I started watching ABC’s Lost in the fourth season, last year, because my baby’s mother is a big fan and when it’s on, if I’m in the living room, it’s what’s happening. Between the fourth and fifth season, we Netflixed the earlier seasons, and I got all caught up, so now I’m invested and watching the fifth season, waiting for an end to the madness.

Truthfully, I’m not the biggest fan. Like other JJ Abrams projects, I think it’s a really cool idea that suffers from some fundamental writing flaws that can undermine the overall experience. But now I’m invested, and certainly not annoyed enough to stop watching.

Throughout all five seasons, however, the most striking element of the show has been the score. Composed and directed by Michael Giacchino, the music behind the unfolding story really delivers the show’s drama, almost better than the actors do. Impressively, in a time when television music is composed and produced largely by one guy with a MIDI controller and a shitload of software, the score for Lost is created by old-fashioned symphony musicians, real instruments and interesting production techniques. Even more impressively, the score for each episode is knocked out in a mere three hours, with very limited lead time for Giacchino to digest and compose for each new episode. The process lends itself nicely to the visceral nature of the music.

Many thanks to Colin for the heads-up on the video.

From the TED.com video series, David Merrill demos Siftables, the smart blocks. These are essentially little computers that interact with each other and users in a totally new and unique way. UI design is about hit a whole new phase of growth. This is pretty impressive…

Five reasons I will not be attending Coachella in 2009…or ever:

1. I hate multi-stage concerts and mega-concert venues. Sure, lots of acts in one place seems like a cool thing and a sweet deal, but frankly, I don’t like crappy bands and I generally don’t like people, and there are far too many of both at a show like this. Quantity is not the same as quality.
2. A show can’t be all things to all fans. Most of the bands performing over the three-day lineup are of no interest to me whatsoever, with the exception of the following: TV On The Radio, Booker T, Clipse, Fucked Up, My Bloody Valentine (just for old time’s sake), and X (again, for old time’s sake). Six 30-minute sets over three days? Shit. Given the ticket price (see #3), the math just doesn’t work. Especially considering that most of the bands on the Coachella lineup that I would like to see will play in my area soon enough, at much smaller venues.
3. Ticket prices are outrageous. 3-Day passes: $269.00 + $3 charity + applicable service fees. Single Day Tickets: $99.00 + $1 charity + applicable service fees. Add those ticket prices to the costs of tansportation, lodging, and (way overpriced) food and water and booze and drugs, and that’s a lot of money to pay just to be uncomfortably close to legions of shirtless fratboy chads and screaming dingbat beckys.
4. More than a music fan, you are a target market. Consider this: There are two- and three-payment plans in a “layaway” option for ticket buyers who can’t pony up all the cash for entrance at once. If prospective concert goers can’t make all their payments, they forfeit their tickets and the money they spent up until the last payment. Naturally, there’s also plenty of crap merch to spend your hard-earned loot on, too, like T-Shirts, DVDs, posters, a handbag, and hoodies and scarves (because the Indio desert is a frigid fucking wasteland in late April). You don’t even have to go the show to give ‘em money and free marketing: Buy some swag online and make your friends think you’re hip from the comfort of your home. Nothing says “rock cred” like a T-shirt.
5. People like this:

I don’t get out much these days, which is fine, I got plenty to do, and truthfully I’m not interested in being the on the scene the way I was as a younger man. I just don’t care much anymore. But sometimes shit pops off that I can’t ignore. And when things pop off on a three day weekend, I’m that much more compelled to venture out…

This Friday — and the second Friday of each month — my homie DJ Stef throws down the after-work jump off Spindig at Butter in SF’s SOMA neighborhood. There are usually three DJs — Stef, Ryan Poulsen and a special guest. This week, the guest is DJ Cool Chris, owner of the world-famous Groove Merchant record store in SF, so I expect to hear some real gems from the DJ booth. That’s this Friday, February 13.

I’m going to see The Murder City Devils at the Great Ameican Music Hall in SF this weekend, too. It’s been years since I’ve seen the Devils perform live — because they’ve been mostly broken up since Halloween 2001, and have only done a couple one-off shows since then — but I still beat out their first three records pretty regularly, and I’m looking forward to seeing them one more time. This sold-out show happens this Sunday, February 15.

You should check out the Devils’ site for more info, more show dates, reissues of their records (on marbled vinyl!) and one hell of a box set, with very cool extras. It’s worth the click: http://www.themurdercitydevils.com/