Widescreen

Calling all LOSTies: Let's freak out over tonight's new episode together. Beginning at 8, I'll be posting throughout the show, so ask questions, post reactions, and don't forget to hit refresh! The blog begins after the jump:

"Aliens"
Directed by James Cameron
Screenplay by James Cameron
Released July 18, 1986

I never saw "Aliens" on the big screen, and I consider that one of the great tragedies of my life. I can only imagine what it must have been like to watch this relentless, overwhelming movie on a fifty-foot-high screen with a packed house. My dad saw it twice in its opening weekend, which is rather unusual for him. (I've done that a whole bunch of times.) I don't know who my mom was talking to on the phone that second day, but I remember her half of the conversation: "No, Glenn's going to see 'Aliens' again tonight ... Yeah, I think he's in love with Sigourney Weaver. Or at least in lust."

It's been a while since I had a full-on, wet-faced breakdown at a movie. I tear up all the time -- "Coraline's" miraculous, overhead 3D shot of The Other Father's garden got me this weekend. The sheer beauty of a film can do that, sometimes in surprising ways. David Fincher's "Zodiac" has ingenious flyover shots of San Francisco and Vallejo that got me, for instance.

But the last time I actually had an emotional outburst in the theater was in 2005. Many people complained that "Crash" was overtly simple and manipulative, and boy did it work its stuff on me. I actually screamed, "NO!" when the shopkeeper "shot" the locksmith's daughter. I was a bit of a mess for the next few scenes.

The new episode of "Lost" begins at 8 p.m. I'll be updating as the show goes, so hit refresh and leave some comments, questions, and general freak-outs. The blog begins after the jump.

I don't particularly like Christian Bale, and I think he's just about the least charismatic movie star on the planet.

That being said: Respected, highly popular actors like Christian Bale don't take their jobs lightly, whether the job is Shakespeare or some silly "killer robots" movie. The job looks easy to a lot of people -- stand in front of a camera, say a few lines, pretend to cry. But like any job, there's so much more to it than meets the eye.

I haven't been feeling quite so ... metal these days. Sure, I still love the Metallica and the Maiden and the what have you, but these dreary times call for music that's more hopeful, more upbeat, and more beautiful. May I suggest the following tunes for your downloading pleasure? I've been listening to them over the past week on vacation ...

Pardon my catharsis: Our regularly scheduled blog about movies, "Lost," and other frivolity will return later this week.

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. -- As of this moment, I have been 30 years old for 11 minutes. So far, it doesn't feel any different from being 29. (Or 28, or 27, or 26 for that matter.) I still have this giant beer gut, I still have about a thousand different worries running through my head, and the "Donnie Darko" T-shirt I'm currently wearing is still in my regular rotation. So far, the happiest thing about being 30 is that I don't have to spend my birthday hearing people tell me that Kurt Warner is the greatest quarterback who ever lived -- never mind that the refs took over the game and should have reviewed that "fumble" in the closing seconds.

I spent the weekend here in the Twin Cities area, visiting friends and consuming copious amounts of beer, tacos, pizza, fries and caffeine. So I've been enjoying powerful bursts of extreme fun followed by hours of pain and suffering. That's been the norm for most of the last decade of my life. There were about six months in 2007 where I was actually on the path to fitness, but mostly it's been an orgy of "Guitar Hero," Leinenkugel's and Jimmy John's.

But it's all going to stop now.

The new episode of "Lost" begins at 8 p.m. Let's give this live-blogging thing a shot. I'll be updating the blog every few minutes with comments and questions; hit refresh and feel free to comment and ask your own questions! (Come on, you don't want to leave me hanging, do you?)

Posts will display in chronological order. They begin after the jump:

I saw "The Wrestler" and "The Reader" today, which means I'm comfortable with dropping the curtain on 2008 at the movies. One of those movies will appear in this entry; the other was a ridiculous bore.

I've seen all the best picture nominees and many of the other Oscar-bait films. I think I can wait for cable when it comes to "Rachel Getting Married," "Happy-Go-Lucky," "Frozen River," and a host of other films. I suppose I could watch Steven Soderbergh's "Che" on demand right now, but I'd rather spend four hours of my life doing something I might enjoy.

The film at the top of the list was virtually assured to end up there immediately after I saw it. I briefly considered replacing it with the film at No. 2, but in the end I went with my heart, not my head.

So here they are, my ten favorite films of 2008:

"Pulp Fiction"
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary
Released Oct. 14, 1994

I was 15 when "Pulp Fiction" came out, and I never had good luck with movie theater employees. The first time I tried to see the movie at the old General Cinemas at Randhurst, I was denied entry. I needed to see this. Everything I read or heard about it told me as much. I bought the soundtrack CD before I had even seen the film -- I just wanted the tiniest piece of the experience to hold on to.

Eventually, my mother agreed to drive me to Ridge Cinemas in Arlington Heights and buy me my ticket. That worked. The ticket-taker didn't think twice about letting me in. I sat toward the front, hoping none of the other patrons would see me and think, "What's that little kid doing in this R-rated movie?"