UConn James

All this crap, I'm happy I can count on one hand the number of times I've gone out to eat in the last 5 years. I make it at home. I know what's in it. I know who made it. Hella cheaper (or, better ingredients). I know the meat is cooked safely (have had a couple incidents among the times when we did eat out, and it was not at low-brow places). And I know where to put blame if it doesn't taste good --- it's the garden troll's fault!

You're correct. Either: a) Hurley says, "Dude, I'm spry!" or b) Hurley went out the passenger door b/c he had a reason for parking so close --- to force a Jacobesque interaction. It's just as relevant to think 'Why would Jacob have been sitting in a taxi outside a mental institution with an ankh-filled guitar case?' It's not about the practical particulars of the situation. It's about creating the meetings/interconnections.

12/12. That wasn't very hard for anyone who simply scans headlines and has even a rudimentary ability for guess-timation. People whiffed on these softballs. And, since this was among people who actively went to the site, this indicates they have some interest in politics. Which means, these people probably vote.

Per the Lostpedia episode guide, so far: There may be a reason why there's different candidate lists in the two different "offices" of sorts. The cave is MIB's list of candidates, the Lighthouse is Jacob's candidates. There are intersecting names, and there are also exclusive names.

I find myself thinking, "It's building, but to what point?" Thirteen eps left and a lot still to be revealed.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute! According to Sheff v. O'Neill in the great state of CT, blacks and minorities don't get good test scores because there's no white kids in their schools. So, we needed to bus white kids into Hartford, Bridgeport, etc. and bus black kids out to the suburbs. If they were put in white schools, that would start newfound equity, raise test scores for minorities and everyone would start farting rainbows. (But hey, what about the white kids that went to ****ty inner-city schools? Was that fair to them? Oh well. Who cares about them.) Oh wait. That didn't happen? About the only measurable thing it's resulted in is much higher transportation bills for cities and towns that can't afford it? Well, ****, I'm flummoxed here. Hate to write anyone off, but past a certain stage, there's not much you can do to change courses of behavior. Wishing it were different is just that. Students of any color should not be taken to extraordinary measures for feelgood policies. Educate kids in their school districts with property taxes raised in that school district. If they don't learn there, I'm sorry, but they're probably not going to learn anywhere. Times are just way too tough to drive kids 30 miles to school every day for a social experiment.

!@#$ing snowstorm here threw off my antenna reception of the only ABC we have left post-digital switch. Lost the Boston ABC b/c some FCC douche-bags decided to give the same channel frequency to stations less than 60 miles apart, which knocks out both for my area (and they do this for several channels). And, as I've explained before, this is a top-notch set-up. It's worked through snow, rain, even a minor hurricane like a champ. Reception tonight was blotchy --- got a second, then lost for 3. OK for 2 seconds, out for 5. Ripped ****. Wouldn't you know, this happens for the only show of the week I actually want to watch. !@#$ my luck! Managed to find a crappy-quality online feed on channelsurfing.net. As a result, I didn't see a lot of the detail stuff. Jack has a son in the sideways flash, named David Shephard. Had been wondering if Jack was still with Sara in this storyline. We don't find that out, but it seems a good bet. Jack's mother implies that David is afraid of Jack, vis-a-vis how Jack was afraid of Christian. Crank up your Harry Chapin albums! For a minute there, I thought Jack was going to find David hanging in his closet. What was the writing on the sheet music? And so, Christian re-enters the picture, w/o re-entering the actual picture. It's his words that Jacob uses to get Jack to go with Hurley. "You have what it takes." And this permeates the ep. From Jack's father-son moment after the recital (Hmm! I had always taken Christian's line as a general "When you fail, you don't have what it takes," not that it was directed at Jack)... to something I'm going to infer. Picture it: early '80s, and in both timelines, Jacob shows up at the door and has a little chat with Christian Shephard. Doesn't reveal too much, or touch, but just dropped a seed. Knowing about the 'having what it takes' line is more than coincidence, even for all of Jacob's 'powers.' And so, the lighthouse isn't meant as a literal guide. The Lighthouse seems to be the place to keep visual tabs on all the candidates. And it doesn't matter what the lighthouse points to, whoever's meant to come will come... it just mattered that Jack saw what the Lighthouse does. But why, then, does it show Jack's boyhood home rather than where he lived most recently? (Also, what was the first image Jack saw flash by?). Maybe following Jack around didn't matter anymore b/c there was enough to guide him to the island. Seems as tho Jacob has favorites among the candidates. Hurley 'can be told what to do,' but Jack needs to 'stare at the ocean for a while and find the answer for himself.' Just as much as seeing the Lighthouse was intended to inscribe a 'This is your destiny' feeling, Jacob needs to show Jack the ropes --- a little on-the-job training? Also, is this the opposing office as the cave dwelling? One is Jacob's, one is MIB's, and they both keep tabs on the game on their own boards? (Many of the names on the degree-readings were crossed out, right?) Dogan in real life. Hmm. And Jack didn't remember when he got the appendectomy. Perhaps the Losties were flashed in similar nature back onto 815 but with their 2007-->1977-->2004 appearance. Their memories are merged, similar to Desmond's in "Flashes Before the Eyes" or better yet, the knowing smile as he walked away from Penny's flat in "The Constant." "I'm a candidate, and I can do what I want." [Japanese]. Adam & Eve make a re-appearance. Nothing further revealed besides Hurley stating what every viewer has thought for quite a while. 'This could be two of us.' Everyone and their brother (including myself) was saying that it was Rose and Bernard. But, they seemed to flash out of 1977 just the same. Doesn't seem to be them. We've also been told that there's not going to be any more time travel stuff. My new theory is that it's Charlotte and Daniel, placed there possibly at different times (what timeline did Charlotte actually die in?) as they died in the flashes. Claire in the 2007 timeline is the rough equivalent of Rousseau. Some kind of animal skeleton in the rocker. Creepy! Kills the black Other even when she finds out that they don't have Aaron. Bad word choices, Jin!!! Remember what Sawyer taught you! "You were right. ... I was wrong. ... Those pants don't make you look fat." Those, too, are the only three lines one needs for communicating with psycho blondes, as well as your wife-y. Claire's soon to have it bad for Kate... and i doesn't look like she's open to reason. "That's not John. That's my friend." Whoa.

Link Missed this on Sunday night. The "60 Minutes" segment is in the link. The company will be debuting their product at a presser on Wednesday at the Google campus. Allow me to be the first here to say, "Wow." If this is do-able large-scale, and the inventor says it is, it's a game-changer. A small box in your backyard or basement could produce all the electricity for your home's needs. It will run on a variety of fuels, including natural gas, biofuels, conventional fossil fuels, etc. Several high-profile companies have already been using Bloom Boxes and report excellent performance with a very small footprint.

Guide listing:

Ilana said something to the effect that MIB is now stuck in Locke's body. Except for the smoke form. (That's the reason she brought coffin-Locke all the way to the beach). Then again, we're surmising that MIB/Flocke transmogrified (my favorite Calvin&Hobbes word) into Alex's form when Ben was "judged." So she could be wrong. If Sawyer had shot Flocke, the bullet would have passed through him. Same as it did in the Statue for Bram/Jacob's "bodyguards." Ilana picked up an intact bullet head. The reason Flocke wasn't particularly worried about being shot by Sawyer was that he couldn't be. Sawyer, too, knows this... which is why, as I wrote above, he has to go all Long Con on MIB to find out his weakness. Yeah, that is interesting about Kate. She was originally (and I mean, "origin"ally) described as the heroine of the show. Seems weird that she's excluded as a "candidate" but perhaps she plays a kingmaker Jacobmaker role. Rich and lucky isn't the opposite for Hurley. He hit the lotto with the numbers pre-815.

Agreed on the S2 opener... even tho there wasn't nearly as much dialogue as usual. It was Locke and then Jack entering the hatch. Most of it was just quiet revelation that led to deeper questions.... some of which are being answered right now. It was a little annoying that they essentially re-showed this episode over the next two weeks, from a slightly different perspective. And then they delved into the Tailie plot, which didn't do anything for me. Even while re-watching before the season premieres, I skip these. I'm surprised that there's such a response for 'Worst season' for S3. Admittedly, it started off a little 'confined' shall we say? But it was the real introduction to the Others' world and all that rich Ben-ness. C'mon. The back half of S3 alone ("The Man Behind the Curtain," "Flashes Before the Eyes," "Greatest Hits," "Through the Looking Glass" (I rarely even get misty-eyed watching TV/movies. I was crying when Charlie died) is arguably the best stretch of LOST. Especially the Desmond eps which are key to understanding this series. AJ, I hated M-Rod in this series. Her character, her acting, everything. Hated her. Sorry.

On second thought, w/o trying to be spoiler-y, you may really like mid-S2.

Ooooo... Don't judge the show by the early-middle of S2. Post-hatch, it kind of dragged there dealing with another group of survivors, and it also dragged a bit at the start of S3. But then again, even those parts are becoming important right now in S6. There was a reason for all of it. Really split on the first one. There's a certain nostalgia for S1. But this series has been more consistent in quality than any show I've ever seen before. Stick with it. Even when the flashes and timelines get a mite confusing, it will pay off. So far, this final season is looking awesome. It's like a modern-day Dickens novel (how they were serialized in newspapers/mags a chapter at a time).

NBC is still trying to figure out why they're actually losing $40M per Olympics. Perhaps because their estimation of what people want to see --- and the resulting programming choices --- SUCKS. NBC as a network is stumbling in the dark. If it weren't for Law&Order they wouldn't know what the !@#$ to do. And... a completely vapid television reporter? Shocked, there. Most athletes have the patience to just answer any of the questions, as they don't want to create any negative vibe for their sport, and most are just nice enough people to do so. Kramer probably didn't curry any favor, but it's time to expect more from people. Where the !@#$ did she think she was --- a tennis court? What colors was he wearing? Gee --- whatever does "Nederlands" mean in English?!?! If you're going to cover a sport, know something about that sport. This woman should turn in her press credentials. The irony is, it's the reporter who deserves a medal for skating on the surface of life.

Indeed. Now, this is Butler's choice and it's a free country.... But, to quote Otto in A Fish Called Wanda, "DISAPPOINTED!" Continuing to draft, develop, then lose players is a surefire way to get to where the Bills are. Butler wasn't the best, but he sure wasn't the worst. Another hole to plug.

Ebert is still ticking.

Doc Jensen's post-ep write-up Some bits and pieces... Hmm! Totally cool note about Hurley. And in the second graf bold is is something I've been saying since last season. As much as Smokey has parasitically taken over Locke's body, there's something left of the host (or his memory/will). Gotta agree. Sawyer has always had a soft spot for kids. From abandoning that con (and leaving the $) when the kid came in the room, putting the reward $ into an account for Clementine, saving Young Ben even tho he turns out to be Ben... and all this owes to his own experience. Sawyer is none too keen on anyone who would hurt children. "Hell yes" was a complete lie. ----- Also, Maggie Grace (Shannon) will be making an appearance this season, after all.

= New heights of futility! Yah!

A note on that.... On the S5 DVDs, there is a featurette in the bonus section where Michael Emerson visits in the LA studio. The part with Lindelof & Cuse goes into the writers' room, where there are several large white-erase boards. On screen-caps of one from the finale, which they were finishing up on at the time, it did all the scenes from "The Incident" as we know it. The white blast. There was another entry right below that said something like 'POV shot of Richard witnessing the blast.' So, that was evidently the scene he referred to when he said in the 2007 timeline, "I saw them all die." And as I've written before, Richard has seen people vanish right in front of him --- Locke, twice --- so he should know the difference b/w vanishing/time-travel jump and pure, unadulterated death. They decided to leave it out of the final product. Alpert seeing this c 1977 would have led to a war, according to the terms of the truce b/w the Others and Dharma. It was why the Swan construction was so secret. What exactly happened with (and following) the Incident that put the island under water is totally up for grabs.

For Ben and Ethan, that's something yet to be seen. We don't know what the event was that submerged the island, how sudden it was, or when exactly it happened. Note that the island is not on the bottom of the Pacific. The top of the statute's foot was slightly beneath the surface, as were the Barracks houses. So the island is maybe 30 feet underwater.

According to Lostpedia, Littleton and Straume are crossed off in the cave. Tho, neither Claire, Aaron or Miles are dead.

Per Lostpedia:

This may be a correlation to when Claire couldn't feel kicking for a while and thought something must be wrong. Then, when Aaron did, she put Jin's hand on her belly. ----- 2004 Locke is somehow with Helen in the sideways flashes. And for me, at least, it seems like his obsessive anger is gone. Doesn't mean he's not frustrated at little things, but it's like he's taken the "let it go" advice oft given to Jack. With the sprinkler scene, it was like his "communion with the island"/knowing exactly when it would rain was utterly lost. He is not the person he was on the island, and that's not a cheap crack at the disabled, b/c it's not entirely owing to his being in the wheelchair. There is a certain meekness to him... as Sawyer says, scared. Helen mentioned Locke's father when they were talking about the wedding while he was in the bath. What did she say? Sideways Hurley. "Randy Nations is a total douche, man." Rose, a temp office manager, still has cancer. Ben is a European History teacher --- and there was a flash of recognition, after a Felix Unger-style tirade about maintenance of the coffeemaker. Looks like coolie Hurley's getting the band back together. That might be fitting in the sideways world, as it was Hurley who "opened the box" originally. I missed it. Did Helen rip up the business card? ----- 2007 -Cool perspective shot on how the monster moves around the island. -Check out Sawyer's bender! Complete with dirty wife-beater and white boxers. I don't think the alcohol was DHARMA-labeled, was it? That was something that puzzled me about the bottle of McCutcheon's he had in his stash (that Charlie and Hurley used to get Desmond drunk). Where the hell did that come from? We've been promised that there will be an answer re: the food drops this season. -Ben lies, naturally, and Ilana picks up some of Jacob's ashes. Flock is "recruiting." And shortly, Ilana reveals that MIB, once he possessed it, is now stuck in Locke's body (except when reverting to smoke monster). Which begs the question of whether MIB ever possessed Christian's body. -Found out what a "candidate" means. Is it safe to presume that the blond boy apparition is Young Jacob? "You know the rules. You can't kill him." Does that mean Richard (who couldn't see him), Sawyer (who could) or ....? To which, Flocke shouts Locke's sig line, "Don't tell me what I can't do!" I had left it open that MIB went off-island and possessed Locke's body near birth. Wrong. MIB is looking to leave the island. So he downloads minds/memories? Apparently Locke never read "Of Mice and Men." -As Lapidis said, weirdest funeral ever! Interesting that they trekked him all the way over to the original burial ground (the statue was at least half a day's sail from the camp). Going back to the painting on the hatch door, there were writings that marked graves of certain people, etc. Do all of the 815ers or at least "candidates" need to be buried there? - A little bit of 4th wall conversation from the execs to us viewers: "If you want to shoot me, shoot me! But you are so close. It would be a shame to turn back now!" - And then we get to the meat of the episode. A climb and fall down the coastal ladder, and we're evidently in (Jacob? /) MIB's office. White and Black stones on the balance --- Flocke casts the white one into the ocean as an "inside joke." There are rocks of other colors as well. Thinking it's some kind of judgment room. Here, I want to make note of an original posit of mine. When they crashed, the main characters wore distinct color shirts, etc. They have since changed colors with some frequency. Perhaps the rocks, alongside Jacob's 'penchant for numbers' are like board pieces for each character (i.e. in Life, each player chooses a different color car). 4 - Locke 8 - Reyes 15 - Ford 16 - Jarrah 23 - Shephard 42 - Kwon (Jin, Sun, or baby Kwon Is there any indication that the numbers are re-used? In a few screen captures, I didn't see any. And there aren't any more names to be crossed off. This is the final group of "candidates" to find a new protector of the island... that job title according to Flocke. What about Desmond's 108? No word on what role the Constant plays. Posit this: Richard is the constant for Jacob/MIB's game. Again, we get the rant that they're all puppets controlled by Jacob, similar to Locke's rant that they were puppets to the computer. "[Jacob] was pushing you to the island." And we revisit the question of what the nature of all of this is. Locke's assertion that the island needed to be protected, Jack saying, "It's just an island!" in the S4 finale. Three choices: - Do nothing. Until your name is crossed out. - Take over Jacob's job. What exactly this job entails... Would the successor have to start more games? - Leave the island. Before I learned that Ilana had said MIB now can't possess another body, I was thinking that MIB meant that he would possess Sawyer. Evidently, that's not an option. If they could all leave and nothing would happen, that would be such a cop-out. Seems to me that this protector's job might be to keep MIB on the island... to contain him here so he can't be unleashed on the world. Keeping this entity (can we call him a god?) at bay is how the world is saved.

It's 5 years, so they're free to change. Need to inform the league of intent to change a year in advance.

As someone whose brother deployed last week for the 'stan, I more than understand the desire of the athlete to do this. Beating a foreign enemy b/c no other diplomacy/communication has worked, is decidedly political. Hence, "Support our troops" is decidedly political. During the competition of the Olympics is not the place for it. As KD wrote, that's a very slippery slope. There is ample opportunity for athletes to speak during interviews, they can go on USO tours after the Games, etc. The Olympics is historically not a venue for such speech, and they do enforce it. Also, those advertising marks are part of the funding that allows the Olympics to take place. Advertisers and sponsors expect some form of remuneration for the material help they give, the clothing they provide, etc. ... Damned capitalists!