birthday, NaNo, Lost Rant

[deralte]

Happy Birthday alchemine!

It's kinda odd to do the requisite word count with NaNo and discover I've done 5000 words. That's a lot for me, even if it's way below that whole goal thing. What sincerely impressed me though was checking my wordfile for the earlier version of this story I'd written before I got into fanfic, and damn if it wasn't 44,000 words. I wonder how long it will be now that I actually know how to write descriptions.

I've watched episodes 4-6 of Lost now, and I have to say what probably annoys me the most about the whole show is how stupid and ineffectual everyone is. Are people's senses of survival really that bad? Isn't it obvious that you have to ration water and food? (Yes, even if you're going to be rescued, cause you don't know how long it will be until you are rescued.) And meat and fish are not the only things you can eat on a jungle island! And... I'm going to stop now.

Archaeologists are in a bad position when it comes to these sort of survival situations. Not because we don't know what to do, but because we know far too much about what to do. We study subsistence strategies in all types of enviroments. Tell me what materials you have available and I could tell you six different ways to build a shelter, or to build a container for water. We have to know all these different methods so that we can recognize the evidence that's left behind hundreds or thousands of years later. Seeing a situation like Lost, my mind can't help but analyze and try to create the most practical solutions to all their basic problems, something which the people on the show rarely seem to grasp.

It's just kinda frustrating to watch, and yet I like some of the characters well enough to continue doing so.

Comments

[havenward.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the character cast of Lost is filled completely with people that haven't had to look past the end of their nose ever. The only person that's close to the sort of intelligence you expect from people is Locke... But I know a lot of people in real life, the normal people I suppose you could say, that wouldn't have a clue what to do. Not just in the snobby denial aspect, like that blonde bimbo that I really hope finds a way to die by the end of the season, but people that it wouldn't occur to try and catch rain water, or look for fresh water, or look for fruit or anything. They're quintessential Americans, so used to the simple refineries of life that they've forgotten anything.

However, I do think someone besides Locke ought to have enough brains for some survival skills. The brother of the blonde girl, for instance, seems like the boyscout type. Or at least having gone camping. (Then again, he could be as spoiled as his sister is and is just nicer about it.) And why it couldn't occur to them to have a sort of outpost on the beach, while their main camp was in the caves... Sayid should be smart enough for that, right? (You could never tell I like Sayid better than Jack. Ever. I promise.) There's no need to be divisive about it. A little bit of logic would be nice. Post-traumatic stress only works as an excuse for so long. I'm also somewhat upset that they dealt with Charlie's addiction so early and so easily. I would have liked that sort of growth to last a little bit longer, you know?

Worst is the fact that they don't have any revelation moments. They came close to one, when what's-her-face almost tells Jack what she's done. Which with all this prelude isn't going to be that bad. I mean, at this point, anything less than "I raped and pillaged across three continents" (mostly for the quote value) will be humdrum...