Episode 160 - The Lake House: LIVE!

[babyoilbandit 81]

So I believe there is no time travel in this movie at all. Instead what this movie really is, is a prequel to the Matrix.

Agent Smith Tells Morpheus that there were previous builds of the Matrix. The Movie takes place in one of those builds.

 

This would explain the so called time travel in the movie. In the Matrix it is explained to Neo that seeing things twice, or having feeling of deja vu is a glitch or the program being changed. In the Animatrix which tells of some of the pre-history this effect is even more pronounced effecting the physics of the world. So The mailbox is not magical and it is not time travel its a Glitch in the Matrix. Keanu and Sandy are not talking to each from the past to the future they just perceive it that way. It is a computer simulation time is non linear.

 

Also some of the strange behaviors and sayings make more sense when you understand that this simulated world was created by artificial intelligence. Sandra Bullock's "What did you eat a clown" is nothing a human would come up with, but a machine trying to mimic humor would.

 

This is just my theory of why The lake house made no god damn sense.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Tree > Mailbox

 

The mailbox is a man-made structure.

For whatever dumbass reason it can

send mail through time, it cannot change

time.

 

It is when Keanu embraces nature and

plants a tree then reality has changed.

That's why the tree wasn't noticed until

Keanu chose to plant it.

 

Keanu wanted the house to be more in

harmony with nature.

 

Something else about dog paw prints,

but to be honest, I have not and will

not see this shitty movie.

 

Thanks for digging deep in the episode

so I didn't have to watch this.

 

You should try and get this published in The New Yorker.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Great Episode!

 

The thing that really stick in my craw about this movie is the characters' utter indifference to the phenomena that they've stumbled upon. I don't think they once write, "This is some spooky shit, huh?" Like they said in the episode, Keanu and Sandy, and their close associates, treat it as though it's a mild curiosity. No one ever asks to be driven to the Lake House and see for themselves. It's just treated as a harmless idiosyncrasy that Sandy and Keanu share.

 

But here's the problem: what's going on in this movie is some serious shit. Someone, or something, has decided to fuck with the space-time continuum with reckless abandon and not one character in the movie is the least bit concerned. And, sure, it would be great to know who is behind it all, but honestly, the "who" of it all is the least of their problems. Whoever is meddling with time, whether through Divine, Scientific, Magical or Canine means, has an agenda. Possibly, a sinister agenda. What we should be asking ourselves is"Why."

 

Why is it so important that these two bland, mediocre, and quite frankly, schlubby individuals get together? Sure, planting a tree is cute, but with every tiny change they make, they are changing the future. Why is someone trying to change the future? Sure Keanu might seem kind of like a nobody, but think about this: what if the person driving the station wagon that was involved in the crash was a serial killer? In the unaltered timeline, perhaps the accident paralyzes him and he is unable to act upon his demeanted impulses, but in the new timeline, a bunch of people could possibly end up being murdered. It doesn't even matter how many, one, one hundred, one million. By not dying when his time was up, Keanu may have irrevocably caused limitless pain and suffering on countless innocent lives.

 

So, why? Why these two? Is it for altruistic or nefarious purposes? Do they give birth to the Anti-Christ or the Messiah? Why would someone go to all of this trouble for these two specific people for this very specific reason?

 

All I'm saying is they were in correspondence with each other for at least a year, and maybe instead of writing epistles dripping with goo-goo eyed sentimentality, they should have been Scooby-Doo-ing the crap out of this mystery?

[Cameron H. 23786]

What would have happened if Sandy (or God forbid) someone else was standing in the exact spot the tree appeared? Would they have been impaled, stuck on the top of the tree, or would their molecules somehow bonded together and created some kind of horrific human/tree amalgam?

[Cameron H. 23786]

Sorry for the multiple posts...I was just able to catch up with the episode today

 

I really think we should give Sandy a break for not recognizing Keanu's mangled body. She's obviously not that good with faces. When they are at her birthday party she tells Keanu that she when she was 16 years old she ran away from home and went to San Francisco to be with her first love but now she can't remember what he looked like. That's absolutely insane! Middle school boyfriend? Okay. The first person you kissed in a "spin-the-bottle" scenario? Fine. But you loved this guy so much you RAN AWAY from home! You followed him halfway across the country and you have no recollection of him? Even if you fell out of love with this guy in just a couple of days, what you're describing would be a very significant touchstone in anyone's life! His face would be seared into your brain forever! Is Sandy face blind or something?

[tomspanks 9039]

Is Sandy face blind or something?

 

I thought she did! At least a mild form of it. I think she had to hide it from everyone around her, because it wouldn't be possible for her to become a doctor if people found out.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

What would have happened if Sandy (or God forbid) someone else was standing in the exact spot the tree appeared? Would they have been impaled, stuck on the top of the tree, or would their molecules somehow bonded together and created some kind of horrific human/tree amalgam?

I think the introduction of the tree would alter the space within the timeline. It wouldn't just pop up out of nowhere; its growth would cause a domino effect, and ultimately, if someone were standing where the tree was previously, they would be standing somewhere else because it would exist in the full timeline.

 

This is what I find most troubling about the magic of the timeline shift. In most stories involving time travel and such, people only recognize the consequences of their actions once they have been removed from the timeline. It's why Marty McFly can see the results of the changes he made in 1955 when he returns to 1985, but no one else notices because this is just how their timeline is (it also creates a bit of a paradox in BTTF2 when Biff changes the timeline and nothing changes in 2015, but Marty notices that 1985 is different, but I digress...).

 

I think this might have been what Paul was trying to get at, but I couldn't follow his logic entirely (although that could totally be my fault because I was working while listening). In The Lake House, no one would notice the changes that were made in their timeline, INCLUDING Sandy B. If he plants this tree, it wouldn't be weird for her because it's always been there. But that creates a whole different paradox, right? If he changes one thing, it affects all of the timeline, potentially INCLUDING their previous conversation. In other words, he only plants the tree because she complains about the rain. So when he plants it, it changes the timeline. But now that there's a tree there, she wouldn't complain about it. So he wouldn't plant the tree, and we'd be back to where we started. It would create a state where the timeline is in flux between tree and no tree.

 

The same goes for her telling him not to find her in the end. She only tells him that because she finds out he died. So once she tells him not to come, he wouldn't die, so she wouldn't be aware that he had died in the previous timeline. So she wouldn't tell him not to find her. And then he would try to find her and get hit by the car. And so on.

 

That could potentially be explained by the lake house itself being a temporal anomaly that allows them to see the outcomes of their actions and thus be aware of the changes around them. But, again, they would ONLY notice changes that were made while they were at the lake house (so anything Keanu did while Sandy was at work wouldn't be seen as a change to her).

 

I feel like I'm talking in circles and none of this makes any sense, but it's hard to describe, so I hope it's at least somewhat coherent.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

Sorry for the multiple posts...I was just able to catch up with the episode today

That makes sense. When I noticed you weren't posting, my first thought was, "Were we serious about having Cam Bert be the only one posting? Am I being the asshole that ruins everything?"

[Cameron H. 23786]

I think the introduction of the tree would alter the space within the timeline. It wouldn't just pop up out of nowhere; its growth would cause a domino effect, and ultimately, if someone were standing where the tree was previously, they would be standing somewhere else because it would exist in the full timeline.

 

That's what I would have thought too, except there is a definite moment where Sandy watches the tree appear out of nothingness. While I agree that for everyone else there would have always been a tree there, for her specifically, there was definitely a moment of no tree/tree. So she, at least, was at risk of arboreal manslaughter.

[Cameron H. 23786]

That makes sense. When I noticed you weren't posting, my first thought was, "Were we serious about having Cam Bert be the only one posting? Am I being the asshole that ruins everything?"

 

Ha! No. Ever since I quit my job, it's been hard for me be timely. Usually I have a lot going on on Fridays, and if I can't listen by 3:30, I pretty much can't listen until Monday. It is what it is, but it bums me out when I can't keep up with the conversation.

[Slice0FLife 1]

Ok this is going to be my first post here, but I have to bring up this theory as I had to miss the live show version of the Lake House after previously having tickets.

 

I think that Jason's "Jacob's Ladder" version of this movie was hilarious, but did not go far enough...

 

If this movie is a "Jacob's Ladder" scenario of anything, its from Speed. Making this movie the ACTUAL sequel to the original movie.

 

Let me explain my crackpot theory:

• Keanu & Sandra actually crash horrifically once escaping from the bus on the tarmac at the airport. (Spoilers for the movie Speed)
  
• After that point, the rest of the movie is actually Keanu's "Jacob's Ladder" scenario where he tracks down Dennis Hopper and saves the day. Its short and relatively simple, fitting Keanu's character in the movie.
  
• The Lake House is actually the longer more drawn out version of Sandra Bullock's "Jacob's Ladder" scenario.
  
• In this version, the movie plays our so incredibly slowly thanks to Sandra wishing she had more time with Keanu from "Speed". They can't just meet and fall in love, because in her near death state in Speed, Sandra just wished she had known Keanu for longer than a few hours. Everything in this movie requires constant waiting.
  
• This is exactly why the dog is named "Jack" as it is the only character to play a big part of both of their lives.
  
• Her mind knows that this is all fake, which is why Keanu gets killed by a BUS! Just like the bus that killed them both, setting forth these two dream states.
  
• Coming together in that final moment near the mailbox is where it comes to and end for both of them as they are now finally dying as their original characters in Speed.
  

Yes, this was a crackpot theory. But it makes far more sense than the actually move did.

[Cam Bert 8145]

I really think we should give Sandy a break for not recognizing Keanu's mangled body. She's obviously not that good with faces. When they are at her birthday party she tells Keanu that she when she was 16 years old she ran away from home and went to San Francisco to be with her first love but now she can't remember what he looked like. That's absolutely insane! Middle school boyfriend? Okay. The first person you kissed in a "spin-the-bottle" scenario? Fine. But you loved this guy so much you RAN AWAY from home! You followed him halfway across the country and you have no recollection of him? Even if you fell out of love with this guy in just a couple of days, what you're describing would be a very significant touchstone in anyone's life! His face would be seared into your brain forever! Is Sandy face blind or something?

What is also shocking about all this is that the guy she ran away to San Fransisco with she tells Keanu is the only man she's ever loved. So how old do we figure she's suppose to be? Early 30s? She has made it that far in life still only ever loving one man from years ago and she even recall what he looks like?

 

That makes sense. When I noticed you weren't posting, my first thought was, "Were we serious about having Cam Bert be the only one posting? Am I being the asshole that ruins everything?"

Trust me I was getting very self conscious about it. I have so much more to say but I want to let everyone else chime in so I'm not just running rampant and ruining everyone's fun.

[tomspanks 9039]

Trust me I was getting very self conscious about it. I have so much more to say but I want to let everyone else chime in so I'm not just running rampant and ruining everyone's fun.

 

You should unleash your full strength hatred of this movie. It would be fun for everyone to read.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

 

You should unleash your full strength hatred of this movie. It would be fun for everyone to read.

 

[MapleLakelander 33]

Here's another batch! I did the Riverside locations today. Some of my angles aren't great because it was so bright I couldn't see my screen. Also, I didn't know until I was there that the dam has been demolished and the bridge has been redone since filming. Third time's the charm for the lake; it's been really crowded the past two days and I don't want to creep anyone out.

 

[Smelsela 5]

The part that bugged me the most, which I don't remember them talking about in the HDTGM episode is how is he getting his actual mail?! Are all his electricity bills and what-not being transported to the future as well? Or is the mailbox sentient enough to distinguish bills and other personal correspondence from the letters to her? If not, he must be getting dunned like crazy and have so many late payment charges on his accounts!

 

 

Unless perhaps he has pre-authorized payments and online billing set up for everything (though not entirely sure that would have been an option in 2004). I would have loved to see that scene in the movie though!

 

Customer Service Representative: "What can I help you with today, Sir?"

 

Keanu Reeves: "I need to set up a pre-authorized payment plan because my mailbox is a magical time portal and all my paper bills keep getting sucked into the future. Please don't shut off my power for non-payment! *achoooooo!*"

[Cameron H. 23786]

I think one of my biggest gripes about this movie is that, ostensibly, it's supposed to be a Love Story, isn't it? Yet, every frame seem to be color corrected with this gauzy, gray-blue hue, and the "dialogue" between Sandy and Keanu is just so dour and fatalistic. Where are my bright colors? Where is the joy? Where is the exuberance of falling in love with someone new? I know that they don't spend really anytime together in the movie, but I think that makes it even more important that each of the letters exude their characters' charms. As they are falling in love with each other, we should be falling in love with them. Instead, we get these extremely low key letters, about pretty much nothing, read in monotonous voices. Snooze-o-rama.

 

Everything is just so bleak. This is a movie in which Sandra Bullock tells a little girl in the hospital that, in regard to finding a man, maybe she shouldn't "wait for something better" because "she could spend her whole life waiting." Sandy says this. In this movie. To a little girl! She is literally saying, "Hey girl, maybe this is as good as it gets, might as well settle." What in the Holy fuck is that?

 

I get it. People get lonely and that's very sad. But fuck, could you maybe not be so depressing? I mean, Sandy's character in While You Were Sleeping was a bit of a lonely loser, but she was at least likable. And while I understand there's a world of difference between a Rom Com and a Romantic Melodrama, could you at least maybe present me with characters that don't make me feel like I need a stiff drink or two after watching them mope through their pathetic little lives?

[Cameron H. 23786]

I assumed they were joking, but because they kept bringing it up I guess I'll say something.

 

The letters weren't just one line and that's it. They weren't, like, letter Tweeting each other. They were writing full letters that the movie editied to make it seem like a conversation. It would be like if I quoted one of Fister Roboto's posts and cut everything in it except the point I wanted to respond to. Like, was this really that hard to understand? It's not even like it has never been done before. Would you really want them to read 7 page, single-spaced love letters back and forth?

 

A really good, and romantic, example of this is in the Musical 1776. Pretty much all the lines and lyrics between John and Abigail Adams are taken from actual letters between the two but edited into a back and forth dialogue.

 

(Here's the song "Yours, Yours, Yours," which is a pretty good example.)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j17CLYJAcKM

 

Sorry, but their confusion about this was mind-boggling to me

[PodMeIfYouCan 4]

Hey Paul (First time / Long Time)

 

Just wanted to say that the reason Keanu in 2004 doesn't just go and see Sandra right away after he avoids the car accident is that the version of her in that time is NOT the version he's in love with. He has to wait the two years out to meet the one he's been writing to.

 

Love the show.

 

PodMeIfYouCan

[paultab 225]

I know they addressed the issue of conversational speech during the course of the movie -- you can ask a series of questions and get a series of answers, and it's OK to reorder them so we feel like we're listening in on a conversation -- but there is one exchange that bothers me. It's the one where Keanu trails off while talking about something his father said -- and then Sandra prods him to go on and say it -- and then he says it. THAT can't be accomplished any other way than by having Keanu's letter end in an ellipsis, then Sandra to write a letter that just says, "What did he say?," then for Keanu to pick up where he left off. In any normal penpal relationship, ending your letter in an ellipsis is psychotic behavior, but through a TIME RIFT?

[Cameron H. 23786]

You know what the most depressing thing about this movie is? The hostess.

 

Keanu makes reservations with her for two years in the future, and two years later, she apparently hasn't seen any career mobility.

 

She deserves a promotion, not only for her loyalty, but for the fact that she seems to remember a reservation made two years ago! That's a fucking gift and that restaurant is lucky to have her. Shit, Sandy couldn't even remember the face of the man she cheated on her boyfriend with at her own birthday party.

 

Since I'm on the topic of the restaurant, a couple of other things...

 

First of all, while Sandra is waiting for Keanu, she touches and straightens what would have been his cutlery; however, she doesn't touch it at the handle, she touches it on the blade. I know we are Letter Lovers and all, but please, for fuck's sake, get your grubby fingers off my silverware.

 

Secondly, if you're at a restaurant, particularly a nice restaurant, and you're afraid you might be stood up, please, just go ahead and eat. Sitting there staring at the children ice skate outside just makes you look like some kind of weirdo. Best case scenario, your date is just running a bit late, in which case, you are totally justified in getting started. Worst case scenario, you have a nice meal. Sure, it sucks that you got stood up, but if that's the case, fuck that guy. Treat yourself. You don't have to be a melodramatic sad sack.

[kateacola 2440]

 

Trust me I was getting very self conscious about it. I have so much more to say but I want to let everyone else chime in so I'm not just running rampant and ruining everyone's fun.

no, keep going Cam Bert-- please tear this movie apart.

(cat cheering you on, lol)

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I assumed they were joking, but because they kept bringing it up I guess I'll say something.

 

The letters weren't just one line and that's it. They weren't, like, letter Tweeting each other. They were writing full letters that the movie editied to make it seem like a conversation. It would be like if I quoted one of Fister Roboto's posts and cut everything in it except the point I wanted to respond to. Like, was this really that hard to understand? It's not even like it has never been done before. Would you really want them to read 7 page, single-spaced love letters back and forth?

I had the same thought as the gang, though. The moment that Paul Tabachneck brought up about Keanu trailing off and Sandy urging him to continue led me to be like, "WHAT THE FUCK? ARE THEY TEXTING?!" (Although that would STILL be weird texting behavior)

First of all, while Sandra is waiting for Keanu, she touches and straightens what would have been his cutlery; however, she doesn't touch it at the handle, she touches it on the blade. I know we are Letter Lovers and all, but please, for fuck's sake, get your grubby fingers off my silverware.

I didn't even notice this. That's fucking grooooossssss.

 

Also, the scene at the restaurant was giving me major anxiety, and I couldn't figure out why, and then I remembered...

 

 

 

 

Seriously, fuck that movie

 

 

 

[Madrigal Marco 22]

I kept looking at that glass house and wondering:

 

Is that the house from Thir13n Ghosts? Is Keanu the 13th ghost? Where is Tony Shalhoub?

[FisterRoboto 7499]

That's believable considering the amount of graffiti that's now like famous. Like the "Hi, How Are You?" or the "I love you so much." So I bet that people thought that it was along those lines and left it.

I meant to mention this the other day but forgot, but both of those are in Austin, and the "I love you so much" one gets vandalized about every six months. It's painted on the side of Jo's Coffee Shop on S Congress, and they have it fixed every time because it's basically a big tourist trap for them. (I used to work just off of S Congress, and you can barely walk past it during the summer because of the dildos taking up the whole sidewalk to get their goddamn pictures with it)