Sunday, December 13, 2009

LT317: Forsaken But Not Forgotten

USA PROMO COMING TUESDAY

If you watch the Forgotten you will see the US promo for LOST Season 6.

If you don’t watch the Forgotten, check back with LOST TIDBITS and there will be a link to the video.

There have been previous promos and teasers. Here is a collection of some of the best:

At comic con:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXnAaTFlRw8

Fan based and top notch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TmCiC7QJiU

Official #1 promo from ABC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXjlRBXjSJ8

The Willie Nelson promo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOgn_aMb8YU

Another quality fan promo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww2-ZHhxBnk


LOST UNIVERSITY

The college courses are well underway. The course videos have been removed from YouTube, but I’m hoping to provide some summaries of important pieces of interest.

Most of the content is a reworking of things we already know. There is a reading list provided for each course, but time is such an constraint for humans that I’m not sure if I’ll ever get through them all.

So check back with TIDBITS (most Wednesdays and Sundays) for updates and info.


ANOTHER POLL

I read where a poll was held to name the best prop on LOST. The top four vote getters were…

#4 – The Swatch Station Hatch Door
#3 – The Dharma Wheel in the Cold Room
#2 – The Countdown Clock (my favorite)
#1 – The Four-Toed Statue

This poll should be held years after the show goes off the air because the latest thing always gets more votes than it should. I saw recently where Transformers made a list of the Top 25 Movies of All-Time…the poll was taken about two weeks after its release. You get my point.


READING LIST

I’m hoping this new book will be out soon. It is entitled “Things You Never Noticed About LOST: Past Perceptions and Future Theories”. It would make for great January reading before Season 6.

If anyone hears of a release date, shout out!


ESSAY #9: Family Ties

I’m in a musical mood while writing this essay. The subject matter is family ties and the song lyrics in my head include, “You’ve got be cruel to me kind, in the right measure. Cruel to be kind, it’s a very good sign. Cruel to be kind means that I love you, baby. You’ve got to be cruel to kind.”

Now if those words don’t seem contradictory, then what does? Along the same line are the lyrics that have confused me over the years, “Come on baby make it hurt so good. Sometimes love don’t feel like it should. You make it hurt so good.”

**

Lew’s jealousy had reached a boiling point with his brother, Chris. A recent tournament found Chris enjoying the champion’s spotlight while Lew observed the events from the back of the room. Lew wondered why all his attempts to discredit his brother had failed.

After the press interviews Chris had made his way back to his private room. Lew had followed him quietly. Lew stood just outside the door and summoned all the strength he had. He reached for the door handle, turned it and opened the door.

Chris did not react in surprise. At first Lew was worried that his brother had expected him. But this thought spurred his anger on even more. Lew marched to his brother and grabbed him by the shirt. He proceeded to pull him up and out of his chair where he struck him. Lew spit in his brother’s face. He ripped his shirt off of him.

On the wall was banner from some previous chess championship where the cloth unfurled from a metal rod held by a triangle of cord. Lew grabbed the banner off the wall and jabbed his brother with the metal rod.

And all the time Chris never fought back. This angered Lew even more.

The beating was vicious and continued for several minutes. At one point, Chris peered through his bloodied vision and noticed a man was standing in the doorway of his room. That man was his father. Now it was Chris’ turn to be confused.

A second later and Lew was about to deliver a fatal blow to his brother. Chris made one desperate plea to the man in the door way. He said, “Father, father! Why have you forsaken me?” And with that, his father turned his back on his dying son and walked away as the crashing thud of prior tournament trophy was heard and felt in Chris’ head.

**

Many scholars have pondered the verses that describe Christ’s death on the cross and his plea for his father’s assistance…and subsequent refusal. It is nearly impossible to understand how God the Father would have permitted such a thing to happen.

And then words of the songs come rushing back into my head…you have to be cruel to be kind. The Bible suggests a higher purpose was being served and therefore the death of Christ (and Chris) were justified.

My thoughts then make it back to LOST where Christian seemed to hurting his son…or was it just a Boy-Named-Sue Strategy? Cooper mocked his son’s lack of reality because who really needs two kidneys? Roger beat his son away from him. Hurley’s father abandoned him.

Maybe you know someone who has had similar experiences. When I’ve met people like that they all have a common response, “I wouldn’t change a thing for those experiences is what made me who I am today.” Jack, Ben, John and Hurley wouldn’t be who they are without the nurture (or lack thereof) they received.

We hear catchphrases along this same line such as “tough love”. It that some excuse which makes the authority figures feel better or does the long-term benefits outweigh the opposite approach of enabling? I think Season 6 is going to answer this question.

The scene most perplexing to me and the motivation behind this essay is where John is asked to kill his father by Ben. Everyone expects John will do it. I just don’t understand that reasoning. But then I don’t understand how God turned his back on his son – that seems like an impossibility and yet, we are told, it happened.

**



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Enjoy,
KC