The Map

Here's the screen capture of the map I got from Lost-Media.com. I've seen a few other screen caps that go into better detail, but this is the one that everybody saw on television. It's clearly a map of all the other hatches on the island and also has a few other interesting scribbles on there that are hard to read. This map begs the question now of, Who made it? and What does it all mean?

This map has made me a Lost nerd again, but it's not hard for me to be a nerd on most things.

Enjoy everybody!

Click on the pick below if you want to see a Transcription of the writings on the map. All credit goes to the original creators of it (Entertainment Weekly and some other folks) I just came across it, that's all.

LOST: Lockdown

Wowser. This episode made me forget that I had a 101 degree fever for a little while. First off it was a Locke episode, and those are always good, and secondly there where island developments aplenty, and boy it was as tasty as Bubble Gum flavored Amoxocillian (I'm sick what do you expect)

I'll start with the flashback. It follows a little more of Locke's relationship with Helen, and how he lost her. Locke's story never ceases to amaze me on how sad it is. Locke finds that his father died only to find out that he faked his death to avoid Con Men. Then his father cons him again in order for Locke to get him some money out of a safe deposit box, when Helen finds out that Locke lied to her she refuses to marry him and drives away. Leaving Locke alone in the parking lot, with a cool angled shot of an oceanic flight flying over head. I was hoping to find out how Locke became paralyzed, I always thought it was a car accident, but now I'm thinking it's going to be at the hands of those con men. I guess we'll find that out next season. Too bad.

The island stuff was out of control this week. While alone in the hatch with Henry, Locke hears an alarm then the blast doors come crashing down. Locke lets Henry out in order for him to help lift the door. They get it up but Locke gets caught underneath pinning him down. With the blast doors shut Locke has Henry crawl through the air vents so he can press the button. He falls and knocks himself out for a minute but wakes up when the alarm goes off. Henry gets into the vent and you can here the countdown get down to zero. Except this time it gets further than the hieroglyphics and the countdown goes all the way to zero. When that happens black lights come on and a diagram appears on the door in front of Locke. It seemed like it was a diagram of how the hatch works, or it could have also been a key that shows the location of all the hatches. I'll get a screen capture of it tomorrow and put it up here, because that is definitely something of major note.

I noticed that this episode also really focused on making Jack seem personable again, especially with Kate. I liked seeing there characters interact , because it had been awhile. It was also another pretty large plot point that was explained when Kate and Jack found the supply drop Parachute. That is huge. Real Freakin Huge.

While all of that is going on, Sayid, Ana, and Charlie are still searching for Henry's Balloon and they find it, as well as a grave. That's all we see of them until the end of the episode when they come back to the hatch to confront Henry. Jack has Henry pinned up against the wall, and Sayid tells Henry that they found his balloon and the grave, the only problem was that when they dug up the grave there was a man inside. A man named Henry Gale. Da Da DUm!!!!!!!! That was a sweet twist at the in of this episode, and really caught me off guard. I never believed Henry's story, but I didn't think he had killed a man and taken his identity. That makes Henry Gale that much more complex of a character, and another reminder of why I love this show.

One of the best of Season 2

9.5/10

Next weeks episode is a Hurley centric titled "Dave". Should be interesting since this season is nearing a close. Until then.......

An Ode to my Bracket....

Oh March Madness, how Sweet you can be
Especially when an 11 seed beats a 3
Who would of thought that two years in a row
Kansas would crumble and Duke wouldn't show.
Oh Villanova, you cut me deep and true.
I had you winning it all, now what am I to do.
The only person picking UCLA was Steve Lavin
And No one thought that George Mason could happen.
No number one's left since the 1980's
Coincidently the amount of tattoos on the arms of Big Baby.
So I had no choice, my bracket burned nice.
As for the Heels, keep their 07' champagne on Ice.
No Big Ten, ACC, or even Big East to be found
2 SEC's, who saw that going down.
So for all the water cooler and office pool players.
Internet Balloters and illegal coach wagers.
I lament with you as we determine who's first,
because this year isn't who won but who lost the worst.
So dear Bracket when you disappear in the wind.
The only ones who will miss you are those 4 dudes on ESPN. (and George Mason fans)

LOST: The Whole Truth

Sorry it took me awhile to get this review up, but I 've been a bit under the weather lately. I thought I'd review last weeks episode before the new one came on. Might as well stay caught up.

This episode touched a little more on the Sun-Jin backstory, especially on the couples fertility woes as well as how and from who Sun learned English. The island events and the flashbacks come together when Sun finds out she is pregnant, but we find out that Jin wasn't able to have children on the main land. So that begs the question, Did Sun have an affair? Or is it a miracle and the two were finally able to conceive. My theory is that the same thing happened to Jin that happenend to Locke, and that's that island has mysterious healing powers, and I think Jin was affected by them.

There is also more development on the Henry Gale side of things ( who might be the creepiest actor ever) Locke enlists Ana-Lucia to interrogate Henry and see if she can get anything out of him. Ana convinces Henry to make a map to his balloon and her,Sayid, and Charlie got on a trek for the balloon so they can find out once and for all if he is telling the truth. We don't get any answers in this episode in that regard. Henry also makes some very interesting comments at the end of the episode when he makes hypothetical comments on how he would have drawn a map that led to a trap, saying" It's a good thing I'm not one of them". Good stuff in my opinion.

Overall, "The Whole Truth" was another solid episode. Definitely not one of the best of the season, but it set up some great things for this week, and advanced a few of the characters quite nicely (especially the growing rift between Jack and Locke). The nest new episode is called "Lockdown", and is Locke-centric (who'd of thought). Until then..............

8/10

Movie Time: V for Vendetta

The movie industry has needed something like this for a long time.A movie that isn't afriad to get it's point across. V for Vendetta has so many important lessons that I hope people take away with them when they leave the theatre. These are definately ideals and concepts that have been heard before (1984, Farenheight 451) but they are presented in a way in V that seems to have something all of it's own. To break it down, the point this movie is trying to get across is that you shouldn't sacrafice freedom for security, because in the end you get something much worse, a loss of the human spirit, and that no one should ever be granted absolute power, especially not the government.

V is based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore, and the screenplay was written by the Wachowski Borthers of Matrix fame.As a film, V hits on all cylinders. It's got excellent acting,writing, drama,dialogue, and action. There are times when the story seems to get a little ahead of itself, but they always back track and cover all of their bases. You just have to pay very close attention because every detail isn't exactly spoon fed to you. Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving are at the top of there game in V. Weaving gives soul to a mask.(Which just to for-warn, he wears the entire movie), and this might be Natalie Portman's best acting job so far in her career. This movie is one part 1984, One part Phantom of the Opera, and just a dash of The original Matrix (minus a little action). Which is another big point, dont' come into this movie expecting an action film. The action is there, and when it happens it's awesome, but V is mostly about it's message. Just don't expect this movie to be 100% Matrix.

In the end I feel like V made some very important points that all societies need to take very seriously. I just hope everyone that sees this movie takes it seriously.

10/10

March, why do you haunt me so.....

Wow. That's the only thing I can say about the opening rounds of this years tournament. Actually there are a lot of words I could use, and have used, but I wont repeat them here.
Two of my final four are gone. UNC and Kansas. I predicted their youth would catch up to them, It just caught up to them sooner than expected. On a good note 12 of my Sweet 16 are still alive, as well is my National Championship game prediction. If those live past next weekend I'll be surprised. At least I'm not alone in my shame. No one saw this coming, I'm pretty sure God is even a little surprised. Oh well, I guess we can all look forward to that nail biting showdown between Wichita st. and George Mason. You'll be able to cut the tension with a knife.

Here are my new updated predictions for next week.

Elite 8:
Duke
West Virginia
Bradley (oh yes I've got nothing to lose)
UCLA
UConn
Villanova
Florida
Wichita St. (why not)

New and Improved Final Four
Duke
Ucla
Uconn
Villanova

National Championship Game
Duke vs. Villanova

winner: Villanova

Maybe I'll do a little better this week, but I'm sure not going to hold my breath because this tournament can and will go in any direction.

Picture of the Week: South Carolina Advertising

I took this picture while en route to Myrtle Beach at a gas station along route 9. Look closely at the great deal they have going here. This might be the funniest thing I have ever seen.

By this picture alone I feel there is a reason God made North Carolina geologically superior to South Carolina. He was trying to tell us something.

Climaxan Bracketology

Like I said before, I love March Madness. Every game that's played has so much emotion and intensity that It really reminds me why I love sports. I also like filling out Brackets, lots of them. It gives me a chance to pretend that I'm a sports analyst while at the same time giving me an opportunity to look like an idiot (So it's almost like the real thing)

This years tournament should be a lot more wide open than years past because there are no teams that really set themselves apart from everyone else. Last year there was UNC and Illinois that everyone was picking from day one. When this season started it looked like Duke and Uconn right off of the bat, but I'm not so convinced by either of those two anymore. Both of them are beatable, especially in a tournament situation.

I'm also a little confused as to why certain teams are in and certain teams aren't. Seton Hall and Air Force have no business in the field of 65. Teams like Florida St. and even Cincinnati should have been in before those two. I feel that leaving Florida St. out of the tournament was pretty disrespectful to the ACC as a conference, even with their loss to Wake Forest.

With that said onto my Picks:

Final Four
Duke
North Carolina
Kansas
Villanova

Every single one of these teams is playing well enough to win the championship right now. Villanova is a little banged up right now, but Foye and Ray will be healthy for the tournament and I think they are going to be hungry after their Big East tournament performance. Duke has J.J Redick who is easily the player of the year and a solid post game with Sheldon Williams. Carolina and Kansas are two of the most dangerous teams in the tournament this year in my opinion because they are both young,fast, and have nothing to lose. However I see their youth coming into play if they make it to the Final Four and them falling to more experienced teams.

So that brings me to the National Championship game.....

Duke vs. Villanova

I'm picking Villanova to win the Title. I feel that Duke has the talent to win this game, but I see Williams and McRoberts getting into foul trouble early because Villanova likes to attack the basket, and that's how you beat Duke.

National Champion: Villanova

I'm sure that I will end up being wrong here, but hey, everybody makes picks, nobody ever gets them all right ( Don't say you do either liars) I do think that these four teams are the most dangerous (as well as Boston College), so at the very least this should be an exciting tournament.

That's all from me, I'll check back in a week to see how well or how terrible my predictions are.

(To check out all of my picks, click on the bracket up top)

Oh March, How I love thee.

Birds chirping, sun shining, a soft breeze on my face. Yeah, it's all good and nice, but so is College Basketball. Especially good college basketball. There seriously is nothing better than the NCAA tournament (ok there are a few things), the energy, the attitude. The sheer awesomeness when your team/school wins the entire thing(um Go Heels). In sports there is nothing that can match it. Nothing I say. So get primed and ready folks ,for March Madness is upon us, as well as my impending picks. Which are quickly followed by shame and embarrassment due to those picks. Oh yeah!

This is what happens when J.J Reddick recites poetry

LOST: Maternity Leave

Almost every single episode of Lost has followed the formula of showing us very little of actual plot, and focusing more on the development of the characters based on their mainland stories, weaving island twists in between. In tonight's episode "Maternity Leave", Lost went all Island, and I must say it was an interesting change of pace.

I'll start out by saying this was definitely not the best acted episode of the season, no emmys for this one I'm afraid, which is kind of weird to me because these are pretty good actressess. However, it was good to see a female dominated episode (i'm quite fond of women). Ok, I'm rambling. Onto the show.....

Claire's episode from season one is one of my all-time favorite Lost episodes, so I was definitely looking forward to this one. This episode was a little different however, instead of telling more of Claire's backstory it focused on her remembering the 2 weeks that she was missing. I was really shocked at how much they showed us in this episode. Lost is usually a less is more kind of show but they opened the flood gates on the Dharma initiative. (WARNING: LOST THEORY AHEAD) It seems that the Others are actually just a fasade to help cover up what the Dharma initiative is experimenting on, and the concept of the "Others" is just tool used to throw off those who the Dharma Intiative brings to the Island as part of their experiments. What those experiments are and what they are for are still the question. I could be way off, but that is the way it appears to me so far.( END MY SILLY THEORIES) It was really interesting to see the Others/Dharma interact with Claire, and the nursery for the baby was a little on the freaky side, especially the airplanes hanging above the crib. Like I said, the reason for the Dharma Iniative is still a mystery, but they definitely have a fascination with children (Aaron, Rousseau's baby, and Walt) I'm also pretty sure that the girl that saved Claire is the french woman's daughter, but they basically told us that didn't they. It was also nice to see Rousseau fleshed out a little bit in this episode. Since the first time you meet her charachter in season one she has been portrayed as the crazy french lady, and in this episode people start to realize that her madness is justified. Being trapped on an island for 16 years does that to a person.

As far as the other island events, I'm interested to where these small events with Eko are going to lead, because less we forget, Eko is badass. The scene with Eko cutting trees really caught my eye and I'm sure that will play a significant role later on. His scene with Henry Gale is interesting as well, interesting in the fact that I have no idea what it meant. I'll have to get back to y'all on that one. Speaking of Henry Gale, I still think he is affiliated with the Dharma Initiative some how, maybe on a big scale,he did say that he was filthy rich didn't he..... We'll see on that one though. Overall, a really good episode that revealed a lot of information that hasn't even fully sunk in yet, but it's definitely key to the entire overall mythos of the story.

The next episode isn't until March 22nd (waaah,I know it sucks)but if it makes you feel any better this show still takes less breaks than our President (Burn). The next new one is a Jin/Sun centric episode titled "The Whole Truth". So until then..................................