24 Points About 24: 2:00AM-3:00AM

I WENT OUT WITH A BANG RIGHT?

1. Marcos really knew how to draw and engineer his way around his suicide bomb vest. Did you see that map on the wall? Not only is he terrorist, but he's also a the worlds fastest speed sketcher (SICK LINK).
2. Kind of cool that Marco's backstory contained a nice little reference to the Wayne Palmer administration's internment of Arab American citizens in extremely forgettable season six.
3. I realize now I was a fool, a damned fool, to think that this Dana Walsh story would end. Her character is the chemical weapon destroying the show I care about, the show I've watched for eight years, the show that caused my family to get cable TV (that's another story), the show I call 24!
4. Nothing boils a CTU hacker/employee's blood like having to answer to the legendary Chloe O Brien. Yeah that's right, Chloe is the new Bill Buchanan.
5. I just realized it now, there is no one interesting at CTU this season except Chloe and she doesn't count.

6. For over four episodes now, we've been following this rookie CTU Agent Owen. This is the longest living rookie (not played by a major actor) on 24 history.
7. Wow, Marcos's big speech to Jack is a little bit too real for my liking. This is supposed to be entertainment, not some weird political metaphor.
8. Hassan's daughter is really sweaty after sex. Either someone forgot that people see EVERYTHING in HD or she just  sweats a lot.
9. To umm, follow up on the previous point, I'm not trying to get too deep into nomenclature here but presidential smoke-show daughter Kayla Hassan is played by an actress named Nazneen Contractor. That is a crazy name combo if I've ever heard one.
10. The skyline city view out of President Hassan's hotel room is terrible CGI.  A fellow agent points out that every light in the city is on at 2AM. Well done, CTU agent, well done.
11. Great to have FPJ back in terrorist fighting world saving mode you know as opposed killing lame ass bros for your horrifically terrible girlfriend mode
12. "Everyone is replaceable" says the director of CTU.  Considering that CTU has been attacked multiple times and almost a considerable amount of their directors are dead, I would say that yes, everyone is replaceable. (And it looks like another attack happens next week too)

13. The bail bondsmen character is another terrible addition to the Dana Walsh storyline. The only thing that could save it would be if he secretly was a vampire or really cared about his red stapler.
14. The sooner Dana Walsh dies the sooner 24 is saved, I hate to be so dire, but that is where I am at.
15. For all those people wondering,  Rami Malek, the actor who plays Marcos was in the "Night at the Museum" movies. He will be also be in the "The Pacific."
16. Any episode where Jack spends a majority of the time watching a TV screen, is not a good episode of 24.
17. Alright alright, let's give it up for Mare Winningham, the actress who plays Marcos's mother, she brought it pretty hard with that scene.
18. " I'll make your mother clean up your pieces then take her to the blast site!" Say hello the new Jack Bauer, aka the angel of death Jack Bauer.
19.  This scene where Jack absolutely owns Marcos in emotional warfare is vintage Bauer!

20.  Where are academy awarding winning The Hurt Locker bomb technicians to defuse this Marco's vest? Renner? Bigelow? Mackie? Cameron, oops, sorry wrong flick.
21.  That is a graphic ass shot of that the hyperbolic chamber post explosion. And that noise you hear after the explosion is last week's point #7 coming true.
22.  While you won't see it in the points, my CTU team and I called the mole in Hassan's organization two weeks ago.
23.  Another hour goes by and not one scene with President Taylor or Renee Walker. So with no strong women on the show this episode, I guess the writers are telling us that all women on 24 are cheating on their boyfriends with slackers or getting kidnapped by their lovers. So basically they all are totally manipulated and weak willed. Someone get the big female guns back here stat.
24. Great ending to an episode that started terribly slow.

*** I'd like to announce that next week the 24 Points will be written by my CTU team members. I am going on a mission in the Caribbean. The objective -  get bronze and have fun with my family.

Oscar Roundup: The Hurt Locker

Here is my review of "The Hurt Locker" from way back in the day. It's an amazing movie (even though Avatar should have won).

I have no idea what the Iraq War is like. Sure I can watch "Generation Kill" and see that there appears to be great camaraderie and a startlingly large amount of down time. I can read articles and know that it's a politically delicate situation. And I can play "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" and blow away countless terrorists on max volume from the comfort of my large ultra plushy couch, yet the actual experience of war is foreign to me. The film "The Hurt Locker" is an excellent attempt to understand the both physical and psychological aspects of the Iraq War.

Masterfully directed by Katherine Bigelow (Point Break) and starring Jeremy Renner (who already has deserved Oscar buzz for his performance) and Anthony Mackie (highly underated ), this is an extrodinary peek into the lives of a bomb defusal unit in Iraq. Whether it is a car bomb situation next to the UN or an sniper standoff in the barren desert, the film is wired with so much tension, it was hard for me to sit still. Unlike other war films like "Body of Lies" and "The Kingdom" there is no elusive mastermind to track, and the narrative feels a little weak because of it.

At first this lack of a strong narrative bothered me, but then I realized, there isn't a core narrative in this war in Iraq War. The "mastermind" Saddam was captured in 2003, and we're still going. Heroes in the war come and go with each pentagon news blast. It's a continuing cycle, and the film has a similar structure. I mentioned before the film is attempt to understand the Iraq War, I use the word "attempt" because I believe no media can do the war justice simply because the viewer/reader has not lived through the experiences.

The last shot of a bomb defusal technician walking down a street alone towards an uncertain future is a perfect visiaul metaphor for this endless path the Iraq War currently has. Sure, end dates, goals, and benchmarks may be set (and met), but as long as there still are US troops in Iraq, there is no ending, damn, maybe there hasn't even been a middle yet.

The Hurt Locker: An Attempt to Understand The Iraq War

I have no idea what the Iraq War is like. Sure I can watch "Generation Kill" and see that there appears to be great camaraderie and a startlingly large amount of down time. I can read articles and know that it's a politically delicate situation. And I can play "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" and blow away countless terrorists on max volume from the comfort of my large ultra plushy couch, yet the actual experience of war is foreign to me. The film "The Hurt Locker" is an excellent attempt to understand the both physical and psychological aspects of the Iraq War.

Masterfully directed by Katherine Bigelow (Point Break) and starring Jeremy Renner (who already has deserved Oscar buzz for his performance) and Anthony Mackie (highly underated ), this is an extrodinary peek into the lives of a bomb defusal unit in Iraq. Whether it is a car bomb situation next to the UN or an sniper standoff in the barren desert, the film is wired with so much tension, it was hard for me to sit still. Unlike other war films like "Body of Lies" and "The Kingdom" there is no elusive mastermind to track, and the narrative feels a little weak because of it.

At first this lack of a strong narrative bothered me, but then I realized, there isn't a core narrative in this war in Iraq War. The "mastermind" Saddam was captured in 2003, and we're still going. Heroes in the war come and go with each pentagon news blast. It's a continuing cycle, and the film has a similar structure. I mentioned before the film is attempt to understand the Iraq War, I use the word "attempt" because I believe no media can do the war justice simply because the viewer/reader has not lived through the experiences.

The last shot of a bomb defusal technician walking down a street alone towards an uncertain future is a perfect visiaul metaphor for this endless path the Iraq War currently has. Sure, end dates, goals, and benchmarks may be set (and met), but as long as there still are US troops in Iraq, there is no ending, damn, maybe there hasn't even been a middle yet.