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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40919552016-07-23T03:47:50.885-04:00Inn of the Last HomeWelcome to the Inn of the Last Home. A calm spot in a world of dragons.Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-39177130048309945082016-07-23T01:42:00.001-04:002016-07-23T03:47:50.891-04:00The Good, the Bad, and the Not-So-Sure of "Star Trek: Beyond"

It's' the thirteenth movie in the Star Trek franchise, and the third in the so-called "Abrams-verse." Of course, JJ Abrams has long since moved on to bigger, more lucrative franchises, but this time around Justin Lim has taken the helm. Known for various "Fast and Furious" films, many were nervous the latest Trek film would be nothing but an action-adventure explosion-fest from beginning to end. Explosions abound, but let's leave the judgement to the end.

Obviously, spoilers abound. You have been warned.

THE GOOD

1) The character portrayals (well, most of them) - Karl Urban and Anton Yelchin (RIP) continue to own their characters of McCoy and Chekov. The plot contrivance of splitting the bridge crew into various subgroups on the planet was well-conceived, as was each group slowly finding each other. It gave most every co-star moments to shine.

Chris Pine is growing on me as James T. Kirk, but there's still something about his physical build and the way he holds himself that just doesn't project a Shatner-esque confidence. His character has grown quite a bit since "Star Trek" (2009), in that he does now truly inspire the confidence and loyalty of his crew - all of them, not just the ones on the bridge. This Kirk is entering a career crisis that we know affected the original Kirk at the end of the original 5-year mission, so continuity holds there. I thought the resolution of his crisis and its references to his father were perhaps resolved a little too neatly (while setting up the next movie) but at least the arc was there.

Simon Pegg continues to improve his take on Scotty - he's taken it farther from the original James Doohan version, but I like this one just about as well. Oh, and Keenser was used minimally in this one, which is always a big plus. And he got himself a mini-me!

2) The Call-Backs - Multiple references to past incarnations of Trek abounded in this one, but thankfully weren't as obvious as random tribbles or old girlfriends. I had no clue of the inclusion of "Star Trek: Enterprise"-era ships, uniforms and bridge sets, which were a delight to watch. I kept wondering why they didn't just go ahead and make the Franklin be Archer's original Enterprise until the reveal at the end as to what happened to its captain. There was a MACO reference as well, which was cool. I noticed a few line callbacks, including "to absent friends" and "scotch was inwented by a little old lady from Russia" to the reappearance of an Enterprise NCC-1701-A. The death of Ambassador Spock was necessary and worked into younger Spock's plot line, so that was good, and the family photo at the end tied things back to the original cast neatly. Did anybody else expect younger Spock to find Ambassador Spock's ICIC pin, or maybe the Vulcan lyre in amongst his effects?

3) An Episode of Trek - there's been controversy with each of the movies that have been released, that they just don't feel like an episode of Star Trek. This one, maybe more than any other movie since possibly The Final Frontier, felt like an expanded episode of one of the series. That's a good thing. I'm not sure the actual plot held up as big-screen worthy, but we'll get to that. I enjoyed that the action was basically contained to one planet and one star base, and didn't span the entire galaxy.

4) The Action - to go along with the criticism of their not being enough episode-type structure to a Star Trek movie, there was also a lot of fear that with Justin Lim directing the movie there would be way too much reliance on straight-up action and violence. The movie did have that, but it was Star Trek action. I wasn't a fan of the kickboxing type fight at the end, but there was a good balance between combat and the rest of the movie.

THE BAD

1) Spock - Let me be clear up front: I didn't think Spock's character was portrayed badly, nor do I think he was written poorly. I did notice a difference in watching Spock this time around, that now I'm much more familiar with Zachary Quinto from his other acting jobs (such as American Horror Story) so I found myself thinking more and more, "hey, there's Zachary Quinto" playing Spock, instead of "hey, there's that new guy playing Spock." While I certainly wouldn't begrudge an actor keeping him or herself busy between Trek movies professionally, the more they make themselves visible in other roles the easier it is for me to be drawn out of the story during their first couple of appearances in the film.

I did find it an odd choice to give Spock an injury so early in the story and continue to make it a hindrance to him for most of the rest of the movie. Watching a well man carry an injured man in a hostile environment is not a new plot point, but unless there's a good reason for it - to level a playing field, to deliberately slow a character from reaching a goal, etc - it just seems to slow down the storyline while we wait for the grunting and grimacing to finish. I do understand Spock and McCoy did have to have some character moments between them that might've been more difficult if they'd been constantly mobile, but I thought it was too much.

Spock is also feeling a pull to leave the Enterprise, in this case to help his people and, in McCoy's words, "make Vulcan babies." As the movie progresses he comes to realize his place is on the ship and at Kirk's side. Since the loss of Vulcan is obviously a character trait unique to younger Spock's history, his Starfleet decisions are much different. But the solution - fighting beside his shipmates, working closely with Kirk, the death of Ambassador Spock and a family portrait - seem to not really require him to come to the turnaround naturally. Spock has a crisis, events happen, crisis is resolved. Seemed a little empty and unearned.

I think Spock's character was underserved in this movie, and the evolution of his relationship with Uhura will be discussed later.

2) The Music - I don't have a problem with the score itself, I just realize I'm quite over Michael Giacchino's new, droning main Trek theme. We heard the traditional fanfare a couple of times (although it's never enough) but I finally realize what the new-ish theme reminds me of: militaristic sci-if movies like "Starship Troopers." Yes, I know James Horner's "Star Trek II" score also had a militaristic bent, but it was Star Trek II. 'Nuff said.

3) The Villain - Idris Elba is a fine actor - I look forward to seeing him in Stephen King's Dark Tower movies. I enjoyed his desperation at the end of this movie, once he's back in a Starfleet Uniform and you can actually see his face. But for the other 4/5 of the film, he's so covered in alien make-up, his lines are just run-of-the-mill Trek villain, his motivations are completely unclear, I actually had him in the running for worst Trek villain of all time. Thankfully, somewhere out there Eric Bana breathes a sigh of relief at not having to give up the crown. We're 0-3 (0-5 if you go back through "Star Trek: Insurrection") since we've had a memorable, worthwhile Trek movie villain. For some reason, the producers of Trek keep trying to find another Khan (even, strangely enough, finding another Khan) to stand toe-to-toe with Kirk or Picard or Kirk but keep falling short. I think that reason is worth more in-depth study, but to have not even a hint at a villain's true motivations for doing evil until the very end of the movie makes for a very uninteresting, cardboard adversary.

Did Kraal's bio-tech weapon seem an awful lot like Shinzon's thelaron radiation from "Star Trek: Nemesis"? Combined with his similarity to Shinzon's and Nero made for a bland, recycled villain.

THE NOT-SO-SURE

1) Sulu and Uhura - This time both characters seemed to be defined mostly by their relationships: Uhura with Spock, and Sulu with his Significant Other. Uhura did figure out the frequency broadcast trick at the end but mainly served as a catalyst for advancing Spock's particular character arc. Sulu has the least to do, but we saw him in domestic bliss. While I think the relationships between all the characters was this movie's biggest strength and Zoe Saldana and John Cho continue to do a good job, not finding enough for these two to do didn't help their characters much.

One small thing about Uhura - it must be an established fact of this new timeline that this Uhura is very much unlike Nichelle Nichols' Uhura. While Simon Pegg's Scotty has evolved in a slightly different yet familiar direction, Zaldana's Uhura seems to have significant personality differences that Nichols'. It's not a bad thing, necessarily, just notable.

2) The Plot - Um....what?

Why did Kraal hate the Federation so much he was prepared to commit genocide - supposedly they took him away from being a soldier, made him a captain, then when he got lost they didn't come find him? Really? Someone goes from crashing their ship in a nebula planet to genocidal maniac because of a vendetta against the alliance that gave him a ship in the first place and then for what ever reason, couldn't find him? This rationale requires Kraal to really have a low threshold for vengeance motivation. I think I saw that once before following the destruction of Romulus in the future...

Where did Kirk get the alien artifact he was offering to the little aliens at the beginning of the movie? Where did those other aliens get it? How did it happen to be the one piece of technology needed by the villain in the area that happens to have just set up the trap for Kirk? Where did this technology come from? Who built it?

Why did the soul-sucker technology change Kraal's appearance to look like a Jem'Haddar? Why did he transform back to human-ish at the end? Who were his henchmen - other crewmen from the Franklin? How did his mind and body become twisted in the first place? (Please, don't tell me, "Read the supplemental comic book series."

Where did Jaylah come from? For what reason did Kraal capture her and her family, as well as all the other aliens on the planet? Why did Kraal decide to put this extremely complicated plan into motion? If he could use the alien tech to tap into Yorktown Station's database, why didn't he use it earlier on to get rescued?

Lots of plot holes that, admittedly, may make more sense on subsequent viewings. But not addressing some of these points during the movie tended to make the inner motivations of the adversaries muddy and unrealistic.

3) Jaylah - Not sure what to say about Jaylah. The purist in me wants more info on her species, but I know that's not relevant to the story. Overall I liked her, and hope we see more of her - she had a Ro Laren/Kira Nerys quality to her. I also liked her "conquering personal fear" character arc, although I think the resolution wasn't really acknowledged. There was a specific bit with her and Kirk in the middle of the movie regarding her being afraid to return to Kraal's base. She does conquer her fear, but that feat doesn't seem to be acknowledged specifically by the movie or the characters.

4) Carol Marcus - I thought "Star Trek: Into Darkness" made a big deal about Dr. Marcus joining the crew. Where was she? Maybe she was at home on maternity leave... Odd there was no mention of her.

5) Another Lost Enterprise - When I saw in the previews that it appeared the Enterprise was getting the stuffing kicked out of it, I was dismayed. But I have so little visceral attachment to this version of the Big E (as opposed to TOS, movies, TNG or even "Enterprise"'s Enterprise I really didn't care if this one survived or not. We all knew they'd get a Version A, a la the end of Trek IV, so the stakes really weren't there. Still wish the Franklin was actually Archer's Enterprise after all. Ok, let it go, let it go...

Overall I enjoyed the movie about as much as I enjoyed "Star Trek: Into Darkness," which was better than the 2009 "Star Trek." They're moving in the right direction, just taking their own time to get there. Another viewing might clear up some of my problems, so take them all with a grain of triticale.

Look for a full discussion with Mike on the All Good Things Star Trek Podcast next week - http://allgoodthings.podbean.com, @agtpod on Twitter.

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-66019987985346400572015-12-18T09:27:00.002-05:002015-12-18T09:31:26.599-05:00Top 5 Burning Questions coming out of Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Last night most of the civilized world saw the premiere of Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Rather than do a review, I would like to pose my list of my Top 5 Burning Questions that were left after the end of the movie.

Obviously, massive *** SPOILERS ***

1) Who is Rey, and where does she come from? To me, it seemed during the movie she would be revealed to be either Han and Leia's daughter, or Luke's daughter. I think the chances of her being Han and Leia's are pretty slim now, but there's still the possibility of Luke. From the intense Force-flashbacks she had after touching the lightsaber, to her quick-learned fighting ability, this would seem to be a logical possibility. But daughter by whom? Or is she a completely independent person who happens to be Force-sensitive, and will likely be part of Luke's new Jedi order.

But the other half to this question is why was she on Jakku? She apparently was either stolen or left there at a young age, with a promise that someone would be back for her. Who was it? And why was that promise or mission so strong she felt so compelled to return there time and time again? What is her purpose in the greater story?

2) What happened to Kylo Ren to turn him to the Dark Side? All we really know is he was Han and Leia's son, Luke tried to train him, he turned to the Dark Side and Luke ran away. There's a huge untold story there, and I'm not sure how much we'll be told in detail (at least within the framework of the actual trilogy). He seemed very young to have risen to such a position in the First Order, and immature as well. Obviously he has a volatile temper and is easily provoked. What components of his character led him to reject his parents and mentor so utterly and go down a path that would lead to Han's murder?

The other half of this question is what exactly happened to Han and Leia that they split up, and were estranged from each other? Was it Kylo's betrayal that caused their rift, or was it the reverse - their disagreements led to Kylo's feelings of abandonment and anger? Now that Han is gone we may never get the full story, and I'm not sure of Leia's involvement in the ongoing story. The answer to this question is likely a key aspect to Kylo's character so I believe it must eventually be addressed.

3) Who is Supreme Leader Snoke? What is he? Is he a Force-sensitive as it was hinted? Where did he come from, how did he get to be Supreme Leader of the First Order? Is he a Sith Lord, and Kylo is his apprentice? Or is he something completely different that will be introduced into the mythology? Does he really look like the creature that was in the hologram, or is there someone else "behind the curtain"?

Another part of this, is what exactly does "First Order" mean? It's such an arbitrary phrase I think it has to refer to something specific. How did it come to power on the ashes of the Empire? I would guess there will eventually be books and other supplemental material to address this, but I hope they don't leave it so ambiguous in the next movies that it becomes a mystery that won't be solved. How did it become so powerful that it could build a "Death Planet" without the New Republic even knowing about it until it was operational? How much of the galaxy does it control? How much does the New Republic control? And if the New Republic is the legitimate government, why are their defenders called The Resistance? Typically Resistance is synonymous with Rebellion, and the Rebel Alliance was "resisting" the established Empire. Why is The Resistance resisting an outside force?

4) How did Han and Chewie really lose the Falcon? I know there was a story how it was stolen by this guy, and that guy, and that guy, and eventually ended up on Jakku. But depending on what connection Rey is to the larger mythology, that can't be a coincidence. I think it was left deliberately there on Jakku for her to eventually use to escape. But it seems hard to believe Han and Chewie would abandon their beloved ship without good reason.

For that matter, how did they happen to be near the Jakku system just at the moment Rey and Finn needed rescuing? I think Han mentioned something about this in the movie, but it seemed a very convenient explanation.

Again, what happened between Han and Leia to cause his self-imposed exile for so many years, going back to smuggling apparently but without the Falcon? Hopefully this story isn't what it seems at face value.

5) Why is Luke really in exile? What happened during the process of beginning to train a new Order of Jedi Knights? Where are these other trainees? Did Kylo kill them, similar to how Anakin and the Emperor purged the Jedi Knights, or have the scattered to the winds? It seems out of Luke's character to run away and hide. I get the feeling there is a lot more to this story than simple shame and guilt that would drive our heroic Jedi to flee. If so, why leave behind parts of a map with R2 and Lor San Tekka/Poe Damaron/BB-8 that would help the Resistance find him? I think his disappearance is part of a much larger plan that he has put together to either bring down the First Order, recover Kylo Ren to the Light Side, or train Rey in the ways of the Force. Or there may be, and I hope this is the case, a stronger cause to create a new Order of Jedi that is nothing like what was there before.

Oh, and who was Max Von Sydow's character Lor San Tekka, and what was his connection to Luke? He was there for so short a time to deliver the map portion to Poe we don't know anything about him. He obviously had some kind of history, but he's dead so who knows if his character will be referred to again. Why is Poe Damaron such a good pilot? Is he Force-Sensitive as well? His convenient disappearance/reappearance seemed very pat - there seems to be more to his story. And while we're at it, how was Finn such a good lightsaber fighter out of the gate, without even knowing anything about the weapon? And how was he so lucky, and able to break his conditioning? Are they all Force-sensitives?

Those are my five burning questions (ok, with lots of corollaries). What do you think?

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-11993491660448056952015-07-25T23:27:00.000-04:002015-07-25T23:27:54.822-04:00LOST AGAIN (S2E1) Series Re-Watch - Season 2, Episode 1, "Man of Science, Man of Faith"Day 44

The first eye-opener of the second season is Desmond, in the hatch, although we don't know who he is yet.

And Hurley mentions his Chicken Shack gets hit by a meteor. Or rather, meteorite. It sounds like a non sequitur what he mentions it, but we actually see it happen in a later episode flashback.

The conflicts and rivalry between Jack and Locke that defined itself in the previous episode really puts itself into action here. Jack is a man of science, medicine, and logic. Locke trusts in faith, fate, and the island to tell him what he needs to do. This division more or less defines the rest of the series, as far as these two are concerned. At various times they divide the survivors into two camps, each following one or the other of them.

The theme of miraculous healing works on and off the island. Even years before the crash, Jacob was watching Jack and manipulating

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-91294968681019343232015-07-25T23:26:00.001-04:002015-07-25T23:26:14.202-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E24) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 24, "Exodus, Pt.2"
Day 44

This weeks eye-opening is a baby. A baby? What kind of baby? A baby baby!

Sorry, let me start over.

This weeks eye-opening is a baby. Which baby? Looks like little turnip-head, although he's actually already awake and fussy.

Not counting the brief glimpse at the end of last week's episode, we see the Black Rock here for the first time. Of course, it's the centuries old slave ship that brought Richard Alpert to the island during a tsunami, crashing through the statute. We'll actually see the remnants of that statue for the first time later this episode. The Black Rock is the scene of many of the series pivotal moments, including the death of Locke's father and the flashback to one of the first appearances of the Man in Black.

"You've got some Arnzt on you." Best line of the series.

Danielle Rousseau's baby was taken from her 16 years ago. She nearly lost her sanity in the time since. When Claire is left behind on the island, and Kate takes her baby home, Claire nearly loses her mind as well.

We see Michael trying to get his mother to take care of Walt for him when they return to the States. Michael's mother will end up taking care of Walt after Michael is lost on the freighter.

It's worth commenting on how interesting it is to see the other stars of the show pass it and out of each others lives at the airport, waiting on the plane. None of them know each other at the time, but will come to know each other intimately starting a few short hours from then. It's interesting to think about the anonymous people that pass in and out of our lives every day. But for a few different circumstances, those people could be one's friends, enemies, or even lovers. We know the Candidates and the rest of the passengers were brought together for a specific purpose, but it's still true.

Sun's conversation with Shannon about whether they were on the island because they were being punished is one that is brought up many times by other characters. That idea fueled many fan theories about the island being a form of Purgatory.

For all the "bad luck" obstacles life, fate, or the Man in Black threw in Hurleys way, any one of them could have kept him off Oceanic 815. But he overcame them all and eventually became the one fated to take Jacob's place. In fact, nothing sums it up better than when Hurley says, "Please, for the love of all that's good and holy in the world, let me on this plane." Hurley is good and holy. Thus, the island.

Locke's story about why they were all brought together to the island is basically absolutely correct. He doesn't know about Jacob for the Man in Black, specifically, so he believes the island itself is responsible, but it's basically the same thing. The concept that the island demanded a sacrifice in Boone may not be incorrect in the abstract. If you consider Jacob and the Man in Black both to be two halves of the island's identity. Jacob chose to protect certain candidates, in the Man in Black decided to take one that was unprotected. Of course, Locke was an unwitting dupe in his plans.

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-91490779976200582842015-07-25T23:26:00.000-04:002015-07-25T23:26:02.702-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E23) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 23, "Exodus, Pt.1"
Day 44

It's interesting when you think about it, Walt really has very little time that he spends with Michael before they're separated. A week or so in Sydney, and a month+ on the island. And then he was captured from the raft. After they escape there's time, but not before then.

The excavated outside of the hatch area looks very much like it did in the past, in Dharma times, when the hatch was actually being constructed.

The scene where Sawyer tells Jack about his encounter with his father is probably the closest the two of them ever get on the series. There's always a mutual respect, in some ways, although of course they're never close. Their rivalry over Kate and both characters' general stubbornness keeps them from being close allies. But it's good to know and see Sawyer has a bit of a heart.

Michael has a line he says to Jin, "No, this one goes here, that one goes there." This is a memorable line Han Solo says to Chewbacca in "The Empire Strikes Back." Only Star Wars geeks would probably get the reference, but there you go.

I never quite understood The Man in Black/Smoke Monster's reason for causing such commotion when moving through the jungle. It wasn't a large creature like he was pretending to be, so why the theatrics? Scare tactics? Intimidation? Probably, but after a while the effect is lost when you never see it. And intimidation and fear weren't quite what he wanted - just death.

Dr. Arzt had a chance to save himself when he left the group to return to the beach. The smoke monster chased him back, but in light of what eventually happens to him, he probably would have rather taken his chances.

The launching of the raft is one of the most triumphant moments certainly of this series, and of any series I've ever seen. The music especially is gorgeous. Knowing what happens to the raft and the people on it tempers the moment with heartbreak.

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-53500969681267195322015-07-22T09:07:00.001-04:002015-07-22T09:07:11.712-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E22) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 22, "Born to Run"Day 43

Charlie tells Kate that when they are eventually rescued, they'll all be famous. He's actually correct. The six survivors are called the Oceanic Six. Only Charlie is not one of them.

I want senses when Locke touches his arm that they are trying to open the hatch. He mysteriously warns Locke against doing so. We know Jacob and the Man in Black control the actions of various people on the island, dead or alive. Whether one of them is controlling Walt, giving him special insight, or something else is never quite clear. It's also not quite clear why either one of them would not want the survivors getting into the hatch at all.

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-83974210381416184352015-07-22T09:04:00.001-04:002015-07-22T09:05:21.227-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E21) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 21, "The Greater Good"

LOST was a revolutionary television show that aired on ABC from 2004-2010. Utilizing unique storytelling techniques, an extensive mythology and capitilizing on the burgeoning social media scene to boost popularity, the LOST experience can now be viewed as a whole. I will be attempting to re-watch the entire series episode by episode, and will comment on each episode in terms of the complete story - foreshadowing, recurring motifs and character growth. I hope you enjoy the commentary and watch along with me.

Day 42

Walt is concerned about sharks attacking them while they're on the raft. There actually is a shark lurking nearby with the Dharma symbol tattooed on its fin.

Shannon holds Locke at gunpoint in the rain in the middle of the jungle, and fires the gun. Only a few episodes into the second season she herself will be shot by Ana Lucia, in the rain, in the jungle. Ana Lucia herself will be shot several episodes after that.

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-14539070826152548002015-07-22T09:04:00.000-04:002015-07-22T09:04:34.363-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E20) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 20, "Do No Harm"
Day 41-42

Kate being the one to deliver Claire's baby is full of subtext and foreshadowing. Kate eventually raises Claire's bab when they get off the island.

The same of Claire's delivery is also the moment that one of the candidates witness again as they travel around in time. I am ashamed to say I don't remember which one but I think it may be Jin.

Jack angrily tells Sun, "Don't tell me what I can't do." This echoes Locke's mantra. It's not unusual to see Jack and Locke exhibiting the same degree of stubbornness, but it's usually not so on the nose.

Jack's wedding to Sarah it's one of the very few times his father actually gave him decent advice.

Little Aaron was born about the same moment that Boone died. There were no references later on in the series about any connection between the two, but it would have been interesting. If Shannon hadn't died, they might've thought about it.

Jack learns about letting go in this episode, but I'm not sure if either he didn't learn it well enough or needed this experience to fully let go at the end of the series. I think it's the latter.

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-67174756955839138192015-07-19T01:03:00.000-04:002015-07-20T18:01:45.327-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E19) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 19, "Deus Ex Machina"
Day 39-41

Locke's concept of faith is greatly examined in this episode. The dichotomy between faith and science is another one of those basic building blocks of the whole series. Locke trusts that a higher power gave him back the use of his legs, and the power is somehow tied to the island. He has no rational basis for this assumption, save that his legs do work and there is no rational explanation. When his faith is tested by his failure to open the hatch, he begins to lose feeling in his legs.

There are several moments in Locke's flashbacks over the first couple of seasons where we are teased into thinking that particular incident is what caused him to originally lose the use of his legs. Getting hit by a car is the first of these teases.

We find out much later that Locke's mothers belief in John's special nature is due partly to Richard Alpert's intervention when Locke was a child. Alpert was extremely long lived and was directed by Jacob to visit Locke in his childhood to determine if he was a candidate.

Locke's vision of the Beechcraft airplane crashing in the jungle was of course a real event on the island. They stumble upon the wreckage of the old plane in the next episode The plane itself was carrying Mr. Eko's brother and a load of drugs and crashed on the island several years prior. We will meet Mr. Eko next season.

It's kind of a shame we never got a flashback from Boone of his nanny, Theresa. But Boone doesn't last much longer anyway. So we never get to see exactly how she falls up the stairs. Too bad.

Locke's father turns out to be the "Sawyer" that our Sawyer is searching for, who brought about the death of his parents. This may be the most toxic cross-character relationship on the show.

Boone again says "we got to go back" when trying to help Locke walk.

Anthony Cooper tells Locke, "See you on the other side, son." This is fairly similar to Desmond's farewell to Jack, "see you in another life, brother." At first I thought it might be significant, but it's such a common phrase it probably is not.

The subplot about Sawyer needing glasses kind of slipped my mind, mostly because once he gets the glasses they don't last that long. He doesn't wear them very much in the future. But then, there's not as much time to sit and read so it would make sense.

Though Locke and Boone don't realize it, they and the Beechcraft or very close to another hatch: the Pearl station. It will be discovered a couple seasons later.

Boone makes contact with Bernard and the Tailies over the plane's radio. In an episode next season, we'll see Bernard receive Boone's transmission in a flashback. At the time, I remember wondering if there was some sort of parallel universe/time travel involved and they were talking to themselves. I guess they were in a way.

Locke's life to this point has been a pattern of faith and betrayal, faith and betrayal. It's amazing that he's kept at it. But eventually his fate will be rewarded when he sees the light in the hatch.

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-56545794948190191792015-07-18T23:15:00.000-04:002015-07-19T01:02:54.787-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E18) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 18, "Numbers"
Day 35-36

The significance of The Numbers are too widespread to even begin to list here. Their overall meaning is the numbers of each of The Candidates, as we will find out much, much, much later in the series.

I'm not sure living out the rest of his life as a demigod on the island is exactly the luckiest thing to happen to anyone, But I think Hurley probably ended up with the best deal of all the passengers all he wanted to do was help people with the money that he won, and with the island's powers he ended up doing just that.

Our first glimpse of the mental institution where Hurley spent so much time is in this episode. We see his "friend" Dave that he hallucinates later on the island. Who is not seen is Libby, who is later revealed to have also been a patient at the institution. In fact, her character had not even been invented yet.
Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-51468829095871121052015-07-17T21:38:00.000-04:002015-07-17T23:41:24.843-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E17) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 17, "...In Translation"Day 32-33

This weeks eye-opener is Jin, although he isn't waking up, he's just staring out at the ocean.

Sun and Jin are probably the characters that change the most from the beginning to the end of the series. There almost unrecognizable in the first season.

Big cross-character flashback: we see Hurley on TV in Korea. It goes quickly so you have to be sure to see it. We know now that it's reporting his winning the lottery – apparently it's big news even overseas.

We also see where Jin got the dog that he gives later to Sun. It was a gift from the Korean secretary to Mr. Paik.

Sawyer and Jin would become pretty close in their time working for Dharma together. Of course in the beginning of the series it's not uncommon to see a number of relationships go up and down. They would settle down into familiar patterns as the series went on.

There's an interesting parallel that I didn't see in this episode before. Maybe I'm just dense. Sun intervened by slapping Michael when Jin would have done much worse to him. Similarly, Jin intervenes by merely beating up the Secretary when the hitman would have killed him.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... Did Michael just fist bump Walt? Was that a thing in 2004? Hey, maybe you're getting old when you're not even close to sure when fads actually started.

Walt's question to Locke about whether his father was cool, is so full of ironic subtext that we'll find out later, it's not even funny. It's like asking a survivor of the Titanic, "So, was the ship nice?"

Poor Hurley. Everybody's got a girl but him. But at least he has his tunes. Until the CD player dies. At least eventually Libby will show up. But then she dies. Poor Hurley.

One of the main, most obvious running themes of LOST is the concept of characters having daddy issues. Jin is the only character we've seen so far who has a positive relationship with his father. Does no one else in the LOST universe grow up to be like their father? And while were on the subject, I feel the show lost an opportunity when it was revealed Jacob and the Man in Black actually had mommy issues. Maybe the rewatch will shed a different light on this, but it feels like the show needed to be brought full-circle by showing them having issues with a father.

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-67878551088180747872015-07-17T01:41:00.000-04:002015-07-17T23:40:39.275-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E16) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 16, "Outlaws"
Day 29-30-31

This week's eye-opener is young Sawyer. In his flashback. In Knoxville! I wonder what part of town the Ford family lives there. I'm just going to say, here, he lives in Fountain City. Because maybe me and Sawyer were buddies in elementary school and I just don't remember it.

"It'll come back around" is the phrase the jungle whispers keep saying. As I said in a previous entry, we know The Others are watching the castaways. But I seriously don't recall what the whispers meant and why they were whispering. Maybe it will become apparent again.

Do you know this about just occurs to me. Only three or four weeks have passed since the series started, and this is the 16th episode. Each episode we pretty much see all the cast members in different clothing. I know this isn't Gilligans Island, and they don't have an infinite supply of clothing. And I do know that they do wash their clothes quite often. But it seems to me, even with the ripening after a few days, if it were me I would probably wear the same clothes several days in a row before changing. I mean, what's the purpose? So what if you wear the same shorts and T-shirt three days straight on a desert island? There's probably three or four other people that will smell worse than you anyway.

I never understand "I Never." And I never played it in college. I played Pool of Radiance, Ultima IV, and D&D. Does that count?

It would've been interesting if Locke's story about his sister had included something about his father. It would've made Sawyer's conflict about killing the wrong man very ironic. Sawyer killed the man he mistakenly believed was responsible for his parents' death, when it was actually was Locke's father.

In the light of how Christian Shepherd ends up bringing Jack back into the light, and how much he pops up in the other castaways flashbacks and past lives, It would've been interesting to see him play even more of a role in the past. A very firm connector between all the castaways (or a large number of them ). Their "constant."

Claire is obviously pregnant with a manatee.

Sawyer jokingly calls Jack, "sheriff." Which is ironic because a few years later - in the past - sawyer will become sheriff of the Dharma station.

The whole with about the Red Sox never winning the series comes back around a couple seasons later when Ben shows Jack video of the Red Sox doing just that.

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-49824707943893106382015-07-13T23:25:00.001-04:002015-07-16T14:16:03.679-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E15) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 15, "Homecoming"
Day 27-28-29

it's funny, the episode' very first image is Charlie waking up as they bring Claire back into camp, but it's not an eye-opener scene. Funny that they would skip a perfect opportunity.

Amnesia – the most popular trope there is.

Ethan's casual cruelty and his seemingly superhuman strength… Are they products of his and The Others' affiliation with Jacob and/or the Man in Black?

Sometimes it's hard to tell whether the character' actually experiencing a memory, when we see a flashback during the episode, or if it's just insight into the past of the character. This is one of the rare instances we actually see the character (Charlie) react to the flashback that has just played. Specifically, Charlie remembers getting sick while trying to demonstrate the copy machine. He then reacts in disgust to the memory in the present. That doesn't seem to happen very often.

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-66243918405547338722015-07-13T21:55:00.001-04:002015-07-15T19:24:09.866-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E14) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 14, "Special"
LOST was a revolutionary television show that aired on ABC from 2004-2010. Utilizing unique storytelling techniques, an extensive mythology and capitilizing on the burgeoning social media scene to boost popularity, the LOST experience can now be viewed as a whole. I will be attempting to re-watch the entire series episode by episode, and will comment on each episode in terms of the complete story - foreshadowing, recurring motifs and character growth. I hope you enjoy the commentary and watch along with me.

Day 26-27

The next eye-opening is Michael, calling for Walt.

Locke tells want to respect his father. Very ironic, knowing the kind of relationship Locke has with his own father, as we find out later.

Michael is more of a jerk than I remember him being. This goes beyond inexperienced parenting, it's a real character flaw. At this point, knowing what he will do in the future to betray his fellow passengers, including killing some of them, he seems at this point much less sympathetic, even though he did it to ensure Walt's safety.

If Walt did actually cause that bird to fly against the window and kill itself in the flashback, is it possible he somehow also willed his mother to take Ill and die? Not on purpose, of course, but subconsciously because… I don't know. But it seems an interesting coincidence. Walt's "abilities" are never fully explained in the series.

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-35686457413997903592015-07-13T20:51:00.001-04:002015-07-15T13:45:50.511-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E13) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 13, "Hearts and Minds"
Day 24

Our next eye-opener is Boone, on the beach, spying on Sayid and Shannon.

The first major character flashback crossover is Sawyer appearing in Boone's flashback, in the Australian police station. Most of these crossovers involves supporting characters, and are more subtle, although this one is hard to miss.

When LOST first aired, the Boone/Shannon relationship was very odd. They were brother/sister, but there was a faint romantic undertone to their interactions. I have to say, on re-watch, I don't see it as much. Knowing they are not blood related, it may just be too difficult to have set that aside. But in fact I really didn't see much tension between them at all at this point. Maybe it was just in everyone's head.

Sayid's malfunctioning compass gives us our first hint of the island's special electromagnetic properties. We will see you eventually it's strong enough to bring down the plane and move through space and time.

I understand most of Locke's wilderness survival training was learned in preparation for his walkabout, but I wonder where in his Webelo manual he learned to make hallucinogenic healing salve.

I totally bought into Boons hallucination the first time I saw this. I really thought Shannon was dead. Sometimes I'm slow about these things.

Boone and Shannon's relationship was a lot more complex than I remember it being. I'm glad, I really only remember it being dysfunctional. Seeing it play out again makes it kind of tragic. I feel a little better towards their characters than I did before.

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-36381783857981163812015-07-13T19:28:00.001-04:002015-07-14T22:11:54.170-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E12) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 12, "Whatever the Case May Be"
Day 21-22

The waterfall pond makes its first appearance. We of course see you again much later as the location the Ajira 316 survivors appear.

The shows most indecipherable pairing starts here: Shannon and Sayid. 11 years later and I still can't figure it out.

I can't help but think the scene with Sawyer trying to break into the suitcase by slamming it on a rock reminds me of that commercial with the gorilla I think it may have been intentional.

That "fish movie" made with "computers," of course, is "Finding Nemo." Which, ironically, occurs a good bit in Sydney, Australia.

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-22974864249122845162015-07-08T23:45:00.001-04:002015-07-14T22:13:30.782-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E10) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 10, "Raised By Another"DAY 15-16

This week's eye-opening opening is Claire in a dream. There's some interesting foreshadowing of Locke with jet black eyes. The smoke monster will consume him eventually.

Claire's psychic warns that she must be the one to raise the baby, and it must not be raised by anyone else. And that danger surrounds the baby. Of course Kate is the one to raise the baby, until he's three years old. Claire is left behind on the island by herself for three years. Little Aaron seem to turn out OK. The psychic's prediction, while certainly there was danger surrounding the baby, really turned out to not be true in the specific.

Clara mentions her dad when talking to the prospective adoptive parents in her flashback. It seems like a throwaway line, but she's referring to Christian Shepherd. Sometimes these little facts just jump out at you when you least expect them.

This is the first of the flashbacks that the characters explicitly refer to in present time. Claire tells Charlie about the psychic they discuss whether he was accurate or not. It's also the first flashback to have a semi-direct connection to the show's mythology, at least it seemed to at the time.

I think they missed an opportunity when they didn't introduce Ethan earlier in the season. We saw a glimpse of him last episode, And some dialogue with him earlier in this episode. It would've been fun if they've made you think he was a semi regular, like Rose.

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-47201466964992727932015-07-08T21:59:00.001-04:002015-07-14T22:14:21.610-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E9) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 9, "Solitary"DAY 12-13

Sayid's discovery of the metal cable buried in the sand is the first indication of some sort of technology on the island. We find out later that it is the power cable supplying the Looking Glass Dharma station that's underwater.

We meet our first two island residents in this episode. Danielle Rousseau has been on the island since her science expedition crash here 16 years ago. Ethan Rom is also an island resident, but is posing as a survivor. Supposedly he is been amongst the group from the beginning, although we haven't actually seen him until now.

Danielle mentions a number of details from her past, including her husband, Robert and her daughter, Alex. We meet Alex before too much longer, but the rest of the details are fleshed out in flashback much later. We actually meet Robert and see the music box before it was broken.

I have to say that Mira Furlin has such amazing poise and dignity in her carriage. I loved her on Babylon 5 and she does a great job playing Danielle Rousseau here as well. I need to remember to find and watch other things that she's been in.

We also learned of the presence of The Others on the island. Both in the past and in the present. Danielle believes they carried a sickness that caused the rest of her science team to go insane and die.

We also hear the first reference to the Black Rock, which we will see is actually the ship that carried Richard Alpert to the island and washed up in a tidal wave. For many episodes we think the Black Rock is exactly that, a black rock.

The writing on the back of Nadia's photograph says, "You'll find me in the next life, if not in this one." This is very similar to Desmond's farewell to Jack, "See you in another life, brother." The concept of life, afterlife, and other lives beyond these plays out until even the finale.

I'm not sure we ever found out exactly what The Others were whispering about. And why they were whispering in the first place. We know they were watching the crash survivors at a distance. But I'm not sure the whispers ever became particularly relevant in the grand scheme of things.

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-48202184752882073822015-07-08T19:42:00.001-04:002015-07-14T22:14:48.617-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E8) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 8, "Confidence Man"LOST was a revolutionary television show that aired on ABC from 2004-2010. Utilizing unique storytelling techniques, an extensive mythology and capitilizing on the burgeoning social media scene to boost popularity, the LOST experience can now be viewed as a whole. I will be attempting to re-watch the entire series episode by episode, and will comment on each episode in terms of the complete story - foreshadowing, recurring motifs and character growth. I hope you enjoy the commentary and watch along with me.

DAY 9-10

Here's something that happens often in movies and TV shows where someone is knocked out by a blow to the head. When they try to tell someone what happened, they always seem to be able to remember right up to the point they got hit. Seems like I recall hearing that blows to the head often call short-term memory loss. But Sayid remembers everything. Ah, TV.

Sawyers letter makes it seem he is the one that the letter was written to, possibly by the son of the woman in the flashback. We know he is the boy who wrote the letter, and took the name Sawyer from the man who caused his own father to kill his mother and then himself. And that the older Sawyer is actually Locke's father. That little triangle and the steps that are taken to resolve our Sawyer's quest are one of the most interesting in the early part of the series.

Nice continuity – when Jack takes a swing at Sawyer, he holds his shoulder in pain. The one that was dislocated in the previous episode. I also noticed Michael limping in the previous episode, a result of where he was gored by the boar in the episode previous to that. You don't get that kind of continuity on The Love Boat.

Jack and Sawyer's fistfight is the first of several throughout the series, culminating in an extremely bloody one in a later season.

Hurley's hero-worship of Jack brings us his first of many pop-culture references: "Jedi moment." Love it. When they find themselves back in Dharma times, Hurley is determined to pre-write "The Empire Strikes Back" for George Lucas. Too bad he didn't just try to rewrite "The Phantom Menace."

Everything became worthwhile when Kate, reading the envelope from Sawyer's letter, gives a big shout-out to Knoxville, Tennessee. I spent a good amount of time the next couple of seasons trying to pinpoint Sawyers brief live in Knoxville. I'll speak more of it as it happens later on.

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-44313569339907161112015-07-08T18:54:00.001-04:002015-07-14T22:16:26.847-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E7) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 7, "The Moth"DAY 8

Kate, Jack, and Sawyer love triangle really starts up in this episode.

You know there's not much mythology or long-term character development in an episode, when it's about halfway through and you only written one line of commentary. OK, I will say this. I wish all of us who have problems with determining their self-worth got an opportunity to prove it, As Charlie does rescuing Jack from the cave-in.

I do like that the creators of the show decided to acknowledge the fact that the survivors of the crash did so with minimal injuries. Which should have been completely impossible. And they know that. So we can move past it.

Scott and Steve make their first appearance. Or is that Steve and Scott? There interchangeability is a running gag for several episodes. Until they die.

I don't think I realize this previous episode, but did they ever test the water in the cave to make sure it was pure before drinking it?

This online rewatch commentary isn't about reviews of the episodes, so I won't really talk much about it. Only that it was nice to have a straight episode to sit and watch without a lot of thought.

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-4986066604889973602015-07-07T23:32:00.001-04:002015-07-14T22:17:28.162-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E6) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 6, "House of the Rising Sun"
DAY 7

Fourth eye open: this time it's Sun.

In the caves we see the two skeletons (Adam and Eve). Speculation on their identities raged for many seasons until we finally found out they are the Man in Black and his "mother." The black and white stones they find initially mirror the backgammon stones, but also symbolize the light and dark aspects of the Man in Black, Jacob, and their mother.

Charlie yells that he's allergic to bees, but is stung many times and suffers no apparent ill effects.

Sun's revelation that she can actually speak English was a big surprise. I didn't see that coming at all.

Charlie's guitar and guitar case are an early symbol of recurring motifs. Hurley must bring a guitar case with him on Ajira Flight 316 later in the series to complete the circle.

Watching the episodes in quick succession makes it easier to remember things that happened a few episodes back, especially since little time has passed on the island. Jack, in desperation, ask Kate what she did. She reminds him that he had the chance to find out already. That did happen a few episodes ago. If you watch the show with a week between episodes, you might not remember that. Or perhaps you might. Depends on how good your memory is.

One of the best parts of the series is seeing the passengers interact with each other and the rest of the crowd at the airport before my flight. Seeing parts of other characters flashbacks interwoven amongst their own is very cool. Eventually you hope to get a complete mosaic all that went on.

This split of the survivors into two camps, the beach and the caves, is foreshadowing of another, more contentious split later on. Right now the split is over logistics. The one later on is ideological: Jack against Locke.

Seems very odd for episode entitled, "House of the Rising Sun," to not include at least part of the song, "House of the Rising Sun." But we did get was Willie Nelson. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And Hurley, why are you wasting the batteries on the Walkman?

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-54950077790364230662015-07-07T21:50:00.001-04:002015-07-14T22:18:36.001-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E5) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 5, "White Rabbit"
DAY 6

Third eye opening first scene. This time we started a flashback, and it's Jack again.

Charlie says he can't swim. No, mate, you can't. And you can't breathe underwater.

Jack saves Boone from drowning, although his days are still numbered. Boone becomes the second one to say, "We've got to go back!"

How Boone manages to keep his eyeliner, mascara, and blush in perfect shape so soon after almost drowning is beyond me.

I know we end up finding out that our main cast was called to the island by Jacob. Maybe he was good, maybe not, but I still think the loss of innocent lives like Joanna, the drowned girl, in pursuit of finding someone to take over leading the island, is inexcusable.

The first time we see Christian Shepherd in the flashback, he's holding a drink in his hand. Funny how our first glimpses of characters sometimes completely defined them. Ultimately, Christian becomes somewhat of a wise presence in Jack's life, especially at the very very end. But here in Jack's first flashback, he's a monster.

When re-watching the show, and knowing everything there is about that show, it's easy to forget when you know things and when you don't. I almost forgot that at this moment, we don't know Christian Shepherd is supposedly dead and was in a coffin in the cargo hold of the plane. Although Jack is shocked to see him in the jungle, we don't yet know Jack thinks he seeing a ghost.

Here's something I've always wondered. Do people ever actually have hallucinations as real as Jack might be having? At this moment, Jack knows his father is dead. He's a man of science, he knows he isn't seeing a ghost. It's either someone who looks like his father, and his pretending to be his father, or he's having an hallucination. That's a medical person's two choices. We see people on TV having "hallucinations" all the time, using actual actors in the same room or location together. But if someone is having an actual hallucination, does it possibly look that real? Isn't it obvious detail after a while, that you're having a hallucination? Maybe it goes into a person's state of mind. But I think if I saw someone standing in the jungle as clearly as Jack sees his father, there's no way I would think it wasn't at least a real person.

Locke literally saves Jack's life. That's pretty significant.

After a couple of episodes of Charlie flirting with every girl in camp, we finally settled on scenes between him and Claire. It's very sweet. I love to see when a person's personality changes when they meet "the one".

I never noticed Charlie's tattoo that says "living is easy with eyes closed." That's a Beatles quote from Strawberry Fields Forever.

Jack dances around the fact that the man he is chasing is supposed to be dead, when he's talking to Locke. This preserves the mystery and the reveal later, but it's a forced withholding of facts when he doesn't have to. There's really no reason for Jack not to mentioned to Locke that his father is dead, but he obviously skirts the fact.

Locke tells Jack he's not a big believer in magic, but that's not true. He just doesn't realize faith in magic are interchangeable. He's always believed in magic, but never had the opportunity to admit that he did. Now that the "magical" island has healed him, he has given himself permission to believe.

Locke's description of the "the eye of the island" being beautiful refers to the monster. With what we know of who the smoke monster really is, I'm not sure what beauty it is he's actually seeing. But then I guess that's actually the point.

Jack's memory of identifying Christians body in the morgue is what begins a series-long dissertation on Daddy Issues amongst the survivors.

There's nothing creepier than a doll, submerged under shallow water, staring up at you. No, wait. Jack finds an open, used, but empty coffin. I take it back.

At the end of the episode, Jack give his famous "live together, or die alone" speech. I'd just like to take a moment here to recommend that philosophy to the entire world. Thank you.

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-25965347835630928012015-07-07T18:58:00.001-04:002015-07-14T22:18:48.078-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E4) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 4, "Walkabout"
DAY 4-5

Second eye opening of the series belongs to Locke.

The first half of the first season dealt much more with basic survival and practical matters. How to find food, fresh water, shelter, and fend off wild animals.

Sayid's objections to burning the bodies is not very practical, and from the beginning he seems to be a practical character. I think the series was trying to paint him as a religious man, because of his objection to burning the bodies, and reminding Jack of religious issues, but it didn't go much more than that.

Watching tough-guy Sawyer fight with roly-poly Hurley is one of the funniest things in the show. Especially a couple seasons later when Hurley really gets the best of him.

Locke's first flashback is golden. I was even almost full again into thinking he was military. Terry O'Quinn has played many such rolls in his career, and is as natural as a military commander as office nerd. Or Starfleet Admiral for that matter. We also meet one of the first of the cross-characters, Randy, who shows up in Hurleys flashbacks.

Kate says she's a vegetarian. We'll just see about that.

The episode told us right up front that Locke did not have use of his legs, but we missed it. His story of the double amputee that climbed Everest was a perfectly normal story in his situation. We also get the line that defines Locke's character first here, "Don't tell me what I can't do."

Locke is the first character that the smoke monster reveals itself to. They will become intimately acquainted in the future. Well, Locke's body will.

We have our first Christian Shepherd sighting. This may be the weirdest thing of the series thus far, seeing a man in a suit standing on the beach by himself.

The reveal of Locke's paralysis in his flashback was jarring at the time. Obviously it loses some of its impact now, especially since the clues are now easily recognizable. But it's still amazing. Locke's since of the island and the smoke monster as redemptive and healing sets him on an early path much different than the other survivors.

Thoughts after four episodes:

1) No sign yet of Ethan even in the background actors. Nor do we see Frogurt or Arnst. None of these other survivors have been cast yet. And of course no Nikki or Paulo.

2) There is just a mess of amount of plane fuselage lying all over the beach. I don't remember seeing all that in later episodes at the beach. Is that explained? Or did I just overlook it?

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-51428329748418825352015-07-06T21:46:00.001-04:002015-07-14T22:19:23.866-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E3) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 3, "Tabula Rasa"
DAY 2-4

Locke's wheelchair makes its first appearance.

Now that Jack in Hurley know that Kate is wanted by the law, we're not quite as sure if she's a good guy. We see in the flashback that she's on the run, in Australia, but we don't know any details of what she did. Jack doesn't seem to care but it freaks Hurley out.

First use of one of The Numbers: Kate's reward is $23,000.

Walt seems to make it stop raining instantly. While we do know he does have some powers, this is more in line with what he can do. There's a webisode from much later in the series that shows what Walt could do when he was in custody of The Others.

There are a number of two-person relationships that for me between all of the cast. The one that forms between Locke and Charlie is one of the most profound.

In a repeat of cakes airplane flashback once again we see the poor woman fly up and slam to the ceiling of the cabin for about the third or fourth time. I think it's high time someone wrote some fanfiction about that character. We also once again see the bag from the overhead compartment nail the Marshall in the head. That I could go without seeing again. The effect of the tail section breaking off and falling away for the plane is an awesome effect. I also would hate to be one of those guys that get sucked out, especially the one who didn't have his seatbelt fastened. How embarrassing.

With Sawyer realizes he screwed up in killing the Air Marshall with one shot, it's a very rare look of contrition on his face. Throughout the series he's supremely confident, self-assured and unapologetic. But this is a rare time when he realizes he really messed things up.

The Air Marshal is the first actual character with lines to die on screen.

Jack says that three days ago they all die. What he means is that their past lives no longer matter and they have a blank slate. What actually happens is that this begins a multi year argument I'm on fans that they all indeed died, and the island is the kind of purgatory. In the end, this turns out to be more true than not.

The very end of the episode features an element common to the first season, and ending musical montage. This one is all about reconciliation and connections. These musical montage is eventually go away as the second and third seasons come around. The same pattern happens in The Walking Dead as well.

We also see a rare fade to black.

Barry Wallacehttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091955.post-9419780167026205302015-07-06T20:20:00.001-04:002015-07-14T22:20:03.647-04:00LOST AGAIN (S1E2) Series Re-Watch - Season 1, Episode 2, "Pilot, Pt. 2"
DAY 2

(00:00) Second flashback of the series - it's pretty obvious that Charlie is an addict from the very beginning. What's less obvious is if he's a good guy or bad guy, judging from his appearance.

Charlie breezes by Jack from the previous flashback. Never ceases to amaze me how they got all these flashbacks to intersect.

I know there's a great video out there that shows the plane crash from all angles in real time, but I don't remember it taking this much time in Rose and Jack's flashback as it does in Charlie's before the plane starts to crash.

(04:07) I know part of Shannon's schtick is that she is vain and is deluding herself that rescue is coming. But again, they lay it on really thick as to her vanity and immaturity in the Pilot.

Just a sidenote, but Claire looks much better as a blonde that she does as a brunette in Once Upon a Time.

Sun really appears to hate Jin in the beginning. It's amazing where the two of them end up in their relationship.

It's not obvious from the very beginning that the dog is not a native of the island, but then you see Walt carrying the leash. Then Walt finds the pair of handcuffs that Kate got out of. You think they still be open unless she slipped her hands out while they were closed.

(08:03) Interestingly, Jack's first interaction with Locke was cooperation, but his first with Sawyer is conflict. Also, Sayid's Red herring of an Arab being involved in the plane crash is a sign of the brief time since 9/11 when the show first aired. I'm not sure if it was starting now if people would have the same paranoia. I guess that's a good thing. Kate reacts to the handcuffs - obvious in retrospect but not so much at that time.

Hurley is a peacemaker, a reconciler. Very much defining his character. We also hear Sawyer's first nickname insult, of course directed at Hurley.

Sayid extends his hand for Hurley to shake and his pinky is outstretched. Is that a Middle Eastern custom? Also, the Republican Guard was a lot fresher in peoples minds in 2004 that it might be now.

Even I thought the cheesecake shot of Kate bathing in her underwear was gratuitous. Not that I'm complaining, mind. Also, knowing Sun speaks English this entire time it is interesting.

(14:53) I really find Jin's Attitude towards Sun confusing and disturbing early on. We know Jin is a good guy and will ultimately prove himself to be a good person, but even cultural differences don't explain away cruelty and domination. You don't suddenly just become a good guy, you have to be a good guy all along but had trouble showing it. Doing cruel things even because it's part of your culture, makes it difficult to believe you can actually become good.

The polar bear in the comic book was a huge red hearing for a long time. There was much speculation that Walt was causing these things to appear on the island by power of thought. If that was the case why not superheroes as well? Speaking Spanish, of course. But we will see our polar bear very soon.

Shannon's first encounter with Sayid is, of course, very immature. Their being forced together as a couple even to the last episode, is still one of the shows greatest mysteries to this day.

We see Sawyer's first reaction to his letter. I still get a kick out of the fact that he lived in Knoxville Tennessee.

Waltz first encounter with Locke is filled with symbolism and foreshadowing, using the backgammon board to represent good and evil. Echoes from this scene are used throughout the entire series. Jacob and his brother, Locke and Jack, Ben, many other people are shown to have qualities of good and evil.

This is also Locke's first scene with dialogue and of course it's with Walt. Their destinies will coincide many times in the seasons to come.

Jin's Magic see urchin food seems to bring life back to Claire's baby. I don't recall this little scene from before. I don't think anything was made of the food having properties of magic.

Wow, Emilie de Ravin (Claire) looks really young. Of course this is 11 years ago and I've seen her in another recurring role for the past five years.

Claire guesses correctly that her baby is a he. Could it be magic? Could it be ESP? Or could she just have a 50-50 chance?

Sawyer is pretty dang fearless, even with a gun, in the face of a rampaging, white.... Whatever that is. Of course, it's a polar bear, but it's huge.

How did Boone know there was a pilot to be killed? I guess they shared the full story off camera. I think I recall that being a continuity error caused by a scene that was cut.

(27:36) Hurley as comic relief comes early and often.

Finding out that Kate is actually the prisoner in the man with the shrapnel is the US marshal is one of the small mysteries that sometimes get solved fairly quickly. The show does a good job wrapping the small mysteries inside the medium sized mysteries, inside the large mysteries. With a few exceptions, each mystery pays off just about what it should.

Off, I remember now that Kate remove the handcuffs on the plane so she can put the oxygen mask on. Two things: first, even though she's in custody we see she's not all bad because she saves the Air Marshall's life by putting his mask on. She didn't have to do that. Second, I'm not certain if she took the cuffs off both her hands completely. That still doesn't explain how they ended up in the jungle, re-closed.

Rousseaus's message is not given by the actress that plays her later on, I don't believe.

Knowing all that we know now, it's hard to build up any sense of real mystery, but at the end of the second episode we may have come to the point where there is no greater sense of that question of where are we...

Barry Wallacehttp://email@example.com


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Theme: Hacking / Pseudohacking
Group DescriptionGames that deal with entry into and manipulation of a computer system by various means. This could mean extracting data files or turning off security controls on various devices or sabotage of the computer system itself. These games attempt to simulate (with various levels of realism) elements of hacking/cracking and dealing with computer code. Typically pseudohacking games are also Darker science fiction themed and/or Cyberpunk, however it is not a requirement.
|Viewing Page 1 of 4
|(items 1-25 of 84)
Selected Covers
Front cover for Deus Ex: Complete
Front cover for Hacker Evolution: Untold
Front cover for République: Episode 2 - Metamorphosis
Front cover for Digital: A Love Story
Front cover for République: Episode 1 - Exordium
Selected Screenshots
Screenshot from Hacker Evolution: Untold
Screenshot from Digital: A Love Story
Screenshot from The Magic Circle
Screenshot from The Experiment
Game group created by WildKard (12126), additional games added to group by Tao_ (216), Patrick Bregger (156099), POMAH (37767), Corn Popper (69403), GTramp (48379), chirinea (36512), Sciere (373764), Riamus (8124), Kabushi (159704), robotriot (8629), Pseudo_Intellectual (45657), frederik hermund (265), Scaryfun (13562), Ben K (23053), Parf (7308), o0pyromancer0o (193), Ace of Sevens (4225) and Robert Miles
Screenshot from Untrusted
Screenshot from Untrusted


text:
General Motors is knocking 13% off the sticker price of the Chevrolet Volt electric car as it tries to keep pace with rivals in the market for plug-in vehicles
The U.S. claimed Shanshan Du, the ex-GM employee, copied the Detroit-based company's private information on the motor control of hybrids and provided documents to her husband, Yu Qin
There are some car owners paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce
New cars with traditional engines are showing striking fuel efficiency gains thanks to technologies such as turbochargers, direct injection, and engines that shut down when the vehicle stops, then spring back to life when the driver presses the accelerator.
Major automakers and the Obama administration have bet heavily on hybrids and pure electric vehicles. But new and more efficient gas engines are winning on the showroom floor, an inconvenient truth that could slow the acceptance of electric cars
Electric cars and hybrids may be capturing headlines and the imagination of green-leaning consumers around the world as one automaker after another announces plans to push into the brave new world of fossil fuel-free mobility
Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest seller of gasoline-electric autos, plan to collaborate to develop a hybrid system for pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles as U.S. fuel-economy rules tighten
It is almost impossible to accurately predict how, when or even if the electric automobile will take over from gasoline when not all the players agree what an electric automobile is.
Partnerships, like the one struck by Toyota last year, are aimed at controlling the lithium supply chain, introducing more players and increasing competition with the goal of lowering the price of the mineral for those who expect sizeable demand in the future.
Aquila, Facebook's lightweight, high-altitude aircraft, flew at a few thousand feet for 96 minutes in Yuma, Arizona
World trade, Canada's included, is beating a direct path to the British market
We're entering a new era of performance reporting and fee transparency for clients at brokerage firms. Som Seif explains what you need to know
A partnership with Microsoft, the Living Produce Aisle, and a licensing arrangement for world sales has helped Urban Cultivator find its way into more homes and restaurants
It's been a year since John Chambers passed the torch to Chuck Robbins, and the company has undergone some significant shifts


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Chinese tourists walk across a suspension bridge in a scenic area at the foot of Alishan yesterday after roads up the mountain were closed off yesterday due to the heavy rain and strong winds brought by Typhoon Soulik.Jul 14, 2013FULL STORY
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Q. One of our employees was on military leave for six months. He will be reinstated at the same pay and position. While he was gone, all employees in his department received a 4% pay raise in recognition for their hard work in the past year. Must we pay him that raise? — J.T., Florida
A. Yes. The Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act (USERRA) requires that eligible employees be made whole upon return, as if they'd never taken the leave. If a pay raise is merit or performance-based, then it must be given upon re-employment if the employee would have attained the raise with reasonable certainty had he or she remained continuously employed during the period of military service.
In this case, because everyone in his department received the raise, it's reasonably certain this employee would also have attained the raise had he not taken military leave. Plus, the raise must be provided in full; meaning, you can't consider the six months on military leave to prorate the raise.
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- Union security clauses are enforceable in Michigan—Non-Dues payer can be fired


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Shares of Kellogg (K +3.1%) ride higher after the company cruises past the estimates of analysts...
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JC Duncan DDS PA
215 Gilead Road
STE 300 Huntersville, NC 28078
(704) 948-1300
Mon: 7:30AM - 5:00PM
Tue: 7:00AM - 2:00PM
Wed: 7:30AM - 5:00PM
Thu: 7:00AM - 2:00PM
Fri - Sun: Closed
As you consider dental treatment, you might have some questions about oral hygiene and our office. We are a highly experienced dentist and staff utilizing the newest innovations in dental technology and treatment including veneers, bridges, bonding, crowns, dental implants, teeth whitening, and more! Feel free to use our web site as a tool to help answer your questions and to learn more about your treatment options. If you have further questions or are ready to schedule your first dental appointment, just give us a call. We look forward to working with you to make your treatment a fun and meaningful experience!
- Adult Invisalign
- Clear Braces
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- Cosmetic - Invisalign
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- Dental Implants
- Dentures
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- Periodontal - Deep Cleaning
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- Sleep Apnea Appliance Therapy
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- English
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5 stars Anonymous Featured review
I've been going to Dr. Duncan's office for 14 years and I am completely satisfied with the care I receive. The office is clean and comfortable. I've never had more than a few minutes wait time. The staff is professional and friendly. All work, fillings, cleanings, or crowns are well done and look great.
5 stars Brenda W Customer since 2016
Love the staff and Dr Duncan. I've had many problems, pain and expense trying to get to get a back tooth repaired. I came to see Dr. Duncan and hopefully he has solved the problem. He and his entire staff are awesome. They take time and especially patience in explaining what is wrong and their recommendations. I fell so blessed to have found them.
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The staff is friendly and helpful. Dr. Duncan is awesome. He's informative, explains each process as he works and very gently. Makes sure the treatment is as painless and stress free as possible
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My visit at Jc Duncan dentistry was Fantastic , staff are all very friendly, the experience was quick and painless. Will always come back and def recommend to a colleague
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Excellent! Dr. Duncan is highly skilled.
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Staff and Dr. Duncan always pleasant and professional. My husband an I have been a patient of Dr. Duncan for 19 years.
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Prompt professional service.
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Explains everything well. Would highly recommend.
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I liked the professional way they all treated. Dr. Duncan and his assistant, Susan, explained everything very clearly. I had a lot ot trouble with my prior dentist, and he was very helpful helping understand what needed to be done to correct the problem.
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This place is the best! They are great with my animals and have amazing genuine customer service. While I was waiting for them to treat my kitty they gave me good coffee in a mug and let me watch Netflix in my own waiting room. (Not sure if this happens every time or if it's new) My cat had a severe bladder infection but is already feeling much better!Read More …
Modern Salon & Spa | Birkdale Village
Jordan was amazing! She took the time to talk with me about what cut would best fit my lifestyle and made sure I was 100% satisfied before I left! I will definitely be going back!Read More …
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text:
According to a report from The Virginian Pilot, the George H.W. Bush, the 10th and final aircraft carrier in the Nimitz class, will be pulled by tugboat to its January commissioning. The big carrier was planned to have sailed under its own power from the Newport News shipyard to Norfolk Naval Station for the Jan. 10 ceremony. The $6.3b ship was originally scheduled for completion in April, but Northrop Grumman, the sole builder of nuclear-powered carriers for the Navy, has delayed it three times due to labor shortages, late material deliveries the company said. The Navy said changing the commissioning ceremony's date now would be too costly and difficult.
(Source: The Virginian Pilot)
Maritime Today
The Maritime Industry's original and most viewed E-News Service
The newly built ferry M/V Woods Hole has been delivered to serve Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.
Built by Conrad Industries of Morgan City, La.
Alaska Marine Lines celebrated the launch of its newest barge, Skagway Provider, at a ceremony July 7 at Gunderson Marine in Portland, Ore. where the vessel was constructed.
U.K. winch maker Romica said it is to "redouble its exports drive" after its Romania-based manufacturing partner successfully acquired accreditation with DNV GL.
A Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) historian has recently uncovered information that sheds new light on the loss of the World War II cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA 35).
Capt. Joseph J. Leonard (U.S. Navy, Ret.) has joined Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) as corporate director of customer affairs, large surface combatant program, the shipbuilder announced.
1898 - During the Spanish-American War, a landing party from the armed yacht, USS Gloucester, single-handedly captures Guanica, Puerto Rico.
1943 - The first


text:
Apple's iPad Mini targets competitors
Apple is pricing its new, smaller iPad well above the competition. The highly anticipated device sports features on par with the competition, but at a higher price. (Oct. 23)
Sarra Gilbert held without bail Black Lives Matter protest: 'Don't vote for Hillary' Hillary Clinton nominated Sanders makes Clinton the Democratic Party's nominee Michelle Obama takes a dig at Trump: 'When they go low, we go high' HBO 'Real Sports' looks at sewage issue in Rio HBO's 'Real Sports' on hospitals in Rio Bernie Sanders addresses NY delegation breakfast Newsday reporter: 'Unconventional start' to first day of DNC Convention DNC in Philadelphia: Day One recap Demi Lovato performs at the DNC Bernie or Busters: 'We will never vote for Hillary'


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C & C welcome for promo video
Started Jul 26, 2012 | Discussions thread
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pentx4life • Contributing Member • Posts: 558
C & C welcome for promo video
Jul 26, 2012
Hi guys!
I've been shooting video for a friend who owns a drum-software company.
Shot with several Canon, Nikon & Pentax cameras (5).
I built a camera crane with lateral and vertical movements.
What do you think?
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IU plays key role in consortium; 1,468 new genes discovered
Scientists from Indiana University are part of a consortium that has described the transcriptome of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster in unprecedented detail, identifying thousands of new genes, transcripts and proteins.
Image of a stained Drosophila cell.
In the new work, published Sunday in the journal Nature, scientists studied the transcriptome -- the complete collection of RNAs produced by a genome -- at different stages of development, in diverse tissues, in cells growing in culture, and in flies stressed by environmental contaminants. To do so, they used contemporary sequencing technology to sequence all of the expressed RNAs in greater detail than ever before possible.
The paper shows that the Drosophila genome is far more complex than previously suspected and suggests that the same will be true of the genomes of other higher organisms. The paper also reports a number of novel, particular results: that a small set of genes used in the nervous system are responsible for a disproportionate level of complexity; that long regulatory and so-called "antisense" RNAs are especially prominent during gonadal development; that "splicing factors" (proteins that control the maturation of RNAs by splicing) are themselves spliced in complex ways; and that the Drosophila transcriptome undergoes large and interesting changes in response to environmental stresses.
The importance of Drosophila melanogaster as a model system cannot be overstated. Using it, the mechanisms of heredity were worked out about 100 years ago. Today, as biologists have developed increasing appreciation of how well genes and critical life processes are conserved over long evolutionary distances, flies have emerged as critical tools for understanding human biology and disease. Drosophila research is an area that has long had associations with IU, beginning with Nobel Laureate Herman J. Muller.
IU has 10 co-authors on the paper from the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology and the university's Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics. They are included among the 41 co-authors from 11 universities and institutes that are members of the National Human Genome Research Institute's Model Organism Encyclopedia of DNA Elements project, or modENCODE. Among the IU co-authors are Professor Emeritus of Biology Peter Cherbas, who helped manage the expansive project, and Distinguished Professor of Biology Thom Kaufman, who helped oversee design of the project and the production of biological samples.
"The modENCODE work is intended to provide a new baseline for research using Drosophila," Cherbas said. "The goal is to provide researchers working on particular processes with much of the detailed background information they would otherwise need to collect for themselves.
"As usual in science, we've answered a number of questions and raised even more. For example, we identified 1,468 new genes, of which 536 were found to reside in previously uncharacterized gene-free zones."
"We think these results could influence gene regulation research in all animals," Kaufman said. "This exhaustive study also identified a number of phenomena previously reported only in mammals, and that alone is really telling about the versatility of Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism. The new work provides a number of new potential uses for this powerful model system."
An example they pointed to was the perturbation experiments that identified new genes and transcripts. New genes were identified in experiments where adults were challenged with heat shock, cold shock, exposure to heavy metals, the drug caffeine and the herbicide paraquat, while larvae were treated with heavy metals, caffeine, ethanol or the insecticide rotenone.
Those environmental stresses resulted in small changes in expression level at thousands of genes; and in one treatment, four newly modeled genes were expressed altogether differently. In total, 5,249 transcript models for 811 genes were revealed only under perturbed conditions.
As did the flies in this new research, scientists who studied the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico found that marsh fishes responding to chronic hydrocarbon exposure had a number of expressional responses beyond the heat shock pathway, including the down regulation of genes encoding eggshell and yolk proteins as did the flies. To see this response overlap across phyla means the consortium may have identified a conserved metazoan stress response involving enhanced metabolism and the suppression of genes involved in reproduction.
Indiana University co-authors with Cherbas and Kaufman were co-first author Robert Eisman, Justen Andrews, Lucy Cherbas, Brian D. Eads, David Miller, Keithanne Mockaitis, Johnny Roberts and Dayu Zhang. All were associated with the Department of Biology and/or the Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics.
"Diversity and dynamics of the Drosophila transcriptome," published March 16 in the journal Nature, also included 31 other co-authors whose affiliations were with the University of California, Berkeley; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; University of Connecticut Health Center; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Sloan-Kettering Institute; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; RIKEN Yokohama Institute (Japan); Harvard Medical School; and Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Steve Chaplin | newswise
Further information:
Further reports about: > Bioinformatics > Biology > Drosophila > Indiana > RNA > RNAs > flies > genes > melanogaster > proteins > shock > thousands > transcriptome
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text:
Coastal Bend wedding: 05.12.13
Tiffany Michell Carlock and Troy Allan Walters, both of Corpus Christi, were married Feb. 23, 2013 at Journey Church.
The bride is the daughter of Caron Herndon of Victoria and John McGovney of San Antonio. The groom is the son of Lyman and Pat Young of Sandia.
Now Trending
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text:
Chapter 19. Microporous Conformal Coatings by the Sol-Gel Process
- John B. Wachtman Jr
Published Online: 26 MAR 2008
DOI: 10.1002/9780470310502.ch19
Copyright © 1988 The American Ceramics Society, Inc.
Book Title
12th Annual Conference on Composites and Advanced Ceramic Materials, Part 2 of 2: Ceramic Engineering and Science Proceedings, Volume 9, Issue 9/10
Additional Information
How to Cite
Klein, L. C., Abramoff, B. and De Lambilly, H. (1988) Microporous Conformal Coatings by the Sol-Gel Process, in 12th Annual Conference on Composites and Advanced Ceramic Materials, Part 2 of 2: Ceramic Engineering and Science Proceedings, Volume 9, Issue 9/10 (ed J. B. Wachtman), John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, USA. doi: 10.1002/9780470310502.ch19
Publication History
- Published Online: 26 MAR 2008
- Published Print: 1 JAN 1988
Book Series:
ISBN Information
Print ISBN: 9780470374818
Online ISBN: 9780470310502
- Summary
- Chapter
- References
- sol-gel process;
- rigid;
- inorganic;
- microporosity;
- thermal barrier
The sol-gel process has been used to deposit thin films from solutions onto substrates of various geometries, both rigid and flexible. These alkoxide-derived solutions adhere to organic as well as inorganic substrates. The outcome of the sol-gel process in all cases is a microporous oxide. In the dried condition, the microporosity is open and accessible. When hermeticity is desired the porosity can be eliminated by proper heat treatment. Otherwise the porosity remains open and can be adjusted to create coatings with the properties of a thermal barrier, a separation medium or a chemical sensor.