The Finest Kind of Pork

2011-07-30T19:58:00.001-04:00

Hi All. Hope things have been good for you.

I'm on tumblr now. If you like, you can follow me here.

Sorry, still no Twitter. One thing at a time...

2010-07-02T07:08:00.005-04:00

On Break

Hi all. TFKoP will be taking a break for a while. My idea-well has run out and I've been on cruise control on the site of late. Because I think the name The Finest Kind of Pork is such a wicked awesome name, I expect to be back. Maybe not on blogger, but somewhere on the net. If it happens, I'll post it here to let you know.

Until that time, I'm on break.

Thanks to all for stopping by and reading. Enjoy the archives.

--joe

2010-06-21T08:16:00.004-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

The Goonies was on this weekend. Seems like a good time for this...

2010-06-16T19:15:00.001-04:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Lumper’s helper (characterization)

Usage:

Since a lumper does absolutely mindless stevedore work, a lumper’s helper would hardly be a fountainhead of erudition. In fact, he’d probably be number than a pounded thumb: “wouldn’t know enough to pour water out of a boot - with the directions stamped on the heel.”

A lumper’s helper might be number’n a hake, but since he does accomplish something in the way of physical labor, he is a cut above a zero.

2010-06-15T19:46:00.003-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that B&M Baked Beans were first sold in 1927? Produced by the Burnham & Morrill Company in Portland, ME, this product took nearly seven years of testing before B&M Brick Oven Baked Beans hit the store shelves. They continue to be made in Portland.

The Burham & Morrill Company has been in business since 1867.

picture from www.americangoodies.nl

2010-06-14T08:23:00.000-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

2010-06-09T20:56:00.002-04:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Glom (Adj. or V.) (spelled ‘cruise’)

Definition: to grasp

Usage:

“Get your great. glomming paws out of that peanut butter fudge. Your sister might want a dite, you know.”

Or:

“When Edwin saw those brand new work gloves going for fifty cents at the auction, he glommed right onto the whole lot of them. Nobody else got a single pair.”

2010-06-08T17:44:00.002-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that our Sun will run out of fuel in about 5 billion years? When that happens, the outer layers of the Sun will expand (far enough out to turn the Earth into a barren, lifeless rock) and will then collapse on itself.

Currently, the Sun turns hyrdogen into helium at a rate of about five million tons per second. Holy moly! Eventually, though, like all stars, our life-providing star will run out of fuel. Prior to that happening, however, changes in the Sun’s output will make life on Earth more difficult. In about a million and a half years, the energy output from the Sun will increase by 10%. That may not seem like a lot, but the Earth will have difficulty keeping this extra energy out and life on Earth will be affected.

Read more about this here, if you dare.

Picture from http://discovervedanta.files.wordpress.com

2010-06-07T10:04:00.000-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

2010-05-31T18:55:00.000-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

the PM Edition

2010-05-25T21:43:00.003-04:00

LOST, Season 6, Episodes 17&18, The End, Parts 1 & 2

Okay, let’s just get this out of the way first, because it may have caused some confusion. The Losties were not dead for all six seasons. The stuff that happened on the Island happened to them...the Oceanic 815 crash, the time jumping, the button, the freighter...all of it...happened. The Flash Sideways, however, was where the Losties went after they died, awaiting the arrival of the other important people from their lives. The hydrogen bomb that detonated at the end of last season did not trigger the Flash Sideways. All it did was destroy the station, and I guess one can assume that Jack, Kate, Sawyer, et al didn’t die in that blast because they were protected as Candidates.

And for the final time, away we go...

Desmond: His unique ability in handling large doses of electromagnetic forces somehow allows him to remove the stone that kept the Light on and prevented the Island from going dark. Once removed, the light from the underground chamber went out and the water from the stream stopped flowing. Oh, and the Island became unstable and was rocked by small quakes. Jack gets him out of the chamber so he can return home to Penny. In Purgatory, his whole mission has been to pull all of these awaiting consciousnesses (is that a word?), or souls, of the Losties. A mission he’s accomplished wonderfully, brotha, with a little help from Hurley.

Uncorking the Island: Once the Light was darkened when Desmond pulled the stone plug, the power that had been bestowed upon SMonster, the power of immortality, was gone. If you assume Jack also gained a similar power when he took over from Jacob, you can also assume he lost the power too at this time. The problem, however, is that once the Light went out, the end of the world was started. With the stone removed, the Island essentially was dying, and with it, so would everything else.

SMonster: Assists Jack in getting Desmond down the chamber to venture into the Light, but once done and the resulting quakes begin, he and Jack fight as Jack attempts to keep the SMonster on the Island. During the fight, he knifes Jack in the abdomen and also cuts him slightly on the neck. Distracted, and not knowing that his immortality no longer exists, he is shot by Kate and fall. Jack then kicks him over the cliff where he crashes to death on an outcropping of rocks above the surf line.

John Locke: In the Purgatory Flash Sideways, after getting surgery on his back by Dr Jack Shephard, he flashes back to the Island timeline, and realizes that he is about to move on to his next existence. “I hope someone does for you, what you just did for me”, Locke says, meaning that he hopes that someone triggers Jack’s memory about what is happening.

Jack: Jack took on the role of Jacob, but did hold this position long. The stab wound from SMonster was a mortal wound and Jack knew this. To ensure the Island would stay protected, he mixed up a bottle of water (didn’t say any incantation or make any magic happen) and passed the baton of Island Protector to Hurley, who drank the water. One final act existed for Dr Shephard...replacing the stone in the hole of the Chamber of Light. Once he completed this task, the Light returned, the water began flowing again, the World was saved, and the end of Jack Shephard was near. But his arc of redemption was complete: he gave his life to protect others. In the Purgatory line, seeing Kate and ultimately the empty coffin of his father triggers his memories of the Island as he accepts that it’s time to move on. This story has really always been about Jack Shephard.

Hurley: Takes over the role of Island Protector from Jack before Jack succumbs to the mortal stab wound from SMonster. Over in the Purgatory side, when the end comes he knows what’s going on as does Desmond (and so, apparently does Boone). Going back to the first episode of the season on the Oceanic 815 flight, Hurley told Sawyer “I’m the luckiest guy alive.” I think Hurley arrived on the flight having died on the Island after his stint as Protector and was no longer the loser Hurley, but the Island Protector Hurley.

Ben: Ben does not go through with his statement to the SMonster that he would kill whomever needed to be killed. Instead, Ben helps Team Jackob defeat the SMonster. Ben’s reward for this? He becomes Hurley’s right hand man, his Number One (like Richard was to Jacob). Great scene between Hurley and Dr Linus in the Purgatory timeline. Great scene between Ben and Locke as John heads into the Purgatory church. Ben apologizes for what he did to Locke on the Island. Locke forgives him. Ben does not go in, however, likely he’s waiting for Alex and Danielle Rousseau.

Bernard & Rose & Vincent: Nice to see them, even if it was ever so briefly. And thanks for getting Desmond out of the well!

Daniel (Farraday) Widmore & Charlotte Lewis: Also nice to see them get together at Daniel’s recital, accompanied by Charlie Pace and his band Driveshaft.

Sun & Jin Kwon: In the Sideways, they meet up with Sawyer, aka James Ford, after they’ve had their revelation. Jin smiles, knowing that Ford will soon join them on their continuing journey.

Frank Lapidus & Miles Straum: Nice to see that Lapidus was not killed in the sub accident after all. With the help of Miles and Richard he is able to get the Ajira plane ready for take-off. As they are getting ready to take off, Sawyer and Kate come out of the jungle with Claire. They board the plane and take off, flying over a dying Jack as they leave the Island.

Richard: Somehow freed from his immortal life, most likely when Jacob died. Finds a grey hair on his head and smiles. Works with Lapidus and Miles to repair the plane. When he leaves the Island, it will be for the first time for a very, very, very long time, well over 100 years.

The Flash Sideways, it turns out, was a purgatory-like place that the souls, for lack of a better term, of our favorite Losties stayed in until the whole group was back together. To be together meant they had to die, but since purgatory has no sense of time, it didn’t matter how long it took for their mortal life to pass. It was a place for these friends/family, a place created by them to await the people they want to be with when the pass over to whatever happens after purgatory. Maybe something, maybe nothing. In our Losties’ in-between area, it seems that the first person who would’ve been there was Christian Shephard, and they all waited until Hurley and Ben arrived after their undisclosed length of time as Caretakers of the Island, before going into the light. They are led on this final journey by Jack’s father, Christian Shephard.

And as the series began, the final scene was that of Jack on the Island, on his back in the bamboo forest. This time, however, he’s dying from the stab wound. Vincent saunters over from the bushes and lays next to Jack. A close-up of Jack’s eye and it shuts.

Other stuff

--The themes of redemption and relying on others were central to this show and highlighted especially here in this final episode.

--Not sure why Jack would’ve had a kid in the Flash Sideways timeline as he didn’t have a kid in his real life.

--Not sure why Aaron was a baby in the Flash Sideways Purgatory. Did he die as a child, or were the Purgatory memories from the time they first met?

--Michael was not in the Church at the end with the other Losties because he already explained that he did bad things in his life that will keep him trapped on the Island, probably whispering a lot.

--It was never explained why Walt was so special, as referred to by Tom, aka Mr Friendly. The Others took Walt (for Jacob, one assumes) for some reason, but once he left the Island, we only saw him a couple of other times. Also wonder why he wouldn’t have joined them in the Flash Sideways in the Church.

--We never learned what caused healing to occur on the Island, especially in the cases of Locke and Rose.

--Knowing that the cut on Jack’s neck came from the blade of SMonster makes it seem like the first scene of this final season, with Jack and many of the other Losties on the Oceanic 815 flight, was the point when Jack had died on the Island and was now on his way to wait in the Flash Sideways Purgatory for his other friends to arrive.

--The scenes of the characters reuniting as they got closer to leaving the Purgatory were really good, I thought. My favorites were Sawyer & Juliet, and Charlie & Claire.

--With the SMonster killed, it would appear that all subsequent caretakers of the Island won’t have to worry about the eeeeevil escaping, they’ll just have to prevent Mankind from trying to take the Light from the Island.

--Nice scene with Hurley and Ben outside of the Church, when Hurley tells Ben that he was a good Number Two, and Ben replies that Hurley was a great Number One.

I’m glad the writers/producers stuck to their story lines instead of coming up with a lame final episode. It doesn’t matter that all the little detailed questions weren’t answered. I watched this show for all six seasons because the characters and how they interacted was what drove this series. The Island, the mysteries were all great additions, but the show was about these main characters. And quite honestly, knowing that in the end they found their peace made for a nice happy ending for a bunch of people who really had difficult lives.

Thanks for reading everybody!

Namaste.

2010-05-25T16:36:00.004-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that W.A. Bean & Sons in Bangor, Maine have been selling quality meats and products for 150 years? Probably best known for the red hot dogs (‘red hots’), W.A. Bean also has pork products, chicken, pepperoni, roast beef and tuna, as well as breads, cheeses, deli meats and rolls, just to name some of their extensive product line.

Want to know how a hot dog is made? Well, okay, maybe not. But if you do, local Bangor newswoman Sharon Pelletier went to W.A. Bean and learned the process back in January 2010 and has the story here. (Note: Link available and working as of this post)

So the next time you’re in Maine, be sure to grab a Beans red hot dog or visit their shop on the Bomarc Road.

Congrats, W.A. Bean on your longevity in business in Maine! Here's hoping you have another 150 to go.

Rock guitarist Gary Hoey on a recent visit to the area enjoying a red hot dog

2010-05-24T11:36:00.002-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

(FYI: Tom Wilson played 'Biff' in the Back to the Future series)

2010-05-23T19:05:00.002-04:00

LOST Season 6 Episode 16 What They Died For

“We’re very close to the end, Hugo” - Jacob

No kidding.

Jacob: Jacob selected Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, the Kwons, etc. from their banal, going-nowhere lives as the Candidates to take over for him. One would need to take over his role as Island Protector. With Jacob’s ashes slowly burning away in the fire, someone would have to step up. After admitting that it was he who created the SMonster (by hucking his dead brother’s body down into the Stream of Light), and it would now be the responsibility of one of the Candidates to keep SMonster on the Island. To let him leave would mean that the secret of the Stream of Light would get out and presumably, all of mankind would fall. Jacob picked people who were like him, flawed, alone, but trying to correct past wrongs, people who were like the show’s title, lost. Jacob, unlike when the role was put upon him, allows the four remaining Candidates (Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, and Jack), whom can all see Jacob now, free-will to take over the role. He tells Kate she was crossed off the list because she became a mother. Does he mean to Aaron, or is she really now pregnant (with Jack’s kid)?

Jack: Accepts the role of the Candidate, drinks the magic water-to-wine given to him by Jacob (in the same way Eve gave the wine to Jacob) and in drinking it, Jack accepts the role. Call him Jackob. Jack has been a complete a-hole for so much of the show in his always wanting to be in charge, even when his decisions proved wrong over and over again. In his return to the Island on the Ajira flight (only three weeks ago, Island time), he has humbled himself and stepped back, allowing others the right to make decisions without Jack always overriding them. He has come full circle and hit some redemption. Flash-Sideways Jack is going to a concert that his son (David) is part of, and expects to see David’s mother there. As we have yet seen who the mother of Jack’s son is, it’s safe to assume we’ll see her at the concert. most likely the one being held at the museum where Miles’ father works (as does Charlotte). Likely this will be the same concert that Desmond is bringing Hurley, et al to also. A Driveshaft concert, perhaps?

Adam/SMonster/FLocke: Getting ready for the final battle to get off the Island. He offs Zoey by slitting her throat. He gets Ben to join him, asking him to kill some people. Ben agrees, but this could be subterfuge on Ben’s part. Regardless, Adam’s agenda is to destroy the Island. Flash Sideways Locke returns to see Jack and talks about his experience being hit by Desmond, what Dr Linus told him about his encounter with Desmond, and that he believes destiny is bringing them together.

Charles Widmore: Claims he returned to the Island after Jacob visited him and invited him back.....? Before being shot and killed by Ben, Charles tells Adam/SMonster/FLocke that he came back to get Desmond back on the Island because of his unique resistance to electromagnetism, making him a measure of last resort, a fail safe to ensure that SMonster does not get off the Island. But how?

Ben: Kills Widmore after Adam talks to him, ensuring that Widmore will not be able to save Penny if Adam does leave the Island. Agrees also to kill some people for Adam, but ‘who’ has yet to be revealed. Flash Sideways Ben gets beat up by Desmond as Des continues his trek to merge the timelines by using violence to flash the other timeline into the memories of the Flash Sideways characters. The scene between Mr Locke and Dr Linus in the hospital was interesting, as Ben describes his experience with Desmond, unbeknownst to Ben is that Mr Locke also had the same experience.

Richard: Gets lifted up and chucked by the SMonster, but we don’t see if he is actually killed or not.

Hurley: Working with Desmond in the Flash Sideways, he recognizes Ana Lucia, but she does not know him.

Danielle Rousseau: **va va vooom!** She pulls up to the school to pick up Alex and also meets Dr Ben Linus for the first time. She tells him that he has been like a father to her and suggests that they will be dining together often.

Desmond: Someone has gotten him out of the well (Sayid, perhaps?)? Jacob? Flash Sideways Desmond continues to bring the memories of the Island timeline into the minds of the Flash Sideways folks. He starts by beating up Dr Linus. After doing this, he turns himself into the police, who by no coincidence happen to be Sawyer/Ford and Miles Straume. They proceed to place him in a jail cell with Sayid (arrested for killing Keamey and his team), with Kate (arrested for stealing the car and being the fugitive on the run) in an adjoining cell. No coincidence there. Later meets up with Hurley, who brings money to pay-off corrupt cop Ana Lucia (hello, Ana!) who lets Kate and Sayid go. She takes some hush-hush money delivered by Hurley and leaves (“She’s not ready” according to Desmond) and they all leave to go to the concert (Kate with Desmond, and Sayid with Hurley). It’s doubtful this can be any concert but the one being attended to by Jack, his son and the as-yet-unknown-mother-of-Jack’s-kid-but-is-likely-someone-we-know.

Funny

--”If you want me I’ll be running through the forest”, Miles to Ben when learning that the SMonster was on his way.

--”I thought that guy had a God-complex before”, Sawyer to Kate after Jack accepts the role of Jacob to protect the Island

Yeah, I got this wrap-up out late, only hours before the final episode. I’ll put together a final wrap-up at some point over the next week. May take a while to write that one up.

Tune in tonight, Sunday, at 9pm EST for the final episodes of LOST. Although it’s being shown as a two-and-a-half hour finale, they actually have the episodes titled The End, Part 1 (episode 17), and The End, Part 2 (episode 18).

2010-05-20T09:55:00.002-04:00

Wednesday’s Word (the Thursday Edition)

Word: Croose (V.) (spelled ‘cruise’)

Definition: to inspect forest acreage

Usage:

This is normally done, however, by a timber croozer (spelled ‘cruiser’).

2010-05-18T21:26:00.002-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that it was 30 years ago today that Mt St Helens, in Washington state, erupted, killing 57 people? The eruption decreased the size of the mountain by 400 meters! The history of this volcano is here.

picture from volcano-pictures.info

2010-05-17T21:09:00.004-04:00

LOST Season 6 Episode 15 Across The Sea

Jacob and Man in Black are brothers? I didn’t see that coming.

“Every question I answer will simply lead to another question” - Eve

And that, my friends, is the writers and producers way of letting you know that they will clear up some of the questions this show has created, but not all of them. So, have fun with your theories and ides because that’s an underlying thing with this show...the people who watch are actively involved with it.

On we go.

Murdering Mom, who we can refer to as Eve, I suppose, was on the Island. It’s obvious someone/thing was there before her, but for our story, it starts with her. Oh, and she’s a murderer. Claudia was the victim of a shipwreck on the Island (probably not coincidence) and it was Murdering Mom (Eve) who knocked her with the rock and stole her just-born twins, Jacob and No-Name. It would appear to be set back in Roman times...? Anyway, raising these kids as her own, she has essentially been testing them to see who would be the one to protect the Island when she was gone. In end, it seems as though she knew it was her time to go, sending Jacob off to get firewood as Adam would come into the cave and kill her. Her “thank you” at the end would indicate that things went exactly as she planned them.

Jacob: The good boy, wrapped in a white blanked after he was born. But his dark side would come through on two occassions. The first was when the teenage Adam wants to leave him and Eve to go join the “Others” on the Island, people who were part of the ship that crashed with their Mother - their real mother - on it. The second time when Adam killed Eve and he would take him down to the Stream of Light. Jacob would also face his own trials, including his short temper regarding Adam, and also his murder of Adam. (Biblical alert: this episode mirrors the story of Esau, brother of Jacob. Esau being the brother entitled to inherit the wealth of their father, but it was Jacob who would get it when Esau sold his rights away to Jacob.)

Adam: The evil one, wrapped in a dark blanket after he was born, a surprise to his real mother who didn’t even have a name picked out for him. His desire to leave the Island, to go across the sea, is what drives him. He’s only known the Island and wants to know what else is out there. After learning that his real mother was killed by Eve, he joins the Others and ends up manipulating them to dig the wells used to look for the electromagnetic anomaly which Adam hoped would lead him to the Stream of Light. It turns out that Adam becomes the SMonster after being killed by Jacob and thrown into the stream.

The Rules: Whatever powers these beings have as part of the Island-protecting they do, they are governed somewhat by Eve’s statement that she made it so that Jacob and Adam wouldn’t be able to hurt each other. (I guess the two beatings and the fact that Jacob killed Adam, albeit accidently before throwing him into the Stream of Light, don’t count.) This is why Adam/SMonster, in the shape of Locke, had Ben kill Jacob. That was his way around The Rules.

The Stream: The magic - or whatever you want to call it - of the Island has to do with the light that comes up from a stream running under the rocks. According to Eve, there is a little of this light in every living person. The warmest, brightest light you’ve ever seen or felt. But, it must be kept from humans because they will always want more and they will try to take the light. If they take the light it will go out, everywhere. Jacob and Adam have been groomed all of their life to protect this light from being found by Man. However, when Jacob beats Adam to a pulp for killing Eve, when he throws him into the stream, Adam’s head hits a rock and it kills him. It’s Adam’s dead body that is pulled down into the stream. Moments later, as the light dims, the SMonster comes roaring up and out of the stream entrance. It’s possible Eve was right when she told Jacob that if you go down into the Light, it’s worse than death.

The Island Wheel: First created by Adam. When he and the other Island people found the electromagnetic anomalies, they would dig deep wells trying to find the source. The Wheel was created by Adam to somehow manipulate the electromagnetic source and the water to move off of the Island. (Apparently they only end up in Tunisia, though.)

Adam & Eve: First found by Jack in the caves when he went looking for his father’s body, they end up being the lady who killed Jacob’s/Adam’s mother, and Adam himself. The black and white stones that Jack found in the leather sack in Adam’s hand were put there by Jacob and were from the board game that Adam played as a kid.

Interesting

--When Claudia appeared to her son, Adam, and told him that she was his real Mother, do you think that was the SMonster in the shape of Claudia? Since Claudia’s dead body was on the Island, it would’ve been able to assume her shape.

--The young blond haired boy that FLocke/Adam/SMonster has been seeing is Jacob from when he was a teenager.

--Eve was able to wipe out the Other men that Adam was with, and fill in the well? All by herself? Maybe she was also the SMonster...

--Eve killed all of Adam’s men because they had seen the Light and had ideas of what to do with it. She had to kill them and fill in the well so Adam wouldn’t be able to do anything with the Light. She could allow them to leave the Island with knowledge of the Light.

--Adam was called special by Eve when he was younger. Walt was also called special and so was Aaron. Maybe kids are considered special because they haven’t been corrupted by being an adult.

Answered

--They are selecting a Candidate to take over for Jacob, to protect the Island from being used by outside men. Adam/SMonster wants to leave because he’s never been off the Island.

--It must be kids who are selected to be Candidates. Jacob and his brother were taken as kids. Also, The Others took the kids from Oceanic 815, and since The Others were working for Jacob, it would make sense they would take the kids.

Reminder: all of this season’s stories have been taking place in the Lost timeline over the course of about two weeks. It’s only been about two weeks since the Ajira plane that Lapidus was flying landed back on the Island with Jack, Hurley, Kate, Sun, Sawyer, etc. The night before that flight, Jack and Kate hooked up, remember? Is there a possibility that Kate is pregnant with Jack’s kids and they will both stay on the Island to prepare the next Candidates...their kids? Booyah!

Also, I’m guessing that Desmond is going to end up going into the Stream of Light, but because he is protected from these electromagnetic anomalies, he’ll be safe to enter the light...for whatever purpose he’ll need to this for.

The final regular season episode of Lost will air Tuesday night, May 17 at 9pm. This is Episode 16, titled What They Died For.

The final episode of Lost will be Sunday night, May 23rd. It is titled The End, and will be a two-and-a-half hours long, starting at 9pm EST.

Ep 17 The End (pt 1) will be shown as part of 2 1/2 hour series finale (Sunday, May 23)

Ep 18 The End (pt 2) will be shown as part of 2 1/2 hour series finale

Until next week, I gotta go fix my loom.

2010-05-17T09:06:00.002-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

Bacon!

2010-05-12T22:45:00.001-04:00

Wednesday's Word

Word: Yahn (V.) yarn

Definition: to haul or drag - usually connotes futility.

Usage:

“I had to yahn that trailer all around the camping area three times before Mother found a place she’d let me park it.”

2010-05-11T20:54:00.004-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that earthworms serve many more purposes than just being used to bait a fishing hook? They: aerate soil, help create compost, enrich soil with nitrogen. And lots more! Find out how much more here!

photo from www.conservationmagazine.org

2010-05-10T17:17:00.006-04:00

Lost, Season 6, Episode 14, The Candidate

Okay okay. I'm lame. At this point, though, it seems like it's just time to site back and enjoy the rest of the ride. The series is definitely moving towards some closure, as indicated by the ever increasing body count, and indicated by the fact that the two timelines are merging at such at rapid rate. (Though to be honest, the body has been rising all season, it's just been mostly with bit players who spend their time in the background of the show.)

See, once the Flash Sideways "collapses" (for lack of a better word), the Man in Black (FLocke) will no longer have another timeline to use as a way to show the Losties how things 'could've been'. That timeline will soon be no more, I think. But I've said this before.

Jin and Sun? RIP. Bummer to see you go (though we may see you a couple more times in the Flash Sideways), but it's not a shock to see characters dropping to the wayside. Though to be honest, I didn't think they'd be casualties of the Jacob/Man in Black game. I had hoped that they'd get home to Ji Yeon. But that won't be. She'll have one helluva trust fund, I imagine.

Lapidus? Yeah, bummed to see him go, assuming of course that he also died in the sub. Though this was not visually confirmed, it seems likely: knocked out by iron door, unable to escape from sub = drowned.

Sayid? It was obvious you would be part of the death toll, but at least you went out as the cool Sayid. And yes, it's obvious that Desmond convinced you that working for FLocke was not a good idea.

FLocke? His con to get them on the sub to wipe out as many candidates as possible failed (thanks Sayid!), but he'll keep trying.

Kate? Still the one candidate that nobody seems to know is available. FLocke thinks she's not one because her name was crossed off in the cave, but he doesn't know that she was still active on the Lighthouse list.

More losses will be on the way, but thus far the survival of Kate, Jack and Hurley still goes a long way towards my previously prediction that they'll be three that remain on the Island when Team Jacob beats down on FLocke and his flock. The sad part of that is that it's likely that Cindy and the kids could be cannon-fodder in the final upcoming battle.

I still believe Charles Widmore is working with Jacob and his reason for putting Sawyer, Kate, et al into the Hydra cages was to protect them. Widmore likely did not expect Jack to break them out, but what's done is done. But unless there's another of these rules we don't know about, why didn't Widmore just tell them "Hey, I'm here to protect you. Get in the cage", or something like that.

Sawyer: you idiot. If you hadn't pulled the wires out of the C4, it wouldn't have blown up. But his history with Jack is well known, and there was (is?) no way he'll follow Jack. Could Sawyer end up in the body pile when all is said and done? It seems likely.

The fate of Desmond? Hmmm...good question. I'm not sure. He'll obviously play a pivotal role in how this all shakes out, but whether he lives or dies is beyond me at this point. I hope he lives. We also have to see what parts Richard, Ben and Miles will play in the coming resolution.

I'd be okay with Widmore biting it, though. Zoey will be part of the grand solution along with Desmond. I may even have a sense that nobody else will be leaving the Island. We'll see.

As the Flash Sideways players continue to "see" (is that the right word?) what's going on in the Island timeline, it continues the merge of the two that we have also been seeing all season. Only one timeline will exist in the end, and it will be the Island timeline.

And Man In Black will lose and remain trapped on the Island. I think.

With this week's second to the last regular season episode, Across the Sea, the preview teased that it will be story about how Jacob and Man in Black came to be. That'll be a good one.

The following Tuesday we'll see the episode Why They Died and this will wrap up the regular weekly series episodes. Sunday night, May 23rd, the 2 1/2 hour season finale, The End (parts 1 & 2) will present the end as the writers and producers have been setting it up.

Will it meet your expectations? Who knows? The one thing I still want to know, however, is: what was in the bag that Hurley found in beach camp?

Until next time, I have to go and take a long, long look into my mirror.

2010-05-10T09:47:00.000-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

2010-05-05T21:49:00.001-04:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Unthaw (V.)

Definition: to thaw

Usage:

When something is taken out of the freezer to get ready for dinner later, it is taken out to unthaw. (Though to un-thaw something would actually be to freeze it as you would be taking it from a thawed state)

2010-05-04T18:49:00.001-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that there are no venomous snakes in Maine? Now you do.

2010-05-03T12:16:00.000-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

2010-04-28T21:53:00.001-04:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Take a fit (V. phrase)

Definition: to yield to impulse.

Usages:

“I took a fit to buy me a beagle pup. They’re supposed to be good with kids.”

“Is he?”

“Oh yes, wouldn’t bit a biscuit.”

2010-04-27T19:18:00.001-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Something a little different this week. A video "Did You Know..."!

2010-04-26T22:53:00.003-04:00

LOST Season 6 Episode 13 The Last Recruit

Hurley: His decision to merge his group with FLocke’s led to some interesting situations for our Losties.

Jack: Jack gets to address FLocke for the first time and finds out that it was the SMonster himself that posed as Jack’s dead father, Christian. As he continues his turn from a Man of Science to a Man of Faith, Jack takes it upon himself to abandon the boat from the Island when he says that leaving doesn’t feel right and Sawyer says “see yah later”. Before jumping off, he tells Sawyer that he’s sorry he got Juliet killed. Jack swims back to the Island, where FLocke is waiting. Knocked nearly unconscious by a bomb launched by Team Widmore, he is carried away by FLocke who tells him not to worry, “you’re with me now.” OH NO! Could Jack be overtaken by the same darkness that has taken over Claire and Sayid? In the Flash-Sideways, Jack also meets up with Locke, this time as the surgeon brought in to work on the battered and bleeding John Locke, put into this condition by Desmond’s intentional hit-and-run.

FLocke: Attempts to convince Jack that he has been helping him all along. Posing as his dead father Christian, he lead Jack to the drinking water, or so he says. Also says he’s been trying to help Jack leave the Island and wants him to accompany everybody to the plane to leave the Island. FLocke tells Jack that Locke was a sucker, a sucker who believed that he was brought to the Island for a reason. After Zoe enters the camp demanding the return of Desmond (though she doesn’t say his name) and a display of the firepower from Team Widmore, he destroys the walkie-talkine she had given him to contact them. Saying “Well, here we go”, FLocke has just fired the starting gun, I believe, for the chaos to come. Expect the body count to begin rising.

Locke: In the Flash-Sideways, Locke is being brought to the hospital in an ambulance, accompanied by Ben Linus. Locke gives the name of Helen as his contact, telling Ben that he is going to marry her. Entering the hospital on his gurney, he is brought into the ER the same time that Sun, injured by the gunshot of Keamey, is being brought into the ER. He does not recognize her, but Sun, who has never met John Locke in the this timeline, recognizes him.

Sawyer/James Ford: On the Island, he turns on FLocke and takes Desmond’s sailboat, Elizabeth, and some of the people from the FLocke tribe, with him. In the Flash Sideways, as the cop, he talks to Kate about fate bringing them together, and later arrests Sayid.

Sayid: FLocke sends Sayid to kill Desmond, saying he will have to do this in order to get what was promised to him. At the well, Desmond asks Sayid what he’s getting, and when he tells him he’s getting Nadia back, Desmond asks Sayid what he will tell Nadia when she’s back from the dead. How will he tell her that it cost another life to bring her back? Later, Sayid tells FLocke that he killed Desmond, but we never see this, and it doesn’t appear that he did. In the Flash Sideways, Sayid is on the run from the cops (turns out it’s James Ford and Miles Straume) for the killing of Keamey and his men, who were of course shaking down Sayid’s brother, who married Nadia in that timeline.

Claire: Finally able to talk to Claire with both of them aware that they are brother and sister. It’s not a very comfortable conversation, but Claire hugs Jack and tells him that she thinks it’s good he’s going to be going with FLocke. When Jack tells her he hasn’t decided, she says “you decided the moment you let him talk to you, just like the rest of us. Like it or not, you’re with him now.” Claire does have a moment of...wait for it---wait for it....CLAIRE-ity when she joins Sawyer, Jack, Kate, Sun, Hurley and Frank Lapidus on the sailboat heading to Hydra Island, noting, however, that FLocke will be mad when he finds them gone. Flash Sideways Claire is at an appointment to meet with an adoption agency when Desmond shows up and brings her instead to another office in the building. The office being a law firm that Ilana is part of. Ilana?? Yes, THAT Ilana.

Ilana: In the Flash Sideways, it turns out that Ilana is a lawyer who represents Jack’s dead father, Christian. For the reading of the will, Desmond brings Claire to see her while Jack is there, and it’s here that she informs Jack that she is Christian’s daughter and that she and Jack are brother and sister.

Kate: Her impassioned speech to calm Claire to get her on the sailboat was nice. Admitting that she never should have raised Aaron, that it should’ve been Claire and that the only reason she came back to the Island was to get Claire back to be with Aaron melts Claire a little and she agrees to go with them.

Sun: Okay look, her reunion with Jin was awesome. But to all of the sudden be able to talk again...that was a stretch. And to have Lapidus say “Looks like someone got their voice back” was corny. Sun spoke, we heard her, we don’t need it pointed out that she just spoke. In the Flash Sideways, the good news about her is that she recovers from the surgery for the gunshot wound, the pregnancy was not compromised, and in a possible prediction, Jin says “It’s over and we’re all going to be okay.”

Funny

--Ford/Sawyer referring to Frank Lapidus as “that pilot who looks like just stepped off of the set of a Burt Reynolds movie”

Interesting

--Ummm...did the well that Desmond is in suddenly become shorter than it looked last week when he was pushed into it? What’s up with that?

--There’s been an increase in the appearance of the numbers, but this time in the Flash Sideways. It seemed that the numbers were resolved with the numbers corresponding to the list of Jacob’s Candidates. Maybe there’s another correlation for the numbers regarding the Flash Sideways incidents.

--There was another longgg stare into a mirror, this time from Jack in the operating room.

--I guess Charles Widmore had no intention of keeping his word with Sawyer. What a shocker. Not.

Question

--Jack (whose name is kind of similar to Jacob) and FLocke on the beach together the same way as Jacob and Man in Black to end the series? Any takers?

--I really don't have any more questions. I'm just going to let the series unfold.

Some unfortunate news....the episode on Tuesday, April 27, is a repeat of the Ab Aeterno episode that focused on the back-story of Richard. The next new episode of this final season of Lost will be Episode 14, The Candidate, and airs Tuesday, May 4.

Here’s how the episodes stack up for the rest of the season:

Ep 15 Across The Sea (Tuesday, May 11)

Ep 16 What They Died For (Tuesday, May 18)

Ep 17 The End (pt 1) will be shown as part of two-hour series finale (Sunday, May 23)

Ep 18 The End (pt 2) will be shown as part of two-hour series finale

Until next week, I have to go, my sailboat's leaving.

2010-04-26T12:03:00.002-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

Cheers bloopers!

2010-04-21T21:35:00.000-04:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Supper (N.)

Definition: End of the day meal.

Usages:

Get this straight. You eat breakfast in the morning, dinner at noon, and supper in the evening. Lunch is something you carry along with you in your dinner bucket.

2010-04-20T08:52:00.002-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know...that today is my birthday? So, some birthday themed videos.

2010-04-19T19:16:00.004-04:00

LOST Season 6 Episode 12 Everybody Loves Hugo

Hugo: On the Island, Hurley continues to evolve into the leader of this group. But he’s thrown into a bit of a loop with the appearance of Michael. Hugo blows up the Black Rock to prevent the dynamite from it’s cargo hold from being used to destroy the plane. Later he makes a decision (and says he’s being told by Jacob, but not really) to lead Jack, Sun and Frank Lapidus through the jungle to FLocke’s camp. Flash-Sideways Hurley is a successful business owner (Mr Cluck’s Fried Chicken), but still has his overbearing mother. A chance meeting with Libby, whom he’s never met before in this timeline, leads Hurley and Libby to experience feelings of familiarity, those feelings from the original timeline, of course. It was a little too much to have them go on the date and smooch, but it’s understandable why this was written into the script. (I too was pissed when Michael shot Libby, ending the dream-date that Hurley was sooo looking forward to.) Hurley continues to overcome his insecurities on the Island and keeps showing leadership. One thing to remember is that Hurley is one character who's not carrying around some sort of guilt, or feeling a need to redeem himself for something. His biggest sin is lacking self-confidence, so there really won't be a redemption arc in Hurley's story, I don't think. Besides, he pretty much let everything out when he repaired the VW Dharma Bus and rolled it down the hill, very nearly crashing it with Charlie inside before getting it jump-started to the music of Three Dog Night's Shambala.

Libby: In the Flash-Sideways, Libby is still patient at the sanitarium where she and Hurley were in the original timeline. But her memories of the original timeline and her relationship with Hurley drive her to share them with Hurley. These memories begin to push Hurley towards the realization that the other timeline may exist, but he has a way to go.

Michael: Appearing to Hugo on the Island, he pushes Hurley to lead everybody to the plane to destroy it. He explains to Hugo that the voices and whispering heard on the Island are the voices of people who’ve died there. They’re trapped on the Island and the whispers are their voices. He apologizes to Hurley for killing Libby and asks Hurley to tell her he’s sorry if he ever sees her again (I guess meaning if he sees her image trapped on the Island, too.)

Desmond: On the Island, it seems apparent that Desmond knows what FLocke is up to, or is akin to the idea that FLocke is bad. Very bad. But he tells FLocke that he knows he’s “John Locke”, and FLocke uses this deception to lead Des to the well, into which he pushes him. Des falls out of sight, presumably to the bottom. In the Flash-Sideways, he spends this episode pushing each character towards remembering the other timeline. He does it in some strange ways. With Hurley, he runs into him at the Mr Cluck’s, telling Hurley he should go back to see Libby. With Locke, he runs into him....literally. Waiting for Mr Locke, the substitute teacher, to exit the school at the end of the day, Desmond guns the car and rams right into Locke, knocking him over the car and sending the wheelchair on its own. It should be noted that Desmond also persuaded Hugo to meet up with Libby. So, it would appear that when Desmond requested the flight manifest in the previous episode, it was to get the list of the people on that flight that were part of the other timeline. I’d surmise that it’s possible that the EM exposure on the Island from last episode and the MRI EM exposure in the Flash-Sideways caused Des’ consciousness to switch (like the rat experiment he did a couple of seasons ago). If it’s happened that his Island-timeline consciousness is in his Flash-Sideways body, and vice versa, then we have a Desmond in each timeline that knows what has to be done in that timeline to bring things to whatever end we’re going to see in a few weeks. This would also explain why he was so calm on the Island with FLocke.

FLocke: Tells Desmond that the well is so old that the people who dug it did it by hand. Explains that they were digging not for water, but to get to the source of the electromagnetic source. Trying to convince Desmond that Widmore only wants to use the Island for bad, but this is another FLocke lie. The big deal in the conversation with Desmond comes when FLocke realizes the Desmond is not afraid of him. Unable to figure out why, he pushes Des down the well.

Ilana: Ummm....okay, Ilana go boom. I liked Ilana and wanted to know more about her, but about all I knew watching this was that the was she was slinging the TNT sticks and water around in her knapsack, I knew it was going to be an Artz type ending. Bummer. I guess we should change her name to Ilanartz.

Richard: Splits from the team after Ilana’s death. Leads Miles and Ben toward the plane with the intent of destroying it to prevent FLocke from escaping the Island. With the destruction of the Black Rock, they have no dynamite to destroy the plane.

Jack: On the Island, Jack admits that it’s hard for him to have other people tell him what to do. He tells Hurley that ever since Juliet was killed, he’s had to step back. He tells Hurley that he trusts him to do the right thing.

Funny

--After blowing up the Black Rock, Miles says “A little warning would’ve been nice, Hurley.” Hurley: “I did say to run”.

--Hurley to Jack: “How do you break the ice with the Smoke-Monster?”

Interesting

--The Hugo Reyes Paleontology Wing at the Golden State Natural History Museum in the Flash Sideways. Pierre Chang is the emcee of the event. And it’s interesting to note also that Charlotte was a paleontologist (who works at the museum...we think).

--In the nuthouse in the Flash-Sideways, the doctor (the same one Hurley had when he was there) also has the island picture hanging on his wall. And in the rec room, there was Leonard, but he was not chanting the numbers over and over and over. Connect Four was still Leonard’s game of choice, though.

--Per the Michael-image Hurley talked to, the voices on the Island are those who are died there and ‘can’t move on’. Why are they trapped there? This does point to the whole “the Island is purgatory” idea that a lot of people have been throwing around since season 1. But the producers had pish-poshed that idea. Pretty cool nonetheless, but it has a couple of oversights, I think: Why did Kate see the black horse on the Island if it didn’t die there? Why did Hurley see his psych-ward buddy Dave on the Island if Dave didn’t die there (of course, Dave may just be Hurley’s own made-up buddy, so that would explain it)? Why did the man that Sawyer killed in Australia (Charles Duckett), mistaking him for “The Sawyer” who scammed his parents leading to their deaths, have his voice heard during one of the whisper-segments last season if he didn’t die on the Island either? And how would Richard’s wife have appeared to Hurley if she also didn’t die on the Island? I also remember that the whispers often times precipitate a visit from ole SMonster himself.

--Hurley really seems like the one, main character on this show who isn’t suffering from some kind of guilt, or seeking redemption for anything. We know he suffered from guilt associated with the collapse of the outside deck that killed some party-goers (he blamed his weight for collapsing the deck, though that was not the cause) and sent him to the mental hospital originally.

--In the Flash-Sideways, Mr Locke lay battered on the ground after being hit intentionally by Desmond, joining a long list of Lost characters, including himself, who’ve been mowed over by a car.

--Jack’s reaction to seeing FLocke...Locke. Remember, the last time Jack saw him he was in the casket before the return flight to the Island, and he had just put his father’s shoes on Locke’s feet.

Questions

--What was in the bag that Hurley found in the beach shelter? Black and white stones, perhpas?

--FLocke must know about Desmond’s interaction with the electromagnetic anomaly, right? So why would he have pushed him down the well, assuming the well leads to one of these anomalies? It seems that he would be putting him closer to causing a...reaction.

--Again with the kid in the woods...who is he and why does FLocke not want to acknowledge him?

--Was Hurley’s idea to talk to FLocke really a good one?

--What is the Island? Richard wanted Hurley to ask Jacob what the Island is, claiming that Jacob once told him.

--Any chance that Hurley will use the knife that FLocke gave to him to kill FLocke?

We continue to see the wall that is separating the two timelines breaking down as more and more memories continue to cross-over from one side to the other via the different main characters.

What a crazy preview for the next episode, eh? The Gene Wilder Willy Wonka dialogue was a bit creepy. I can’t wait!

Tune in next Tuesday night for that episode, which is the 13th one of the season and is titled The Last Recruit.

Here’s how the episodes stack up for the rest of the season:

Ep 14 The Candidate

Ep 15 Across The Sea

Ep 16 What They Died For

Ep 17 The End (pt 1) will be shown as part of two-hour series finale

Ep 18 The End (pt 2) will be shown as part of two-hour series finale

Jorge Garcia plays the part of Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes. He keeps a blog called Dispatches from the Island. Check it out by clicking here for Dispatches from the Island.

Until next week, I have to go because my Family Size bucket of Mr Cluck’s Chicken has finally arrived.

2010-04-19T07:17:00.000-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

2010-04-14T13:42:00.001-04:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Were (V.)

Definition: To talk like a native, you may use this as a singular verb.

Usages:

“I weren’t going to the Harmony Fair this year, but the old man drove me.” (forced me)

2010-04-13T19:42:00.003-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that it was forty years ago today (April 13, 1970) that NASA’s Apollo 13 almost met its fate when an oxygen tank ruptured, the craft lost power and the three astronauts on-board had to make it back to Earth using a gravitational-slingshot maneuver around the Moon? Commander Jack Lovell, Jack Swiger and Fred Haise were able to move to the command module and make this amazing trajectory happen and were able to return to Earth four days later. The problem was later determined to have been caused by an electrical system problem that caused the pressure in the ship’s oxygen tanks to increase and rupture the tanks. Losing oxygen, the men had little time and their survival appeared doubtful.

l to r: Jim Lovell, Jack Swiger, Fred Haise (photo from www.space.com)

Cancer would take Swiger in 1982, but both Lovell and Haise are still living, as are many of the people who were working on the ground at NASA helping in the process to get these astronauts back to Earth.

This incident was rendered to film by Ron Howard in 1995, Apollo 13. This movie was based on Lovell’s book Lost Moon.

And the actual quote should be: “Houston, we’ve had a problem”

2010-04-12T08:03:00.002-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

2010-04-10T18:16:00.005-04:00

LOST Season 6 Episode 11 Happily Ever After

Charles Widmore: Charles Widmore is, in my opinion, one of Jacob’s wild-cards. (Kate being the other...more on that below). Okay, follow along here: Charles Widmore was on the Island, but booted off by Ben in a power struggle. Back in real-life, Widmore is a successful businessman with lots o’ money. The relationship he had with Ben on the Island appeared to put them on opposite sides. So, the Man In Black (now FLocke) would have known them as enemies, so there’s no need to think about Charles Widmore, right? Wrong! Widmore has been able to keep tabs on the Island through many ways, most notably through Eloise Hawking (with whom he has a son, Daniel, who knows how to manipulate the Island properties and wrote his experiments down in a notebook) and through Penny. Penny? How does he extend his reach to the Island via Penny? Easy. Through Desmond. Read more on that below. Back to Widmore - he is likely going to use Desmond to merge (?) or collapse the Flash Sideways timeline using the electromagnetic characteristics of the Island. He tells Desmond that if Des doesn’t help him, he will lose not only Penny, but everybody on the planet will die.

Desmond: Desmond, as pointed out by Charles on the Island, is the only person he knows who has lived through an electromagnetic experience (when he turned the fail-safe key in the Swan Hatch). Desmond is now back on the Island and Widmore is likely going to use him to bring the two timelines back together, or something along those lines. But let’s remember something: It was was Widmore who put Desmond on the Island in the first place. Remember? Desmond liked Penny, Widmore’s daughter. But Widmore used his dislike of Desmond to convince him that he needed to go on this around-the-world sailing adventure knowing full well that he would land on the Island. Also, it would be Libby’s role in this to give Desmond the boat he would use for this journey. In this episode, the Flash Sideways Desmond does not know who Penny is, until Charlie Pace provides him with the near-death experience that caused Desmond to essentially flash back to the real, Island timeline in which he and Penny are together and have a son. With no Penny in the Flash Sideways life, it seems that Des will sacrifice himself to make things right. Whether or not this will result in his death is unknown at this time. What is known is this - Desmond is definitely aware of both timelines. Wonder if his consciousness from the Flash Sideways switched to the Island Desmond, and vice versa? This would give each of them the full vision of that timeline they are in.

Simmons: Probably wishes he hadn’t gone down to the check the circuits on the solonoids. **zzzztttttttt** But at least we know what happens to someone not named Desmond when exposed to a strong EM field.

Charlie Pace: Drive Shaft and Daniel were going to get together to do a “classical mixed with rock” concert for Widmore’s family. But poor Charlie was arrested on the Oceanic 815 flight when it landed in LA, and Widmore hired Desmond to babysit Charlie for the show. See, when Charlie nearly died on the plane after swallowing his stash, he saw Claire. Not the Claire on the plane Claire, but the Claire he knew from the Island, in the other timeline. The Claire he loved. Once he had those memories, he knew to force Desmond into a similar experience so he too would see that timeline’s history. He does this by forcing the car he and Desmond are in to go into the water and sink. When Des tries to rescue Charlie, Charlie puts his hand on the car window in the exact way he did in the Hydra Station before being killed when Mikhail blew up the room Charlie was in, causing him to drown. This is the moment where Desmond flashed to the Island timeline and he remembers Charlie putting his hand on the window with the message “not Penny’s boat”. Charlie’s flash on the airplane in the Flash Sideways did give him strength through the power of love, as corny as that sounds. Life and death are two things that cause one to reflect deeply. They have all had to deal with that.

Eloise Hawking/Widmore: In the Flash Sideways, she tries to convince Desmond to stop trying to find Penny. It’s as though she is trying to steer Desmond away from figuring out how he can fix things. As though she’s been planted in the Flash Sideways to try to talk Des out of figuring out what it will take to put things back in order (in Jacob’s favor). This sort of implies that the Flash Sideways is under the direction of the Man In Black. But even in the Flash Sideways, there are people trying to steer Desmond to do the right thing (Charlie Pace being the most obvious one working against the Flash Sidways’ Eloise, and possibley even Widmore since he’s the one who put Des in charge of watching over Charlie.)

Daniel Farraday/Widmore: In the Flash Sideways, Daniel is not the scientist we know him as in the other timeline, but an accomplished classical pianist. But he has an experience that involves him seeing Charlotte in a museum (I wonder if it’s the same museum that Miles’ father works in?). In the Flash Sideways, he’s never met Charlotte, but he knows he loves her. After seeing her, he wrote down in a notebook (yes, THAT notebook) a quantum-mechanics formula, but he’s not a physicist in this timeline. Taking the formula to a friend at Cal Tech who is a physicist, he’s told that the equation is for setting off a nuclear bomb. Daniel thinks he may have already set one off (thinking of the Island timeline), so both timelines are crossing over for Daniel, too. Daniel tells Desmond that Penny does indeed exist, and that he is her half-brother. Don’t forget: in Daniel’s notebook on the Island, he had written “Desmond Hume is my constant”, and in the Flash Sideways...voila!....Daniel meets with Desmond.

George Minkowski: Hey George! In the Flash Sideways, he’s the limo driver for Charles Widmore who picks Desmond up at the airport when his Oceanic Flight 815 lands in LA from Sydney.

Zoe: I believe she’ll be called in to create another “incident” that will merge the timelines and lead to the beat-down of FLocke/Man In Black.

Sayid: “Desmond, these people (the Widmore team) are extremely dangerous, we have to go” is all he says. And Desmond leaves with him. That’s weird. But Des has something up his sleeve, don’t’cha think?

Interesting

--Widmore telling Desmond that “the Island isn’t done with you yet”, which is similar to what Eloise told him previously.

--Desmond telling the still-pregnant Claire (in the Flash Sideways) that her baby would be a boy.

--Flash Sideways Desmond and Widmore are buddies, even sharing a shot of McCutcheon Whiskey.

--In Widmore’s Flash Sideways office, he has a model of the Black Rock on the wall, in addition to a painting of a scale with a black rock on the left side and a white rock on the right.

--Though not a mirror, Desmond stares at his reflection for a few seconds in the glass door to the courtroom when he picked up Charlie. More mirror, or more literally ‘reflection’, scenes.

--Man In Black needs the plane (or sub?) to get off the Island, but it would seem that Team Jacob also need the plane. I still don’t see how that plane will get off the Island with no runway and (presumably) being low on fuel.

--Desmond’s flashes were both triggered by the EM blasts...one flash from the solonoids on the Island, and the other from the MRI machine in the Flash Sideways.

--Desmond meeting Penny while she’s running steps in the same stadium that he met Jack in.

Questions

--Is the Flash Sideways timeline a vision of what the Man In Black has promised those who will serve him/help him, and without it the Man In Black would have no power over those he’s trying to use to get off the Island? If so, destroying the Flash Sideways timeline would appear to be the motive of Widmore. By using Desmond to somehow destroy that timeline would take away the ‘perfect world’ promises being made by the Man In Black. Without that offer, there’s no reason for anybody to follow Man In Black and this would severely diminish his ability to recruit anybody for his army.

--Why does Desmond need the manifest for Flight 815? And who does he have to show it to?

In Jacob’s Cave where all of the names are etched into the wall and most are crossed out, six remained that weren’t: Locke, Reyes (Hugo), Ford (Sawyer), Jarrah, Shephard and Kwon (either Sun or Jin...we don’t know). Kate’s last name, Austen, was one of the ones crossed off. However, in Jacob’s Lighthouse, Kate’s name is NOT crossed off. If FLocke hasn’t been to the Lighthouse, then he wouldn’t know that Austen is still a Candidate. He’s only keeping her around to bat her va-va-voom eyelashes at Sawyer because he needs Sawyer as part of his army. Did Jacob use slight of hand to keep Kate off of Man In Black’s radar? If Man In Black thinks she’s not a candidate, he could be surprised later by this.

My thoughs are that Kate will be the final Candidate to take Jacob’s spot. That’s my prediction. Although I’ve never really been into her character arcs and back-story, it seems the perfect distraction to reveal that she’s the one to take his place. Plus, the fact that she gave up her life to return to the Island to re-unite a son with his mother, shows that she has the ability to give up the ultimate sacrifice of one’s life for another. She made this sacrifice on her own, without guidance.

I have to believe some of the characters are going to die: Sayid, Richard and Claire all seem obvious. But I think Jack will remain and be a leader, sort of the Dogen replacement. And I think Hurley will be the Richard replacement. They’ll opt to stay on the Island. Any who remain after the war (Jin & Sun perhaps?) will have an option to leave on the sub (plane?) but the rest who remain (Rose? Bernard? Ilana?) would likely go to the Temple.

This is assuming the “good guys” win. And in terms that might be accociated with a game of backgammon, it would seem that Kate and Widmore were both pieces that got bumped to the center holding area, and are just now being rolled back in.

Of course, every time I make a prediction, I’m wrong. So there you go.

That was a lot of reading. Thanks for sticking with it.

Tune in next Tuesday night for episode 12 Everybody Loves Hugo.

Here’s how the episodes stack up for the rest of the season:

Ep 13 The Last Recruit

Ep 14 The Candidate

Ep 15 Across The Sea

Ep 16 What They Died For

Ep 17 The End (pt 1) will be shown as part of two-hour series finale

Ep 18 The End (pt 2) will be shown as part of two-hour series finale

Until next week, remember that I’m happy to be your constant.

********

2010-04-07T21:23:00.002-04:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Sport (N.)

Definition: hunting or fishing client.

Usages:

“You know, a guide’s got to have a lot of patience. I had a sport last week who was so numb he was trying to throw out flies with a bait casting rod.”

“That ain’t nawthin’. I had one trolling with a surf casting outfit that would land a whale.”

“We’re lucky they’re not all that bad”

2010-04-06T18:06:00.004-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

While you might think the answer is ‘black fly’, or perhaps even ‘mosquito’, did you know that the Maine State Insect is the honeybee? Adopted to this title in 1975, honeybees are the cornerstone of agriculture and they ensure that the crops are pollinated, especially the blueberry barrens.

Thank you, honeybees!

Honeybee photo from www.maine.gov/agriculture/pi/apiary/

2010-04-05T13:55:00.004-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

When I was a kid growing up in Eastern Maine (we're talking mid-70s), there were only a couple channels to watch. One we received was WSBK TV out of Boston. Late night...like 11pm until 12:30am, it was three half-hour shows that I loved to stay up late and watch. The first was an Irish comedian named Dave Allen, who chain-smoked and drank what I presume to be Irish whiskey. He was hilarious. This show was followed by the more well-known Benny Hill Show, and the even more well-known Monty Python's Flying Circus. Here's a bit of Dave Allen.

2010-04-04T22:08:00.004-04:00

LOST Season 6 Episode 10 The Package

Sun: On the Island, Sun’s unexpected meeting with FLocke is enough to convince her that he is eeeevil and while running from him, hits a tree and loses her ability to speak English...wait, what? Hmmm, that’s weird. Interestingly, when Jack tells her to trust him and reaches out his hand, she takes it right away. In the Flash-Sideways, I’m convinced Sun really doesn’t speak English (her and Jin aren’t married, so she wouldn’t have learned English to try to get away from him as she did in the regular timeline), so when she loses her English in the Island timeline, maybe these are tied together somehow? She had to know that the gig was up as far as her father not knowing about her and Jin when she learned that her not-so-secret account had all of the money transferred by her father. Jin must not be sterile in the Flash Sideways timeline (like he was in the original timeline, only able to impregnate Sun on the Island because the Island gave him Super-Sperm) because Sun tells him she’s pregnant, but not until after she’s been hit by a bullet from Mikhail’s gun. (Unless she’s knocked up by the baldy one, Jae, but who knows?)

Jin: Does not trust FLocke at all. On the Island he is taken by Zoe and the Widmore militia when they ambush FLocke’s Flock while he’s awa. Why does Widmore want Jin? In the Flash Sideways, Jin was taken by Keamey and his men because he’s supposed to be bringing the money (that was confiscated at the airport) to Keamey for Sun’s father, Mr Paik. We don’t know why the money is going to Keamey.

Jack: Continues his Island transformation of skeptic to believing that they are there for a greater purpose.

Charles Widmore: He meets with Jin and gives Jin the camera that Sun had on the Ajira flight. Why? Because of the pictures of Ji Yeon that are stored in the camera. Widmore uses this as a way to get to Jin, allowing him to see pictures of his daughter for the first time. Tells Jin that if FLocke gets off the Island, everything will “cease to be”.

Richard Alpert: Understands that his role is to prevent FLocke/Man in Black (MIB) from leaving the Island. His idea is to destroy the Ajira plane on Hydra Island. Only problem...Jack is telling everybody they’ll get on the plane and fly off the Island. So, destroy the plane? Keep the plane? It seems that Team Ilana is already having conflicts in their ideas.

Martin Keamey: In the Flash Sideways, he and his crew interrupt Jin & Sun and take Jin to the restaurant where Jin was supposed to bring the money from Mr Paik. Keamey was hired to kill Jin for sleeping with Sun and the $25,000 that Jin was carrying was the money Paik was paying him. If Sayid hadn’t popped Keamey, he would’ve killed Jin.

Sayid: The conversion of cool Sayid to emotionless Sayid has happened on the Island and as a puppet of FLocke, he spies on Widmore to see what they have brought on the submarine. In the Flash Sideways Sayid is shown after he’s taken out Keamey and his team. Upon discovering the duct-taped-to-a-chair Jin, he leaves a box cutter with him so he can cut himself out.

Zoe: What does this woman know and why is she working for Widmore? Takes the knocked-out Jin back to the room that Carl was rescued from (Room 23), the subliminal message room. Jin had spent time in Dharma (due to the time hopping), so she wants info from Jin regarding the electromagnetism pockets on the Island.

Desmond: Desmond is ‘the package’. I’d like to point something out: in the season six opener (LA X), Desmond was on the Oceanic flight in the Flash Sideways, he sits next to Jack. On the plane, he was wearing a mauve/purple shirt. In this episode, when Desmond was pulled off the submarine he was dopey from being drugged for the sub ride, and was wearing...a mauve/purple shirt. Could he have somehow been yanked from the Flash Sideways timeline by Widmore to be used in the Island timeline?

Funny

--After Ben brings the injured Sun back to camp, nobody believes that he had nothing to do with it. When he asks Ilana “Why won’t you believe me?”, her reply was priceless: “Because you’re speaking.” haha! Of course, he was telling the truth...this time.

Interesting

--In this season, a lot of people are looking into mirrors. What is the significance of this? There were also the mirrors in Jacob’s lighthouse.

--Sun gets head injury in Island timeline; Jin gets head injury in Flash Sideways

--FLocke lies to Claire and tells her that her name was not on the cave wall.

--FLocke can’t turn into smoke to get to the other Island.

--There must be a lot of room on that sub Widmore brought judging from the number of pylons that they brought.

--Sawyer says to Kate that he’s not necessarily on board with FLocke.

--Mikhail loses that eye in both timelines. Weird.

--I’m not so sure the Flash Sideways timeline is a result of the bomb. I think maybe we’re being made to think that, but it won’t end up being that.

Questions

--Why did FLocke not see the attack of his flock coming?

--So, are Widmore and FLocke working together? We know Ben and Widmore aren’t working together based on their stormy history. Are there three groups involved in all of this Island stuff?

--So, Jacob is always saying “I’m not going to interfere”, but he’s always interfering. What’s up with that?

--Will Juliet show up in the Flash Sideways as the one who will save the injured Sun's baby?

Tune in next Tuesday night for episode 11, Happily Ever After. With a title like that, you just gotta think someone’s gonna die, eh?

Until next week, I have to run, FLocke is chasing me! Look out for that tre.......

2010-03-31T20:05:00.003-04:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Gorby (N.)

Definition: Canada jay (Perisoreus canadensis - “meat bird,” “moose bird,” “whiskey jack,” “camp thief,” etc.)

This large, soot-colored, ungainly bird is the panhandler of the northern forests. Absolutely fearless, the jay will perch upon the muzzle of a hunter’s gun if it thinks it can con the man out of a bite of the sandwich in his pocket.

photo from naturetales.blogspot.com

Old legend held that gorbies represent the transmirgrated souls of dead woodsmen, thus acccounting for their familiarity with man.

2010-03-30T19:14:00.004-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that scientists believe that they have located the first lake that ever formed in Maine? Believed to have been the first lake that formed after the glaciers receeded, Sargent Mountain Pond sits on top of Mount Desert Island, 1,060 feet above sea level. Small by lake standards, it measures only about one acre in size and 10 feet deep but is estimated to be over 17,000 years old.

photo of Sargent Mtn Pond from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jere7my/3879642519/

It is thought that when the glaciers melted and retreated north, this high point along the Maine coast would have been exposed sooner than lakes that formed inland, such as Moosehead Lake and the Twin Lakes chain in Millinocket. When the mountain was released from the icy prison, this would’ve formed from ice left behind.

The Bangor Daily News has the story here. Note: don’t know how long the link will be available to this story.

2010-03-29T08:02:00.002-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

2010-03-25T20:54:00.004-04:00

LOST Season 6 Episode 9 Ab Aeterno

Ab aeterno is Latin and translates to “from the eternal”.

Ricardo/Richard Alpert: Okay...saddest back-story ever! Jeez, poor Richard, or Ricardo. It was back to flash-back character history when we find Ricardo living in the Canary Islands in the 1867 with his beautiful, but sickly, wife Isabella, Ricardo attempts to obtain medicine from a doctor but accidently pushes the doctor, who bangs his head on a table and dies. Unable to get the medicine back to his wife in time, he learns she died while he was away. He is soon given a death sentence for this death. Even the priest would not absolve him of the death saying that he did not have enough time for the penance required and he would meet the devil in hell. Ricardo’s “luck” changes when he’s sold as a slave to go to the New World on the Black Rock, captained by Magnus Hanso, whom we never see. When the Black Rock crashes on the Island, Ricardo is the only survivor as the other prisoners are killed, but the Black Rock crew is SMonstered. Ricardo is scanned by the SMonster, but not killed. Later, he is released from his shackles by the Man in Black, who tells Richard that Jacob is the devil, and to get his wife back he needs to kill the devil. Jacob convinces him otherwise and grants eternal life to Ricardo.

Jacob: Tells Ricardo that it was he who brought the Black Rock to the Island and that all of the other people he’s brought over the years are dead. Grants eternal life to Ricardo and uses him as his spokesperson over the years. Would appear that Jacob is not a “god” in the big mythical fashion as he implies to Ricardo that he cannot bring someone back to life or absolve someone’s sins. If he requires that someone take over for him it also implies that he does not have eternal life. Also, he does not seem to care that he has caused the deaths of perhaps hundreds (thousands?) of people in his search for the Candidate. Keeping the Man in Black on the Island is a big deal, and it takes the perfect person, I guess.

Man in Black: Releases Ricardo from his chains on the Black Rock after killing the rest of the ship’s crew in the form of the SMonster. It’s likely that he was also the form of Ricardo’s dead wife Isabella, whose information would have been obtained when the SMonster scanned Ricardo. Was unsuccessful in getting Ricardo to kill Jacob, but told him that if he ever wanted to go back to the MIB, he would be there for him.

Hurley: As the mouthpiece of the spirit of Jacob, we expected Hurley to be channeling Jacob. He was not however. For this episode, Hurley continued to see dead people, only this time it was Isabella. If it really was Isabella (how’d she get on the Island?), she told Richard, via Hurley, that they would always be together. Also tells him that he has to make sure that the Man in Black, aka FLocke, must not leave the Island and he will have to make sure of it.

Ilana: She’s interesting, but I’m still not quite sure what her part in all of this is. She appears to be another person that Jacob saved from serious injury (death?), and is now paying back her debt to him by protecting the remaining six Candidates.

Interesting

--Man in Black tells the same thing to Ricardo about killing Jacob that Dogen (Jacob’s disciple) told Sayid about killing FLocke. They also both ended by saying “Don’t let him talk to you”.

--At the end of last season when we first saw Jacob and the Man in Black on the beach, the sea was pretty calm as they watched the Black Rock approach the Island. In tonight’s episode, however, the Black Rock gets brought to the Island in a massive storm. What’s up with that?

--In the episode “The Constant”, it was said the Black Rock was lost at sea in 1845, it’s ledger found in a pirate cave in 1952, but this episode Richard is taken aboard the Black Rock in the Canary Islands 1867. What’s up with that?

--Check this out...in looking up info about the Canary Islands, I found that there is a legend of an eighth island in the chain called St Brendan’s Island. The island apparently appears on older maps, but as there are only seven islands in the Canary chain, this eighth one is considered a myth. Or, maybe it’s an Island that can move from one place to another! Neat touch, Lost writers! Read about St Brendan's Island here.

--It was the Black Rock that smashed the four-toes statue.

Questions

--Why did Magnus Hanso need to have criminals recruited for his ship? Was he really searching for the New World, or was already searching for the Island?

--Do you think Jacob's hold on keeping FLocke/Man in Black on the Island is weakening the longer that he is having to stay in a form only Hurley can see? Does the Candidate need to be found soon to prevent FLocke from escaping?

--So, ultimately, it appears that there will be a Candidate who takes over for Jacob. This person will likely have to go through some redemption, true redemption, and this will show that even with free will, there is a human being that will make the right decision. This will be the person who takes over Jacob’s role of keeping the eeeevil trapped on the Island. So, who will it be?

--Maybe the Man in Black is not so much an evil force, but a plague of some sort? Remember that there is a sickness that has been associated with the Man in Black (as suffered by Danielle Rousseau’s crew, Claire, Sayid, etc). So maybe it/he has to be kept on the Island to prevent the illness he causes to be unleashed on the population? A stretch, I know. heh heh heh Seems like a doctor would be a good choice to prevent the spread of an illness. And Jack Shepherd is a doctor...I’m just sayin’.

--Will Jacob finally free Ricardo from eternal life and allow him to die and be at peace with his long dead wife? Maybe Ricardo’s role against FLocke’s and his flock will result in Richard’s death.

This was a great episode, in my opinion. Nestor Carbonell was fantastic as Ricardo/Richard.

Tune in next Tuesday night for episode 10, The Package. **snicker** I said package.

Until next week, I have to run because I’ve just removed the cork from the wine bottle and the Wine Monster is attacking! **hiccup...burp**

There's always this wrap-up (HILARIOUS!):

2010-03-24T21:54:00.000-04:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Foolish (Adj.)

Definition: dull witted

Usages:

“Them foolish newcomers left a whole slew of high stumps where they cut on my line. My cow got tangled up in them and ripped her bag, and it cost me twenty-five dollars to have her doctored.”

2010-03-23T21:15:00.004-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that the Maine Troop Greeters welcomed the 1 millionth service member through the Bangor International Airport yesterday? They have been greeting these flights since May of 2003. In addition to the one million service members, nearly 200 military dogs have also been the recipients of a welcome.

I’ve mentioned them here before and would love to again. The Maine Troop Greeters get up at any time of day or night, and go to the Bangor, Maine airport to welcome back to the US, or heading out of the US, all military flights and the service members on those flights.

Read about them here.

Also be on the lookout for the DVD release of the movie that came out last year about these remarkable people, The Way We Get By.

And to all our service members here Stateside and those at sea or overseas, thanks for all you do. Know that if you come through Bangor, you’ll be greeted by some great people who are there to thank you for your dedication and commitment to your country.

Troop Greeters space at the Bangor International Airport - the stickers on the door and windows represent the logos of just some of the troop divisions or squadrons

2010-03-22T08:52:00.007-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

I pulled out my dusty DVD of the South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut movie this past weekend and have to admit that I forgot how damn funny that movie is. My favorite part is NSFW:

2010-03-19T22:56:00.006-04:00

C'Mon, NESN

Last night before the Bruins/Penguins hockey game in Boston, the 1970 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins were honored and many of the players from that team, including Eddie Johnson, Derek Sanderson, the best hockey player ever Bobby Orr, to name just a few. As each player was introduced over the loudspeakers and they walked out onto the ice to be recognized, NESN would display their name on the screen.

Here's the problem: when Boston Bruin great Johnny Bucyk came out, NESN spelled his last name as Bucky. Yeah, Bucky. I realize it's one little letter misplaced, but c'mon....it's The Chief, Johnny Bucyk, and you can't get his name right?

NESN, I love your programming, but sometimes you're a knucklehead.

NESN Spells Bucyk's name as Bucky

On the plus side, it's a good thing his last name wasn't Fucyk.

2010-03-18T21:02:00.003-04:00

LOST Season 6 Episode 8 - Recon

Sawyer/James Ford: On the Island, Sawyer strikes up a deal with FLocke involving him gathering information from the people from the Ajira flight on Hydra Island, and FLocke will get Sawyer off the Island. Of course, FLocke also called Sawyer the “best liar” he knew, so it’s hard to gauge what Sawyer has going. My guess, he’s playing FLocke. We’ll see. On the Hydra Island, he learns that it’s Charles Widmore, and not the Ajira passengers (all whom were apparently killed by Widmore’s troops), that are there. Sawyer has no interest in shaking Widmore’s hand. In the Flash-Sideways, James Ford is a cop. Yes! A cop. He still carries the grudge against Anthony Cooper for causing the death of his parents and plans to find him and kill him, but as a cop, he’s busting bad guys (or girls) and making the streets safer. Oh, and he’s still scoring the hot chicks.

Miles: In the Flash-Sideways, Miles is the partner of James Ford on the police force. He has trust issues with Ford, however, because of his reluctance to tell him about his past involving Anthony Cooper. Tells James that his father works at the museum, so Dr Chang also got off the Island before it sank (assuming it sank). Miles doesn’t seem to be doing the psychic thing in this timeline.

Charlotte: In the Flash-Sideways, Charlotte is set-up for a blind date with James by Miles. Though they click right away, Charlotte’s discovering the history of Ford’s father shooting his mother and then committing suicide sends him into a fury, and Charlotte right out of his life.

Claire: Still crazy after all these days. She’s still of the belief that Kate took Aaron from her and attacks Kate, trying to kill her. FLocke pulls Claire off Kate and then slaps her back to reality. A little too soon for my taste, Claire going from “I want to kill you!” to “Oh I’m so sorry!” was too quick, but I get it.

Kate: After the Claire attack, Kate is off by herself when FLocke comes along and tries to use his deceitful story on her, talking about his crazy mother (not Locke’s crazy mother, but Fake-Locke’s crazy mother, whom we know nothing about). After the talk, he holds out his hand to help Kate up, but she doesn’t take it. I wonder if his touch makes people indebted to him the same way Jacob’s touch has apparently protected all of the people touched? Kate let’s FLocke know that Locke is dead, but he says he is not a dead man. In the Flash-Sideways, Kate is still on the run from the cops two days after Oceanic 815 landed and she got out of the airport in the stolen cab. On the run in a blue, likely stolen, car, she side-swipes James’ car on the side of the road where he’s talking to Miles about Anthony Cooper. He catches her when she tries to run, but appears to recognize her when he catches her.

Charles Widmore: My guess? Widmore is working with FLocke. On his submarine, Sawyer sees a locked room, but they will not tell him what’s in it. Or who. Widmore’s armed group is likely gearing up for a showdown with Ilana’s group, is my guess.

FLocke: Admits to Sawyer that he is “the Smoke thing”. He later admits to Kate that it was he who told Claire that the Others took Aaron, because Claire needed to hate somebody to direct her anger. Of course, it was Man-in-Black dressed as Christian who deceived Claire originally, likely taking her mind off of Aaron so he would have to leave the Island. Tells Kate that as a child, he had ‘growing pains’ and things he was still trying to work through. So, he’s sort of a double for Lucifer, who had a troubled childhood and who also deceived to get his way.

Liam: Charlie’s brother makes a brief appearance in the Flash-Sideways at the police station when he asks James about his brother, who had been arrested on Oceanic 815. I guess it took Liam two days to get the flight over to LA from Australia since Oceanic 815 landed safely.

Skull-Fur Baby Aaron: Ummm...yeah. Not such a good representation of Aaron. But I wonder...is the skull from Vincent? We haven’t seen him in a long time.

Interesting:

--Sawyer does not appear to like the fact that FLocke, as the SMonster, killed the inhabitants of the Temple. I still think Sawyer is conning FLocke.

--Widmore’s men putting up the pylons around the dock.

--James Ford watching “Little House on the Prairie”, because when he and Kate were captured by the Others, he joked one time about watching “Little House” on the cage TV.

--Sawyer striking same deal with Widmore...he’ll deliver FLocke and Widmore promises to get Sawyer and the other FLock folks off the Island. Then goes back to FLocke and tells him that he told Widmore he was going to deliver FLocke, but tells FLocke that they’ll get the jump on them.

--In the Flash-Sideways, it appears that most lives have gone on better than since Jacob touched them. Even though tragedy still struck our Losties (Locke still got broken back, Ford’s father still killed himself and Mom, Jack happy, etc), they’ve adapted and appear to have better lives than the ones they had after being touched by Jacob. But in both instances, these characters have come together.

Questions:

1. When does Desmond make his return?

2. The field that protects the Island and hides it from normal view...do you think that maybe that field was designed to actually keep the Man-in-Black in?

3. Could Aaron be the one in the locked room on the sub?

4. Does anybody really think that Ajira plane can fly off the Island? Wouldn’t they have to turn it around, fuel it up, AND have a longer runway for taking off? But the real question is: will they ever actually get off the Island again.

Tune in next Tuesday night for episode 9, Ab Aeterno. And it’s a Richard episode. Finally, we learn about Richard! This also marks the half-way point of the final season.

Until next week, I have to run, Little House on the Prairie is on.

2010-03-17T20:20:00.002-04:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Garb up (V. phrase)

Definition: to get dressed

Usages:

“You had better garb up good and warm. They’re calling for fifteen below with winds gusting to twenty-five.”

“Colder’n a moose yard.”

2010-03-16T19:29:00.002-04:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that the great State of Maine celebrated her 190th birthday yesterday? On March 15, 1820, Maine became the 23rd State in the Union as part of the Missouri Compromise. Maine came into the Union as a slave-free state.

Happy Birthday, Maine!

image from www.merriam-webster.com/maps

2010-03-15T09:12:00.004-04:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

Actor Peter Graves passed away yesterday at the age of 83 (he would have been 84 this week). While old fogies remember him best from the television series "Mission: Impossible", young-uns like me remember him for his role as Captain Oveur in the hilarious movie Airplane!. I was 15 when this came out and remember laughing wicked hard through nearly all of this movie. It still makes me laugh to this day. In honor of Peter Graves, here are his parts from Airplane! all strung together. If you haven't seen the movie, you have to make that a top priority.

2010-03-11T19:46:00.002-05:00

LOST Season 6 Episode 7 Dr Linus

Ben: Caught lying about how Jacob died (at his hands), Ben is forced by Ilana to dig his own grave. But a deal from FLocke, who tells Ben that he wants him to watch over the Island, frees him from his shackle and fleeing into the woods he faces Ilana and confesses that the anger he had when he killed Jacob was because he felt Jacob had betrayed him. By choosing the Island and Jacob’s wishes over his family, Alex was killed and he’s never forgiven himself for making the choice of power over family. Broken and ashamed, he says he will go with FLocke because he is the only one who will have him. In the Flash Sideways, Ben schemes to oust the uncaring Principal Reynolds, who’s been playing doctor with the school nurse. The principal says he’ll quit, but he’ll not give Alex the recommendation she needs for Yale. Ben backs down, and ultimately gives Alex the life she wants regarding college. He is also living with his father, apparently they mended fences after their stint with the Dharma Initiative, whom his father calls “decent people”.

Jack: Can you believe it? Jack finally takes a leap of faith, something he once ridiculed Locke for doing. By realizing that he has a higher purpose based on what Jacob made him see at the Lighthouse (his childhood home, his name etched in the wheel), he takes the leap of faith the the dynamite he lit for Richard wouldn’t blow. And it didn’t, the fuse fizzling out before reaching the nytroglycerin stick.

Alex: Flash-Sideways Alex is a student of Dr Linus and is part of his history club. She says that her Mom is working two jobs just to keep them afloat. She wants to get into Yale, but needs the recommendation of the perverted principal. Unbeknownst to her, Ben works it out so she gets the recommendation. Though not considered her father in this timeline, it’s obvious she looks up to Ben in this way.

Ilana: “Jacob was the closest thing I ever had to father” she tells Ben learning after learning that he killed Jacob. At first wanting to kill him, she later forgives him after learning that it was betrayal Ben felt when he killed Jacob. She also tells Sun that she’s protecting Sun and Jin because they are candidates to take over for Jacob, but does not reveal what it is they actually take over, though it’s assumed the Island, but why is this question. Ilana is going to continue to play a major role.

Frank Lapidus: I thought in a previous episode Lapidus said he was bumped from flying Oceanic 815, but in this episode he says he overslept and missed the flight. Ben points out that the Island got him anyway.

Richard: When he arrives at the Black Rock with Jack and Hurley, he admits to having been touched by Jacob, and if one is touched by Jacob, they cannot take their own life. Like Ben, Richard feels betrayed by Jacob, saying with Jacob gone, he has wasted his life and it has no purpose, so he wants to die. He does not die, as we know, because the dynamite that Jack lit did not explode. Richard also admits to having “there” (on the Black Rock) before, but offers no further explanation. It seems obvious now that he did indeed arrive on the Island with the Black Rock, meaning he’s been there since the 1860s.

Miles: After telling Ilana what Jacob saw before he died, he makes his way to the graves of the those two jabonies, Nikki and Paolo, and ends up with some of the diamonds that were buried with them. Miles tells Ben that right before he killed Jacob, Jacob was hoping that he was wrong about Ben, but turns out, he was not (in that Ben would betray him, I guess.)

Charles Widmore: Heeeee’s baaaaack. Arriving via submarine, Charles is about to find himself back on the Island. I figure there’s a Charles/Ben showdown a-coming. But is Widmore on Team Jacob, or Team Locke? Or is his agenda completely different?

Funny lines:

--“Are you a cyborg?”, Hurley to Richard when asking him how he’s lived so long

--”Wanna try another stick?”, Jack to Richard when the fuse fizzles out on the dynamite

Interesting:

--Dr Linus telling the students that Napoleon’s exile to Elba hurt Napoleon the most because he no longer had power, the one thing he craved. Ben, like Napoleon, admits to Ilana that his loss of Alex was because of his desire for power.

--Locke, the substitute, telling Dr Linus that if the man in charge (in this case, the Principal), can’t run the place (the school) right, maybe Dr Linus should.

--Ilana already knew who Miles was and what his gift was before they ever met.

--The ending with the gathering of the Good Guys, I assume? Hurley, Jack and Richard arrive on the beach and merge with Ilana’s gang of Lapidus, Miles, Sun and Ben. Last week the show ended with the gathering of Locke’s assumed team, and this episode ends with Jack’s team, or Ben’s team, however that lines up.

--The book The Chosen is one of the books in the beach tent that Ben sees. A not-so-subtle clue that Ben still has important work to do?

--It was cool seeing Dr Arzt again.

Questions:

--What if the Flash Sideways is what happens when the upcoming confrontation is over? Or is the Flash Sideways world one outcome of confrontation? Or is it really the actual continuation of Oceanic 815?

--Where does FLocke want to go?

--Where is Desmond?

Tune in next Tuesday night for episode 8 Recon.

Until next week, my new issue of Booty Babes just arrived.

2010-03-09T19:45:00.003-05:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that the largest mammal on planet Earth is the blue whale? These majestic sea creatures can grow as long as 110 feet in length and can weigh upwards of 200 tons! It’s heart is also the largest of any animal, weighing nearly 1,300 pounds in an adult.

The blue whale was put on the endangered species list in 1966 after years and years of the whaling industry hunting them to near extinction. The species has rebounded thanks to these protections.

The diet of a blue whale consists of small, marine creatures called krill, which they strain from the ocean water using natural sieves in their mouths. An adult blue whale will consume nearly 40 million krill in one day.

photo from www.freewebs.com

2010-03-08T20:02:00.002-05:00

Monday Morning Chuckle (the PM Edition)

2010-03-04T21:00:00.003-05:00

LOST Season 6 Episode 6 Sundown

Okay okay...you got me. Regarding my “these episodes are mirroring season one’s” theory of last week, this episode was NOT about Sun and Jin. D’oh.

With that behind us, it’s time to move on.

Sayid: Flash Sideways Sayid is not experiencing the kind of happy life that Jack has, or Locke has. Instead, he’s pushed Nadia off on his brother (but still loves her), and works translating oil contracts for a big company (Sun’s father of Paik Industries has a big company, I’m just saying). When Sayid’s brother, and Nadia’s husband Omer, asks for help when a business deal he made has gone sour, Sayid meets the person threatening Omer and it turns out to be the much hated Martin Keamey. After dispatching of Keamey and his crew, Sayid has become exactly what he’s always been, a man trying to be good, but failing. On the Island, Sayid continues his trip to the Dark Side by making a deal with FLocke that would result in his killing of Dogen by drowning him in the Temple pool, allowing the Temple to be overrun by the SMonster. Evil-Sayid joins FLocke’s Flock of Evil. I guess the darkness within Sayid has finally reached his heart.

Dogen: The confrontation between Sayid and Dogen in Dogen’s office was classic. How does his scale of evil work, I wonder? The fight scene was great. We learn that the reason he is on the Island is because of a deal made with Jacob. Dogen tells Sayid that before the Island, he was the manager of bank in Osaka, Japan and after a promotion went out drinking with friends. He picked up his son but was involved in a drunk-driving accident that killed his son. Jacob appeared and told him that he would save his son, but Dogen would have to go to the Island and thus never see his son again. It was a selfless act by Dogen to save his son despite the price.

FLocke: So, FLocke is a man? Dogen told Sayid that 'the man outside' (FLocke) was an “angry man”, so it’s possible that the idea of FLocke and Jacob being some sort of gods or demi-gods kind of falls apart with that statement. If he is a man, he's got himself some wicked powers. Unless Dogen was lying, which is possible because pretty much everyone who wields any sort of power in this show ultimately seems to lie to get their way. If the thing that has taken over Locke is trying to get off the Island to return home, it’s unlikely that whatever home he wants to return to no longer exists because it seems like he's been on the Island a very long time.

Claire: You know on an old cuckoo-clock, when the top of the hour hits and bird pops out and goes “cuckoooo-cuckoooo”? Well, that’s the noise I hear in my head every time she pops into the show. She’s wacky. Crazy wacky. But, she’s been under the spell, or darkness, of the Man-in-Black/FLocke/SMonster for quite some time. I still think Claire died in the blast of her house in Otherville and has been resurrected in the way that Sayid has been. Somehow. The darkness has taken her over, and with FLocke’s (and Fake-Christian’s) constant prodding is convinced that it was the people in the Temple who took Aaron and because of this, she is easily manipulated. She will continue to be one of FLock’s henchman...er, henchwomen. Thrown in a pit in the Temple, she ends up staying here until the SMonster wipes out the Temple population. Her reunion with Kate was strained at best as Kate is not aware of what Claire has been through while they’ve been separated. Clarie’s eyes burned holes through Kate as she was telling her how she took Aaron and has been raising him.

Jin: Hmmm...Jin as Keamey’s hostage? Remember in the Flash Sideways timeline, Jin arrived in LA, with Sun, on the Oceanic flight and he had a briefcase full of money. It now seems obvious he was going to meet Keamey, but why? Well, Keamey was part of Widmore’s team (on the Island in the original timeline) and Jin is still part of Mr Paik’s goon-squad in the Flash Sideways. So, why would Jin be going to see Keamey? Do Mr Paik and Mr Widmore have something going on?

Kate: Admitting to Claire that she took Aaron off the Island when Claire disappeared (she was with Christian in the cabin once thought to be Jacob’s). Telling Claire that she has been raising Aaron and that he is a great kid appears to get Claire’s attitude all in a rankle, but a passing SMonster (which Kate narrowly avoided getting plowed over by) quickly broke the tension between them. We’ll have to see how Kate and Claire get along now that they’re both leaving the Temple together with FLocke’s Flock of Evil. Kate, however, is surprised to see Locke (FLocke) since she last knew him to be dead when they left the mainland to return to the Island.

Miles: Tells Sayid that he had been dead for two hours before coming back to life. When Kate returns to the Temple he tells her about Claire having come to the Temple.

Ilana: Returning to the Temple with Lapidus, Sun and Ben, she leads them into the same secret passage that Hurley took Jack through. Joining them is Miles whom they found in the Temple during the SMonster massacre and he tells Sun that Jin is still alive. Ben,however, tried to get Sayid to come with them but realizing Sayid has gone all goofy runs back into the Temple, but we're not aware of where he is currently because he did not meet back up with Ilana in time to get out through the tunnel.

SMonster: Well, it pretty much wipes out the people who remained in the Temple after the deadline of sundown passed and they did not leave. But, is FLocke the SMonster too? Or is the SMonster a separate being/entity? (The SMonster scene was wicked cool.)

Funny lines

--”She just strolled in here a couple of hours ago, acting all weird. Still hot, though”, Miles to Kate regarding psycho-Claire.

Interesting

--The importance of the baseball on Dogen’s desk, something that reminds him of the son he’ll never see again.

--FLocke could not enter the Temple, as FLocke or SMonster, with the ashes still circling the site.

--All of FLocke’s request for people to do things for him (i.e. Sayid, Claire, etc), the act requires the person to do something that results in them getting something in return. They do something for FLocke only to get a reward for themselves. With Jacob, it’s more like the person makes a personal sacrifice, but the result is they do it without caring about themselves, only for the person they want to help. Case in point: Claire went into the Temple for FLocke because he’s promised her that they have her son, which is a lie. Sayid killed Dogen for FLocke because FLocke has implied he will get Sayid what he wants most. However, when Jacob required Dogen’s services, he gave Dogen the choice to have his son saved, but Dogen would never see him again. Dogen selflessly chose to save his son. But ultimately, Jacob is manipulating people just as Man-in-Black is, but the reason is different for those being used. So, the final scene between Dogen and Sayid was between a selfless man, and a selfish one.

--Sayid and Nadia go to the hospital to see Omer who has been beaten up and, oh, why hello Dr Jack Shepherd in the background.

--FLocke saying to Sayid, “What if you could have anything in the world?” Remember when Ben used a similar line of questioning on Locke? “What if there was a box, and in this box was the thing you wanted most in the world.”

--Sayid telling Nadia that he can’t be with her because he’s trying to rid himself of the horrible things he’s done and that he doesn’t deserve her. The things he did in Iraq? Or maybe the things he did on the Island (as evil Sayid...see where I'm going with this?)

--The people in the Temple leave after Sayid tells them that Jacob is dead and that they will die if they stay in the Temple after sundown. Also, Cindy and the kids from Oceanic 815, Emma and Zach, are still there, but the kids sure have grown. Nice to see that Zack still has his teddy bear.

--The thugs who took Sayid to see Keamey in the Flash Sideways are the same people that were part of Keamey’s freighter team.

Creepy

--Sayid telling Ben “Not for me” when Ben tries to get him to leave the Temple and says there’s still time. That grin was very Heath Ledger Joker-like.

--The song “When You Wish Upon a Star” that closed out the show. It’s been used numerous times before, especially in episodes involving Claire and Aaron. Here it was so slow and melancholy...almost like a death march as the camera panned over FLocke’s Flock of Evil.

Questions

--Why did the people in the Temple leave so quickly and join FLocke? Told that Jacob was dead and that they could leave, they do so pretty quickly, as though they didn’t want to be there in the first place....? No faith.

--Sayid’s dirty deal with FLocke is supposed to get him back with the love of his life “who died in his arms”. Remember it was Nadia who died in his arms after she was hit by the car when Sayid got off the Island? But don’t be fooled...it won’t be Nadia because FLocke is a manipulator. It will be Shannon, who also died in his arms on the Island after she was accidently shot by Anna Lucia. I’m just saying.

--What power did Dogen have that kept the SMonster out? And why with his death was it able to just come in?

--What are the noises that the SMonster makes...those clackety-clack noises?

--Are Ilana and her group heading to the Lighthouse to meet up with Hurley and Jack? (Remember: Jacob went to Ilana too...she was in a hospital in Russia and her face was bandaged, and he asked for her help, so she is definitely part of Team Jacob.)

--Where is Desmond? Widmore?

I don’t know what to think. I’m totally loving this, but as to where it’s going, I almost want to stop trying to guess and just keep enjoying the story and the ride. It’s obviously a good vs evil thing, but as to who is good and who is evil, well, it’s a close call, eh?

Tune in next Tuesday night for episode 7, Dr Linus. Hmmm...wonder what that will be about?

Until next week, you should know that I make good eggs.

2010-03-03T20:47:00.001-05:00

Wednesday’s Word

Word: Street, over street, down street (Adj. phrase)

Definition: in town

Usage:

“Where’s Kathy?”
“She went over street to get some medicine, but she should be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

2010-03-02T19:54:00.010-05:00

Did You Know Tuesday

Did you know that Pluto was discovered by an American by the name of Clyde Tombaugh? He was working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ when he discovered the planet on February 18, 1930.

Pluto’s status as a planet was taken away in 2006 when there were objects discovered in the Kuiper Belt (the belt of debris circling the edge of the solar system made up of the remnants from the formation of our star system) that were larger than Pluto, and thus the former planet was re-dubbed as a planetoid by the International Astronomical Union.

photo from http://inklake.typepad.com

Tombaugh was the only American to have discovered one of the planetary bodies in our system, so the demotion of Pluto was a bit of bummer in that sense.

Currently, the New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to Pluto. Launched in 2006, the craft will take nine years to make the journey and is already past its halfway point of the voyage. It travels more than 750,000 miles a day. This is the first spacecraft that has been sent to study Pluto. It’s location can be tracked here as it begins to near the orbit of Uranus on its way to a 2015 rendezvous with Pluto. Also, it should be noted that NASA included some of Clyde Tombaugh's ashes within the craft, so he is on his way to the object he discovered. Clyde passed in 1997.

2010-03-01T11:52:00.001-05:00

Monday Morning Chuckle

Yeah, there's still a few weeks before the 2010 baseball season starts, but the players are in Spring Training, so it seems like a good enough time for this classic.