The I-Land: "Lost" Written by a Writing-School Dropout

10 people on a desert island, with no memory of who they are or how they got there.  Sounds interesting, sort of Lost light.

We discover almost immediately that this is a computer simulation (the title I-Land is one clue.)  But that's ok, maybe a combination of Lost and The Prisoner.   Does someone want in-for-mation?

Except: the people are complete jerks.  They immediately start bickering, hooking up, and trying to rape each other instead of looking for food, water, and shelter.

For plot complications, there is a cannibal among them, and two bounty hunters named Bonnie and Clyde (Clyde played by KeiLyn Durrel Jones, left).

We learn all the details in Episodes 3 and 7 (the finale),  which are all long plot exposition discussions.  Hey, did anyone take Creative Writing 101?  Show, don't tell?

Due to global warming, Texas is now mostly underwater, so the crime rate has increased, and the prisons are full:   "So many more people are criminals, now that the water has reclaimed the land, that we have to find a way to redeem them."

Um...we've had rehabilitation programs for over 180 years.  Job training, GED classes, life skills classes, drug treatment, counseling....

 So they are trying out a program to give parole to murderers if they can prove that they have been reformed.

Um...what about the non-violent inmates?  Maybe parole them first?

So the murderers are memory-wiped, put into young, hot bodies, and dumped on a hologram-island to see what happens.  This group consists of:

1. Chase, who killed her husband and children
2. KC
3. Cooper
4. Moses (Kyle Schmid, left)
5. Blair

6. Mason, a mass murderer
7. Donova
8. Taylor
9. Hayden
10. Brody (Alex Pettyfer, left)

It would be very interesting to see the back stories of all of these people, to learn how and why they became murderers, but nope, the writer never took Creative Writing 101.  We learn nothing about the lives of most of them.

Therefore I have no idea if any of them are gay.  Some shy away from hetero-hookups, but that's as far as it gets.

I sort of liked the scenes set back in real life, with Bruce McGill as the Warden channeling the Rich Texan from The Simpsons.  He is so incredibly over the top that I thought he must be a parody.  After all, Bruce McGill has been in a lot of movies.  He must have taken acting lessons, right?

Now, if we can just get the writers into Creative Writing 101....

Coffs Harbour: Big Bananas, Aboriginals, and Drag Queens

Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, is about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane.















Originally its economy was based on bananas, so there are many  big bananas in town, including the Big Banana Fun Park.










And the big bananas who compete in the many aquatic events, such as the Coffs Harbor Ocean Swim and the Coffs Harbour Triathlon.

There are 8 high schools in town (most called "colleges").    Australian high schools don't offer wrestling, but there are lots of swim teams.

There's also a campus of Southern Cross University.

If you get tired of the big bananas, Coffs Harbor features the Bunker Cartoon Gallery, a museum dedicated to the history of Australian cartooning, and the annual Buskers and Comedy Festival (a busker is a street performer).

Although I suppose they have some big bananas, too.

And a variety of outdoor activities, including hiking, golf, tennis, scuba diving, and surfing.  These guys belong to the boardriding club.

Big bananas are a prerequisite for membership, I suppose.

5.6% of the population of Coffs Harbor is Aboriginal, nearly double the national average of 3%.  Most belong to the Gumbaynggirr, one of the largest Aboriginal tribes in New South Wales.  The language had almost died out by the 1990s, but now there are classes and activities, and about 700 people can speak it.

Gumbaynggirr educator Clark Webb looks like he has a big...well, never mind.

  Every July Aboriginals and their allies across the country celebrate NAIDOC Week (National Aboriginal and Torres Islanders Day Observance Committee).  In 2019, the Coffs Harbour NAIDOC featured a football carnival, an art exhibition, an elders' lunch sponsored by the Deadly Sistahs Girlz, and:

An after party hosted by rhe Fearless Felicia Foxx, the "Realest Tidda of Sidney"

A drag queen at a family-friendly event in rural Australia?

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore.

31 Reasons Why Autumn is My Favorite Season

1. New TV shows.

2. A new theater season.

3. Classes start over.

4. Halloween

5. Apples by the bushel.

6. You can wear nice jackets and sweaters outside.

7.  The air gets a brisk chill

8. The campus becomes a hunk-fest again.













9.  Hookup apps get dozens of fresh new faces (and biceps and bulges).

10. The leaves turn color.

11. You can go outside without getting drenched.

12. Cloudy days.

13. The first snowfall of the season.

14. Football.  I hate football, but I like football players.

15.  Sleeping under blankets.

16. You can cuddle again.

17. Pumpkin pie.

18. Thanksgiving.

19.  My birthday.  Don't let them tell you that as you get older, birthdays are less important.  I'll take cake and presents any day.

20. Fun runs.

21. You can work off the summer pounds.

22. Gay Pride (on the Plains, it's held in September).

23. The Rocky Horror Picture Show

24. The paranormal.  I suppose you could read about ghosts, time slips, and alien abductions at any time of the year, but aren't they more fun in the autumn?

25. Nobody is pressuring you to eat outside, play outside, or do anything outside. You can stay in the house all day without anyone complaining that you have "wasted" the day.

26. There's no pressure of any sort.  In the summer people are always after you do to things, drive cross-country, visit old friends, go to festivals and fairs, make sure that "the days are just packed."  In the autumn you can relax.

27. Pie.  Who ever heard of eating pie in the summertime?

28. Wrestling.

29. The sun goes down at a decent hour, non e of this "broad daylight at bedtime" business.

30. Lumberjack shirts and tight jeans.

31. It's not Christmas.

See also: 12 Things to Like About Autumn