LT108: Comics - They Are Not Just For Kids

COMIC CON IS COMING

We expect an update on LOST and Octagon Recruiting from Comic Con in San Diego this week. In the past, the producers have shown up with something interesting. Two years back, their Q&A session was interrupted by Rachael Blake of the Lost Experience game. Last year, they showed the Orchid Orientation video in all its glory. And we know that Octagon is recruiting for the Dharma Initiative this year.

Another thing LOST TIDBITS is keeping an eye open for is a series of workshops labeled “The World of Scott Ditko”. Scott Ditko is the artist of the comic book story, “March Has 32 Days”. This comic story was in the comic book that Richard offered to Locke when asking John to choose the items that were his. See earlier LOST TIDBITS post for more details on this story.

If you don’t wish to sift through past postings, then here is a nice link:
http://www.mysterytales40.com/march-has-32-days-last-story-from-the-mystery-tales-40-comic-book-96555

And the producers always tip their hand about something during their Q&A session, so keep checking back for your updates.


SPEAKING OF OCTAGON RECRUITING

It seems that the web site is gaining dots. Yes, tiny dots on its logo. The pattern seems to be that of doubling up. Last check we were at 32 and the time before 16. Wait, it had 24 at one time too. Ok, forget the doubling pattern but do check it out. If you recognize some image, post a comment here. My personal feeling is that it is filling in some kind of image that will reveal a secret of some sort. Some say if you squint, it looks like a butterfly. Could the message be metamorphosis?

It has also been observed that the logo could just be rotating 90 degrees each day. Gee, how many degrees did Ben turn that wheel?

The website for the dots is: www.dharmawantsyou.com


CONNECTING THE DOTS

Astute readers must realize that I simply gather information from the 4,223,161,584 web sites about LOST and summarize the good stuff here. Yeah, you’re welcome. So be warned as this section is all mine! LOL!

I recall an old theory about time looping. It seems that looping has fallen out of favor with many, but these dots on the Octagon and the rotation of the logo and wheel prompted me to revisit the theory. The details are fuzzy now, but there was a post of mine about repeating 1962 and fixing the Bay of Pigs incident. However, the theory was that we only trade one crisis for another in the end.

For example, Desmond saw Charlie die in a vision about four times. Well, the final ones couldn’t have been true unless the first vision was altered…and it was. Wasn’t the first the lightning rod? Anyhow, this supported the looping or time adjustment concept.

So it is possible that with Ben turning the wheel we averted a disaster and are simply looping again? The test case for this theory is to pose to the Octagon recruiters at Comic Con this question, “Do you remember Dharma Initiative 1?” If they stare at me and respond, “This is the first DI that we know of.”, then I’m liking this re-do thing more and more. If the respond, “Yes, but this is better because of the lessons learned the first time”, then I’ll come back and delete this post!


HEROES

I know this isn’t LOST, but with a slow summer, I need content. And let us not forget the similarities we have found between the two shows. Imagine how pleasing it was to discover Heroes is doing little mini episodes on-line this summer. They have two up right now and it was great to see something new.

Check the two out here: http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/Webisodes/?__source=ggl_imgcnt and keep checking back for new content. Oh, and don’t overlook that the mailman’s first name is Echo. For a total of six minutes of footage, this was some pretty cool eye candy.

And while there check out the comics - adult graphic novels is the term they use.


BATMAN – THE DARK KNIGHT

Again, nothing LOST related, but we did get the chance to see this movie and I highly recommend it. If you think Ben’s performance creeps you out, just wait until you see the Joker’s performance. I still have nightmares and it has been 4 days.

In my opinion, this film is not for kids whose age is only one digit. It explores the human nature of mankind like LOST does with its interpersonal dynamics. The difference is that no one wins any morality points in the film. But then, at one point I thought Michael was going to make a good father to Walt, so what do I know?


AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS

Avid readers of LOST TIDBITS know that I rarely even mention the ads on the upper-right corner of this blog. But if you could right-click and open the ad in new window once in a while, it would be greatly appreciated.

I promise I won’t mention this again for at least another time loop or two. HA! Seriously, I do appreciate the readers and expect nothing from you other than knowing you enjoy reading the postings. If you have the opportunity to click an ad once in awhile, it would be the best way to say thank you.


Enjoy,
KC

LT107: Black and White

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Got to thinking about the Orchid hatch and the Dharma Wheel. You get a strong sense that the Dharma Wheel was there first. It is in a room with hieroglyphics in a crudely modeled room. One gets the feeling the room maybe have been larger where the person or animal attached the wheel could make a full circle. And it is deep. And cold.

To access the Wheel Room, one had to know it was behind the small teleportation pad thingy. This begs the question, why did the Dharma Initiative build a key piece of technology in the path of the tunnel?

Speaking of path blocking…we can recall one other ancient looking tunnel in Ben’s bedroom. Again, a prime entry way to something major and the Dharma Initiative builds a false house over/around it.

I’m seeing a trend here: location, location, location…the DI doesn’t want anyone to use these rooms. Why?

One thing is clear: The Dharma Initiative didn’t want SOMEONE to use those rooms.

Now recall the video Locke watched in the Orchid. It explicitly said what not to do in order to keep the room hidden. Some could argue that you just have a mirror image so you learn to always do the opposite of what the DI tells you to.

Again, the doctor in the Swan tape gave explicitly instructions on one thing: push the button. It stands to reason then that they should stop pushing the button to find the secret room. Except there is no room in the Swan unless you call the tunnel Desmond crawled into a “room”. Again, it was hidden as equipment was moved in order to access it.


NICKNAMES

As we know Sawyer has some of the best nicknames he hands out to fellow survivors. Now you too can get a nickname by Mr. Wonderful at this link:
http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=nickname

I entered my attributes and he called me “Abacus”. Give it a try and post your nickname in the comments if you want to share.


POPULAR THEORIES ABOUT JACOB

Jacob is some sort of super computer – man merges with machine. I’ve actually seen a lot of headlines in the news along these lines lately, so maybe not so crazy.

He could be based on Jacob Bauthumley, a 17th century shoemaker who had a hole drilled through his tongue for writing a controversial book called “The Light and Dark Sides of God”. This writing might suggest that the island flips between good and evil every 16 years.

You can tell which phase the island is in by the color of the shoes of the island’s spokesperson – for example, Christian wears white tennis shoes. In addition, the light side is by off-island births and then lose their father (Ben, John). The dark side by those born on island (Widmore, Aaron).


LOST AUCTION

If interested in some LOST gear, you have two days left to bid. Here are some items:

Sawyer Action Figure
http://criminalmindscharityblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/lost-action-figure-sawyer.html

Exclusive Lost T-Shirt (a gift to cast & crew on the show only...not commercially available)
http://criminalmindscharityblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/official-lost-t-shirt-x-large.html

Season 3 DVDs signed by the producers.
http://criminalmindscharityblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/lost-season-three-dvds-autographed.html

Enjoy,

KC

LT106: Short But Sweet

THE SYNCHRONIZATION

Came across a cool LOST video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ILPnh4mOKo

If the link doesn’t get you there then search YouTube for “Lost Synchronization”.

It synchronizes all the scenes fragmented throughout the show into a timeline of the first 8:42 minutes of everything from the point Desmond notices Kelvin’s protective gear is ripped. Nice effort on somebody’s part.

Enjoy,
KC

LT105: After Further Review...

FALLING FOR YOU

We have surmised that if someone passes through the perimeter of the island (let’s call it the event horizon) then time jumps around. Not forward in time, or backwards in time. You just jump around – sometimes forward, and sometimes not.

Desmond jumped backwards to 1996. The doctor with a slit throat jumped forward as he neared the island.

As I review the seasons past this summer, a thought hit me: recall when the show began how the first question on most people’s mind was “Can a person reasonably expect to survive a plane crash?” We found a few examples to support an affirmative answer, but for the most part the sources cited needed some twist. We found survivors on small planes. We found survivors from accidents near take-off or otherwise near the ground. There just weren’t a lot of examples of a plane splitting in three pieces in mid-air at 10,000 feet or more and having any survivors…let alone 50 or more!

So, let’s assume the simplest and most logical – the passengers and crew died. Sort of…they actually jumped around in time. It wasn’t a miracle that some survived, it was a time jump. This could explain why injuries like Jack were fairly superficial. Depending on the details of jumping time while falling out of a plane, this just might produce the injury-free group. Let’s face it, no matter how lucky, falling from 10,000 feet should have broken this or that.

This might also explain why it appears in Episode 1 why Jack appears to have a) been here before and b) arrived a few minutes before the others.

And what if the time jump is different for everyone? Could John’s have semi-jumped to when his legs functioned properly? Could this explain why people who look a like have different names? And could it explain why the flash forwards seem like loops to Desmond but not Charlie?

In short, they cheated death.

Or some cheated death, like Charlie where death chased him for weeks until it finally caught up to him like some version of Final Destination.

Why is Kate different? She doesn’t wish to return to the island. She said she saw the whole plane break-up happen while others passed out? Everyone seems ready to head back in some fashion except Kate who in addition gets a visit from Claire telling her not to return? Aaron takes to Kate, but Jack can’t be around the kid. Kate is different. Was she a true survivor? While others missed their appointed time of death, she merely missed her appointed time of injuries in the fall. Kate “saw everything” because she was in “real time” and was the more common “lone survivor”.


ANNIE’S SONG

Let’s not give up Annie ever being seen again. When she gave Ben that statue as a gift she was probably 11. More important, she told him that “now we will never be apart again”. Add this to the producers telling us that Annie was a critical component in the storyline. Ideas?

The popular theory is that she got pregnant by Ben but then died in childbirth. This gives Ben his passion to solve the problem with Juliet and use time to reunite with Annie – just like Richard has learn to control time.

I’d still like some clarification about Alex…adopted or natural?

The second popular Annie theory is that she turns out to be…or Penny’s sister like Christian had a hidden daughter.

See why I hate family reunions?


FRINGE

JJ Abrams new show on FOX this fall is called “Fringe”. Radio ads have begun as the voice over commands, “Find the pattern”. This is the first of a series of ads to promote the September premier. We won’t turn this into a new blog, but it should be noted that backward masking is found in the commercials. Sound familiar?

One of the hidden clues takes you to a YouTube clip where the speaker has six-fingers. If he has six-toes I know of a statue that could use his extra! Sound be a fun show to check out.


IT’S ALL IN THE TRANSLATION

LOST is now airing in Germany and the episode where Sayid meets the woman in the café only to shoot her later as Ben’s hired gun recently was on. In the US, the dialog went like this:

WOMAN: (in German) Where would you like to go? SAYID: (in German) Is the information free? WOMAN: (laughs and says in English) What are you looking for? SAYID: I love Europe. Everyone speaks English. [laughs] I’m looking for Potsdamer Platz.

Being that German is being spoken in the USA version, in Germany, the dialog has to be switched around a bit and this was the selection:

WOMAN: Where would you like to go?SAYID:I am hunting for the Berlin bear.WOMAN: (laughs): Seriously. Please tell me.SAYID: I am a bear hunter. I have to setup my traps. (laughs) I'm looking for Potsdamer Platz.

She ended up being his target, but the choice to add a bear to Sayid’s lines seemed sort of, well, Lostish.


NEXT WEDNESDAY

I’m working on a theory that begins: Sun’s baby is more important to the island that Aaron. Check back later this week.

Enjoy,
KC

LT104: Summer Fun

OCTAGON GLOBAL RECRUITING UPDATE

It seems that an email is going around that might be “real”. Well, as real as real gets for this show. It warns people not to give their email on the recruitment site or “they” will have a way to trace you. If you gave it already, change it. The Lost Experience game started out the same way when everyone was sure this poster named Persephone was a fraud.

The commercial and website lists the occupations that the Dharma Initiative is looking for. If you take the first letters of each job you will find these letters: DHARMA INITIATIVE. The leftovers are still puzzling people. The extra letters are: EABEJNCHDBEBMPZPPM.

The position of Engineers is listed twice. Error or did they need a second “e” to form some anagram.

Did that look like Desmond in the final frames typing away?

You can see the commercial here: http://www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com.au/


FIND 815

The game associated with LOST last January was mentioned by the producers. They said they were glad they “left it open-ended”…which can only mean that Sam is still out there!

Could this be a tie-in to Octagon Global Recruiting and Comic Con? I’ll keep you posted here at LOST TIDBITS!


MARCH HAS 32 DAYS

If you recall the comic book that young John Locke was in the group of items that Richard showed him. As covered in LOST TIDBITS, a story in that edition is called March Has 32 Days. Look through past posts to see the details, but this time we want to notice the lead characters name, John Billings.

A search on that name reveals one who is a doctor. Sound familiar? He is from Australia? Ring any bells? And his claim to fame is that he was the pioneer for “natural family planning” known as the “Ovulation Method”.


MY EMAIL TO OCTAGON

Read some older posts to hear the response I got from Octagon when I left my email. I know, but I want to be traced. Anyway, the response was cc’d to a Hans van Eeghen. Now running the letters in his name in an anagram engine produced only a handful of somewhat interesting combinations.

One such combination that people are paying attention to is “Heaven Gannesh”. Yeah, exciting huh? The Heaven catches everyone’s eyes because of the obvious religious references in LOST. But Gannesh didn’t mean anything until someone caught the fact that the normal spelling is “Ganesh”.

Now if you do a search on Ganesh, you will come to very important god in Hindu religion. This is the god with the elephant nose and is seen throughout counties like India.

Ganesh is widely revered as the Remover of Obstacles and more generally as patron of arts and sciences, and of intellect and wisdom. Seems like a sort of science-religion blend with the union of heart AND mind.

Another interesting thing to note with this far-reaching connection is the number 4. The deity has FOUR arms each holding something. It should be noted the reference to arms in LOST beginning with the Orientation tape and Dr. Candle.

Hindu texts say that Ganesh had FOUR incarnations. And the festival in his honor is held the FOURTH day of the waxing of the moon in the EIGHTH month. Have we found our number generator?

And check this statue of Ganesh out:

Did you notice? Yeah, it has four toes like our statue on the island. And he is missing an arm or two. Not to be over-analytical but the feet are positioned such that the left one could be a near twin of what we have seen on LOST. Did I just say twin?

See and you thought this summer’s blogs were going to be boring!


Enjoy,
KC

LT103: All Life Is, Is Really Just a Circle

SPIN THE WHEEL

In the summer search for “Where is the Island”, we have some clues. First, Tunisia is where Ben, for lack of a better term, teleported.

If you read back a few posts, you will find an article on antipodes. These are the exact geological opposites on the globe as if you dug a tunnel straight down from Point A, then Point B is where you would come out, the antipode. For Tunisia, the spot is in the South Pacific almost due east of Sydney, Australia.

In my mind this gives us our first antipode. Is it as simple as thinking the island is now in the desert?
We have some confirmation from Charlotte who found a skeleton of a bear in Tunisia sporting a fashionable Dharma collar. But we don’t know for sure if the bear teleported here as Ben did – due to turning the wheel.

And this would also mean that the bear would have had to turn the wheel. This is something I dismissed. But then someone pointed out that Dharma was training these bears. This comes from the bear cages that Sawyer and Kate enjoyed as well as Tom’s comment about the bears learning how to operating the fish biscuit dispenser in just a few days.

Dharma could have trained the bears to turn the wheel. Now we still have logistics problem with a ladder and small room, but work with me here. They call this is a donkey wheel, because that is the beast of burden normally used to turn the turnstile. A simple mention of ice caves where the polar bears normally resided until the tests Dharma performed allowed them to adapt to tropical climates. A tunnel from ice cave to Dharma Wheel Room and we have some explanations that I can still buy. What do you think?


BOY AND HIS BIKE

Been staring at this snapshot for a few days:

The boy on the bike kept reminding me of something. In one of the orientation videos there is a quick frame where a person is seen riding a bike in New Othertown. It looks like the video tape was reused and this might have been a previous taping where the camera was turned off and on and left a frame or two. It is further odd because the video is upside down. And some say it reminds of then of that DeGroot guy that was the leader of Dharma studies.

Think there is a connection between the picture in Aaron’s room and the Orientation video?


WHY DO THEY ALL HAVE TO GO BACK?

I’m going to go with that law of physics that says something about mass can’t be destroyed or created. If the island “jumped time”, then that mass is out of balance. This might lead to those “terrible things that started happening after you left”. It is just a thought.


COMIC CON

Comic Convention is coming in late July. This event is the time and location for Octagon Recruiting to start interviewing potential Dharma recruits. And the producers always have something good for us. I hear trouble is brewing with some rival group already. Check back around July 24 for more updates.

Enjoy,
KC