Getting "Lost" in 2011, Evangaline Lilly's glorious strand of hair

Hello,

Thanks to a very generous brother and sister-in-law I now have a relatively new MacBook at my disposal. My brother bought a new hard drive for me, as the new computer's hard drive didn't hold all the music from my previous laptop. I'm so glad I have a laptop back at work. As long as I stay on top of all the work I have to do at my job, it's pretty slow. That's the way it is today, very slow. With my new computer I've been adding a bunch of new songs to my iTunes. Most of those songs are free. Both amazon.com and iTunes are very liberal in giving away music, especially amazon.com. I'm grateful because that's usually the way I find new music. I can't tolerate listening to radio anymore. So thanks again to all those that helped me with my new computer.

Sunday I started watching "Lost" from the first episode. Other than a few brief moments, I never watched this show when it was originally on. Yes I know that the TV series "Lost" started in 2004. I live in Utah, so forgive me for being 7 years behind the curb. I didn't get into "Lost" back then as honestly the show seemed kind of stupid. I also hated how far apart the episodes were. It seems like ABC played games when they were going to show it. It seemed like business decisions trumped artistic decisions. I briefly watched a few seconds of the show and I just wasn't impressed. I didn't see any reason in watching it, that wasn't even an after thought. However the other day I was at the library, one of my favorite places in the world, and they had the complete Season 1 DVD's available to be checked out. I thought to myself what the heck and checked it out.

The last two nights I've watched the first and second episodes of Season 1. So far I've been very impressed. Unlike some recent TV shows that hinted there would be excitement coming in the next few episodes, this show delivers excitement from the very first episode. The survivors crash and they don't have much time to rest until they realize they aren't the only ones on the island. They also realize that the other creatures may not be friendly. While watching the first two episodes the same word keeps on coming to my mind: spooky. I love how the atmosphere of the show is slowly built.

I watched Season 1, Episode 2 last night. There are so many cool parts about this episode. One of the biggest stars of this series is uncredited, the exquisite strand of hair hanging off of Evangaline Lilly's head. That's received more airtime than many of the other characters. Of course it doesn't hurt that she's a gorgeous woman. I wonder if that strand of hair has a publicist. Was it able to find work once "Lost" ended?

I also like how rush decisions we make everyday is flipped on it's side. Just because one has a certain expectation for someone else, doesn't mean that viewpoint is correct. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, people are like a box of chocolates you never know what you are going to get. For instance, the viewer thinks they know all they need to about Sawyer and Sayid. They are having a fistfight, seemingly caused by Sawyer. The fight is breaking up when Sawyer accuses Sayid of possibly being a terrorist and bringing down the plane. Sawyer's opinion is based on scant evidence but still he think he knows all about Sayid. To make things worse, he picks a course of action on his limited information and racism.

Later Hurley goes over and talks to Sayid. Hurley is giving Sayid the benefit of the doubt as he realizes he also knows very little about Sayid. Sayid informs him that he fought in Desert Storm. Hurley had a friend who fought in the same conflict and hew wonders which arm of the service Sayid fought in. Hurley being an open minded guy asks him which American armed services he fought it. Sayid tells him that he fought in the Republican Guard, which obviously was the elite fighting force for Saddam Hussein. Sawyer would take great comfort in this knowledge, probably having a told you so look on his face. However we don't know anything about Fayid's service in the Republican Guard. How committed was he to Hussein? Did he fight as a willing participant or did he not have a choice? The creative people behind this show seem to be telling us to be careful about making decisions about other people. Then of course Fayid could also be lying, maybe he was actually an Al Queda operative.

Also Kate Austen looks like the girl next door. She does nothing to show anything different in the first 1.5 episodes of this series. Then in a flashback we see that Kate was being transported back to America with a Federal Marshall. We don't learn anymore what she did, but it could be anything. Again with her wearing handcuffs one would presume that she committed a fairly serious crime. However we don't know what she has been charged with. And even if we did, that doesn't mean she's guilty. There are so many possibilities at play here.

All the above mentioned people at least speak English. But what is going on with the character, Jin Soo-Kwan? Who is that woman he's traveling with? Is that his wife, his servant or possibly a sister. Exactly what is their relationship? He obviously feels protective to the woman, is that out of love or ownership though? Also does he really know English and is just pretending he doesn't. What is that "food" that he got out of the ocean? I'd be like Hurley and say I'm not that hungry. The actor that plays Soo-Kwan is Daniel Dae Kim. Again I didn't watch much of "Lost" when it was previously on the air, so I know very little about Soo-Kwan's character. However I do know about his character on "Hawaii Five-0", he's a very cool character. I'm hoping that the "Lost" character he plays becomes a cool character.

Other random questions are there people on the plane that were planted there for some devious purpose? Did they possibly help bring down the plane? How far does this situation go?

What is going on with the broken transceiver? it seems to be jammed by another distress call. I love how the message keeps on repeating over and over again. The message is about 30 seconds long and is spoken in French. Following the distress call an automated voice states what iteration that message is. Sayid calculates in his mind that this message has been repeating for over 16 years. That's spooky for two reasons. One, it seems that person was never rescued, what happened to her? Also with all the creatures on the island what kind of chances do those people have of getting off the island alive. They certainly didn't land on Gilligan's Island. I also think that's there's more going on that just a distress call, meaning is that even a legitimate distress call. If it's a fake distress call, what better way to block a real distress call.

Also what was the monster that pulled the airline pilot (shout out to Judd from "Love Bites") out of the cabin of the broken up plane? We later encounter a polar bear, was the earlier creature a bigger polar bear or was it something else? What exactly is a polar bear doing in such a tropical environment? Not that I know anything about bears, but I always thought polar bears were considered to be a relatively gentle animal.

I like how we are finding out a little bit about each character via the brief flashbacks right before the plane crashes. Although this doesn't tell us a lot and it might be used as a way to misdirect us. This show so far has been very intense, great storytelling, good acting and a lot of gorgeous female bodies in very little clothing. You can always tell when a man is behind is behind a TV series.

I look forward to watching the rest of the series over the next couple of years as seasons continue to be available at the library. I've heard things about hatches, smoke monsters, the others and many other things. I'm looking forward to all these things, how will develop and what they have to do with the larger "Lost" mythology.

Random things: I saw a print ad for the TV series "Alphas" recently. The tag line is "Impossible Is What They Do Best". The tag line should read boredom is what they do best. Or stupidity or many other non complimentary words. Seriously that's an atrocious show, everything in it feels low budget. From the lame actors to the absolutely boring stories. You would like this show if "The Event" was too exciting for you. One of the worst TV series of recent years. Also the answer to the trivia question, what is a worse show than "The Event". At least with "The Event" I watched a few episodes before giving up on it. Stay far away from "Alphas" even if you are related to the cast members. You don't want to have that bad memory of your relatives.

For some reason "Men In Black 3" is being made. It's looking like next year will be another craptastic year for movies. Be sure to avoid the theaters on May 25th, 2012.

Alright here's some great songs for your entertainment:

The other day I mentioned how Neneh Cherry's "Raw Like Sushi" is one of the greatest debut CDs ever. Another one of the greatest debut CDs ever is Joan Osborne's "Relish". THe most famous song off of that CD is "One of Us". While that is a good song, there are many other great songs on this CD. I love the very bluesy feeling of this CD.

This is one of my favorite songs from "Relish":



Annie's incredibly catchy "Me Plus One":



The Dixie Chicks "Goodbye Earl":



themusicaddict