The Wait is Over

It’s hard to believe it’s been 9 months! I could have had a baby since then. Yet here we are, just a few days away from the season four premiere of Lost. Things have definitely changed since season one.

In preparation for this big day, I thought it would do some good to brush up on what happened toward the end of last season and what went down this summer (things still happened!) so we can all be prepared for season four. There are 16 episodes slated for this season, however only half of them have been shot and edited and are ready-to-air. How long it takes the WGA to get a fair deal and get back to work is what the last 8 depend on. As of right now, they haven’t said much in terms of what would happen in the event the strike continues, just that the 8th episode could serve as a season finale if needed. My guess is if it came to that, they’d just tack the last 8 episodes onto the first part of season five and start the show in the fall next year. But that’s my guess… let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

Originally, I had tried to type up my own summary for the events leading up to season four, but this ABC press release sums it up nicer.

With only 48 original episodes left until the final episode airs in 2010, this season truly is the beginning of the end with the promise of rescue at hand. Jack has radioed a freighter stationed somewhere off the island. But when it’s disclosed that Charlie’s dying warning was that these people may not be who they say they are, the castaways are split as to what to do. Jack is convinced that the freighter people are there to rescue them, while Locke is not. A division occurs among the survivors. Who is on the freighter? What was the significance of the flash-forward showing Jack and Kate off the island at some point in the future? What will the consequences be when the characters once again encounter Michael, who seemingly escaped the island after murdering two of the survivors?

So what’s in store for our castaways at the start of this season with the ominously named episode “Beginning of the End?” I think “Penny’s Boat” really will be a disaster and we’ll find that out right from the start. What kind of a disaster is still up for speculation — was it sent by Charles Widmore to destroy all evidence of the island? Was it sent by the Hanso Foundation to restore the Dharma Initiative? It’s any body’s guess at this point, but I think the line between our castaways and the others will be blurred when they find themselves united against a common threat (something I’m not thrilled with — I still want the Others to die a slow, torturous death. Except Juliet.)

Hello, Juliet.

There’s simply too much speculation at this point to start getting into theories (but believe me, I’ll do that soon), so I’ll stick with the facts: over the summer two big pieces of news hit us: Michael is returning (when, how, why, and how Walt plays into it all are still unknown), and we got this piece of an orientation video for yet another station, the Orchid.

Lots of funny things happen in this video, all of which I go into in a previous blog of mine. I won’t repeat what I said earlier, but it’s all there in that link if you care to refresh yourself.

As for the return of Michael, it will be interesting to see how they address the growth of Malcolm David Kelly, the kid who plays Walt. People have been wondering how they’ll play that into the story, seeing as how only 80 or 90 days have passed island-time, but 4 years have gone by in the real world, which is a lot for a growing child actor. They can’t simply bring him back to the show and say “this is Walt,” because he’ll look four years older.

The writers said, early on, that this “problem” will be addressed in the show. Originally I thought this meant something sci-fi was coming… something to do with time travel or genetic testing in the ominous Room 23, but ever since we learned that the show now tells us via flash-forwards what happens after our castaways are rescued in addition to what happened before, I think it’s something much more simple: Walt will appear in flash-forwards from this point on. These flash forwards will no doubt take place years after the events on the island, thus neatly explaining why Walt has aged.

Very creative.

Starting this past fall, Verizon and ABC teamed up to put out two or three minute mobi-sodes that filled in some of the back story leading up to our current situation. I originally thought they were just deleted scenes from previous episodes, but no — people actually wrote them, and they were recently filmed, just for this purpose. Here they are, along with my commentary, because it’s my blog and I can do that.

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Episode 1 - The Watch

So, here we are shown a flashback featuring Jack and his father a few moments before Jack gets married to Sarah. This is a little disturbing given what we know about Jack’s suspicions later on that Sarah is cheating on him with his father. Maybe we’ll find out of this is the truth in season four, and maybe, based on Jack’s line in the season three finale, we’ll hear it from Christian himself (is he still alive, did the island heal him)? I don’t know, but it’s one of the few moments on screen where we see Christian and Jack getting along and it’s actually kind of sweet. Like those aviators.

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Episode 2 - Hurley and Frogurt

Eff Neil, I’m calling him Frogurt. Whatever happens, though, we all know that this ends in tragedy because while he’s getting the wine, Libby’s getting shot by Michael.

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Episode 3 - King of the Castle

“When that day comes…” Well, we’ve already seen that day, and I wonder if Jack really was remembering this conversation during that scene. So what is it about the island that makes you want to come back? Is it just that it can heal you? Maybe Jack’s healed mentally and just doesn’t realize it yet. Is it a utopia that, once you experience it, going back to a capitalistic western society just doesn’t feel right anymore? Who knows. Either way, it looks like Ben was right about the island not wanting Jack to leave. It didn’t sink the submarine, but it might have made Locke do it, using explosives stolen from one of the stations that featured a pretty challenging game of chess.

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Episode 4 - The Deal

Ooooooooo. Here’s proof these aren’t just deleted scenes, onnaconna this woulda revealed too much if shown back in season two when this conversation took place. Not to mention, Juliet hadn’t even been introduced yet at that point.

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Episode 5 - Operation: Sleeper

This is one of my favorites because it blatantly answers the question of what Juliet was talking about when she asked Jack “should we tell her?” after Kate confronted them about nobody trusting them.

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Episode 6 - Room 23

Nah, nevermind. This here’s my favorite. We get confirmation that Walt really was in Room 23, the brainwashing room. Miss Klugh hinted at this when she threatened Walt by saying “we’ll put you back in the room!” He also appears to have some form of supernatural powers. Remember in season 1, during an off-island flashback, a bird flew into the window and died in a similar manner. So it seems they’ve planned on Walt’s power all along. The question is: why would the Others openly give him up? My theory is that, after the Hatch implosion, his powers vanished. Why? Because they are electro-magnetic powers that were fried when the magnetic anomaly exploded. Birds know where they are going because they navigate the Earth’s magnetic fields. This could also play into Claire’s idea to tie a message onto a bird’s foot.

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Episode 7 - Artz and Crafts

OH, yes, Mr. Artz. Those that missed the last part of the first season missed his dramatic departure from… well, life itself. I won’t ruin that surprise in case you want to go back and watch for yourself, but it’s good to see him now and then through flashbacks (like this and the third season episode featuring Nikki and Paolo). What’s interesting here is that he references Jack seeing his father on the island. This is important soon (keep reading).

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Episode 8 - Buried Secrets

Hmmmm.. Sun and Michael, huh? I can’t say this is a surprise. And I’m not glad that it was interrupted. That damn dog knows more than he’s letting on, I’m sure of it.

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Episode 9 - Tropical Depression

Nothing too special here, at least, not that I can see. I guess the fact that he’s catching the spider’s that later cause Nikki and Paolo’s death is a bit creepy. And Michael telling him he’s going to bring back help is a little bit ironic.

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Episode 10 - Jack Meets Ethan

So (assuming he’s being honest) Ethan had a wife who got pregnant on the island and succumbed to the curse and died? To my knowledge that’s new info., although not really a shock. But I bet that medicine didn’t come from the plane. We didn’t know anything about the Others for the most part in season 1, but there they were, running the whole show.

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Episode 11 - Jin Has a Tantrum

Poor Jin. When this took place, though, Jin was still an ass, so this is a bit of previously unseen development for him.

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Episode 12 - The Envelope

This was about to be another favorite, but they never revealed what’s in the envelope. My guess is something as boring as Ben’s tumor. The other cool part about this video, at least for me, is pretending the old woman is Amelia Earhart.

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Episode 13 - So It Begins

OMFG. “So it begins,” is the name of this one, and if that’s taken at face value, this is the beginning of the Lost story. This is huge. Jack’s dad, who, the more I think about it, might very well be Jacob (see the resemblance in the photo below?… maybe?…), or at least a distant offspring. I think it’s brilliant that they gave Vincent a flashback episode here, because it’s been joked about since the beginning. But Jack’s father?! Is he really alive, as Jack said in the flash-forward at the end of season 3? After all, his coffin was empty when they found it in season 1. But, we later found out that the smoke monster can take human form as it did for Eko when he saw his brother, and Kate’s horse, and maybe even Walt when Locke saw him again late last season. (The smoke monster might have even been the Mikhail that killed Charlie–I mean, he did DIE before that).

But how would the smoke monster even know who Jack was at this point? The plane had just crashed. And what work would he have to do? I haven’t decided if I believe this theory or not, but: maybe Jacob reanimated Jack’s father. Jack’s father’s name is Christian. If Jacob is, let’s say, Christian’s father, the initials there are J.C., and we all know of a popular guy who was resurrected with those initials.

“God loves you as he loved Jacob.”

So which “missing piece” do you like best? What are your thoughts? What do you hope gets explained this season? Is it a good idea for them to keep introducing new main characters each season? Who do you want to see more of? Who do you want to see die? I think someone will die this season, and I think it will be Claire. Claire, who is Jack’s half-sister. Jack, with the initial J, and Claire, with her initial C. It’s all over the place.

Poor Claire.

So, this Wednesday at 8pm they are replaying the season 3 finale with Pop-Up-Video-like text descriptions reminding you of some of the island lore. Then on Thursday at 8pm is the recap episode you’ll need to watch if you’re new to all of this or just have forgotten everything, and at 9pm is the beginning of season 4.

Until then… stay outta Room 23.

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Depending on who is portraying him, the Joker is arguably one of the scariest villains in the comic world. Part of what makes him scary is the idea that he’s just as crazy as Batman himself, expect Batman channels his craziness into something positive whereas the Joker is a mess of hate and… well… something I can’t comprehend because I’ve sat here for 10 minutes trying to think of a word.

Bottom line: Jack Nicholson’s version was always a let down to me because no matter who I talked to their opinion always seemed to be that Nicholson got it right. Because of that, I kind of always thought nobody would ever touch the Joker again, and since Nicholson apparently was so great, that’s how everybody would see the Joker from that point on. I’m glad the new movies are being bold enough to step out of Nicholson’s shadow, and I’m really looking forward to Heath Ledger’s version who looks a little crazier.

One aspect of the Joker that I also like is his side-kick introduced in the animated series. Harleen Quinzel is a doctor at Arkham Asylym where the Joker is locked up, and (this is how good the Joker is with other people’s minds), she goes crazy working with him. She takes on his gimmick and calls herself Harley Quinn.

I never really thought about it until all this press about Mary Kate Olsen’s relationship with Heath Ledger, but I got to thinking she might make a pretty good Harley Quinn. It would be a stretch and a true test of her ability but, if executed correctly, would define her as an individual and give her some credibility that one of those sisters needs to make it now that they are no longer considered child actors.

“Hey, hey, Mistah J…” 

I don’t know, I’m just the idea guy.

Do you think that particular casting move would be taken seriously? What would the hype be like, do you think? Harley Quinn hasn’t been seen on live-action screen yet, so, who do you think would give a good portrayal?

*****

Slightly off-topic, but: here is a video someone made using the audio for The Dark Knight trailer and footage from the old 60s Batman show.

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Pride of Baghdad is a graphic novel (okay, comic book) about a group of lions that escape from a Baghdad zoo during the US invasion in 2003. I’m not sure why I just heard about it now, and why it was on the Borders New Releases shelf last week if it came out in late 2006, but I saw the name of the author and had to pick it up.

Brian K. Vaughn is the writer of the Y: The Last Man series I’ve talked about, as well as one of the writers on everybody’s favorite TV show, Lost. So I’m pretty much going to try and read anything he puts out.

This is a stand-alone story, and, for the most part, the pictures kind of tell the story. (So is it a picture book?) The dialogue is strong but if there was one negative thing I had to look for in Brian K. Vaughn’s writing it would be that he doesn’t really take anything seriously and always kinds of jokes in the wrong place.

However, he handles death scenes very well. In an earlier issue of Y: The Last Man, the crew finds themselves having to live with a group of escaped (female, of course) prison inmates. Well, the main character falls in love with one of them, only to have it end in tragedy as his sister shows up and shoots the girl. As she lay dying she tries to tell him “something I saw on TV once, about lions…” She says, “lions…. ” and you’re thinking, as you turn the page, she’ll say something about lions falling in love or finding each other or some other kind of sweet piece of dying-dialog, only to see that she died never finishing her thought. What was she going to say?! Scenes like that really make the death have more impact, because people die all the time never really finishing what they started, or never really getting to say goodbye. More on this in a minute.

I tried to think hard about this story and what it meant. I mean, anything having to do with talking lions in Baghdad has to have some kind of message behind it. As far as I can tell, it has to do with the nature of freedom and what it means to be “liberated.” These lions were set free after a bomb blew apart their cage at the zoo, so they set off, not really knowing what they were getting in to. They searched for food, but having too much compassion for the “keepers” (humans), refused to eat them. These animals weren’t necessarily meant to be free, being raised in captivity most of their lives, so, I think the message is… what does that mean for the war in Iraq? If freedom has to be earned, are we just setting up the Iraqi’s for disaster by “giving” it to them?

I don’t have an answer. But the way the animals view the war and human civilization (they have no idea what anything is or what it means) is amusing. A wise turtle tells them, in passing, that they’re fighting over black water, and the way they talk about it makes you think “is that really it? We’re stupid.”

The death scene comes in the end and (well, I guess I should put a spoiler warning here… so)… (more…)

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One of my new years resolutions was to read books–lots of books–this year. The problem is, and I don’t know why this happens, if it’s a medical condition or what, I have a hard time remembering what I read months later. Even weeks later. I often wonder if this is something I should be worried about or if it’s something everybody goes through. When I hear people talk about how they can plow through two books I week I often wonder what would happen if I were to ask them in-depth details about the story’s plot… would they be able to answer?

I’m a slow reader because of that. I take my time and try to really understand the plot and why things happen the way they do. Even so, I often get caught off guard by questions asked about the book and that’s what worries me. So, as a way of trying to make that sort of thing not happen as much, I’m going to start blogging about all the books I read this year so I can look back and refresh my memory.

The first book on my list to be completed is Stephen King’s “Bag of Bones.” It’s slightly more than ten years old at this point, which is scary because I remember the media attention when it first came out. I was thirteen or fourteen at the time.

The plot is actually very simple, and is neatly explained in the last chapter in what I’m thinking is Stephen King’s signature send-off (I’ve only read 2 of his books so far, both from Crystal’s recommendations): a conversation between two people, one asking “so what happened?” and the other, the main character, answering all the questions.

(Since this book came out 10 years ago I think a spoiler’s ahead warning isn’t really necessary, but here it is nonetheless.) It’s the story of a writer named Mike Noonan who looses his wife in a weird traffic accident and can’t write anymore. Seeking escape, he goes to the lake house they own on Dark Score Lake, in an unincorporated village-like settlement called TR-90, in Maine. The name of the lake house is Sara Laughs, named after Sara Tidwell who was the lead singer of Sara and the Red Tops, a group of black singers who lived in TR-90 back in the day when racism was still the in thing. Sara was brutally raped and murdered by the forefathers of the town, leaving Sara’s spirit (and her remains… the literal bag of bones) haunting the lake house and influencing members of the community. Mike Noonan’s ultimate destiny at Sara Laughs is to write a story guided by the good-spirit of his dead wife, which gave him clues about how to break the curse and remove the bag of bones left behind by the evil-spirit of Sara.

Of course, there has to be something else besides just that to fill the 732 pages, and there certainly is! All of the blurbs at the beginning sum it up nicely: it’s King’s finest work, it’s King’s powerful imagination, it’s King at his clever, terrifying best, but most importantly, it’s King “proving he’s not only a mesmerizing storyteller, he’s one of the most moving as well.”

As he grieves his wife and struggles with his writing, he becomes involved in a younger woman’s life and her bitter custody battle between her little girl, Kyra Devore, and her nasty father-in-law, billionaire Max Devore. The woman, Mattie, stirs something up in Mike so much that Mike takes her struggle as his own, investing his time and money and allowing himself to fall in love again after his wife’s death.

There is tragedy about 3/4’s of the way through, though, when you think all is well and all will be happily ever after. And that’s when Stephen King is Stephen King and just as he has you by the balls he decides to twist them a bit and serve you a cold plate of flapjacks. (Just in case, you’ll need to highlight the following text with your mouse to read it, but): Yes, Mattie dies. But she doesn’t just die, she gets shot in the face. One of the most powerful scenes in the book was Mattie lying in Mike’s arms, struggling to call for her daughter, as he tried to hold her brain into her head.  “I wish I’m able to tell you that I don’t remember exactly how that looked, but I do.”

I read this book in less than a month, which, at 732 pages, says quite a bit. It was a good way to start the non-stop, book-reading new year. Next up? Star Trek: Q & A (Q being the omnipotent god-like being from another dimension), but don’t expect to hear anything about that. I’m too embarrassed.

And why was Sara Laughing? Well, that’s just the kind of gal she is.

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As usual, I have some links to share brought to you by the bookmarking site, del.icio.us.  See, when I go to a site that I like, I can click a button on my browser and it opens a window where I can type a little commentary and it saves the link.  Then, at the end of the week, I export those links out and post them all here for you to enjoy.

I also have a new Nexterday News article up, a link to which you should find to your right, under where it says “Nexterday News.”  Newer articles are always listed first, so, it’s a safe bet the one on the top is new.  Just sayin’.

My goal is to write one story a week for that site.  I have 5 in the pipeline as of right now so I think that’s do-able.  But what does a guy gotta do to get some feedback on ‘em?  Right now I’m commenting on my own news stories (though I’m using a pen name, so only those astute detectives should be able to figure that out).

Also, the link is right here:

August 2nd, 2026 - ‘Seinfeld’ Remake Announced as Only Scripted Fall TV Show

I wrote this. It’s a follow-up story to the WGA strike resolution coverage of 2026.

 

Clive Thompson on Why Sci-Fi Is the Last Bastion of Philosophical Writing

“Science fiction is the last great literature of ideas,” he says. I know nobody likes a link to a heavy article, so I apologize for wasting your time with this link.

 

Scary movie Cloverfield making viewers sick - CNN.com

Bring your dramamine… I wish I did.

 

Dr. Laura’s Blog » Heath Ledger and Tragic Death

Once again, she’s got a point. Also, second to last paragraph…. isn’t that supposed to be hoo-RAH? I’m no marine, but I think so.

 

Alt Text: Tiptoeing Through the Minefield of Movie Spoilers

An etiquette for posting spoilers. Excellent. Spread this around.

 

Autopsy planned as actor Heath Ledger is mourned - CNN.com

He said that the Joker kept him up at night. Prescription sleep pills are the suspected cause of death. Did the Joker kill Heath?

 

Office Fantasy Video - Jake And Amir Dot Com

Their best video yet. If you don’t know them, this might not be as funny. But it’s still funny. So funny.

 

Little Black Girl & President Bush - The Daily Dish

You don’t have to read anything if you click this link… it’s a picture, and that’s all it really needs to be.

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… is not the sequel to Batman Begins or even Star Trek, but rather, this:

Wall-E

It is impossible for me not to smile when I hear him say “Whaaaaaa-haaaal, eeeeeee.”

WALL-E is the story of the last little robot on Earth, whose programming was to help clean up. Through consumerism, rampant, unchecked consumerism, the Earth was covered with trash. And to clean up, everyone had to leave Earth and set in place millions of these little robots that went around to clean up the trash and make Earth habitable again.

Well, the cleanup program failed with the exception of this one little robot and he’s left on Earth doing his duty all alone. But it’s not a story about science fiction. It’s a love story, because, you see, WALL·E falls in love with EVE, a robot from a probe that comes down to check on Earth […]

Sounds good to me!

I love stories about someone finding that their true purpose in life was not, just as they knew all along, something they’ve been doing their whole life. (Add robots to the mix, and I blow one big excited gasket). Like John Locke from Lost, who was a box salesman for the longest time before crash landing and becoming one of the island’s most respected leaders, the tag line for Wall-E is…

It’s okay, little guy… someone’s coming for you.

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