As seen on the Jimmy Kimmel show after the Finale. I thought this was hilarious.

On a very side note, I was never much of a Jack fan, but after re-watching the finale I have to say that it will be a crime if Matthew Fox does not win an Emmy for his performance. Awesome.

I guess we're on a Lost posting kick, for a while longer. I'm wondering what we'll post on now that the show's done? But I digress.

I am on record as having loved and been satisfied by the Lost finale. Of course, not everyone feels this way. I think, for those who were disappointed by the show, it's helpful to try and understand the kind of art that Lost represents. The following is one of the most insightful things I've read regarding the Lost finale (from midway down this forum page). I think this poster has the writers of Lost pegged:

Having had a chance to think through all of the narrative collapse of the finale, I have now done my own "letting go," and come to peace with the idea that Darlton are visual surrealists. They added things to the story like the Donkey Wheel or the boy Jacob ghost demanding the ashes simply because they looked cool. That's a valid artistic viewpoint, I don't have a problem with it. It hasn't often been done on television, so in that sense it is innovative. Viewed through that frame, it makes perfect sense to put a hieroglyphic countdown timer in the hatch, or Dogen in samurai clothes, or even have Desmond hit Locke with a car. These things have critical visual impact in those particular scenes. Like Dali or Fellini or Beckett, they don't have to make narrative sense, because that's not the point.

. . .

I think that Darlton, like many nonacademic surrealists, simply don't know how to explain their work. To them, the scene where Brother meets with NotMom and says that he knows how to build the Donkey Wheel "because I'm special" is an answer. Never mind that as part of a larger narrative it makes no sense at all. As a momentary scene, it worked.

JJ Abrams, on the other hand, does work in narrative. He's open to the visually complex because it's cool, but he does use it to fit the story. His stories often become very intricate, but they do seem to make some attempt to connect the dots eventually, even if it requires genetic duplicates or falsified evidence. Darlton just play with the color of the dots, and throw in a diamond every once in awhile to liven things up visually.

When Darlton said the volcano would "play a part" in the end of the Island story, I don't think it meant any more to them than a reddish glow and earth tremors. Visually, there were some volcano elements.

Similarly, Jack's body turning up in the same place as Brother's after leaving the cave is visually striking. It doesn't matter if the narratives don't match given the kind of work they do. Same thing with the Ajira plane taking off at the end. Again, as part of a narrative it's a bizarre decision. But visually, a great moment.

Emphasis mine.

[Hat tip: Andrew]

Amazing, amazing . . .

I'm blown away.

Leave your thoughts in the comments thread.

LOST started on September 22, 2004. I was there. Watched the first episode. The commercials alone had convinced me it was something special.

I just checked the thinkling archives to see if I tried to tell you people it was awesome. Turns out, I did. Here's what I wrote back on October 27, 2004. (A mere 4 episodes having been aired.) Read on in shock and wonder to see how right I was.

Wednesday, October 27, 2004
"Lost" Is A Great Show
Posted by Philip @ 8:13 am CDT | Edit | Delete | Send a Trackback
Filed under: General

Have you seen Lost on ABC? It's fantastic. It's about 48 people stranded on an island. I've always enjoyed stories about surviving a la Robinson Crusoe. This show is more realistic than Survivor ever will be. One of the things I like about it is that it's different than anything else on television. It's not yet another law/cop/medical/family drama. Each episode usually emphasizes a different character. There are flashbacks that reveal the backstory, and they are usually quite surprising. There are mysteries to be solved, about the island, about the people, about what happened. The show is well-written, and well-acted. The characters are complex, and in a way the show is kind of genre breaking.

What's great about the characters are that they are different from other shows. They don't fit into any neat stereotypes. For example,they have a long-haired overweight guy in his 20's, named "Hurley" that is just plain cool. The dude is funny, likeable and ...real. I watch him and think, he could be a friend of mine. There just aren't many shows that give realistic people good roles.

This is a show that I enjoy watching so much that it frustrates me when it's over. You feel like you are getting to know the characters and you actually enjoy spending the time with them, even though they are stranded on a deserted island and might die.

Another cool aspect of the show are the ethical dilemmas:
-What do you do when you have hundreds of bodies? Do you leave them for the wild animals? Do you bury them yourselves? Is it OK to burn them?
-Is it OK to go through dead people's luggage or take their shoes?
-If you discover that the liklihood of being rescued is very slim do you tell the others? Or let them keep hoping?
-If you are rescuing someone from drowning, and then see a second person what do you do? Do you leave one intending to go back for them?
-If someone is going to die in a few hours is it OK to speed up the process?
-If one of you is an escaped convict, do you tell the others?

And they go on and on and on... I love watching the show and asking myself, "What would I do in the same situation?"

It's awesome. If you haven't watched it yet, you should start. It's well worth it. I concur with what Jared said in another post. It's the best thing on television right now. It's on tonight. Record it or watch it. Get in now, while it's still getting started. I have a feeling it's going to be a great ride.

(Oh, and I might also be prescient. Notice I wrote that a mere two days after the first episode aired.)

So the next time I tell you to watch a show, a movie or read a particular book, you should listen to me. I'm obviously the best recommend-er in the world.

I'm not in a position to easily live-blog tonight's show, so - unless one of the other Thinklings wants to take on the duties tonight - leave your thoughts on the episode in the comments thread.

Since I won't be live-blogging the finale either (2 1/2 hours? No way! Plus I just want to watch that one), I guess my live-blogging days are over. It's been fun.

Tonight's show, by the title at least, sounds brutal. It also hints at answers (but we've been down that road before).

Also, we'll see if tonight's show debunks any of what I wrote here.

***** Spoilers in the comments thread *****

The time for questions is ovah!

With only 3 1/2 hours left of the show, many people are nervous that their questions won't get answered. I personally feel that a lot of questions have been answered, if not completely, at least somewhat. But I realize I'm in a minority.

I also feel like I'm pretty tapped into what's going on on Lost, and feel like I have decent answers to pretty much any of the remaining questions (and that's without resorting to speculation threads, which I avoid like the plague).

So, I'm offering a service. Leave your unresolved questions in the comments thread, and I'll let you know what the answers are.

This is fabulous.

[Hat Tip: Sherry]

I'll be starting the live-blog of tonight's episode shortly. I'm expecting that all the "I want answers, now!" people will at least be somewhat sated after tonight's episode.

The title of this episode reminds me of the French song Shannon sang in the early part of Season one. Remember? "La Mer"?

Major Spoilers below the fold . . .
Read the rest of this entry . . .

last night that I woke up this morning, only to find that Bill had live-blogged "LOST" last night, and all of you had been discussing it here on Thinklings, and so I was skimming a very long comment thread about a LOST episode that I had missed because they moved it to Sunday night without my knowing...

Tells you what sorts of things I worry about, huh?

Scary.

It's all becoming so clear . . .

Spoilers below the fold
Read the rest of this entry . . .

I'm back in the saddle and ready to live-blog tonight's show. Live blogging will be starting within the hour.

Major spoilers below the fold.
Read the rest of this entry . . .

No live-blog tonight, but feel free to comment on the show in the comments.

Things are progressing quickly to the end . . .

For those of you who were wondering, or just flat out love the song, or maybe you just love Charlie, and so by extension you like anything associated with him...

Here's the story behind the song:

Bryan Burk: We knew that we were going to have to have that song that Charlie's character would sing 'that Driveshaft song'. And we had no idea what it was, and it was something that we thought we would write. We were talking to Dom about possibly coming up with a song.

Dominic Monaghan: J.J. and Damon actually said to me that if I wanted to write a song, they would consider it. So, myself and my friend Shocks in LA actually wrote a song which was called "Photos and Plans", which we played for them, and they liked. Didn't actually make it into the show.

Bryan Burk: Years ago, Matt Reeves, as one of our oldest friends, um had been watching an episode, which I believe was Phil Donahue, just so you understand how many years ago...

Damon Lindelof: ...Where this woman basically stood up in the audience and I can't remember exactly what she said, but she said, it was like, "You all everybody, is acting like the stupid people wearing expensive clothes."

Bryan Burk: We'd be sitting in what they'd call 'video village', where all the monitors are, and where we spend a good portion of our day, where we hang out in between everything being set up. Non-stop, we'd be saying "You all everybody, acting like it's the stupid people wearing the expensive clothes."

Damon Lindelof: ...And everybody would crack up. It's like, "What does that even mean? What is it?" Y'know, so it's like "You all everybody!" Like it just became sort of an inside joke, so one of the things we kept saying, like J.J., we've got to write, y'know, what Driveshaft's song is.

Bryan Burk: At one point in a delirious stupor, we realized that we had said it so many times, that that had to be the song. And on the spot, with Don, our script supervisor, we wrote down all the lyrics of "You All Everybody".

Damon Lindelof: Then on the day that we were shooting, we were shooting Charlie, Kate and Jack walking up, and Charlie first starts humming it to himself, and Kate's like, "Where do I know that song from?" Y'know, that was the day that the sort of melody was generated. J.J. like kind of hummed a tune to it. J.J. was just sort of sitting, goes [pitched singing], "You All Everybody. You All Everybody." He's like, "Just do that." Y'know. And that was it.

Dominic Monaghan: I based the voice in the Pilot on when Prince puts on his female voice, for when he sings like, "If I Was Your Girlfriend" on "Sign 'O' the Times". He kind of affects this female voice, and Beck does it as well. [Scene of Charlie singing to Kate in Pilot in high-pitched voice] So, I just thought, well, I have'a laugh, because I don't know what this song is going to be, so I might as well do the harmonies, which is why it became this, [Sings high-pitched] "You All Everybody", which actually isn't what it actually became in Episode 5 The Moth. [Scene from The Moth of on-stage singing] But we just took the exact lyrics from that talk show and turned it into a song. We gave it over to this songwriter called Jude[1].

[Jude's picture shown]

Bryan Burk: Jude is this amazing local LA singer-songwriter. Um, who I'd first heard of him because he had a song on the City of Angels soundtrack.

Dominic Monaghan: Him and his band just y'know, brought together this kind of, 'Oasis-esque', 'Ocean-Colour-Scene-y'[2], y'know, not great, but kind of not bad tune.

Bryan Burk: We needed a song, and we needed a specific kind of tone and rhythm, and [Snaps fingers] the next day, he came in with it, and it was great. It was like this perfect prop song. So, we knew if we wanted a catchy song, Jude was the guy to go to.

You All Everybody Lyrics

Rock and roll, man

I walk around my town
Watch the people come and go
I watch them up and down
And i see what they don't know
They have given up on me
I can see it in their eyes
Well, i have given up on you
And i think you should realise

You all, everybody
You all, everybody
I don't like you stupid people
Wearing expensive clothes
You all everybody
You all, everybody

You all everybody

I know you see what i have been
And compare with what i am
But i don't care now what you've seen
I'm just doing what i can
You say you've given up on me
And you say it like i should care
Well i have given up on you
And no, i don't want to “share”

Chorus
You all everybody

And will you get the message now?
When i cross my heart and shout it out damn loud?

Chorus
You all everybody
Yeah, you all everybody

And of course there was the "You All Every Butties" commercial that Driveshaft recorded... "Official Website"

I'm sure others have noticed this, but it clicked for me tonight.

I know which Kwon is the "candidate".

***** SPOILER OF DUBIOUS VALUE BELOW THE FOLD *****
Read the rest of this entry . . .

This week's Lost live-blog will commence shortly, albeit a little delayed, as I am waiting for my better half to arrive home.

This appears to be a Hurley episode and, as such, it will no doubt be awesome (the episode, not my blogging).

***** Major Spoilers Below The Fold *****
Read the rest of this entry . . .

Live-blogging of our favorite show about our favorite island of mystery* will commence shortly.

* and our favorite demigods of mystery and our favorite alternate realities of mystery and our favorite unstuck-in-time drugged packages of mystery and our favorite . . . (ab aeterno ad infinitum)

***** Major Spoilers Below the Fold *****
Read the rest of this entry . . .

Some random thoughts/impressions/theories about Lost. Feel free to add to in the comments.

Spoiler-ish stuff below the fold
Read the rest of this entry . . .

Live-blogging of tonight's episode will commence soon. Last week's episode was fabulous - here's hoping the Mo keeps rolling.

Plus, from what I've read, this is a Sun and Jin episode!

***** Major Spoilers Below the Fold *****
Read the rest of this entry . . .

OK, You heard it here first. Here's the interpretive key:

LILITH! Yep, Lilith. Stay with me now...

You see, I've been wrestling with MIB's (AKA Smoke Monster's) confession last week that his mother was crazy. And I've been thinking, OK, what lady going waaay back into Biblical story and mythology qualifies?

See I think Jacob and MIB have been there a long time. And the writers are obviously trying to draw on ancient mythology and like mixing the Biblical with the pagan. (Egyptian etc...)

So here's my theory:

MIB's mother is Lilith and Jacob's mother is Eve. They are half-brothers, because they both have Adam as a dad, and both have their own theories about original sin. And somehow they were both locked in "Eden" when Adam and Eve were banished.

For those of you unfamiliar with Lilith, she is a mythological figure with ties to OT mythology as well as the mythology of many different religions. She's an evil woman, and supposedly was Adam's first wife. There's lots of stories about her, but one version has her as the serpent that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.

I looked her up online last night during a commercial and discovered that her power is transferred...wait for it...

THROUGH MIRRORS! For More Info

You guys can use google as well or better than I can, so I'll let you look her up.

Tell me what you think!