UPDATE:
It's been pointed out by two nice people from red and white kop that the comments posted below about plagiarism were essentially sarcasm/jokes. That's good to hear.
I won't lie - I'm sort of humorless when it comes to the topic of plagiarism. The word itself gets my hackles up, and I wasn't even aware I had hackles. About three months ago I ran into someone online who'd begun posting great, big chunks of my work without attribution, and who was claiming to be me on another message board. I'd never experienced anything like that, and like Patton Oswalt (whose shoes I am not fit to shine) I found myself weirdly bothered by it in a way I hadn't expected. I suspect that experience colored my reaction today.
So, as stated in the comments, I'd like to offer you good folks at red and white some (virtual) milk and cookies. I clearly missed the humor and went straight to the sadface. Timbo and Rusty, my apologies. Let's get back to talking Lost, and cracking terrible jokes.
See you all here tomorrow, where I'll have your exclusive excerpts of the Back to the Island column for Across the Sea before the column posts on Chud. I'm moving this post down further on the page to make room for what actually matters here.
Original Post:
Hola, all.
I'm working on tomorrow's mammoth Back to the Island column, and I'm looking forward to your reactions. Having had a fantastic discussion about it last night with you all at Professor Thom's, I'm supercharged at the moment, and I hope that'll come through in the final product.
That said, I'd like to take another moment here to discuss plagiarism.
A kind soul with the moniker of "Red in Holland" over at a forum called "red and white kop" apparently linked to my Instareaction for Across the Sea, and in clicking over there I was very gratified to find that folks there are actively reading my work. That's a heck of a compliment.
What's less complimentary are the weird accusations of plagiarism. I'm speaking specifically of the following:
"It looks as if old Morsey baby - without acknowledgement has pinched from a few of my recent posts on his forum to pull tongues within his latest piece at the show's detractors by saying that whatever criticism you level at the show one thing you cannot dispute is that it will remain for a very long time the most ambitious series TV anyone within that medium has ever attempted."
"He did the same with my points about Sayid's arc this season being pointless and aggravating whilst the nature of the infection remains unaddressed. Not impressed with his plagiarising like!"
I'm not shy about posting those remarks here because I find them baseless, bewildering, and frankly insulting. I've made a point of vocally criticizing the act of plagiarism, and I try - much harder than you probably realize - to single out folks here and elsewhere who've inspired my thoughts on each column. I have no interest in taking credit for other people's ideas. I find it hard to believe, on some level, that either poster is entirely serious. I've "plagiarized" the idea that the show is ambitious? I've "plagiarized" someone's disappointment over Sayid and Infection? You may as well say that I've plagiarized by saying "this episode was good" (because someone else said that too!).
That's ridiculous.
I thoroughly enjoy reading everyone's comments here, and I'm thrilled that you've chosen to make Back to the Island a site that you choose to visit. I respect each one of you, and when one of my readers comes up with something I want to feature in the column I credit them for that. My track record backs that up.
I'm not sure how to 'prove' this conclusively without excluding myself entirely from the comments, or by taking away the comments completely. I don't want to do either of those things because interacting with you all is a big part of what makes this fun for me. So instead, I just want to air this out in the open. It's with sincere respect to both of the above posters/apparent readers that I say the following: If you think you're being stolen from (and you are not), then do not post here. You won't have to worry about me "plagiarizing" you, and I won't have to worry about you libeling me.
My sincere thanks to Red in Holland for reading, and to all the folks at red and white kop who do so as well. Go Liverpool!
Tuesday, May 11
Stylish, Ab Aeterno
Tee Fury is a site devoted to showcasing one cheap, limited-edition T-shirt each and every day. Sometimes these are game-related, sometimes they are film-related. Typically, Tuesday is their "Lost day."
I haven't been inspired to pick up any of their creations during this season, but today's offering, designed by M. Brady Clark, snared me. Maybe it'll snare you too. The design is posted directly above, and I'm a fan. If you're interested in purchasing it you can visit the Tee Fury site by clicking this link. At $9 (plus $2 in shipping and handling) it's a good deal. Remember: It's a one day thing. This time tomorrow, it'll be Lost to you.
Monday, May 10
Lost With Cuse, Lindelof and the New York Times
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Back to the Island reader "Gravyboat," I'll be attending the live simulcast of Times Talks Live: Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, moderated by New York Times entertainment editor Lorne Manly (who, I can only assume, has a cousin named Max Power).
I'll be reporting on the event, after the fact, right here on Back to the Island. The Times is accepting questions from us regular folks before the event, so if you've got something you'd like to ask Cuse or Lindelof, submit it here: timestalks@nytimes.com.
After the show both men are switching to "radio silence," and won't be speaking to the press for a while; this is your chance to try and have your question(s) answered before they vanish.
Include your name and your location (City and State) with your submitted queries.
My thanks to Gravyboat for totally making my day.
I'll be reporting on the event, after the fact, right here on Back to the Island. The Times is accepting questions from us regular folks before the event, so if you've got something you'd like to ask Cuse or Lindelof, submit it here: timestalks@nytimes.com.
After the show both men are switching to "radio silence," and won't be speaking to the press for a while; this is your chance to try and have your question(s) answered before they vanish.
Include your name and your location (City and State) with your submitted queries.
My thanks to Gravyboat for totally making my day.
Reminder: Have A Beer With MMorse
Morning, You All Everybody.
Just a quick reminder for everyone that I'll be at Professor Thom's (2nd Ave btwn 13th and 14th st.) on Wednesday night, starting at 7 pm. Come on by and introduce yourself. Feel free to bring a friend.
Just a quick reminder for everyone that I'll be at Professor Thom's (2nd Ave btwn 13th and 14th st.) on Wednesday night, starting at 7 pm. Come on by and introduce yourself. Feel free to bring a friend.
Friday, May 7
The Candidate (S6, ep. 14)
The Back to the Island column for The Candidate has been boobytrapped for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.
Have A Beer With MMorse
Hey, folks.
Next week brings the arrival of "Across The Sea," potentially the most brain-shattering episode of Lost yet. While I'm sure that we'll get a ton of great conversation started right here on Back to the Island, I'd like to invite those of you in the NYC area to join me on the night of Wednesday, May 12th, to relax, kick back, order a beer, and chat about our shared obsession.
Where: Professor Thom's, on 2nd Avenue between 13th and 14th street
When: Wednesday, May 12th, starting at 7pm.
I'll be the guy in the purple Minnesota Vikings baseball cap. Come on by, grab a cold one, and let's talk about what's sure to be a fascinating installment of the show. Shoot me an email if you're interested, so I know how many people to expect.
Best,
MMorse
Next week brings the arrival of "Across The Sea," potentially the most brain-shattering episode of Lost yet. While I'm sure that we'll get a ton of great conversation started right here on Back to the Island, I'd like to invite those of you in the NYC area to join me on the night of Wednesday, May 12th, to relax, kick back, order a beer, and chat about our shared obsession.
Where: Professor Thom's, on 2nd Avenue between 13th and 14th street
When: Wednesday, May 12th, starting at 7pm.
I'll be the guy in the purple Minnesota Vikings baseball cap. Come on by, grab a cold one, and let's talk about what's sure to be a fascinating installment of the show. Shoot me an email if you're interested, so I know how many people to expect.
Best,
MMorse
Thursday, May 6
Wednesday, May 5
A Brief, Self-Promotional Aside
Some of my readers have been kind enough to ask me what I'll be doing with my time once Lost comes to a close. Check out this week's Back to the Island column on Chud.com for the first hints about my post-Lost plans. If you've been enjoying my ramblings I think you'll be pleased. If you haven't been enjoying them, I can promise you renewed pain and displeasure.
Tuesday, May 4
Lost: Season 6, Ep. 14 Discussion
InstaReaction:
Congratulations, Lost. You have emotionally devastated me. Not one, not two, not three, but four characters take a ride with the Reaper by the end of this thing, and while some folks are bound to cry 'overkill' (literally) this felt pitch perfect in it's clockwork-precise tragedy. Our friends in the UK haven't gotten the episode yet, so I'll warn those folks now - names are discussed directly below. Turn away, or be spoiled.
...So.
Goodbye, Sayid Jarrah, Frank Lapidus, and Sun and Jin Kwon. Watching as the figurative tumblers in Anti-Locke's gambit clicked into place (a gambit that I feel compelled, immodestly, to point out that I've been predicting throughout the season, though the specifics were better than anything I'd imagined) was awful and yet gruesomely satisfying at the same time.
I'm still trying to process everything here, and it isn't easy. I've remained emotionally invested in Lost's characters, and watching them topple like dominoes was a legitimately emotional experience for me. With Sayid dead the question of infection seems abandoned, which is going to irritate me in the future, but his selfless death and last-minute words to Jack went a long way toward making his arc enormously, tragically satisfying for me. I knew Frank was a dead man as soon as it was announced that the plane was so longer an option, since his sole purpose this season has been to serve as possible pilot. And what is there to say about Sun and Jin? Well, I'll tell you what my wife said: " yeah, that's tragic, but they just left their kid to be an orphan." My wife is smart. That's pretty selfish. But i bought their decision, selfish or not, and the way that the whole sinking sub scene recalled the flooding of The Looking Glass, Sun and Jin's drifting hands calling to mind Charlie's drifting body, gave me chills.
Some of you have let me know about Devin Faraci's new column on Chud, which apparently bemoans the circularity of the show's storytelling, among other things. Tonight, Sawyer's dialogue affirmed for us explicitly that this circularity is very much intentional on the part of Lost's writers. The Castaways have been traveling in karmic circles for six seasons. Tonight, those circles were renewed and shattered at once.
There's so much here - Widmore's seeming efforts to protect the Castaways, Anti-Locke's true plan, Jack's revisitation of his dynamite conversion and the failure of James Ford to trust, Kate's increasingly-serious wounding, the bleeding of John Locke's consciousness, Anthony Cooper's fate and the reversal of off-Island Jack and Locke's positions of Men of Science and Faith, Bernard's creepy-yet-warm knowingness, so similar to Charlie and Desmond.
At this point all of my Island questions are decidedly secondary to my concern for the fates of these characters. And that is, to me, the true feat of tonight's episode.
We're hours away from The Candidate, tonight's new episode of Lost. Loved having a week off, so to speak, but it's great to be back in the saddle again. So, let's recap where we left off: Sawyer and the castaways are on Hydra Island, and they've just been taken prisoner/positioned for execution by Widmore's team of surly Insurance Salesmen. Jack took a literal leap of faith and returned to the Island, where we promptly did his best "man near-exploded by a rocket" impression and was rescuedby none other than Anti-Locke. Sayid's still hanging around with the Man In Black, but it looks as though he's not following orders quite as zombirifically as he has been. Does this mean that Desmond's now roaming the Island? Still stuck in the Well? Have Richard, Ben and Miles made it back to Dharmaville yet? Will Ben end up damning himself? Will Jack figure out what he's meant to do? Will the timelines converge? Will it all be revealed as a Second Snake? The result of the MiB's escape? Will Widmore do some third party Castaway slaughtering? Will Frank Lapidus develop a purpose, besides being the resident quipster when Sawyer's not around?
With just five hours left (!) can Lost stick it's landing? And will tonight be interesting/emotional/exciting enough to distract me from the fact that next week brings what's arguably the most anticipated episode of the season, other than the finale itself?
Leave your thoughts, hopes, comments, criticisms and predictions right here. I'll be in after the show airs at 9 pm EST to give my InstaReaction. Enjoy the episode!
Congratulations, Lost. You have emotionally devastated me. Not one, not two, not three, but four characters take a ride with the Reaper by the end of this thing, and while some folks are bound to cry 'overkill' (literally) this felt pitch perfect in it's clockwork-precise tragedy. Our friends in the UK haven't gotten the episode yet, so I'll warn those folks now - names are discussed directly below. Turn away, or be spoiled.
...So.
Goodbye, Sayid Jarrah, Frank Lapidus, and Sun and Jin Kwon. Watching as the figurative tumblers in Anti-Locke's gambit clicked into place (a gambit that I feel compelled, immodestly, to point out that I've been predicting throughout the season, though the specifics were better than anything I'd imagined) was awful and yet gruesomely satisfying at the same time.
I'm still trying to process everything here, and it isn't easy. I've remained emotionally invested in Lost's characters, and watching them topple like dominoes was a legitimately emotional experience for me. With Sayid dead the question of infection seems abandoned, which is going to irritate me in the future, but his selfless death and last-minute words to Jack went a long way toward making his arc enormously, tragically satisfying for me. I knew Frank was a dead man as soon as it was announced that the plane was so longer an option, since his sole purpose this season has been to serve as possible pilot. And what is there to say about Sun and Jin? Well, I'll tell you what my wife said: " yeah, that's tragic, but they just left their kid to be an orphan." My wife is smart. That's pretty selfish. But i bought their decision, selfish or not, and the way that the whole sinking sub scene recalled the flooding of The Looking Glass, Sun and Jin's drifting hands calling to mind Charlie's drifting body, gave me chills.
Some of you have let me know about Devin Faraci's new column on Chud, which apparently bemoans the circularity of the show's storytelling, among other things. Tonight, Sawyer's dialogue affirmed for us explicitly that this circularity is very much intentional on the part of Lost's writers. The Castaways have been traveling in karmic circles for six seasons. Tonight, those circles were renewed and shattered at once.
There's so much here - Widmore's seeming efforts to protect the Castaways, Anti-Locke's true plan, Jack's revisitation of his dynamite conversion and the failure of James Ford to trust, Kate's increasingly-serious wounding, the bleeding of John Locke's consciousness, Anthony Cooper's fate and the reversal of off-Island Jack and Locke's positions of Men of Science and Faith, Bernard's creepy-yet-warm knowingness, so similar to Charlie and Desmond.
At this point all of my Island questions are decidedly secondary to my concern for the fates of these characters. And that is, to me, the true feat of tonight's episode.
We're hours away from The Candidate, tonight's new episode of Lost. Loved having a week off, so to speak, but it's great to be back in the saddle again. So, let's recap where we left off: Sawyer and the castaways are on Hydra Island, and they've just been taken prisoner/positioned for execution by Widmore's team of surly Insurance Salesmen. Jack took a literal leap of faith and returned to the Island, where we promptly did his best "man near-exploded by a rocket" impression and was rescuedby none other than Anti-Locke. Sayid's still hanging around with the Man In Black, but it looks as though he's not following orders quite as zombirifically as he has been. Does this mean that Desmond's now roaming the Island? Still stuck in the Well? Have Richard, Ben and Miles made it back to Dharmaville yet? Will Ben end up damning himself? Will Jack figure out what he's meant to do? Will the timelines converge? Will it all be revealed as a Second Snake? The result of the MiB's escape? Will Widmore do some third party Castaway slaughtering? Will Frank Lapidus develop a purpose, besides being the resident quipster when Sawyer's not around?
With just five hours left (!) can Lost stick it's landing? And will tonight be interesting/emotional/exciting enough to distract me from the fact that next week brings what's arguably the most anticipated episode of the season, other than the finale itself?
Leave your thoughts, hopes, comments, criticisms and predictions right here. I'll be in after the show airs at 9 pm EST to give my InstaReaction. Enjoy the episode!
Monday, May 3
Every 108 Minutes - By Colin Denney
Hola, everyone!
It's the start of a new week, the continuation of Lost's final season, and time for this author to get off his @$$ and start writing again.
...but before I get back on my trusty WordHorse (let's call him "Thesaurus"), I'd like to take a moment to appreciate the creativity and skill of our fellow fans. Colin Denney is a reader of Back to the Island, and apparently a skilled designer. Check out his poster-work, entitled "Every 108 Minutes..."
I like the minimalism of the piece, and I like the way that the design evokes the 70's-style aesthetic of the Dharma Initiative. Nice work, Colin! Thanks for sharing, and for reading. If you've done Lost-inspired work that you'd like to share with the rest of the reading audience, drop me a line at WhatIsWater@gmail.com.
It's the start of a new week, the continuation of Lost's final season, and time for this author to get off his @$$ and start writing again.
...but before I get back on my trusty WordHorse (let's call him "Thesaurus"), I'd like to take a moment to appreciate the creativity and skill of our fellow fans. Colin Denney is a reader of Back to the Island, and apparently a skilled designer. Check out his poster-work, entitled "Every 108 Minutes..."
I like the minimalism of the piece, and I like the way that the design evokes the 70's-style aesthetic of the Dharma Initiative. Nice work, Colin! Thanks for sharing, and for reading. If you've done Lost-inspired work that you'd like to share with the rest of the reading audience, drop me a line at WhatIsWater@gmail.com.
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