Late Photos

So I know I'm a little late on posting about my travels and Thanksgiving weekend. Suffice it to say that the trip was terrific as was the Turkey Day meal. Aside from a minor flat-tire-at-the-Hartford-Airport snafu, most everything went off without a hitch. I flew, cooked, ate, drove, interviewed, slept, changed a tire, flew again, rested, ate, bowled, ate again, won several board games, ate again, slept, and so on and so forth. It was nice. Here are a few photos I took on my phone. The first two are repeats of ones on Sarah's blog.

One of the days, Sarah and I traveled to Brattleboro, Vermont. Read her entry for a better description of the trip. We ate at a Thai restaurant, visited several used book stores, a few thrift stores and stopped at the unhappiest place on earth on the way back. This is a picture I took too late of the "Welcome to Vermont" sign.


Sarah enjoyed her meal at Thai Bamboo.


Sarah did not enjoy my antics.


The nail which, upon entering Sarah's tire head-first, caused our flat; costing $25 to repair plus $4 for the 10 minutes we were "parked" in Bradley International Airport's garbage-riddled Economy Parking Lot D.

TV Time

So, it's been a while since I last posted, but in my defense, these have been by far the busiest weeks of the year for me at work, and I've been spending a lot of my free time exploring my new TV. It's not the snazziest, top-of-the-line behemoth I could have gotten. No, I was sensible, did lots of research and settled on a nice mid-range set. It's a 32", 780p LCD TV. If you know what that means, or care about more bells and whistles, comment and I will answer more, but since most of you probably don't know and don't care, I will leave it at that.

The one feature I wanted to highlight is that fact that it has an input port solely reserved for computers. Unfortunately, it's a VGA (15-pin) input (a somewhat outdated technology), not the best for streaming digital video, etc. My laptop has a DVI (29 pin) output port. Thankfully, my computer did come with a DVI-VGA converter, but I still had to buy a VGA cable to hook it into the TV. I ordered one, and it came last week. The result:



Having purchased a 10' cable, I can place my computer under my coffee table, run the cord along the floor and into the TV, and watch programs on Hulu with comfort. The quality is actually very good, at least from my viewing distance. However, to get sound, I would have had to buy another cable and adapter to have sound output from the TV, so instead I bought some computer speakers on sale for $5 at Target, and simply listen to sound from the computer using them. It's not the classiest setup, but it suits me. Lately, the flavors of the month for me have been "Andy Barker, P.I." a comedy starring Andy Richter as a mild-mannered accountant-come private investigator, co-starring Tony Hale of "Arrested Development" that lasted only 6 episodes; and "Kitchen Nightmares," a show where enfant terrible and uber-chef Gordon Ramsay visits struggling restaurants in America and turns them around in a week (it's disingenuously edited and probably mostly scripted) but it's still hilarious.

In other TV news, apparently AMC is planning on running a 6-episode miniseries beginning this Sunday that is essentially an updated version of the 1960's cult sci-fi classic "The Prisoner." This version stars Jim Caviezel, a favorite just sub-star-level actor of mine, most famous for playing Jesus in Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," as the central character No. 6; and Sir Ian Mckellen as his nemesis, No. 2. Some other details have been modernized. Read all about it here in the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/arts/television/11prisoner.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Mind Trap

Sid Shady and Sam Sham are sitting at a bar. Both order a double shot of Johnny Walker Red Label Scotch. Sid offers a wager to Sam: Sid tells Sam to place his shot on the solid oak bar and place a solid glass bowl completely over the shot. Sid then bets Sam $1 that Sid can drink Sam's shot without touching either the bowl or the shot glass, and without the use of any other person or object. Should Sam take the bet?

Note: This is a paraphrased (and probably improved) version of a question from a substandard mind-problem/trivia game from the early 90's called "MindTrap." I purchased an unused copy of the game from Goodwill today for $1.95, and played it for a while with Greg and Sarah, with semi-hilarious results.

Please post your answers (Yes or No, with explanation either way) in the comments, and I will post the correct answer sometime tomorrow (Greg and Sarah obviously excluded).

Aqua Man

I've not updated about the gold fish for a while. Greta is still doing well, and seemed to be happy in her vase/bowl contraption I had set up in my apartment. However, winter is approaching the Valley rapidly, and along with it, serious cold. Greta is a Betta fish, whose native climate is tropical. I've read form various sources that the species thrives in temperatures in the mid-to-upper seventies, though they can survive in waters as cold as 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

My apartment does not have central heating and cooling, but rather two wall units in the front and back of the space. This is economical for me and the environment, as I spend no energy or money heating an empty apartment while I am at work during the day, or even heating the other side of my apartment when I am in my bedroom.

Unfortunately, this means the temperature can get downright frigid during cold days and nights, which is not good for the fish. The other night was a chilly, but not horrible temperature, and Greta's water registered at just 67 degrees. That is probably too cold for her. And the temperature fluctuations between day and night and at the whim of my personal comfort are even worse for her.

So, rather than spend about $20 on a heater to maintain the temperature for my $0.13 fish, I bought a $10 decent-looking aquarium for her and moved her into my office at work. As much as we at work complain about the inconsistency of our building's heating system, it does manage to maintain a fairly stable temperature in the low 70's, which is much better for her. The new aquarium also has a self-filtering system and bubbler, which means changing water less frequently, and more space for her to explore (I even ponied up for a nice little fake plant). Here's a picture of the new digs:



She survived the first night, though I think it took her some getting used to the sound of the bubbler and the direct light from the aquarium lid. She seems to be enjoying the new space, plant and attention.

Sorry, another LOST post

This entry is merely a response to Pops' post after finishing up Season Five of LOST. I would have just left a comment on his blog, but it would have been too long. So here, goes.

-Jacob's meddling in the previous lives of the LOSTies is absolutely an important facet of the entire show. Particularly, the writers have not-so-subtly hinted that his physically touching each of them in the flashbacks is important. What I am left questioning afterward is the significance of when he went to each: Locke, Jack and Sawyer, Sun and Jin years before Flight 815 (Sawyer in the 70's); Sayid and Hurley after leaving the Island; and Ilana, who knows? Is it significant that Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley were the original four names the Others told Michael to bring them in exchange for Walt? If so, why also Sun/Jin and Ilana now? Or is it only these characters we've seen Jacob touch so far?

-Are we to believe that it is Charlie's guitar Jacob gives Hurley? Or is it a guitar at all?

-Indeed, was Jacob responsible for Nadia's death (intentionally or not); or was he responsible for saving Sayid? Did he raise Locke from the dead? If he did so, did he have foreknowledge of his own demise? If so, why did he allow the events leading to his demise conspire? Or is he even truly gone for good?

-Is the fish Jacob dismantles and cooks in the silent first scene a "red herring"? If so, in what way are we being misled? My guess is that Jacob is actually the "bad" one.

-All signs are now pointing to Rose and Bernard being "Adam and Eve."

-I don't think it definitively hurts or helps the "reset" theory of the bomb detonation, but seeing Chang hurt/lose his arm in 1977 and having previously seen him with a prosthetic/slinged arm in the Orientation videos in 1980 is neat.

-I will post again tonight rehashing my original master-development in the who/what is Jacob thread I previously shielded.

To Do List

As I continue rewatching LOST, I recall some issues that I believe need to be addressed in season 6. None, I guess, are that glaring that if they weren't, it wouldn't be the end of the world...OR WOULD IT?

1) Libby's backstory: I just watched "Dave" again. It's the Hurley-centric episode that recounts his mental illness, time at Santa Rosa and ?hallucinations? of his pal, Dave. It's not an epic episode in terms of the series, but it does matter-of-factly introduce the "Snow Globe" theory that everything is just in his head. Thankfully, the writers have vehemently denied that that is the case. And Libby becomes a larger figure as Hurley's love interest/counselor. But it is her uber-creepy appearance as a mental patient at Santa Rosa as the capper that adds the biggest piece of intrigue to her character. In a later episode, we see her giving Desmond the boat he uses to reach the Island. Theories abound that she is more intricately connected with the Island/Widmore than we know (e.g. could be Widmore's off-island child that led to his getting the boot as leader; could be working for him; or a Hurley stalker!) Anyway it shakes out, we need to see it.

2) Kelvin Inman's story: We've seen Kelvin in the Hatch as Desmond's mentor and as a U.S. military officer in Desert Storm, where he served alongside Sam Austen (Kate's non-biological father) and Sayid the Torturer. I recall the producers at some time responding to a fan question that we would see how he got to the Island (presumably through Dharma), and I hope we do. If for no other reason than I like Clancy Brown, the actor who plays him.

3) Problems around Ben: Why was Ben wandering alone in the jungle when he was first caught by Rousseau, and why did Rousseau allow him to leave (she didn't recognize him as the one who stole her baby?). She didn't tell her story to anyone when he was caught. That's probably more an oversight b/c Ben was only planned for 3-4 episodes originally, but it is an annoying omission. It ties into another omission, about why Ben's Others presumably didn't know about the Hatch. They used all the other Dharma stations, but apparently didn't know about that Swan, which seems ridiculous. And if they did know about it, they apparently didn't know its importance. I believe later in season 3 we see that Ben can spy on the Hatch from another station, so somewhere something doesn't add up.

4) More importantly, I want to see how/why the real Henry Gale got to the Island in the balloon. (I presume Ben or another Other interrogated him and then broke his neck.) There are indicators on the balloon plaque and in Ben's false story that Henry may have ties to Widmore/Hanso Foundation, and I hope they revisit it at some point.

Two recappers of note

Today has been slow so far, so I've been spending some time surfing through various LOST blogs and theory pages, and I happenstance-ily happened upon two good blogs. (WARNING: Both are chock-full of spoilers for those who haven't finished S5).

One is Fishbiscuitland. Aside from having a great name, it is unique among journals I have seen. He posts fairly infrequently. In fact, his recap of the S5 finale wasn't posted until 2-3 months after it aired. He's just recently begun recapping S1 episodes. His recaps cover 2-6 episodes per entry, based mostly on the continuity of the stories, intriguing points and what he feels appropriate. His vast knowledge of the show is apparent, and his pseudo-narrative entries show depth in highlighting the literary aspects of the show. But what is more apparent is the amount of time he must spend on compiling any single entry. The entries are LONG, made up of several short (1-4 line) paragraphs, separated by appropriately elucidating or funny images, most of which are screencaps from specific episodes. He claimed he hasn't re-watched any episodes since their first airings, so his memory of specific visual moments is incredible, or he is just re-watching with a very keen eye. He doesn't mince words (he wasn't a fan of S5), and there may be a dash or two of vulgarity in a few of the entries, but nothing obscene. Really fascinating, and worth the (considerable) time to check it out.

The second is Broadcast Depth. This isn't a wholly LOST-dedicated site, nor are the insights or style superb in any unique way. It's more of interest to me because it happens to be authored by a guy who works for JMU's Parking Services. He is also an alum, and I have had to work with him on a few occasions. He's a fairly interesting guy (far more than his current occupation would suggest) with a background in art, music and film. I would advise skipping the entries about his personal life (weird), and just stick to his takes on the show (he's also not a fan of S5).

Credit for the hilarious and barely-related GIF (click it to view with sound) goes to YTMND. Check out their Web site, or this lostpedia list of more hilarious LOST YTMNDs.

Tidbit: In the above YTMND, the original Shawshank guard whose face has been replaced with Tom Friendly's is played by Clancy Brown, also portrayer of LOST's Kelvin Inman.