Wow.

That was just a little intense.

Quite a bit more satisfying of a season opener that Lost was.

Not sure I like the way they took the New Capricans, especially the suicide bombers. Drawing a bit too much moral equivalency to current events. It has been said that this season would be quite a bit darker than seasons 1 and 2, and if this episode is any indication, they weren’t kidding.

Kinda ruined the cliffhanger a little when they showed the previews for the next episode.

I just wish SciFi came in High Def.

Lost is back and, as usual, each episode poses more new questions than it answers. We now know Henry is really Ben, and he and Juliet seem to be running the “other” show, but what were the other’s doing living in a version of Stepford in the middle of the island when the plane crashed? And why were they so unsurprised when they saw it break up and crash, kicking into action a plan that they seemed to be prepared for?

And what did Jack’s flashbacks have to do with his situation on the island at that point? And where is every one else? Michael and Walt? Sayid, Jin and Sun? Hurley? Locke and Eko?

Boy the weeks are going to go slow between episodes this season… and what is this I hear about 6 episodes and then a hiatus until FEBRUARY? ARGH!

O well, BSG on Friday!

Today’s Apple Goodness:

• New iPod Shuffle (tiny)
• New iPod Nanos (in colors!)
• New iPod (80GB, 6.5hr battery)
• iTunes 7 (better organization tools)
• Movies and TV shows on the iTunes Store (640×480 resolution)

Oh, and the “One More Thing”: coming Q1 2007: iTV (set top box, wireless streaming)

Many other little details announced. Very cool.

We went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe last night. Three words: Go See It.

Weta Digital and Weta Workshop definitely had their hands all over this one. Lots of flashbacks to Lord of the Rings. It’s amazing what they’re able to do with CGI nowadays. Not a single “creature” in the movie was real (animal or otherwise), but it was very convincing onscreen.

If you’ve been around this computer things since before the Internet (read: the 70′s and 80′s), check out the BBS Documentary. Looks good and nostalgic. I’ll be ordering my copy soon.

The boys and I just got back from seeing The Incredibles, the new animated film from Pixar. In a word: incredible!

What a blast! The animation was spectacular, the story was great, the gags were side-splitting, etc. etc. etc.

If you’re over the age of about 5, go see it; you won’t be disappointed!

O, by the way, in addition to the main feature, we also got to see the new Pixar short, Boundin’, which was hilarious, and the first teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Applause around the theater on that one. Looks good. Looks dark.

The kids and I picked up a fun DVD at Circuit City yesterday that brought back a lot of memories for me, the complete School House Rock. While the kids have never seen any of the famous 5 minute shorts that used to play on Saturday mornings between cartoons, they thought they were pretty cool. And they’ve been going around all day today singing about “E-lec-tri-city” and how they just “Unpacked their Adjectives.”

They’re all here, all 46 original songs. Cynthia and I got a kick out of “I’m just a Bill”, “The Preamble”, and other favorites. Who could forget “Conjunction Junction,” “Verb: That’s What’s Happening,” and one of my faves, “Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla”? True greatness.

The funny thing is quite a lot of these couldn’t safely air on modern television, with the PC movement and all. Heaven forbid we should talk about such concepts as winning, male and female roles, etc. I’d hate to see what an updated version of these classics would look like.

Interesting thing: there’s a brand-new SHR song included in the set. What subject did they choose? Why, the electoral college, of course! My, how timely.

There’s a whole second disc in the set that goes behind the scenes with info and interviews with the series creators. I haven’t gotten to that disc yet, but it looks to be loaded with interesting stuff. One note I found on the website:

Series co-creator George Newall recalls: “It all started in 1972 on a horseback ride in Wyoming where my boss, David McCall of McCaffrey & McCall Advertising, heard his young son, who couldn’t begin to remember multiplication tables, singing Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead lyrics. When Dave got back to New York, he commissioned musician Bob Dorough to set the multiplication tables to rock music. Bob responded with “Three is a Magic Number.” The lyrics were so visual that my partner, Tom Yohe, drew a storyboard and met with Michael Eisner, who was then ABC’s Vice President of Children’s Programming. On the recommendation of the legendary animator, Chuck Jones, Eisner bought it on the spot. All it took was that one meeting. And that first song is still my favorite.”

That’s right, none other than Michael Eisner, now head of Disney (who owns ABC), was the head of Children’s Programming and bought the original series.

Great series of shorts that are really catchy. As I told the kids last night, “Watch out! You might just learn something!”

By the way, you can go here to listen to a sample of the songs.

This site is great: 70′s Live Action Kid Vid. A tribute to all those 70′s TV shows we enjoyed as kids. The shows, in retrospect, were basically low B-rate fare, but talk about nostalgia. Woot! or should I say, Shazam!

OK, this guy has spent a little too much time comparing the original text of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to the movie versions.

Pixar has ended negotiations with Disney to extend their partnership, and will seek other distribution starting in 2006.

By the way, if you haven’t seen the trailers for The Incredibles and Boundin’, go do it.