wuzzon?

human music: Flutebox and Beardyman

2009-07-08T13:06:00.002-04:00

Thanks to sis and JT for passing this along.

Keep on keepin on~

DAYBREAKERS

2009-07-02T13:10:00.002-04:00

Thanks to sis for the headzup on this.

Keep on feedin on~

STAR TREK: same destiny, different universe =)

2009-05-11T23:05:00.001-04:00

STAR TREK. A ton of fun, like a brilliant 20-year high school reunion with old friends, only, y'know, you WANT to go. A clever and welcome departure from the take-no-chances pseudo-continuity of the STAR TREK universe as we've known it for 40 some-odd years.

I'm not gonna hold back here, so beware that you're entering ***SPOILER*** territory...

Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman take a tired (but for my money, still enjoyable, when done well) TREK device, time travel, but this time, use it to CHANGE history, creating an alternate timeline. The source of this time anomaly is in the STAR TREK universe we've known for decades (aka TREK Prime), in whicn Ambassador Spock embarks on a mission to save the Romulan homeworld from destruction, racing to keep its sun from going supernova. Alas, he arrives too late to save Romulus, but attempts to contain the supernova using Red Matter, each drop of which can apparently spawn a black hole. Of course, this Red Matter, deployed into the expanding supernova, results in the creation of a singularity that sucks Spock's ship, along with a massive Romulan mining vessel, out of spacetime in the 24th(?) century, and deposits them in the 23rd. The Romulan ship is immediately confronted by a Federation Starship, the U.S.S. Kelvin, its first officer, one George Kirk (father's name, Tiberius =). The Romulan captain, Nero, blames Spock for the destruction of his homeworld, and seeks his ship. When Nero finds that the Kelvin has no knowledge of Spock's whereabouts, he orders its destruction. His Captain captured and presumed killed, First Officer Kirk takes command, orders everyone, including his pregnant wife, to abandon ship, and pilots the ship on a collision course into the heart of Nero's behemoth. He sacrifices himself to buy his crew time and safety, but not before he and his wife agree to name their newborn boy James.

Although I feel like some of the details surrounding this movie's choice of time jumping phenom are a bit clunky and/or thin, I hafta say that I love the way the movie, and the characters, come together to lay the groundwork for so much potential TREK goodness.

Looking forward...

This does NOT obliterate the stories and continuum that we all grew up with. Those stories have happened, and will continue to have happened, no matter what is written for the crew of the Enterprise that we meet in this movie. We've seen this before in TREK-dom. They are separate, parallel, timelines, in the way that the "Mirror, Mirror," aka evil goateed timeline and the WRATH OF KHAN (TREK Prime) timeline are.

There are at least two beautiful things that come out of this...

1. Destiny. In at least two timelines, this Enterprise crew, this particular bridge crew, is fated to be together, and under the leadership of James T. Kirk. In the TREK Prime timeline, Commander Spock served as Captain Pike's first officer on an Enterprise mission to a planet of beings who abducted the captain to study and test humanity. Years later, after the Kirk has taken the Captain's chair, Spock defies the chain of command to come to the aid of his former captain, paralyzed and ailing, confined to a space wheelchair that allows him to communicate only thru electric signals (see original series episodes "The Cage" and "The Menagerie," and maybe FUTURAMA =).

Anyhow, Kirk's Enterprise crew was NOT Pike's Enterprise crew. None of them step up to claim friendship, loyalty, or experience with the Captain. Which means to me that the crew that we know and love was assembled after Pike captained the Enterprise, before, or perhaps early on in, Kirk's five year mission.

Now, the event which spawns the divergent, alternate timeline of the movie is the encounter of the U.S.S. Kelvin with Nero's mining behemoth. This encounter ends badly for the Federation, with the loss of a starship and the death of two of its captains within a dozen minutes. The second, George Kirk, gives his life and his ship to buy time for the survival of his crew, fleeing in shuttles, including his wife, who gives birth to James during George's last seconds of life.

Enough drama for ya?

So, James is pre-emptively robbed of years of fathering. I'm a little fuzzy on the influence of Kirk's dad in the Prime timeline, but I could imagine it leading to his joining the Federation a few years earlier than he does in this movie. In the movie, he bums around Iowa, working at giving the local Academy trainees a hard time (which could be good or bad, depending on if you're female)... Something of a GOOD JAMES T. HUNTING punk.

When Pike, an old friend of George Kirk, challenges James to do something with his life and join Starfleet, he jumps on the last shuttle out. On board he meets cadets Bones McCoy and Uhura. What are the odds?

Three years and one overly cavalier performance in the Kobayashi Maru simulation later, on board the Enterprise, Jim and Bones meet Pike's bridge crew, including one Sulu, Chekhov, and Mr. Spock. When the communications officer proves deficient at xenolingusitics, short skirted Uhura is ordered to take his place.

That's almost everybody. What are the odds?

Later, after the destruction of Vulcan, Spock chooses a pretty harsh disciplinary measure to demonstrate his authority as acting Captain (Captain Pike having been abducted by the enemy), and launches Kirk in an escape pod to the frozen surface of a moon in the Vulcan system. The pod computer notifies Kirk that there is a Starfleet outpost nearby and he should await retrieval. Of course, he sets out on his own.

After a STAR WARS-y attack by two higher-ups in the local food chain, including a requisite sci-fi/horror vagina beasty, we learn that this is the same planetoid on which Romulan blue-collar baddie Nero deposited timeline-jumping Spock Prime, in an overly romantic execution of poetic justice.

Both Kirk and Spock Prime are deposited on the same frozen moon by two different individuals. AND, we soon discover, the moon is home to a Starfleet outpost currently manned by one Montgomery Scott, apparently exiled to this duty after some transgression or other at the academy. Also, the one man in the universe at that time who could assemble just the device/s necessary to get James Kirk back on board the Enterprise in mid-warp.

What are the odds?

Do you see what I, and the movie, are getting at here? It's a notion that you'll have seen many times in comic books and alternate history fiction. That certain individuals, and sometimes certain teams of individuals, are destined for unique roles, and greatness in those roles. Sure, our sample set is only two timelines out of infinity, but MAN, the odds that this new timeline stretches are pretty frickin astronomical. I've gotta believe that this crew of Starfleet officers and cadets is a must-have in 99 out of 100 timelines in the STAR TREK multiverse.

Kee-razy. Maybe you don't need to think about it that way. Cuz there's more than enough going on minute to minute in the movie to enjoy without this extra level of... I dunno... romance, I guess. But for my money, and my comic book incubated sensibilities, this level is a wonderful bonus payoff.

Frack. That simple notion took longer than I anticipated to spell out. I suppose I should be surprised, eh?

I'll hafta save point number two for a next post.

Keep on beepin on~

LOST: Catch a falling star, put it in your pocket...

2009-04-29T19:15:00.006-04:00

I believe that a baby black hole "powers" the Island. It's the perfect not-completely-understandable might-as-well-be-magic spacetime-bending theoretic-physically-kinda-possible phenomenon to pseudo-scientifically account for most of the weirdness associated w the Island and inflicted upon our Losties.

Also, have you caught the (to my mind, unusual and conspicuous) choice of lullaby for Aaron? "Catch a falling star, put it in your pocket...?" I think that's what happened with/to the Island. A black hole was created within it or collided with it from space.

As much as I'd like for fresh-off-the-sub Daniel to be something other than our ragged Daniel (like a twin, or his own father, or a future/older Daniel) I think the "simplest" explanation will probably prevail. That he *is* our ragged Daniel, just cleaned up after a couple years off-Island playing the role of premier DI scientist in the civilized world.

I would LOVE for him to have been the scientist who developed the Lamppost, which is what I hoped for when Eloise first introduced it... but how would that have happened...?

Our ragged Faraday would join the Orchid work crew and get into the wheel chamber, or at least to those bore holes that penetrated into the chamber, to access the "negatively charged exotic particles," and with a coconut and bamboo time machine, launch himself farther back in time, and maybe off the Island, to become the DI scientist who develops the Lamppost, which leads the DI to the Island.

Y'know, that could've happened already, sometime between 1974 and 1977, but a LOST time jump seems to require and discharge a lot of energy, so it's unlikely it could've been done secretly or quietly...

MAYbe... it hasn't happened yet. MAYbe, our ragged Faraday *has* been a kinda wacko Charlotte's creepy uncle hermit in the DI on the Island for three years, and crisp future F.O.S. Faraday has returned to the Island coincidentally/fatefully/because he'd already experienced what's about to come—the Swan Incident that sends ragged Faraday farther back in time (to become the DI sage who creates the Lamppost) and returns crisp Faraday and the Losties to the present day...

I like that.

Which of course means it's totally wacked and wrong.

A few posts back, I mentioned the cop-out idea of the Island being the site of a shipwrecked spaceship or spacetimeship. It's kind of a cop-out, cuz it sort of cheapens what sacrifice and faith and crises of faith that the Losties and Others have had to endure. But, y'know, I'm finding more and more potential in the idea. It doesn't have to cheapen the harrowing and inspiring experiences of our favorite characters because the Island doesn't have to be the cause of everything. People, and their beliefs and greed and relationships, do. The Island could be a cosmic McGuffin. A little REPO MAN, but of course, I don't think of that as a bad thing.

So, maybe the black hole is the power source of the spaceship that crashed into the Island millions of years ago. OR, the spaceship, with an exotic particle drive, is the falling star that's put in a dimensional pocket on earth. Over time, geology and the spacetime bending-force of the black hole/hyperdrive caused the Island to overgrow the extraterrestrial technology, to the point where you can't tell where one ends and the other begins. I originally thought the Orchid would be the stardrive and the Swan would be a regulator for its power. The Orchid would have been designed to push the spaceship thru time and space. Early Islanders (or crash survivors?) would discover the damaged Orchid chamber and rig a primitive workaround interface from available materials, the Wheel, to try to reactivate it.

Ben and Christian and Widmore speak about moving the Island somoewhat matter-of-factly, as a last resort defense against outsiders. So, we can assume that in the Island's history, turning the wheel moved the Island safely thru space, without jumping thru time. The chaotic power of the Orchid was regulated to do that. However, when Ben turns the wheel, what about the Island is different? The Swan. Its energies have been completely released in the detonation of hatch. Without the Swan's regulating energies, the Orchid's power when released by Ben affects both space and time, and the time skipping begins. When Locke turns the wheel, he is in a time before the loss of the Swan's energies, so the wheel turns as it should and the Island is returned to a fixed point in space time.

I'm a little less happy with the idea of the energies of the Orchid and Swan working in tandem by design since Jughead showed up on the scene. It seems like the concrete block in the Swan must be Jughead's resting place. And that notion makes me want to say that Jughead is the Island-tainting cause of the Swan's weird EM phenomenon, which would mean that there were no Swan energies before Jughead was buried there in the 50s.

Of course, that doesn't have to be the case. The site could have been home to an Island-natural/spaceship-tech spike or weirdness in the EM field, and that weirdness and the radiation from the damaged Jughead could have interacted with each other to produce even greater weirdness, with unexpected effects on the Orchid phenom and Island-moving.

Or... I could get a life. Y'know, whichever.

Also... Doesn't that crate that the Shadow Pact is hauling around look vaguely... coffin-sized? Or could we say... Sarcophagus-scaled? Anyone up for resurrecting an Island leader, or offering up a vessel to a lost/fallen/dormant maverick Egyptian demi-god? Or something?

Alien mummy?

Right. Shutting up...

Now.

Keep on keepin on~

a snapshot from IFFB 2009...

2009-04-25T07:56:00.004-04:00

Actor Kevin Corrigan and writer/director Robert Siegel help raise wrist awareness!

Siegel penned the story to Aronofsky's THE WRESTLER (which I loved and everyone should see) and wrote and directed tonight's IFFB flick, BIG FAN, starring Patton Oswalt and Corrigan. Corrigan is one of my favorite indie actors, who won a special place in my entertainment-consuming heart with a one-time role on FREAKS AND GEEKS. Every time I saw him in the movies, it was, "Hey, it's that guy from that FREAKS AND GEEKS episode who makes the fake IDs!" Later it would be, "Hey, it's that guy that Mark Ruffalo is the bizzaro version of!" Even in the most passing of supporting roles, he always contributes to the story- and world-building experience of a film. I really like what he brings to his characters, y'know, a certain, gruff, no-nonsense, "I'm TALKin' here" I-don't-know-what. A little Joey Pants, a little Robert DeNiro, maybe a dash of Nicholson. Me being the fanboy that I am, I had trouble actually putting my appreciation for the talents of these filmmakers into a sequence of words that made coherent sense, but I can only hope that given the plot and characters of the film we had just watched—a devoted superfan comes face-to-face with one of his idols, with less than fantasy-fulfilling results—Corrigan and Siegel understood that. Thank Colbert, tho, cuz even though I had difficulty putting sentences together, by offering them the Wriststrong bracelets I'd brought for them, I managed to create at least an outline of an exchange that led to the photographic evidence above.

If you're in Bostonia this weekend, check out the Independent Film Festival of Boston! Lotsa good crack up on those screens!

Keep on keepin on~

LOST:Dude, that guy is a total douche...That douche is my dad.

2009-04-22T03:37:00.004-04:00

_______________________________
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

I really like the Hurley-Miles dynamic. Their Abbot and Costello banter about time travel kinda disarmed me, which let Hurley's thoughtful father-son discussion and insight totally blindside me. I really enjoyed that. Sometimes when I watch this show, I'm too intent on anticipating a next move or revelation, "getting" it as soon as two characters are put together, y'know?

But this was a really sweet and thoughtful surprise. Even better, it brought STAR WARS to LOST. Y'know, beyond Sawyer's nicknaming. =)

Miles gets sick of Hurley trying to play therapist to himself and his father and in what is genuinely just a rash slap in the face to Hurley grabs his "journal" and begins reading aloud from it. We find out that this isn't a diary of any kind, but rather Hurley's transcribing of STAR WARS: EPISODE 5...

HURLEY: I'm writing EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
MILES: Uh... I'm sorry. What?
HURLEY: It's 1977, right? So STAR WARS just came out. And pretty soon, George Lucas is gonna be looking for a sequel. I've seen EMPIRE, like, 200 times, so I figured I'd make life easier and send him the script... with a couple of improvements.
MILES: That's gotta be the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
HURLEY: Oh, yeah? Well, at least I'm not scared of talking to my own dad.

For me, the hardest parts of this notion to swallow are that Hurley needed to ask how to spell "bounty hunter" and that the writers couldn't work in the line "I've made a lot of special modifications myself" for Hurley.

Also, I TOTALLY need to hear Hurley's improvements!

Okay, yeah, so Miles lashes out by exposing Hurley's nutty plan. But later, Hurley apologizes for telling Miles that he's scared to talk to his dad. Hurley explains how things went with his own estranged father and Miles softens a bit and explains how his situation is different, and in response, Hurley brings it full circle beautifully...

MILES: My dad didn't leave when I was 10. I was a baby. I never knew him, and I don't want to. It's not happening.
HURLEY: That was Luke's attitude, too.
MILES: What?
HURLEY: In EMPIRE, Luke found out Vader was his father, but instead of putting away his lightsaber and talking about it, he overreacted and got his hand cut off. I mean, they worked it out eventually, but at what cost? Another Death Star was destroyed, Boba Fett got eaten by the Sarlacc, and we got the Ewoks. It all could've been avoided if they'd just, you know, communicated. And let's face it. The Ewoks sucked, dude.

Too much fun!

In my old age, I hafta agree that the Ewoks were something of a cop-out, but I can't go as far as saying they sucked. The STAR WARS lore that I've assimilated in my years as a wannabe nerd and fanboy tells me that Lucas originally outlined the RETURN OF THE JEDI finale to take place on the Wookie homeworld. For whatever reasons (effects tech? casting? did he have kids then?), he ended up cutting the Wookies in half and naming them sideways. Wook-E became E-Wok, see? And y'know, the Ewoks vs. Empire match-up was a young crowd pleaser AND a grand parable about the power of living in harmony with nature and the pitfalls of reliance on technology (please watch SPACED for a more eloquent and entertaining presentation of this observation). Of course, 20-some years later, Lucas was finally able to produce that finale in REVENGE OF THE SITH, when the Clone Wars reach Kashyyyk.

Anyhow... Hurley and EMPIRE seem to have gotten to Miles, and, OK, it's a little hokey, but my head and heart were in just the right place to buy it...

PIERRE: Miles, I need you.
MILES: You do?

I do hope he gets some good quality time with his father before he and the other Losties get slingshot back to the future. I'm concerned, however, that changing his own diaper might be the cause of the EM Incident at the Swan. =)

Did Miles ever get to see his deceased mother?

_______________________________
RETURN OF THE JEDI

Miles dries Pierre to meet the newly arrived sub, loaded w scientists from ANN ARBOR (I totally didn't hear that when Radzinsky mentioned it a couple episodes back), and the episode ends with the return of one of my faves...

MILES: Dan!
FARADAY: Hey, Miles. Long time, no see.

Geez, how many different LOSTy ways can we interpret that simple phrase now? "Long time, no see." =)

I gotta say, I've totally misread the vague references to Faraday's status in the 70s. I assumed that he went the way of the weird crackpot uncle scientist, the "creepy old man" that Charlotte describes, and was probably living the secluded life in some corner of the DI, mucking about with DI science fun and occasionally spending too much time watching little Charlotte on the swing set.

However, it looks like sometime after 1974, Daniel got his poop together, sold himself to Horace as a scientist, proved himself as such, and took the sub off-Island to consult and join the DI brain trust on the outside. I suspect that he may have had some contact with Widmore on the outside as well, and would love to find out that he revealed some practical 21st century tech to him that would end up securing Widmore Industries its success and wealth for the next thirty years. I wonder if he had the chance to visit with Eloise as well?

Anyhow, he's back! In time to investigate the weirdness (Alvarez, dead by tooth-thru-brain) at the Swan, perhaps in time to set up the experiment or tinkering in the Swan that leads to the Incident, which was not an accident, but designed by Daniel to send all the Losties back to the future/present-day. At first I thought that it couldn't happen this soon, that Radzinsky's model building meant that ground had yet to be broken on the Swan. However, we get to see Hurley watch as a DI minion stamps the Numbers onto the hatch frame, which implies that the Swan has been excavated beneath it, right?

But... We still have to see Faraday work (sneak?) his way onto the construction team fo the Orchid, where we saw him in the season premiere. Hrmmm... Maybe he needs to exploit both the Swan and the Orchid to successfully time jump everyone. Or "tune" the Orchid from the Swan and then turn the wheel...?

Jughead. Encased in concrete at the site of the Swan. I like the idea that the Island transmogrified this leaking atomic bomb into a monstrous EM anomaly. Like the way the earth of Narnia absorbed that chunk of London steel the Witch brought with her and turned it into the Lamppost. =)

Is it just me, or don't you want to see Jeremy Davies and Neil Patrick Harris go head-to-head on some TV show, movie, or—dare I dream?—musical?

Also, remind me to tell you about the black hole theory I've got that Jim reminded me of earlier this week.

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: You owe me a fish taco.

2009-04-18T12:36:00.003-04:00

_______________________________
The story of Miles

A really great Miles episode. Maybe a little pat, but in ways I didn't see coming. *And* STAR WARS! =)

Miles Strohm was born Miles Chang, son of Pierre Chang of the DI. Miles never knew his father. His mother only ever told him that he abandoned them when he was a baby and that he's now dead, and has been for a long time. When Miles asks where his body is, his mother tells him.

Mom Strohm: Somewhere you can never go.

Doesn't this sound/feel familiar? Charlotte's deathbed recollection of her childhood on the Island, of her father working on the Island, of her mother taking her off the Island and telling her it wasn't real. Charlotte's mother threw up static every time she tried to talk about her father or the Island. I wonder if there was a model cover story given to parents who left the DI with their children. Maybe the DI saw the danger, or a danger, coming, and families made decisions about saving children.

Charlotte didn't seem nearly old enough compared to Miles to be 7-ish in 1977 while baby miles was still basically zero. I suppose she might have had a really good skin care regimen...?

Miles discovers his ability to read the dead as a child. His power seems to work best/most cleanly/clearly when he's near the body. We HAVE seen him work his mojo in the home of the deceased, but it seems like the dead boy's mother experienced something that clued her, and Miles, in to the notion that his spirit was lingering in his bedroom.

As a child, he seems unable to ignore or block the voices of the dead, but as he grows, he learns to, or at least learns to cope. The piercings make sense in a subculture way, but also in an experiential way. Imagine not being able to shut off the voices of the dead.

As an adult, he makes a living off of his ability, connecting the living with the dead, as a medium and a cleaner (at least, that's what we've seen so far). The job he takes for Mr. Gray seems like it could be a throwaway, another example of how much of a schmuck he could be, faking a reading of Mr. Gray's dead son and charging him double for it (altho if Miles ever felt he needed to defend his actions, he might rationalize it as giving the man closure and peace of mind). I hafta say I was blindsided by the follow-thru. He drops in on Mr. Gray before heading out on the freighter and returns the money, admitting that he faked it. This isn't a change of heart, tho. It's about Miles dealing with the father who abandoned him.

Miles: If you needed your son to know that you loved him, you should've told him when he was still alive.

I really like that.

But, whoa. Back up. Between the two visits with Mr. Gray, we get to witness Naomi's recruiting of Miles, as well as a counteroffer by the competition.

Naomi takes Miles to read a body, for his audition.

Miles: Name's Felix. He was on his way to deliver something to... a guy named... Widmore.
Naomi: Deliver what?
Miles: A bunch of papers, photos, pictures... of... [whispering continues] empty graves. A purchase order... for an old airplane.

Have we met Felix? Or heard his name before? Sounds like this guy was carrying the photos and papers that Tom shows to Michael, to help convince him that Widmore's the bad guy. Of course, it's still ambiguous who is actually responsible for the fake 815. Felix might have been investigating the fake FOR Widmore and tracked down the graves and the plane purchase order implicating Ben. Felix gets wacked by Ben's people before he can deliver the proof, which finds its way into Tom's hands, altered and spun to suit the Others' needs. OR—and this does sound a bit thin—Felix might've been Widmore's accountant, and conscientiously keeping track of all his records.

I'm gonna go with Widmore being not guilty of the 815 set-up. Which brings us to "the competition."

After accepting the $1.6 million offer to go Ben-hunting on the Island, Miles is abducted by a van full of Shadow agents. They ask him to reconsider, to change sides. They're talking the talk of True Believers, not mercenaries...

Bram: Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue? Then you're not ready to go to that Island.

I was wrong about the shadow question being DI-like. It works the same way as the snowman question, but it comes from some level of faith or religious/cultish experience, not just the logic of a passcode.

Miles says that he'll do it for double Widmore's pay. The Shadow guys (the guy riding shotgun is Alanna's lieutenant on the present-day Island) dump him and tell him that he's working for the wrong side.

Bram: You're playing for the wrong team.
Miles: Yeah? What team are you on?
Bram: The one that's gonna win.

_______________________________
The Shadow Pact

Now I'm thinking that THESE guys, these Shadow agents, are the ones who faked 815. I'm also thinking that they are the other team in the war that Widmore warns Locke about in Tunisia.

When Miles does get to the Island, he negotiates some alone-time with Ben in New Otherton. He then tells Ben that he'll keep his mouth shut for $3.2 million, the same number he gave Bram. I don't remember Ben giving away any clue that he recognized that figure, so assuming Ben was genuine in his apparent surprise (I know, when is he ever genuine? but work with me here), whether he knows it or not, Miles has figured out that Ben isn't behind the Shadow agents.

In fact, I'm hoping/looking forward to seeing the three Island leaders (the Jacob appointees Widmore, Linus, and Locke) all team up to fight off these other Others. Even if they're all in the wrong. I can quickly imagine this being a struggle between native Islanders and Blackrock Islanders, similar to Native Americans and early North American European colonists. The natives, and their god-prophet, help them survive, only to have the newcomers betray them (perhaps with the help of a native turncoat named Richard?), and in a massacre or war, seize all that was theirs for ages, unseat or replace their god-prophet, and take over the Island, nearly exterminating the natives and their culture. Now, the natives, or their descendents, scattered off Island, are mobilizing to retake their ancestral home. Something in Widmore's expression or manner when he tells Locke about the coming war, and how "the wrong side will win," gave me the impression that he might be referring to history. So, I'm wondering if the Shadow pact might be in this to change history, or at least, the history of the Island, and prevent the Blackrockers from destroying their ancestors.

And y'know what? I think that if that's how it plays out, Locke will be a pivotal player and make a decision to save the culture of the natives and oust the Blackrockers and any outsiders.

Yes, it may be crazy talk. I *LIKE* crazy talk! I *LOVE* that this show inspires it. =)

_______________________________

Will blog more on Miles's story before the next episode. There's a lot of good crack in here. Frack, I didn't even get to the EMPIRE STRIKES BACK goodness! =)

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: What lies in the shadow of the statue?

2009-04-15T11:40:00.004-04:00

Gonna just rattle off what comes to mind as I think of last week's episode (Ben gets judged), before I watch this week's.

I think that Alanna's "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" is a prompt like "What did one snowman say to the other?" y'know? So that these agents can identify one another without ever having met one another before. I want to say that she's one of Widmore's people. I had this theory that Widmore's been keeping tabs on the Sixers' travel plans and habits. And if it wasn't enough to see that Hurley bought 70-some seats on a plane to Guam, seeing that Jack, Kate, and Sun had also would be a sure tell that that plane was heading somewhere special. So, once that flag got raised, he mobilized his agents, under appropriate cover stories, to get on that plane separately, and once on the Island act together to put some plan into motion.

Well, that's my original theory. But y'know, anyone w the resources could do that tracking, right? So, what if someone else (or maybe someone else ALSO) put their agents on Ajira 316? But who would be motivated? How about some incarnation of the original DI? We've seen this sign-countersign thing only once before, with Kelvin, who was a Dharma agent in the Swan. It might be a little thin, but I think the "shadow of the statue" question tells me that these are neo-DI agents, and the only goal I can think of for them would be to take the Island back for Dharma. Establish a foothold for follow-up forces, purge the looking glass and get it back up and running, or maybe activate some kind of failsafe/doomsday device that the DI had set up but never used?

I asked myself why the Sixers wouldn't PACK properly for the Island this time. Looks like Widmore or DI are much better planners than our Losties, including a crate of weapons and who-knows-what supplies in the cargo of Ajira 316.

So, Alanna and company might be Widmore's people. However, Alanna's password/counterpassword makes me think they might be DI legacy people. Which also makes me think that they might be one and the same. Which gives the idea that Widmore is at least in part behind DI in the first place.

A longshot. That these are off-Island Others.

Ben's little exchange w Alanna's crew seemed pretty superfluous, polite enough, almost small talky. It's a stretch, but he MIGHT have been checking up on their progress. I don't buy it, but I'm just saying. I think what it really shows us is that this new team of mercenaries or whatever are not interested in Ben. Also, Ben seems to know that something is up, but doesn't judge it to be worth messing with at this point.

Alanna and her boys will get their supplies and themselves over to the big Island on the two canoes. Then Sawyer and company will time flash in and take one of the canoes so that they can reach the Orchid by sea. Alanna and her boys will pursue them in the other canoe and start taking shots at them. Then Sawyer and co will time flash away.

* April 20, 2009. More on the Shadow agents here.

I hafta say, I was WAY disappointed that Charles was exiled from the Island via sub, and not turning the donkey wheel. And it's hard to see exactly how Ben "tricked" him into it. I prefer my idea, of Ben convincing Charles that they would have to move the Island to protect it from any DI reprisals to the Purge, that the Island needed it to happen, and that as leader, it would have to be Charles who turned the wheel. That way, Charles is exiled, discovers the Exit first hand, and begins/continues his life on the outside searching for a way back.

Of course, we're still left with some extra parts with that scenario, like the DI pallet drops for the Swan, which kind of mucks with any explanation of the Island being moved between the Purge (around 1988) and 2004...

Anyhow, not to be. What actually happened was that Charles was banished by some executive decision, for having lived a life in the outside world, even having a child, Penelope, with an outsider.

That's kind of a fun twofer right there. We find out that Charles has been living on the outside (already starting to build his fortune, and lending his money and specialized knowledge to DI, perhaps?), and also that he's been fooling around on Eloise, which goes toward explaining their present day estrangement. So, Penny's his daughter with an outsider, and Daniel is Eloise's son with...?

The Truce was negotiated under King Charles's rule. Charles had contact with outsiders in the 50s (granted, he killed a bunch of them, but maybe not all). Charles has been engaging in extracurriculars off-Island. He could easily be funding/helping/manipulating the DI in the 70s, playing Island faithful to his people, but also playing opportunistic industrialist on the outside.

When did/does Eloise's ability kick in? Did she know that Charles would mess around with an outsider?

Seeing little Ethan next to Ben was kind of fun, but still annoying. Would've been not-annoying if there had been even the slightest clue that they grew up together, and/or that DI children were spared in the Purge. Maybe the show will fill in the gaps later, but I can see it never being addressed, too.

I wonder now that Alpert's "he'll lose his innocence" or whatever warning was just b.s. Ben seems just the same as he was before he was shot. He's okay with killing people, but not needlessly, and not babies. So much so that even as an adult, he stays his vengeful hand when he spots wee Charlie on the boat behind Penny.

Poor Ben.

How f'd up is it that this show can get me to laugh when little Ben gets shot, but makes me just a little bit sad for him when he gets beat on by Desmond?

Just a little bit.

Ben tells Sun to find Desmond and tell him that he's sorry. Why? The immediate/obvious reason would be his shooting Desmond (thru a bag of groceries that shielded him?) and holding a gun on his wife in front of his kid. I don't know that I can connect any other dots between Ben and Desmond just now. Maybe Ben's done something that is going to send Desmond back to the Island, and he didn't know he was going to separate him from his child?

Who had Ben's cabin in New Otherton when it was still Dharmaville? The Hostiles allowed the DI to set up their village on top of a well that connects to the Monster's tunnels and the Temple subbasement? How does that make sense? Well, maybe if someone in the Hostiles arranged for it, like Charles? I'd guess that only the leader and Alpert would know about the Monster signal chamber, so they must have both known about it, and SOMEone in the DI would know, too. Horace? He DID appear to Locke in that looping vision of him building Jacob's cabin.

It occured to me a couple episodes back that Widmore could have had knowledge of the presence of Miles and Faraday among the DI in the 70s. He chose them to be his agents in 2004 knowing that they'd go back in time (after encountering Locke in the 50s, he's no stranger to the idea). Of course, their Island pedigrees (Dr. Candle-Chang, Eloise Hawking), would ensure their place on the freighter team, but this time travel potential might have been cause for special instructions. In fact, they may have had contingency instructions covering this situation, and are on little missions of their own. Well, Miles, at least. Faraday's likely obsessed with beating deterministic time travel or whatever you want to call it.

Killing Caesar seems like a waste. I hope he survives, altho I hope it's not Island-miraculously, but rather something like Faraday's journal in his satchel taking the brunt of the actual buckshot of the blast. If he IS dead, I guess the Island can use him, but since we didn't discover any connections to the Island or other Losties while he was alive, it doesn't seem likely.

Where is Alpert in 2008? What have the Others been doing since 2004? Leaderless, after Locke is time flashed away when Ben turns the wheel. New Otherton abandoned. Told to go to the Temple by Ben, "the last safe place on the Island," did they remain there?

Who are the Other-ish connections that Ben uses in the outside world? Widmore, exiled, has to hire his help, but Ben has an established network already in place. Would they be allowed to help an exiled leader like Ben?

How did the U.S. military make it onto the Island without help in the 50s? Accident? Why didn't they return? Because the Island was moved sometime after Jughead?

Eloise is on the Island when Ben is saved by Alpert at the Temple. Alpert's escorts mention Eloise and Charles when Richard takes Ben from Sawyer.

Is Eloise on the Island when Charles is exiled?

Ben's actual judgement scene was pretty anticlimactic. The hieroglyphics/carving in the wall above the Monster pen seems to show the Monster (with a face?) hanging out with Anubis. Significance?

Alex is pissed at Ben for letting her die and tells him that he must listen to Locke, follow his every order.

Since Alex IS dead, does that make Widmore correct? The Island wanted her dead back then, as a baby?

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. What DOES lie in the shadow of the statue? Darkness? The Monster? A lying liar? Benjamin Linus? Jacob? Pigeon poop? Poseidon? The lighthouse?

tweenbots!

2009-04-13T22:59:00.002-04:00

Many mercis to Paris Jen for the ridiculously robo-cute headzup! =)

Keep on tweenin on~

LOST: If I take him, he's not ever gonna be the same again.

2009-04-08T08:49:00.003-04:00

_______________________________
Ben goes to the Dark Side

For the most part, I like the way the show went with "saving" Ben. Sort of a deus ex machina, but since it involves the Temple, and, I'm assuming, the Smoke Monster, I'll allow it. It's kind of disappointing that it wipes his memory, but I suppose that's a smart device, and allows for how big Ben would let himself get beaten up repeatedly by these people he knows tried to kill him as a kid. It's also a chunk more disappointing because it seems to mean that the "bad" in Ben isn't really Ben at all. It's something that has been implanted within him. Kind of ruins the accountability/responsibility thing in a metaphysical way, y'know? It immediately had me imagining an Anakin/Darth Vader scenario, in which someone (Locke?) tries to save Ben's soul by exorcising the piece of Smoke Monster that's in him.

Jin does find little Ben's body and the Others do have a hand in saving Ben, but of course it's not quite how I imagined it (see earlier post)... I like it some, I dislike it some. We see Richard carry little Ben to the Temple, the home of the BSM, perhaps for a revitalizing black smoke enema? It's a bit of a jump, but I take this to mean that somehow, it's the Smoke Monster that saves him. I envision it being kind of like Carnage, the spawn of Spider-Man's alien symbiote costume. It's a piece, or child, of the original, and bonded to its host it makes him strong, and at the same time changes him, influences his darker thoughts and behavior. Or maybe something like Eclipso's black diamond, whose shards give a user power, but turn him into another Eclipso, corrupting his character.

Kate: Because we need you to save his life. Can you?
Alpert: If I take him, he's not ever gonna be the same again.
Kate: What do you mean by that?
Alpert: What I mean is that he'll forget this ever happened and... his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us. You still want me to take him?
Kate: Yes.

This is really interesting. Is THIS how one becomes a real and true Hostile/Other/Islander? Entering the temple and... I dunno... taking a kind of communion with the smoke monster? Letting some of it inside of you?

Like a vampire! That's probably a good metaphor/model for it. You're sort of yourself, with your wits about you, but, y'know, dark, with better hair, and irresistible to adolescent girls.

See, that's kind of cool. I like that this could be a clue to what makes Others Others.

But... When it comes to Ben in particular, I find this metaphysically disappointing... aggravating... Ben's grown to become someone I enjoy hating. Everything he does serves some nefarious purpose, and each word he utters and each person he manipulates is testimony to the darkness of the black hole of his soul.

Or at least that used to be the case...

Now, it seems that the Ben we met, the Henry Gale caught in Rousseau's net, is not really Ben at all. In an Obi-Wan-talking-about-Vader way, Ben really and truly *did* die as little Ben, aged 10 or so, shot by Sayid and carried into the Temple. What comes out of the Temple is a new and different Ben, if not a host or vessel to the smoke monster, then definitely tainted by it. This is Ben losing himself and crossing over to the Dark Side. This is Ben, the real Ben, not being responsible for all the evil $hit he's done in his life. Instead, it's this dark Ben, an aspect of the smoke monster, using Ben's form and Ben's gift, his remarkable ability to plan and maneuver and manipulate people, to accomplish some dark goal or goals...

I can imagine a scenario evolving over future episodes that would resemble Luke's struggle to save Anakin Skywalker's soul. Big Ben might be one step away from... controlling all of time and space, and changing it to erase certain people or events from existence, but someone, his dead/reanimated mother?, along with the Losties, will appeal to his 10-year old self to fight it, and at the eleventh hour, little Ben will prevail, and throw himself at the smoke monster, sending them both down the Orchid shaft and ultimately into the wheel chamber, where the smoke monster will be ripped apart and Ben will be scattered across time, becoming the mysterious Jacob, who's always been on the Island...

...or something.

I also really enjoy the idea that big Ben remembers all the $hit that these time traveling jerkwads put him thru as little Ben, and visits all kinds of suffering upon them in 2004 and on, without once giving up that he already knew them, hated (or crushed on) them, and knew that he wouldn't be able to kill, but could mess with them as much as he wanted, putting them in cages, banging a romantic triangle into a quadrangle, and even enlisting the one he hates or admires most as his agent and assassin. It doesn't all make sense, but I have faith that it could be made to make a kind of Ben-sense, y'know?

Or at least, I did...

Alas, this visit to the Temple erases that notion. Literally, wipes it from Ben's mind. Pretty frickin vague, tho, donchathink?

RA: What I mean is that he'll forget this ever happened and... his innocence will be gone.

How much do you suppose "this" in "he'll forget this ever happened" covers? He won't remember... being shot by Sayid? Scheming and freeing Sayid from DI jail? Being carried into the rainforest by Sawyer? I suppose we'll find out soon enough. All of the DI knows that Ben had a bullet in him, tho, so he'll have a scar, right? How will he be returned to the DI? Will LaFleur come clean? That he took Ben to the Hostiles, left him w Alpert, and trusted him to save the boy (without giving up any details about memory loss). The smokey amnesia can be attributed to shock, but how much will it cover/cover up?

_______________________________
The trouble with Kate

LOST doesn't quite seem to know what to do with Kate. She's best when she's useful, I think. Y'know, when her zany fugitive skills are brought to bear on a crisis situation, y'know?

Speaking of... how the heck does she pick up the talent for tracking anyone in a frickin rainforest, but doesn't know how to even fake working in the DI motor pool? She can't step up and flip a winch lever? WTF?

She's also effective as the femme fatale/damsel in distress for Sawyer and Jack. I've gotta give her that. But when she makes decisions in regard to the Island and Island drama, I don't know... She just seems kind of weak to me. Not inconsistent, really, but,... weak.

I hated the way this episode kept hitting us over the head with her parent/guardian/caretaker issues. Projection scenarios are forced on Kate in 1977, with Roger trying to be a good father to Ben ("I guess a boy needs his mother." *bonk*), and also in 2005ish, with Cass offering her armchair psych evaulation of the underlying nature of Kate's relationship with Aaron. Namely that Aaron helped Kate get over Sawyer.

And was it not super creepy how Roger was so obviously into her, and how she seemed so OK with that? Frickin gross!

I was SO pleased to see Kate and Aaron finally meet Cass and Clementine! I was SO disappointed that neither of them seemed to understand that their loopy interconnection, thru one degree, directly with each other, and then thru two degrees, thru Sawyer, is a pretty odds-defying thing. Kate's always been a pretty secular Lostie when it comes to Island weirdness. A nonbeliever. I really wanted her to acknowledge the possibility of fate over coincidence when it came to knowing both Cass and Sawyer, but no. Not happening. Bleah.

I think it's sad that Cass has got Sawyer so wrong when it comes to Clementine. In the Sawyer-in-prison episode, we find out that Sawyer's socking away some big bucks in an account for her in some bank in New Mexico. We don't get any details on how/when the money will get to Clementine, but it's sure to be a decent golden nest egg. I *thought* that would be where the money would come from, but I guess Sawyer didn't have enough time to whisper account numbers to Kate in the chopper. Foo. Cass is just SO certain (or at least, this is how she plays it with Kate) that Sawyer's a no-goodnik who turned his back on her and their daughter.

How do we think Cass gets by nowadays? Still running cons?

I do actually like Kate's response to Claire's mom when she asks where she's going (that she has to leave Aaron behind)...

Mrs. L: Where are you going?
Kate: I'm going back to find your daughter.

Is Claire actually alive? Is she reanimated? Possessed? I think she's alive the way Christian is alive. I've still got Desmond's flash rattling around my rusty innards. He told Charlie that he saw him push that button in the Looking Glass and then saw Claire step onto a helicopter with baby Aaron. Will that still somehow happen, or is that no longer a possible future?

Kate's a universal donor. Some of her blood is in Ben!

_______________________________
Abbot and Costello do time travel

Miles: What the hell are you doing, tubby?
Hurley: Checking to see if I'm disappearing.
Miles: What?
Hurley: BACK TO THE FUTURE, man.

Brilliant! I hafta say, the five minutes or so following that initial happiness was a bit aggravating. It was time that could've been spent on other/Other important things, y'knokw? But I have to say that the way it ends, with the apparently clueless Hurley stumping Miles, was very satisfying.

I also realize at a meta-level that this conversation probably (ha!) HAD to happen. Since for whatever reason the writers are still keeping Faraday out of the picture, having Hurley and Miles explain away some of the audience's time travel headaches using this "Who's on first?" meets time travel routine is effective and entertaining. A spoonful of sugar.

And in the back and forth, Miles says something that rings to me like the writers telegraphing a punch...

Miles: I can die... Any of us can die, because this is our present.

And y'know, Hurley actually puts a point on things, which the show doesn't often do, with his question about little Ben's 1977 experiences and big Ben's 2004 behavior.

Hurley: But when we first captured Ben, and Sayid, like, tortured him, then why wouldn't he remember getting shot by that same guy when he was a kid?
Miles: Huh... Hadn't thought of that.
Hurley: Huh.

It's almost disappointing that the show has to spell it out like that, but delivered by Hurley, in his "dude, what about this?" way, it's a treat.

I love Miles's exit line...

Miles: Hey, ask me more questions about time travel.

_______________________________
State of the Hostiles

In a very short exchange with one of his Hostile lieutenants, Alpert reveals a bit about the power structure in Hostile society in the 70s...

Hostile: You shouldn't do this with out asking Ellie. If Charles finds out...
Alpert: Let him find out. I don't answer to either of them.

So, it's King Charles and Queen Ellie! And Richard, the outside consultant? Interesting. It seems like Richard is unhappy with the way Charles and Eloise are running things. It seems like a total 180 given the young Charles we met back in Jughead times, but perhaps the truce is Charles's idea? Maybe he developed a philosophy about coexistence with outsiders that Richard doesn't buy into... anymore?

He does give little Ben a very thoughtful look before taking him into the shadows of the Temple. Pinning his hopes for a new leader on the boy?

Or maybe Charles and Eloise are playing both sides? Investing in the DI in the outside world while at the same time leading the Hostiles...?

I like that.

_______________________________
... and the rest

I like that Sawyer picks up on little Ben's and RA's history...

Alpert: Is that Benjamin Linus.
Sawyer: You two know each other?

The spineless spinal surgeon continues to be a general dork. Maybe this is how his withdrawal from whatever oxycodone-y drugs he was on manifests itself? However, he does get an insightful moment of clarity...

Jack: When we were here before I spent all of my time trying to fix things, but did you ever think that maybe the Island just wants to fix things itself, and maybe I was just... getting in the way.

I really loved the way Sawyer pegged him as a leader who only reacted to things, without thinking. I think it's funny, and good, that Kate pegged him as the opposite this episode. She said something about missing the old Jack, who wouldn't wait around for something to happen. Totally inconsistent evaluations, but each true from their respective POVs. I'd say Kate's POV is wrong, tho. Heh. =)

Still ultracreeped out by the idea of Kate being so OK with Roger being into her. Bleah. He probably reminds her of her dad.

A kinda grody-goosey Claire knock-off finds Aaron in the supermarket... I dunno. Just weird. I guess that was supposed to be a fateful guilt-inducing sign, a coincidence that would crystalize her motivation for returning to the Island—for the sakes of Claire and Aaron. Still... weird.

For an episode I didn't love (sorry, Kate), it did feature a couple of satisfying "Why?"s...

There's the why-not-kill-baby-Hitler? thing...

Kate: Hey, why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?
Sawyer: When I found out Ben was gone, Juliet told me what you were up to, I asked that exact damn question, "Why are you helping Ben?" And she said, "No matter what he's gonna grow up to be, it's wrong to let a kid die." So, that's why I'm doing this. I'm doing it for her. (puppy dog eyes)

Alas, coupled with a strong commitment to Juliet.

And then there's Jack's reason for coming back. Of course, it's kinda no-accountability lame, but at least it seems honest...

Juliet: We didn't need saving. We've been fine for three years. You came back here for you. At least do me the courtesy of telling me why.
Jack: I came back because I was supposed to.
Juliet: Supposed to do what?
Jack: I don't know yet.
Juliet: Well, you better figure it out.

Keep on keepin on~

IFFB 2009!

2009-04-07T13:56:00.002-04:00

Film descriptions are up. Downloadable schedule available. Tickets on sale at venues soon. I've already bought my film pass. =)

Independent Film Festival of Boston

Opening night film at Somerville Theater is BROTHERS BLOOM directed by BRICK (rent that awesome sucka!) director Rian Johnson...

THE BROTHERS BLOOM
scr.1: 7:30pm - Wed. Apr.22nd - S1
Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo play a fraternal pair of renowned grifters who concoct the ultimate con involving a bored, eccentric, New Jersey heiress named Penelope (Rachel Weisz) Directed by Rian Johnson (BRICK).

Keep on keepin on~

musical fun!

2009-04-03T10:11:00.003-04:00

Thanks to JT and In for do-re-mi-ing this my way! =)

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. Found some more info on the event...

LOST: Faradays to be cool...

2009-04-02T01:36:00.002-04:00

Take a closer look at some of the most important notes in Faraday's journal...

LOST: Faradaze from cabin boy on Vimeo.

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: what now?

2009-04-01T02:34:00.004-04:00

_______________________________
Ben is dead! Long live Ben! (bleah)

Although I'd love it if Obi-Wan Faraday is the one to find perforated Ben, I have a feeling that a path of less resistance might be followed...

Jin will regain consciousness, discover bullet-holey Ben, call LaFleur to explain. LaFleur will tell Jin to bring Ben somewhere safe/remote, where he and the rest of the gang will meet him. Jack will have to perform surgery to remove the bullet. Perhaps Juliet will assist, sparking up the old high school romance fireworks? Sawyer will get a chance to see them in action and have those old second thoughts that Ben enjoyed playing on, "Why would any girl choose you over the doctor?" Which could turn him to despair, or his sights back on Kate, or maybe get the gears turning for ways to screw over the doc. Altho, man, you already made him a janitor! =)

The surgery would be a LOSTy bit of vu-ja-de, remini-prescient of Jack's operating on Ben's spine in 2004. It'll be touch and go, but thanks to the power and will of the Island, Ben will miraculously heal up just fine.

Maybe we'll see young Ben crush hard on Juliet. Heh, a CPR scenario?

Sayid's attempt to pre-emptively end Ben's future horrors will have only served to create the very monster who will inflict them. A mixed-up, unhappy, 10-year old kid, shot and killed by a man he was helping, whom he saw as his salvation, comes back to life to overhear that he's destined to lead the Hostiles, returns home to play punching bag to his dad, bides his time, hones his already developing knack for plans and manipulation, and grows up to be the man who exterminates his father and the DI and cons King Charles into giving up his throne.

_______________________________
King Charles turns the wheel...?

Maybe Sayid will scarper deep enough into the jungle to run into Hostiles/Others. He could definitely speak to Richard about his time traveling, deliver to him more news of the future, about Ben, maybe even about the Purge. Would he get an audience with King Charles? I figure he must be leader of the Hostiles/Others in 1977. Perhaps he and Eloise are an item at this time? I wonder if Penny's been born yet. In 2004, she seems too mature to have been born in the 80s (putting her in her early 20s). In the 80s, at the time of the purge, Ben will have convinced Charles that he has to turn the wheel to move the Island, to ensure that the DI can never attempt to resettle/re-establish the Initiative.

Frack. If Charles moves the Island to keep the DI from ever returning, how the H do the lockdown pallet drops continue thru 2004? Could there be a safe passage in the skies above the Island, from the outside world, at the old, pre-Purge (1950s-70s) site of the Island, to the post-Purge (2004) site? And whatever remains of the DI continues to drop supplies? Could that have been the first pallet drop since the Purge? The same Swan event that pulled 815 out of the sky might have alerted some DI legacy to the Island's new location...?

Blerg. Maybe this is something that the writers will just have to forget about...

That, or I'm off on my theory that Charles turns the wheel as part of the Purge. Bleah.

_______________________________
WAR...?

Remember when Charles explains to Locke why he's helping him round up his friends and get back to the Island...?

Locke: Why would you help me?
Widmore: Because there's a war coming, John. And if you're not back on the Island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.

What up with that? I was hoping that Widmore was referring to a spacetime-rending history changing paradox, that Locke would have to get back to the Island, AND back in time, to prevent the Nazis from discovering the Island in the 30s and exploiting it to win World War II...

Well, y'know. SOMEthing like that. =) Where Locke and company played an integral part in the secret history of the world and saved it from an Axis of Evil.

Wouldn't it be awesome to see Desmond and Ben and Sawyer and Widmore and Miles and all the ghosts of their dead friends teaming up to take out the frickin Nazis? C'mon, you KNOW it would be awesome! =)

But... It seems a little more likely that that war is going to happen in "present day." It could be on a scale of the Island and its regular players, or on a global scale, as the Island's untapped powers and resources are infinitely valuable, and some of its regular players have international influence.

A war. At least two sides. The winner would be the one to take control of the Island. Widmore is certain it's coming. He's also certain that Locke needs to get back to the Island so that the wrong side (not good or bad) does not win. Abaddon seems convinced. Walt may have had a premonition of a prologue to an opening salvo: Locke, back on the Island, dressed in a suit, surrounded by people who want to hurt him.

Maybe there is a nefarious contingency plan in play. A scorched-earth if-I-can't-have-it-than-nobody-can strategy to destroy or render uninhabitable the Island. Who would trigger such a thing, tho? Ben? Widmore? Another party? Hrmm... Maybe it's an Island doomsday device?

Gotta think/imagine some more on this. Maybe there'll be more to work with this week...?

Keep on keepin on~

SERENITY vs. COLBERT!?

2009-03-31T12:35:00.004-04:00

Colbert continues to live the dream. A fun dilemma (well, not for NASA, I guess). Either way, I feel like I win. =)

The news at Reuters and Comedy Central, and with recent REPORT video clip at Newsday.

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: Three years, no burning buses... y'all are back ONE day...!

2009-03-27T02:31:00.006-04:00

Yes, Ben is dead. I mean, c'mon, people! This is Sayid we're talking about. He doesn't miss. He killed little Ben... and I LOVED IT! =)

I was only disappointed it wasn't more personal, like a crushing of the skull against a curb. But alas, no curbs.

But of course, there is no way that young Ben stays dead. No doubt present-day Ben has a GSW scar on his chest that we'll be treated to in an upcoming episode. Y'know, it would've been cool to have seen it or heard it mentioned when Jack worked on his spine. The Island will restore him. The Island takes care of its own, and for better or worse, Ben is destined to be important to the Island.

It would be a very LOSTy/referential thing to have Jack operate on young Ben, but I'd kind of rather it didn't happen that way. What would be cool is if an outsider type found him, dead/near-dead in the rainforest, and took him somewhere to recover. If it's an Other, maybe it's President Widmore, at Jacob's request, or destiny-seer First Lady Eloise. Perhaps it's Alpert, and they get to have an exchange of intel (revealing the non-Other and non-DI status of the time traveling Losties) and formulate more of a plan for how Ben can join the Others. If it's one of these Others, they'll be able to watch as Ben heals, proving himself to be Other-worthy, one of the Island's chosen, and a potential candidate for President Other. If it's not an Other, how about Old Dan Faraday, who seems to be living as some kind of recluse among the DI. Or, here's a sweet option... someone who calls himself Jacob takes care of him.

Okay, back to the start of the episode...

_______________________________
1970s in Iraq

We get a young Sayid flashback. Reminiscent of the young Eko and Yemi flashback from way back, only instead of saving his brother from killing a villager, Sayid spares his brother the trial of killing a live chicken. Kind of nice to see wee Sayid juxtaposed with wee Ben.

Interrresting... Sayid has (had?) a brother. Now, how is the Island gonna tractor beam him into this mess, eh?

_______________________________
1977

Ben continues to visit Sayid in DI jail...

Ben: Four years ago I ran away into the jungle and Richard found me.

So, Ben saw his mother, ran into the jungle, and first met Richard in 1973, a year before the time skippers arrived in 1974. How long before that did Roger and Ben first set foot on the Island? For now, I'll keep it in my head as the same year, 1973.

_______________________________
2007ish

Sayid succeeds in killing all of Widmore's partners and agents at large.

Ben: Congratulations... Mission accomplished.
Sayid: What do I do now?
Ben: I suppose you should go live your life. You're free, Sayid.

_______________________________
1977

Horace visits Sayid to question him. If he doesn't come around in an hour, they're gonna take him to Oldham.

Horace: I'm just gonna have to have Oldham do his thing on him.
Sawyer: That psychopath? No way!

Sawyer attempts to get Sayid to play ball, but Sayid has no interest in escape anymore...

Sayid: A 12-year old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich, how do you think I'm doing?... How can you live with him here?
Sawyer: I don't have a choice.
Sayid: Is that so?

Sawyer's *really* looking to preserve the life he's built over the last three years. He's drunk the DI Kool-Aid. And who can really blame him? Three years of friendship and working relationships with a village full of mostly decent, civilized, people, not to mention an apparently satisfying home life vs. 108 days in the jungle with a band of strangers and survivors.

Meanwhile, in the cafeteria... The not-so-cool kids are sitting together. Hurley is the one who breaks the news to Kate about Sawyer and Juliet cohabitating. That seems kind of ridiculous.

Meanwhile, back in the DI brig... Sayid meets Roger Work Man! Wack! Sayid gets to witness Roger's expert fathering skills. Sympathy for Ben? Ha! Not bloody likely!

_______________________________
2008

Back in the DR, Sayid continues killing for the greater good... only now, instead of shady agents for the protection of his Sixer friends, it's dirty trees for children's schools. Gosh, look who's come to visit! Why, it's buddy Ben...

Ben: John Locke is dead. I think he was murdered.

Gosh, do you, Ben? You F-ing A-face... Obviously, the timing is *after* Locke/Bentham's visit. But how long, I wonder? Ben then goes on to paint a picture of malevolent forces (Widmore) gathering and escalating things, having killed Locke, they're moving in on Hurley. Ben wants to enlist Sayid once again to protect his friends...

Ben: It's in your nature, Sayid. You're a killer.

_______________________________
1977

They're taking Sayid to Oldham...

Sawyer: He's our you.

Only with more psychadelic tools. Played by Larry, of Larry, Daryl, and Daryl, aka DEADWOOD's E.B. Farnum! Another DEADWOOD crossover! Trixie, Calamity Jane, and now, Farnum.

_______________________________
2008

Sweet. Now we get to see Sayid's 36 hours before boarding Ajira 316. Sayid's drinking Widmore's favorite Scotch when Alanna hooks him. Seeing her pick him up, play him, immediately got me thinking that she must be an agent of Widmore or a contingency plan of Ben. The Widmore option is especially appealing cuz that means that Charles has an agent on the Island, with Locke and Ben.

Of course, she identifies herself as something else entirely. A bounty hunter working on behalf of the family of the Widmore frat brother that he wacked on the golf course a while ago. Not a bad story, but is it true, or a cover? It could be true and she's an unwitting pawn. Regardless, fun to know that there's someone w the skills of a bounty hunter on the Island in 2008.

_______________________________
1977

Oldham's drugs work. Sayid gives it all up, his name, Ajira 316, Oceanic 815, someone named Sawyer, the DI stations, and his origin in the future...

Hey!
Sayid Jarrah. "Jarrah" is what Alanna says when Caesar wakes her in the Ajira plane crash.

Hey!
Mind control. Ben used Room 23 on Carl for behavior modification. The tech and methods behind that must have been developed by the DI, right?

and...

Sayid: You're all going to die, you know. You're going to be killed.
Horace: How exactly would you know this, Sayid?
Sayid: Because I am from the future.

Ha. He actually tells the truth, but it's so Out There no one will buy it. Nice.

Juliet gives Kate a tour of DI Apex Tech. Guess the Kate-Juliet catfight rematch 2 will have to wait. Nuts.

Horace holds a kind of council meeting to figure out what to do with Sayid. Radzinsky wants to execute him but Sawyer wants another chance to talk to him. Horace wants more time to consider, and Radzinsky continues to push...

Radzinsky: Horace, you've got to call for a vote. Either we make a decision, or I call in Arbor, and they make it for us.

Who or what is Arbor? R. Burr? Raymond Burr? I could see a mean spirited Radzinsky referring to him in the plural. R-Bur? R.B.R.? An acronym for some DI advisory board? Who'd be on that, do you suppose? A Shephard? A Paik? A Chang? A Hanso?

In the end, Amy makes the case for the danger to Ethan and all the DI children, which sways Horace into calling for a vote. When LaFleur looks to be the only holdout, Horace pressures him into making it unanimous. Whatev.

Sawyer visits Sayid and tries to get him to play at an escape, but Sayid refuses...

Sayid: I appreciate the offer, but I'm fine right here... I'm going to stay here, James... Because, when I woke up in the jungle, and I realized I was back on this Island, I felt there was no purpose to it. But now I know exactly why I'm here.
Sawyer: To get shot? Then what? You're out of your mind.

C'mon, Sawyer, you've GOT to see it. The would-you-kill-baby-Hitler scenario? Hrmm... maybe he DOES see it, but chooses to let himself be distracted by a flaming DI peace van, to LET Sayid do his dark deed...? Maybe...

Sawyer: Three years, no burning buses, you all are back ONE day!

So, back in DI jail, little Ben shows up to spring Sayid. Sayid continues to play the Hostile to gain little Ben's rebel trust, allowing him to get close enough to bust Ben's skull open. Nice.

Ben: I really hate it here. If I let you out, will you take me with you? To your people?
Sayid: Yes, I will. That's why I'm here.

Nice.

_______________________________
2008

Ha! Too funny. Alanna escorts Sayid to the airport. He's to be flown to Guam(?), presumably the home of the family who hired Alanna, right? Anyhow, at the airport, Sayid spots Hurley, then Jack, then Kate...

Sayid: Can I ask you a favor? Can we get the next plane? I'm very superstitious when it comes to flying...
Alanna: I'll buy you a rabbit's foot at the gift shop. This is the plane we're taking.

And on the plane, Ben boards. They look at one another and Ben looks... surprised. Ben's not behind Sayid being on the flight. Still, Sayid has to ask...

Sayid: Are you working for Benjamin Linus?
Alanna: Who's Benjamin Linus?... Why would I work for somebody like that?
Sayid: I did.

_______________________________
1977

Little Ben and Sayid are on the run in the jungle. Jin comes on them and Sayid tries to talk his way past him, but in the end has to knock him out. Sad, that. Young Ben is way impressed with the takedown. Sayid searches Jin and finds a gun...

Sayid: You were right about me. I *am* a killer. BLAM!

A shot to the heart, gotta be a 1-ring. But why not one to the head, Sayid? Where's your professional pride? I guess he might be feeling a bit torn up over shooting a kid, or conflicted over having to play Jin the way he did, or he might not be completely himself, post-Oldham treatment... Whatever was bugging him, he failed to put one in the head.

Still... AweSUM! Sayid should've brought some camping gear so that he could set up right near the body, wait for the Island to bring Ben back, and then kill him all over again. Hopefully he'd mix things up a bit, y'know? If it's the gun again, maybe a kneecap or two and then the gut. Or y'know, reach into a grab bag of hammers, knives, and power tools?

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: time after time

2009-03-24T00:57:00.002-04:00

_______________________________
Theory:
Sun doesn't flash back to 1977 because the cosmos won't let her visit a time when she could potentially meet her younger self (the baby daughter of Pierre Chang).

I like this theory because it follows a powerful logical time travel rule: that the universe won't allow an individual to encounter him or herself, presumably because of some kind of causality something-or-other which would result in a tear in the fabric of spacetime...

... or something.

And, if we look at Sun's experience, and Charlotte's—that her body, and her life, don't make it to 1977—it makes sense. There's also a lot of fun follow-thru possible. Like, Mr. and Mrs. Chang have their baby. She's brought to the Island. Maybe, before the Purge, Widmore orders that the DI children are spared. Some are indoctrinated as Others, but perhaps the powerful Paik patriarch, who has connections w the Island and the Others, finds that he and his wife cannot have a child. Widmore offers him baby Sun to raise as his own... Kooky, no? But...

I *dislike* this theory because we've already witnessed at least one explicit exception to the rule. Sawyer and company, while time skipping, revisited the night that Claire gave birth to Aaron. The time skippers could easily have run into their 60-some-days-younger selves (except, of course, for the fact that they hadn't already, so far as we know) and torn the universe a new one. Other exceptions include the skips to 1988, as all of the skippers were alive and walking around SOMEwhere on the planet, just not on the Island.

Maybe because the time skipping phenom itself was a kind of error or malfunction, the cosmic rule doesn't apply? That's a lame out.

There's absolutely no reason we should have expected Ben, Locke, or Lapidus to get pulled back to 1977, so I don't see any reason to try to justify they're remaining in the present day.

The only way I can see Sun being kept from 1977 on account of her younger self living then is if the Island "consciously" filters her out. The Island somehow actually KNOWS that if Sun flashed back to 1977, she'd encounter her younger self, so it kept her in 2008. The Island also somehow KNEW that the time skippers would jump to moments where they could *potentially* encounter their younger selves, but are destined NOT to, so it allowed them to visit those moments.

Lame. Far fetched, even for LOST, donchathink?

So, I hafta reject this theory. Sun remains in the present because she has Something To Do. For now, I like Miles for Pierre Chang, junior. No doubt that notion will get pooped on in the next episode, eh?

In light of this time traveling talk, it's kinda funny how Abaddon lures Locke to Australia (and ultimately, flight 815) with talk of a walkabout, the goal of which is to actually meet yourself.

_______________________________
Timeline:
The donkey wheel...

On the Island, there's a subterranean chamber. In that chamber, there's a wheel. The wheel is set into a wall. On the other side of that wall is a "pocket of negatively charged exotic particles." Turning the wheel correctly moves the Island from one point on the surface of the planet to another, apparently randomly. Turning the wheel incorrectly sets the Island to skipping to apparently random points in both space and time.

Historically, the first characters whom we know to have been in the chamber are Locke and undead Christian. The chamber walls have hieroglyphics carved into them. We've also seen glyphs on the Swan's clock and the Temple walls.

At this time, year Y, there's no obvious access from the chamber to the surface. Above ground, an Egyptian statue stands on the shore of the Island, facing the water. A rope from a well that has not yet been dug is bonded to the ground above the chamber. Locke turns the wheel, exiting sometime after 2004 and sending the Island and the time skippers on a final time jump to 1977.

Some time after year Y, a well is dug. Did someone KNOW (thru time traveling intel?) to dig a well where they find a rope mysteriously embedded in the solid earth?

Locke uses/falls down the well to get to the chamber. At the start of his fall, he's in year X, when there is a well, but at the end of his fall, he's in year Y, when there isn't.

Some time after year X and before 1974, the well is filled in. In 1974, Sawyer jumps into the filled well, hoping to go after Locke.

Around this time or soon after, DI begins excavating the Orchid, very near the site of the well. Sometime after 1974, after Daniel Faraday has begun working as a member of DI, they inadvertently break into the chamber, but do not continue.

The wheel chamber may have been accessed by Charles Widmore sometime in the late 70s or 80s. I'm about 50-50 on whether he turned the wheel. If he turned the wheel after the purge, the Swan lockdown pallet drop could not successfully continue. But we know it does, so IF he turned the wheel, he must have done it BEFORE the Purge, and the DI would have had to adjust their procedures to the Island's new location...

Actually... That's what happened! Ben convinces Widmore/the Others that killing the DI contingent on the Island isn't enough. They need to keep DI from returning to try to take back their campus, stations, and the Island. So, Widmore turns the wheel as part of the Purge! Wow! OK. I'm going with this, then. Charles definitely turns the wheel in the 80s as part of the Purge strategy, exiting sometime in the 80s (when he goes on to build or assume his fortune, raise his daughter, and fund his son's time travel research).

The next time that we know the wheel chamber is accessed is at the end of 2004. Ben tilts the Orchid's time machine to create an explosion that breaks open a hole into the chamber. There's an aged metal ladder bolted to the rock wall within. No other access to the chamber is visible. Ben turns the wheel, exiting sometime after 2004.

Question: Does turning the wheel push the wheel turner thru time? I could swear that we're told that Ben appears in Tunisia six months after he turns the wheel. Not sure if the show told us, or maybe a newspaper date, or when he questions the concierge at the hotel.

_______________________________

Keep on keepin on~

learn it, live it: ways to be cool

2009-03-19T12:23:00.002-04:00

HELMETS!

IRONY!

ONLINE FRIENDSHIPS!

"HOLLYWOOD!"

EXXXTREME (EVERYTHING)!

MORE MEAT!

STEVE!

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: So what's up with you guys and the old Dharma jumpsuits?

2009-03-18T23:56:00.010-04:00

_______________________________

Hurley (to Caesar): Dude, you might want to fasten your seatbelt.

_______________________________
2008.

We get to watch Ajira 316 go down in what I'll call "present day."

I'm digging Jeff Fahey, and y'know what? I'm not sure why. His recent GRINDHOUSE role just sort of... I dunno... rebooted him. He just suddenly kind of came into his own, grew into his own skin, y'know? Maybe it only makes him really good for a certain kind of character, but if that's what he's doing, nothing wrong with that.

His Lapidus is so straight-shooter, fair-minded, and down-to-earth, he's the closest thing to an able man-on-the-street involved in the LOST madness, y'know? Not bringing any crazy baggage, just his skills, common sense, survival instinct, and respect.

Lapidus: Oh, no... Oh my god!

So fun to watch and hear him in the moments before it all hits the fan. He Knows. And when we see the Island appear through the clouds, it's like being in the cockpit of the Falcon when it's being tractor beamed to the Death Star.

Copilot: Is that a runway?

How awesome is it that Lapidus Sullys Ajira 316 down on the gravel that Kate and Sawyer were busting back when they were Ben's captives? Pretty frickin awesome, that's how awesome. =)

Could this be Lapidus's gift? Flying? Or maybe it's more of an Abaddon trait. Getting people to where they need to be, but in more of an unconscious manner than Matthew.

Is it just me, or did Alanna not look all that surprised or worried about the freaky turbulence? And when Caesar rouses her, who does she ask for? Sarah? She doesn't make a big deal about her prisoner (?) being gone, tho, does she? So, Sayid got flashed back, but...

Sun is still in the present! Blerg! So, she's the woman who scarpers off with Lapidus and the manifest. I couldn't think of a reason why Sun wouldn't be flashed back, but I guess there must be one!

Actually, having her get Christian to pull a SHINING moment on her and show her the 1977 DI new recruits photo is reason enough. =)

_______________________________
1977.

We return to Sawyer's reunion with Hurley, Kate, and Jack. Another opportunity for the show to kill some time with people looking at each other and sizing one another up.

Sawyer should TOTALLY kiss Jack!

O well. Hurley leads with a hug, of course.

Sawyer: Easy on the ribs there, Kong.
Hurley: Kong... I actually missed that.

And then, the Sixers get bonked over the head with time travel.

Hurley: So what's up with you guys and the old Dharma jumpsuits?
Sawyer: You didn't tell them?
Jin: No, I was waiting for you...
Sawyer: We're in the Dharma Initiative.
Jack: What? They came back to the Island?
Sawyer: No, we came back. So did you.
Jack: What?
Sawyer: It's 1977.
Hurley: Oh... What?

Jack wants to find out what happened to Sayid, and Sun. Jin races off to see Radzinsky(!) at the Flame, who would be the DI guy who'd know if a plane (crash)landed on the Island.

Radzinsky's kind of a tool, but that's to be expected from Kelvin's talk about him. Kind of a reach to have the designer of the Swan as one its snowmen for so long that he'd end up killing himself, but, whatev.

Were Kelvin and Radzinsky the first snowmen? I would have thought that there were a few shifts before Kelvin arrived, post Gulf War, right? In 1977, Radzinsky is designing the Swan, so maybe it doesn't get completed for 10 years. What w the Swan being controlled by an Apple II computer from the 80s, I guess that makes sense.

_______________________________
2008.

Lapidus steps up to rally the survivors. Caesar's interested in checking out the nearby buildings (the Hydra). Ben realizes where they are and sets off into the jungle on his own. Sun follows Ben. Lapidus follows Sun. Ben leads them to the outrigger canoes and thinks he's going to make it to the big island with Sun. He removes the sling from his arm—arm healed by the Island! Ben lectures Frank, and Sun oars Ben!

Lapidus: I thought you trusted him.
Sun: I lied.

Wheee!~ I *like* dark Sun now that she doesn't seem (AS) unbalanced.

_______________________________
1977.

Ethan Rom is the son of Amy and Horace?! Bleah. I had a fraction of a thought that that would be the case, but I couldn't buy it. That means that he's growing up in the DI while Ben is growing up there, and conspiring w the Others. Ben and the Others wipe out the DI, and we're never shown any sign of any Dharma men, women, or children being spared. And I think it's kind of important that we're led to believe that Ben is a loner, and friendless in the DI. For Amy's Ethan to be Ethan, that means that he was recruited or handed over to the Others as a child. Maybe he grows up to wish his mom and dad dead, the way Ben does?

Bleah. I still don't like it. I liked Ethan as a long-time Other. What other DI peeps survived to be assimilated into the Others? Some or all of the children?

Boo.

LaFleur's plan to bring the Sixers in: have them join the groggy new recruits coming off the sub. I was hoping that this would be when Roger and Ben Linus arrive on the Island, but alas, not to be. We do get to see Peter Chang hand Dr. Jack a "Workman" jumpsuit and explain that he's been assigned janitorial duties. We also get to see Sawyer stick him with a wonderfully ridiculous preppy tool outfit! =)

Hurley asks Sawyer about revealing to the DI their ultimate fate (aforementioned pit of dead).

Sawyer: I ain't here to play Nostradaus to these people. Besides, Faraday's got some interesting theories about waht we can and can't do...

Unfortunately, we don't get to visit w Faraday this episode. Sawyer continues to write him off as fruitcake material, cracked, nuts. No doubt when he's not playing Weird Uncle to little Charlotte, he's mucking about in the fringe science research of the DI, looking for clues to time travel. Or who knows, maybe leaving clues to be found 30 years later...

Do you suppose Daniel's middle name might be Jacob?

_______________________________
2008.

Frank and Sun arrive in ruined New Otherton, abandoned except for one bungalow, occupied by Christian Shephard, whom neither recognizes, of course. Sun asks if he knows where Jin is, and he tells them to follow him. He leads them to a DI hut with framed photos on the wall. He pulls down the 1977 "New Recruits" photo, shows it to them...

Christian: I'm sorry, but you have a bit of a journey ahead of you.

I'm really glad he said that. I'm taking that to mean that we're gonna get some more time hopping. Eventually, at least. Of course, that also leaves the door open for all kinds of even more destined to have already happened manipulations.

For a minute I was scared that Christian was gonna lead them to the pit of the DI dead and point out a jumpsuit with the label "Jin - Security." That would've sucked in a kinda cool way.

The SHINING photo reveal is way better, tho. =)

_______________________________
1977.

Jack, Hurley, and Kate are now DI. Sayid has been brought in as a Hostile. Radzinsky believes him to be an Other spy who should be summarily shot, but LaFleur invokes the terms of the truce, gets Sayid to admit to being a Hostile, and then gets to bring him into the village as a captive.

Jack goes to visit Sawyer in his cabin. Juliet answers the door. Heh. He thinks he's got the wrong place, but she tells him he's got the right place, and invites him in. Sawyer is sitting in the living room, about to read a book. Jack and Sawyer have words about what to do. Sawyer takes Jack's leadership skills to task...

Sawyer: Thats how I like to run things. I think. I'm sure that doesn't matter to you...

There is something seriously ominous about Sawyer's presence in that room, in this scene. Something that hints to me at his role as a serious player in the struggle on the Island. Could Sawyer somehow become Jacob? A Jacob? A Widmore?

Jack leaves.

Meanwhile, back at the DI brig. Young Ben brings Sayid a sandwich! Ben wants to get closer to a Hostile...

Ben: What's your name.
Sayid: Sayid. What's yours?
Ben: I'm Ben.
Sayid: It's nice to meet you Ben.

I predict that we are going to see Sayid attempt to off a little kid... Woohoo! =)

So, Roger and Ben are already on the Island in 1977. I'm gonna guess that they arrived after 1974. This means that Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles, and Faraday would know that they share the village with young Ben, but haven't done anything about it. Faraday's theories applied, perhaps? The logic being, since we know that Ben will be alive in the future to torment us, if we DID try to change or even kill him in the past, we must have failed, so, what's the point in trying?

But, hey, Sayid hasn't heard Faraday's theories, right? He gets to do the old kill-Hitler-as-a-baby thing, but with Ben! Wheee!~ =)

Keep on keepin on~

p.s. Some random outbursts...

Do Miles and Ethan have the same, or same sounding, last name?

Jacob's cabin was surrounded by a circle of ash, or salt.

Have any time-skippers given up Ben's name or destiny to Alpert?

Does Sawyer do regular face-to-face meets w Alpert?

Where are Elle and Charles in 1977?

What's going on with Aaron, Desmond, Penny, and Charles in the present?

How does Ben know that he's going to need a gravel runway for Ajira 316 to safely crashland him back onto the Island? Why, he goes back in time to tell himself, of course!

LOST: a little on the insane side...? me? =)

2009-03-18T17:49:00.003-04:00

0:39:36 CB: know anything about egyptian mythology?
0:40:08 JG: just a tiny bit
0:40:12 JG: from reading crap fiction
0:40:14 CB: frickin LOST
0:40:21 CB: i'm gonna hafta, like, look stuff up
0:40:31 JG: haha
0:40:34 JG: what part?
0:40:38 JG: there wasn't an episode, though
0:40:40 JG: last week, right?
0:40:49 CB: yeah
0:40:57 CB: a week off - i don't know what was on instead
0:41:12 CB: the egypt stuff
0:41:23 CB: i always wanted it, but now i think we're actually gonna get it
0:41:40 CB: y'know, over the next couple seasons, and only as backstory
0:42:02 JG: like that statue?
0:42:02 CB: but i feel like there might actually be some "useful" biblical and egyptian lore
0:42:08 JG: what makes you think that it's coming?
0:42:09 CB: the statue, definitely
0:42:13 JG: do you have some inside information?
0:42:25 CB: my friend jim suggested that horace set paul up
0:42:29 CB: paul, amy's husband
0:42:45 CB: so that amy would be single and horace could wed and bed her
0:43:01 CB: which led to the birth of the only baby conceived and born on the Island that we know of
0:43:06 CB: i think that's kind of important
0:43:19 CB: and if horace planned it, then that means that he's kind of a LOST big picture guy
0:43:24 JG: huh
0:43:31 CB: cuz to get away with it, he needed time traveling help
0:43:41 JG: horace?
0:43:43 CB: and okay, this might be a stretch
0:43:45 CB: yeah, horace
0:43:46 JG: hahaha
0:43:47 JG: oh boy
0:43:49 CB: but horace ~ horus
0:43:52 JG: HAHAHA
0:43:55 JG: hm
0:44:03 JG: why would he need time travel help
0:44:07 JG: to get amy's husband
0:44:07 CB: and this one jim mentioned to me Richard Alpert ~ R.A. ~ Ra
0:44:10 JG: killed?
0:44:14 JG: oh boy
0:44:17 JG: the inititals
0:44:19 JG: are REALLY a reach
0:44:28 CB: yeah, i kinda think so too
0:44:40 CB: where'd alexander the great come from? greece?
0:45:04 JG: yeah, i think so
0:45:07 JG: but not modern greece
0:45:10 JG: it was bigger then
0:45:18 CB: my ancient history's all screwed up, but i had a thought that maybe Alpert could be Alexander
0:45:22 JG: Macedonia, I think
0:45:31 JG: HA
0:45:35 CB: and maybe the Island once held the library
0:45:39 JG: what made you think THAT?
0:45:40 CB: in the temple
0:45:43 CB: no good reason
0:45:46 JG: hahahahah
0:45:51 CB: just some thin connections in my cobwebbed memory
0:46:10 CB: but okay, never mind that =)
0:46:11 CB: Horace
0:46:26 JG: i mean, I made up the fact that Alpert was Greek
0:46:28 CB: in order to get away with having 2 Others kill Paul, he'd have to be able to break the truce and get away with it
0:46:41 JG: well, we don't know what they were doing in the woods
0:46:42 JG: and plus
0:46:47 JG: how did he know that Amy would get saved?
0:46:51 JG: she was about to get killed herself
0:46:57 CB: see?
0:46:58 JG: you think HOrace planted Sawyer?
0:47:00 CB: no
0:47:18 CB: BUT, if he planned to kill paul and get amy for himself, he had to know that something/someone would intervene
0:47:36 JG: yeah, but doesn't that make it kind of a silly plan?
0:47:41 JG: to put amy in danger?
0:47:51 JG: wouldn't have have been better off getting rid of paul some other way?
0:47:51 CB: and how would he know something like that? he can see destinies, like Eloise and Abbadon, or he can communicate with Jacob/the Island
0:47:59 JG: just seems kind of... roundabout
0:48:14 CB: well, i assume he couldn't do the deed himself
0:48:31 CB: overtly or set-up accidentally
0:48:59 CB: and no one else from Dharma could do it
0:49:00 JG: yeah, but to put her in the hands of Alpert's crew
0:49:11 JG: when he' s only after the husband
0:49:13 JG: just seems
0:49:18 JG: like playing with fire
0:49:20 CB: maybe he was in cahootz w alpert... i dunno
0:49:24 JG: hm
0:49:41 JG: and alpert's coming to claim retribution was a fake?
0:49:46 CB: it seems strange that alpert would allow two of his guys to go biker thug during the truce
0:49:58 JG: definitely true
0:49:59 CB: hrmm... maybe he needed a body for some reason... hadn't thought of that
0:50:46 CB: would two of alpert's guys behave like that without some OK of some kind?
0:51:17 JG: i can't imagine why
0:51:20 JG: they would go rogue
0:51:21 CB: that whole scenario bugs me as conspicuous without any meddling or scheming behind it
0:51:34 CB: thusly my conspiracy theory
0:51:41 JG: ahhh
0:51:43 JG: it's true
0:51:44 JG: that scene
0:51:48 JG: is not justified yet
0:51:49 JG: at all
0:51:57 CB: it DOES get sawyer and company into Dharma safely
0:52:02 CB: and into Horace's good graces
0:52:10 CB: so really, on the surface, it's a Great Thing for them
0:52:17 JG: definitely
0:52:21 JG: so they can pass those three years
0:52:23 JG: in comfort
0:52:34 CB: but why would it have happened in the first place - i feel like Horace had a hand in it
0:52:45 JG: interesting
0:52:52 CB: what's Horace doing hanging out at the Blackrock anyway?
0:52:52 JG: i don't get the whole part about the baby
0:52:58 JG: that is definitely important
0:53:00 JG: for sure
0:53:31 JG: but Aaron was born on the island, just not conceived
0:53:40 JG: and Sun's kid was conceived but not born
0:53:46 CB: yup
0:53:48 JG: so I don't really get the whole baby thing anyway
0:53:51 CB: so the trick is both
0:54:12 CB: it was an interesting check on the growth of Other-ness
0:54:15 JG: is that kid going to be Locke or something?
0:54:20 JG: well, they just had them born
0:54:23 JG: off the island, right?
0:54:25 CB: nah, we saw Locke
0:54:29 CB: Dharma did
0:55:04 JG: right
0:55:25 CB: the Others during Ben's era kept trying to have them on the Island
0:56:06 CB: hence juliet's recruit-ment
0:56:13 JG: right, right
0:56:30 JG: mysterious!
0:57:34 CB: it seems like the idea of "Good" Others is a Ben era thing too
0:57:47 CB: back in the 50s and 70s, they seem more like a biker gang
0:58:03 JG: HA
0:58:04 JG: totally
0:58:07 CB: or maybe the 50s is when they started, when they encountered regular/military people messing w the Island
0:58:18 CB: widmore says he protected the Island for 30 years until Ben
0:58:44 JG: yeah, i don't really get the history
0:59:01 JG: widmore was dharma?
0:59:20 JG: is widmore gone already by the time that sawyer is there?
0:59:25 JG: in the 70s?
0:59:37 CB: i dunno, i usedta think he helped fund Dharma
0:59:55 CB: widmore was Other, and yeah, i'm guessing that he's already gone in 74
1:00:10 JG: how do you know he was an other?
1:00:19 JG: so, is Alpert his replacement?
1:00:31 CB: alpert is like Other leader pro tem
1:00:43 CB: i think he steps in when there's no one around who can talk to Jacob
1:01:01 CB: (in my head, i've got it that only those who can hear Jacob can be Other leaders)
1:01:06 JG: oh, hm
1:01:08 JG: interesting
1:01:14 CB: (altho, i don't know where Jacob "lived" before the 70s)
1:01:40 CB: (cuz Horace apparently builds the cabin where Ben, Locke, and Hurley go to interact w Jacob0
1:03:01 JG: i wonder what the deal is
1:03:03 JG: with Jacob
1:03:10 JG: seems like it could be biblical
1:03:23 CB: yeah, that's why i want more bible lore
1:03:24 JG: also, I don't get the smoke monster
1:03:32 JG: i feel like the smoke monster was some abandoned idea
1:03:36 JG: that is not going to tie in
1:03:40 JG: and it's going to be sad
1:03:43 CB: heh
1:04:04 CB: i think they'll give us an explanation, but it may not be as satisfying as i'd once hoped it would be
1:04:25 CB: i feel like the monster's sort of a rogue servant of the Island
1:04:39 JG: interesting
1:05:07 CB: an antibody, with its own OOProgramming
1:05:14 CB: not always under control of the Island
1:05:30 CB: when i squint, i also can see him as the serpent in the garden
1:05:33 JG: HA
1:05:38 JG: hm
1:05:41 CB: looking to mess w the great works of the Island
1:05:51 CB: but within certain rules
1:06:27 CB: it can judge people, kill them, turn them into puppets, test them
1:06:39 JG: judge people?
1:06:44 JG: and test them?
1:06:50 JG: that's a hefty allowance
1:06:51 CB: it's kind of b.s., but it seemed to do that to Eko
1:06:52 JG: for a smoke monster
1:06:57 CB: and Locke
1:07:01 JG: oh, Eko
1:07:04 JG: i wonder if his role
1:07:11 JG: will also be under-explained
1:07:24 CB: and Rousseau's people... altho i don't know why it would find them all guilty
1:07:35 JG: yeah, they were on the island for a hot minute
1:07:40 JG: before there were exterminated
1:07:50 CB: Eko... no, i think that's a show production issue that got resolved crappily in the story
1:07:59 JG: haha
1:08:02 CB: apparently the actor had to be dismissed
1:08:05 JG: oh, really?
1:08:07 JG: that sucks
1:08:08 CB: so they shat on his character
1:08:15 CB: yeah, Eko was wonderful
1:08:16 JG: wow, lame
1:08:35 JG: i guess the only other option would have been to swap actors
1:08:39 JG: which I hate when they do
1:08:44 JG: and you have to be like:
1:08:52 JG: I'm pretending that this is the same person
1:08:57 JG: when it clearly isn't
1:09:03 CB: ha! yeah, totally annoying
1:09:08 CB: no one's gonna step in for Eko : P
1:09:12 JG: seriously
1:09:33 CB: but yeah, we saw Rousseau's people get taken...
1:09:49 CB: one of them had his arm yanked off, but still spoke from the darkness to lure the others in
1:09:56 CB: the smoke monster took over their bodies
1:10:04 JG: yeah, that was creepy
1:10:23 CB: the Others are very particular about what happens to the bodies of their dead
1:10:32 CB: they had a ceremony for the girl that Sun shot on Desmond's boat
1:10:42 CB: viking-like, i think - they burned her body on a raft
1:10:43 JG: oh yeah
1:10:49 JG: i forgot that part
1:10:52 CB: so, neither the Island nor the smoke monster could reanimate her
1:11:06 CB: or so my take is
1:11:42 JG: you
1:11:46 JG: are a little on the insane side
1:11:50 JG: with the details
1:12:04 JG: but I mean that in a good way
1:12:20 CB: i know it
1:12:31 JG: i only hope
1:12:34 JG: that the writers
1:12:36 CB: and i avoid looking around at LOST crap online
1:12:39 JG: turn out to justify your love
1:13:00 JG: good for you
1:13:03 JG: it's more fun to do your own math
1:13:08 JG: than be influenced
1:13:13 JG: by people online
1:14:54 CB: thing is, i feel like i need a team
1:15:03 CB: like the one that widmore/abbadon put together
1:15:29 JG: HA
1:16:09 CB: an egyptologist, a bible expert, maybe a philosophy academic
1:16:38 CB: a physicist might be good, but i don't think it would be so necessary
1:16:46 JG: what's Rowan's area? ancient china?
1:16:52 CB: cuz this is, like fizzics, not physics
1:16:56 JG: HAHA
1:16:57 JG: totally
1:16:58 CB: yeah, china
1:17:30 CB: and the fizzics is mostly about narrative bending, not actual physical law bending
1:17:37 CB: so rowan's useless
1:17:38 CB: =)
1:17:44 JG: hahaha
1:17:49 JG: yeah
1:17:53 JG: china's not even on the radar
1:17:54 JG: in Lost
1:17:58 CB: korea is, tho
1:18:04 JG: true enough
1:18:18 JG: although I suspect not too much in the "causes of weirdness" department
1:18:19 CB: in the Dharma logo, in Paik industries, in Charlottes fluency, perhaps
1:18:44 CB: i suspect Paik industries was in bed w Widmore in Island hunting
1:18:49 CB: and may have helped fund Dharma
1:19:10 JG: oh, wow
1:19:11 JG: intense
1:19:22 CB: Dharma was founded by this Hanso guy, who's been described as having made his fortune in arms, I think
1:19:38 CB: Alvar Hanso... gotta be nordic
1:20:09 JG: yeah, or Dutch
1:20:11 JG: or something
1:20:15 CB: and Marvin Candle or Wickenham or whatever he calls himself... I have a feeling he himself is Korean
1:20:37 CB: yeah... Hanso... HanSolo
1:20:39 CB: =)
1:20:42 JG: hahahahaha
1:20:50 CB: "Han" is Korean for the number one
1:20:58 CB: that's a Lucas thing, "Han Solo"
1:21:01 CB: the loner
1:21:04 CB: lone star
1:21:09 JG: i did NOT know that
1:21:15 JG: does solo mean star?
1:21:20 JG: it doesn't mean "one" and alone?
1:21:23 JG: in english
1:21:24 CB: no, solo's just one agagin
1:21:24 CB: yeah
1:21:34 JG: ha, one alone
1:21:35 CB: "Solo" is just the english
1:21:37 JG: interesting
1:21:51 CB: Lucas played with character names in episode 4 in some good ways
1:21:57 CB: i mean, Luke Skywalker
1:22:00 CB: Luke S.
1:22:01 CB: Lucas
1:22:10 JG: do you speak Korean?
1:22:14 CB: not so much, no
1:22:19 CB: i know numbers, and some food
1:22:26 CB: i usedta speak a better, but lost it all
1:22:28 JG: do you understand getting yelled at in korean?
1:22:31 CB: heh
1:22:35 CB: go wash your face, yeah
1:22:37 JG: hahaha
1:22:43 CB: practice piano
1:22:45 JG: HA
1:22:46 CB: grow up to be a doctor
1:22:49 JG: lol
1:22:49 CB: =)
1:23:06 JG: speaking of piano - both of the super nice girls who are interested in my apartment
1:23:08 JG: are total non-musicians
1:23:12 JG: don't play any piano
1:23:14 CB: aww
1:23:17 JG: what's up with that?
1:23:24 JG: Do I need to turn them away?
1:23:26 CB: heh
1:23:29 CB: how old are they?
1:23:36 JG: one is 31
1:23:43 JG: and the other is starting nursing school,
1:23:44 JG: so
1:23:46 JG: younger, is my guess
1:23:55 JG: they're both working/schooling at Columbia Med, though
1:23:55 CB: well, maybe the younger one could start lessons
1:23:58 JG: hahaha
1:23:59 JG: totally
1:24:05 CB: write it into the lease
1:24:05 JG: i should put that in the lease
1:24:08 JG: exactly
1:24:09 CB: =)
1:26:01 JG: any other star wars name trivia you'd like to share?
1:26:25 CB: hrmm...
1:26:50 CB: well, i always thought that numbers were important, but that doesn't get carried thru every name
1:26:55 CB: the droids, easy
1:27:01 CB: OB1, obi-wan
1:27:06 CB: han solo
1:27:14 JG: ha, OB1
1:27:14 JG: nice
1:27:26 CB: and there was the naming of the darths
1:27:41 CB: no consistent, tho
1:27:43 CB: in-Vader
1:27:47 CB: in-Sidious
1:27:51 CB: in-Maul doesn't work : P
1:27:53 JG: hahaha
1:27:59 JG: darth sidious
1:28:01 JG: i have to say
1:28:04 JG: might be the dumbest name ever
1:28:11 JG: far, far too obvious
1:28:16 JG: although Maul is a close second
1:28:57 CB: haha =)
1:29:01 CB: i concur
1:29:25 CB: lucas just lost it when he went back for eps 1-3 : P
1:29:31 JG: i know
1:29:32 JG: so sad
1:29:37 JG: a real tragedy
1:29:58 JG: does Lost have an end date?
1:30:04 JG: like, are there a finite number of seasons?
1:30:07 CB: two more seasons after this one - 16 eps each
1:31:09 JG: aha
1:31:19 JG: because you definitely get the sense
1:31:24 JG: that they know where they are going now
1:31:32 CB: yeah, this is all about other shoes dropping
1:31:40 CB: or pennies dropping
1:31:41 JG: hahaha, nicely said
1:31:44 CB: or whatever
1:31:55 CB: what is the scenario that inspired that euphemism?
1:32:05 JG: the other shoe?
1:32:06 CB: shoe?
1:32:07 CB: yeah
1:32:26 JG: (am googling)
1:33:02 CB: it seems like it might be sex-y
1:33:07 CB: or maybe 50s tv sexy?
1:33:19 CB: but 50s tv sexy would be too modern...
1:33:39 JG: ha, apparently, from a joke:
1:33:40 JG: This phrase means "to await an event causally linked to one that
one has already observed". In the form "drop the other shoe",
meaning "say the next obvious thing" or "end the suspense", it dates
from the early 20th century. It derives from the following joke:

A guest who checked into an inn one night was warned to be quiet
because the guest in the room next to his was a light sleeper. As
he undressed for bed, he dropped one shoe, which, sure enough,
awakened the other guest. He managed to get the other shoe off in
silence, and got into bed. An hour later, he heard a pounding on
the wall and a shout: "When are you going to drop the other shoe?"
1:34:02 CB: ha
1:34:32 CB: got anything about the penny dropping?
1:34:39 CB: or did i make that up? : P
1:34:44 JG: ha, i don't know that one
1:36:41 CB: i kind miss the time-skipping, tho... hopefully we'll get another round, or at least another jump or two
1:37:25 CB: or, man, can you imagine the LOSTies remaining on the Island in 1977 thru 2008?
1:37:30 JG: HA
1:37:31 JG: i wonder!
1:37:33 JG: do you think so?
1:37:37 CB: that's interresting...
1:37:45 CB: they would know exactly where to be when to avoid running into themselves
1:37:51 CB: but to what end?
1:38:37 JG: oh, the paradoxes!
1:38:39 CB: OR... they could go out into the world in these earlier times and pave the ways for everything that's going to happen... altho, again, to what end?
1:38:40 JG: i hope it doesn't go there
1:38:50 CB: sawyer could leave the island and kill locke's dad before he ruins his parents
1:39:03 CB: but of course, he couldn't : P
1:39:14 CB: they can't actually change anything
1:39:16 JG: HAHA
1:39:23 JG: it's a mess, the paradoxes!
1:39:25 CB: but... hiding on the Island... i wonder if there's any value in that
1:39:52 CB: wow, what if their bodies are in the pit of Dharma bodies?
1:39:57 CB: geez
1:40:02 JG: HA
1:40:03 JG: gross!
1:40:04 CB: that would be awful, cool, chilling
1:40:12 CB: if done right
1:40:47 JG: chilling, for sure
1:40:48 CB: it would be like Krypton dying - they'd hafta get their kids off the Island, but not themselves, and die w the Dharma people
1:40:55 JG: hm, interesting idea
1:41:04 JG: yeah, i wonder if we are going to see the massacre
1:41:07 JG: or what
1:41:14 CB: the timing of that is weird
1:41:19 CB: i feel like it was the 80s
1:41:29 CB: cuz ben is born in the 70s, off the Island
1:41:39 JG: but things are already a mess
1:41:40 CB: then brought to the Island when he's maybe 9 or 10? with his dad
1:41:43 JG: from disuse
1:41:48 JG: by 2000 or whenever they show up
1:41:57 CB: well, all the stations are, yeah
1:42:09 CB: the village is still intact cuz ben moves the Others into it
1:42:28 CB: and there are still supply drops for the Swan - perplexing, that
1:42:56 JG: hm, yeah
1:42:58 JG: confusing
1:43:42 CB: so, if Widmore was leader of the Others in the 60s (he's pretty young in the 50s)... when does he leave the Island so that he can be in the real world long enough to build his fortune and father Penny (and is Eloise his mate?)
1:43:57 JG: was penny born on the island?
1:44:47 CB: hrmm.... i don't think so
1:45:15 CB: cuz charles was exiled or tricked or whatever off the Island by himself, right?
1:45:28 CB: well, if he turned the wheel he was
1:45:30 JG: i have no idea
1:45:33 JG: do we know for sure?
1:46:02 CB: widmore's story is that ben tricked him off the Island, and he seems to imply that it was turning the wheel that did it
1:46:30 CB: when locke arrives in tunisia, widmore tells him he was watching the exit cuz he was afraid that ben would do the same thing to locke
1:46:52 CB: altho, that story has a hole in it - he apparently wasn't watching when Ben turned the wheel
1:46:58 JG: ha, oh yeah
1:46:59 JG: hm
1:47:10 JG: but he never says
1:47:12 CB: so... i haven't decided whether to trust widmore's account
1:47:15 CB: yeah, he never says
1:47:15 JG: that he got dumped in Tunisia
1:47:23 JG: he just says it's the exit
1:47:26 JG: not know how knows
1:47:31 CB: yeah - he might have voluntarily left the Island
1:47:43 CB: or been tricked off the island some other way
1:48:13 CB: but turning the wheel DOES make sense... cuz it would kick him off the Island *AND* relocate it so he couldn't just go back by following a magic heading in the right location
1:48:23 JG: true
1:48:34 JG: but he could have taken the sub as well
1:48:36 CB: what else could have happened... he left the Island on a boat or sub or whatever, and then someone else turned the wheel
1:48:42 JG: because you don't get back to the island the normal way
1:48:48 JG: yeah, even when the freighter was out there
1:48:53 JG: Daniel knew some trick
1:48:57 JG: where it wasn't obvious
1:48:58 JG: how to get back
1:49:04 JG: maybe widmore doesn't know the trick
1:49:24 CB: daniel and ben and michael all know the same trick
1:49:27 CB: a magic heading
1:49:45 CB: i'm pretty sure widmore would have known - if people were coming and going from the Island at all
1:49:57 CB: the u.s. military found it, somehow
1:50:03 CB: the nigerian plane
1:50:13 CB: henry gale's balloon
1:50:40 JG: uh oh, i have to run
1:50:44 CB: okily
1:50:48 JG: i've got people coming to see my apartment
1:50:48 CB: happystpats
1:50:50 CB: don't get pinched
1:50:52 JG: haha
1:50:57 JG: thanks, you either!
1:51:09 JG: to be continued tomorrow.. when we will actually get our next installment!
1:51:15 CB: =)

Thanks to JG for letting me go LOST nuts like that via AIM~

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: rambling on time, timing, and Egypt!

2009-03-18T03:19:00.010-04:00

_______________________________
Egypt!

More Egypt! Woohoo! I'm loving the idea (my crazy idea) that the Island materialized in ancient Egypt. I want it to be as an oasis in the actual desert, but I guess I'll allow for it to have lamely appeared as an island off of Africa, too. Room enough to appear in the Nile? The delta? Is that where the Island first appeared on Earth? First acquired its weird EM pocket of power.

Which Egyptian god is the statue of? Does anyone know? Can anyone tell? Is there only one Egyptian god who is depicted with four toes? What animals have four "toes?" Cats? Dogs? Or was it Egyptian practice to only show four toes in drawings of human bodies? Like on THE SIMPSONS?

Is Richard Alpert an age-frozen Pharaoh?

Jim hit me with the phonetic connection between Horace (Goodspeed) and Horus, whom I last saw in RELIGULOUS. The son of Isis and Osiris, Horus has a man's body and a falcon's head (Thanks, wikipedia). Nothing about four toes, tho. Do all the Egyptian gods have human bodies and animal heads?

What does this mean about the Island? Does it play some active/meddling role in Egyptian mythology or ancient history? Was its power misguidedly attributed to one of their pantheon? The Others/black smoke monster temple has hieroglyphics on its walls. Why would Dharma use hieroglyphics in the Swan? Are they directions that refer to the Temple or writings on its walls?

_______________________________
Timing problem or not? Bentham's tour, death, viewing.

In talking over recent LOSTness with Emily, she brought up a pretty serious inconsistency in the timing of events surrounding Locke's world tour and his death. The episode in which we see his attempts to recruit the Six and co seems to place his attempted suicide-turned-murder a day, or at most a few days, after he talks to Jack in the hospital. Ben's revelation that Jack bought a round-trip ticket seems to push the idea that Locke only just spoke with Jack. If that's the case, how can we account for the time that seems to have passed between Bentham's visits to Jack and Kate and Bentham's obituary (also Jack and Kate's meeting at the airport)? In that time, Jack grows out his crazy beard (he's already started when he tells Locke none of them are important), flies multiple times, begins cracking up at the hospital, sees his father (Could that have happened before Locke's accident? Beard or not?), loads up on the drugs, ponders suicide. Or Sayid's return from building schools in the DR and his appearance at Hurley's asylum and their short-lived WEEKEND AT SAYID's?

When Emily brought it up, I had to agree that Locke's tour experience and death as we saw it make you think that only a short amount of time passed between his hospital stay and his murder. In the end, tho, I think that that's an illusion of editing, resulting in a compression of the timing of events. To clinch it, I think I'll need to re-watch the episode and look for physical signs of the accident on Locke when he's setting up his makeshift gallows. Is it possible that Abaddon was DRIVING MR. LOCKE for months? Or that Locke was doing his own thing (like what?) most of that time and only calling Abaddon when he was ready to meet with a certain Sixer/Lostie?

Doesn't seem like Locke would allow himself anything like downtime, tho, right?

Blerg. I'll just roll with it for now.

_______________________________
Others = "Good people?"

Ben's lists, and his and Tom's insistence that they are the "good guys," don't seem to jive with the biker gang behavior of Richard's people in the 70s. The two Others that find Paul and Amy picnicking seem to be intent on doing Amy some very un-good harm. And AFTER killing her husband, Paul. *AND* while an apparent Dharma-Others truce is in effect. What up w that? Were the Others more state-of-nature back then? Before Ben? Are "good people" a Ben-era phenomenon or rule?

Horace tells Sawyer that he and his people are not Dharma material. What sort of code does Dharma use in their selection of recruits?

_______________________________
Horace Goodspeed

Jim thinks that Horace may have set Paul up, to get him out of the picture and leave Amy alone. I like the sound of that. If we start from that, and do a bit of reverse engineering, we get to some very interesting possibilities...

Perhaps Horace is a big picture player. At least on the order of a Ben. Maybe on the order of an Eloise?

For Horace to be able to set Paul up, he has to know that he can get away with it. And not just the murder, but the breaking of the Truce. Which means that he has to know that the Island will deliver a way out for him. Which means he has a connection to the Island, or maybe even speaks to Jacob and does the Island's will.

And what would the Island's will be? To bring into the world a baby, the child of Amy and Horace, a baby conceived AND delivered on the Island. DEMON SEED, anyone?

What if Horace and Alpert were in cahootz? For Horace to pull off the murder of Paul, ideally, he'd be able to have Alpert's help, maybe get Alpert to take the muzzles off two of his biker gang Other boys and happen to send them to check out the field where Paul and Amy are picnicking. What would Alpert get out of it, tho? What he gets out of it even after Sawyer's meddling/fixx... Paul's body. What would Alpert and the Others get out of that, tho? A host or reanimated puppet for the Island? For Jacob, a la Christian? A source of inside information, perhaps?

In any case, whether or not tree-dynamiting Horace and/or Alpert orchestrated Paul's death, the situation gets Sawyer and company in with Dharma, and Horace in their debt, setting them up for their LOST ON MARS period. Pretty lucky unluck.

_______________________________
The other LOSTies?

In the time-skipping melee, I thoughtlessly discounted everyone else as insignificant and fire arrowed to death, but Emily reminded me that Bernard spent quite a bit of time working on getting a fire going, back at the beach, just before Frogurt got himself awesomely arrowed. In the subsequent time skips, we follow Faraday, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, and Charlotte, but lose track of everyone else. Like I said, assuming them all to be STAR TREK red shirts, I figured they'd all get dead, one way or another, arrows, monsters, nosebloody headaches. But, hey, we sorta care about Bernard and Rose, right? And we know the Island likes Rose.

So what do we suppose happened to them? Are there any other fringey Losties that I've totally given up on?

Maybe Bernard and Rose joined the Others in 1974-77? Or been living the Crusoe life together in some remote part of the Island? Could they have had a baby in that time? One who grows up to be Matthew Abaddon?

_______________________________
The other LOSTies?

We haven't seen Sayid or Sun land in 1977 yet. What if they were found by Alpert's Others (Widmore's people at this time?), and have been recruited or taken captive by the Others? Would the Paik name hold any power back then? What could or would they tell Alpert, and vice versa? Locke's mission. Ben's manipulation. Faraday's mom and the Lamppost. Is Eloise "Elle" Hawking still on the Island at this point in time? And hostile takeover Sun might know quite a bit worth knowing to young Widmore.

_______________________________
Crazy talk.

Egypt! I need a team of experts. An Egypt person, a Bible person, a history/geography person... I have my ideas. The hieroglypics on the Swan clock hinted at Egypt, but y'know, thru the prism of this 60s fringe science research compound, the DI. They co-opted the elemental symbols from the Korean flag for their logo, why not borrow from Egypt for a creative alarm clock alert, right?

Then, there was the appearance of Richard Alpert. My cinemascopic mind pegged him as an Egyptian. I know the heavy eyeliner is in fact, NOT makeup, but a physiological phenom, or so I've heard it explained from various friend sources. I always kind of assumed that to be the case, since first "meeting" him on SUDDENLY, SUSAN or whatever that Brooke Shields show was. But I'm not going to take it as an accident that he was cast for the role, looking as he does. I'm going to take it as meaningful that when he shows up on the Island, the first thing I think of is Egyptian.

I personally think the initials adding up to Ra, the Egyptian sun god, is a bit thin, but nevertheless fun.

Hurley, in tune with the dead of the Island, has taken to painting watercolors. Or at least, watercolor. The one subject that we've seen: Egypt, specifically, the Sphinx.

While time-skipping it up, Faraday, Sawyer, Juliet, and Miles are treated to a few seconds of the backside of the towering statue that would eventually be spotted by Sayid as a ruin, with only a four-toed foot intact. The statue looks to be a likeness of some Egyptian god, with a human body, a nonhuman or at least head-dressed head, and holding something (a staff?) in its right hand, maybe also its left (I think).

Let me throw some names and words out here... Pharaohs. Horus. Osiris. Alexander the Great. The Library at Alexandria. Pharos.

I did a little clicking at Wikipedia. There is an island near Alexandria, Egypt called Pharos. It was once the location of a towering lighthouse, named after the island, apparently, the Pharos. The lighthouse was one of the wonders of the ancient world. Over centuries it was preserved but ultimately was destroyed. Underwater remnants of the lighthouse, its foundations, and surrounding structures and statues were discovered in the 90s. It doesn't exactly make sense, but I like the Island for being a neighbor of Pharos. I can't get myself to say that the Island *IS* Pharos, cuz Pharos is still actually where it is. Pharos was home to a temple of Isis and the Pharos lighthouse.

I originally clicked over to Pharos after clicking to get to the Library at Alexandria, cuz I thought that maybe the Temple might have been a temple of learning and that it might have been built and hidden on the Island when it happened to materialize in Alexandria.

Is Alpert a pharaoh? Could he be Alexander? Egyptian hieroglyphics in the Swan and on the Temple, but Latin among the Others themselves...

_______________________________
LOST/Others/Island timeline...

If we buy Widmore's story, he was leader of the Others before Ben. He and his people protected the Island for 30 years before Ben. Maybe he wasn't necessarily leader for all those 30 years, cuz back in the Jughead 50s, it seems like he was already in the business of Island protection, without being leader of the clan, right?

So...

1950s.
Young Widmore and Elle (Eloise) are Others, under the leadership pro tem of Richard Alpert. They encounter the time-skipping Locke, Faraday, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, and Charlotte.

1974.
The Others and the Dharma Initiative have a truce. The final time-skip lands Sawyer, Jin, Faraday, Juliet, and Miles in this time, where Sawyer speaks with Alpert to preserve the truce. No sign of Widmore.

1977.
Sawyer, Jin, Faraday, Juliet, and Miles have joined the DI. Jack, Hurley, and Kate are time-flashed out of Ajira 316, land in this time, and are reunited w Sawyer and company. No sign of Widmore.

1960s late.
Horace Goodspeed and girlfriend (Samantha Mathis?) stop to help Roger Linus get his wife to the hospital to give birth to Ben. The mother dies in childbirth.

1970s late.
Horace gets DI to hire Roger Linus. Roger and son Ben arrive on the Island. Ben sees the ghost of his mother appear to him. Ben meets Richard Alpert.

1970s mid-late.
Penelope Widmore born.

1970s mid-late.
Daniel Faraday born.

1980s mid-late.
The Purge. Ben kills his father, Roger, and helps the Others exterminate the DI. Only the Swan station personnel survive. Ben joins the Others.

1988.
Rousseau and team land on the Island. Time-skipping Jin encounters them at two different times, once by the Temple, before skipping away.

2001.
Under Ben's leadership, Alpert and Others recruit Juliet.

2004.
Desmond kills Kelvin, pushes the Swan button late, triggering an EM pulse that causes Oceanic 815 tears itself apart in the sky above the Island.

2004.
Oceanic Six return to the outside world

2004.
Ben turns the wheel and starts the Island time-skipping. Ben exits in Tunisia.

2008.
Ajira 316 flies into a time flash over the Island. Jack, Hurley, and Kate (and Sun and Sayid?) are time flashed back to 1977. Lapidus crashlands plane on Island. Locke is resurrected. Ben, Lapidus, Ceasar, and Alanna are among survivors.

Let's try to braintease this out. Assuming we can take Charles Widmore at his word when he speaks to Locke about his place w the Others and Ben's shenanigans...

Widmore had to get off the Island and into the outside world in time to amass or usurp his considerable fortune. Widmore had to get off the Island and into the outside world in time to father Penelope. Widmore has been unable to return the Island since he left it.

These facts indicate that he left the Island in the mid to late 70s, MAYbe the early 80s, at the latest. This would allow for Penny being in her late 20s to young 30s in "present day," and the 80s would have been the perfect time to start building up wealth. His inability to return to the Island seems to back up the idea that Charles turned the wheel when he left, since turning the wheel moves the Island. If he'd left using some conventional transpo (a boat or the sub), the Island would not have moved, and he could conceivably return by navigating to the same location and using the magic bearing to get thru the snowglobe glass.

But, if he left the Island in the 70s, how could he have been tricked into it by Ben, who only arrives in the 70s as perhaps a 10 year old? And doesn't actually join the Others until the 80s?

It's possible there's a serious chunk of information that LOST hasn't revealed to us—like maybe Widmore was leader during the truce, but spent some of his time off-Island over the years building wealth and having a daughter and maybe even funding Dharma—but if we assume that Widmore's story is true, then I can only think of two explanations.

1. More time travel. Someone else will take a turn at the wheel in a future episode, sending or pulling Ben back to the 70s or 80s where he'll manipulate his way to a high position among the Others and sucker Charles into turning the wheel. He might also tip Alpert off about his encounter with the young Ben, before it actually happens.

2. A long con. "Present day" Ben will manage to plant some info or artifacts in the past that will convince Widmore that he needs to turn the wheel sometime in the 70s or 80s, exiling himself from the Island and leaving leadership open for the Ben who kills his father in the Dharma peace van. Maybe he's already managed it, and the Losties in 1977 are destined to pass that info along and inadvertently do Ben's bidding.

Another person to try and track over time is Eloise Hawking, aka Elle. She's a contemporary of Charles, and given Daniel's age, probably left the Island around the same time as he did. Could they have left together? Or one right after the other? Could Daniel and Penny be siblings? I like it. Altho it still bugs me that Charles wouldn't (or couldn't?) seek Eloise's help with locating the Island.

_______________________________
LaFleur.

A creole name, Sawyer say. He improvised. Fits his salvage story? Did he get as specific as saying his boat was out of Louisiana? Was LaFleur ever mentioned in previous Dharma flashbacks? Was it an alias we've heard him, or Locke's dad, use?

Maybe "the flower" reflects/foreshadows his lame-ass domesticated-by-Juliet self? It's not bad to see him happy, but it is PAINful to see him with Juliet, especially all hearts and flowers.

The Island lets Hurley speak to the dead. The Island cures Rose's cancer. The Island gives Locke back his legs. But Sawyer? It turns Sawyer into a girl. Bleah.

_______________________________

Allright, enough crazy talk.

For now. =)

Keep on keepin on~

Give me back that Filet-O-Fish... Give me that fish!

2009-03-15T17:45:00.002-04:00

Keep on keepin on~

The Lorax

2009-03-02T17:39:00.002-05:00

Thanks to google for telling me it's Dr. Seuss's birthday today.

Keep on keepin on~

LOST: Locke it up

2009-02-27T23:39:00.004-05:00

So, Ajira 316 DID go down. Decent crash landing, too, Lapidus. Nicely done. And hey, whaddyaknow? Ex-Locke returns to the Island (actually, the smaller island, where the Hydra station is) and the Island brings him back to life. And not all weirdly darkly reanimated, speaking for the Island, but completely, wholly, himself. Alive! Not wax!

And all without any Vulcan shenanigans. O well.

So, Locke exits in Tunisia, just like everyone else who's taken a turn at the wheel (we've seen Ben and a Dharma polar bear and Widmore seems to claim a turn as well). Y'know, if I knew about this BEING JOHN MALKOVICHian trap door from the Island, I'd keep it watched, wouldn't you? It's almost disappointing that Widmore took this long to figure that out. Or, does his not setting up the cameras there sooner mean that he did NOT actually know about the exit until recently? Does it mean that when he left the Island, he didn't land in Tunisia? Didn't turn the wheel?

Charles fills Locke in on a story that we've all pretty much pieced together or guessed at. Widmore was once leader of the Others. Ben tricked him into leaving the Island, with no way to return. That certainly sounds like it means he turned the wheel. Ben could have easily manipulated him into doing it, taking advantage of some real or perceived threat to the Island, or maybe strategically garbling a communique from Jacob. Anyhow, with Charles gone, Ben took leadership, perhaps declaring that Jacob and the Island chose him next, when, in fact, Locke should have been next in line. And Ben led the Others down the path that we've seen, off the reservation, moving them into Dharma's village and stations and technology and reaching out, off the Island, to find a solution to the fertility problem. Not a direction that Jacob and the Island chose.

When Ben takes Locke to the cabin, we and Locke hear Jacob plead for help. Ben seems to be playing at having a conversation with Jacob, not actually communicating. Every chance he's gotten, Ben's been doing everything in his power to thwart John's ascendancy, even before he meets him, thanks to a time skipping run-in with Ethan. Ben's been playing false priest.

I like this story. It fits nicely. There are a couple of Big Questions that come to mind in light of it, tho.

1. What is Ben's motivation for taking control of the Others?

The only thing that I can think of is bringing back or saving his mother. How to do that? Time travel would be the best option. To actually go back and get his mother to a hospital in time to save her and himself. But Ben scoffs at Dharma's time travel research, perhaps because he knows that destiny cannot be changed. Until Desmond was granted his gift, of course. But Ben couldn't have planned on that.

Maybe he hoped that a next generation of Island children, completely native to the Island, would have gifts that would allow him to change destiny, or maybe just bring her back, the way the Island does, but whole, not as a pawn of the Island...?

* Theory. Others choose to leave the Island (maybe they were once forced to, at a certain age?) to join/return to the regular world, settle down, and have kids. Kids who would then, if worthy, inevitably find the Island themselves.

2. Why does Alpert rule that Locke fails his childhood "chosen one" test?

Alpert asks young Locke to choose his own things from a collection of items. From what I can remember, he correctly selects the items that he left behind at Camp Other back in the 50s on the Island. The compass is the selection that seems to result in his failure, and the adult Locke gave that to Alpert himself! Did semantics fail young Locke? At Camp Other, adult Locke tells younger Alpert that older Alpert gave it to him to give "back" to younger Alpert. Locke never says that it belongs to him, so Alpert could take the compass to be HIS (Alpert's), and not Lockes, which would render young Locke's selection technically incorrect...

But that is lame.

Someone must have gotten to Alpert. Used some screwy logic to explain that if young Locke chose the compass, that would be wrong, and he couldn't be the Island's chosen one.

Of course, there's the destiny factor. If he hadn't failed, he wouldn't have grown up to become the John Locke he is today, the man that the Island apparently needs.

Still, at the micromanaging scale, destiny would have Alpert make his decision based on his own judgement and free will. So, the question might be reworded as: How the heck did Ben poison Alpert in the past against choosing Locke to join and/or lead the Others? Even after meeting his time travelling adult self even farther back in the past?

*sigh*

Back to Tunisia... Widmore bankrolls Jeremy Bentham. That works out quite nicely. Charles even chooses his JB alias, knowingly. A philosophical contemporary of John Locke. Widmore believes that Locke's parents had a sense of humor when naming him. How wrong is that? His teenage mother insisted on "John" in the delivery room. Who knows if "Locke" belonged to either of his parents, right? But it's cool to see an acknowledgement of at least one of the very peculiar namesakes on the show, from within the world of the show.

* Here's a crazy what-if theory... What if each character with such a name got caught on the time skipping Island, but managed to leave the Island during a time period where s/he would live on to BECOME their historical namesake? Not gonna happen, I know... (Well, maybe once, right? =) ... but it's a fun idea, eh?

Widmore sends Locke out into the world to round up the Sixers. Charles intuits that that's the only reason that Locke would willingly leave the Island. He sends Abbaddon along as his driver. It's kinda sad and full circle when Abbaddon breaks out the wheelchair for John.

Charles doesn't seem to know that Ben is back until Locke tells him. That can't be true, tho, can it? Ben shows up at Widmore's place, promises to kill Penny, before Locke arrives, right? I suppose it's possible that that meeting could have happened after Charle sends Locke on his way... At this point, I guess I want to believe Charles's basic story, so maybe that's how it happened. Cuz if he did know that Ben was back, wouldn't he warn Locke, and even Abbaddon?

Weird, tho. Except for Abbaddon, whom I'm assuming is Otherly, with his gift as a "driver," Widmore's using hired help, henchmen, mercenaries, and self-unaware Otherly relations (Miles, Faraday, Lewis). Meanwhile, Ben's using the Others network. Maybe Widmore's exile carries with it some huge shame, an Other brand of "unclean" which completely cuts him off from all things Other? Sad, tho, as they're "his" people. He says it with more conviction than Ben ever has.

Armed with Widmore's files on each of them, Locke visits the people who have returned from the Island prematurely...

Sayid explains to him how he lived the best nine months of his life after getting off the Island. He does not explain that Widmore supposedly arranged for her death. Altho it seems more likely that Ben did, to manipulate him into working for him. He's done w the Island and asks Locke who's manipulating him.

He meets Walt, for just a few minutes, and chooses not to ask him to return with them. IS he really one of the ones the Island needs? Walt tells him about a dream he had, where Locke is dressed in a suit and surrounded by people who want to hurt him. In a very un-Locked moment, he dismisses Walts dream as "just a dream." Kinda lame. Of all the people on the Island, Locke would be most likely to take Walt's dreams seriously, as a kind of truth or prediction. Walt asks about Michael and Locke dances around an answer about the freighter. Walt has an understanding, tho. I'm surprised he hasn't TALKED to Michael, the way Hurley might. This exchange is way too short and dismissive. Classic LOST withholding. *sigh*

Speaking of Hurley... Hurley's painting the Sphinx in Egypt!

* Crazy talk/theory. I forget if I've blogged this before, but I have a feeling that the Island is connected to ancient Egypt somehow. That in a time skip, it appears in the desert there, as an oasis (any geographers out there? how far is Tunisia from Egypt?). Some people from the Island step off, maybe some people from Egypt step on, and the Island continues on. This is ridiculous, but my first push towards an Egyptian connection was Alpert's appearance, in particular, his naturally heavily mascara'd eyelids. The first time we see him on the show, it was just very striking to me, visually. He seemed the vision of a Pharaoh from an Abbot and Costello movie or something, y'know? And then of course, there's all of the heiroglypics we've seen around the Island, first, owned by Dharma (so could have been imported by them) but then, on the walls (I think) of the temple ruins, the place that the smoke monster seems to guard or call "home."

When Locke shows up Hurley's totally unfazed. He talks to dead people all the time...

Hurley: So, you didn't make it, huh? You're not the first person to visit me you know.

Heh. Too fun and perfct! Of course, he freaks a bit when he gets confirmation that Locke's alive and breathing in front of him...

Hurley: Excuse me, am I talking to a dude in a wheelchair right now?

Hurley begins to listen to Locke, but when he sees Abbaddon waiting and watching in the wings, he really freaks out. Matthew approached him in the asylum as a shady rep of Oceanic, leaving him on a menacing note...

Hurley: That dude is far from okay! He's evil! You should not be trusting that guy!

Hurley's not going anywhere w them. O well.

When Abbaddon tells Locke he'd better step up his game, or we're all in serious trouble (Matthew seems to Believe in Widmore's notion that a WAR is coming, eh?), Locke challenges him on his purpose, what he does, and does for Widmore.

Abbaddon: I help people get to where they need to.

That's Matthew's gift. Abbaddon had to know that his appearance would spook Hurley, right? Maybe as "driver," he's holding Locke back in his quest, knowing that he has to be led to despair to take the next step.

Kate flat out refuses to go back to the Island. Who cares if everyone they left behind dies? Bitch. She deflects Locke's "why?" by asking him if he's ever loved anyone. He gets it out of Locke that he has, but...

Locke: It just didn't work out.
Kate: Why not, John?
Locke: I was angry. I was... obsessed...
Kate: Look how far you've come.

This is the last pairing that I would've thought would lead to a revelation like that. It's a great and important admission and owning-up, a reminder to us, too, about how irrational and damaging Locke's behavior is.

Never mind that he's right. =)

That's why it's called faith. That's why they call it sacrifice...

Blerg. B.S. lines to avoid real explanations and move on to the next act. Annoying. Bleah.

Next, Locke visits the resting place of Helen (aka Leela), his one lost love. Died of a brain aneurysm. He imagines that things could have been different, which leads to an exchange w Abbaddon about Locke's foretold death, inevitability, destiny, and choice. Poor Locke.

Speaking of death, F-hole Ben wacks Abbaddon! Locke gets himself put in the hospital while trying to get away and regains consciousness to find Dr. Jack at his bedside. Nicely done.

Jack flat out rejects Locke's idea that he, or any of the LOSTies, is special. There's no great destiny, no great plan. He's about to make a lame dramatic exit when Locke snaps him out of it...

Jack: Have you ever stopped to think that these delusions, that you're special, are not real. That maybe there's nothing important about you at all. Maybe you are just a lonely old man who crashed on an island. That's it. Goodbye, John.
Locke: Your father says hello.

Locke brainteased it out. Christian told him to say hello to his son and given his mission, that could only be one of three people. Gold star for John! Jack still leaves in denial, but he's been staggered, which can be deadly to a spineless spinal surgeon.

Locke returns to his hotel room at the WESTERFIELD HOTEL (at night the sign only reads WEST RFIEL HOT L... LOST THREW LIFE?) in despair and ready to hang himself. Inevitable? Or a choice?

Of course Benhole shows up to stop him. He tells him again that he's important, he has work to do on the Island, he's special, and... Jack bought a round-trip ticket to Sydney. He successfully talks him down from the ledge/table.

Locke THANKS him for it.

Locke explains to Ben how he can't go after Sun, he promised Jin, and has his wedding ring as proof to deter Sun from returning. Ben's surprised to hear that Jin's alive. Then, Ben gets it out of him that once they've rounded everyone up, Eloise Hawking will tell them how to get back to the Island. Ben knows who she is, but apparently didn't know that she was important in this way.

Then, Ben is the gaping asshole that he is and strangles Locke to death. I suppose a Christian might say that he saved his soul, keeping him from committing suicide.

The f@cker.

Ben leaves with Jin's ring, but not Locke's note to Jack. Did he take the 2-3 international phone that Widmore gave Locke?

"Meanwhile," back on the little island. Caesar explains to Locke how some people on the plane vanished in midair. This gives Locke an idea of how he arrived at the Island. Then Caesar takes Locke to see the injured passengers and...

Caesar: You know him?
Locke: Yeah. He's the man who killed me.

Oh, I SO want Locke to baseball bat Ben's jaw clean off his head! But what I fear he'll do is something saintly. I mean, he has been frickin resurrected. It's clear the Island's with him. Isn't Ben nothing but a scurvy little spider?

Still. I think he'd look wonderful jawless, all periscope-headed.

We'll see...

* Hrmm... I wonder if Caesar is a paramedic...

* Ajira 316 as Bizarro Oceanic 815...? Caesar = Jack / Sawyer. Alana = Kate / Anna Lucia.

* Would Ben be able to fool Eloise into believing that he's on Locke's mission? Eloise can see people's fates, right? Maybe she's supposed to "help" him whether he's lying to her or not. She IS pretty ambivalent about Ben's lying to everyone else in her presence, i.e. about the Lamppost.

Lapidus and a woman (passenger?) took an outrigger, along with the passenger manifest. Lapidus might remember where the LOSTies camp was, right? So, he and this woman paddle over to the camp on the Island. Locke and Ben would know the camp location as well, which would get the outriggers there in time and place for the time skipping Sawyer and company to take one, to try to get to the Orchid faster.

Who's the woman? Sun should've been pulled back in time w Jack, Hurley, and Kate, right? Widmore, with his connections, could easily have found out that the Sixers bought tickets for Ajira 316 and arranged for someone to board as well. Or... Maybe it's Zoe Bell, the freighter hand who jumped off the ship? That would be cool with me. The Ajira flight attendant seemed to get a conspicuous amount of lines and time, maybe Lapidus has flown w her a few times?

Who else could've ended up on the small island after the freighter explosion? Just Others, right?

Keep on keepin on~

THE CURIOUS CASE OF...

2009-02-25T20:53:00.001-05:00

Kinda sorta spoilery... Y'know, if you haven't seen the trailer and are younger than/haven't seen or heard of FORREST GUMP.

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump

Thanks to JC and EE for the tip. =)

Keep on keepin on~