note: all art is from Gideon Slife
4.27.2010
Instead of Watching a New Episode Tonight, Why Not Fondly Reminisce About The Previous 5 Seasons With Posters?
Please click here, and then please direct your thank yous to the comment section below. Georgia-based artist Gideon Slife (which I thought was a funny blog name, like Gideon' sLife, but nope, that is his name) made a simplistic poster for every episode of Lost. Below are just a few:
note: all art is from Gideon Slife
note: all art is from Gideon Slife
4.20.2010
Who wants to direct a TV show?
I do! I do!
I thought I'd post this link to a slate article about TV director's because, well it's not all about Lost, it is all interesting. And some of it's about Lost:
During the filming of "Walkabout," Bender also made subtle changes to the script in order to heighten the drama. One scene, set on the beach amid the ruins of a crashed airplane, called for a knife to fly through the air and land in the trunk of a tree. Bender decided to send the knife into a seat cushion lodged in the sand, while a character sat in the adjacent seat.And, here's the link: http://www.slate.com/id/2250789/pagenum/all/
4.19.2010
Finale News - No Spoilers Within
I was booking my flight home for May, and guess what I found out - the LOST finale will be airing on May 23rd, a SUNDAY, in order to steer clear of American Idol's finale. Is my memory faulty, or did the President of the United States of America change his tv appearance for LOST? Is this really how the deck is stacked? Obama third, LOST second, American Idol first? I'm still going to be at home during the finale! If it were on Tuesday like I thought, I'd be view-partying with all my friends! Now I'm going to have to orchestrate a Mom-n-Becky LOST party, which is going to be very confusing for her no matter how efficiently I explain things. I'll be lucky if she even wants to watch it with me.
If anyone wants to set up a quiet tv-watching video chat with me, I'd be very happy to take you up on it. However, I don't have dvr at home, so it'll be a commercial-riddled experience with no opportunities for rewind. THANKS, RYAN SEACREST! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
If anyone wants to set up a quiet tv-watching video chat with me, I'd be very happy to take you up on it. However, I don't have dvr at home, so it'll be a commercial-riddled experience with no opportunities for rewind. THANKS, RYAN SEACREST! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
4.14.2010
BECKY. WAS. RIGHT. ABOUT. THE. WHISPERS.
Click here for an insanely early prediction of the whispers being dead people, brought to you by none other than Becky. Since last night's episode was SO major, and since SO many things are apparently just going to spill out in the form of Hurley being like "So that's what that is? This simple thing?," I am going to go ahead and get out the rest of my theories right here, so you can see them.
1. The whispers are dead people voices. KNEW IT.
2. Libby was in the mental institution, sure, but she was also working for Widmore just like Abaddon or perhaps for Mittelos (I'm talking about the original timeline). Her dead husband (the one whose boat went to Desmond - Libby gave the boat to Desmond, that's my main point that she's working for someone who wants Desmond to get to the Island) is none other than DAVE, who appears to Hurley, who SEES DEAD PEOPLE. Think about it - every other person Hurley has seen is (from what they've told us) DEAD. Does he really only see ONE made up person? I think Dave is a dead guy. And I think he's working for Widmore or Mittelos from beyond the grave.
However, it doesn't make sense that he would've been able to appear to Hurley on the Island, since his body isn't there. But perhaps his soul is just connected to the Island, or something?
3. All the Smokey stuff from this post. Look, that smoke seems like ash to me, and all I'm saying is that Smokey follows laws pertaining to Jacob's ash circles. Could it be that Jacob was once an explorer or visitor or otherwise curious person, and he drilled into the ground at the areas where "the compass needles spin around" (as Smokey told Desmond last night), and he accidentally released Smokey and then found a way to make himself immortal in order to keep Smokey from ever leaving the Island? Like, maybe Jacob is Pandora, but he was able to slam the box shut right before Smokey got out, and it's his job (based on guilt) to keep that box shut. Or more like he opened the box but shut the door to the room really fast.
However, does that mean Smokey's a demon that Jacob literally released from hell? Does that take away from the Man in Black's individuality, pre-smokey? Where did Jacob come from? Who came before him?
4. That kid from last night!!!!! I (and many other apartmentmates and co-writers of the LockeDown Plan) think that the brown-haired kid we saw had the same beautiful Claire-eyes as the first blonde kid we saw, so it stands to reason that this kid from last night was the same kid, only a few years older. Who is he, though?
Maybe Aaron's importance to the Island is that he time jumps at some point back to the very beginnings of things, and he knows all the "rules" or whatever for the Island, and he's able to jump around and remind Smokey and Jacob of said "rules." Like he's the ref for the Island or something, and just because he's apparently been around before, and just because he looks like a preteen, doesn't mean that he can't be Aaron, time-jumped. And thus it's still important as ever for him to be raised the right way because his childhood was always now, and it can still get affected and thus affect the past...? Oy.
5. You heard it here first, folks: Adam & Eve from the caves are going to be Sun & Jin, reunited at near-death or death or whatever during a time jump. So their ending is, as the producers revealed, "bittersweet." They're together forever, but together dead. Like Suneo and Jinliet.
6. Ji-Yeon, what are you? I still have absolutely no theories on that, other than that she's the "Kwon" candidate. Probably my lack of info has to do with the fact that THE BABIES STILL AREN'T ON THE ISLAND WHEN THEY SO CLEARLY NEED TO BE. Get those babies to the Island! Sheesh!
7. The people from Diagonal Timeline who are getting memories of the Original Timeline are simply becoming unstuck in present-time. I think (and again, the apartment + some thinks) that each person is two different people, both from his own timeline, but with the memories of both timelines. Maybe??
8. And another thing, and this isn't a theory - I never bought the whole Daniel/Charlotte thing because look, Daniel may have some big crush on her or whatever, but she never gave him a second look either way. Maybe she likes him, maybe she doesn't. But they don't have an actual relationship - not the way that like, Sawyer and Juliet did. Not even the way that Jack and Kate did! and that was ALWAYS a one-way street! But I'm on gchat with my brother right now, and he thinks that it was at least enough to trigger Daniel's memory in Diagonal Reality, so maybe that's enough. Fine, ok, I'll give him that.
That's most of my theory bank for right now. I want to remind everyone that these are just personal thoughts, not spoilers at all, since I have no advance knowledge of the show (although I am eerily good at predicting these types of mystery things, probably due to my apparent spiritual connection to whatever is going on over there... on a tv show island).
1. The whispers are dead people voices. KNEW IT.
2. Libby was in the mental institution, sure, but she was also working for Widmore just like Abaddon or perhaps for Mittelos (I'm talking about the original timeline). Her dead husband (the one whose boat went to Desmond - Libby gave the boat to Desmond, that's my main point that she's working for someone who wants Desmond to get to the Island) is none other than DAVE, who appears to Hurley, who SEES DEAD PEOPLE. Think about it - every other person Hurley has seen is (from what they've told us) DEAD. Does he really only see ONE made up person? I think Dave is a dead guy. And I think he's working for Widmore or Mittelos from beyond the grave.
However, it doesn't make sense that he would've been able to appear to Hurley on the Island, since his body isn't there. But perhaps his soul is just connected to the Island, or something?
3. All the Smokey stuff from this post. Look, that smoke seems like ash to me, and all I'm saying is that Smokey follows laws pertaining to Jacob's ash circles. Could it be that Jacob was once an explorer or visitor or otherwise curious person, and he drilled into the ground at the areas where "the compass needles spin around" (as Smokey told Desmond last night), and he accidentally released Smokey and then found a way to make himself immortal in order to keep Smokey from ever leaving the Island? Like, maybe Jacob is Pandora, but he was able to slam the box shut right before Smokey got out, and it's his job (based on guilt) to keep that box shut. Or more like he opened the box but shut the door to the room really fast.
However, does that mean Smokey's a demon that Jacob literally released from hell? Does that take away from the Man in Black's individuality, pre-smokey? Where did Jacob come from? Who came before him?
4. That kid from last night!!!!! I (and many other apartmentmates and co-writers of the LockeDown Plan) think that the brown-haired kid we saw had the same beautiful Claire-eyes as the first blonde kid we saw, so it stands to reason that this kid from last night was the same kid, only a few years older. Who is he, though?
Maybe Aaron's importance to the Island is that he time jumps at some point back to the very beginnings of things, and he knows all the "rules" or whatever for the Island, and he's able to jump around and remind Smokey and Jacob of said "rules." Like he's the ref for the Island or something, and just because he's apparently been around before, and just because he looks like a preteen, doesn't mean that he can't be Aaron, time-jumped. And thus it's still important as ever for him to be raised the right way because his childhood was always now, and it can still get affected and thus affect the past...? Oy.
5. You heard it here first, folks: Adam & Eve from the caves are going to be Sun & Jin, reunited at near-death or death or whatever during a time jump. So their ending is, as the producers revealed, "bittersweet." They're together forever, but together dead. Like Suneo and Jinliet.
6. Ji-Yeon, what are you? I still have absolutely no theories on that, other than that she's the "Kwon" candidate. Probably my lack of info has to do with the fact that THE BABIES STILL AREN'T ON THE ISLAND WHEN THEY SO CLEARLY NEED TO BE. Get those babies to the Island! Sheesh!
7. The people from Diagonal Timeline who are getting memories of the Original Timeline are simply becoming unstuck in present-time. I think (and again, the apartment + some thinks) that each person is two different people, both from his own timeline, but with the memories of both timelines. Maybe??
8. And another thing, and this isn't a theory - I never bought the whole Daniel/Charlotte thing because look, Daniel may have some big crush on her or whatever, but she never gave him a second look either way. Maybe she likes him, maybe she doesn't. But they don't have an actual relationship - not the way that like, Sawyer and Juliet did. Not even the way that Jack and Kate did! and that was ALWAYS a one-way street! But I'm on gchat with my brother right now, and he thinks that it was at least enough to trigger Daniel's memory in Diagonal Reality, so maybe that's enough. Fine, ok, I'll give him that.
That's most of my theory bank for right now. I want to remind everyone that these are just personal thoughts, not spoilers at all, since I have no advance knowledge of the show (although I am eerily good at predicting these types of mystery things, probably due to my apparent spiritual connection to whatever is going on over there... on a tv show island).
4.09.2010
4.06.2010
I would willingly wake up to this.
BAM.
And I'm not sad that it's a hoax. It's a good enough idea, I have faith that SOMEONE will have sense enough to actually produce it. (Are you hearing me, Spencer's Gifts?)
And I'm not sad that it's a hoax. It's a good enough idea, I have faith that SOMEONE will have sense enough to actually produce it. (Are you hearing me, Spencer's Gifts?)
Cuse, Lindelof, Kundera
A striking majority of the good shit I come across nowadays reminds me tangentially of LOST (admittedly, sometimes it's simply that I think LOST is good shit and that other good shit has at least that in common... I'm simple).
But here's a quote from Milan Kundera (from "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting") that I think relates really well to the morally gray genius of LOST:
"To see the devil as a partisan of Evil and an angel as a warrior on the side of Good is to accept the demagogy of the angels. Things are of course more complicated than that.
Angels are partisans not of Good but of divine creation. The devil, on the other hand, is the one who refuses to grant any rational meaning to that divinely created world.
Dominion over the world, as we know, is divided between angels and devils. The good of the world, however, implies not that the angels have the advantage over the devils (as I believed when I was a child) but that the powers of the two sides are nearly in equilibrium. If there were too much incontestable meaning in the world (the angels' power), man would succumb under its weight. If the world were to lose all its meaning (the devils' reign), we could not live either."
The next bit is about the origin of laughter being the devil's domain. I won't type it all out because I'm lazy, but maybe check out "The B of L and F" and see for yourself!
Some people (cough-me-cough) will scramble to read "Bad Twin" just because they see Sawyer reading it on the beach... and that's a great thing! My thinking is there's no limit what books can teach us about television. Soak it in, folks. And thank YOU, Lost.
But here's a quote from Milan Kundera (from "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting") that I think relates really well to the morally gray genius of LOST:
"To see the devil as a partisan of Evil and an angel as a warrior on the side of Good is to accept the demagogy of the angels. Things are of course more complicated than that.
Angels are partisans not of Good but of divine creation. The devil, on the other hand, is the one who refuses to grant any rational meaning to that divinely created world.
Dominion over the world, as we know, is divided between angels and devils. The good of the world, however, implies not that the angels have the advantage over the devils (as I believed when I was a child) but that the powers of the two sides are nearly in equilibrium. If there were too much incontestable meaning in the world (the angels' power), man would succumb under its weight. If the world were to lose all its meaning (the devils' reign), we could not live either."
The next bit is about the origin of laughter being the devil's domain. I won't type it all out because I'm lazy, but maybe check out "The B of L and F" and see for yourself!
Some people (cough-me-cough) will scramble to read "Bad Twin" just because they see Sawyer reading it on the beach... and that's a great thing! My thinking is there's no limit what books can teach us about television. Soak it in, folks. And thank YOU, Lost.
4.05.2010
Lost: The Cupcakes
If Desmond were dealing with these bad boys for three years, he'd never want to let Locke take over the job.
3.26.2010
3.25.2010
Nestor? I just met her!
IMHO (it's a blog, so I can do that, right?), the Richard episode was wonderful. It significantly elevated my opinion of 1867 (damn Nebraska's statehood!) and gave me more insight into why I like Mr. Alpert so much - Nestor Campbell's a great actor! Up to this point, I usually just tuned out when he was on screen, hypnotized by his Rob Lowe quality eyes (no homo).
I won best eyes in middle school, but I can't compete with these guys
On Lost, there is no dearth of great characters played by great actors, and I am happy to count Richard/Nestor as one of them. And in a recent interview with E, he seems as excited about the show as we are. "I got the script late, it was like 10 something at night, and I usually go to bed fairly early," said Nestor regarding the finale, "but no, I was up at 12:30, pouring through it, reading pieces of it again." So, the finale is out there. I wonder how much a leaked copy would cost. Significantly more, no doubt, than the entire series on Blu-ray (thx, Zach).
I'm less than impressed by the cover art, but the price can't be beat!
So, what can Nestor reveal about the final episodes?
There's going to be major heartbreak, there's going to be some very emotional stuff coming down the pike. But the emotional stuff, the payoff will be great. When you see it, and as I read it, it made complete sense what they were doing, and they're doing it in such a beautiful way, what it needs to be. And again, without giving away too much, I think people will be fulfilled even as they may be crying.
Brilliant. Read the entire interview here.
3.23.2010
An Open Letter Before "Ab Aeterno"
Dear Lost,
Right off the bat, I want to say: you’re doing great. Season six is really rocking my socks. I’ve been a week-to-week fan since the summer of oh six, right after Desmond turned the key and everything went purple. Since then, and even more so since Jack yelled, “We have to go back!” I have believed, like Locke, that everything happens for a reason. So it is with a heavy heart I make this plea:
Please, for the love of Jacob, tell me what the hell is going on in the Altern-815 storyline.
It’s not like this request and my growing dissatisfaction with the flash-sideways timeline is out of order. Each week, I wait patiently to find out exactly why I’m watching this new world and what it has to do with our on-island, and relevant, plot.
But FYI, The Island story is working like gangbusters. Since Omni-Locke destroyed the Temple, and those assholes Dogen and Lennon, the show seems destined for greatness. Flocke and Jacob are clearly headed toward a Basinger-Baldwin magnitude clash while the Candidates are trying to figure out who they are and what their purpose is. Just like us. (About them and ourselves.) But, off the Island, it’s hard to connect with characters we don’t know, a lucky Hugo?, and still maintain my love for the on-island characters I’ve known for years.
That being said, I trust you. Like any good Man of Faith, my belief in your divine plan is unwavering. I just hope you answer my questions when I want you to.
But like any absent god, I know you won’t.
Much love,
Zach Isaac
PS: Tonight’s episode is called “Ab Aeterno.” It’s about Richard. Guest stars include Mark Pelligrino (Jacob) and Titus Welliver (The Man in Black from The Incident). Talk to y’all later.
3.16.2010
Hold It
Do you think Jacob told Ilana (when he visited her in her burn victim room) to get Sayid and bring him back, knowing that Sayid plainly wouldn't come back otherwise? Was that why Jacob visited her? And what's the deal with no touching? No touching!
Just figured I'd bring it up, right in time for Lost tonight. "Recon!" I bet I know what that's about: re...CON? Sawyer's coming back! Unless, of course, they're just conning us (like when "Sundown" wasn't about Sun). Oh, Lost!
Just figured I'd bring it up, right in time for Lost tonight. "Recon!" I bet I know what that's about: re...CON? Sawyer's coming back! Unless, of course, they're just conning us (like when "Sundown" wasn't about Sun). Oh, Lost!
3.01.2010
LOST: Slapdown
Everybody ready for SAYID tomorrow?!?!?! He really is my favorite of the original A-team. I just hope Nadia doesn't turn his episode into a bore fest.
If you haven't been watching the Lindelof/Cuse SMACKDOWN, here's the most recent
David's Eye Color Situation
This week's episode introduced us to Jack's diagonal son, David...and his beautiful blue eyes. Many have wondered aloud if David's blue eyes suggest that (since Jack has brown eyes) his mother is necessarily blue-eyed. I have replied, sometimes a little too hastily, that genetically, the mother could have brown or blue eyes.* What I also realize is that Lost is exactly the type of show that would cast a blue-eyed child actor just to hint strongly at the identity of Jack's diagonal ex-wife. It's probs Juliet.
*Below we see a Punnett square. Since I have tried three times to explain this simply to no avail, I will guide you to the correct section on wikipedia's "Genetics" page. Please skip down to "Discrete Inheritance and Mendel's Laws." Basically this little section explains how for every gene (eye color, for instance) your parents each donate an allele. Two alleles determine how that gene is expressed. Alleles can be dominant or recessive. If just one of the alleles donated by the parents is dominant, the dominant trait will be expressed (in our case, Brown eyes are dominant. Even if a mom passes down a recessive blue-eyed allele, if dad passed down a dominant brown-eyed allele, the kid will have brown eyes). Two blue-eyed parents must both have all recessive alleles, thus they can only pass down recessive alleles; thus two blue-eyed parents must produce blue-eyed offspring (see: me). However! Since it only takes one dominant allele to express brown eyes, we never know for sure if brown-eyed people have the genotype Bb or BB. At this point we become genetic detectives and I'm still not so sure I did a good job explaining all this.
Now! Two brown eyed parents could both have genotype Bb. Since they each have a dominant allele, they have brown eyes. But when they reproduce, they might pass down their alleles in such a way (pretend the As are Bs):
which means that there's a 25% chance that the child of two brown-eyed people (with genotype Bb) will have blue eyes, since there's a 25% chance he'll get two recessive genes.
Thus, Jack could have genotype Bb (he must, actually, because his blue-eyed father Christian HAD to pass down only recessive alleles), and his lovely ex-bride could, too. So David could have a brown-eyed mom, but let's face it, they did it for a reason.
PS I started this post last week, then spent the last three days (and today) sick as a dog (Vincent), so even though I wanted this to make sense, it still might not.
*Below we see a Punnett square. Since I have tried three times to explain this simply to no avail, I will guide you to the correct section on wikipedia's "Genetics" page. Please skip down to "Discrete Inheritance and Mendel's Laws." Basically this little section explains how for every gene (eye color, for instance) your parents each donate an allele. Two alleles determine how that gene is expressed. Alleles can be dominant or recessive. If just one of the alleles donated by the parents is dominant, the dominant trait will be expressed (in our case, Brown eyes are dominant. Even if a mom passes down a recessive blue-eyed allele, if dad passed down a dominant brown-eyed allele, the kid will have brown eyes). Two blue-eyed parents must both have all recessive alleles, thus they can only pass down recessive alleles; thus two blue-eyed parents must produce blue-eyed offspring (see: me). However! Since it only takes one dominant allele to express brown eyes, we never know for sure if brown-eyed people have the genotype Bb or BB. At this point we become genetic detectives and I'm still not so sure I did a good job explaining all this.
Now! Two brown eyed parents could both have genotype Bb. Since they each have a dominant allele, they have brown eyes. But when they reproduce, they might pass down their alleles in such a way (pretend the As are Bs):
which means that there's a 25% chance that the child of two brown-eyed people (with genotype Bb) will have blue eyes, since there's a 25% chance he'll get two recessive genes.Thus, Jack could have genotype Bb (he must, actually, because his blue-eyed father Christian HAD to pass down only recessive alleles), and his lovely ex-bride could, too. So David could have a brown-eyed mom, but let's face it, they did it for a reason.
PS I started this post last week, then spent the last three days (and today) sick as a dog (Vincent), so even though I wanted this to make sense, it still might not.
2.23.2010
A Brotherly/Sisterly Discussion
My brother happens to watch Lost, too, and he also happens to think about it a lot. Here are some of his thoughts now! (with my thoughts to follow) :
"Finally reading Doc Jensen's thoughts on The Substitute (doot doot doo-doo). I have to agree with him that I don't know to what extent we can trust Flocke's assertions, specifically about the cave and numbers and what happens here.
"Feels like Flocke in some physical form could have made the marks and numbers and the "candidates" in this case--Hugo, Jack, "Kwon," Locke, Sawyer and Sayid--are/were potential replacements for the Smokey role on the Island. These are all people who have had serious shit in their lives, and maybe Flocke's ability to focus that and make it worse and worse is what leads a candidate at a certain point to just be like "my life literally cannot get worse. I'm willing to take the place of a terrifying smoke monster on a magic island just so I don't have to be sad-sack me anymore."
"That way, Hugo's probably out because he's come to terms with his "curse" and Jack's probably out (he's being more chill than before and admits he doesn't even trust himself, rather than being like "I gotta make up for the people who died!! Sayid, take this pill. Just BECAUSE!"). Sun/Jin aren't out of the sadness contest until they actually find each other alive and all that, and even then, something could happen to kill one or the other. Sayid's f'd, but dead, but now claimed...maybe that's also technically taken him out of the running and put him more in an Alpert-type role to the new Flocke regime or something. Obviously, Sawyer is really sad too, but as a conman, I think he can see he's being played.
"So maybe this is kind of like a race: Jacob has his "candidates" (maybe that's what's up in the "Lighthouse" that we've seen in previews where Jack was smashing something and Hugo was like "what are you doing!") and he has to select someone to protect the Island and keep Smokey in place before Smokey finds a way to kill him/tip the balance/escape, and Smokey has his candidates to take his place.
"I don't know why neither of them have succeeded except that a guy on DocArzt wrote a thing about how Lost is kind of like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory--you don't find someone to take over the chocolate factory until you find that person and that person does the right thing(s). Anything before that is just progress (toward finding that person).
"What do you guys think?"
I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I THINK. I like the Willy Wonka analogy a lot. I think it's right-on. I think "Kwon" could easily be Ji-Yeon, since Jacob touched them both while saying how important it was that they stay together or something. I hope Sawyer can see the full deal, and he usually does come through, but sometimes Sad Sawyer is freaking dumb. Also, as far as being "claimed" goes, I'm pretty sure Aaron's heart stopping and starting again in Sideways 2004 was probably him getting claimed by somebody. But where is that claimer operating from?
I'm feeling particularly confused about this whole black/white, Flocke/Jacob, Others/Ilana Others situation. I think it's pretty clear that Flocke is a liar, or else they wouldn't have him say such explicit Other-statements as "I wouldn't have lied to you! I would've told you everything!" When a person starts talking that way, it's pretty clear he/she is ALWAYS lying from that point on, and if you ever think they're not, you're asking for it. Because they're DEFINITELY lying, and you're just plain wrong.
About the alliances: We used to know for sure that Smokey = black stone = protector (or "security system") of the island (= Christian Shephard, maybe). We also knew that Jacob = white stone = trying to bring people to the island to make it to some end point. Now everything's topsy-turvy. Is Jacob the protector of the island? Why then does he always bring people to it? Is he trying to make the island eventually disappear? Is that protecting its integrity or something? Is he "protecting" the island by bringing these people, one of which will be the next protector?
And just whose cave writing is it, exactly? Maybe it was Jacob's - I don't see a problem with that. Except, of course, that Flocke was the one to explain it, and he's a big fat liar. Ergo, it's not Jacob's writing. I agree that it could easily be Smokey's calculations, for all the "I'm so miserable" reasons, but here's the problem there: when Flocke describes how "protecting" the island means nothing, what's his big plan there? Is he lying, and he truly thinks that the island does need protecting (say, by hiding it from the rest of the world, and by keeping people from it)? Why is he trying to convince Sawyer it doesn't need protecting? Maybe he's trying to kill off Jacob's candidates one by one, and he'll take Sawyer "off the island" but leave him to die at sea or something.
And where does Desmond fit into all of this? Surely Jacob knew about Desmond. It's impossible that Jacob just didn't know about him. I THINK! I think Jacob's plan goes as far into the future as Sideways 2004, and that he's going to start using Desmond in that reality. And I think the whole Libby/Desmond/coffeeshop/boat exchange could be revisited in Sideways 2004, and I think it could finally make sense somehow. I think.
PS "The Lighthouse" Title-Based Guestimations On Tonight's Episode:
The castaways are a lot like a family now, and I guess that's all I remember from Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. What else, what else...light (wavy equal sign) white, I guess. I hope that darn kid shows up again. Maybe he changes the huge lightbulbs in the lighthouse. Where is this lighthouse again? At least the symbol itself seems to hint at people being drawn together to a safe haven, such that the real planning may begin. Episode 4 of 17...that's very close to the quarter-mark. Looks like our heroes are about to accept The Call (perhaps after a heartening discussion with a mentor)!
"Finally reading Doc Jensen's thoughts on The Substitute (doot doot doo-doo). I have to agree with him that I don't know to what extent we can trust Flocke's assertions, specifically about the cave and numbers and what happens here.
"Feels like Flocke in some physical form could have made the marks and numbers and the "candidates" in this case--Hugo, Jack, "Kwon," Locke, Sawyer and Sayid--are/were potential replacements for the Smokey role on the Island. These are all people who have had serious shit in their lives, and maybe Flocke's ability to focus that and make it worse and worse is what leads a candidate at a certain point to just be like "my life literally cannot get worse. I'm willing to take the place of a terrifying smoke monster on a magic island just so I don't have to be sad-sack me anymore."
"That way, Hugo's probably out because he's come to terms with his "curse" and Jack's probably out (he's being more chill than before and admits he doesn't even trust himself, rather than being like "I gotta make up for the people who died!! Sayid, take this pill. Just BECAUSE!"). Sun/Jin aren't out of the sadness contest until they actually find each other alive and all that, and even then, something could happen to kill one or the other. Sayid's f'd, but dead, but now claimed...maybe that's also technically taken him out of the running and put him more in an Alpert-type role to the new Flocke regime or something. Obviously, Sawyer is really sad too, but as a conman, I think he can see he's being played.
"So maybe this is kind of like a race: Jacob has his "candidates" (maybe that's what's up in the "Lighthouse" that we've seen in previews where Jack was smashing something and Hugo was like "what are you doing!") and he has to select someone to protect the Island and keep Smokey in place before Smokey finds a way to kill him/tip the balance/escape, and Smokey has his candidates to take his place.
"I don't know why neither of them have succeeded except that a guy on DocArzt wrote a thing about how Lost is kind of like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory--you don't find someone to take over the chocolate factory until you find that person and that person does the right thing(s). Anything before that is just progress (toward finding that person).
"What do you guys think?"
I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I THINK. I like the Willy Wonka analogy a lot. I think it's right-on. I think "Kwon" could easily be Ji-Yeon, since Jacob touched them both while saying how important it was that they stay together or something. I hope Sawyer can see the full deal, and he usually does come through, but sometimes Sad Sawyer is freaking dumb. Also, as far as being "claimed" goes, I'm pretty sure Aaron's heart stopping and starting again in Sideways 2004 was probably him getting claimed by somebody. But where is that claimer operating from?
I'm feeling particularly confused about this whole black/white, Flocke/Jacob, Others/Ilana Others situation. I think it's pretty clear that Flocke is a liar, or else they wouldn't have him say such explicit Other-statements as "I wouldn't have lied to you! I would've told you everything!" When a person starts talking that way, it's pretty clear he/she is ALWAYS lying from that point on, and if you ever think they're not, you're asking for it. Because they're DEFINITELY lying, and you're just plain wrong.
About the alliances: We used to know for sure that Smokey = black stone = protector (or "security system") of the island (= Christian Shephard, maybe). We also knew that Jacob = white stone = trying to bring people to the island to make it to some end point. Now everything's topsy-turvy. Is Jacob the protector of the island? Why then does he always bring people to it? Is he trying to make the island eventually disappear? Is that protecting its integrity or something? Is he "protecting" the island by bringing these people, one of which will be the next protector?
And just whose cave writing is it, exactly? Maybe it was Jacob's - I don't see a problem with that. Except, of course, that Flocke was the one to explain it, and he's a big fat liar. Ergo, it's not Jacob's writing. I agree that it could easily be Smokey's calculations, for all the "I'm so miserable" reasons, but here's the problem there: when Flocke describes how "protecting" the island means nothing, what's his big plan there? Is he lying, and he truly thinks that the island does need protecting (say, by hiding it from the rest of the world, and by keeping people from it)? Why is he trying to convince Sawyer it doesn't need protecting? Maybe he's trying to kill off Jacob's candidates one by one, and he'll take Sawyer "off the island" but leave him to die at sea or something.
And where does Desmond fit into all of this? Surely Jacob knew about Desmond. It's impossible that Jacob just didn't know about him. I THINK! I think Jacob's plan goes as far into the future as Sideways 2004, and that he's going to start using Desmond in that reality. And I think the whole Libby/Desmond/coffeeshop/boat exchange could be revisited in Sideways 2004, and I think it could finally make sense somehow. I think.
PS "The Lighthouse" Title-Based Guestimations On Tonight's Episode:
The castaways are a lot like a family now, and I guess that's all I remember from Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. What else, what else...light (wavy equal sign) white, I guess. I hope that darn kid shows up again. Maybe he changes the huge lightbulbs in the lighthouse. Where is this lighthouse again? At least the symbol itself seems to hint at people being drawn together to a safe haven, such that the real planning may begin. Episode 4 of 17...that's very close to the quarter-mark. Looks like our heroes are about to accept The Call (perhaps after a heartening discussion with a mentor)!
2.22.2010
a thing/theory
And because I didn't take two seconds to double check on Google if I'm the first person to blog this up (there's no doubt in my mind that I'm at least 4 stupid years behind on this one), I feel revelatory making this observation: What if LOST could be summed up as a contemporary take on "Paradise Lost?"
From Wikipedia (because I'm not actually smart):
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. [...] The poem concerns the Christian story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men"[1] and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will.
Milton incorporates Paganism, classical Greek references, and Christianity within the poem. It deals with diverse topics from marriage, politics (Milton was politically active during the time of the English Civil War), and monarchy, and grapples with many difficult theological issues, including fate, predestination, the Trinity, and the introduction of sin and death into the world, as well as angels, fallen angels, Satan, and the war in heaven. Milton draws on his knowledge of languages, and diverse sources — primarily Genesis, much of the New Testament, the deuterocanonical Book of Enoch, and other parts of the Old Testament.
This makes so much sense to me. I doesn't answer all the intricate questions (i.e. What about WALT?), but it at least gives me an idea of what the picture on the box looks like for the whole puzzle... or at least what purpose this puzzle is supposed to serve (i.e. WHY DO I SPEND SO MUCH TIME THINKING ABOUT THIS DAMN SHOW?)
Best part-- because we don't live in Milton-times, LOST includes drastically more diverse (and sometimes contradictory) mythologies, sciences and cultural viewpoints. What if we re-write Paradise Lost knowing what we know about String Theory and electromagnetism and probability? How does contemporary human psychology factor in the battle between Good and Evil? But ultimately, here we are three centuries later and we're still talking about fate versus determinism and the Garden of Eden.
UM. AWESOME.
From Wikipedia (because I'm not actually smart):
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. [...] The poem concerns the Christian story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men"[1] and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will.
Milton incorporates Paganism, classical Greek references, and Christianity within the poem. It deals with diverse topics from marriage, politics (Milton was politically active during the time of the English Civil War), and monarchy, and grapples with many difficult theological issues, including fate, predestination, the Trinity, and the introduction of sin and death into the world, as well as angels, fallen angels, Satan, and the war in heaven. Milton draws on his knowledge of languages, and diverse sources — primarily Genesis, much of the New Testament, the deuterocanonical Book of Enoch, and other parts of the Old Testament.
This makes so much sense to me. I doesn't answer all the intricate questions (i.e. What about WALT?), but it at least gives me an idea of what the picture on the box looks like for the whole puzzle... or at least what purpose this puzzle is supposed to serve (i.e. WHY DO I SPEND SO MUCH TIME THINKING ABOUT THIS DAMN SHOW?)
Best part-- because we don't live in Milton-times, LOST includes drastically more diverse (and sometimes contradictory) mythologies, sciences and cultural viewpoints. What if we re-write Paradise Lost knowing what we know about String Theory and electromagnetism and probability? How does contemporary human psychology factor in the battle between Good and Evil? But ultimately, here we are three centuries later and we're still talking about fate versus determinism and the Garden of Eden.
UM. AWESOME.
2.21.2010
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2.19.2010
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