Archive for February, 2006

Number punching: general theory

From what I’ve heard, there are three general categories of theories regarding the purpose of the numbers being entered into the computer every 108 minutes.

  1. The numbers being entered are necessary to trigger the system to perform some task that is needed as a part of the experiment. What that “something” is varies widely from theory to theory (aligning with satellites, etc.)
  2. The numbers are a “dead man’s switch”, meaning that they don’t do anything other than prevent something bad from happening if they are NOT pressed. For example, the that if something went wrong, or the island got into the wrong hands, etc. and the numbers did not get pressed the island would self destruct, etc.
  3. The number punching has no technical purpose whatsoever, and exists only as a sociological / psychological part of the experiment.

Personally, I have always leaned towards ruling out #1, even though it is a component of some pretty popular theories out there. To have such an elaborate technological set up (with all the other gear they appear to have, and the assumed advanced control of electro-magnetic systems, etc.) the idea that they would be running a software control system so primitive as to not support the most basic of scheduled tasks is a bit of a stretch. Even on the Apple II (or whatever that ancient workstation is), you could write a simple program that would prevent you having to type in the same exact numbers at a fixed interval of time.

This would leave numbers two or three, and I’m currently not sure which one to go with. On the one hand, it wouldn’t seem to be much of an effective “dead man’s switch” if the numbers were so easy to come by (printed on the outside of the hatch, Desmond telling talking freely about them). Side note: I am really interested to find out more about Desmond; specifically where he’s been since we last saw him.

It kind of makes me tend to believe the third one, although what happens then if they do allow them to go all the way down? If it’s nothing, then they obviously would stop pushing them, and then what?

The Five: Reasons NOT to kill off Ana Lucia

The Five: Reasons NOT to kill off Ana Lucia

ana lucia the fiveI wholeheartedly disagree with this editorial in the Toronto Star. The writer calls for Ana Lucia’s character to be killed off on Lost. He’d like to see her get scurvy, mauled by a polar bear, “vanish into a black cloud”, or get shot in a special guest appearance by Dick Cheney. He says that, despite her tragic back-story, Ana Lucia is not a captivating character. He thinks she lacks depth and doesn’t like her attitude. He also calls for the “killing-off” of Izzie on Grey’s Anatomy, so he may just be completely out of his mind.Here are five reasons to keep Ana Lucia alive:5. We love to hate her. Why does everybody have to get along? So she’s abrasive and lacks common sense or civility. She has a management style thats, um, different. That makes for a great, strong character. Even if we do hate her.

4. Sexual tension. Ana Lucia fits right in the middle of the Kate-Jack-Sawyer love triangle and messes everything up! Something needed to happen to complicate that love triangle that was about to get old, and Ana Lucia was that something.

3. Shannon & Sawyer. I hated Shannon and Sawyer for a good chunk of the first season. Shannon with her snarl and her designer clothes, and Sawyer with his indifference for others were infuriating! But, if you’ll remember, they both became endearing characters. By the time she was killed, I was very sad to see Shannon go. And I would totally lose my mind if the writers killed off Sawyer, even though he has returned to his criminal ways. Give it time. There is a lot more back story to reveal and, as with Shannon and Sawyer, she could always redeem herself.

2. Harmony is for hippies. While The Others are interesting, Lost would get really boring if there wasn’t internal conflict within the castaways. This show needs a lot of flavors of conflict to keep it churning. Ana Lucia already has built-in conflict with Jack and Sayid and I can see a cat fight in the future between her and Kate.

1. It’s too obvious. Killing off Ana Lucia wouldn’t be shocking or have an impact because we’re not close to her character and she’s not likable (yet). That’s a boring, predictable storyline that wouldn’t have any lasting impact on any of the characters. Although, it would totally piss off these fans.

Zeke and Sayid’s torture mentor the same guy?

Sayid’s torture mentor from episode 14. (if anyone has photos of him without glasses please post)

Sayid’s torture mentor from episode 14. (if anyone has photos of him without glasses please post)

Zeke (as Sawyer calls him)

Zeke (as Sawyer calls him)

Is this the same guy? I haven’t seen anything about this online.

The Heiroglyphics from episode 14

oh sh*t!

Had this last frame filled in some real sh*t wouldv’e hit the fan. Locke just made it. The mechanical sounds in the background right before Locke enteres the numbers and the way this scene was shot was awesome.

Utilizing a heiroglyphic phrase dictionary, the only five symbol phrase that fits the sequence means “to cause to die.” Spooky.

“One diligent poster discovered that the symbols correspond to constellations.”

Here are the main theories on the hatch and the button from Life on the Rocks.

* The hatch is a missile silo. The button is a dead-man’s switch, so if anything goes wrong and there’s no one left to man the control room, you get doomsday.

* The hatch is the control center for the island and the button is a dead-man’s switch for a self-destruct sequence. The Dharma Initiative installed it to keep the project out of the hands of interlopers.

* The hatch is the control center for the island and, when all the factors are in place and all the players are positioned, it powers up the other five stations on the island to begin the “grand experiment.”

* The hatch is the control center for the island and some faction created the button to keep the experiment from being powered back up. They keep a couple of people down there to man the switch and push the button so that the start-up sequence isn’t initiated.

* The hatch is the control center for the island and the switch is in place to keep another “incident” from occurring.

The possibilities are endless.

Read more for this guys Wizard of Oz parallels. crazy.

Revelations from the “official” podcast

On the latest podcast, the creators of Lost let a couple things out that I found interesting / encouraging.

  1. The plot from tonight’s episode will be the center point for several of the next few episodes from here on out. This is good, because I’m really looking forward to what happens with this.
  2. They also said that what caused the plane to crash will be revealed in this season (season 2). They also previously said that we will know where Walt has been and what happened to him before the end of this season. Just in case anyone feels like they’re dragging things out without revealing much…..

Locke / Ethan tie

Dan, please tell me you remember me saying a long time ago that I thought that they made Ethan and Locke look really similar in some of the shots from the episode where he dies.

I just noticed in the “previously on Lost” segment today that they showed Ethan punching Charlie a couple times in the face, and it looked *really* familiar.

Again, maybe just a red herring, but you never know, and I want to get credit for calling this one first…. ha ha

“Spoilers”

Spoilers Anonymous - TV Squad
Lost

Continue reading ‘“Spoilers”’

LOST book found on Amazon.

LOST book

“Gary Troup’s manuscript for Bad Twin made its debut on ABC’s Lost on wednesday night as the reading material of character Hugo “Hurleyâ€? Reyes. After he mentioned that he had found the manuscript in a suitcase, the conversation moved on, but it won’t be the last time Lost fans will see the book.”

Amazon link

from Amazon’s description:

About the Author
Bad Twin is the highly-anticipated new novel by acclaimed mystery writer Gary Troup. Bad Twin was delivered to Hyperion just days before Troup boarded Oceanic Flight 815, which was lost in flight from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles in September 2004. He remains missing and is presumed dead.

Paul Artisan, P.I. is a new version of an old breed — a righter of wrongs, someone driven to get to the bottom of things. Too bad his usual cases are of the boring malpractice and fraud variety. Until now.

His new gig turns on the disappearance of one of a pair of twins, adult scions of a rich but tragedy-prone family. The missing twin — a charismatic poster-boy for irresponsibility — has spent his life daring people to hate him, punishing himself endlessly for his screw-ups and misdeeds. The other twin — Artisan’s client — is dutiful and resentful in equal measure, bewildered that his “other half” could have turned out so badly, and wracked by guilt at his inability to reform him. He has a more practical reason, as well, for wanting his brother found: their crazy father, in failing health and with guilty secrets of his own, will not divide the family fortune until both siblings are accounted for.

But it isn’t just a fortune that’s at stake here. Truth itself is up for grabs, as the detective’s discoveries seem to challenge everything we think we know about identity, and human nature, and family. As Artisan journeys across the globe to track down the bad twin, he seems to have moved into a mirror-world where friends and enemies have a way of looking very much alike. The P.I. may have his long-awaited chance to put his courage and ideals to the test, but if he doesn’t get to the bottom of this case soon, it could very well cost him his life.

Troup’s long-awaited Bad Twin is a suspenseful novel that touches on many powerful themes, including the consequence of vengeance, the power of redemption, and where to turn when all seems lost.

Misleading preview

Here’s a couple screenshots I exported from a previous episode and the new preview for this week’s show.

Episode 9 Clock
Clock from season 2, episode 9

Episode 14 Clock
Clock from preview for this week’s episode

I can only assume that we will be seeing a different clock countdown, perhaps either in a new “hatch” location or a flashback to a previous “incident” (maybe the one referred to in the film) in which the (or a) clock reached zero.

Very Interesting!!!

Just reviewing the video from Season 2, thanks Jared, and I found this.

Notice how the video bracks out right after, “and UTOPIAN SOCIAL”.

The “Inclusion” is the description of Hanso but could Lost be a utopian social experiment? It sounds like it.

I looked up Utopian at Dictionary.com for kicks.

u·to·pi·an
adj.

  1. often Utopian Of, relating to, describing or having the characteristics of a Utopia: a Utopian island; Utopian novels.
    1. Excellent or ideal but impracticable; visionary: a utopian scheme for equalizing wealth.
    2. Proposing impracticably ideal schemes.

n.

A zealous but impractical reformer of human society.