"For Cusick Fans"

This week on the PBS series "Nova", the show veered off into more of a "Masterpiece Theater" genre, showing a two-part movie "Darwin's Darkest Hour." Henry Ian Cusick stars as Charles Darwin, looking still very much like island-Des with the longer Victorian period hair, but without the Scottish accent. Cusick plays the fatherly Darwin well, who in this stage of his life before his notes and ideas were published, balanced his passion for studying nature with family life. The 2-hour drama is interesting, but a bit heavy on the exposition. Much of Darwin's formative years of study are shown in flashbacks during talks with his wife. All in all though, a good venue for Desmond fans to see Cusick in another role.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darwin

"We've Got A Bomb"

Not much time for posting rambling words about Lost lately, I've been getting some tech training at a museum where I volunteer by day, and I've been fully engrossed in Ken Burns' "The National Parks" documentary series on PBS all this week by night. But I have been thinking about how great it was that TPTB gave us some scenes with the Hostiles in the temple-like grotto of the tunnels and taking some of the Losties there! Actually, Jack found out about Jughead before they swam to the cave, not like my liberty-taking graphic above shows, and he surprisingly believed it. He never believes anything anyone says usually, whoodathunk he'd buy that? I do have some difficulty understanding how the Hostiles moved Jughead to the grotto, I hope that we find out more about that. Maybe Smokey rolled it there, or they used Ed Leedskalnin's anti-gravity method of moving tons of coral to build a little castle garden in Florida all by himself. :-) http://coralcastle.com

By the way, if these tunnels are near and/or under the barracks, that seems to be the way that Richard evaded the security of the sonic fence when he marched in and planted the torch in the quad. Alluding to this array of tunnels also lends credence to the theory that there could be a tunnel network on the island that allowed Ethan and Goodwin to get to the wreckage sites so quickly. It also helps to picture the connection to the tunnel entrance in Ben's (and formerly Horace's?) cottage and Smokey's lair. Indeed, some details are coming together a bit for us, however sketchy.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the Lost poster activities, the latest artwork of Smokey and Eko is awesome. A very good graphic for Halloween as well.

"Some Emmy Satisfaction"

It's so fantastic that the Emmy people made the choice for Michael Emerson to win best supporting actor in a drama. Of course we all love him and wished for the best to happen last night, and there will be plenty of posts today on his win, but I couldn't resist a little Lost-gloating as a fan myself. Here's an interesting website dedicated to M.E. http://www.michaelemerson.net

"What Now Ben?"

This scene has been on my mind, and I've been wondering if this is the first time that Jacob ever touched Ben. If it is, will Ben be affected by Jacob's contact as we are to assume that the lives of the Losties that he touched were? Granted, Jack didn't seem to become any less of a tool after his encounter with Jacob at the candy machine, so I wouldn't expect miracles with Ben here. But since for whatever reason Jacob had withheld his presence from Ben, the gravity of this first contact could be a very profound one on such an attention hungry man. This could be the final straw that wrecks Ben's last good nerve, and becomes the release valve that blows the pressure that's built up in him after a life of working very hard on things that perhaps he never understood at all.

So it brings to mind the question of what's in store for Ben in S6. There are no take-backs when you bludgeon someone, Ben could stumble back from seeing Jacob callously kicked into the flames and feel that he made a terrible mistake. Or he could whip around and finish his stabbing spree on Not-Locke out of insane anger at being used for yet another killing. Maybe Jacob's phoenix spirit will whisper to Ben, the way that Obi-Wan whispered to Luke, that it's better this way. But Luke didn't kill Obi, so who knows if Ben can come back from the dark side after murdering the man he thought was his hero.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing how this event will effect Ben and what he will do next. But my imagination is leaning towards seeing the act of killing Jacob completely cracking Ben's mind under the weight of all his previous evil deeds, and then he lives the rest of his life mumbling and playing Connect-Four with Lenny at Santa Rosa.

"My Jacob Fantasy"

Before we finally learned who Jacob was, in my imagination I pictured him to be someone much like Captain Nemo. They do have similar personalities as far as we knew up to Season 5: reclusive, disliking the modern world, judgemental, with a peculiar wisdom of sorts that inspired devoted followers. Of course it would be totally unoriginal if TPTB did this, and I would not expect them too. I just enjoyed combining two of my favorite old fantasy movies ("20,000 Leagues Under The Sea", and "Mysterious Island") with the similar Lost story in my mind for a while.

And now we know that Jacob is actually two people! Well not really, but we got two for the price of one when Jacob was finally revealed, which added all kinds of confusion into the mix as far as who is telling whom to do what and for why, on the island. How about that, we were so intently trying to figure out who Jacob could be, and then they threw the Bad Twin at us too (sorry couldn't resist the reference). I pretty much dare TPTB to unwind this thing to my satisfaction by the end of Season 6, but I will bow to their artistic genius when they do.

"Second Lost Poster"

The second installment of Lost posters to buy suckered me in and I bought one. I'm number #105, dang so close. :-)

This poster is very reminiscent of the movie poster for "Vertigo", but with the wheelchair it fits better with "Rear Window", that had James Stewart in a lower body cast the entire movie. He played an intrepid globe-trotting photo journalist, and no one told his character what to do in that movie either!

This poster also has some personal meaning for me, since I've been spending the past few years recovering from aggressive chemo and radiation therapy which rendered me physically handicapped in many ways. So I have to keep telling myself that my limitations can't tell me what to do, although I often must succumb to them. I'll just keep this poster handy for inspiration!

"This Little Piggie"

On the subject of the number of Jacob's and MIB's toes, there aren't many screencaps available to assist in the research of both of the men in question. A few images confirm that Jacob has the average number of toes on an Earthling, on the foot that counts anyway -- i.e. like the left foot of the broken statue.

As for MIB, I haven't come across any definitive caps to resolve the query of his features yet. If anyone finds a good one, let us know. Tx. :-)

"I'm Just Saying - #4"

The SD convention is over now and we're back to ruminating about S5 until Lost University opens, or someone gets more information out of the odd videos of Hurley, Kate, and Oceanic Air. Meanwhile, I've been thinking about Ben and Judas Iscariot.

A few things about the finale in the statue base, and Ben overall, have been reminding me of the stories that we know about Judas. It's believed from the Gospels of the Judeo-Christian bible that Judas did not quite become a follower of Jesus' teachings and what they really meant. That is, he didn't seem to really understand that Jesus was speaking of saving Israel in a spiritual sense, and rather might have put his hopes in Jesus being an earthly conqueror in releasing the Jewish nation from the immediate physical oppressors in their promised land -- i.e., to solve all of their problems in the here and now, not in some heavenly lofty "later". If he came to realize that this was not the case, it may have made him bitter and therefore easily swayed into turning Jesus over to be accused of being a false leader.

According to the other apostles, Judas was usually the stone in the cogs for much of their missions together. For example he allegedly hoped for a high position in the kingdom that he thought Jesus was building on earth, and when he saw that wasn't going to happen, that also turned him away. He was the groups' treasurer as we know, and when Jesus was anointed in Bethany, he pretended to be concerned for the poor and the wasted money represented in using the precious oil to anoint Jesus. But Jesus and other disciples knew his intentions (and that he took funds from their moneybag [John 12:6]), illustrated in his later deal for silver coins as well. It is also thought that Judas is one of the grumbling disciples mentioned who "...turned back and no longer followed Him..." (John 6:60-71). At that point Judas might have felt as if his allegiance to Jesus was all a waste of time and wasn't going to get him anywhere. His ambitious disappointment was capped by what happened in the garden of Gethsemane, when Judas gave his former teacher over to the officials who were already annoyed with Jesus.

Judas' misunderstanding of Jesus' purpose, his misguided faith, and eventual disillusionment and betrayal, all came to my mind as Ben whined to Jacob about not getting the kind of attention that he wanted after all of his efforts in Jacob's plans. Being so worked up in his heart, Ben was an easy target for Flocke/MIB tricking him into betraying Jacob in anger, resulting in Jacob's death -- just as Judas was finally an easy bribing target for the people who wanted Jesus silenced. I also couldn't help thinking that perhaps Jacob's making Ben wait, was a type of test for Ben that he ultimately failed miserably. I also wonder if Jacob knew this the way that Jesus knew about Judas' fate.

So do I think that TPTB were specifically making parallels between Ben's and Judas' life in the final scene of betrayal by Ben and Flocke? I don't know. I'm just sayin'.

"Comic Con From Afar"

This past Sunday's Foxtrot cartoon (click for large readable jpg) just about says it all for those of us who can't get to SDCC this week, for the final participation of the Lost powers-that-be. So, we'll live vicariously through our Lost friends who can, and who'll give us their timely reports. P.S. Bill Amend is pretty neat, and very geek-friendly in his cartoons. :o)

"Separated At Birth?"

Remember the photos and book published by Spy Magazine back in the 1980s that showed non-related famous people who looked like the twin of another random famous person? Well just for fun (and because I'm all theoried-out at the moment) I've got another entry. I give you: Neil Frogurt...

...and David Bowie. Definitely twin sons from different mothers, on different continents, haha. Have a good week everyone, give a toast to all of our astronauts who went to the Moon and back 40 years ago, and hopefully we will get a little pre-ComicCon goodie sent out through the ether this week to set the tone for whatever is to come from the Lost panel coming up!

"I'm Just Saying - #3"

The scene where Charlotte pokes her head up out of the lagoon after cutting herself free from the parachute so brought to mind the scene in "Apocalypse Now" when Capt. Willard's head emerges from the river. Both Charlotte and Willard are on two missions -- to find a nutcase in control of a renegade faction, and to find the meaning of their lives. You can imagine Charlotte thinking the thoughts of Willard as she ponders her next move, "Part of me was afraid of what I would find and what I would do when I got there. I knew the risks, or imagined I knew. But the thing I felt the most, much stronger than fear, was the desire to confront him."

We don't know if Charlotte was at the end of her sanity in her search for the meaning of her past and future, as was Willard. But we can empathize with the same combination of fear and exhilaration she may have felt. And we can imagine Ben reciting the words of Col. Kurtz as well: "But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that... but you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. As for the charges against me, I am unconcerned. I am beyond their timid lying morality, and so I am beyond caring." I don't know if TPTB were trying to create a purposeful image link with Charlotte's lagoon moment and "Apocalypse Now", even though Lost bloggers have made other comparisons to Conrad's book "Heart of Darkness" in the early seasons of the show. I'm just sayin'.

"Some Lost Art From My Past"

This old dried up, cracked, and unfinished painting that I did in high school art class stares at me from the wall every time I sit at the computer. As I spend so much time online talking to my blog-buddies about Lost in front of this picture, I decided to revisit my past in Lost style, to give a new name to my old painting. I used to call it the "Cheez-Whiz" painting, for obvious reasons. But now I've renamed it "The Elizabeth" for Lost-related reasons. It makes me dislike the painting a lot less, so that's a good thing. :o)

"I'm Just Saying - #2"

Happy 4th, Losties! The other part of the finale that reminded me of "Planet Of The Apes", was the emergence of Richard, Flocke, and Ilana's group at the base of the broken statue. This scene was of course reminiscent of the finale of the first Apes movie, when Taylor and Nova came upon the remnants of the Statue of Liberty on the beach. We know what happened to the statue on the apes' planet, but we don't yet know for sure what broke the island statue. Although I'd guess that it might have been fairly cataclysmic since there are no pieces of the top remaining on the beach. Did it get blown to bits by the cannons of the Black Rock? Perhaps the indigenous islanders attacked the Black Rock as it approached. Or was the ship's crew just in a state of panic after they accidentally went through a violent vortex, and arrived at the island thinking that they had been attacked?

Another interesting note, is that I've heard that the book or tablet that the Statue Of Liberty is holding is called the Book Of Law. We know that's the name of the book that Richard showed young Locke when he visited his house for what we've come to call Locke's Dalai Lama test. The Book of Law is also named in the section of the bible that Mr. Eko quoted to Locke in the Swan station. I'm just sayin'. :o)

"I'm Just Saying - #1"

This is the first of a few posts where I'm just going to express the thoughts that I got while watching the finale. Thoughts like, what an aspect of the show reminded me of in a cinematic, literary, biblical, philosophical, or whatever, connection. I don't want to read too much (or sometimes anything) into what the scene brought to my mind. It's just a bubble of thought that rose to the surface of my fermenting Lost brain.

For instance, the minute Juliet began to go for the bomb, it reminded me of the scene in "Beneath The Planet Of The Apes" where Taylor makes his last dying act -- one that sets off the bomb to destroy the waring apes and mutants, and put an end to the madness. Oddly enough before he does it Zaius tells him, "Man is evil, capable of nothing but destruction," similar to what the MIB told Jacob on the beach. I'm just sayin'. :o)

"Sayid's Paradox"

Hey Sayidsgirl over at TLC, this pic's for you. :-) Seriously, this is such a good screencap shot, it would make a great painting (I should do that this hiatus). Poor Sayid has been through so much, and worked so hard on the island to do the right things in his life going forward, as well as simultaneously being the Losties' personal post-crash MacGyver. Yet after all he's done to attempt to chase down some redemption for himself from his past, he appears to be one of the Losties whose destiny seems doomed to follow purposes much less noble than he would like to choose for himself. Sayid knows some dangerous skills that he'd like to forget, but those abilities repeatedly come in handy for their survival since the crash on this crazy island. Events continually transpire that threaten the castaways' survival, and Sayid's experience is often the only option available to save them at that moment.

For instance, consider his decision to shoot Little Bennie at the edge of Dharmville. I wonder if TPTB want Sayid to be as confused as I am, about his decision to kill a mere boy in the attempt to stop an evil man? In the movie Kung Fu Panda, Master Oogway tells Master Shifu that, "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it." Could Sayid's solution here fall under the causal loop paradox (Wiki:A time traveler attempting to alter the past in this model, intentionally or not, would only be fulfilling their role in creating history as we know it, not changing it"), or is he merely trying so hard to change the future, that he's actually bringing it to pass? Often in life we can cause something that we fear to happen, because our extreme behavior places us in that path after all. We are left to wonder if this will be the outcome of Sayid's questionable attempt to eliminate Bennie, in order to remove the trouble that the adult Ben has caused. Did Ben the man become evil because of his father, or because of losing his innocence via the island's magical healing due to Sayid's interference? Perhaps it would have happened either way, i.e., that was Ben's destiny and whatever happened between childhood and manhood, he would still end up being the little dictator of whatever world he lived in.

So TPTB leave us to wonder, will Sayid's intention really rid the world of a manipulating, conniving, sociopathic Benjamin Linus? Or does his attempt to eliminate Bennie actually cause the rising of evil adult Ben? These problems seem to plague Sayid across the board. He wants to be a good man, but circumstances and fate seem to keep thrusting him into a role that he doesn't desire to play in life. But as always Sayid comes to the rescue for the cause, even after taking Ben's future into his own hands, because he never gives up on helping the people that he believes to be on the side of good and sincerity. Are his motives still benevolent even if his methods are not? Hopefully Sayid will come to terms with that in Season 6, if he doesn't die from his gunshot wounds. TPTB often leave Sayid in precarious places emotionally and physically, but now that he's facing death for real he's going to need some peace of mind and personal redemption even more than before. I hope that TPTB let him find it either way.