The Stand

Finished reading The Stand a few days ago. (The book was reference on ABC Lost).

"Super disease "Captain Trips" wipes out 99.6% of the world's population - leading the survivors toward witnessing the ultimate battle between good and evil."

I had read it at as a teenager, so it was a fun experience to revisit it twenty years or so later. I found myself enjoying the stories of the heroes and heroines, but loathing the chapters about the villians - so I skipped many pages in the re-read.

I found an interesting tid-bit of knowledge - that Stephen King was greatly influenced by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (perhaps my favorite story in this genre). In his writing of The Stand. King wanted to write a story with an epic/epic battle, set in modern America. The Stand was definitely a good attempt. It ends, however, with "The Bomb." I much prefer magic to bombs.

I felt the same way about Bill Willingham's graphic novel Fables. There's this build up to an epic battle for ten volumes with magic and intrigue and much drama, but in the end the fable community end the whole conflict with bombs. I felt letdown - the magic of the series seemed completely lost by the abrupt ending - they just dropped the bomb - it's all over - conflict all over.

Reminds me of a scene in The Office, where Michael Scott is participating in an improv class and stops all the action by "shooting" the other participants. The gun stops everything - there's no where else for the other actors in his class to take the action. It was a very funny scene, but really poignant.

Countdown:
7 days: Battlestar Galactica begins to wrap up it's incredible four-year saga - will it's end satisfy or disappoint BSG fans?

11 days: Barack Obama becomes "Mr. President" of the United States of America. Will he be able to maintain the hope and confidence of the American voters? Will we get the "real" change we are looking for?

12 days: Lost Season 5 begins. However will the Oceanic 6 find the Island and their lost friends? I look forward to the ride.

I have to get myself to the library with the Lost book list soon!
Peace out!
R.R.O.