UConn James

I'm cutting and pasting this from a theory/spoilers (no, there aren't any included here) site. Written by user, "The Graphite." Wow. With all I know, and from my quirky observances, this is an excellent metaphor.

If that's so, and the candidates can't be killed (very easily, at least), shouldn't there be some left from previous groups? What would be the odds of getting all 6 in this last batch of castways? Is Richard a candidate... or was he a candidate whose candidacy ended... or was he not a candidate at all? I'm not going to discount it entirely, but I do believe that Jacob is looking to pare it down to just one of them. And it seems like Jack is his favorite among the 6. I have also heard that several deaths are forthcoming.

Don't they have an obligation to the minority, just as well? Do gays and their families not pay taxes that support school functions? Shouldn't matter what the majority of a school board, parents or even a whole town want. It's about doing what's legally and morally right. This is a South that only a couple of years ago featured similar circumstances b/c of inter-racial couples attending proms. Should they all have just gone with similarly skin-toned partners and then danced with who they wanted to dance with, just to appease some bigoted school board members? No, that's wrong. Should it be allowed for the administration to pretend that homosexuals don't exist and that there's something dangerous/disgusting/taboo about them? No, that's wrong. Time to enter the 21st century.

This seems a distinct possibility... at this point. One thing tho --- there were numbers written next to the crossed-out names in the cave. Link. They were also written next to the names in the Lighthouse.

On the rare occasion when we do say the Pledge, I have always omitted saying the "under God" phrase. I may insert "...under Chuck Norris..." next time it comes up. I wish the phrase hadn't been forced in there. If people want to pray on their own initiative, fine, and I will defend to the death their right to do that. My problem is the codification. It raises my ire to hear people smugly say "Oh, it's just a generic word. Doesn't mean anything. Just play along with it...." It is patently a state endorsement of religion. The word "God" is religious by its very definition! Don't smirk and pretend that it isn't. To agree with The Dean, here, tho... Right now, there is much badder fish to fry.

Tantamount to a basic training technique. By regulation, the drill instructor can't rough up recruits. But he can do/order things to make all the other recruits hate/beat on someone he doesn't like. In my father's day, his DI had a big hole dug and filled with water, the target GI was ordered in, then the Sgt. announced that whoever let this guy out before he said would be taking his place. Dude nearly drowned. Leveraging peer hatred is a pretty ****ty thing to do to a teen-ager. They should be ashamed of themselves... but I'm sure in their own minds they rationalize that their personal version of Jesus would approve of hate and exclusion. I hope her classmates direct their ire to the people who really deserve it. And I hope if the administrators stick to it, that the kids --- including this girl --- get together and organize a prom on their own initiative.

Probably the best way to explain it is much like Tom Friendly explained to Michael... that the island/Jacob won't allow them to die until their purpose is completed. Whether on the island or not, or whether that purpose is on or off-island. After which time, they're on their own --- or, in Charlie's case, you get help from a future-flash Desmond. It's like the several times Others have killed each other e.g. Mikhail killed Ms. Klew(?) outside the Flame after she spoke to him in Latin, presumably telling him to shoot her. If it's her time, then she'd die, if it wasn't, the bullet would be a dud or something. It's an uncommon acceptance of death... an uncommon grace of knowing it's time to go and not being afraid anymore. The sideways flashes are what happened if 815 never crashed at all --- with some differences to the Left-Behinders who had been touched by Jacob in the original timeline (the train of thought being that each of their consciousnesses merged, perhaps similar to how Desmond smiled in 1996 in "The Constant" after the call to Penny in 2004 worked). But the effect of on-island life would be pretty profound, if the course happened as we expect it happened (and as Lindelof/Cuse have described it). There would've been no time-travel interfering with the Swan or Orchid constructions. No Daniel Faraday telling Dr. Chang about hitting the pocket of energy under the Swan. No Jughead detonation. Ben wasn't shot. Nothing. Time reset in the sideways world. The DI was on its own, and evidently, something went really wrong. Re: Doc Jensen's write-up this week, there was nary a mention of the possibility that Ben's whole demeanor in the sideways flash was different b/c he hadn't been dunked in the Temple pool. His "innocence," as Richard explained it, was still intact. Yes, in regard to the beach scene. Answered above by Scraps.

Egg salad. Eggs hard-boiled in the Martha Stewart method --- cover with water, bring to boil for three minutes, then remove from heat and let sit for 16 minutes. Drain and fill with cold water, add ice cubes and let melt. Drain. Peel. Mash with Miracle Whip (the only mayo I'll have), minced garlic & onion, parsley & a little oregano, black pepper and sea salt. A slice of American, Swiss or provolone. Lightly toasted pumpernickel. Otherwise, half the egg mixture falls out. Petite dill pickles at the side. Any other "Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy"s out there?

That's a tough one to guess at even with just two choices. Does he still have loyalty to Jacob? or is he seeking vengeance against Jacob for allowing him to be removed as the Others' leader? Kind of weird that it's taken Widmore 3 years to get to the island after the freighter was blown up. He had the basic idea of where the island was.... Whatever it is, he had a certain destination pre-set. Perhaps it's a beeline to the Ajira survivors.

Jacob lived in the statue foot for a while e.g. making the tapestry. But, I don't think it, or the cabin, was necessarily 'home' to him. It's also a little perplexing how Jacob was able to move b/w Island and the real world. Especially to touch Sayid and Hurley... when there wasn't any discernible means of doing so after Locke blew up the sub. I think it was in Doc Jensen's write-up re: the possibility of Sideways Locke being the MIB. Just as it seems that the '77 Left-Behinders' consciousnesses were transferred to their '77 selves (i.e. Young Jack collapsed ~ age 7 and had to have his appendix removed could be taken as a sign that the two selves merge in the Sideways world). There was the bump in the plane --- what was that? Not saying he's right --- in fact, I highly doubt it. I stand corrected re: Miles. However, his line included the word "jabronies" to describe Nikki and Paulo. I totally had to look that one up.

Doc Jensen's recap: "Lessons Learned" Also, a hearty congratulations to Michael Giacchino on his Oscar win for his music in "Up" (I haven't seen it). The musical score on LOST is a relatively underrated part of what makes the show great. "Life & Death" is so beautiful in full orchestration --- the final few moments of the S1 finale where it's played as they all board 815 was such a great scene b/c of it. Amazing when you think about it that relatively little various-artist track music is used on the show... especially since Hurley's CD-player batteries died out. It's all been stringed instruments. I think it was last year, a concert was held in Hawai'i for the music of LOST. And even though it wasn't anything they had to show up for, a number of the series' actors, behind-the-scenes people, etc. came out for it. As MG explained during the bonus material bit, he doesn't really have anything prepared when he goes into it... just watches the show and plays off of what's happening on the screen. Move over, John Williams, you've got company.

Toyota: Then, Kamikaze planes. Now, Kamikaze cars.

I would amend that a little. I know that essentially, it's on par with the show's discussion of it, but I like: Jack = Man of Fate.

Richard's connection with the Black Rock has been surmised for a long time, and was finally confirmed. Shades of Michael's character c. S4. Yet, Jacob didn't touch Michael (that we know of), so it doesn't seem like the touch has anything to do with not being able to die/kill oneself. The touch is something extra. Richard knows some things, but is every bit as clueless as to why he's on the island. Richard also seemed to believe that Jacob's appearance to Hurley wasn't Jacob. To lay some groundwork, we're likely going to see this come into play further wrt Juliet. Not for nothing that they showed the Young Juliet scene in last season's finale, which featured Jacob's touch to certain other characters. I don't think they used several minutes of airtime just to reveal that Juliet's parents were divorced. To wit: I think when it's Juliet's time to come back, we're going to see her running out the door, and Jacob as, say, a UPS delivery man or something.... ----- But this ep was about Ben.... or, rather, Doctor Linus. Again, we get a reflection of the sideways centricity in the microwave door. A man who in the sideways world, gases his father all the same, only here, with oxygen. This is the world where Ben wasn't brought to the Temple pool. He seems to really care for his father, and his father cares about him. There's still the vestiges of the same childhood abuse --- there just seemed to be some distance last night indicative of that, which even the best relationship afterward can't ever bridge --- but it's a case where it stopped cold turkey and was forgiven. They left the island. The central storyline was whether Ben would again chose to sacrifice Alex. She is not his daughter, has not spent time with him outside of their classroom / history club lives. Yet he still cares deeply for her well-being. Again, people who've had a close bond in the original timeline also have one in the sideways world. And, this time, shunning his personal ambitions, Ben chooses to get Alex into Yale. But just as much was an undercurrent of these ambitions. From Dr. Linus' mention of Elba and Napoleon, and MIB offering to leave Ben in control of the island when everyone leaves. Ben is ready to go with MIB in order to live.... But, Ilana "will have" him. Ben isn't interested in power if he has to make this unholy alliance.... But wait. This is Ben we're talking about. Per Lostpedia's "Dr. Linus" entry: In the original timeline, it was control over the island that really mattered to Ben. Alex was #2. What a look that was of Ben when Hurley, Jack and Richard came back to the beach for the reunion. Sun's reaction, the music, seemed almost pitch-same of one we've seen before. Ben is distanced from the rest, now a shrunken shill of a man, he looked like a drowned rat. The last kid picked for dodgeball, with an exasperated "I'll have you" that was given more for the sake of another number in a headcount. But, let's face it, Ilana. Ben could do a lot of damage sided with MIB. Good move, for now. Richard also was a little ostracized from the group. They really don't know what to make of him. I believe the Richard-centric ep is 6.09. Two things: - It appears that Danielle has made it to the LA area in the sideways world. She "works two jobs just to make rent." - Ilana said that Jacob "was the closest thing [she] had to a father. Hmm. Either she was on the island for a while, or Jacob developed a life off-island. I suspect the latter.... That when Ben took over (or perhaps before that), Jacob left the island and checked in with Richard via some other means. Richard would give Ben the "lists" and Ben never saw Jacob before he killed him. I don't know... but this could fit into my "Jacob was Adam Rutherford" theory. Miles actually dug up the diamonds. Then again, that's Miles for ya! Did he also learn Nikki and Paulo's last thoughts? e.g. that they were just paralyzed and were buried alive? The Widmore cliffhanger. Wow. Things change fast on this show.

Guide listing:

Actually, "heritage" (preferred) or "nationality" would be more germane. "Ethnicity" implicates a much further sub-categorization than what's being asked (e.g., rooting interest in the World Cup).

Well, if Dick Levy were here still, I would expect the Bills to be drafting his replacement in the 1st round to groom for a year. Then we lose McKelvin, then next year we draft a 1st round CB to groom as a replacement for the guy we drafted this year, et cetera, et cetera. Let's see if Buddy and Chan keep the streak alive!

The headline says Green, the story says Brown. Nice. Reporters seemed smarter back when there were copy editors....

I don't think that's particularly spoiler material. It was shown in the closing-moments preview, and that's always been fair game for discussion, so I'm taking the tag off.... I wonder what he would be doing that for, especially since they just buried him. Is there some way to get Smokey out of Locke's body? As in, possessed Hurley? Like.... Fhurley?

Perhaps, your track record on this board? Many remember the meltdown. Like it or not, you have to play it cleaner than anyone else. Might do everyone good at this time of year to add a dose of humbleness to our posts... in the Mid-Westerner "Don't think you're important because you're not" mindset. Nothing you write is going to change the Bills' FO plan. Grown-ups accept that.

Don't paint all "Americans" with this same brush. It was one dude that wrote this. You could probably count on one hand the number of people who were "offended" by a country actually liking itself.

Here's their real plans. Had to go to web archive to find them. Sneaky Canucks! Canadian World Domination Here's a map of their planned conquests.

Screw photovoltaic! How about photosynthetic energy to power your home someday... using a bottle of water? This stuff may be in the hype/questionable mass market stage, but it's an awesome display of American entrepreneurship.

Except with Russ, it'll be a gypsy bankroll. "Hey, this is Monopoly money!" What does this even mean anymore? The salary cap is effectively dead.

I'm not at all concerned about the Temple being destroyed. How many times have we seen some structure or other on the Island, not learned too much about it & what it does, then it gets destroyed? Yet, every season finale has ultimately ended with shock and awe. Pretty much every season has started out like this. Time seems to drag on in one of these buildings / storylines. On the beach before exploration, The hatch and the tailies' story, the Hydra station captivity, the O6 back-stories.... It does pick up steam after these places/lines are left. I expect it to start with the Ilana group coming back into the picture. As we know, the next ep is going to be Ben-centric, titled, "Dr. Linus." And before I stopped looking at spoiler bits, it was divulged that ep 9 is going to be Richard-centric and judging from the casting, it will go into his backstory. And his backstory is heavy on the "back" part. We've been given many of the puzzle pieces, and while we don't know what it's all working out to, or how they fit together, once we see the picture on the front of the box, it'll make sense. I hope.