
Game: Deepstack NLHE
Buyin: $10+1*
Password: vegas1

*Winner also receives ToC entry

Tournament: Battle of the Blogger Tournaments Invitational
When: Sunday, April 18th through May 23rd starting at 19:00ET
Game: Deepstack NLHE
Buyin: Restricted freeroll**

**$2,000 Prizepool + 1st and 2nd place receive ToC entry

Tournament: Blogger Battle Royale
When: Sunday, June 6th starting at 14:00ET
Game: Deepstack NLHE
Buyin: Freeroll for BBT participating bloggers