Saturday, October 20, 2007

"Lost Magazine Reading is Fun-damental"

During the hiatus I have actually been reading the Lost magazine instead of just buying it and thumbing through to look for pictures to draw (no luck yet), and then chucking it into the "Lost magazine collection that will surely be worth a few cents more in ten years than it is now" pile. It doesn't seem like many Lost fans like it very much. For the first year the fanzine was nothing to really get excited about, as the images were almost 100% re-repeated stock PR photos (reversed, collaged, shrunken, enlarged, etc., to try to make them look different), and the articles were very limited as to the actual story content. It also looks like a carbon copy of a couple other TV series mags. But the editors have started to hit a better stride and produce a more interesting publication this year. Not that I'm a magazine publishing expert, I just buy a lot of "zines" and know what I like.

What piques my interest now is the increase of articles on the special effects, prop building, and set pictures that are included more every issue. I enjoy learning how things are made and the creative possesses behind the production, and they are beginning to deliver pretty well in that area. Like the fact that some of the "five o'clock shadows" on the guys are actually put on via an electrostatic flocking process which I find fascinating. No need to use the "Official Miami Vice Sonny Crockett Stubble Shaver" on this show! They also showed the making of the polar bear costumes and scenes Ms.FYSB, if you ever read this! :-) But the character images are still mostly the promo photos, which are beyond familiar at this point. There are so many incredible screen caps from the series, I find it odd that they don't utilize them more for the magazine.

I've also found that while the magazine of course doesn't reveal answers to any of the more nagging larger mysteries, it does unveil minor answers in the course of interviews and conversations that help fill in the blanks and free our minds to ponder the larger missing pieces of the story. You know, like some of the vague things that have been played out that we are still arguing about and making bets on. For instance, in Damon's "Pearl's of Wisdom" feature, someone asked if Desmond ("in a conscious, physical, or in whatever way") really travelled back in time to 1996, and he answered, "I'm going to give you a wonderfully simple answer -- Yes!!!" Unfortunately, the guy's question was vague as to the physicality of how he travelled back, so some unknowns remain there, dangitt. Also in the zine various contributors have stated repeatedly that Smokey killed Eko, for those who still doubt that. This month, Nestor Carbonell says in an interview that his group was definitely the indigenous people of the island, and that he "had taken part in the murder of Juliet's ex-husband," for those of us who still wonder if perhaps she did it in a "Carrie-like" fashion. I do think though that whatever is said in the magazine, TPTB could at any time zig-zag away from what has been said and go another way altogether! So unless it comes from Cuselof's mouth, I take it with many grains of salt.

Evangeline Lily gets philosophical about the Skater-Jater-Schmater triangle in a way that I found interesting as well. She says in issue #10, "I'm starting to see very clearly, that the difference between her love for Jack and for Sawyer is: she loves Jack even though he can't seem to love her for who she is. She loves who Jack is, and she loves Sawyer because he loves her for who she is...but Kate doesn't actually love who Sawyer is. She is hoping and wishing that Sawyer will be something else - to be more noble, but he never expects that from her. It's really beautiful and tragic, because Kate loves the wrong guy. She loves the guy who doesn't really love her..." So, is she saying that Kate's problem is the typical scenario where the girl picks the bad-boy over the nice-guy just because she thinks that she can change him? I truly hope not. Anyway, it's all good reading for this hiatus-challenged Lost fan.

9 comments:

memphish said...

Ha Ha Capcom. Looks like you've been drawn into the Skater/Jater debate against your will.

LOST Magazine can be interesting, but it's hard to know how seriously to take what anyone other than Damon Lindelof says. I think we definitely have to be careful about actor motivation because 1) the actors aren't told everything and 2) not all the actors (Evangeline Lilly notably) are into the overarching mythology of the show and so whatever they use in their "acting" (to quote Jon Lovitz) may or may not be useful to our understanding of the show.

My biggest gripe with LOST magazine is the price! It's really expensive. I agree the production information is interesting. But I'm glad that DarkUFO usually has scans so I don't have to shell out my bucks for the thing.

Ange said...

Okay wait, WHAT!? They don't grow stubble, it is sort of stuck on there instead. Okay ROFL, and LOL, and HAHAHA, etc. I think that might just be the most interesting and strange thing I have read all day.

I personally have to stay away from zines and things. I tend to want to get EVERYTHING about the show ever ever, which (like yours) end up in a pile.

I'm with Memphish and sticking with Dark UFO which I look at through my fingers just in case there is something I don't want to see.
Great post!

memphish said...

So Dr. Eyeliner is indigenous? Of course that could be Ben "I was born on this Island" smoke too. Again, the actor's, especially ones who defect to CBS shows just to put food on their own families' tables, are not the most reliable source. Still. Interesting.

And he arranged for the evil Dr. Burke to be hit by a bus, of course at only semi-evil Dr. Burke's suggestion. See this is something I'd prefer to still have ambiguous. I'd like to think Juilet was "special" like Walt.

maven said...

Great assessment of LOST magazine, Capcom! For someone who is so obsessed with the show, you'd think that I'd have every piece of paraphenalia related to it. Amazingly, I've been very good. The few issues I've seen have not impressed me, and most of the stuff can be seen at Dark's. That tidbit about the stubble was funny, though!

And, like Memphish, the only gospel on the show comes from Damon and/or Carlton...everything is just pure speculation (I guess the actors have to rationalize their motivations, even if they don't know the whole picture yet).

Capcom said...

I agree everyone! Only what Damelton Cuselof says is gospel to me.

Carbonell sounded so enthusiastic about being on the show and playing that character, it's too bad that he took the other job, but I guess an actor has to take whatever comes along, because they don't really know when their wave of popularity (or bankability) is going to end.

Yes, the price of the mag is crazy. I don't buy the special cover duplicate issue though, that's for sure! But the magazine is the only thing I'm allowing myself to buy. Until I see the trading cards though, I'll probably get a few of those. :-)

Amused2bHere said...

Sooo...anyone know how Cane is doing? Nestor may be joining us on the Island sooner than he thinks.

I also appreciate the scans on Darkufo. The last thing I need is another magazine that I can't bear to part with its back issues.

Capcom said...

Last I heard, the early reports in about Cane and some others on that channel are not stellar, but they may need some more time.

I think that so far Cane is pretty interesting, but a lot of negative conflict is being set up for the future right now. If it just turns into a show with a bunch of family people fighting each other and outsiders, it might not be palatable for very long to me.

memphish said...

Cane got an order for additional scripts. Still not a full season, but CBS likes it enough to give it some more rope.

Capcom said...

BTW, I too hope that Juliet has some ESP powers, that would be interesting.