Lost and Shakespeare ... no, I'm not making an analogy!

"Did you not hear me, brother? I crashed your bloody plane!"

Tell me, honestly, is there a better show on tv right now than Lost? I came onto it a little late in the game and missed much of the first season, all because I saw 5 minutes of a show and thought it would be Survivor-type crap, but nothing could be farther from the truth. They've actually come up with classes studying the show at some universities, that's how awesome it is! I love that there are so many characters they can afford to kill off a couple and still have lots of good ones left, unlike The O.C., where now that Marisa is dead they are a little screwed. I love the freaky coincidences, the polar bears, the weird things in the forest, the electromagnetic reversals, the Others, the crazy French lady, the Scottish guy, the Naveen Andrews character, and the way they end every show with a shocker-type cliffhanger. I love how it's so confusing that it leaves the viewer with many more questions than answers - like why the hell are some Russian guys in a snowstorm calling the Scottish guy's girlfriend in the night to tell her that they think they found "it"? For once, an American show that actually makes people think! What a concept. In a world of American Idols, Bachlorette's and figure skating celebrities, it's only crime was having both a script and a plot. A little risque, I know, but all the freaky fans on the message boards seem to agree that this is a damn fine show.

On a different note, I had a heartwarming experience today at the library - one of my 13 yr old boys that comes to visit me every day after school signed out 2 Shakespeare plays to take home! We were discussing the new X-Men movie (or rather I was listening, as he, a teen girl, and one of our library security guards discussed the X-Men) and somehow Caliban came up, and we talked about both The Tempest and Midsummer Night's Dream ,which he had already heard of. I then took him to the Shakespeare section and he signed both the plays out. Now granted he may not like them or undertsand half the language (hell, I don't understand half the language and I studied it in university multiple times), but the fact is he was interested and that is good enough for me. This is a kid who has not yet had to do the mandatory Hamlet or Macbeth in school, and usually only likes things related to Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, Spiderwick, or Narnia. I suppose if I was an English teacher this would be a common feeling of bringing out the love for Shakespeare - but as a teen librarian, discussing Shakespeare with 13 yr olds is not a very common experience. After he left with the plays in hand I actually got a little choked up in the "my baby is growing up!" sense.