An Overactive Imagination

I think I watched too much Matilda as a child. I loved the movie. I recall it being one of the ones I'd rent over and over again. I haven't watched it in full in a number of years, and wouldn't mind revisiting it one day.

Anyways, in the movie, the title character, Matilda, develops telekinetic powers to combat her mean parents and evil principal. I have a strange irrational fear that stems from my painfully overactive imagination: I am afraid that anything I imagine or think about will come true. I also immediately envision anything anyone tells me. I often get myself very worked up after I have nightmares involving something happening to someone I care about.

But in many ways, this overactive imagination of mine is a good thing. I tend to live in the clouds a little bit. I've always been like that. When I was 13, and really starting to get into movies, I fantasized about being "discovered", and becoming a famous Hollywood actress. I would star in the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel as Johnny Depp's sidekick. Depp would take me under his wing, and I'd spend vacations in France going to the beach with him and his family. I'd win an Oscar for my amazing performance, and I'd tearfully thank Depp for being my role model and my inspiration. I even had the entire plot line for the sequel plotted out. In my version, Mel Gibson played Bootstrap Bill. This was before his anti-semitic rant. As you all notice, I say nothing about a romantic relationship with Mr. Depp. I never really fantasized about that. Again, due to my overactive imagination, I thought that if I fantasized about that, something would happen between him and Vanessa Paradis, and he seemed like a pretty happy guy to me. I was perfectly happy being his sidekick.

As you all know, the sequels came and went. I did not star in them. I didn't even cameo in them. So...if my imagination is so powerful...why am I not in France right now drinking expensive wine with Johnny Depp?

Music Videos

After posting my montage, I've found myself thinking about music videos lately. I'm not a big music person (lack of musical education, I don't know what's "good"), but I do often find myself opening up YouTube in search of a song or two to play while I do my homework. Sometimes I end up watching the music videos.

Music videos are like a little movie. They often tell a story, related to the "story" within a song. These are the ones I like the best. My favourite songs are sad songs, so adding sad imagery that follows the story of the song is very moving to me. While studying today, I started playing my current favourite song "Sometime Around Midnight" by the Airborne Toxic Event. This song has two music videos: the older one directed by Jason Wishnow. The second one was filmed after the song gained popularity, and was directed by D.J. Caruso. He's known for directing the movies Disturbia and Eagle Eye.

I just had a very bizarre experience. I'd planned to write about how the first video is miles above the second one, in terms of emotion and power, but I watched both videos...and the first one didn't quite move me. Sure, I felt something, but there were no tears. I watched the second one, and it moved me much more than the first. Maybe it's because I've played the song about six times in a row by now. Or maybe it's because of the awesome story behind the song. Video #1 tells the story of the song. Video #2 tells the story of how the song was written.

Since I have a tendency to write when I am hurting - poetry, fiction, diary entries, et cetera, maybe video #2 resonates with me more now that I'm not "living" the song in a way I once was. Here's both of them:

Video #1:






Which one do you prefer? Which one do you feel best captures the "tone" of the song. I still think I prefer the first video.

I Collect Things

I like to collect things. I chalk it up to being a naturally sentimental person, and many of the things I collect have strong memories attached to them. I took some pictures of the things I collect, and thought I'd share them.

Beanie Babies
(my shelf is so big, I had to do it in two photos!)





I haven't added to this collection in a number of years, but I like to keep them on display. As a child, I spent about six years collecting Beanie Babies with the help of my Mom. She'd go out and buy a bunch of them whenever new ones came out, and I'd pay her back or she'd give them to me as gifts. I'm not sure which, if any are worth anything anymore, but I don't know if I'd sell them anyway. They are such a big part of my childhood, so there's that nostalgia value to them.

Ticket Stubs





These are just a few of the ticket stubs I have. I keep them all in a photo album, mostly because I don't have anywhere better to keep them. The album is getting full though, so I'll need to buy another soon. I started collecting them when I was 13...at first because I was too lazy to throw out my stubs, but then I realized I was getting a sizable collection, and decided to stick with it. Since then, I've saved almost every stub, from movies, concerts, sporting events, plays, etc. Usually I'll group them together in no particular order, but the really "special" ones, from events I want to remember get their own sleeve, along with any other stubs that I feel are relevant.

DVDs





Some of those are video games, but most of them are my DVDs. I remember receiving my very first DVD on my 14th birthday: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Since then, I've built up a collection of about 120 DVDs - mostly movies, but there is also some TV on DVD in there. I used to buy a movie or two a month, but since CreComm that habit has stopped.

Books






Most of these are mine, but a few belong to my Dad. These are only a few of the books I own: I have many more up in my room. In fact, this shelf used to be for my Dad's books, but I've since taken it over. I started buying books after I graduated high school, since I found that I no longer had easy access to books. Yes, there's a library near my house, but I've found that I really like owning books. It feels good to go into a book store, spend two hours looking around, and drop $150 on a bunch of different books. But I don't do that anymore, again, because of CreComm. I don't really have time to read, so I've got a bunch of unread books sitting in my room.

What do you collect? Post pictures!

Going Through my Closet

I got inspiration from Kenton's blog entry. I tend to keep things around much longer than I should, so my closet is always less-than-organized chaos. My whole room is, really, because school keeps me from organizing things properly. It doesn't help that I'm naturally a very sentimental person. For example: I have a photo album where I've kept every movie stub I've gotten from the past 5 years. In this album I also have photos, and other little mementos. I didn't take a photo of the album, because there really isn't anything visually appealing about hundreds of movie stubs.

But the really interesting stuff is in my closet. Here's a peek into a normally closed off part of my life:



Chocolate! I went to a Halloween social last year, and won a chocolate fountain, and a ridiculous amount of chocolate. These are baking wafers I believe, presumably for use with the fountain, but since I've never used the fountain...I haven't really eaten many of the wafers. I'd actually forgotten I had all this, so my jaw dropped when I saw all of it. I had a few pieces and it still tastes good to me, so I should get on eating it. Does anyone want to help me?



One of my many boxes of stuff. In this photo there are:

A yellow t-shirt I received from the Women in Media camp I went to back in 2004 (I think it was 2004...). It was held at the Red River College Princess Street Campus, and the councillors were CreComm students! We filmed a documentary as part of the camp, and it was a great time.

The white t-shirt has a design I screen printed on it back in the 8th grade.

The yellow and orange box contains an assortment of cool rocks and little fossilized sea animals. I was really into dinosaurs as a kid.

A Canadian flag

Various teenie beanie babies

A ceramic shoe (huh?)

A pipe cleaner and bead crab I made as a kid with the help of my aunt.


My childhood blanket. Well, one of them. My original blanket (which looked just like this one) was lost in St. Vital Centre when I was 4 or 5. I think my brother threw it in the garbage and I didn't realize it until I got home. We went back to the mall, but we couldn't find it, so my parents got out the "other half" of the blanket, gave it to me, and the crisis was averted. It just sits on a shelf in my closet, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it. I guess because it was such a huge part of my childhood. I doubt I'll ever find a use for it, as it is too ratty to give to anyone or do anything with, but it can sit in my closet for awhile longer.

IPP Presentations 2010

I have spent the last three days attending the 2010 IPP Presentations at The Park Theatre. It has been a great experience for me, and it was great to see what I will be doing a year from now.

It was also very overwhelming. The amazing quality of the projects all the second year students presented blew me away. I am honestly not sure how I will ever live up to many of the IPPs that were done. I've been inspired further to do a great job on my own IPP. I've had the idea for a few months now, and I hope it gets through the panel, because I've become so passionate about it already. I loved the emotion I felt through the presentations. Some made me laugh hysterically, while others made me cry. Some did both. I started to imagine what my 'thank you' speech will be like, and for all my fellow first years: put all your 'crying pool' money on me, 'cause I can almost guarantee I'll shed a tear or two during the thank you portion. I'm also imagining what I'll wear when I give my presentation. And I am trying not to imagine falling off the stage in the heels I will likely be wearing. Ladies and gentlemen: you all looked classy and fantastic up on stage!

Another thing I enjoyed was the diversity of the projects. We had charity events, music promotion, musicians, novels, animations, graphic novels, films, radio documentaries, television documentaries, news/sports directing, and that's just off the top of my head. As I said, I've had my idea for awhile, but it was interesting to see what other directions I could go in. Hearing the difficulties some people had filled me with some serious anxiety, though. You all are troopers!

I want to thank my peers in second year for setting the bar so high. We've got a lot of work to do, but you've been an inspiration!

Facebook Versus Twitter: A Look at Two Very Different Social Networks

I use both Facebook and Twitter. A lot. I have noticed that my use of these websites is very different, and most individuals I know who use both use them in very different ways.

I have been on Facebook for about two and a half years now, which I find interesting, since I swore I would never, ever get it while I was in high school. By a couple months into my first year of University, I took the plunge, and have never looked back. I use it to keep in touch with friends I may otherwise never hear anything from. There is a significant downside however: there is a serious lack of privacy. Unless you change your settings, your entire friend list sees every photo you post, every time your relationship status changes and every status update. Therefore, while I am a fairly open person, I definitely do not use Facebook as a place to air out my dirty laundry most of the time. It is one thing to say you’re having a bad day, it’s entirely another to make thinly veiled attacks at individuals who scorn you.

I rarely go on Facebook for news or interesting links. Occasionally I will get a link to a song someone likes, or a blog entry someone wrote, but for the most part, the news I receive pertains directly to the person who posts it. I’ve also noticed that it is a great place to share photos. Have a new baby? Excellent, post photos for all of your friends to see! For me, a good person to “friend” is someone that I know, and am interested in hearing from or about. I do not “friend” strangers, since I do not want someone I do not know reading about my life, even a censored version of it.

Twitter is very different. It is much less complex than Facebook, in the sense that it does a lot less. You can post the equivalent of “status updates” to your followers, direct messages, and retweet interesting comments. I’ve said it before, but I use Twitter a lot to get my news, from the Winnipeg Free Press, and other news sources. Twitter is my “business” social network. I try to keep things fairly school appropriate, and communicate with fellow CreComms on it. Twitter is really good for keeping in touch with CreComm students and instructors: if I have a question, I’ll tweet it and usually I’ll get a timely response. Twitter is what I use to promote my blog much of the time, because my profile is open (meaning anyone can read my tweets if they want), and I figure my followers on Twitter are more likely to read it than my Facebook friends.

I never had any reservations about joining Twitter, which is surprising, since many people I know have or had reservations about it. I simply heard about it, and decided to join when I learned that Frank Warren, the creator of PostSecret, had an account on it. I started following more people, and gradually found a reason to start checking it every day, and the rest is history. As for who is a good person to follow on Twitter, it is simple for me: who will provide content that interests me, or amuses me?

As for a strategic use of Twitter and Facebook for PR, I feel the demographics are fairly different. The best way to use Facebook in a PR strategy will be to create a fan page, group, or event, and try to gain members, fans and attendees. You can also post links on your Facebook, but I find that often times, people ignore those postings, so the best way to reach lots of people is to create a group and promote it in hopes of getting a large number of members. Facebook is good for reaching a large number of people, but they have to have joined your group first, which means you often have to send out invites, and hope people join, and that their friends join based on reading it in their news feed.

Twitter is a little different. What you can do is create an account specific to what you are trying to promote, and start tweeting about the event, film, et cetera. Follow individuals that are relevant to what you are trying to promote. For example, if you are trying to promote a local film, follow local actors or directors, and start a dialogue with them. People will see this, may find what you have to say interesting, and start following you. Use hashtags, and words that people will commonly search, such as the word “film” or “independent”. If people happen to be searching those words about the time you post your tweet, they may find it, go to your profile, and decide you are worth following. But to me, the worst thing to do is create a Twitter account merely to advertise a product. Nobody will follow you back if you don’t have anything interesting to say. Post links to relevant news articles, to the official website, post tweets with a neat fact about what you’re trying to promote. And engage your followers in a dialogue—read their tweets and send them one back! We all like to have our tweets acknowledged, and I would be more receptive to someone’s message if they took the time to read what I have to say first.

In the Chamber 2010

Today I attended "In the Chamber", where two plays were shown, "Last Man in Krakendorf", and "Last Man in Puntarenas". It was certainly an interesting experience.

I liked "Last Man in Krakendorf" by Gordon Tanner better. It was a very dark monologue performed by a character who is feeling anger about factory farming, and the hog barn fire in a Manitoba community. He spent twenty years of his life working in the farm industry, and was appalled at the way the hogs were treated, and the horrible deaths all 15,000 pigs suffered. It was dark, but often times very funny. That being said, the humour pushes boundaries at time and could potentially be offensive to some.

Tanner, who also performed in the play is filming a sort of plea to an unseen character, and uses a power point presentation during the play. On at least one occasion, he stood very close to the wall it was being projected on, and his face was drowned out. I would have liked to have been able to see his face at that moment, as he was reacting in a fairly emotional way. The power point presentation was a good addition to the play, but the logistics needed to be worked out better so Tanner's face is not washed out at any point.

I liked this play, but it was overly long. A good twenty minutes could have been cut without losing anything. In fact, it would have added impact to the story, since by the end, I felt a bit tired of it, and was ready for it to end.

***

I really disliked Steven Ratzlaff's "Last Man in Puntarenas", however. It was about a man giving a speech at a dinner in his honour. He's celebrating quitting his job in the medical field, and is telling the story of how he got involved in the bureaucratic position he held. Throughout the play, the (unseen) members of his audience leave one by one, because they are alienated by this man's rant. Quite frankly, I felt the same way the invisible audience did. Maybe I just could not relate to him. But mostly, the story felt grating, and by the halfway point, I was checking my watch every five minutes (never a good sign).

I interpreted Ratzlaff's story as being one of refusing to let go. His marriage to his wife ended after the death of their son, who died at 16 months of age. It could have been a really touching story, but I think, again, because of the length of the monologue, it went on much too long, and it became boring. There were some attempts at humour within this play, and the odd time I did chuckle, but it seemed to fall flat most of the time.

***

Monologues can be a great way of performing theatre, but it has to be able to hold the attention of the audience. These two (mostly) one person plays did not have enough material to warrant the 50 minutes each were given, so eventually both become dull and tired. Both would have worked much better as half hour plays.

Balloon Boy Hoax

We were discussing pseudo-events in PR class, and I thought it would be fun to discuss one of the more recent and well known examples.

I’m sure everyone now knows about the “Balloon Boy” hoax of 2009. On October 15^th, Falcon Heene was reported missing, and it was reported by his parents that he had “floated away” in a weather balloon. Media swarmed to Fort Collins, Colorado to offer live coverage of what would seemingly be a tragic story. Things took a turn for the worse when the balloon landed without little Falcon inside, leaving the world believing that he had fallen out. Luckily, he was found to be safe and hiding in his attic.

The world media was amazed by this story, and obviously there was a lot of coverage of the event. Suspicions arose when Falcon said in an interview that "You had said that we did this for a show." Was this a hoax planned to generate media coverage? Eventually, it was decided that yes, it was.

Richard and Mayumi Heene, Falcon’s parents eventually pleaded guilty to all of the charges laid against them, and both were given jail sentences. Richard Heene wanted publicity to try to sell his reality TV show idea, The Science Detectives. Because of this hoax, no network would dare touch his proposed TV show, and they are not allowed to make any money off of this hoax for four years. This essentially means they won’t make any money off of “Balloon Boy”, since I can’t see many people caring four years from now.

I would say that the Heene’s have only lost money from this hoax, and damaged not only their lives but the lives of their children. They now have lawyer fees, fines, a criminal record, and a loss of potential work to contend with. Their children spent time in the spotlight, which can be considered damaging, especially for Falcon. For the rest of his life, Falcon (an already uncommon name) will always be known as “Balloon Boy”. Creating a pseudo-event based on exploiting a child, and having the world media thinking said child is in danger is a remarkably stupid idea. Of course the media and emergency officials are going to be mad that the child was never actually in danger in the first place. What a waste of their time, and money! The general public are going to be annoyed that they wasted so much time following a story that ended up merely being a poorly orchestrated hoax. Not to mention being angry at the exploitation of a child.

Richard Heene claims that he pleaded guilty to protect Mayumi, who could have been deported if she was convicted of a felony. He says that he really thought Falcon was in danger, which I don't believe for a second. I think he's just looking to stay in the spotlight for as long as he possibly can. By making these outlandish statements, stories will be written about him, and he'll be talked about for another week or two as he starts serving his 90 days in prison.

I think the Heene’s got “addicted” to the idea of fame and fortune. They had appeared on ABC’s Wife Swap twice, were fan favourites on that show, and were seen as being a fairly eccentric family. The longing for more money and more attention created desperation. Maybe they thought nobody would find out it was a hoax, but that’s a rather naïve thought. The media is ruthless, and will almost always find out the truth. That, and you never want to trust a six year old boy to keep a secret.

Thank You to my Readers (and Happy Holidays!)

It's nearing the end of the semester, and I'd like to take a moment and say a genuine thank you to all of my loyal readers. Here are a few in particular:

Amanda's Mom- Thank you for being so supportive, not only of Amanda, but all of us. It really means a lot to all of us.

Kenton- Your comments are so awesome, thank you very much for reading all my entries! Love your blog too.

Kirk- You're the most supportive boyfriend ever, and it means a lot that you read all of my work. :)

Melanie- You have been an excellent instructor, and I feel I learned a lot. I also enjoy reading your blog, it's very informative.

And for everyone else who reads: Thank you. And happy holidays for everyone, be sure to take it easy (and indulge just a little bit)!

Twitter

Today in Melanie's PR class, we learned how to use Twitter. I've been using Twitter for about six months now, as @MissJenh. I started to follow @postsecret but kept with it after I realized just how useful it was. Around the time of the Iranian election was when I started checking it every single day. Twitter was an invaluable resource for the Iranian people at that time, and I found myself worrying when the people I followed stopped updating. Were they arrested? Or even killed? Several accounts stopped updating long ago, and I was told by a friend that, that was because Iran cut off the internet in the country...but I fear something worse happened to them. I know for sure one of the people behind @persiankiwi was arrested, but I believe they were later released. I found they were the best source for news on the protests in Iran. I really got behind their fight, and even changed my time zone to Tehran time (and kept it there until yesterday in fact) to help throw off the Iranian government, who were looking for these brave individuals.

Now I use it to get my news, and to get a good giggle on occasion from @simonpegg and @ThatKevinSmith. I follow folks at the Winnipeg Free Press, but my favourite news source on Twitter is @shortformblog. It gives the news in one sentence format, and provides a link to the actual news story, should you choose to read it in full. It's a great way to get news on the go.

It has only been recently that I've started communicating with people I know "in person" on Twitter. Before that, my own updates were infrequent and I used it to get my news. But now I'm communicating with people I know more and more, so I feel like I am getting more out of Twitter than I was before. I think it is useful for PR folks, and other people in the communication industry, because it allows you to get your message out to a number of people, very quickly. You are not relying on the mass media to get your message out, so you can do it on your own terms, albeit in 140 characters or less. You can provide useful links to your followers about what your organization stands for, and advertise products. I think taking advantage of social networking is essential to getting your organization off the ground. Why would one turn down the chance to spread the word, promote and advertise their organization? I think in this day and age it would be foolish not to take advantage of Twitter.

My Twitter account is used both recreationally and professionally. I follow a large variety of people, and tweet about school stuff, link to things online I find interesting, and stuff about day to day life. Since starting CreComm, I have tried to keep my own personal tweets fairly work safe, meaning free of course language (difficult because I can have quite the sailor mouth and it has been difficult to keep this blog free of curse words), nudity, and the like. I've become fairly devoted, and at least skim through every tweet I receive on my home page, and check it at least once a day.

I hope to see you all on Twitter, and if you have any people you think I should be following...let me know!

Happy Halloween!

I haven't had time to watch any films since Dead Snow, so I thought I would go off topic and speak about Halloween.

I quite enjoy Halloween, particularly the candy part. I have a serious sweet tooth, and as soon as my Mom buys the candy, I dig right into it. So much so, that my parents tease me about it. An example: the other day I decided to try a yellow tootsie roll pop, thinking that it would be lemon flavoured. It wasn't. It was the dreaded banana flavour, so I cringed, and offered it to my parents. They both refused, and my Dad, in a mock serious tone, said something like "You are going to eat that Jennifer". I laughed. Then I ate it...very quickly, because I just can't waste candy, even the really bad stuff. However, the yellow tootsie roll pops are at the very top of the bowl of candy, so we're going to give them away.

From the age of 14 until I was 18, Halloween lost some of its appeal because I was too old to go out trick or treating and too young to go to any of the "adult" social functions. When I was 17, and in my first year of University, I put on a Scream mask and gave candy to kids, and really enjoyed that. But last year was the first year I got to really dress up and go out to a party. I went way overboard and bought a rather expensive costume at "Party Stuff", but it was a good night. This year I went the cheaper route and put together my own costume, which I wore at school. I'm probably going to wear the same costume I wore last year for the event I'll be going to tonight. My Dad suggested I wear a suit because of the costume Kirk is wearing but I'm not so sure about that. Don't know if I could pull off wearing my brother or my Dad's suit.

Surprisingly enough, I don't watch a lot of the Halloween specials. I was never into Charlie Brown as a kid, so I've only seen pieces of that. I'm not going to have time to watch a scary movie tonight, I'm thinking, so my horror movie watching last week will have to do in that department. I don't actually own a lot of horror movies, because I get so scared. I have Shaun of the Dead, which is closer to a comedy, 28 Days Later, which is a brilliant film, and The Ring 2, which was a gift, and not a movie I cared for too much. I may have to put in 28 Days Later sometime soon. Maybe even with the lights off to set the atmosphere. I do also have The Nightmare Before Christmas on VHS, my Dad was awesome enough to track down buy for me a year ago because I'd never seen it and Disney had it in the awful "Disney vault" at the time. It's since been released again and I'm thinking about buying it on DVD because I love it so much, and VHS is a near dead technology.

I hope you all have great Halloween plans and have a Happy Halloween!

Art, and the Ability it has to Move Us

I love art. Of all types. I love film and television (obviously), literature, paintings/drawings/more "classic" artwork, and even music, though I am not very educated musically. What I love is the ability art has to make us feel something, whether it makes us happy, sad or even angry. I just wanted to take some time to share pieces of art that have really moved me recently.

Sometime Around Midnight--The Airborne Toxic Event



(I've also included a link to the video itself, as it cannot be embedded and the video is so moving, that I feel it's part of the "experience" of the song)

I discovered this song at the beginning of the summer when I heard it on the radio. It took me awhile to actually listen to the lyrics and discover the meaning of the song (initially what I enjoyed was the emotion in singer Mikel Jollett's voice). Once I really listened to the lyrics, I cried, because it was exactly what I was going through at the time. I love the music itself; the violin is probably my favourite instrument and it's used very effectively. And how the emotion in the song builds. It starts calm, with an almost indifferent tone, and it slowly builds to the climax (Oh and when your friends say,“What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”), where Jollett sings with so much pain and emotion in his voice, to the point where it sounds as if he's almost screaming in agony. It's beautiful.

As I said earlier, I can really relate to this song. I lived it over the summer. And sometimes, when the situation I was in was really hurting me, I'd put on this song, and cry it out, and it was about the most cathartic thing I could do. It wasn't the only song I'd play at those times, there were many others, but this is the one I wanted to give special mention to. Thankfully I've moved past everything from the summer, but it is still a song that moves me very much. And I gotta say, I've never written this much about a song before.

LOST

(Yes, I believe television is an art form, as I stated earlier in this entry.)

Lost is my favourite tv show, by far. I discuss it, almost obsessively when it is airing, I have my own theories about what's going to happen, and am even reluctant to go out while it is airing because I'm paranoid my VCR will die and it won't tape!

This show has me feeling a whole range of emotions. I've felt great happiness, sadness, anger, even frustration (such as when we don't find out what's going on, or during some of the "weaker" episodes). I believe every single season finale so far has had me shedding tears at some point, and certainly every season so far has had at least one or two episodes (sometimes more) make me cry. Every season finale has left me frozen in shock as well, and longing for more! The most recent season finale has been the best (or perhaps worst?) for that, the minute it ended, I found myself shaking, tears rolling down my cheeks, wishing for more. I'm still waiting for January to roll around, so I can get into the final season.

I just wanted to highlight one particularly moving moment from the fourth season (there will be season 4 spoilers, season four not being the most recent season, but the one before the most recent season):

Desmond speaks to Penny on the phone ("The Constant")

Just a bit of background information: Desmond's mind was travelling between 1996, and 2004, because after leaving the island, he experienced a "time shift". Once the chopper landed on the freighter, Desmond spoke to someone experiencing the same thing, and saw this man die. After speaking to Daniel Faraday both via walkie talkie in 2004, and finding him at Oxford in 1996, Desmond learns he needs a "constant" to stop the time shifts. A constant is someone you know from both times. Desmond picks Penny, his ex-girlfriend, whom he still loves. In 1996, he convinces Penny to give him her phone number, and tells her that he will call her Christmas Eve in eight years. He returns to 2004, remembers the number, dials it, and upon speaking to her, his mind recovers.

Desmond had been trapped on the island for years, after his boat crashed onto the island. All that time, he's been longing for Penny, and wanting to return to her. That phone call was the first time they'd talked in years, so hearing them profess their love for each other was amazing. As was knowing that phone call saved Desmond's life. The actors Henry Ian Cusick and Sonya Walger played the scene perfectly.

(Have I mentioned that Desmond is also my favourite character? And that their love story is my favourite love story on television?)

When I first watched this scene, I actually had to stop it midway through that scene (I'd taped it because I worked the night it was on) because I was crying so hard I couldn't see the screen or hear what they were saying. Afterwards I rewound the tape and watched the scene again. And again.

Later on in the season, you find out that their phone call lead directly to the rescue of some of the "Oceanic 6". Another very touching moment in that season, as the clip I linked to shows their actual reunion.


(end spoilers)




As you can see, I am a bit of a romantic, and things to do with love or lost love move me. :) I also got a bit carried away with my write-ups, so I'll probably devote another entry or two to the subject of very moving art at later dates. Here's my question for those who choose to comment: What piece of art (any medium) moves you? I mean that in any way, my examples were ones that made me cry, but yours can be ones that fill you with joy, or make you angry. Anything, I care what YOU think!