Instant Lost 2.2 Review!

It wasn't as good as the Season Premiere, but it was solid enough... and I am excited like no other for next week!

Ten quick discussion points:

1. I loved that they showed the portions of last week's story that we didn't see last week intertwined with the Rafters story. It really helped whet my appetite for the Hatch action without diminishing the Rafters story.
2. TV Guide didn't lie. Locke indeed climbed down the Hatch this week. I'm the moron.
3. Desmond typed 4-8-15-16-23-42 as predicted (nice job, Will).
4. The shark had the Dharma symbol on its tail! What does that mean?
5. Desmond seems as clueless as to what's going on on the island as the rest of them.
6. Ana-Lucia looks to be the only survivor from the tail of the plane... and she's a captive of the Others.
7. God bless the camera angle of Kate in the air duct!
8. The Others are freakin' scary.
9. Maybe the computer doesn't control the Monster... it seemed to control the clock countdown... and what was up with that?!
10. Maybe Desmond didn't recognize Jack after all.

Discuss.

Lost - "Adrift"

Episode Title: Adrift

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: This week’s preview promises “we learn the fate of all the castaways” – meaning we’ll get the confirmation we all are wanting that Michael, Jin, and Sawyer (the Rafters) are alive and well, albeit five miles off the coast. But this is also a Michael episode, and our boy Mikey is now adrift in life. His son, his reason for being lately has been stolen away. I’d bet his flashbacks show how his life was kinda “adrift” as well, prior to Walt entering it.

TV Guide Description: “With the abduction of Walt fresh on their minds and their raft destroyed, Michael, Sawyer and Jin fight for their lives and discover a new predator in the roiling ocean. Meanwhile on land, Locke must descend into the hatch when one castaway goes missing inside.”

TV Guide Breakdown: Here’s what I’m interested to see: how they keep an entire episode focused on three characters floating on pieces of driftwood in the middle of the ocean. There must be something strange or fantastic that happens to them for a two reasons:

How else are they going to get back to the mainland?
After last week’s cliffhanger, if the show’s writers are going to move away from that storyline for a week, there better be something else good going on or we’ll all be very disappointed.

So what could it be? Another boat comes to save them? They come upon another smaller Island? A whale leads them back to land, a la Tom Hanks in Castaway?

No, based on the description, a new “predator” is in the rolling ocean. Could it be sharks, or perhaps “The Monster”? How about a different “Monster”, a water version of its land brother, the kind that could make a boat wreck (see: CFL) or could drag them back to the land? Either way, with Sawyer shot and bleeding and the Rafters with a few floating pieces of wood and no food or water, it’s pretty unrealistic to think they’re just going to make it back to the land by doggie-paddling.

I also think this might be one of those “TV Guide” lies weeks (as they are prone to do). Locke descended the Hatch last week. Does he climb out and then climb back in? I doubt it. Look for the Hatch (and the rest of the “land stories”) to take a break this week.

Now let's get on to the insane analysis of last week!

Complete Lost 2.1 Review and Analysis!

1. What Happened Last Week: So, let’s say you had some lame excuse for missing the Lost season premiere last week. I really can’t think of what sort of excuse this could be, but hey, maybe your priorities are way out of whack. At any rate, here’s the super brief summary!
   
   We find a mysterious stranger living inside the Hatch who has a full blown apartment with running water, electricity, and mysterious computers. Locke lowers Kate into the Hatch, only for her to disappear. Shannon sees Walt in the jungle (or did she imagine it?). Locke enters the Hatch to rescue Kate, Jack does the same later on. The episode ends with someone holding a gun to Locke’s head, with Jack pointing a gun at both of them. We discover the person living in the Hatch is Desmond, a mysterious man from Jack’s past.
   
   So what? So let’s dance…
   
   Through The Looking Glass: All the sudden, with the first scene of the second season, we are now through the looking glass. Think about it. Up until now, we were all hypothesizing about what was going on on the island and it really could have gone anywhere. But now, about half the far fetched theories about the island are out the window. No dinosaurs. No aliens. They’re probably not dead. While we got more questions from the appearance with Desmond than we did answers (so far…), he did put a lot of rumors to rest.
   
   I’m now much more comfortable with how last season ended. We had a whole summer to hypothesize about anything and everything – the sky was the limit when it came to the theories. A lot of people were worried that the inside of the Hatch would be a disappointment, or take forever to be revealed, but it wasn’t. The writers basically showed us the inside of the Hatch as soon as possible. While we don’t fully understand it, we now have a whole new set of theories and questions to work through, which is fun.
   
   Always leave them wanting more.
   
   Desmond: Remember all those wacky riddles about the inside of the Hatch? Well, they all turned out to be true… but only because they kinda referred to multiple things inside the Hatch (a small form of cheating). But really, we should have been able to figure this out. Check it:

• In a way, it's something you've never seen before. But in a way, it's something you see every day and are probably seeing right now = Apartment or Computer?
• It begins and ends with the same letter = Desmond
• Some of you were there this morning = Bed or Shower or Apartment?
• The word that begins and ends with the same letter is not a plural = Desmond
• One of the castaways has already seen this thing before. The others might have as well, but I know for sure that one of them, one of the MAAAAIIIIN ones, has seen it before = Jack
• This thing in the Hatch can be called by two different words: One is three letters and starts and ends with two letters that are right next to each other in the alphabet = Man
• The other is seven letters long and starts and ends with the same letter = Desmond

But really the reason we should have got it is because there are at least FOUR PEOPLE NAMED DESMOND WHO READ THIS EMAIL. Seriously, the first thing I did when I read the clues was think, “Maybe it’s me in the hatch? Nope, ‘Brian’ – that’s not it. What else could it be?” Very disappointing, Desmond clan.

But is Desmond one of the Others? I don’t think so. I think we could be looking at three or four distinct “groups” on the Island. The Others. The Fuselage. The Tail. Desmond. Why? The “Others” were clearly not afraid of being above ground, whereas Desmond is – plus, he was keeping in shape and didn’t look like a grizzled pirate.

Quarantine: The word “Quarantine” was written on the inside of the Hatch. Meaning that it was meant for Desmond (and whoever else was down there with him – Alex, anyone?) to warn them not to go outside. If this is the case, then all the Survivors are “infected” with something, which could explain why he would have grabbed Kate and put a gun to Locke’s head in this episode. If they’re “infected”, then he might need to kill them before they become crazy! But crazy with what…

Numbers: So, the numbers were all over this episode (on the walls inside the Hatch, all over Jack’s flashback, etc.) but what do they mean? Here’s my newest “Numbers theory”… did you notice that they were written on the side of the bottle that Desmond injected into his arm? Obviously that was some sort of steroid / drug. Based on the fact that there is a “quarantine” on the outside, let’s assume it’s a vaccine.

Well, what are vaccines made of? That’s right, weakened versions of the virus. Since the numbers were written on the side of the bottle, I’m thinking that the “name” of the “sickness” on the Island (the same sickness that made CFL’s crew go crazy and make you hear voices in the jungle) is “code-named” Virus 4-8-15-16-23-42. If that’s the case, are the numbers named for the Virus, or vice versa? Is one of the “symptoms” of the Virus that you repeat the numbers incessantly until you go crazy (like the guy in the mental institution with Hurley), or does saying / reading / using the numbers make you go crazy and bring about some wicca curse on you?


Amazing Race: When Desmond said he was “training for a race around the world”, it got me thinking one of two things:

He actually was speaking literally, and somehow on his race around the world he got stranded on the island. But that makes no sense, because how would he end up “working” inside the Hatch, and why would he have such a devilish grin on his face when he saw Jack? Plus, way too easy and convenient for a show like Lost.

He was on his way around the world to visit “potentials” to bring to the Island. He visited Jack this episode. Let’s say he visited the rest of the Castaways – Kate in Canada, Sun and Jin in Korea, Claire in Australia, Charlie in Europe… that sounds like around the world to me. Plus, there’s probably some other “potentials” that didn’t make the cut for one reason or another which probably took him to even more places.

Think about this: what would have been missing from these “potentials” 10-15 years ago when he was visiting? Well, Michael wouldn’t have had Walt and Claire wouldn’t have been pregnant with Aaron. Is it a coincidence that kids keep getting stolen on the island? I don’t think so! Maybe they’re immune to the virus, or maybe it would be cruel and unusual to subject them to whatever is going on. But whatever the “plan” is for these castaways, the children are not a part of it!

So what’s the “plan”? Some sort of experiment? Working with the virus and developing an antidote? Raising super-human soldiers in the fight against the mole people? I don’t know. But if you think about the circumstances of each character, it’s possible that Desmond could have manipulated them to get them on that flight… and then he could have brought that flight down.

I'm looking for Desmond to show up in at least some of the other characters' flashbacks this season, if not all of them!

Rutherford: Jack saved Sarah in his flashback, letting the other man die. That other man was Adam Rutherford. He died at 8:15. Shannon’s last name is Rutherford. Her rich father died when she was young and left her a lot of money. You might think she’d blame Jack for her dad’s death. Remember what happened when she blamed Locke for Boone’s death? She stole a gun and turned it on him! Watch your six, Jack-o.

Kate: There were rumors this summer that the next “big death” on the show would be a female. Locke said Kate was fine. You better not be lying to me, John Locke.


Mama Cass: “Make Your Own Kind of Music”. Once again, Lost teaches me a song I would have never otherwise known. Aside from being super creepy due to it blaring when Jack entered the Hatch, the lyrics look to have some deeper meaning:

Nobody can tell ya;
There's only one song worth singin',
They may try and sell ya,
Cause it hangs them up to see someone like you.

But you've gotta make your own music
Sing your own special song,
Make your own kind of music even if nobody else sings along.

You're gonna be knowing
The loneliest kind of lonely,
It may be rough goin',
Just to do your thing's the hardest thing to do.

But you've gotta make your own music
Sing your own special song,
Make your own kind of music even if nobody else sings along.

So if you cannot take my hand,
And if you must be goin',
I will understand.

But you've gotta make your own music
Sing your own special song,
Make your own kind of music even if nobody else sings along.


If you’re Desmond, the song seems to speak to your living alone in a Hatch underground on a mystery island in the middle of the Pacific. It’s lonely, and just doing his job is the hardest thing to do. But he’s jamming down there, even if no one else is there with him.

Pushing Buttons: The verdict is still out on the Creepy Walt that Shannon saw. I’m betting on “image projected by Vincent, who has some sort of super powers.” The last time we saw a dead person mirage on the island, it was Jack’s dad leading them to fresh water in the caves. This time? Playing Walt’s words backwards reveals he says “Don’t push the button, the button is bad.”

Coincidence that the “Execute” button on the keyboard inside the Hatch seems to bring forth the “Monster”? Coincidence that Desmond showed up with a gun just as Jack was about the press it? No – that’s a bad button, and Walt knows it. Now if we only knew if he was alive!

Monster: Did you catch the logo on Desmond’s shirt when he was running with Jack in the stadium? Or the logo on his Ghostbusters-like “jumpsuit” in the Hatch? No? Well, here it is:

What’s that pictured in the middle? The Loch Ness monster? A serpent of some kind? THE MONSTER THAT IS ON THE ISLAND?! Desmond is controlling the monster! Do the math and check out this timeline:

Desmond wakes up while Jack, Locke, Kate, and Hurley are at the Black Rock.
Desmond types something in his computer as they’re walking to the Hatch.

(oh, and what did he type?)

Desmond hits “Execute” as the Monster attacks Locke.
Desmond works out, showers, eats, the gang continues to walk and arrive at the Hatch.
Desmond is startled at a loud sound as the gang blows up the Hatch.

It matches! So the “Monster” must be something mechanical – but what is the purpose of it? Did Locke figure this all out long ago? Why did it kill the pilot? So many questions, but there’s one other thing…

See the word in the middle of the picture? My best guess at it is “Dharma”. At first I thought maybe he was just a big fan of Dharma and Greg, but then realized that was impossible, no one likes that show – so dictionary.com’d the word. Turns out, it also means…

“The undefineable everyting. The basis of life itself. Energy.”

Whoa. That’s pretty heavy. And blows my mind for a Blog post. It could pretty much sum up everything on the island in a way that I can’t even begin to wrap my head around.

Instant Lost 2.1 Review!

BEST SEASON PREMIERE I HAVE EVER SEEN.

That sums up Lost episode 2.1, "Man of Science, Man of Faith." Whereas the season finale left us wanting answers, the season premiere gave us answers... lots of them... and somehow opened even new questions, more intriguing than ever. I could go on and on about my theories of what everything means, but I'll just leave you with 10 discussion points for Thursday morning...

1. The Hatch reveal did NOT disappoint! Somehow, against all odds, all the riddle clues came true (kinda, but close enough). Desmond. Man. Obviously! Yet, even though the Hatch is revealed, there are now TONS more questions about Desmond, his mission, his connection to each of the Survivors, and his connection to the island. Who wants to bet he shows up in flashbacks for some, if not ALL of the other Survivors?
2. There seems to be more of a "purpose" or "reason" why each person on the island is there, rather than being some random accident. Are they all connected? Did Desmond bring them together?
3. Something freaky is going on with Walt - is he dead? Was it an Omen? Did Vincent call his spirit?
4. Parallelism rules! The "eye open" beginning scene, the same as Season 1! Kate counted to 5 while being lowered down the Hatch... like Jack in Season 1!
5. Quarantine was written on the inside of the Hatch, meaning the guy in there was being protected by the "virus" that was on the island... the sickness... the Others... Hmmmm...
6. The drawing inside the tunnel had the number 42 and 108 (the sum of 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42), along with the word "Sick" and a house underground... and looked to be drawn by a child...
7. The vaccine Desmond injected himself with was called RX-1, 4-8-15-16-23-42. All his stuff looked to be really old... like 16 years old?
8. Did Desmond cause Sara to get better? Did he grant Jack's wish? Does he have special powers to heal?
9. Where is Kate? Why isn't Locke afraid? Has he met Desmond before?
10. In the flashback, Desmond's parting words to Jack were "See you in another lifetime."

Next week looks to be a "Raft-only" episode, so it might be a grueling two weeks before we learn anymore... just gives us more time to discuss!

Lost - "Man of Science, Man of Faith"

Hello Again. It’s been too long.

Welcome back to Season Two! We’re new and improved with this new “Blog” method of writing, so get ready for pictures, hyperlinks, more frequent posts, and the ability for you to respond to the Emails via the comment section for everyone to read and debate. We’ll keep the general format of last year, with a few changes. Let’s get it started (ha)…

Episode Title: Man of Science, Man of Faith

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: Part of me really hopes this is a Jack / Locke episode, but the more I think about it, it’s just going to be a Jack episode. I’m thinking that something happened in Jack’s past that caused him to lose his faith (losing a patient, his marriage breaking up with Sarah, Sarah having a miscarriage?) which is why he is so staunchly a man of science today. Expect the flashbacks to center around Jack and what happened that caused this dramatic character shift.

Also, in listening to the commentary on the DVDs (a must buy - $39.99 for SEVEN discs, are you kidding me? That’s like $5.71 per disc, and $1.66 per episode!), they mentioned that the tattoo Matthew Fox (Jack) has on the show are Fox’s real tattoos. They debated whether or not to cover them up with makeup when the show started, but decided to keep them.

If you look closely, the tattoo is a “5” with some symbols around it. It fits with Jack’s character due to his “I let the fear take over… but only for 5 seconds” speech. The creators mention “You’ll eventually find out why he gets the tattoo – and it represents a dramatic shift in Jack as a character” – could this be the episode where he loses his faith and gets a tattoo?



But of course, this is Lost – so it must be more complicated than all this. The title also refers to the emerging power struggle between Locke (Man of Faith) and Jack (Man of Science) on the Island. With the Hatch now open, Locke should be nuttier than ever, and whatever is inside that Hatch – he is going to view as a message from the Island with some huge deeper meaning. Jack, our Man of Faith, will view it in a totally scientific and logical way, and there should be some conflict as the two try to win the other castaways over to their side.

The Jack / Locke “war” I wrote about all last season? We could see the start of it. Brian might not be crazy after all!

TV Guide Description: “As the second season opens, one of the castaways enters the hatch and discovers its contents. Also, a survivor of the attack on the raft makes an appearance. As does Jack’s wife, Sarah (Julie Bowen), in a flashback. Meanwhile, Shannon runs into a familiar face in the jungle.”

TV Guide Breakdown: The first sentence is a big win for winning over people disappointed by the season finale’s lack of revelations: we discover the contents of the Hatch. Series Creator Damon Lindelhof has promised – “you don’t just see a flash of it – you get a good long look at the inside of the Hatch. You might not know what it means, but you’ll know what it is.” More on this later…

The second sentence is puzzling… a survivor of the raft attack makes an appearance. This has to be Walt, right? Because the other three were treading water five miles off the coast of the island together. Could Walt possibly have already escaped the Others? I mean, he has special powers, so in theory he could summon a polar bear to attack them, or cause a freak rainstorm, or clown to scare them away – but it’s a little doubtful, since so much of the storylines of the first season led to them kidnapping him. I’m thinking Walt is gone for a good chunk of this season… and when we see him again, he’s changed (more on this later too!)

Jack’s wife in the flashback – pretty much what made me accept this is a Jack-centric episode, but I’m still hopeful for the dual Jack / Locke flashbacks! I’m excited to see more of this “Sarah” storyline for two reasons:

1. We never got a clear indication of if Jack and Sarah got married or not!
2. Sara was hot!



Lastly, we have Shannon running into a familiar face in the jungle. Could it be Boone? Jack saw his dead dad in the jungle… could something similar happen to Shannon?


Okay, let’s set the stage for the new season before we start our insane obsessive hypothesizing…

Character State of the Union:

Walt
Last Seen: kidnapped by “The Others”, on their boat
Prediction: will remain disappeared until mid-way through the season, and will be very changed (either considerably older / brainwashed / evil) when he returns.

Michael
Last Seen: clinging to a piece of his blown up boat, screaming Walt’s name, 5 miles from the shore
Prediction: along with the rest of the Rafters, will spend first few episodes getting back to the rest of the Survivors, will then become totally crazy in his obsession to overtake the Others and find Walt.

Claire
Last Seen: with a freshly returned child (“Aaron”), thanks to Charlie and Sayid - at the caves
Prediction: winner of my “Most Likely To Die in Season 2” award.

Sun
Last Seen: at the caves, comforting Shannon and giving Vincent water
Prediction: will become a leader and will rekindle relationship with Jin upon his return

Charlie
Last Seen: just returned to the caves after discovering the bonfire on the beach and retrieving Aaron from CFL
Prediction: will slip back into the H habit, until Claire dies. Claire possibly dies due to Charlie being strung out – then straightens up and flies straight, since he has to raise Aaron.

Jack
Last Seen: peering down the Hatch
Prediction: will lead “Science” faction of camp, being the logical “head” of that tribe, will be 1/4 of the “love rhombus” of Jack-Kate-Ana-Sawyer.

Kate
Last Seen: standing behind Jack, at the Hatch
Prediction: against all logic and odds, will continue to get hotter

Sawyer
Last Seen: shot (?), in the water five miles from land surrounded by boat wreckage
Prediction: will survive, continue to refer to other characters by funny nicknames

Sayid
Last Seen: hugging Shannon, at the caves, just returned from the Aaron rescue with Charlie
Prediction: will continue romance with Shannon

Shannon
Last Seen: hugging Sayid, still taking care of Vincent, at the caves
Prediction: will begin seeing dead Boone in the jungle, second most likely character to die this season

Hurley
Last Seen: freaking out after seeing the Numbers on the Hatch, at the Hatch
Prediction: will become the most important character on the show as we begin to realize the importance of the Numbers

Jin
Last Seen: in the water and boat wreckage, unharmed
Prediction: will be critical in getting Sawyer and Michael back to the mainland, will warmly embrace Sun upon return

Locke
Last Seen: peering down the Hatch, with crazy in his eyes!
Prediction: will be leader of the “Faith” faction of the Survivors, we’ll think he’s evil / crazy, only to find he’s really had our best interest at heart all along when Evil Walt returns and Locke is our only hope!


With that out of the way, let’s start the crazy thoughts and theories for this season!


Nigeria. Here’s the thing. We all know there is going to be a Nigerian character on the show this season, which means one of two things:

1. There’s some weird time warp thing going on on the island.
2. There’s some portal thing that connects the island to Nigeria.

Personally, I’m pulling for the first. Check out these clues:

1. Originally, the script said that CFL was studying “Time” when they found the island.

2. The other two Nigerians are skeletons, meaning they’ve been there for a while – how is the third alive and well? Time is either going very slow for him or very fast for the others.

3. CFL seemed very confused when they mention to her “your distress signal has been playing for 16 years” as if she has no concept of time / thinks it should be longer or shorter.

4. Everyone on the show is still wearing watches. I’ve noticed it a lot on the DVDs. Check it out. Weird.

5. The Others seem to fit well with the Black Rock, since they look like Pirates – but honestly, when did Pirates go extinct? They’d have to be a few hundred years old…

But then there’s the second theory, which is a little easier:

1. Time warp things are for science fiction nerds. Lost is cool.

2. Since there’s also a polar bear dead on the island, it seems that there could be multiple portals – one to the Arctic, one to Nigeria, etc.

I don’t want to get too crazy here, so I’ll just leave it as – I think the overall theme of the show, the whole point, it’s going to be something to do with time.

The Hatch. Some people on the Internet know what’s inside the Hatch. For one, somehow “television critics and writers” get preferential treatment from me, and get to see episodes early. Totally unfair. Also, they aired the season premiere in Hawaii last Wednesday. Again, totally unfair. These people get to live in paradise and see Lost early? Come on…

At any rate, there have been “hints” about what’s in the Hatch. Hints that will drive you crazy, keep you awake at night, and shake the very foundation of your being. I’ve given them a lot of thought, and I got NOTHING. But maybe you’re much smarter and attractive than me, and you can figure it out. Here are the clues:

1. In a way, it's something you've never seen before. But in a way, it's something you see every day and are probably seeing right now.

2. It begins and ends with the same letter.

3. Some of you were there this morning.

4. The word that begins and ends with the same letter is not a plural

5. One of the castaways has already seen this thing before. The others might have as well, but I know for sure that one of them, one of the MAAAAIIIIN ones, has seen it before.

6. This thing in the Hatch can be called by two different words: One is three letters and starts and ends with two letters that are right next to each other in the alphabet.

7. The other is seven letters long and starts and ends with the same letter.

Here’s the thing that bothers me – all the clues seem to cancel each other out. I originally thought that someone would be down there, but it’s constantly referred to as a “thing” in the clues. If it’s something that only one person on the show has seen, it makes me think of the monster or perhaps something medical that just Jack would have seen, since he’s a doctor? But if it’s something so obscure, how could I have been there this morning? How could I be seeing it right now? I really have no idea. Help?

Okay, with my new Blog format, I can post immediate responses after the episode, so be sure to check back throughout the week.

As always, the Delta House will be open for business for the Season Premiere on Wednesday. Take note, Lost is now on at 9:00 pm, an hour later than last year!

Official Season Two Prediction: Better than Season 1.

Fall TV Guide

(I watch TV with a discriminating eye. I’m serious. It might seem like I watch any show that comes along, but really – my time is valuable. If the show isn’t funny, thought-provoking, exciting, or featuring scantily clad teenagers, I’m not going to watch it.

Likewise, I’ve always hated how TV controlled my life. You could pretty much cross out two or three nights a week in previous years as “I can’t do that because _________ is on tonight.”

But no more! Last week, we finally joined the rest of the smart people in America and got DVR. This should radically change my life. No longer am I the slave to the Network TV Schedule. I don’t want to sound like the commercials, but do you know how cool it is to pause and rewind live TV? Suddenly I’m saving 20 minutes of every hour of TV I watch. It’s great. And you can record two shows at the same time! Suddenly the sky’s the limit! I can pick the shows I want based on quality, not on availability of free time!

With that, I’ve had a few requests from people this week for “What shows should I watch this fall?” Well, I’ll tell you. Keep in mind, these shows are listed assuming you also have the wonderful invention of DVR to allow multiple shows at the same time.

There are some intriguing new shows that may or may not pan out, some returning favorites, and some shows you’re not watching, but probably should be. Without further ado, here is how you should spend your Autumn Evenings…)

Monday

8:00 – Arrested Development (Fox) – You Should Be Watching. Ranks right up there with the Office and Scrubs (returning in January!) as “The Only Funny Shows on TV Last Season.” You probably haven’t watched it up until now due to its dreadful Sunday night timeslot opposite Extreme Home Makeover (admit it, you cry). Now it’s got the prime location to kick off our TV week. Quirky, fun, great cast, and unique – plus it’s narrated by Ron Howard!

8:30 – How I Met Your Mother (CBS) – Promising. It’s told in flashbacks by Bob Saget. It stars Doogie Howser and the American Pie girl. What’s not to like? That's enough for me!

8:30 – Kitchen Confidential (Fox) – Promising. Bradley Cooper (Alias, Wedding Crashers) and Nick Brendon (Buffy) star in this comedy about working in the kitchen. I like both actors, and I like food - so I want it to be good.

9:00 – Prison Break (Fox) – Promising. I’m already sold. See my large review a few posts down. It’ll be gold at least through the prison break!

10:00 – Laguna Beach (MTV) – Returning Favorite. Don’t mock it until you try it. Watch the rich and beautiful high schoolers of Laguna fall in and out of love, go on multiple trips, and never actually study. It’s amazing how quickly you take interest in the lives of these kids, and will find yourself shouting things at the TV and discussing who Kirsten should be dating at the bar with your friends. It’s the very definition of a “guilty pleasure”.




Tuesday

9:00 – My Name is Earl (NBC) – Promising. Jason Lee (Mallrats, Vanilla Sky) stars as a guy down on his luck who wins the lottery and decides to right all the wrongs in his life. Jason Lee is maybe one of the funniest men alive, the premise has promise, and the reviews have been very strong. Plus it's on right before the Office, so you'll be watching NBC anyways, right? :)



9:00 – Amazing Race (CBS) – Returning Favorite. See interesting places and watch friends and lovers bicker under the stress of traveling. What’s not to like? Far more entertaining than the formulaic Survivor and Real World, the contestants don’t act like they’re on a reality show. If you’ve ever backpacked across Europe, you can appreciate the trials and tribulations of each leg on the journey.

9:30 – The Office (NBC) – Returning Favorite. If you work in a cube and haven’t watched this show, you deserve to have your stapler put in a Jell-o mold. The diversity episode last season (“No, I’m pretty sure they’re called ‘colored greens’ – because you don’t call them ‘collared people’) was the funniest half hour of TV all season. Picked up for a full season after the paltry 6 episodes it got last year, I’m ready for it to become my favorite comedy on TV.


Wednesday

9:00 – Lost (ABC) – Returning Favorite. Obviously. The first season was phenomenal. What’s lost on a lot of people (no pun intended) is that this show isn’t about revealing the island mysteries – those provide the background for the fascinating character development that we see each week. Think about it. I feel like I know 14 characters inside and out – their motives, their histories (at least some of them), and what makes them tick. Think of another show that has developed its characters, and as many characters, as much as Lost. You can’t. The writers have promised to deliver some answers right off the bat this season to appease the angry people with pitchforks that came out after the season finale failed to reveal what’s inside the Hatch. New characters will be introduced, we’ll be pulled further into the mystery of the island, and we’ll become more obsessed. It will be great.




Thursday

8:00 – The OC (Fox) – Returning Favorite. The first season was fantastic. The second season was okay, with some good and bad. The third season? Here’s hoping for less melancholy, more happy Sandy and Kirsten, and more Chino in fist-fights! Keep Seth’s pop culture references coming fast and furious, and you’ll keep me happy. Otherwise, I may be a casual viewer come season four.

8:00 – Alias (ABC) – You Should Be Watching. Okay, okay – last season was definitely the worst of the four thus far – but I’ll give Alias one last chance. With Jennifer Garner pregnant (and being written into the storyline, as I hoped this summer – come on, Rambaldi’s baby!), this is likely the show’s last season. Given JJ Abrams at the helm, that sounds like free reign to have some insane storylines and kill off some major characters… and maybe, just maybe – solve the whole Rambaldi mystery once and for all!



8:00 – Everybody Hates Chris (UPN) – Promising. Think “The Wonder Years”, except told by Chris Rock. It’s got nothing but glowing reviews, and honestly – who didn’t love The Wonder Years? Damn you Winnie Cooper, stop messing with Kevin Arnold’s head!

9:00 – Reunion (Fox) – Promising. It’s “The OC” meets “24”. Each episode tells the story of one year in the lives of one group of high school friends. The twist? The first episode is at the funeral of one of them, and we don’t know which one. It’s a great, fresh concept for a TV show – we’ll see if they can pull it off.


Sunday

9:00 – Desperate Housewives (ABC) – Returning Favorite. Between you and me – this is the weakest “Returning Favorite” on the list. It’s a good show, but it’s not great. After starting last year with a great murder mystery storyline, it kinda dragged on with the characters becoming almost cartoonish in their actions by the end of the year. It’s on the list because it’s mandatory water cooler talk on Monday mornings – and unless you want to be that nerd who doesn’t watch the “cool show” on TV, you’ll tune in.

9:00 – Family Guy (Fox) – Returning Favorite. Sorry Simpsons, this is the funniest cartoon on TV. With so many pop culture references even I don’t get some of them, the story lines are pretty "out there"… but in a good way. Here’s hoping they can continue the smart writing that made it the first show to ever be cancelled and then renewed by the same network.




So there you have it. As you can see, Mondays look pretty loaded, but the rest of the week is pretty sparse, and there's really no TV to watch during the weekends, when you can go out and be social. Add it all up, eleven hours a week… but like I said, some of these shows still need to prove themselves. But I’m hopeful. This list should be pared down to 8 hours or so before Christmas.

Comments? Reviews? Post ‘em below! (Seriously, when I look down and see 0 comments, I die a little on the inside)

Tell your friends, block off some time on the work calendar, and put the kids to bed - the first full blown Lost Email of the year is coming in a week!

Katrina is a Bitch

(Some random thoughts about Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath...)

At first, I thought "Here we go, another Hurricane" and didn't really pay attention to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I mean, we were in the middle of "The Great Styrene Evacuation of 2005" here in Cincinnati. Then over the past few days, I've watched countless hours of news on this tragedy... and it's made me very sad.

Some random thoughts.

• New Orleans is going to be some freaky ghost town for the next three months. There will be mobs roaming the streets, fighting over whatever food / supplies are left, living in filth, in the dark, in the water. It's like the scariest horror movie you could imagine.
• This is what you get when you live below sea level. Nothing against the people of New Orleans, but living below sea level is asking for trouble. Now is the time to raze the city to the ground, build it up, and start over. Seriously.
• My mom had a good point - anyone who gets caught looting electronics or clothes or anything other than food and basic necessities should be charged with manslaughter. If the police and national guard have to worry about these idiots, they're not rescuing people they should be.
• What in the world happens to all the businesses that were centered around the Mississippi Delta? How do you just shut down for three or four months? Do people still get paid?
• Anyone who complains about the cost of gas should immediately be forced to donate $1,000 to someone who lost everything they owned in the Hurricane.
• No one has any idea how they're going to get things back to normal. The engineers involved in pumping the city dry admit they're pretty much doing the Brian-math-style "Guess and Check" technique.
• This is an environmental and health nightmare. Waste is everywhere. This is how things like the bubonic plague re-enter a society. Once they get the city's pumps working, it's going to pump all this waste into the Gulf of Mexico. That's not good either.
• New Orleans may be dead. A lot of the history and old buildings are gone. People have insurance, but rebuilding takes a lot of time... and who's to say another Hurricane couldn't hit? At what point do you throw in the towel and say "God doesn't think people should be living here"?

Sad.

You can donate (totally tax deductible!) to help people here:

The Red Cross

Lions and Tigers and Bears... Oh Yeah!

(So I started reading this article the other day and thought: this is insane. By the end of it, I though: let's do this... like right now! What do you think?)

Cheetahs, lions, camels and elephants would roam wild in the United States under a new proposal to re-introduce large animals similar to those that humans hunted to extinction long ago.



The U.S. Ecological History Park, as it is billed by scientists, would help preserve species that are under increasing pressure for survival in Africa. It would also re-create a more balanced predator-prey relationship in the Great Plains and Southwest, an ecological diversity that has been absent for more than 10,000 years thanks at least in part to hunting pressure.

The idea, similar to one already under way in Siberia, is laid out in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature by a dozen ecologists and conservationists at 10 universities and institutions.

The park, where large and sometimes dangerous predators would roam free, could be an economic boon to depressed farming regions that humans are fleeing from anyway.

The scientists would like to start now, using large tracts of private land, and expand the effort through the century.

"If we only have 10 minutes to present this idea, people think we're nuts," admits Harry Greene, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University. "But if people hear the one-hour version, they realize they haven't thought about this as much as we have. Right now, we are investing all of our megafauna hopes on one continent — Africa."

Better than rats
One justification for "rewilding," as the scientists call it, is that one way or another, we humans have a dramatic effect on the animal kingdom and ecology in general, so a proactive approach is better than letting the world go to the dogs. Or, in this case, to the rats.

In the absence of elephants and large predators, which together stomp the ground and keep other animals on the run, landscapes will come to be dominated by dandelions, rats and other undesirables, the scientists write.

Large predators can be "keystone species" that are crucial to shaping the flora and fauna of an entire range.

A modern example is the widespread disappearance of wolves and grizzly bears in parts of the West, again at the hands of humans. Elk populations soared. Elk eat willows, which beavers rely on, and so beaver populations in Colorado declined by up to 90 percent, the authors state. Fewer beavers meant fewer dams, and the reduced wetlands caused willow populations to decline 60 percent in some areas.

The paper’s lead author is Cornell graduate student Josh Donlan.

"Humans will continue to change ecosystems, cause extinctions, and affect the very future of evolution -- either by default or design," Donlan told LiveScience. "The default scenario will surely include ever more pests and weed-dominated landscapes and the extinction of most large vertebrates."

Cheetahs, woolly mammoths and relatives of the camel were just a few of the large mammals that roamed America during the Pleistocene era, which ended 10,000 years ago as the last Ice Age retreated. Studies have shown that their demise was due largely to hunting by humans, not from climate change, as one theory held.

Their absence has altered the biodiversity of the continent and potentially the evolution of other animals. Large prey such the antelopelike pronghorn of the Southwest evolved lightning speed over millions of years to escape cheetahs, for example.

Start now
The park would actually involve multiple locations and phases of introduction, beginning immediately.

One first step would be to import endangered camels from the Gobi desert to the American Southwest, where they might gobble woody plants that now rule some landscapes.

Small numbers of African cheetahs and elephants from Asia and Africa could immediately be introduced on private property in the United States. The endangered cheetahs are close relatives to cats that roamed prehistoric America. Elephants are related to mammoths.

The elephants could bring economic benefit by their natural ability to manage grasslands and the potential for ecotourism, the scientists say.

Financial benefit is a key to the whole plan, in fact. The researchers cite the more than 1.5 million annual visitors to the semi-wild San Diego Zoo as an example of the draw that might be expected in a Pleistocene Park.

The scientists realize they have an uphill battle to gain public support. The controversy surrounding the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park shows the "clear obstacles" faced by any rewilding effort, Donlan said.

"Obviously, gaining public acceptance is going to be a huge issue, especially when you talk about reintroducing predators," Donlan said. "There are going to have to be some major attitude shifts. That includes realizing predation is a natural role, and that people are going to have to take precautions."

Break-down

(The first must see TV of the fall 2005 season... Fox's "Prison Break"!)




So, about this time last year I was downloading the pilot episode of a little show called Lost. I watched it, was hooked, and began showing it to anyone who would watch it. By the time the season premiere came around, I couldn't wait. Little did I know the show would go on to become a full-time obsession, but it was definitely "my show" of last year.

Actually, thinking back, there has been a new show each of the past few years that won my heart. 24. The OC. Lost. This year, I think it's going to be Prison Break.

For those of you who missed the two hour season premiere, here's the basic premise: white collar engineer (Michael Scofield) gets himself thrown in prison to break out his brother, who's on death row for murder. Seems simple enough? It's not. In the first hour, we learn that in the months before committing a fake bank robbery, Michael studied the life history of every other person in the prison and tatttoed the entire blueprints of the prison onto his body (along with some other clues). By the end of the second hour, he's getting a toe cutoff from a fellow prison rather than give up information about a mafia snitch in hiding who he apparently found before being imprisoned.

Intense.

Now, this isn't going to be a Lost-type over-analyzing show. It's more like a 24-type action-drama show... which is fine by me. I don't think my brain could handle another Lost show without me forgetting how to drive or type or something.

What's to like about this show?

1. The Production. It's actually shot on-site in a real prison in Illinois. Everything about the show looks real.

2. The Story. Even though we're only two hours in, they've already planted the seeds of a dozen storylines, with the main one being the prison break.

3. The Acting. It's good. It's not over the top, and doesn't come across as stereotypical, which is a big risk for a prison tv show / movie.


What worries me?

1. The Pacing. The first half of the season, maybe the whole first season is obviously going to deal with how Michael is going to break out of prison, which is fascinating. We see his mind working, we see him stealing items and doing things, but we don't know why. Half of the fun is going to see how he uses everything to get out. But then what? While Currin and I have hypothesized how the story would work once he gets out, I think a lot is going to be lost. We'll see.

2. The Story. Already, one or two storylines feel poorly ripped off from Shawshank Redemption and other prison movies. There's enough good and fresh stuff to let me overlook it, but there's really only so much that you can have going on in a prison, isn't there?


All in all, it's a good start to the TV season. The first two hours were very impressive. Here's hoping they can keep it up until 24 takes over after the New Year. At the very least, the episodes leading up to the actual Prison Break should be fantastic.

It Starts

(Our first over-analysis of the Second Season!)

So I received the following Email today:

Dear Frequent Flyer -

Greeting from the writers' room of Lost! Even though production has only just begun on the sandy shores of O'ahu (as well as the lush jungles of O'ahu, and the mysterious soundstages of O'ahu), the writers' room has been working overtime for several months to turn the overarching visions of the show's creators into episodic teleplays.

The writers' room is one of the main hubs of creative activity on Lost. To anyone on the outside it probably looks like an ordinary conference room, albeit one festooned with white boards and memorabilia.

One wall, for example is decorated with head shots of the cast. Another features the "Lost Survivors Count" where we keep a running track of the characters who have died on the series. Others are decorated with maps and posters of islands and beaches to keep us in the tropical mood (not a lot of white sand and clear water in sunny downtown Burbank -- but then again, not a lot of invisible monsters either).

But the nexus of the writers' room are the four massive white boards that span the length of the space. On these boards, we plot out not only the broad strokes of the entire year, but also the individual episodes, down to acts, scenes and beats, in an exhaustive process designed to bring the best out of every idea.

Several scripts have already been completed and are in the pre-production process, with many more in the pipeline. To give you a taste, here is an exclusive glance at the titles and writers of our first three episodes:

Episode One:"Man of Science, Man of Faith" written by Damon Lindelof

Episode Two:"Adrift" written by Steven Maeda & Leonard Dick

Episode Three:"Orientation" written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach & Craig Wright

- and this is only the beginning!

Thanks for getting Lost with us!




Okay, so that's pretty much fluff - except for the fact that they give us episode titles! Time for the first "Brian's Deeper Meaning Guesses" of the Season!

Episode One - "Man of Science, Man of Faith" is obviously referring to Jack and Locke. Jack being the man of science (doctor), Locke being the man of faith (treating the island religiously, the hatch, etc.). What's interesting is the way that the title puts both together. If it was a Locke-centric episode, wouldn't it just be called "Man of Faith"? Likewise, a Jack episode could be called "Man of Science". What does this mean?

Here's my thought - this episode will deal with a conflict between Jack and Locke, and with their fundamental understanding of what the island is all about. I think whatever they find in the hatch will make Locke even crazier about his faith in the island, but Jack will try to explain with a logical scientific response - causing a rift between the two.

Could this be the fight that will split the Survivors into the Jack Camp and Locke Camp as I predicted long ago? Remember what Jack said in the Season Finale: "We're going to have a Locke problem."

As for the flashback, since both characters are named in the title - how about this? Flashbacks of both Jack and Locke, done in a way to show the parallelism in their past lives? Show similarities and differences in how they lived, and how each brought them to where they are today.

This should be a very "Hatch-centric" episode, especially per Damon's comments in the post two down.

September 21!


Episode Two - "Adrift" looks to shift the focus back to the Rafters and their fate. Obviously, Michael, Jin, and Sawyer are all adrift at sea, probably clutching to debris of their boat. The flashback could be to any of the three, but I'll throw my money on Michael.

Why? You gotta look deeper! "Adrift" now also refers to Michael in this world, having just lost his son, Walt, to The Others. He's adrift in life, missing his son! Look for flashbacks of Michael and Walt, and how their relationship got so bad.

A big puzzle for me is how they're going to get Mike, Jin, and Sawyer back to the island (which they have to do). I don't buy that any of them are going to die, and we've been told that the hunt for Walt will be a main part of the first half of the season. Since the only people who know that Walt is msising are the Rafters, they have to get back to the main camp.

The problem is that they were something like ten miles out to sea when they were ambushed. There's no way they're swimming back clutching floating logs, especially with Sawyer having wounds from being shot. I guess something supernaturally fantastic, like the whale in Castaway could help them get back, but that would seem like a big cop-out. I don't know about this one yet...


Episode Three - "Orientation" is my bet for "the episode where we meet the people from the tail of the plane." How about for a wacky bet for this being an Ana-Lucia Cortez (Michell Rodriguez for you "Blue Crush" fans out there) flashback episode? The term "Orientation" refers to the tail people (will there be more than just Ana? What about Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who is also joining the cast? Is he a tail person too? I don't think so - Delta Houser Currin has a much more intriguing theory on this guy - more on him as the season approaches...) getting accustomed to the new group of people, meeting each other, getting a tour of the camp, etc.

What experiences will the Tailers have that the Survivors didn't? Is the monster harassing and eating them too? Have they met CFL (my bet is yes!)? Have they encountered The Others (my bet is no.)?

It will be very, very interesting to get the Tailers in the mix, because they should have a whole new set of experiences that will open up the Island even more.

One last thought - what if Ana is the ONLY Tailer? What if she has somehow survived on her own for the past two months? Would she be as crazy as CFL? Will they have to "orient" her back to "society" due to the psychological scars she would likely have? Just a thought...


Exciting! More posts as the info rolls in! Post your thoughts and comments by clicking the "Comments" link below!


(Oh, and if you're wondering what Michelle Rodriguez looks like, here's a picture from her brief appearance in "Exodus" last season..



And here's our new boy Adewale...



Scary!)

Pantala Naga Pampa

(Finally! I can't think of a year when my first DMB show has been so late in the season than 2005 - the last time I saw the boys was way back on October 2nd, 2004. If you think it's odd that I can rattle off that date so easily, you obviously don't know me very well. Let me give you a little backstory...

It all started in the fateful fall of 1998. A naive Brian was in his Junior Year of High School and was not the musical conessuier you know and love today. Sure, I had heard some DMB songs such as "Satellite" and "Ants Marching" before the year 1998 AD, but they had little impact on me. Back in those days I was "cool". I listened to the Tupac rap music or the Bush rock and roll. I was a general badass. Bluegrassy-folky-acoustic-jammy music? No thank you. I was too cool for school. Then something changed. All the sudden I realized that I could care less about listening to the "cool music" that everyone else was listening to (or "being cool" for that matter) and a lot of that music was pretty harsh and negative. Life wasn't all death and destruction and rage. There's also puppy dogs and ice cream and this crazy little thing called love. I craved something more in my musical diet.

Enter the Dave Matthews Band. Somewhere around the summer of 1998, Crash became the greatest CD ever. Suddenly the music stylings of the Dave Matthews Band spoke to my heart. The sweet guitar plucks and violin melodies made me bob my head in my now-famous "white guy dancing" fashion and the lyrics offered great life lessons. The other great thing was that I found this whole Internet community that was completely obsessed about them (which fit well with my tendencies to obsess over stuff).

I'm not going to lie - I would spend hours a day reading old setlists. The website / message board dmbml.com was my homepage. I would download every version of every song I could find and spend hours discussing minute details of the band and their songs. No, I didn't have a girlfriend in the summer of 1998, why do you ask?

At any rate, before you knew it, I was Dave Matthews Band Fan #1 (at least in my region - there's some really crazy people out there!... that I'm jealous of and would like to meet and engage in DMB trivia). I attended my first concert on November 21, 1998.

Seven years later, here I stand. As big of a fan now as I've ever been. Some things have changed. The DMB Crew began posting real-time setlists on their website in 2000, letting me know exactly what songs were being played the precise moment that the band began playing them. Thus, a new summertime evening activity was born - watching setlists come up by maniacally pressing F5 to refresh the page, listening to the songs on the Winamp to feel like I was there. Technology improved and DMB fans got more clever. I have listened to shows I'm not at via people holding up their cell phones, calling friends back home, and having these friends broadcast it over the Internet. Crazy! I still write down setlists whenever I'm bored, thinking up new and crazy song segues and concerts that have different flows to them. DMB Internet Message Boards have been born and died (dmbml.com --> anyoneseenthebridge.com --> ufck.org) but I've followed them along every step of the way and found them to be the greatest resource and knowledge base on the Internet. I'm not kidding.

I've now been to 27 Dave Matthews Band shows in which 518 songs have been played, an average of 19.19 songs per show. At these 27 shows, I have seen 123 different songs. I can easily rattle of the setlists and dates of each of these shows. They're almost religious experiences for me.

Which brings me back to my original post - the first DMB shows of the year 2005 for me were last week. Here is the full review!)

With the band currently touring in support of their new CD, "Stand Up", you have to slightly adjust your expectations going into a show. They're obviously going to play a more "Stand Up Heavy" setlist than if they were just going on a summer tour with no album to support. Having said that, there had been some questionable shows up until this point over the summer where the band played 9 or 10 Stand Up songs, leaving only 7 or 8 slots on the set open for tunes from their other 5 major studio releases. Not that I don't love Stand Up, I do - it's just I'm much more a fan of "equal representation of all CDs" at a show... except Everyday, of course :)


7.21.05 - Riverbend Music Center - Cincinnati, OH

One Sweet World
Don’t Drink the Water
American Baby Intro -->
Dream Girl
Steady As We Go
Bartender
Louisiana Bayou
Too Much
#34
You Never Know
Hello Again
Stolen Away On 55th & 3rd
So Much To Say
Smooth Rider
Hunger For The Great Light
Ants Marching
__________________
Out Of My Hands
Pantala Naga Pampa -->
Rapunzel


I was extremely pleased with the setlist choices tonight! Check out the spread across the board:
9 Stand Up songs
3 Before These Crowded Streets songs
2 Busted Stuff songs
2 Crash songs
2 Under the Table and Dreaming songs
1 Remember Two Things song

Highlights:

1. Louisiana Bayou - fantastic, fantasitc, fantastic song off of Stand Up. I've heard people rave about it all tour, and I'm not a card carrying believer as well. The jam at the end goes on and on and I didn't want it to stop - ever. There were no words, I was just singing the instrument chords... and loving every minute of it.

2. Hello Again - this song was a monster last summer - but now that everyone else in the crowd knows it, it's gotten even better. Carter's jam was sick.

3. #34 - are you kidding me? I was sure I was going to die before hearing this song live. Before they started playing it a few weeks ago, it hadn't been played in a live setting since March 23, 1993. Over 12 years ago. Beautiful song (could have gone for Dave singing the 3.23.93 lyrics of "lean upon me, I'll lean upon you, we'll be okay" - but who am I to complain?)

4. American Baby Intro - there are four words to this song, repeated many times, but it's freakin' INTENSE. Love it.

5. You Never Know - perhaps the band's best song to be released since Before These Crowded Streets, it's a powerhouse of music, lyrics, and jamming. Wasn't expecting it, enjoyed it immensely!

Lowlights:

1. No Bridge - this is only the second time ever I've heard the band play "So Much to Say" without following it with "Anyone Seen the Bridge" and then another song. I absolutely love the bridge. Remember what I said about Bayou being my favorite jam ever? Well, I just realized I lied. The Bridge is my favorite jam ever. SMTS just seems like a tease without the Bridge to follow.

2. Out Of My Hands - this song is great on the CD, but in the live setting, it is a huge mood killer. I have nothing against slower songs, but this song kinda makes you want to jump off a building - it's so creepy and depressing.

All in all, very happy. Best show I've ever seen? No, but it's a tour to support a CD, so I wans't expecting it to be. Good times were had by all.

After a quick half day at work the next day, we drove to Indianapolis to see the Killers on our way up to Alpine for more DMB.

Quick Killers Review - good, but short. They only have one CD, and that's all they play. Their look is a little too "glam rock" for me, but they write a catchy tune and have good energy. The end.

So here's the story about Alpine:

There are basically three "meccas" for DMB fans: Deer Creek, The Gorge, and Alpine.

Deer Creek is located right outside Indianapolis, and I've been there four times (6.23.00, 6.24.00, 8.10.02, 8.11.02). Great place to see a show, surrounded by corn fields and campgrounds. Made famous by the Greatful Dead always playing shows there.

The Gorge is located in George, Washington. I'm heading there in August for the first time ever and couldn't be more excited about it. The venue is hours away from any major city, and the stage sits perched on the edge of a ravine of the Columbia River.

Alpine is located in East Troy, Wisconsin. It's also about an hour from any major city, and at least 40 minutes from any real civilization. It holds the distinction of being the freakin' biggest ampitheater in the country. Check it out:







..and I don't even know if those do it justice. The stage is three times as big as any stage I've ever seen, the lawn is at least twice as big as any other venue I've ever been to, and being in the middle of nowhere - everyone is there camping and dedicated to the Dave Matthews Band, making for great crowds. People start filling up the parking lot (read: big grass field) hours and hours before the show, creating the best tailgating scene I've ever been a part of (even better than Who Dey Bengals Games!)



So anyways, back to the story - this is the year I went to Alpine for the first time. I figure, it's about time I visit all three DMB Meccas before I die to see what all the fuss is about. We head up from Indianapolis the morning of the show in a light rain. No big deal, rain makes DMB shows more fun (6.23.00, 6.24.04). As we set up our tent at a local state park, the rain let up and I made the mistake of saying "Oh good, the rain has passed us." Inside the tent, putting on my shoes, all the sudden the worst storm ever hit.

I'm talking buckets of water pouring into the tent. Thunder cracking loud overhead, lightning causing the tent to light up to the point where you could feel the heat. Suddenly the tent began lurching back and forth wildly, lifting up at the corners. I really thought I was going to die. We dove back inside the car, drenched, and watched as the tent collapsed into a pool of water. After about 15 minutes of calling our loved ones to say goodbye (just in case), we figured there was nothing we could do there and headed off for the show. A little near death experience wasn't going to hold us down!

As we got closer to the venue, cars were just parked in the middle of the road, and along the highway. No one was moving. Bad traffic? No, we found out that they were not letting anyone into the parking lot because there was a Tornado Warning for the area, and they wanted us to take shelter. But, seeing as it was only lightly raining at this point, DMB fans did the next best thing - start tailgating in the middle of the road.

Cornhole boards were setup, beers were cracked open, frisbees and footballs flew. It was great. After about an hour, they began letting cars in the parking lot, where the same scene continued for a few hours. Then it was showtime!


7.23.05 - Alpine Valley Music Center - East Troy, WI

#41 (Everyday)
One Sweet World
Louisiana Bayou
Hunger For The Great Light
American Baby Intro -->
Say Goodbye
Dream Girl
Time Of The Season
You Might Die Trying
Rhyme & Reason
Smooth Rider
Lie In Our Graves
Lover Lay Down
Bartender
Pantala Naga Pampa -->
Rapunzel
__________________
Best of Whats Around
What You Are


Another fantastic show. Before each show, I always try to predict the opener, and usually I'm way off because I unrealisticly hope and dream for songs like Two Step or Tripping Billies. Tonight I guessed #41, and was right!

Highlights:

1. #41 - I heart this song. Great opener. Everyday outro sung fantastically by the crowd.

2. American Baby Intro --> Say Goodbye - I hadn't heard Say Goodbye since 6.26.00 and it was sweet to hear it segued with the American Baby Intro.

3. Time of the Season - this year's cover, an old Zombies song. Very fun, with Butch hitting the high notes and doing the staccatto clapping. Plus, it's got the line "What's your name, who's your daddy?" which is very fun to sing!

4. The Crowd - best crowd I've ever been a part of. OAR opened up for DMB, and the crowd knew all their songs. Fun. The crowd sang along to every DMB song, not just the radio hits. Fun. Between OAR and DMB, the house music was Sublime. The entire crowd was singing and dancing along to it. Very fun.

5. Best of What's Around - great placement as the E1 song, and totally unexpected.

Lowlights:

1. What You Are - yes, this song is good - but it's not my favorite closer. Every time they play it my mind can't help but think "This could be Billies / Ants / Two Step / Too Much / Watchtower in this slot instead of What You Are", which are all songs I enjoy more. I'm nitpicking, I know.

2. Almost Dying - that would have been a bummer. We found out later that a tornado touched down less than a mile from where we were camping. Yikes.


So we head back to the campground, dry our tent the best we could, and wake up the next morning to the most oppressive heat to hit the region in 17 years. Heat index of 120, not a cloud in the sky, painfully hot. We instituted "No Shirt Sunday" and headed to the parking lot for 7 hours of tailgating. Apparently "open container" laws don't exist in Wisconsin. Or "you have to be 21 to drink" rules. An 8 year old sold us beer at the gas station. And you know who knows how to party? Drunk 17 year olds, because they comprised a good chunk of the parking lot. On to the show:

7.24.05 - Alpine Valley Music Center - East Troy, WI

Everyday (#36)
Crash
Dream Girl
Stand Up
Dancing Nancies -->
Warehouse -->
(Norwegian Wood) -->
Steady As We Go
Hunger For The Great Light
#34
Jimi Thing
You Never Know
When The World Ends
Crush
(#40) -->
Out Of My Hands
What Would You Say
#40
Too Much
__________________
Old Dirt Hill
Two Step


There are definitely some highlights in there, but this was my least favorite show of the three.

Highlights:

1. #40 - I love this song, and I've only heard it once before (6.26.00). The best part is that Dave hit ONE CHORD of it in between songs and the place went crazy. The crowd chanted for it between the next few songs, and then he busted out a full verse and chorus of the song.

2. Two Step - I could hear this every show and be happy. Intense intro and outro, best lyrics to sum up a DMB show ("celebrate we will, for life is short but sweet for certain.")

3. Numbers - This is the first time ever that all four numbered songs (#34, #36, #40, #41) were played in some fashion over a two night stand. That's pretty cool.

4. Dancing Nancies --> Warehouse - Quite possible the best segue the band has, and the best 20 minutes you can have at a DMB show. When Boyd hits the last high note of Nancies, it just feels right for Dave to hit the harsh chords of Warehouse to bring it back down. Love it.


Lowlights:

1. The Opening - starting a show with Everyday, Crash, Dreamgirl, and Standup is questionable. All enjoyable songs, but you really need a powerhouse song early to set the tone for the show.

2. When the World Ends - not my favorite song.


All in all, it was probably the best two night stand the band has played so far this year. I'm kinda inclined to pick Cincinnati as my favorite show of the three, but Riverbend was easily the worst venue. I'm thinking I'll be an Alpine regular in years to come, but will probably stay in a hotel next year, even if it is an hour away.

So there you go. My DMB Summer Tour (thus far). I've got three nights at the Gorge coming up in August, which I couldn't be more excited about, but I'm off to a good start. It may have been a long time coming this summer, but it's been worth the wait.

I'll leave you with some more awesome pictures of the shows at Alpine. Cheers!

Fresh Lost News!

(Hello again. Remember me? I used to write some painfully long over-analyzing Emails about a little TV show called "Lost". Eventually, they grew into the website you're reading right now. But then, with a cruel twist of fate, we entered the dark season known as "summertime." No new Lost episodes, no new Lost information, no way to tell one weeknight from another except by watching the Real World and Laguna Beach... er, I mean "sports".

But we finally, some new material! Check out this interview with Series Creator Damon Lindelof...)

What's in Store on Television's Most Talked About Drama?

"Who survives [the raft attack], how they survive, where they end up and how they reconnect with the other characters" will drive the story.

From the opening moments of the first episode of its sophomore season, Lost won't waste a minute in providing further information about the major storylines on the show.

What's at the bottom of that tunnel?
Who are the Others?
What the heck is the island all about, anyway?

"Right out of the gate we're addressing some of the big mysteries of the island," Lost co-creator and executive producer Damon Lindelof tells MediaVillage.com. "We'll go right inside the tunnel, and what you'll see in there changes everything." Indeed, whatever they discover in that tunnel "will change the fundamental state of existence" of the characters, Lindelof continues. Viewers won't see quick glimpses of strange things but rather will get a good long look around. "We're erring on the side of giving away too much rather than too little," Lindelof says. "They found that hatch in episode 10. Thirteen episodes later they opened it up. It's got to be good." What the characters won't find inside, Lindelof promises, are aliens, a time travel portal or "a ship they can blast off in."

Whatever is in there will involve those mysterious numbers that led to Hurley's lottery win and streak of bad luck in that character's famous backstory. "Right from the start, in the season premiere, the numbers become a fundamental plot point for the season," Lindelof says. "People aren't going to be disappointed in how we use them." He says the producers of the show wanted to make certain that whatever the characters find inside the tunnel will be "great, cool and risky." But, Lindelof cautions, he can "guarantee some people are not going to like what they find in there."

While some characters are exploring the tunnel, others will be dealing with the aftermath of the destruction of the raft and the kidnapping of little Walt by a band of creepy men who are presumed to be among the community of Others on the island. "Who survives [the raft attack], how they survive, where they end up and how they reconnect with the other characters" will drive the story through the first seven or eight episodes next fall, Lindelof adds.

Lindelof also confirms that the character played by newcomer Michelle Rodriguez will be someone who was seated in the back of the plane when it exploded and has been living on another part of the island. He will not say whether she has been living alone or with other survivors. He also says that Boone, the one main character who died last season, will definitely stay dead. "So many times in genre shows when you kill someone off they come back. On Lost the rules are different. When you're dead, you're dead!" Lindelof declares.

The other big nagging mysteries in the story – why did Ethan kidnap Claire, what happened to her while she was held prisoner, what if anything happened to her baby – will be addressed later in the season, Lindelof says. "But we have bigger priorities first: The hatch and Walt's kidnapping." He says the story about the kidnapping of Walt is especially intense, because "a child taken from a parent by strangers is the scariest thing of all." When the Others take Walt, there is no Amber Alert, no Fox News Channel and CNN reporting the story, nowhere for his father to get help. There is only fear, frustration and rage. Early episodes, Lindelof says, will deal with the repercussions of this harrowing incident. "That is the big mystery of the island," Lindelof explains. "Who are these other people and what do they want?"

Lindelof welcomes ABC's decision to move Lost from 8 to 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, because more people are available to watch television. He also thinks the show is "very intense" and says, "children should not be watching," which they are apt to do at an earlier hour. "By the finale of season two viewers will know why the plane crashed," Lindelof says.

He envisions Lost running "somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-5 seasons." "I know what the ending [of the story] is," he concludes. "At a certain point you can only stall [the audience] so long."



What excites me the most? This line: "We're erring on the side of giving away too much rather than too little". I think that the number one complaint of everyone who watched Season One, myself included, is that the Season Finale gave no big answers. People started musings of "this is going to be another X-Files, where they just add mysteries without answering anything until it's such a mess, you don't care and can't follow." But this line makes me think they have seen the error of their ways.

I remember reading an article shortly after the Season Finale with JJ Abrams where he said "We actually shot a lot more than we aired in the finale. We kept editting and editting, and ended up removing, I think, too much." There were more answers there. Some drunk in the editting room (no offense to drunks, I think they're fun and fabulous people) got a little crazy with the knife and took out some of the good stuff. Well, it sounds like we're getting some good stuff back right from the start of Season Two.

Our good look inside the Hatch? I'll defer to my prediction for the end of Season One and my "How They Could Have Made The Season Finale Better" Rant in my LOST Recap Memo.

I still can't really get a good grasp around the Numbers. Damon mentions they are going to be a fundamental plot point of the season - but does that mean their importance will be explained? Or will they simply find the numbers plastered all over stuff inside the Hatch and then the Islanders themselves will work to figure it out? I'd bet for the latter.

The good news is that we know have a date for the Season Two Premiere!

September 6, 2005 - Lost Season One comes out on DVD
September 7-20, 2005 - Brian compulsively watches every minute of material on the DVDs
September 21, 2005 - Lost Season Two Premiere!

That's all the Lost for now. Time to write on my first true obsession: no, not Kelly Kopawski - the Dave Matthews Band.

Didgeridoos

So last night I saw perhaps the most amazing musical performance of my life - no, I'm not talking about Dave Matthews Band - I'm talking about one Xavier Rudd? Who is that, you ask? It's this guy:



That picture doesn't quite to justice to the amount of stuff that is going on when he plays, so let me elaborate.

Xavier is this cool cat from Australia that plays guitars, shakers, didgeridoos, slide guitars, tongue drums, stomp boxes, djembes, harmonica, ankle bells, and slide banjo... ALL AT THE SAME FREAKING TIME.

I know, in your head you're picturing Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins where he has the drum strapped to his back, the cymbals on his knees, etc. (No? Just me - whatever - you know you're not too cool to know how to spell supercalifragilisticexpealidotious) - but this guy pulls the act off looking cooler than me with my collar up.

Here's how it works. He sits down, barefoot, and uses his feet to play these stomp boxes - which sounds like someone is hitting a bongo just by him stomping his feet. He's got the three different pitched didgeridoos setup right next to him (you know, the Australian instrument that makes that low warbling sound, as heard in the Survivor Australia theme?), he's got a guitar in his lap sometimes, sometimes he's got sticks to play a drum set that's constructed around him, sometimes he's got shakers, sometimes he's got a harmonica strapped to his head, sometimes there's bells strapped to his ankle. Oh yeah - and he's singing while he's got all this happening.

Crazy? Yes. The result - it sounds like a full on band playing these songs - but it's just him. Honest to God, at some points, each limb of his body is acting independently keeping a different beat and rhythm, meanwhile he's alternating harmonica-ing, didgeridoo-ing, and sing-ing (I guess that last one didn't need the dash).

What does it sound like? Try blending Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, and Rusted Root. It's soulful, important sounding music about love, the environment, and the people of Australia. Plus, he's got a wicked wail. Some songs are rocking to the point where people are up and jamming (To Let), some are quiet beautiful melodies (Green Spandex), some are just flat out percussion jams (I don't even know if they're titled), but all are awesome.

Kate said he looked like a Hobbit. That's pretty accurate - plus he's from Australia, and aren't hobbits from New Zealand? Basically the same thing. But he's mega-sweet.

Intrigued? Feel free to pilage my Get File for his complete album collection, along with some live shows. He's now officially been added to my list of "Artists Who Should Be Very Popular, But Aren't - What's the Matter With You America?" along with Guster and Ben Folds.

Man vs. Beast

So, I got this Email today and it pretty much broke my heart...




Big Ben is a 4½-year-old 10 pound miniature Daschund and has always been a loving member of our family. He is a very sweet, loving, and playful dog. We are looking for a family or couple to take him in.

We have a 10-month-old baby that doesn’t understand not to take Ben’s treats. Ben is not an aggressive dog towards anyone who can understand that his treats are HIS TREATS! He nipped at our son and we don’t want to worry that our son will hurt Ben or upset him again. I tell you this honestly because we want to find a home for Ben that is just right for him. He is good with anyone over 4 that can be told not to take his treats-he is even used to a cat!

He has tons of energy, LOVES taking walks, and spends most of his days sleeping. His only requirement is that he gets plenty of love and attention and can sleep under the covers with you-he is a snuggler!



Aside from being heartwrenching, does this seem fair to anyone else?

I for one am appalled by this decision. Granted, I'm much more of a "pro-dog" person than a "pro-baby" person. Honestly, when co-workers have babies and bring in their pictures, I'm like "Yep, that's a baby - looks like all babies, pretty much." When co-workers bring in pictures of their puppies, I'm like "Can I steal that?"

Think about it? Aren't dogs better than people in almost every way? They're loyal, soft, fun, enjoy being lazy, and find joy in the most simple things in life. Who could ask for anything more? Do you think it's a coincidence that you see way more people die in movies than you do dogs? Nope, America wouldn't like that. We love dogs.

What if you had a five year old child, then had a newborn baby - the five year old child accidentally hits the baby and you give the child away? That doesn't seem right. Wasn't Ben there first? Shouldn't he get the benefit of the doubt? Isn't there some "right of emminent domain" being infringed upon here? Squatters rights? Something?

If someone wants to take Ben vs. Ohio Board of Babies to court, I'd gladly stand outside holding protest signs. It's not like it would be the first time (see: Sully vs. Blend Express in 2003 and Brian vs. Channel 12 Interruping TV for "Tornado Warnings" in 2001).

First Official Lost Season 2 Info!

(Warning - this stuff is considered "Spoilers" by some of those in the Internet community - but it's such good stuff that I figured it deserved telling!)

At the world's first official "Lost" convention in Burbank over the weekend, cast & crew members made an appearance and spoke a little about secrets to be revealed in the show's much anticipated second season and The LA Times has done an in-depth article on what was said.

Amongst the revelatory tidbits (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD) - followed by analysis in Italics:

• At the end of a Q&A session with several of the show's writers, one audience member shouted, "Don't kill Sawyer," referring to the island's hunky bad boy. Executive producer Damon Lindelof replied, "We won't. But he did get shot, which means his shirt will be off in a future episode." As female crowd members whooped, Lindelof added, "And he'll be wet" (due to Sawyer's fall into the ocean).

I'll be honest - I'm still skeptical about how in the world Sawyer is going to survive being 15 miles out from the island, in (what I assume to be) shark-infested waters - BLEEDING. But I'll see what they can do. Since he's one of my favorite characters on the show, I'm willing to suspend my belief a bit to get him back to the island alive.

• "The plane did not crash by accident," Lindelof told the crowd. "It crashed for a very specific reason." But he dismissed speculation that someone aboard the plane caused the crash. "I will tell you today that is not the case."

Specific reason? Like some flying black thing hitting it (a la the thing that tore up the engine on the beach in the first episode - see animation below)? Or that the plane was intended to crash all along? I guess all the Walt made the plane crash theories are out the window.

• Lindelof promises "Season 2 is gonna get weird" - though he and other writers promised the mysteries wouldn't drag on as long as "The X Files," which ran nine seasons. What's inside the mysterious hatch will be interesting, but not as interesting as the effect it has on the John Locke character.

I take this to mean that Locke does not find the salvation he was hoping for inside the Hatch... and that drives him to be crazy. Season 2 getting weird? Well, supposedly, Season 2 is about "exploring the island" and we already have a mystery Hatch, crashed Pirate Ship, two downed planes, and a wire running into the jungle - and they haven't explored the island yet. I expect to see lots of the crazy all over this place.

Writing that, it strikes me that this island might be more of a magnet for disasters (natural or intentional, I don't know) - but it's seemingly crashed a lot of planes and boats.

• Finally, and not surprisingly, the rear section of the plane - and additional survivors - will be discovered during the second season.

So what does that mean to you and me? Well, most importantly - they confirmed I wasn't a crazy person for talking about the tail of the plane for the past six months! That's always nice.

Okay, that's all for now. If you want to post comments, feel free. If you want to re-read old Lost Emails, scroll down and enjoy! If you want to read about Deep Fried Chipotle Burritos, well, you can do that here too. It's like your one-stop-shop for anything you could possibly ever want. I'm the Target of websites.

Living the Dream

(Deep Fried Chipotle Burritos... at last!)

The tale of the event, as told by Michael Currin..

Friends,

Sometimes in the annals of man, moments surface which live on through the oral traditions told from generation to generation. Yesterday, one of these moments happened.

A great man (yikes, I just called Sully a great man) once thought of ways to make a Chipotle burrito even more unhealthy. The answer was simple, yet brilliant......deep fry the burrito. Yesterday, a $40 investment in a deep fryer, 72 ozs. of vegetable oil, and a couple carefully wrapped burritos brought this vision to life. My roommate Brian and I ate this monument to heart disease.

The verdict? Like most things, deep frying made the burrito taste even better! The tortilla was crispy, and the flavors of the ingredients on the inside blended together to please the pallet. It is Herr Rechtsteiner's contention that the heat melted the cheeses throughout the burrito, and released the flavors. I concur.

If anyone is in the Cincinnati and would like to try this, feel free to stop by the Delta House with your burrito, and you can make use of the deep fryer.

Attached are pictures of the deep fry.

1. The soft goodness we are all familiar with...



2. Into the murky depths of the bubbling oil...



3. Flip!



4. Behold... the dream of man since the dawn of Chipotle burritos!



5. "That's one small step for man..." (that's Currin pictured - not me...)



6. "... one giant leap for burrito kind."




So... will I do it again? Probably not. I think the same gooey insides can be achieved through microwaving, which will also add about two more years to my life... which is a plus!

The important thing is - I followed through on a dream. Now I know how Martin Luther King Jr. must have felt.

LOST Recap Memo

(My Everest...)

So this is it. I know, I know – this was due out last Wednesday. My apologies. But between the amount of information to cover and the new Oceanic Airlines website full of clues, I’ve been busy compiling this recap memo. Trust me, it will be worth it. Let’s get started.

REVIEW. There seem to be two popular opinions about the Season Finale of Lost:

It was fantastic – well acted, well directed, furthered the storylines without doing anything radically different.
It was a total letdown – nothing was revealed, we know nothing more about the monster, and the show is moving too slow.

So which is right? Neither. Here is my one sentence review: “It was a great episode, but not a great season finale.”

Here is my wordier review:

The episode actually did have some pretty big things happen:

The Hatch was opened (something we have been waiting for since mid-season)!
Walt was kidnapped!
We physically saw other people on the island and they had a freakin’ boat!
The Black Rock is revealed!
The Raft got blowed up!
Turnip Head got kidnapped!
The Monster reappears and we get a glimpse of it!

See all those exclamation points? That is some exciting stuff for the average Lost viewer. The problem is, there wasn’t much in terms of resolution to any of these issues. It’s like we were tempted with all these answers to the bigger questions on the show, without any of them being answered.

So what is in that Hatch?
Why was Walt kidnapped?
Were those the Others? How did they get the boat? Where did they come from?
How did a pirate ship end up in the middle of the island?
Are the Rafters all dead?
Is Turnip Head really the potential anti-Christ after all?
What is that Monster?!?!

And I think herein lies most people’s complaints about the finale. The thing is, this show has been about mystery all along and slowly revealing answers. If you want storylines neatly tied up in an hour, watch CSI. The show has never been about this – and never will be.

Also, from a writing point of view, right now the writers are able to sit on the fence about “what type of show this is.” Is it a sci-fi show? A fantasy show? A horror show? Is it about a government conspiracy, mythical monsters, traveling back in time, or crazy scientists experimenting? The second that they start answering some of those questions above, they will slowly reveal what type of show this is, and could potentially begin losing viewers who would say “Oh, I don’t want to watch another government conspiracy show – that’s too X-Files” or “Oh, it’s a sci-fi / fantasy show? I’m not a nerd, I can’t watch that.”

Yes, at some point they will have to reveal their hand, but the longer they can keep fans of all kinds watching, the more likely when they make their reveal, people are going to continue to watch because they have invested more in the show and still love it anyways.

In fact, in TV Guide interviews that were posted after the finale, the show’s creators said that they were in a constant struggle deciding how much to reveal in the finale. They continually cut down more and more – and now admit that maybe they cut down too much. In reading cast member interviews, they reference scenes that were not shown in the finale that could have major implications on some of the questions above (such as the Josh Halloway, who plays Sawyer saying: “We shot some scenes in the water after the Raft was destroyed. Hopefully they’ll use them in Season 2 – because filming them was miserable!” – that right there could have answered some questions about if they’re alive / what their plan is to get back to the island!)

But what was great?

The Walt storyline. If someone asked me “what happened in Exodus?” I would reply with “Walt got kidnapped” first. The fact that it happened didn’t really surprise me as much as the nature in which it happened. Creepy Gordon’s fishermen on a little tugboat? Who saw that coming?
The Rafters in general. Sawyer is shot and presumably bleeding in shark-infested waters, and Michael and Jin are floating in dark waters 15 miles from the island. How are they going to get back? Are they all dead meat?

What left something to be desired?

The flashbacks. Yes, they all had a very much “see how we all interact with each other in life but don’t realize it until we’re all thrown together on an island” feel to them. But the very strong underlying message of this episode was that “We are all on this island for a reason. There is a specific reason that we’re all here.” I was hoping to see something in the flashbacks that would illustrate that link that ties all these people together. And we didn’t get that. So, while the flashbacks were somewhat entertaining and added some more layers to the characters on the show – they could have had more impact.
The Hatchers. After their encounter with the creepy black smoke and tentacle, none of them discussed it. Yes, Kate said “Yeah, I saw it too.” But how about some dialogue people? Like, “So is that the monster? Are we all hallucinating?” They all continued on to the Hatch as if it never happened. Talking could have revealed how Locke’s view of the Monster / Island have changed, and made the event more “real.”

Unlike most people, I’m not furious they ended with a shot going down the Hatch, but not revealing anything. Season Finales are all about cliffhangers. You should have expected as much. To be honest with you, I was half expecting the dynamite to not even open the Hatch – then how mad would you have been!

What did I mean by “Great episode, but not a great season finale?” I’m of the opinion that season finales should always kick things up a notch from the average episode. Main characters die. People get married. Babies are born. Evil twins are revealed. Etc. There was none of that. For examples of great season finales of all time, please see 24 Season 1 or Buffy Season 2 (The two best season finales ever). Season finales should punch you in the gut, make you gasp, or make you cry. Lost didn’t do any of this.

How would I have wrapped it up? It’s easy to complain, but how would you fix it? Well…

Everything up to the last scene is fine, except the Hatchers actually go down inside the Hatch. Once there, they find a room full of computers and workstations – but no one is there. On the screens are images of all the castaways – both pictures of them BEFORE they landed on the island and of them ON the island. There is paperwork that has full biographies and write-ups on each of them. Each Hatcher is totally puzzled, flipping through the information, trying to make sense of it all. Jack stops and focuses on one screen – it’s Ana, the girl from the tail of the plane he met in the airport bar, and there are images of her both prior to the flight AND of her on the island! All the sudden, Jack starts counting the images of people on the island and realizes that there are much more than the 48 of them from the mid-section of the plane. Have Jack say some sort of simple dialogue like “Guys – we weren’t the only survivors.” Fade to black.

See, wouldn’t that have made you much happier? There would still be big questions about the Island, the Monster, and why they are all there – but it at least makes a “make you gasp” big reveal – the summer could be spent by people still pondering the questions of “Is this a government conspiracy?” and “How are they monitoring them?” etc. – but you would have had firm evidence that someone (The Others? Someone else?) had a master plan and that the people from the tail of the plane are alive somewhere on that island. All the sudden, we have our goals for Season 2 – uncover this mystery / find the tail of the plane. Booyah.

ANALYZE.

Okay, enough of me playing “TV critic” and back to a typical Lost Email full of intricate analysis and over thought…

DISCLAIMER. Before I get into some of the thoughts I have about the finale – I should make mention of the intriguing website that popped up shortly after the finale aired – www.oceanic-air.com – it looks and smells like a real airline website, seemingly giving you the ability to book flights and check on the status of flights – however, what it really is, is a website created by ABC that is full of hints, clues, and mystery surrounding the show and the failed flight. I’ll reference it a few times in my discussions, and then give the full blown analysis of the website later. Just so when I reference it, you’re not lost. (Pun intended)

BLACK ROCK. So what’s up with that Pirate Ship? Disney ride gone bad? Well, I think once again we’re looking at a connection to Africa…

The Black Rock is actually a known landmark on the Eastern shore of Mozambique. It’s home to one of the largest manganese deposits in the world. Couple this with the mining equipment that was found on the ship, and it all makes sense. So now we have a mining boat from Africa and a drug smuggling plane from Africa. Very weird. (The Bermuda Triangle / Super Mario Bros. “Warp Zone Theory” from a few Emails back might account for both of these.)

CLIQUES. Arzt hit the nail on the head. Why is it that everything happening on the island seems to concern our 13 favorite survivors? Is any weird stuff happening to the rest of the people on the island? A lot of people probably just viewed this as the show poking fun at itself, but I think there may be something more there. Locke says “We were all brought here for a reason.” Sayid said “Isn’t it weird that we all survived without a scratch?” Sun talks about the “Fate of being on the island.” What if all these non-major characters survived the crash by simply being near the “lucky 13” that had fate keeping them alive. If some force was preventing them from dying (Hurley’s luck / Walt’s powers), Arzt and these other redshirts simply survived by being near them. Are our major players somehow “blessed”? Hurley’s not gaining weight, they don’t get blown up by TNT, and the only reason Boone died was because it was at the hand of one of the other “Lucky 13” on the island (Locke). The island may have not only protected them from dying in the plane crash, but it is now protecting them from the dangers of living on the island as well.

SCRATCH. A quick, probably overlooked, flashback that could have a lot more to it than we realize is the one Claire had when she realizes that she was the one who scratched CFL when she was abducted. Does this mean that Ethan didn’t really abduct Claire, but CFL did? Ethan was crazy and threatened to kill the survivors, so I think a more likely scenario is that CFL and Ethan were working together. It seems that somehow, both of these characters are outside of the “Others”, but are trying to get a bargaining chip with them (the baby). Also, Locke seemed to let CFL run off after their discovery of the Black Rock pretty easily (saying “Let her go”) – is he in cahoots with them as well? Facts:

Locke used to go hunting at night with Ethan – where he could have been recruited.

Locke went face to face with the Monster – where he could have bargained his newfound hunting / walking ability in return for giving a child sacrifice.

Locke had the Hatch light up for him after he sacrificed Boone – he could have been approached by whoever / whatever is inside the Hatch at that point and discussed plans.

We’ve seen Locke playing games and making reference to them a LOT on this island. Operation. Backgammon. Mouse Trap. Jack asks “Do you like to play games Locke?” to which he replies “Absolutely.” Is this all a game to him?

The Locke Easter Egg on the Oceanic Airlines website shows him, a bunch of his knives, and then plays a very loud and very freaky sound, insinuating he’s evil!

In short, I think Jack hit the nail on the head – we are going to have a Locke problem in Season 2!

DRUGS. Before you all assume that Charlie is back on the smack due to the Virgin Mary being in his bag, remember this – Charlie was a very religious person prior to falling into drugs in his former life – maybe he just took the statue for the statue, not the contents inside of it. Having him slip back to the heroin habit seems a little cliché, doesn’t it?

MARLEY. What a coincidence that Sawyer was singing “Redemption Song” on the Raft (by Bob Marley) in an episode called “Exodus” (another Marley tune!). Looking at it deeper, is he singing because he thinks he has redeemed himself? Michael specifically says “You saved us all” by saving the rudder on the Raft. Was this his last good deed to redeem his soul before being shot and dying? This could easily feed into the “You die on the island when you let your past go” / Purgatory theories.

EXODUS. Speaking of the dreaded one, remember the episode title? Well, you know I can’t get through a Lost Email without looking for deeper meaning in the episode title one last time. Season One of Lost lasted 40 days. Series creators JJ Abrams & Damon Lindelof have stated that this is an intentional Biblical reference. The survivors have been on this island for forty days. In the book of Exodus, Moses (Locke) and his followers are "lost" in the desert for forty years. At the end of the journey, Moses does not enter the Promised Land (the Hatch? Or possibly escaping the island?), but instead the people are led by his brother Aaron (wait a minute, that the name of Claire's baby!).

AARON. So why did Claire finally break down and give Turnip Head a name? Well, if you work for the man and don’t have Tivo, you might have missed the “deleted scene” the morning after the finale on Good Morning America. I know I did – but luckily, I have a sweet girlfriend who called me to give the play by play (thank you KB!) In the scene, it showed Charlie and Claire talking, and CFL eating an egg. Claire tells Charlie the reason that she hasn’t named Turnip Head is because she was so sure that someone was going to take him away from her, so she didn’t want to become too attached to the baby. It’s the same reason that people on a farm don’t name their animals – because it is a lot creepier to be like “I’m eating Moo Moo” instead of saying “I’m eating the cow.” She finally gave up being afraid and named the baby – but then it got stolen anyways (so that didn’t really pay off!).

Based on the Bible lesson above, does this mean that this baby is going to eventually lead the survivors to the promised land? I would have to assume that would mean getting them off the island and back to civilization, right? Could it be that the psychic who put Claire on that plane did so for the benefit of the survivors of Flight 815? Did he somehow know that the baby would be necessary for them to survive or get off the island? I’m not really sure how this baby could do all this – but given the importance of children on the island, it’s not totally unreasonable.

DESIRE. If you think about it, the island seems grant everybody's innermost desires in a cruel way. For example, we saw in this episode that Michael wanted to give Walt away to his mother. Now, he lost Walt to the Others. Sawyer said he wanted to die. He ended up being shot by the Others. Sun didn’t want Jin to leave the island on the raft, and now the raft is destroyed. Walt told Locke that he wanted to stay on the island, and now it looks as though he is returning to the island, albeit with the Others.

There was also the Sun and Claire exchange in this episode where Sun says “It seems as though we’re all being punished for the lives we lived before, the secrets that we kept. It’s almost like it is fate.” To which Claire replies “There’s no such thing as fate.” Remember the expression, “Be careful what you wish for – it may come true”? Well, that seems to be the case on the island so far. If it’s not fate, perhaps some power on the island gives you the ability to make what you see in your mind’s eye come true. Perhaps everyone on the island actually has this power, but only Walt has been able to harness it thus far. Everyone else is just experiencing the consequences of their worst thoughts and fears coming true, without realizing that they may have the power to control them somewhat.

If this is the case, all the sudden it’s clear why everyone on the island is so keen on baby-napping! If children can harness this power but adults cannot – kids become the most valuable thing in the world! You could almost tie everything that’s happened on the show to this concept. Flying over the island (when the powers kick in) someone on the plane has a terrible fear of the plane crashing – and it does. It’s dark and scary, someone has a fear of a “monster” and it comes true. Speaking of which…


MONSTER. The “monster” finally reappeared in this episode after a few weeks’ absence. So what is it? From what we saw, there was a mysterious black smoke that quickly appeared and disappeared in a very unnatural way. It also looked to be some sort of “arm” that grabbed and dragged Locke through the forest, coming out of some hole in the ground. Lastly, one of the “Easter Eggs” hidden on the Oceanic Airlines website is the following “page of the Exodus Part 2 script”. See below.



Some people think this is some sort of “cut scenes” from the finale, but I’m pretty sure this was intentionally placed there as a red herring. For one, none of the scenes referenced on this page were even close to happening in the episode. Usually, if scenes get cut from an episode, you could at least see these cut scenes hypothetically happening based on other things that happen in the episode. Who would Sun be killing? Where did Sun get a knife? When were Sun and Kate even together in this episode? Why is Charlie running barefoot through the woods? If this really was an “early script”, then huge parts of the storyline were totally scrapped and re-written – not likely. Also, the paper is embossed with creator JJ Abrams name, trying to make us think the comments written on the page are his – that’s somewhat forced. Lastly, the “No! No! No! No Mapinguari! Not Yet!” just screams “The monster is a mapinguari but we aren’t going to show you yet!” And who would he be writing this to? Himself? It’s not as though he would use a super secret script as the medium to pass notes to his fellow writers about the direction of the show!

In my mind, all this adds up to this being totally fake, being put out there to get people thinking “Oh, so the monster really is something real!” And if you do a little research on a “mapinguari”, you’ll see a lot about it makes sense when you compare what we know about the “monster”…

The deep Amazon jungle of Brazil provides the backdrop for tales of the Mapinguari, a large nocturnal animal with a frightful screaming cry. Locals describe the Mapinguari as about two meters in height when standing on its hind legs. It is covered in red hair and emits a foul odor. Its feet are turned backwards and its claws are capable of ripping apart the palm trees upon which it feeds.

Possibly the Mapinguari, if it exists, is not a giant ground sloth but an unknown large species of anteater. Anteaters and sloths are related animals. The well-known giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla can reach a length of two meters and weigh nearly 40 kilograms. An anteater twice this size might be a candidate.Should the Mapinguari turn out to be a giant ground sloth it would not be the first such presumably extinct ice-age mammal to be found still alive in South America. In the early 1970s Ralph M. Wetzel and co-workers from the University of Connecticut discovered living specimens of the Chacoan Peccary, which he named Catagonus wagneri. Peccaries are close relatives of pigs and boars. Prior to Wetzel's find this type of peccary was known only from fossils and had been thought to have died out ten thousand years ago. Wetzel found the living specimens in Patagonia after hearing native stories. The natives called it the tagua. The Chacoan Peccary is the largest of the three known living species of peccary. There are significant differences in the chromosome numbers of the Chacoan peccary and the other two species, indicating they are not closely related. Very little is yet known of the Chacoan peccary's life cycle. It is considered to be an endangered species.


Tall? Check.
Frightful scream? Check.
Ripping tress out of the ground? Check.
Ice-Age Mammal, like the Polar Bears we’ve seen on the island? Check.
Discovered similarly to large boars, like we’ve seen on the island? Check.

So, seemingly the mystery is solved! Except…

We see the trees get blasted out of the ground two at a time, and we don’t see any feet or body of a mapinguari doing it. We’ve got two expert trackers on the island in Kate and Locke, and neither has found any giant Jurassic-Park-like tracks of this beast. And this doesn’t explain the weird black smoke, or the tentacle that grabbed Locke. Also, the “monster” now clearly sounds very mechanical in nature.

So what are we dealing with? Another popular opinion is that the “monster” is actually a group of nanobots? I know what you’re thinking: What the heck is a nanobot?

A nanobot is a nanotechnological robot nanomachine, also called a nanite, which is a mechanical or electromechanical device whose dimensions are measured in nanometers (millionths of a millimeter).

Want the Cliff’s Notes version of that medical mumbo-jumbo? Nanobots are robots of the future that are microscopic in size. Hypothetically, this would answer all the questions surrounding the monster because these nanobots could become anything and everything depending on how many of them were working together. You can think about it like this – they’re basically like building blocks. Throw a bunch of them together and then can form a large tentacle to pull someone into a hole (Locke). Have a few scatter and they look like smoke in the woods (Jack and Kate).

But the whole concept of “nanobots” is way into the future. Who would have built these things? Those Pirate-looking scruffy Others? If they have access to this sweet technology, why are they chugging along in a tugboat after the Rafters? I don’t buy it either.

(Intrigued by “nanobots”? Check your local library for Michael Crichton’s book, “Prey”, which is all about them!)

So we’re back to square one. The monster probably isn’t a mapinguari, and it probably isn’t nanobots. It’s probably exactly what it sounds like – some sort of man-made, mechanical device. Going back to the first episode and listening to the monster, the “cranking” and “clicking” sounds of a roller-coaster or machine are definitely there. The “screams” it seems to make definitely sound like metal scraping on metal more than a beast crying out.

The smoke we saw? Assuming we have this large mechanical “security system” built into and around the island, it would need to release some exhaust – in the form of black smoke. Monster solved?

The one big problem with this is the smoke doesn’t move like normal smoke would. It’s almost as if the smoke has a mind of its own the way it moves and quickly retreats. (See the links I sent out two weeks ago that had animated images of the smoke for reference). The only way I can make sense of that is if the machine had some sort of cloaking device that made it invisible to the human eye (almost like a “stealth” technology for the human eye). If this were the case, the reason for the smoke seemingly moving unnaturally is that the “stealth monster” quickly sucks in the smoke after it is released to further conceal.

If you remember as the Raft was sailing away from the Island, Michael remarks “How does a place this big not get discovered?” Exactly. Unless there is some sort of Stealth Cloaking keeping it hidden!

Yeah – that’s way out there. And it’s probably not the answer. But that’s the best I got right now.

One more thing – Check out this image from the first episode of Lost:

(I’ve also attached it to this email, because it is actually an animated .gif, so if you open the .gif in a photo editor, you can see what I’m talking about much more clearly.)

See that black thing above the running girl’s head in the picture? Well, watch the video of it and you’ll see it swoops down and causes that turbine to blow up! It’s just a little flying “thing” but the video is pretty indisputable. Monster? A theory I’ve been kicking around is that the Monster truly is just a “Security System” for the Island. It viewed the plane that crashed into it as an enemy, and therefore blew it up in the above video. The pilot in the first episode could have been seen as the one responsible, so the monster killed him too. Since then, it hasn’t killed anyone because no one has really done the island any harm. It makes a lot of noise, it uproots some trees, but it’s not really doing anyone any harm – is this what Locke figured out? Is this why he’s not afraid of it?


OBSESS. 4 8 15 16 23 42. Our favorite numbers! I’ve made mention of times that they’ve popped up from episode to episode, but did you ever wish you had a complete list of every time each number has been used on the show? No, me neither. Lucky for us, our good friends “Wacko Internet People Who Have Nothing Else to Do With Their Free Time” not only asked this question - but answered it! Brace yourself, here we go:

4 - # of years Lock was in his wheelchair- # of guns in the Marshal’s Case- # of Aces on Boone’s shirt.- # of years since Hurley's grandfather got his pacemaker.- # of years since Sam Toome killed himself.- # of years since Sawyer made his "birthday wish".- # of people that will fit on Michael's raft.- # of months Michelangelo stared at marble "working" in Locke's story.- of months Boone asks if they're going to stare at the hatch.- # of miles due west back to camp from where Locke ties up Boone.- # of people Micheal needed to help did Jack out of the cave-in.- # of refills of Shannon's inhaler Boone brought with him.- # of days that pass before Jack decides to burn the fuselage & bodies for a signal.- # of kids the nurse taking care of Micheal has.- # of traps Locke sets up around camp to get Ethan.- # of times Hurley says Charlie shot Ethan.- # of months the psychic tried to convince Claire to raise her baby alone before giving her money and telling her of the couple in LA.- # of Oceanic planes on the mobile in Claire's dream.- # of dotted dice in a backgammon game.- # of weeks ago Locke says he wouldn't have believed his crazy talk either (while talking to Boone).- # of times Boone repeats Theresa falls up the stairs, Theresa falls down the stairs.- # of times Locke bangs on his car roof at the end of Deus Ex Machina.- # of shots that are fired by the male bank robbers in Whatever The Case May Be.- # of the machine that Locke has while waking up in the hospital after the kidney transplant in Deus Ex Machina.- # of times Locke bangs on the hatch before it lights up.- # of 4's that appear on Sarah's t-shirt in Do No Harm.- # of people Jack wonders if Charlie asked about their bloodtype.- # of times Jin hits the raft with the axe before running off to help Kate.- # that appears on Boone's shirt with the Chinese symbols.- # appears after Arista in the jukebox on the Driveshaft song.- Jack's dad's watch had the minute hand on 4.- Jack plays the key B4 on the piano.- Shannon asks Boone what him and Locke have been doing in the jungle for the past 4 days.- Sayid said the French signal could be a SAT 4.- Leonard was playing the game Connect 4.- Walt says he needs a 4 & a 3 in the backgammon game.- Plane hit turbulence at 40,000 feet.- Charlie jokes about Locke bringing 400 knives.- The guy with the beans was running that scam for 40 years.- "Adam and Eve" have been in the caves for 40 years.- Driveshaft is #234 on the jukebox (23 and 4).- A column appears on the papers about Locke's Mother. 555-0121. 0 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 4.- # of black dots that appear on Walt's ceiling in Special. [Thank you Ana]- # of letters Michael flips through when handed the box of letters by Walt's nanny.- There is a poster on the wall of the pool hall in Confidence Man, the date is January (1st month) 3rd. 1 + 3 = 4.- The pool ball 14 is on the pool table in Confidence Man.- The price on Walt's comic book in Argentina is $4.XX- # of stars in the DC logo on Walt's comic book.- LOST has 4 letters.- In White Rabbit, Locke's watch's minute hand is set to 4.- # of times Shannon touches Boone's hair before the camera cuts to Sayid and he goes over to console her in The Greater Good.- # on the explosives inside the boxes of the truck.- # of times Hurley says the word "good" while singing James Brown to the baby.- The types of explosives stolen were C4.- The license plate on the second truck Sayid and Essam get into is MRL 724. 7 + 2 + 4 = 13. 1 + 3 = 4.- The magazine description Sawyer reads says the car has 400 horsepower.- The magazine description says the car has a 4.4 liter power plant under the hood.- # of months Mr. Arzt says is the next time they can launch the raft.- Tom says his son Connor will be 22 months old. 2 + 2 = 4.-
# of bottles of water Hurley filled for his hike to see Danielle. - Hurley rides past a boy giving 2 peace signs to a camera while getting his picture taken. He's holding up 4 fingers.# of times the girl in the hotel room with Charlie tells him to let the heroin go before he knocks her to the floor. - Shannon asks Boone what a 4 letter word for "I don't care" is.


8 - # of months Claire was pregnant when they crashed.- # of kilometers the hitman tells Jin to drive.- # of people that die in Hurley's shoe factory fire.- # of whiskey shots between Sawyer and Christian Shepherd.- # of hours Kate would spend in the woods with her father tracking deer.- # of years since Michael got hit by car.- # of years Michael's been writing Walt.- # of months Locke and Helen have been talking.- # of days since Charlie went without his guitar.- # of weeks Driveshaft was going to tour.- # of days after the crash Jack & the other survivors moved to the caves.- # of years Michael worked in construction.- # of months since farmer's wife died when he met Kate.- # that appears on Boone's shirt with the Chinese symbols.- # of times Jin punches the guy he was "giving the message" to for Sun's father.- # of beers Jack's best man says he should have before giving the speech.- Sawyer's age when his dad killed himself and his wife.- Shannon's age when her dad married Boone's mom.- News station at Hurley's Lotto interview was channel 8.- Walt born in August (8th month).- Claire was missing for 8 days since Ethan took her.- In the Pilot Part 2 when Charlie takes off his shoe, inside it says size 8.- # appears after Arista in the jukebox on the Driveshaft song.- A column appears on the papers about Locke's Mother. 555-0170. 1 + 7 = 8.- 323 is the area code of Locke's Mom's telephone number. 3 + 2 + 3 = 8.- 8 appears in Locke's license plate.- Charlie hits the jukebox keys 1 3 and 4 in Homecoming. 1 + 3 + 4 = 8.- The license plate on the detective's car who catches Kate in Tabula Rasa is ALK-125. 1 + 2 + 5 = 8.- # of sections in Walt's ceiling in Special.- The 8 ball is on the pool table in Confidence Man.- The pool balls 2 and 6 are shown on the pool table in Confidence Man. 2 + 6 = 8.- The price on Walt's comic book in Spain is $800.00- # of people kneeling in the second row of the mosque.- Sayid was kept for 18 hours in the holding cell.- In The Greater Good when it shows Boone's driving license we can see he was born in 1981.- The license plate on the truck Sayid and Essam were in was ALK 125. 1 + 2 + 5 = 8. - The CIA woman said Sayid has been out of Iraq for 7 years. 7 x 365 days = 2555. 2 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 17. 1 + 7 = 8.- The magazine description Sawyer reads says the car has a V8 engine.- When reading the magazine description Sawyer says the car delivers a 350 pound rear-wheel torque. 3 + 5 + 0 = 8.- Sawyer says the car has a 32 valve V8 engine. V = 22nd letter of the alphabet. 3 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 8 = 17. 1 + 7 = 8.- The magazine description says the car has a 4.4 liter power plant under the hood. 4 + 4 = 8.- A news reporter is holding a microphone in front of Hurley and it's from station 17. 1 + 7 = 8.- In Numbers when Hurley is flipping through the TV channels it goes to a hockey game and it shows the player with jersey number 17. 1 + 7 = 8.- In Exodus when Danielle arrives at camp she says a series of numbers. She mentions it was 16 years ago they arrived, there were 6 of them, then says she was 7 months pregnant, she said the baby were together 1 week, and the black smoke was 5 kilometers inland. 16 + 6 + 7 + 1 + 5 = 35. 3 + 5 = 8.- Jack and Ana's seat numbers were 23B and 42F. B = 2nd letter of the alphabet, F = 6th letter of the alphabet. 2 + 6 = 8.- Hurley says Twinkies stay fresh for 8,000 years.- The guy on the scooter that Hurley approaches has crazy 8's written on his hat.- Hurley looks up at a sign in the airport that says gates 14 thru 23. There are 8 numbers between 14 and 23.


15 - # of members on Danielle's research team.- # on whiskey bottle that Sawyer and Christian drink from.- # of hours Boone flew to rescue his sister "15 hours, I just spent 15 hours on a plane".- # of kilometers to nearest town from the Australian farm.- Sun was supposed to leave the airport at 11:15.- Hurley won 156 million dollars.- Locke's Mom's weight was 115 pounds.- 15347 Ocean Avenue is an address on the papers about Locke's Mother.- 584-243-15 appears on the papers about Locke's Mother.- The papers on Locke's Mother show that she was born on the 15th of October.- The numbers 12015 appear on one of the plane's meters.- 31803-A appears on the papers about Locke's Mother. 3 + 1 + 8 + 0 + 3 = 15.- The number 555 appears multiple times on the papers about Locke's Mother. 5 + 5 + 5 = 15.- The number sequence 4065434-87 appear on the papers about Locke's Mother. 8 + 7 = 15.- The last 2 digits of Locke's license plate is 8 and 7. 8 + 7 = 15.- Sawyer buys a compact 357 handgun from a man in Australia. 3 + 5 + 7 = 15.- Randy tells Locke he needs the reports in by noon, not 12:15.- In Special it shows a triangle on Danielle's maps. There are 3 degrees for the angles. 36º, 38º and 41º, when added = 115º.- While Locke is telling Boone the Michelangelo story, he says "3 years later that block of marble was the statue of David." 365 days a year x 3 = 1095. 1 + 0 + 9 + 5 = 15.- Sawyer had to be at the meeting for 3:30. The woman says it's 3:28. 3 + 2 + 8 = 13. 2 minutes left, 13 + 2 = 15.- In the Pilot Jack tells Kate he was only going to give the fear 5 seconds to take over. Later on, Kate is shown counting to 5 while hiding from the "Monster". 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15.- Kate's license plate was DPN 924A. 9 + 2 + 4 = 15.- Kate's license plate was 7 - C153M. 15 appears.- When Kate and Tom are in the kitchen there is a clock in the background showing 1:50 AM.- Hurley said his Grampa Tito worked 3 jobs, for 52 years, and he's 70 years old. 70 - 52 - 3 = 15. - Jack asks Ana why she's drinking tequila and tonics at 10 to noon. 11:50 AM.- The marshal said he was chasing Kate for 3 years. 3 x 365 = 1095 days. 1 + 0 + 9 + 5 = 15.- Shannon says she doesn't want to sit near a crying baby for the next 15 hours.- Hurley jokingly says he thinks TV dinners from the 1950's are in inside the hatch. 1 + 9 + 5 + 0 = 15.- The lady at the desk in the airport looks up the information for Hurley's flight. On the computer screen it says the departure time is 14:15.- Michael tells Sawyer the raft is 15 miles offshore.


16 - # of years Danielle's distress signal has been looping.- # of weeks since someone won the lottery before Hurley.- # of years since Sam and Lenny heard the numbers.- # on the numerical die in the backgammon game.- Jack, Kate, and Charlie found the pilot 16 hours after the crash.- Age of patient of Jack's first solo procedure.- Jack told the lady at the airport desk he had to land in LAX in 16 hours to bury his father & flight was 16 hours.- The 4 dotted dice in backgammon game are on 4, 6, 2, 4. When added = 16.- Sawyer got $160,000 from the girls husband as part of the scam.- Locke's Mom lives at 2248 Greenwood Avenue. 2 + 2 + 4 + 8 = 16.- The address 1258 Bendix Avenue appears on the papers about Locke's Mother. 1 + 2 + 5 + 8 = 16.- Locke's license plate is 2ABM487. If you take just the letters ABM, and give them a numerical value for where they stand in the alphabet, A = 1 B = 2 M = 13, 1 + 2 + 13 = 16.- Four 4's on Sarah's t-shirt. 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 16.- The taxi cab a woman gets out of in Do No Harm is numbered 691. 6 + 9 + 1 = 16.- There is a poster on the wall of the pool hall in Confidence Man, the date is June 16th.- The price on Walt's comic book in Chile is $1,600.00- The CIA woman tells Sayid it's been 7 years since he's left Iraq. "6 months here, 3 months there". 7 + 6 + 3 = 16.- The license plate on the truck Sayid and Essam were in was ALK 125. A = 1 L = 12 K = 11. Then the 1 2 5. The total for the letters' side is 24. The total for the numbers' side (1 + 2 + 5) is 8. And 24 - 8 = 16.- The license plate on the second truck that Sayid and Essam get into was MRL 724. M = 13 R = 18 L = 12. 1 + 3 + 1 + 8 + 1 + 2 = 16.- Kate's license plate was 7 - C153M. 7 + 1 + 5 + 3 = 16.- Tom's license plate was 394 - GC2. 3 + 9 + 4 = 16.- # of years since Kate and Tom buried the time capsule until she took the flight.- Kate's license plate was 7 - C153M. If you take just the letters. C & M. C = 3 M = 13. 3 + 13 = 16.- Danielle says the black smoke appeared 5 kilometers inland. 1 kilometer = 3280 feet. 3280 x 5 = 16,400 feet.- The Black Rock ship in the jungle has the city Portsmouth written on the back. Portsmouth New Hampshire was founded in 1623. 1623 is in the direct order from the number sequence 4 8 15 16 23 42.- Sawyer was reading Hurley's letter to home and said he left his mom 160 million dollars.- Hurley gives the guy on the scooter $1,600 dollars for it.


23 - # of times Jack hits Charlie on the chest while performing CPR before Kate tells him to stop.- # of times we hear Jin hit the axe on the raft.- # that appears on the waist measure that the tuxedo guy has around his neck.- The reward for turning Kate in is $23,000.- The digits 23 appear as part of a pin number on one of the crates found inside the drug plane.- The digits 23 appear on the license plate that hit Locke in Deus Ex Machina.- When Michael gives Jin the watch back in House Of The Rising Sun, the minute hand is on 23.- The watch on Jack's wrist when signaturing the papers his Dad gave him in All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues has the minute hand on 23.- The watch on Sun's father's wrist when signing a paper in ...In Translation has the minute hand on 23.- Driveshaft is # 234 on the jukebox.- A column appears on the papers about Locke's Mother. 555-0170. When added = 23.- Locke's Dad said he wasn't supposed to be there until 12. Locke said "I thought you said 11" 11 + 12 = 23.- The transceiver from the plane's model number is ABT-520. A = 1 B = 2 T = 20. 1 + 2 + 20 = 23.- There is a poster of the wall at the pool hall in Confidence Man, the date is May 23rd.- Kate's license plate was 7 - C153M. C = 3rd letter in the alphabet, M = 13th. 7 + 3 + 1 + 5 + 3 + 1 + 3 = 23.- When Michael looks at the clock in the hotel room it displays 5:23 AM.- Jack's seat number was 23B.- The Black Rock ship in the jungle has the city Portsmouth written on the back. Portsmouth New Hampshire was founded in 1623. 1623 is in the direct order from the number sequence 4 8 15 16 23 42.- The Black Rock ship in the jungle has the city Portsmouth written on the back. Portsmouth New Hampshire has a population of 23,100 people.- Right after Claire's baby is taken Charlie covers his mouth in shock. The time on his watch when he does this is 7:23 PM.- Hurley's hotel room was on floor 23.- Hurley looks up at a sign in the airport that says gates 14 thru 23.- Hurley's flight took off from gate 23.- Michael and Walt were sitting in row 23 on the airplane.- When they are at the caves Jack says 46 people need to drink about 1/2 a gallon of water everyday. 46 x .5 = 23 gallons of water everyday needed.


42 - # of spaces on a game of Connect 4.- # of numbers on the papers from Danielle. There were 7 rows of 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42.- # that appears on the waist measure that the tuxedo guy has around his neck.- Claire was 6 weeks late when she found out she was pregnant 6 weeks = 42 days.- The book number 742 appears behind the husband looking to adopt Claire's baby in Raised By Another.- The nurse who talks to Michael in Special is wearing a watch, the minute hand is on 42.- Jack's watch had the minute hand set on 42.- Sayid's watch in the Pilot Part 2 has it's minute hand set on 42.- There are two dice in the backgammon game. The highest number on a die is 6. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 = 21. 21 x 2 = 42.- The license plate on the farmer's car had the letters VHL. V = 22 H = 8 L = 12. 22 + 8 + 12 = 42.- There are 5 balls shown on the pool table in Confidence Man. 2, 6, 8, 12 and 14. When added 2 + 6 + 8 + 12 + 14 = 42.- Ana's seat number was 42F.- The lady at the desk in the airport looks up in the information for Hurley's flight. On the computer screen it says the arrival time in Los Angeles will be 10:42. * 815 * - # of the safety deposit box that Kate wanted to get into.- # of the issue for Entertainment Weekly that LOST is on the cover of.- Oceanic flight # 815.- The copier's Charlie was trying to sell were model # C-815.- When Claire had her dream about the baby being taken, the flight number of the plane hanging from the mobile was 815.- The airdate for Numbers was 3/2. When added = 5. 5, and episode 18. 815.- Hurley's lottery ticket contained the sequence 815.- The hatch has 815 in it's sequence of numbers.- 8 & 15 were the aisle numbers for the regulation & Nerf footballs.- 564815 appears on the papers about Locke's Mom.- Jack's watch when flipped and mirrored has the time 8:15.- The boots that Kate takes from the dead person in the Pilot Part 1 has 815 on them.- Sayid is walking by a building in The Greater Good. The building has the numbers 815 on the door.- Kate and Tom buried the time capsule on August 15 1989. (8/15).- When the cop in the police station lays down Sawyer's plane ticket, we can see on Sawyer's file it says ID No. 248-15 with some more numbers after the 815.- Charlie has a tattoo on his shoulder with the lyrics "living is easy with eyes closed". This is from The Beatles song Strawberry Fields Forever. The song Strawberry Fields Forever was released on The Beatles' 15th US CD and was track number 8. 8/15. * MIXED * - 48 plane crash survivors. 4 & 8, the first two numbers from the number sequence.- Boone's shirt with the Chinese symbols stood for 84. 4 & 8. The number of survivors and also the first two numbers in the sequence.- If you add 4815162342 and Hurley's 156 million you get: 4 + 8 + 1 + 5 + 1 + 6 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 2 + 1 + 5 + 6 = 48. 4 & 8 and the first two numbers of the sequence.- The Oceanic Airlines logo contains 16 red dots, surrounding 4 circles, which make up the "O" in Oceanic. Which if combined with the word "airlines" makes 15 letters. "Airlines" itself is 8 letters.- If you add up the numbers, 4 + 8 + 15 + 16 + 23 + 42 = 108, and subtract that from Hurley's net worth ( 156 - 108 = 48 ). 4 & 8 and the first two numbers from the sequence, also the number of plane crash survivors.- The digits 48 appear in Locke's license plate. 4 & 8. The first two numbers of the sequence and the number of plane crash survivors.- Locke's Mom lives at 2248 Greenwood Avenue. 4 & 8. The first two numbers of the sequence and the number of plane crash survivors.- 2 columns appear on the papers about Locke's Mother. 555-0121 and 555-0170. 0121 1 + 2 + 1 = 4. 0170 1 + 7 = 8. 4 & 8. The first 2 numbers of the sequence and the number of plane crash survivors.- The number 48 appears as part of a pin number on one of the crates inside of the drug plane. 4 & 8. The first two numbers from the sequence. Also the number of survivors.- The nanny that Walt has in Special is wearing a watch while handing a box to Michael, the minute hand is on 48. 4 & 8. The first two numbers from the sequence. Also the number of survivors.- Sawyer is seen reading the book Watership Down. Episode 19 was titled Deus Ex Machina. A chapter of the book Watership Down is titled "Dea Ex Machina", that chapter is 48. 4 & 8. The first two numbers of the sequence and the number of plane crash survivors.- 300 pounds of C4 explosives were stolen. There are 16 ounces in a pound. 16 x 300 = 4800 ounces. 4 & 8. The first two numbers of the sequence. Also the number of survivors.- When reading off the magazine's description of a car, Sawyer mentions a lot of numbers. 32 valve V8 engine. 400 horsepower. 350 pounds. 4.4 liter powerplant. And 6 speed transmission. 32 + 8 + 400 + 350 + 4.4 + 6 = 800.4. 4 & 8. The first two numbers of the sequence and the original number of survivors.- Hurley's hotel room number was 2342. The last two numbers from the set.- On the dashboard in Hurley's car the speed goes from 16 KPH, 15 KPH, 8 KPH, and 4 KPH. It also displays 42 KM and 23ºC. This uses 4 8 15 16 23 & 42.- Riding through the airport on the scooter Hurley passes girls with soccer uniforms on. They're standing side by side and the numbers on their jerseys are 4 8 15 16 23 & 42.

Again, I take no credit for any of the above insanity!

EASTER! Okay, time to hit up some of the crazy stuff hidden away on the Oceanic Airlines sight. First off, there are messages overlaying the text in a few places like this one:

Robert D. West, of Santa Barbara, California, USA survived a horrific plane crash and is stranded on an island somewhere Northeast of Australia and Southwest of Hawaii. In the event that I am never found, please forward word of my fate to parents, Mr. and Mrs. John West, of Tucson Arizona.

Thank you.
Robert

What does that look like to me? It looks like a message someone would put in a bottle and send off the island! Just like we saw the castaways doing in the finale! Pretty interesting.

Also hidden away on the site is a picture of CFL’s map. The words are in French, but I believe it’s just the lyrics to “Beyond the Sea” as well as some descriptions of various locales on the Island. What is really interesting (and circled in red) is that there is the “Others” boat! French scholars out there, feel free to translate away!



But the real bread and butter of this Oceanic Airlines website is the Seating Chart – see below for the screenshots. Clicking on various seats on the plane causes other seats to light up – and then hovering on this colored squares, you are revealed who was sitting there, and then if you click on it – you are treated to a video / image that somehow relates to the characters. Here’s a breakdown of the seats I’ve found and what is revealed:





27G = Edward Mars = Flashes images of his ID with the standard picture of his face, then an ID with his head tilted to the side, as if he is dead, followed by this image in red. Creepy.

27H = Kate Ryan = Flashes her police photos with the name being “Katherine Dodd”.

9F = Shannon Rutherford = Flashes Sayid’s passport.

9E = Boone Carlyle = Flashes his face fading to black.

24D = John Locke = Flashes his knives, then shows Locke standing there looking creepy while a loud screeching sound plays and freaks out co-workers and roommates.

29C = Charlie Pace = Flashes a Driveshaft backstage pass, OR a Diary that has a picture of Claire in it.

23D = Rose = Flashes a falling wedding ring, with Rose saying “My husband always has me hold his ring when we fly.”

23A = Jack Shepherd = Flashes images of the airplane sized bottle of vodka, with Jack’s face slowly appearing inside the bottle.

Here’s where it gets weird. If you click on Jack’s seat, seat 23C lights up – but has no name associated with it, or any flash animation. When you click on it, the Flight Number at the bottom (that says “Oceanic 777”) flutters to “Oceanic 815”, then the whole thing goes dead.

Who is seating in that seat? Rewatching some of the episodes, you can’t clearly see any specific characters sitting there. And wait a minute, why does this say “Oceanic Flight 777” anyways?

Weren’t they on Flight 815? This is where the full power of my brain is working, and I’m not there yet. Something is seriously wrong here. We saw in Exodus Part 3 that the plane they were on left from Gate 23 – yet this website says Gate 15…



It also has a time when the PLANE LANDED!?! What?! It looks to have landed seven minutes late at Gate 42. Yet the status is “Alert” instead of “Landed”.

If this is just the webmaster’s typo, I’ll be furious because right now I’m working through a lot of different scenarios of what this means – and they’re ranging from “There were actually two flights and both crashed – which explains why not all the cast is showing up on the seating chart” to “There was some conspiracy to crash that plane and they setup a fake plane to land in LAX to avoid any suspicion.” Really heady, out there stuff that will keep me busy all summer, rest assured.

FAREWELL. The sad thing is, although I know I need to wrap this up – but I didn’t touch upon even half of what I wanted to. Such is the greatness of this show. I didn’t even touch upon the fact that two of the Others on the boat were identical twins, the submarine theory of the Hatch, the Canadian Flag flying on the Others’ boat, or the wire that leads from the ocean into the woods that Sayid found. If I figure out anything earth shattering through the website, or have a revelation at night while I sleep, I’ll send out another Email. Otherwise, you’re on your own until next season. Maybe I’ll take Mitch’s advice and have a full blown website put together at that time instead of sending mass Emails. We’ll see…

At any rate, thanks for reading – keep up the good work, and remember – Watching TV makes you smarter! If these Emails aren’t proof of that, I don’t know what is!

Brian


PS. Lost Season 1 comes out on DVD on September 6th. I’d highly recommend picking it up and watching every episode back-to-back in a row – I know that’s what I’ll be doing J