Christmas Site Shutdown

Apologies that this wasn't posted sooner (been having technical difficulties), but we're doing it again:

Lostpedia will be protected from 24th-26th of December inclusive, and 31st-1st of December/January inclusive.

Yep, its that time of year where we all pull our faces away from the computer screens for a few days and cherish being amongst family and friends. The logic behind closing the site for this time is simple. It is highly unlikely that SysOps will be on during this time (not to mention many users), so we feel its best to put the shutter down rather than leave it up for vandals with nothing better to do at this time of year. The site will still be viewable, but editing will be completely restricted.

We appreciate that we have a number of users who do not celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. However, no-one has yet given serious complaint about the proposal when asked, and I'm sure none of our editors will argue with this precaution. If anyone does take issue with this idea though, please feel free to contact a SysOp about it.

We wish you all a great time over the holiday period!

EW's Top 25 fansites - Lostpedia is 3rd!

Tis the season and Entertainment Weekly have released their list of Top 25 fansites, and we're delighted to see that Lostpedia is 3rd!!!!! Its great to see that all the users' hardwork has been recognized in this way, and a great Christmas present for the site as a whole (as is Lost Season 4 in January, mind you). Check out our profile on EW's page, as well as for the other worthy sites that were included.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20165619_20165621_20167049_23,00.html

What else is left to say other than enjoy the holiday season, and once again thanks for all the efforts that have gone into making Lostpedia one of the best unofficial fansites on the whole Internet! Roll on Season 4...

LOST Season 4 Trailer

LOST returns for a new season on January 31, 2008. Hope this can quench your thirst for now.

5 Minutes of JJ Abrams project Cloverfield

Not 100% Lost related, but I thought everyone would like to see a 5 minute official clip of the upcoming "Cloverfield" film. Spoiler Alert!

Jacob's Dog Painting Unmasked

One of my duties at the Lostpedia wiki is to keep an eye on the list of recent changes made in the encyclopedia by all editors. Sometimes this means congratulating hard working editors, or standardizing style-- and once in a while it means correcting vandalism. Sometimes though, I honestly can't tell if a contribution is outright vandalism or not, and today was such a day, and the result of figuring it all out ended up being a really fun revelation.

A new user posted edits to the "Background cast" page, specifically the section on whom we like to call "The Other Others", who are not as well known among Lost fans as are the background Flight 815 survivors. The editor added two names, and two photos, for BG Other #1 and #29. The entry for BG Other #1 was edited with a ridiculous headshot, and a name I could not corroborate in Google; it was possibly vandalism. However the second name, which the editor had penciled in as Thomas Hannsz for BG Other #29 (right, standing in front of Locke), scored plenty of hits in Google.

Most results were art poster websites, which seemed random, and I still didn't see any headshots or photos of the actual person to compare to Lost. But when I looked up the name at MySpace, there was a surprise.

There was indeed a page for Thomas Hannsz. First of all, there was a headshot photo, and it reasonably matched the face seen in Lost as BG Other #29. Second, according to the MySpace page, Thomas is apparently the real life painter who painted the prop of the dog painting in Jacob's cabin as encountered by Locke in episode 3x20 (left).


We previously had a tip that Jacob's painting was of Lost executive producer Jack Bender's personal dog "Lulu" (short for Ms. Honolulu), who you can see scampering around Nigeria (in 3x05, right) and on the Island in a promotional still (for 3x13, here). Finding the original painting now was an unexpected bonus.

Thomas Hannsz's MySpace page further had links to: 1) an almost identical page of Jason Hannsz (so is it Thomas or is it Jason?) and 2) a page for the painting of Jacob's dog. The MySpace page for the dog painting furthermore had a link to a page hosted at Artist Rising, where you can buy prints for about twelve bucks as well as the original painting for a cool fifty grand.

Therefore apparently ABC did not purchase the rights to the painting, since the artist himself is able to offer it for sale, so Lost fans everywhere can treat themselves (or a lucky loved one) to a unique holiday gift for a very reasonable price. According to the editor's comments, Thomas was Lulu's personal caretaker when Jack Bender was away or on set. At any rate it really is a treat to be able to see Jacob's painting in its full original glory. Better yet, he's one of the Others.

See the full size painting and buy prints at Artist Rising here.

UPDATE:
A comment below noted that the painting is a parody of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, and I'm inclined to agree. The color scheme, and washed out oil paint look are similar, but it is the iconic crossed hands that does it for me, as well as some of the shapes and colors in the background. The tree line has some exactly matching details, and the general color scheme is in parallel, although some details like the bluish water are horizontally flipped. Click the comparison image for a larger version.

The WGA strike, updates and more.

Well, as you have probably heard by now, the WGA is striking. And everyone everywhere is blogging and reporting on it. So I'm going to do a short round up of some of the stuff the casual Lost fan needs to know. I'd highly suggest checking out the Variety page linked to at the bottom of this blog, it will keep you up to date on the strike situation. Myself and Santa are also keeping the Lostpedia main page news updated with the latest whether it regards Lost directly or not so keep checking back there as well.

Now to cover a bit of the stuff the fans want to know. This is a quick roundup on Lost's current situation with a list of links at the bottom that will let you know everything else you need to know.

First off, there are a lot of angry fans saying that "if this causes Lost to be canceled then....." Stop! Lost will not get canceled because of this strike. I could list off the numerous reasons but I will let Gregg Nations handle it:

"Get A Klugh, the scenario you wrote won't happen. Lost is not a show that is in danger of being cancelled. There is a contract for the next 48 episodes, so they'll be completed no matter what. If there is a show on the bubble, like say Viva Laughlin if it hadn't already been cancelled, then the strike could have made that decision an easy one to simply cancel it. It's going to be a case-by-case basis."

Gregg continued on to say that Lost is currently filming episode 8 (which has been confirmed by numerous sources. And Lost is still shooting today despite it's writers striking. How much longer they will be filming for it anyone's guess. Michael Emerson did a recent interview in which he stated:

"And if the writers walk, there's no one to polish scripts or do rewrites or anything like that. "Lost" would shut down fairly quickly. I'm just guessing, but I think "Lost" could go eight or 10 days after a strike. Then we'd all have to go home I guess. "

Lost still has some kick in them, at least for a little while. The interview with Emerson even revealed something that we've been waiting to hear. They have actually be shooting the mobisodes and those are still set to be revealed even as the strike wears on.

"Those who are really eager for the new season can expect to see mobisodes, or mobile phone episodes, in the near future. In the 13 weeks leading up to the premiere the network will release a mobisode a week, "which are sort of like lost scenes," explained Emerson. They are about two or three minutes long, and you can download them on phones and ABC.com."

So what does the average Lost fan have left to look forward to? Well, more than you might think. The mobisodes are set to be released, who knows when though, the Season 3 dvds are going to be released in North America come December. We've also got the video game which is supposed to be released in the first quarter of 2008. And the writers strike could last for 4 months max and still have no effect on Season 4. Lost fans do have some breathing room and stuff to keep them busy. However I'd still suggest keeping yourself informed on the strike.

Here are some links you might find interesting:

• A blog on how the strike will affect Lost
• Interview with Michael Emerson on the WGA strike
• Brian K Vaughan on the writer's strike
• Gregg Nation's comments on the whole thing
• Variety's WGA strike Hot Topic Page
• Damon Lindelof on the strike
• United Hollywood: Unofficial blog of WGA strike captains

11th Hour WGA Mediation

A final 11th hour negotiating session between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the producers group AMPTP has been scheduled for Sunday morning, one day before the commencement of the strike on Monday. The negotiations were arranged at the request of Juan Carlos Gonzalez, the mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service that had been called in last week by the US government. The main sticking point that neither side has budged a micrometer on is still the WGA's position to double their DVD residuals, although new media (Internet streaming, downloads etc.) residuals and contract jurisdiction are also on the table. Meanwhile, Lost continues to film normally today, and script supervisor Gregg Nations recently noted at thefuselage.com here that it is episode 8 of Season 4 being filmed, and that because this script has been finished, production on this episode will likely continue to completion even in the event of a strike.

Doc Arzt leaves Thetailsection.com

It was with a sad heart that I recently received an IM from Doc Arzt stating that he was leaving his role as administrator of the Lost fan site TheTailSection (TTS), which is a property that he had previously sold to the Buddy TV company. This evening he publicly broke this news in what is presumably his last post as administrator of TTS.

The TTS blog was a wonderful balance of original yet meaningful musing on the news and theories that go along with ''Lost''-- his familiar tone led his readers to feel as if they had a personal friend with the pulse of ''Lost''. Doc Arzt's mature and professional postings seemed to strike that perfect and good natured balance, with well-thought yet entertaining writing that avoided empty sensationalism, and thoroughly distinguished himself from the lowest common denominator of common blog drivel that we have all seen in the fan ecosystem inspired by this television show.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought this because he seemed often to have some really unique scoops, and his occasional reference to "being allowed" to break news implied to me that he had managed to cultivate some sources at least fairly close to ''Lost'', a feat pretty much unattained by any other site admin in the teeming fan universe of ''Lost''. It is no exaggeration to say it would not surprise me if Damon himself noticed and corresponded with the Doc.

I take my hat off to him, and wish him the best in his post-''Lost'' endeavors, and simultaneously mourn the loss of one of the premier ''Lost'' fansites, because even if TTS continues, it is now without the Doc, and therefore it is no longer the TTS.

Variety Hot Topic: WGA Strike

Just a quick note on this day before the WGA contract expires.

Variety.com, which I recently suggested as a good source of current news on the WGA situation, has created a convenient "Hot Topic" page to track all news about the possible strike.

So see Variety's WGA Strike Hot Topic page for quick updates in the coming days.


THURSDAY NOV 1 UPDATE: Strike starting next Monday possible (Variety) In short, Carlton Cuse and the rest of the union's negotiating committee recommended a strike to the leadership of the union. Most guesses are that it will start Monday. The general membership of the WGA has been advised by the WGA strike captains to take any of their personal belongings home from the workplace.

FRIDAY NOV 2 UPDATE1: The WGA leadership has scheduled an announcement regarding a possible strike today at 1:30pm at WGA West headquarters in Los Angeles. Click the Variety Hot Topic link above for updates as they come.

FRIDAY NOV 2 UPDATE 2: The WGA leadership has confirmed that it is calling for a strike beginning Monday November 5, as expected. Further negotiations are not scheduled this weekend prior to the commencement of the strike.

Lost Season 4 Unlikely for Wednesday Nights

DocArzt from Thetailseciton.com dropped me a line about finding an article in Mediaweek that quoted Stephen McPherson, who is of course the president of the ABC Entertainment Division. He's the one who that back in July of this year had an assistant call Damon Lindelof in the middle of an ABC TV Critics press conference back a day before Comic Con 2007, so that he had the okay to leak information on a now well-known casting spoiler for Season 4.

Well the current news is that he was chatting about ABC's lineup for Season 4, and the female viewer demographic, and the point is that Wednesday nights seem full with other shows. He also specifically mentioned ''Lost'' as a "wildcard asset", meaning we may see Lost broadcast almost any night, maybe (or maybe not) the Monday 8pm slot that has been rumored lately.

The Mediaweek article is mostly a long snore on demographics, so instead hop on over to DocArzt's summary at Thetailsection here.

WGA Weekend Update

UPDATE 1:
I've been trying to keep up with the prospects for a writer's strike by the WGA, and one of the best sources for me has been Variety.com. If you don't know what we're talking about here, see my recent blog post for a summary of how this might affect Lost.

Last Thursday, the WGA's negotiations with the suits of the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) did not seem to be going well, with predictable acrimony in the week leading up to the expiration of the current contract (link). The WGA cannot budge from its marquee demand of DVD residuals, but the producer are not signaling any inclination to budge. A few days earlier, there was an interesting article about one point that WGA may be willing to back off on, which is jurisdiction over reality shows, which have been one mainstay of non-WGA television fare. (link)

Also something interesting is that Variety had an article about the strike, but dedicated to Lost. (link) Of course they note that ABC is planning to broadcast the entirety of Season 4 consecutively, and that Carlton Cuse is one of the 17 members of the WGA negotiating committee. What I didn't know is that Lost apparently has a highlighted central position in the industry with respect to these issues. Variety writes:

"Interestingly, "Lost" exec producer Carlton Cuse is one of the 17 members of the Writers Guild's contract negotiating committee, though no one is conspiratorial enough to suggest he could have plotted it this way all along. But it's probably not a coincidence that at a time when compensating writers for their work in the digital realm is one of the points of major contention between WGA and the AMPTP, "Lost" is the only TV production show to come to terms with the WGA, DGA and SAG on production of the "Lost Video Diaries" designed for mobile phones and Web plays."

And the most recent news? Friday was the first day that actual negotiating was attempted, rather than each side simply pushing their proposals (WGA has 26 proposals). However progress was small to none, to the extent that both sides decided to take a holiday: They won't come back to the bargaining table at WGA West headquarters until Tuesday, only one day before the expiration of the current contract. And things look dark enough that a federal labor mediator (from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service) will be present. (link)

There's also an interesting article where the DGA (directors guild) aren't happy about the WGA stepping on their toes. In other words, if the WGA strikes, the directors are still on DGA contract and are required to continue working-- on work not covered by the WGA. However this is a gray area for dual citizens: dual union cardholders such as show runners, who are hyphenate writer-directors. The article notes that four show runners are on the WGA negotiating committee, including Lost's own Carlton Cuse. The work in question includes minor script adjustments during filming, such as re-assigning lines to different cast members, or even changes in stage direction. According to Gregg Nations in my previous blog entry, crossing the picket line as a director won't be an issue for Carlton since Lost would simply shut down immediately. The article also mentions a possible spat with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). Yow. Anyways read more here.

The lesson? Don't rely on Lost bloggers for WGA news... Read it from their source-- read Variety.com over the next few days to keep up with detailed developments in this news as we approach next Wednesday and beyond.

If you know of any other good industry news sources, please post them below.

Sunset on the Beach Season 4 World Premiere Confirmed

According to DocArzt of Thetailsection.com blog in his post here, he has been authorized to reveal that the "Sunset on the Beach" event for Lost's Season 4 world premiere has been confirmed.

DocArzt has always had some good (and mysterious) contacts at Lost, so this latest news seems to be very credible indeed. The event is a series sponsored by the City and County of Honolulu, and typically shows movies for residents and tourists on a large screen erected directly on the sands of Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, HI, where Lost is filmed. However the Lost premiere events have generally been announced and confirmed by the City and County usually only a scant week before the event, generally held on the Wednesday or Saturday before the broadcast premiere of the season on ABC.

DocArzt revealed that the event for the world premiere of of Season 4 will be held on the "first Saturday of February", which makes it February 2, 2008. With such advance notice, diehard Lost fans can now plan (or dream on planning) their travel arrangements to Hawaii around a confirmed date to be on hand for the teeming crowds of thousands that have historically thronged the premiere and the appearance of the cast of Lost in Waikiki.

So circle February 2nd on your calendar and stock up on your sunscreen. Thanks, Doc! Read more at Thetailsection.com

Lost's Writing on the Wall?

UPDATE 2:

Last Friday, there was news from Hollywood that should have Lost fans concerned. The membership of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) authorized a strike. The mandate to authorize was strong, with 90.3% of votes, and over 5,500 of 12,000 members (of this normally low-turnout union) voting.

So why is this happening now, and what does it have to do with Lost?

It turns out that all the folks who make the TV and film you watch possible, including writers, directors, and actors, are represented by unions, who have contracts with the producers, specifically the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). The WGA contract expires on Halloween-- hence the current possibility of a strike as a new contract is negotiated. If you were around during the last WGA strike in 1988, you know how bad TV and film can get during these strikes.

But strike authorization is sort of a bargaining tool in itself: it gives union leadership a trigger to pull, and the negotiators for the other side (AMPTP) know it. However it does not mean a strike is inevitable.

Gregg Nations, Lost's script coordinator had this to say about what this strike authorization means in his post at the official Fuselage forums:

"What the 90% strike authorization does is hopefully scared the producers into realizing that the writers mean business. There is no fooling around. There's going to be harsh, pointed criticism from each side, bad feelings are going to come out of it like crazy, and then maybe there doesn't have to be a strike. It's not set in stone that writers walk out on Nov. 1 -- but if things don't look good to the negotiating committee, then they can call for a strike any time after that.

"With such a high voter turnout and a high percentage voting yes, maybe this means nothing will happen. If the vote had only been say 50% yes, then the producers would've walked all over the writers. As it is now, that ain't gonna happen. But it is all about money, and the big companies don't like parting with it, so it's still going to be a battle."

It gets hairier though. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) contracts also expire soon, in April-June 2008. The WGA may decide to continue working until then, when potentially all three unions could strike simultaneously for combined leverage, essentially bringing the Hollywood machine to a standstill: no writers, directors, or actors.

But besides June is so far away that Lost Season 4 is safe right?

We don't know. Potentially the writers could strike as soon as their contract expires, the day after Halloween.

Given that Lost has been filming Season 4 since late August, that means that by November 1, the film crew would have finished about six or seven episodes, and the writers might be done with about three more. (According to Jorge Garcia's post here, they are currently filming 4.06). That makes a ballpark figure of ten episodes of the scheduled sixteen before Lost must halt filming, if filming continues without WGA workers, and 6 or 7 if not. Lost's stellar stable of writers includes stalwarts such as Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis, and Elizabeth Sarnoff, and prominent newcomers such as Brian K. Vaughan. You have to remember that quite a few of the writing assistants on Lost, and script editors (such as Gregg Nations or Patti Dalzell) are also part of the WGA, and much of this work is performed during actual filming. And Lost's showrunners Damon & Carlton-- they are WGA members and would be required to strike too. For those of you hoping the Lost writing team was being forced into this, think again. That's not how the film industry works.

Again, Gregg Nations explains in another post at the Fuselage:

"If there is a strike, we will shut down immediately. Carlton is on the negotiating committee for the WGA, and there is no way that any of the writers would cross a picket line. We will not bank episodes or scripts. Depending on how many episodes are completed before a strike were to happen, it would be up to ABC to decide how to air them.

"Personally, I think the WGA is in a very good bargaining position, and if there is a strike, it's the producers and studios who are being the uncompromising ones. This could be a contentious round of discussions and you never know how things will work out. Hopefully it'll all go smoothly and it won't be an issue."

Scripts are simply "not in the can" through to the end of the season, even if the overall storyline is already mapped out. There are WGA-related jobs that are required even during filming. Filming of Season 4 simply cannot continue without the writers, and if you believe otherwise, you are gravely misinformed.

Also, notice that Gregg Nations mentioned that Carlton is actually on the negotiating committee for the WGA. What does that mean for the average Lost fan? Two things. First, Carlton is in fact central to the leadership machinery of the union that could initiate a strike. Second, Carlton may be required to stay in Los Angeles to deal with negotiations, tethering him from making his frequent trips to Hawaii as the "on-the-ground" showrunner for Lost. This work may dilute any hopes that while Carlton and Damon would have to halt all work covered by the WGA, they could in theory continue as executive producers of the show.

Assuming the worst case, Lost might halt production at about ten episodes, or even less if production halts immediately. Then ABC is presented with an unenviable choice: Do they broadcast those ten? This would mean reneging on their promise to eliminate a mid-season hiatus, and in their minds would risk the entire Lost franchise because of low ratings after the hiatus, as had occurred in Season 3. But the network will be desperate to show anything to keep the company running. This also means a random cliffhanger, because the mid-season storyline arc won't account for a strike-based hiatus. Or instead, they can find enough "replacement fare" to cover themselves until the strike is resolved, then broadcast Season 4 all sixteen episodes in a row. Replacement fare? I'm talking R&R: Reruns and Reality shows, because the latter doesn't require writers, or even actors for that matter. For the record, in that case I'm hoping ABC takes the pre-canned Daybreak off the archive shelf, a series that improved greatly after the clumsy and draining pilot episode, and could deserve another chance.

As mentioned above, SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and DGA (Directors Guild of America) are also set to strike. Their contracts expire in summer 2008 they have the potential to be a killer to the TV industry, especially if WGA waits until then to strike for a devastating triple-strike. In that case, Season 4 will be safe, finished broadcasting, and re-run fodder for us fans. But what a triple strike would likely be aiming at is the networks' jugular of the Fall 2008 sweeps period, meaning Lost Season 5 won't start filming until perhaps 2009, pushing Lost's end date back one year to 2011.

Gregg Nation comments:

"I'm really not sure how ABC would handle episodes completed and 'in the can.' They may wait to see how long a strike would last. Or they could decide to burn them off and then have another mini-hiatus until after the strike is over and production is back in the swing of things. ABC will be facing that issue with all their shows if a strike happens."

Now these are the gloom and doom cases of the effects of various strikes on Lost. There are reasons to think the worst case isn't coming.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the DGA usually negotiates its contracts many months before the previous one expires. Their contract expires in June 2008, but they may even begin negotiations this November, and may even work something out. Then the WGA may hesitate to force a strike when the DGA is sitting happy with a new contract.

Some more background. First off, what are the unions striking for? Money of course, a type called "residuals", which means payment (in addition to the salary for the original work) for each rebroadcast of the material, including cable, foreign, DVDs, as well as digital streaming and downloads.

The studios don't want to pay residuals to writers until they have recouped their overhead costs, and additionally don't want to pay the apparently large jump in figures requested for DVD sale residuals. If the producers don't budge, then the best bet for the unions is the crippling leverage of a triple strike in June 2008, which would mean, at least, Season 4 would be safe. Now you may be thinking this is a selfish act by the writers, they just want more money, right? Wrong. An example that is easy to think about and understand is that when you walk into a store and buy a book, the author gets 15% or something around that. When you buy a DVD, the writers only get about $0.04 off each DVD sale. Seem fair to you? They aren't stealing money from you the viewer. New technology is changing the way the media industry makes money. The writers are asking for their fair share from the uber-rich media conglomerates; in the case of Lost, this means Disney, and we all know how unfathomly rich they already are. I'm on Carlton's side here.

Confusion often arises when we mention that producers are fighting the writers in this labor dispute. "But wait", you say "Carlton and Damon are both producers and writers." Yes, but no. I'll give you another quote by Gregg Nations that helps clarify this:

"As far as Carlton and Damon being writers and producers and caught in the middle, it doesn't really happen like that. This is where the term "producer" becomes problematic because of the way it's defined. Creatively, Damon and Carlton call the shots; therefore they are the (creative) executive producers. However, it is Touchstone (now called ABC Studios) who pays for the show and is therefore the producing entity. (And ABC Studios is in turn owned by Walt Disney Corporation, which in the end is really the paying/producing entity.) So the big corporations, like Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, CBS, Fox, NBC Universal, etc., are the 'producers' the writers guild is negotiating with. It kind of comes down to the suits versus the creative people.

"There is a producer's guild, and I'm not sure what the membership requirements are to join. Maybe someone like J. J. Abrams could join since technically he owns his own company and produces various shows. I don't know if it's a requirement to join the producer's guild and be a signatory to the various other guilds in order to employ WGA, DGA and SAG members. I know as a member of the WGA, you are not allowed to work for companies that are not signatories to the minimum basic agreement. And that's the agreement the WGA and the producer's guild is trying to hammer out now.

"So we'll see. SAG's contract is up at the end of April, which is why film production is starting to be affected. If a film can't start and finish by the end of April, companies are passing on it. Everything is being moved up because of that. So if the writers strike, I would imagine that the actors would strike, too. And that would be bad, too..."

Well, let's all cross our fingers and see what happens. Give me a beard and call me Jacko, and flash me forward to a future with no strikes and plenty of Lost on tap.

Suspension of Disbelief

Now that I've had several months to sit and stew, there's one thing that has bummed me about Lost lately, and I've noticed it has just festered and has not gone away on its own.

But before I get to that, let me say:
As most of you here, I enjoy Lost. This is an understatement with all of the trivial knowledge I've absorbed maintaining the wiki. I am (barring Exposé) a very loyal fan.

Lost is the type of fiction that invites the kind of analysis that would support one of the largest wikis on the Internet.

The writers and props people take care to insert details that interconnect, often across episodes and even seasons. TPTB actually have faith in the intelligence of the viewer, and don't spoon feed it to you then hammer it violently into your face for good measure like Heroes. The self-consistent details are just there, so when you look harder, anywhere you look, they emerge. It's not a LOTR level of detail, but for television it's impressive, (and perhaps unprecedented in this new age of HD and online memes), and the effect is the same: I really begin to believe in this universe, that it could really exist.

It's not real, but it has a undeniable sense of reality.

Unfortunately, in Season 3, this sense has been somewhat eroded, and I have to actually work to maintain my suspension of disbelief. I don't mean storyline stuff like: "I don't believe the whole Skate interaction at the cages was realistic."

What bothers me is the really obvious stuff that just shouts out: THIS IS FAKE, and it does so intentionally. For me, the anagrams do this. There is no need for HOFFS DRAWLAR mortuary. There is no need for HERARAT Aviation. MITTELOS Bioscience: ditto.

Some fans may call these Easter eggs and eagerly consume them so that they can pat themselves on the back for being überfan-enough to know them all.

To me, these are nothing more than self-indulgent graffiti. It is a glaring sore in Lost's fabric of reality just so the TPTB can say "Kilroy was here". It is simply not believable, the names are not believable, and because it is totally inconsistent with the rest of the universe of Lost, the only explanation for the existence of these names is something that comes from outside the universe of Lost. Could Jack actually have stopped and decoded the anagram and changed his storyline? No, the message was not meant for him, or anyone else in the Lost universe. Hence, my new need for the suspension of disbelief.

The anagrams in these obvious places are completely unlike the coincidences in the crossing flashbacks of the characters, which are firmly rooted in storyline and the mythology of how the universe of Lost operates. It is also unlike small references like Eddie's Geronimo Jackson shirt, or small references to The Lost Experience (TLE) like considerably more obscure Korean sign and conversation in D.O.C.

Speaking of TLE, I had no problems with anagrams there because it was an intrinsic part of a game, and its canonicity is a grey area.

Ethan Rom I could handle, because the names are real; there really are people named Ethan and those with the surname Rom, and to me this is just part of mythology and allegory much like the use of Philosophers' names: Locke, Rousseau, Alpert, Bakunin, etc.

But a big sign with a name inconsistent with the universe of Lost? That's a visual I can't ignore, and to me it's worse than product placement. Hoffs Drawlar is just as bad as if I saw a real advertisement for the upcoming presidential election on a billboard during a flashback. TPTB shouldn't toy with the universe, even if it is theirs.

Comments?

Name That Tune Lost Edition

Have you ever wanted to help Lostpedia's articles, but didn't know where to start? Put your musical knowledge to the test and see if you can improve our article on commercial Music featured in Lost. Everyone knows about Mama Cass at the beginning of Season 2, but did you know there are over two dozen unidentified songs on our wanted list? Lostpedia user Dreamingtree72 recently compiled a task list for these mystery songs at the very top of the Music article talk page, complete with episode name and time stamp. If you know the song, just click edit and post it there!

Lost music guru Michael Giacchino and Terry 's Concert

Emmy award-winning musical composer Michael Giacchino will be appearing with cast member Terry O'Quinn (Locke) on September 22 with the Honolulu Symphony Toyota Pops outdoors at the Waikiki Shell. Tickets range from $36 to $94, and various discounts (military, student, senior) are available.

Press release:

Experience the epic musical score of the hit ABC television series “Lost” as award-winning American composer Michael Giacchino brings this original music to Honolulu for its symphony orchestra world premiere by the Honolulu Symphony Toyota Pops and conductor Tim Simonec on Saturday, September 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Waikiki Shell. Emmy-nominated “Lost” star Terry O’Quinn will join the Pops on stage to narrate passages as the music brings every gripping and passion-filled moment to life. Enthusiastic “Lost” fans are well acquainted with Mr. Giacchino’s breathtaking score and have been enjoying his captivating compositions for three seasons.

Read more...

Congratulations Jay and Jack

Congratulations to our friends Jay and Jack over at the Lost Podcast, who won the Podcast Award for best Entertainment Podcast this week. Not only do they give out their own awards, which we won this year, but they also get accolades from their podcasting peers! They are still in the running for the Best Produced award, which will be announced at the Podcast and New Media Expo on September 28th in Ontario, California, USA. Good luck for that guys, and well done!

August - Wiki Improvements

Hey everyone. We're well into August, and at the moment we're busy working on improvements to the site in general. We have put lots of thought into the organisation of the Portals. At the moment they are based on the cast listings for the show, which has caused much consternation, and they are... terribly ugly.

We are working on designs and revisions to make the site look much nicer and more functional. Portals are the area of the site that we've overlooked recently, so we are working heavily to make them better for Season 4 onwards, basing them on the affiliation of characters within the show, rather than their cast listing.

So, take a look at this very early design concept, and please tell me what you think via the wiki's discussion tab.

Comic Con Update - Orchid Video...

UPDATE - ABC have released a much higher quality version of the video, which I've replaced the old embedded vid with. Note that in this version the swear word has been removed.

Hey all, further to the revelations received by the intrepid Tapdawg, DarkUFO has also posted information about the mysterious "Orchid Video" that played at the end of the Q&A session with the Lost writers. What's more... he caught it on film!!! There is a swear in the video though so be warned, just covering my bases with Lostpedia being a family site and all.



Weird I think is the generic Lost adjective to be applied in this instance. Obviously there's the parody aspect, but is there underlying grains of truth? Is there really a fake botanical station named the Orchid knocking about where they cloned bunnies? Did my second question just answer the first?

Thetailsection at Comic Con 2007

''Lost'' fansite The Tail Section has just posted a regularly-updated news page for events from Comic Con 2007. The long-anticipated ''Lost'' panel with J.J. Abrams and Carlton Cuse was today, and The Tail Section has two correspondents covering the news live, user "Tapdawg" as well as The Lost Ninja, who is better known to fans as the official Australian blogger for The Lost Experience last summer.

Here's some of their top scoops (beware of spoilers!):
- Michael will return in Season 4 as a regular cast member once again, though how and when during the Season he will appear is unknown.
- There will be many more flash forwards in coming episodes as well as flashbacks. Flashforwards will be difficult to plot on a timeline, with some occurring a year later, five years later, perhaps even ten years later.
- Jack and Claire will discover their relation.
- Ben was caught by Rousseau's trap in Season 2 accidentally, and we will learn how and why during Season 4.
- Getting off the Island is not the end of the story for the Losties.
- No Lost Experience will happen this hiatus but its "looking good" that they'll be another one during the S4-S5 gap.
- Richard Alpert may not appear next season or at least in a much more limited capacity (presumably due to other commitments?)
- No title for the Season 4 premiere just yet.
- Libby's absence in S3 was not intentional, she'll be appearing in S4.
- It was stated that Cerberus (on blast door map) is one name for the Monster, but then again the Monster goes by many names. They also said that information about the Monster will be given, such as its origins, but the answers might not be answers we expect or construe as concrete explanations (they used the example of what was in the Halliburton case, just another mystery in the form of the toy plane etc).
- A Rousseau flashback will occur either in S4 or if not definitely S5. The reason for the delays is that her flashback will coincide with a major plot line about the mysteries of the Island, and the writers were unsure whether that plot line would be addressed this coming Season.
- It was hinted that Lost Season 4 may be shown on Fridays in the US. Carlton Cuse commented that it would be nice to go home after work on a Friday and watch Lost.



Read more: TTS' Comic Con 2007 page

J.J. Abrams "Cloverfield"

There is a new HD version online of the teaser trailer of the Bad Robot/J.J. Abrams feature film. It was conspicuously placed into the set of trailers in the theatrical release of Transformers. Matt Reeves is director, and Drew Goddard is writer. Other than the code name "Cloverleaf", and it's release date of January 18, 2008, there has been no official word on what this film really is. Take a look at this amazing trailer and decide for yourself what this could be.


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View Trailer

Summer blues? Lostpedia has the answers

Talk about a slow few weeks, huh. No Lost to speak of. But what have we been doing at Lostpedia? Well there's a few new things going on. First off, there's the episode rewatch scheme. At this moment in time we're on Solitary and Raised By Another, the basic idea being watch em again years on and appreciate em, chat about them on Lostpedia forum, and maybe update the corresponding episode articles on the wiki. Bound to give you your Lost fix through the dry season.

Next up is Lostpedia's fan fic Season 4, taking place on the forums. I've read some of the material being produced, and its really great, also the fact that for episode 2 there was 40 submitted scripts shows there's huge variety, and a lot of budding playwrights and the like in the Lost community. Check em out, and maybe think of your own stuff - I wrote one for episode 1 and really enjoyed the experience (though made a rather cataclysmic canon blunder, one which I shall never live down - thank god its an anonymous ballot....).

Finally, all that remains is to discuss the latest tweak to the wiki - nice new headers for the Main homepage and Community Portal, inspired by our Portuguese and French counterparts. Those guys know how to code I must say - let us know what you think about the new thumb designs and headers - not too shabby huh. Also please light us up if its causing your browser to bug out.

Well that's it for now guys, take care and I hope ya'll enjoying the summertime, the living ain't easy without Lost, but stick with Lostpedia and you'll get through it lol. Oh and by the way, hope you like today's Lostbook design on the wiki ;-)

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY TO ONE AND ALL!!!!

Lostpedia Wins The Hugo Cup

Lostpedia has been voted top Lost site for 2007 by the renowned Jay and Jack Lost Podcast. Along with Lost site royalty including Lost-media, TheTailSection and DarkUFO, fans voted for their favorites before a selected panel decided upon the final winner from a shortlist.

As Jay and Jack have said, all five nominees were worthy winners, so hats off to them too for being such great resources to quite literally millions of Lost fans worldwide.

Hopefully we'll get some snaps of the coveted Hugo Cup trophy on here soon!

The Unexplored Third Season‎

We have just gotten word about the Season 3 box set DVDs. For all of you who constantly complain about the fourth season of our favorite show not being broadcast until February 2008, we'll have to wait just for six months until this bad boy of DVDs comes out. They have set the current release date for "Lost - The Unexplored Third Season" for December 11th. Of course, this doesn't exactly mean that it will come out on December 11th, given last year's Season 2 DVD date switch-around. Anyway, it looks like it's going to be a boring hiatus, in my opinion. Really, the only thing that we have to look forward to now is the release of the (supposed) video game.

Read related story...

Holiday Weekend Shopping Suggestion

It's Memorial Day weekend and if you find yourself at the mall, here's a suggestion for Lost fans. Go to your local GUESS store, and check out the men's clearance sales rack for tee shirts. Among the shirts you may find the very shirt that Charlie was wearing the last few episodes of Season 3, and the shirt he was wearing when he met his fate in the finale (Through the Looking Glass) at the blinking yellow light. Yes, it's a current 2007 Guess Jeans tee shirt: it reads "The Strong Survive", and features a weathered double-hammer graphic with some Chinese characters. The one in the store I visited was marked down to $11.99, and they came in several alternate colors. Go celebrate your inner Lost geek and buy one today.

UPDATE: Specifically it's a "Guess Jeans" Men's "Vintage 1981" line Tee from 2007, MSRP $29.00. The specific color used in Lost is "Durango Grey". The tag reads: DUG A7, as well as M64DX391 and US MN. The UPC bar code is 6 05576 56649 5. It's a fitted tee, so its sizing is that of regular men's shirts, a size smaller than Tees. If you're a "L" in tees, you'd probably be a "M" in this one.

Marco... Boone?

Hey guys, just found something fairly interesting: Ian Somerhalder (Boone, for those of you who forgot all about the poor guy), will be portraying Marco Polo in a made-for-tv movie about Marco Polo. It looks like an interesting movie. Check out Ian Somerhalder in "Marco Polo", 8 p.m. June 2, on the Hallmark Channel. Story continues below.

____________________________________________________________________

Ian Somerhalder has long been fascinated with the Far East.

"Places call you," says the 28-year-old actor. "Usually the Virgin Islands call people. China was calling me."

Which is why Somerhalder, not seen on TV since his fateful end in the first season of "Lost," took the role of the most famous Westerner to travel the Silk Road in the Hallmark Channel's "Marco Polo," airing 8 p.m. Saturday.

The three-hour movie about the 13th century Venetian trader's odyssey through Asia is loosely based on the explorer's celebrated chronicles, "The Travels of Marco Polo."

In the film, Somerhalder plays the young, wide-eyed adventurer who accompanies two priests on a mission to convert Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan (played by Brian Dennehy) to Christianity. But the priests turn back during the journey, unconvinced that China even exists.

Eventually, Polo forges ahead through treacherous mountains and blinding desert blizzards to reach the fabled land where he is accepted as a confidant in Khan's court, discovering, among many things, the delicacies of ice cream and pasta, as well as the advantages of paper currency and a postal system.

Read the rest...

Episode Blog - Through the Looking Glass

Well the final episode blog of 2007, let's make it memorable. So much to discuss, so many things to question. Just where to begin?

First stop, the flashbac... forwards. Unfortunately the reveal was lost on me after spoilers were so horrific online, even though I tried not to look I heard about it. It seemed a bit obvious too though, a very placid Jack who's turned into his father. I got the impression the message here was "you don't know how lucky you are to be on the Island until you leave", though I thought that was a little dumb as some of them desperately want to escape, like Juliet. At any rate, I was interested by all the info learned, especially the supposed dead person - just who is it then presuming its someone we know? And is the "him" Kate's with Sawyer d'ya reckon?

Moving on, my favorite element to the finale was the Naomi thing. I loved that communication with Penny, TV gold, the chill when she says "I'm not on a boat, who's Naomi?!" - brilliant. But how'd Charlie get her frequency (as she put it), or how was she on comms at the exact moment? And who the hell IS Naomi then? Does she work for Penny's father? Is she government black ops?

Next, the deaths, and surprising to see that only one Losties actually died considering. I thought it was interesting that the Losties are now the majority, and the Others are the ones living in fear (reinforced by Bonnie saying about Charlie, "but he's one of them!" - nice continuity thing). Best way to go out? Gotta be Pryce getting by Hurley in a DHARMA van - who saw that one coming? A close second being Sayid's scissor choke.

It was weird how Ben was quite happy to reveal the truth to Alex? Had she thought her mother died giving birth to her? Liked Ben's reasoning for keeping Karl away though, "I didn't want you to get pregnant... I overreacted". Another thing that bugged me was the radio tower. Rousseau said the Others controlled it in Season 1, yet then says "oh I've never been there since I did my signal 16 years ago, oh and its completely abandoned" - bit of a goof there? Furthermore, Locke bugging me by killing Naomi, no he can't kill Cooper or Jack, he doesn't "have murder in him", yet he has no trouble throwing a machete into a woman's back for absolutely no reason in cold blood. I know many are in the love Locke camp, but seriously when is someone gonna give him the smack in the face he deserves with all his destiny claptrap.

Finally, to poor Charlie and psycho Mikhail. It was typical that Charlie started to become a decent character again with a good flashback last week, and then completely gets the chop. But what a way to go huh? It was quite poignant how he could have locked the room on the other side with Des, yet knew it was the only way to save Claire by him dying. That whole five min scene with Penny and stuff I just thought was brilliant. Even psycho Mikhail, who had better be dead this time otherwise I'll get very annoyed - the man has more lives than Jack Bauer!

So are they rescued? Not likely when there's three more Seasons. Who are Naomi's people? How are they "bad"? Will their evil presence ally the Others with the Losties? Will Penny find them? Will the Monster (assuming its those apparitions) now actually kill Locke cause he failed his "work to be done"? Will we be able to wait eight whole months with no interluding easter eggs for all these answers?

Until then, I'll be on Lostpedia making it an even better Lost resource. Hope to see you on there for your Lost fixes! If not, enjoy your time away and lives of normality while you can, as your world will be rocked once again no doubt in 2008.

A fragile feeling inside...

I've just finished watching the finale of this season of Lost, and for the first time in a long time, I've wanted to contribute something about episodes to the wiki, which I normally leave to my regular blogging colleagues Marik and Nick. The thing is.... I'm completely torn in two. The introduction of a new element which could alter the whole perception of Lost, and we all should have seen coming, has arrived, and I am well.... confused!

The introduction of flash-forwards, showing us life after the island is a completely new phenomenon and something absolutely nobody was expecting, if you hadn't read the mega-spoiler, which was sadly spread over the internet.

In one aspect, I think its a strange move, they are telling us information about who makes it off the island now, removing some levels of suspense. We know characters are going to be safe. This is such a sea-change I don't know what to make of it. On one hand, I think its brilliant, as we all know the fans would be clamouring, in 48 episodes time, to find out what happened to the rescued people, and we know that the show ends then and extending the show via other mediums, such as comic books wouldn't have the same lure, which would annoy many fans of the TV show... But, on the other hand Lost has evolved into a new beast, one that teases us about what happened in their past, and how they all met... and another teasing us about their connections in the future, and the effect the Island had on these people. Bringing a whole new skew on how we see things... Does anyone else feel excited, yet sucker punched?

I'm so flummoxed, confused and bewildered and I don't want to wait 8 months. At least with the Season 2 and 3 formats, the waits were much shorter between episodes overall. I just hope the fans who complained about those two formats know we've got a long wait ahead of us!

Flash-forward clues

Hey guys, just though that I'd post a blog explaining the several flash-forward clues that we were treated to, before the big reveal, of course. And believe me, there were many of them.

*As Nick stated earlier, an anagram for "Hoffs/Drawlar" is "flash-forward".'

*The show referenced the Grand Avenue Project, announced in 2007.

*The phone that Jack was using is a Motorola KRZR, released in the fourth quarter of 2006.

*The headline on the LA Times that Jack picks up is from April 5, 2007.

If there are anymore, please let us know, and we'll add them.

Flash! Ohhhhhh

Wow that takes me back. Even though I wasn't born in 1980, Flash Gordon was awesome anyway.

Anyway, here's the lame link for that title - the funeral home Jack went to was "Hoffs/Drawlar" or to put it another way, an anagram of "flash forward."

So looks like the writers were dropping little clues in the episode for us to find. Good stuff.

N.B. Cause the wiki is down right now, all the images aren't working. They'll be back on soon guys, Jacob said he would take care of it personally.

Not exactly easy reading

Can you make out what that newspaper clipping actually had written on it? I sure couldn't, my mere guess being it must be an obituary of some kind, possibly one of our dear Losties post-Island.

At any rate, its a good thing Lostpedia has some HD fans with freakishly sublime vision. So what we got, well a number of things:

1) Its a man found dead (man of New York, i.e. must be his home state)
2) First name possibly begins with a J.
3) Last name ending in "antham"?
4) Found after 4a.m.
5) Died in "The Tower" (Apartments?) on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, possibly a reference to the as-yet-unbuilt Grand Avenue Project.

Like the last point, nice continuity. Thoughts?

UPDATE - Like this I read on Lostpedia's article - "Ted", "The Tower", and "beam" are all references to central characters or places in Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series of books, and other books that allude to the Dark Tower, such as "Hearts in Atlantis"

We know the writers love King's work, so a good easter egg possibility. Also liking the idea that it could be a reference to the philosopher guy, Jeremy Bentham. Again, something the writers like.

Wow

Well as far as witty blog titles go.... sorry, just watched the ep, confused would be one word for my head right now.

I'm on the hunt for some easter eggs now (I like to at least enjoy the episode before pausing every frame), so I'll get back with anything good ASAP, and naturally episode blog tomorrow. In the meantime, think about the future Jack and Kate (I bet Fox and Lilly are loving the job security right now), think about Desmond and Penny (how'd she phone so quick), think about Naomi (who the hell are her team then if they're not working for Penny?!), and think about dear Charlie and heroic Hurley.

What will happen next? The Others on the run, some with the Losties, a new array of cast members from Naomi's ship (all bad guys). No point scratching my head too much today, I've got eight months to make sense of it.

Here we go again...

Well its been a long Season this time round, and we've come a long way. No more re-runs, the end date set for 2010, we now actually know quite a leap forward about the Others (though it doesn't really feel like it, does it?).

A three pronged storyline at the beach, the jungle and underwater, essential viewing! Oh and I hear from EW that Jack might actually smile in this episode... twice! Here's some trailers to get you all set, be reminded that there could be potential spoilers as usual (ABC tend to ditch the mystique when it suits them). The first two are official US trailers, the latter are "Sneak Peek" clips.

See you on the other side, Lost fans.

Schematics in Hi-res

Hi all, thought I'd post these high quality versions of The Looking Glass schematics. They were in the ABC press release, its nice to see that the photographer I think is responding to demand and is taking the time to photograph important documents and the like - we very much appreciate!


Anywayz, the thing that I really noticed was the logo. Click the boxes to view them in high quality - the black circle on the bunny has a white line in it - almost like a clock pointing to 8:15

Episode Review - Greatest Hits

The first Charlie flashback to actually be beyond the scope of "Liam betrayed me, band band band, did some heroin", wow! A decent Charlie story for a change. And then in realtime some cool preparation for the finale, everyone given their roles to play.

As always, flashback first, and loved the first scene, with Drive Shaft on the way to Clitheroe, Lancashire (which actually used to be my neck of the woods). Woods being the operative word, as Charlie rightly pointed out, it is in the middle of nowhere, but a nice reference nonetheless. Next to that swim scene, interesting if the comment I read is true that someone in the background says, "come on Desmond" - another Lost crossover there perhaps? Also I wanted to mention about the playing in the rain bit - was it actually the "real" reality minus Desmond. I got more of an impression that it was just a different day. I mean even in the alternate reality Desmond was like "this happened before", and Charlie was wearing different clothes (you'd think production would at least sort that out). Why couldn't it have also rained on another day I mean its England, and its not like you wouldn't play at the same spot on a different day, right? Finally, the Dextor Stratton thing was interesting - was it a flippant issue or will this sort of history have any future relevance? Why was his ring the family heirloom?

To realtime, and I was quite impressed with Naomi, the first character I've ever seen on US television with a proper Manc accent, "you avin' a laugh?" - well that's more dialect but at least she didn't talk with any posh or clear RP tone.

Next I wanted to address was the Looking Glass station. Like the logo (yeah, Alice and Wonderland reference I totally spaced on Thursday about). It was a bit of a questionable continuity though, the fact that Sayid took that file from the Flame, and so actually probably has details on every DHARMA station. When exactly was he gonna share that? And why hasn't he been the first to go and check em all out? I did like the whole idea though, and it explains the interference rather than its cause of the electromagnetism. Maybe the underwater station will also explain why the tides seemingly circle (why Desmond's boat came back to the Island when he went full-steam West, why Juliet said "they can have fun going on circles" on hearing the Losties had the boat).

The Others flashback was most unusual, I think the first ever non-centric flash that has ever occurred when there's a separate flashback centric narrative going on at the same time (if that makes sense). I'm not knocking it though, it was good, with Ben clearing accelerating his plans after being flustered by Locke, who I guess will probably survive and make a dashing return to rescue everyone in the finale.

Loved the scene after Karl arrived though, with everyone being given their missions. I noticed that they've tweaked the main theme score wise, and I really liked it to reflect the sort of "about to go to war" nature of the scene, quite Buffy-esque actually ala the final season. It just all gave a sense of "some of us are probably gonna die", and it worked really well. I fear for Sayid's group though, Bernard being the generic almost-background third shooter! Its like an Enterprise away mission, the poor random guest star is surely the one who will get killed. I really should add a poll on here so we can all call the five characters we think will die this finale. My predictions, perhaps shocking, are (taking it as it'll probably be 3 Losties and 2 Others): Bernard, Charlie, Jack, Ben and Tom. Controversial?

And that's it really, usually there's much more to address, but I think really this episode was all about building up, and to try and keep that pressure rather than debate-provoking in any great respect. Its definitely waiting for that finale punch, which no doubt will keep us all talking. Evangeline Lilly said it gave her goosebumps and that it was the first development in the show that really got her genuinely excited, but then again, she has to say that when she's there to plug the May sweeps, doesn't she?

Darling its better, down where its wetter...

Damn you Disney classics, gonna be humming that all day. Well anyway let's hope its better, for Charlie's sake, but let's take a better look at these two ladies.

K first up in the rogues gallery we've got Bonnie, seemingly the one in charge? Well they gave her a close-up so you'd think. She looks a little familiar actually, but the actress hasn't appeared in other episodes so it must just be a "she's guest starred on another show I like" thing.

Next we got Greta, who I've heard people saying looks a lot like Cassidy. However, the actress is different, so highly unlikely its a press bluff. Not much to say about her either, other than you might recognize her as Sarah Gavin from 24 Season 4? There's also the crackpot theory that Greta is a diminutive form of Margaret which means Pearl. Also, St Margaret is a patron saint of expectant mothers. Watertight.... excuse the pun.

Not much else easter egg wise, I'll hold off til tomorrow's episode review. Some good stuff to comment on, including Charlie's excellent parenting style, wisely putting a small metal choke-able object in a baby's crib.

Hero complex

Well we know where he got it from, Nadia. Great to see her back, and my god that girl is well traveled, she seems to turn up everywhere. I was wondering about timelines, I think Sayid went to London for a spell, right? So was he on Nadia's trail, but she'd since left to America at this point (where she'd then meet Locke).

Confusing stuff, but minus Christian Shephard it makes her probably the most appearing flashback character, so far in Sayid's life, Locke's and Charlie's.

Side note, all Charlie's flashbacks seemed to have a water theme going on I notice apart from the Claire one (possibly in reference to his realtime mission?). The van in the rain, the pool, a drink with Liam, Nadia in the rain - maybe its no big deal but a nice little thing.

Easter bunny!

I'll admit that I haven't actually watched the ep properly yet, hence why I'll wait til later today before I post more eggs, but I couldn't resist searching "The Looking Glass" on Lostpedia first.

Check it out, a bunny station! Is there some pop culture reference I'm missing here? Why a rabbit? See the brushed up Lostpedia version too, thanks to the graphics guys for that one. And is it a production error that its called "hatch" - isn't that a castaway name for the stations, I didn't think DHARMA also referred to them like that.

And those two mystery women, named Greta and Bonnie by the way, thanks once again to ABC's press release giving more than its share.

There was also a really weird equation on those documents. If any of you are mathematical experts, drop us a line. Apologies for the blurryness:








UPDATE! - Well check this link out, bottom of page 30 (by the way it takes a lil time to load):

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/hydraulics/hydrology/hec25.pdf

Well done to Frenkmelk there for that one. The equation has also been broken down:

Ht(t) = Astronomical tide at time t (ft, m)
a = Tidal amplitude (ft, m)
t = Time (hr)
T = Tidal period (hr)
Z = Vertical offset or datum adjustment (ft, m)

Looks like its all to do with the tides and such, interesting stuff!

3x21 Sneak Peeks - Potential Spoilers

Looking forward to tonight's episode? Well here's two ABC sneak peeks to wet your appetites, both very cool (though I really like the latter one). I won't say anything about them for spoiler's sake, so if you want complete unawares then avoid them, otherwise click and enjoy.

Ben's exact birthday date?

Hey Lostpedians, just saw something interesting on Lostpedia, on the Main Page, first off, and then on the Autos page. On the main page it states that "None of the cars used during the scenes where Ben was born were made after 1963", and on the Automobiles page, it's a 1960-1974 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia convertible.

So have we have pinned down Ben's exact birthday?

December 22, 1960-1962, making him 38-40 on-island. Seems plausible to me.

EDIT: I've recently eliminated the 1963 model. The windows in the episode are silver, while on the 1963 are black. Still searching for the correct model. If there are any better shots of the car, please let me know.

Episode Blog - The Man Behind the Curtain

Talk about a hectic week, not only has it been one of the most immense ratings for ABC, Lostpedia has also had its share. Only on two other occasions have we had such pageviews (and that was a finale and a premiere respectively). Nearly 2 million views combined with forum and blog on one day - oh how we wait for the finale. By the way, we know "Lostpedia has a problem" (and yeah that message got annoying real fast for me too), but rest assured by next week there should be some nice new extra servers to cope with the excess traffic, so we'll be all ready for that 22nd ep. And we might even have the lostbook on by then.... Anyway, like the unanswered question section for this episode article, there's a hell of a lot to address, so let's get going with the flashbacks.

DHARMA, how we've waited to see them in their element. But how established were they when Ben arrived? They seemed to have just about started up operations after building, having already met the monster apparently as the sonar fence was there. Did that have relevance to the Hostiles attacking too? And why did the ground shake when they did - my guess is from the "explosions" Roger mentioned. Maybe that's the crossed out station on the blast door map - Others blowed it up. Speaking of the Others, when they say native, is their consensus that that means like hundreds of years? Seemed to me more like they'd been there 50 years-ish before DHARMA, but then are they still seen as "natives"?

More focusing on Ben, it was interesting to see his progression from passive to assertive - if only his first act of assertion wasn't genocide huh. I quite liked the dolls addition though, adding the whole symbolism of nuclear families and the maternal one which Ben kept, filling that void of his that he never felt like he had good parental figures. I wondered later as he ran in the jungle if the whispers were in his head? Or are they more of the mystic side of the Island? And then he met Mr Eye-liner, who apparently drinks from the foundation of youth. Why didn't they just use another actor to play Young Richard? It was a little bad trying to make him pass for like 20, and then while Ben completely changes, he looks like he's just had a haircut and quickly fixed the mascara, and then just put on a gas mask. Not that I wasn't quite impressed with his acting though, and his character is more interesting by the episode. Final note in flashback, how come they can gas the staff in an unenclosed area, outdoors? Was it some kind of biological anthrax kinda thing? Oh and that Horace guy - a mathematician - always wearing an Arrow jumpsuit - interesting.... maybe that station was more Valenzetti equation focused?

In realtime, nice to see Locke trick Ben into taking him to see Jacob (damn right they finally go looking for answers). And then Alex, did she know Ben might try and kill Locke? Or was she showing that she cares about his safety while not at all for Ben, hence his surprise about it all? Maybe he hadn't seen her in days and she appears on his birthday to help the man who held her hostage? There's definitely major issues between them too, and not just her choice in boyfriend. But my attention was soon drawn away to that line of powder. So, dynamite for security mechanism or voodoo magick circle keeping evil spirits in, pick your side of the realist-supernatural sonar fence! I should really add a voting poll for this one, as I'm still undecided and need some opinions.

Regarding Jacob, did anyone else think that Ben was genuinely just being crazy with an imaginary friend? I was thinking that DHARMA were all hippy, maybe he took a few too many psychedelic drugs. In fact I think I preferred the imagination thing, before than the spirit within (I really am weary of the "its all magic" jumping of the shark road).

Lastly, to the main camp, and Juliet's secret revealed. Is she really playing double agent though, and when the teams arrive to kidnap Sun, will she switch sides yet again? Looks like a big finale though, a big fight and rescue only a few miles away. All the main narrative themes together. Who will live, who will die? My money is on Jack going, and to be honest I won't mind as he's really been laying it on these last few weeks. Talking over the top of people, especially this episode with Sawyer - who is he to say effectively "answer my question first" after the tape revealed his friend is a traitor. Jack really needs to get his priorities straight.

So is Jacob a prisoner? Why was Ben so shocked that Jacob spoke to Locke and said "help me." Will we actually find out this Season?

The mystery mutt revealed

A little update on that dog painting. Earlier today I got an email from one of my sources (I say sources to make it sound like I have a legion when in reality I have about two). Anywayz, she told me a little more about the whole production side of things. Apparently, that pooch you see in Jacob's house is a painting of Lulu, as in the dog of Jack Bender, executive producer director and all the rest on Lost. Interesting stuff, especially as we know he picks up his brush quite a lot for the show - like the mural in the Swan, those Thomas paintings and those in the Widmore office. There does seem a little discrepancy though as, indeed I'm no artist connoisseur, but the Lulu pic seems a bit different to some of Jack's other work. At any rate, it answers the question of the dog's breed - female Airedale-terrier mix - ha I'm really not surprised nobody has clocked that one yet.....

By the way, here's the proof on this claim as well (my sources know I won't take any theories without citation, I'm a Lostpedian), check out the Honolulu Advertiser. Permit me to quote: "...Lulu is also scheduled to make an appearance in one of this season's upcoming episodes. Which one? Bender won't say."

So we know the "actor" as it were, but who exactly is Lulu portraying? She has made a few appearances on the show, not only in an Eko flashback in Nigeria, but also at the Others camp. So maybe Jacob's painting was just of the dog seen in the Barracks (well I say seen, but the only shot I've found is this promotional photo). Let's call it a half-solved mystery, and call it a day.