Friday, November 24, 2006

today is the longest day of my life

the following takes place between 7:00 a.m. and 1:53 a.m.

7:01- we're starting season 4 of 24, with the plan to watch the entire season nonstop today. sounded like a fun idea when we suggested it a few months ago--now i'm wondering how it's going to feel watching a full season of tv in one day. a couple of years ago, a roommate and i watched the full 'lord of the rings' in one day; it was fun to see the whole story, but after 12+ hours we finished 'return of the king' feeling kind of fried and saying i would never do that again. the difference here is that we get a full plot structure and cliffhanger every 42 minutes, making it easier to keep our interest sustained.
so here we go.

10:09 a.m.-
one episode down: we're 1/24 the way there.
two episodes down: we're 1/12 the way there.
three episodes down: we're 1/8 the way there.
four episodes down: we're 1/6 the way there.
and thus ends disc 1.
it's a little odd being that it's just me and mark watching, as we normally have 6-10 people here, but we still cheer [such as when jack pulled out his man-purse and yell at the tv. we still haven't see a handful of regular characters and we're already making predictions about who will turn out bad, who will get fired, and whatnot.
my only complaint now is that i'm out of eggs and i wanted to make some breakfast.
i'm still working on that.

jack's kill count: 2
and one gas station held up.

11:39 a.m. 'man, jeff, what are we doing?'
so asks mark as we're 25% done. he's on his second can of diet coke, i've had two donuts, and a friend of mine told me how to get into her house to get some eggs. we've finally found out what the threat is for this season, discovered a traitor, and still haven't seen a few of our favorite characters [while enjoying new ones]. i'm doing alright. we've been at this for almost five hours; it's a weird feeling to think how much longer we'll be here, depending on how many breaks we take. some friends invited me to temple square tonight for the lights--i'd like to go, and depending how i'm feeling around 4:00, i may take the offer. but that would really set us back.
unlike 'lord of the rings', 24 moves fast enough that it doesn't feel like a long time; that makes a major difference in our endurance.

why are we doing this? because we can, mostly. just like standing in line for superbowl tickets for long hours, there's something fun about this sort of crazy scheme. wild keggers aren't our style and i've done the toga party thing- ironman 24 is one more item to cross off the list.

jack's kill count: 15 [yeah, that was a good episode]

and marks swoons as jack and audrey hold hands.
so do i.

5:18 p.m.
oooh, we're halfway there....'
two papa john's pizzas and a load of laundry and we're still going.
somedays on set, as we sit down to lunch, i find myself thinking, 'if we were done now, this would have been a good day.' that's kind of how i'm feeling now. but we're just crossing the halfway mark. when we did 'the lord of the rings', the whole thing took about 12 hours; compared to that, i'm feeling just fine.
being that we have seen every other season of 24, we know the structure of a 'day' and what sort of incidents 'have' to happen, and so it's been fun calling out what will happen and then seeing it fulfilled. and yet it's new enough that it keeps us involved. 'same same but different', as they say in thailand.
so far the season has been fine; nothing amazing, but keeping the status quo of what we expect from the greatest show on tv.

we went out and tossed a football around for a while to keep ourselves moving. i jammed my pinkie. it hurts.

jack's kill count: 20

8:11 p.m.
coolness note: i've worked with and talked with the guy who guest d.p.ed three of the episodes this seasons.

starting disc 5 out of 6; we're starting to get a little numb to the whole thing not paying full attention, talking some during the 'slower' parts, but still getting excited. and the last episode just reminded us once again that, yes, 24 will do anything. that being said, this season hasn't been as 'intense' as 2 and 3 were--i don't think as many people will gasp watching it. that being said, we haven't gotten to the infamous 'chinese embasy' episode yet.
now that we are on the second-to-last disc, the end is appearing on the horizon and i think we will make it. actually, i've never doubted that we would finish this [and what a goal, right?] still, it's nice to get near the finish.

i've been icing my pinkie and the swelling has gone down, i'm debating if i should go for a slice of cold pizza or some thanksgiving pie, and i never did get those eggs. [actually, i got one, but it was hardboiled.]

jack's kill count: 38 [we're hoping to get to 50 by the end of the 'day']

11:05 p.m.
i've been having to prod mark every so often, but he just declared that he's going to make it.
and now we start the sixth and final disc, the anchor leg, the home stretch. mark's eating a bowl of orange rock star float and egg nog ice cream, i'm contemplating a can of apple beer [bottles are so much better], and we're both getting a little numb; the last episode was the best one of the season so far, one that we probably would have been on the edge of our seats; instead, we were somewhere in the 'pretty interested' category.
when we had five episodes left, it felt like we were close to the end--only five left. when mark described it as a drive to las vegas, that kind of sent my head for a trip.

it's looking like we will finish shortly after 2:00 a.m. really pretty good time, all things considered. and my pinkie is still sore, but the swelling has gone down.

jack's kill count: 42
chloe: 1

12:30 a.m.
we're down to the final two. 'cowboy hats help you stay awake' states mark, and it seems to be working for him. on the other hand, he's getting kind of weird, now trying to play a broom like a guitar to keep himself entertained.
all this is now is running down the clock. we should be all excited about the final climax; instead, we can barely remember what happened even an episode ago. in fact, every 'hour' [42 minutes without commercials] is feeling longer and longer. they used to fly by, but now i look at the dvd timer, thinking we're near the end and find that it's only 13 minutes into the show. kind of too bad, too, as this is some of the best work around right now, and we are so over-saturated that we can't appreciate it.
maybe the hardest part is the psychological perception of time--whether it's because we've been sitting here for more hours than i honestly want to admit or because we're sucked into the world of the show, but it feels like it's 4:30 a.m. or later [and it's been feeling like that for a while].
we're detatched from the show. it's mostly just running down the clock.
and the powerful 'ticking' sound of the clock is starting to get annoying.

did you ever see 'they shoot horses, don't they?', about the marathon dance competitions?

1:53 a.m.
we did it. 24 should not be watched like that, but we did it.
i don't regret doing it, but i can't recommend it to anyone.
and now we're going to sleep.

jack's kill count: 43

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