Lost 2x17- "Lockdown"

Lost make Matt happy.

• Ok, so absolutely no time has passed between this episode and the last. That's kind of neat, I guess. Though it doesn't really help advance the story all that much.
• What kind of reaction did Henry Gale expect from his little scenario? Anyone who was really fearing for their life wouldn't be making such of color jokes.
• So Jack goes topside to find out where Anna Lucia ran off, and ends up playing poker? I realize he got distracted with the whole doctor thing, but it kinda seems like he shouldn't have just given up so easily on finding Anna, Sayid, and Charlie.
• Jack spent some time in Thailand. I wonder how that'll figure in to the rest of the story. Too much time was spent on it for it to mean nothing.
• Also, Sawyer knowing that the city Jack mentioned was in Thailand is going to figure in to something bigger too. Just not sure what.
• Locke is a building inspector now? Man, this guy burns through careers like Ethiopian food through my colon. Regional Sales Manager for a box company, toy store clerk, seemingly unemployed psycho, and now, building inspector. Bit of an odd mix, don't you think?
• The woman for whom Locke inspected the house was Nadia, Sayid's long lost love from his first flashback (this one thanks to Lexatron and The Girl - went right over my head).
  
• Locke's dad faked his own death to pull off another con, huh? I'm really with The Girl on this one; Locke's dad is the real Sawyer.
• Speaking of such, did Locke walk away with $200k at the end of this flash back?
• Not that that really mattered to him at the time, though. Sucks about Helen, but it was Locke's own fault. There was no reason not to tell her about what was going on. Again, my biggest problem with this show: no one knows how to communicate. Ugh...
• Anna, Sayid, and Charlie find the balloon and grave, and Sayid's first thought is too dig up the body? That's pretty fucked up. He didn't even wait a few minutes.
• I guess it paid off, though, since the real Henry Gale was the one in the ground. Fake Henry sure did know an awful lot about that damn balloon, though. I wonder if was actually on it with the real Gale, or if they met after the crash. Did the real Gale volunteer the information, or was it extracted by force?
• I think the bunker went in to lockdown mode in preparation for the supply drop. Seems like too much of a coincidence to be otherwise.
• Oh, yeah, and the lockdown itself... that's some creepy shit, right there. Why, oh why, would someone design a lockdown system comprised of blast doors and blacklights? What purpose would the blacklight serve other than illuminate the very obviously non-OEM secret writing on the back of the door.
• And about that writing; here are some screenshots: DoorMap1, DoorMap2, DoorMap3, DoorMap4
  
• I'll let you decipher all the scribble, but here are a couple of things that I've noticed:
  1. the medical bunker appears to be in the 10 o'clock position,
  2. the Arrow bunker the tailies found looks to be at the 1 o'clock position,
  3. this drawing appears to be some sort of map, with terrain features and paths clearly marked between bunker designations,
  4. all but one of the bunkers seem to be connected by a system of lines,
  5. all of the bunkers appear to have some of their internal structure mapped out, all with tunnels heading off toward the center position,
  6. the Swan bunker seems to have several chambers and tunnels mapped out, one of which appears to be marked as broken or blocked.
• Locke's flashback was kind of disappointing. It wasn't boring or anything, but every time we see more of Locke's past, I keep waiting for some kind of horrible attack or accident to happen that puts him in the wheelchair. I thought we might see it in this one with those two goons following him around, but nothing.
• Locke did get himself squished, though, which I'm sure will factor in heavily to the rest of the season.

And with that, I'm done for now.

I didn't catch the preview for next week. Anyone got a link? I'm too lazy to find it myself.

Technorati Tags: Television, ABC, Lost, Entertainment

Alan Kistler's Profile On: Firestorm

Monitor Duty has posted another awesome Alan Kistler article, this time profiling Firestorm.

And yes, I know; he's got a horrible costume. Also probably doesn't help that I found just about the gheyest cover imaginable, either.

I promise you, though, he's actually a cool superhero despite his horrible fashion sense.

But if you still don't believe me, think of it this way: at least he doesnt have to be moist to use his powers...

Technorati tags: Firestorm, Comics, Infinite Crisis

Lost 2x16 - "The Whole Truth"

Ok, then. This week's episode was quite good. It didn't really advance the plot all that much or give us any huge, new twists to think about, but I really liked it. I think it might have something to do with the focus characters; I really like Sun and Jin. They have a very strange relationship that, despite the extraordinary and fantastical circumstances of their lives, feels very real.

And, with that, here's my random list of observations:

• Henry Gale is definitely an other. I'm just not sure what the hell he's playing at. FRom the previews for next week's episode, Anna, Sayid, and Charlie obviously find the balloon, so his little speech about the trap wasn't some kind of big reveal. Misdirection, maybe? Directed toward us (the viewers) or the characters, though?
• So Sun is pregnant; that's interesting, but somewhat predictable. There's no reason to doubt her claim that she hasn't slept with anyone else since they've been on the island, but if she did, we'll find out eventually, I suppose. I've seen that some people think the she got knocked up by the hotel owner's son, but doesn't seem very likely. For one thing, in a work of fiction, we have to take the characters at their word unless we are shown something that directly contradicts the dialogue (i.e. she claims not have slept with him, but they showed us the sex scene). Otherwise, how can we assume that anything a character says is true? Without that qualifier, you simply can't tell a story. And for another thing, they've been on that island coming up on 60 days. Even if she did do the hotel owner's son, and even if she did him the day before the crash (it would have had to have been at least the day before since the flashbacks were in South Korea and the doomed flight took off from Australia - two countries seperated by a hemisphere, two continents, and a distance of roughly 5200 miles), she wouldn't just now be feeling the first signed of pregnancy two months later. Nah, either Jin can, in fact, have children, or someone did something to her without her knowledge.
• And with that thought; who might have had that opportunity? Charlie is the only one of whom I can think, but, from what I remember, he didn't really have enough time to do that. Sun screemed; people came running; she was found. Couldn't have been more than a few minutes and she was still fully dressed when they found her.
• Speaking of Charlie, he was sort of back to his old self in this episode. Not entirely, but he wasn't the same evil little hobbit of the last story arc. He has changed, though. Even in a more laid back and "fun" mode, he was acting kinda creepy.
• Oh, and while we're on the subject of creepy; what the fuck, Sayid? Just sitting there watching Anne Lucia sleep? I don't like her much either, but that's just not healthy.
• Like the last episode with Claire, something new happened with the flashbacks this week; someone other than the focus character got to know what was going on! Yeah, someone on the island actually communicated with another castaway!!!!! Kind of ironic that two of the most private and isolated people on the island are the only ones that can manage to have a meaningful conversation.
• In the first flashback, I was surprised that Jin was so open with Sun about the type of work he did for her father. From what we've seen of them before, it didn't seem like they talked much about that.
• This episode made me sympathize with Henry a bit. Well, a lot, actually, until the very end. I still think he's an other because of his name, but I'll admit the possibility that I'm wrong.
• If I am wrong, though, he's an idiot. Why on Earth would he be antognizing his captors like that? He seems to want to live, but shit like that ain't gonna help him.
• Nice to see that someone, even if it was Henry, has brought up the question as to how the food gets there.
• Dharma rice crispies make me smile...
• As does the Sun/Hurley scene in the jungle.
• Heh, we know where Sun learned English, now. I was kind of hoping there was something more to it than that, though. So she wanted a friend because Jin was becoming distant; that's pretty pedestrian, I think.
• Waaa, waaa! Nobody likes Anna Lucia. Good. She shot and killed an innocent teen-aged girl. Oh, and she's a total fucking bitch. What's not to like?
• Henry seemed genuinely surprised that Anna managed to walk all the way across the island to link up with the other survivors. Not sure what the means, but I think it means something.
• Very interesting that the fertility doctor was so frieghtened of telling Jin that he wasn't able to have children. After Jin's outburst at hearing it was his wife, though, I completely understand why, but still. Also, are fertility clinics that popular in South Korea? From what I know of the place, isn't it a rather crowded country?
• Sun really shouldn't have been out in the garden by herself. Jin was totally right in his motivation, if not his actions. For all they know, the others might still be after her. Her now being pregnant would certainly strengthen that argument. After all, only the viewers, Sawyer, and Charlie know that Charlie was the one that attacked her.
• The pregnancy test that Sun used a product of Widmore Labs, which, I think, is where Michael used to work.
• Bernanrd forgot Rose's birthday. Well, ok, he didn't forget her birthday, he just lost his concept of time. Brings up a good point as to how they're all keeping track of time and all. I guess it's pretty reasonable that someone would have a calendar with them or a watch or something that displayed the date, but I'm with Bernard on this one. I would totally lose track of time.
• Locke seemd a bit more like his old self again, too. He was decisive and direct and seemed completely unphased by Henry's little shpeel at the end of the ep; almost like he know exactly what Gale was trying to pull. I hope Locke stays like this.

I'm sure there's more I could write, but, despite my obsession, I "lost" interest for the moment...

Yeah. I know. I'm a loser...

Technorati Tags: Television, ABC, Lost, Entertainment

Private bookmarks for del.icio.us

So, del.icio.us finally got itself some privacy features.

Now, you can bookmark a website without having it broadcast into the service's link agregator for all to browse and search.

It's a nice feature that's long overdue. So if you haven't already tried del.icio.us, now's a great time to go ahead and give it a whirl.

Via Download Squad.

Technorati tags: del.icio.us, Social Bookmarking, Computers and Internet

Power Girl: The Classifieds

It's been a while and I've all but given up on this thing, but I just had to share this. Power Girl: The Classifieds is a fan film about, you guessed it, Power Girl.

In the film, Superman makes Power Girl take a break from the hero bizz to get a grip on her malfunctioning powers. Out of boredome, she's forced to find a day job with the expected results.

For a little backstory on PG, check out her Wikipedia entry.

Technorati tags: Comics, Powergirl, Fan Films

Lost 2x15 - "Maternity Leave"

I know I haven't updated this thing in a while, but I know that there are a bunch of people that read my Lost posts. So, here I am. It's a long post, so be warned. And feel free to comment.

• It’s nice to see them revisit the scratches Claire gave Rousseau.
• Claire is amazingly annoying. Why, oh why didn’t someone just slap her and tell her to calm the fuck down? Rousseau should have hit her with the rifle again.
• This is an island full of idiots. Rousseau mentions an infection; the find a hatch that says quarantine on the inside; Jack sees that Desmond has been injecting himself with some kind of medicine; Desmond leaves most of the medicine behind; the baby seems to get some sort of mysterious illness; So, of course, the logical conclusion would be to go traipsing about the extremely dangerous and spooky jungle in search of medicine that they could logically assume they already have. Brilliant!
• And yes, it was the same, exact medicine that Desmond was taking. Had the numbers on the label and everything.
• So, Jack and Locke have switched sides in regard to Henry Gale, eh? WTF? One minute Locke is conspiring with Sayid to imprison and torture the guy to Jack’s overwhelming opposition, and the next Locke’s trying to talk Jack into letting the guy go? Did I miss something, or did some one fuck something up?
• The young girl from the boat last season does, in fact, seem to have been Alex. What’s more, she seems to be working against the rest of the others and helped Claire escape. Neat oh.
• Ethan didn’t seem like such a bad guy in this episode. I kinda felt sorry for him.
• Zeke’s beard is fake, as was the whole “dirty, savage island people” look all of the other have been sporting lately. It seems as though they’re much more sophisticated and organized than they want the crash survivors to believe. Really, though, that could have been inferred by the fact that they had a frickin’ motor-boat out in the middle of nowhere at the end of the last season.
• The others sure did abandon that medical bunker rather quickly. Could have been more than a month since Claire had been taken, but that place looked like it hadn’t been used in years.
• I’ve seen some theories that suggest the medical bunker was abandoned because the time hit zero in the last episode. I’m not that digs with what we saw of the bunker. It wasn’t just abandoned, it was cleaned out. That takes some time and organization and doesn’t happen in the few moments you might have to escape some kind of cataclysmic event. Also, because the costumes and stuff were very neatly stored, I think the bunker might actually still be in use in some sort of limited capacity. After all, costumes are just that: costumes. It’s pretty obvious that the Others only don them for encounters with the survivors. If an encounter isn’t expected, why would they be dressed up?
• Also seems like they should have hung around a bit more. I mean, how often do you get the chance to freely explore an enemy stronghold? They should have at least taken some of the costumes and not just that damned booty.
• Again, speaking of Claire and her flashbacks; I know she was being drugged and all, but she was still really fucking annoying. Her and Charlie really are my least favorite characters.
• Also, this episode marks the first time that all of the flashbacks occur after the crash. They were nice sequences because they gave a hell of a lot of information, but I think I prefer the flashbacks that show us what the characters were like before they got to the island. Especially when their pasts are connected in some strange and obscure way.
• The nursery was creepy. And I mean really creepy. The little planes on the baby mobile were Oceanic airliners and looked strikingly similar to that little plane to which Kate seems so attached. Anyone know what song the thing was playing, though?
• And I’ve gotta wonder if the Others used the same nursery for Alex when they took her.
• The hallway opposite the nursery in the medical bunker was labeled “escape hatch.”
• Were they actually going to kill Claire and take the baby? That doesn’t seem to jive with the treatment they were giving her and the relationship Ethan seemed to be forming with her. Also, the Others are some crazy bastards, but they don’t seem to be sadistic. Claire had willingly agreed to give the child up to them. There would be no reason to kill her and take it.
• Henry Gale is definitely an Other. If the stuff from his initial appearance didn’t confirm it, his reaction to the Eko’s confession and his (successful?) attempt to breed some discontent between to Locke and Jack really sealed the deal.
• Also, speaking of Eko, what the hell is he making with the trees? I bet it’s a cross, though, I guess it could be a giant “Jesus” trebuchet. If you don’t know what that means, look it up. It’s funny, I promise.
• And also speaking of Locke, what the hell is up with him lately? The Locke from season one would never have been so easily manipulated by Henry Gale’s very obvious attempt to play his captors against each other.
• Completely unrelated to anything above, Sawyer’s reaction to the baby being sick was interesting. He seemed genuinely concerned and sincere when he said that he had medicine. I just can’t figure out if that concern was for the baby or just for Kate to not go into the jungle.
• Libby is a clinical psychiatrist; and, apparently, a pretty decent one. Coincidentally, she’s also got a pretty decent ass.
• Was Ethan an actual doctor? Seems rather strange that they would have a whole medical facility set up and have a guy who isn’t a physician working on their only patient.
• I’m pretty sure that the Others are somehow responsible for the crash. At the very least, they had some sort of foreknowledge of it. It’s pretty clear, now, that they had a definitive plan to infiltrate and abduct the survivors. Ethan’s conversation with Zeke all but confirms this. The fact that Ethan and the Peace Corps guy that Anna Lucia killed were all dressed and ready to go the instant the wreckage hit the ground really shows that they knew exactly what was going on.

Until the next episode, then.

Actuall, I'll probably post some crap between now and then. To be honest, I'd kind of lost interest in this thing, but I think I might feel some ambition boiling up again.

Cya!

Technorati Tags: Television, ABC, Lost, Entertainment