This close to another miracle

On any given day, I would boo when Ryan Miller takes the ice and cheer wildly when Sidney Crosby scores an overtime goal.  Especially a sweet one under the pads of a goalie.  But not today.  Today it was a lot different.  The gold medal match of the 2010 Winter Olympics was exciting, fast paced and heartbreaking.  I never expected Team U.S.A. to advance to the gold medal round, especially in the face of such teams as Team Canada and Team Russia, but when they beat Canada in the preliminary round, I thought they might have a good chance for a medal, certainly not gold.  My hopes dwindled more and more as the minutes of the gold medal match ticked away.  The U.S. trailed until the final 25 seconds of regulation time.  Zach Parise tied it up with an awesome goal.  My entire house went crazy.  Even Katie was screaming.  But then 7 minutes and 40 seconds into overtime, Sid pulled another clutch goal.  It was disappointing to see the U.S. get so close and miss the gold.  But we will take home silver and the U.S. team played well beyond my expectations.  Good Job guys!

A Bad Start to Anyone’s Week

I have been a little lax in my updates lately.  I will try to get out at least a few posts per week.  Here is why I have been not posting. 

Last Saturday started as most, woke up, showered, helped get the kids (the boys, not the little girl, I don’t know Jack about dressing little girls), started the grocery list and then things went downhill quick.  My throat started to hurt, my head started to hurt, and I could feel my temperature rising.  It happens every year, unfortunately right around St. Valentine’s Day, I get sick, so sick that I am bed ridden for a few days.  I hate it.  My wife hates it.  I blame it on work this time.  I worked many, many hours the previous week and put my body in the type of condition ready for this.  But being sick in not what I want to talk about.

I want to talk about Netflix and what a wonderful service they provide.  Nothing beats having Netflix and being sick.  In various states of consciousness and delirium, I got to see several movies without ever having to leave the comfort of my sofa.

• The Royal Tenebaums
• Following
• Adventureland
• Year One
• The Taking of Pelham 123
• Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
• Chocolate
• Law Abiding Citizen

If you like to watch movies and television, and don’t have Netflix, you need to get it.  If you have Netflix and don’t have a Netflix enabled device attached to your TV, you are missing out.  Netflix  has made a commitment to put more and more big titles available for instant viewing.  A recent deal with Warner Bros. will delay new releases of Warner Bros. titles, but make more of those titles available for streaming.

I have my Xbox 360 connected to my television in the basement and through it, I can stream Netflix.  But Xbox is not the only device that allows you to do this.  PS3, DVRs, BluRay players, and soon the Wii allow you to stream content directly to your television.

Lost: The Lighthouse

I think my theory is dead in the water.  I can no longer see Not Locke/Smokey as the good guy.  I still don’t know what he is recruiting for, my guess it is just an army of supporters to help take the temple.  There must be something in there that Smokey needs in order to leave the Island.  Looking back through past episodes, it appears that Smokey may have “infected” Danielle as well, since she has shown similar behavior as the Evil Claire.  I don’t think that Smokey can possess bodies that have been killed on the island.  There have been plenty of them, too many to enumerate.  He may have possessed Christian Shephard when his body landed on the island and was subsequently never found. 
There was much more talk of the “candidates.”  There is a candidate #108, that is not currently on the island, but is on his/her way.  We haven’t seen his/her name yet, and probably won’t until that person shows up.  My guess it will be a returning character, possibly Walt (I would love to know what gave him special powers and if it was related to the island) or Aaron (possibly his grandmother is flying him home to Australia).  I think all of the other characters that have left the island are dead: Desmond, Whidmore, Michael.  We also got a little peak that Austin (Kate) is candidate #51 when Jack and Hurley were at the lighthouse.
Instead of coming up with a new theory, I wanted to take a more general approach and try to determine what the overall theme of the “answers” will be or under what context the answers will appear.  Here are the possibilities I see.  (Please note that I may throw in some baby theories to try to provide an example of what I mean)

• Religious – something similar to my Lucifer theory.  I really don’t see how they can end the show with some heavenly ascension or hell-bound descent.  It’s still possible but I think it really is unlikely.  I would really like it to go in this direction because it would be completely new concept for TV.
• Scientific – where are all of the answers can be explained by science or pseudo-science.  The entire Darma initiative, the research, etc. play heavily to this theme, but with all of the dead coming back to life, and demonic-like possession, I don’t think the answers will be scientific ones.
• Science Fiction – this takes a much more liberal approach to the Scientific theme.  I could imagine the “answers” to be something like – Jacob and Smokey are actually aliens sent to protect the planet which they do from their island.  One views it as his mission to find someone to replace them, the other just wants off this rock and to return home.  They could explain all of the weird technology, time travel, teleportation, etc.  I find this could possibly be a potential ending to this story.  It may be a little cliché, especially for those of us that have read hundreds of books and seen dozens of movies that have similar themes.
• Preternatural/Paranormal -  this is similar to the religious, but removing some higher being(s).  Jacob and Smokey are Earthly, but more human that human.  I haven’t put much thought into this one yet.  Maybe after next week I can add more to it.

Well, it is getting late.  Thanks for stopping by, please feel free to comment (I would like to know who you think Jack’s baby’s momma is).  I have a couple more posts in the pipeline concerning a bunch of movies I just saw.
I’m on a horse.

Lost: The Substitute

“What I am is trapped, for so long I don’t know what it is to be free.”

After tonight’s Locke-centric episode, I still want to believe that Not Locke/Smoke Monster is the good guy. There are so many things in The Substitute that could shift the balance either way. Richard’s remarks about how Not Locke is going to kill everyone (leaning towards Not Locke is evil), the list of “candidates” and how Jacob pulled everyone’s strings (Not Locke is good), when Locke threw away the white rock and tipped the scales. Who was the cherubic little boy that appeared twice and told Not Locke that “you cannot kill him, you know the rules?”  Is this little boy another angel, warning Michael of the rules of Lucifer's banishment or interfering with humanity?

Could Lost really be that spiritual/religious?  I think it would be a very risky venture even for ABC/Disney to base a program on something that religious in nature.  That is the main reason why I don't think my theory holds water.  I think it would be very cool if this entire show was a take on the classic Christian battles of good versus evil, but I find it hard to believe that this would be inclusive enough for a major network to air for 6 years.  But it is hard to deny the symbolism of the very last scene of tonight's episode, Sawyer responding "Hell yes" to Locke and the firebathed smile on Locke's.

One thing that gave me pause tonight was seeing Shephard on Jacob’s list. I have heard at least 2 people say in previous episodes that Jack was not on the “list.” But there could 3 other Shephards, Christian (but he is dead and would have been crossed off), Claire (who may not bear the Shephard name, but she is by blood) and Aaron (again by blood). My vote is for Aaron, because there exists the prophecy by the fortune teller that Aaron plays some large part in the future. A lot of people on the island wanted the baby, but was it just because a baby was born on the island without dying or is there something else?

That's all I have on Lost tonight.  Let me know what you thing.  Please feel free to post your comments and theories.

An Ode to the Old Spice commercial

Look at the blog, now look away, now look back at the blog. Sadly I am making this stuff as I go along. Now look at your hand, you are holding a mouse, now look back at the blog. Oh no, you are clicking away. C’ya

My Droid is now complete

Unfortunately I am not referring to R2-D2. He is still a work in progress in the cold, cold garage. I am referring to my Motorola Droid. Tonight I downloaded the one app that caused me to be jealous of all of you iPhone owners. The Discovery Channel app has finally come to the Android platform. For 3 months now, I have had to view all of the Mythbuster outtakes from my computer and not my phone. Not anymore.

If you ask me, I will tell you that I love the Droid. If you ask my wife, she will say she hates it, and hates that I have it.

Favorite Apps:

• Gmail & Google Talk – especially the integration of my Gmail and Facebook contacts
  
• Google Maps
  
• Seesmic – Twitter client
  
• FIOS Mobile – manage my DVR
  
• Google Sky Map – the kids and I have fun with this, especially since they are learning some astronomy in school
  

Lost: Someone else likes my theory too

I just read this on Dark UFO, http://theoriesonlost.blogspot.com/2010/02/jacob-is-not-good-but-instead-evil.html.

Lost – What Kate Does

First let me say that if you haven't watched the 02.09.2010 episode, then you may not want to read any further. Tonight's episode was Kate-centric, following her "new" timeline, i.e. where the plane lands in LAX and she steals the cab, etc. The new timeline certainly has some interesting twists and turns, but I have don't have any new theories on where it is going yet.


My focus tonight was on Dogan and what happened to Sayid. Who is the new guy? Is he like Richard, it seems like he has been there for a while. Is he the Head Priest of the Church of Jacob?

Here are the facts we know (haha I said "know"):

• Dogan is the leader of the Templites
  
• The Templites guard some type of Fountain of Youth that can heal wounds
  
• The Fountain isn't working like it should
  
• Dogan believes that Sayid is "claimed" and needs to be poisoned
  
• Dogan and the Templites are protecting themselves from the Smoke Monster
  

Of course, I don't know what any of that means, but I am still sticking with my Jacob = Lucifer, MIB = Michael theory. If Dogan believes that Sayid has been "claimed," then it could be the same sort of possession that Locke is currently under. Just like MIB is using Locke's image, maybe now it is Jacob possessing Sayid. Dogan mentioned that it is an evil that will grow inside him, and that the same thing happened to Claire, who we saw at the end sporting a Danielle-like hairdo and running around the jungle armed and setting traps. Maybe the same thing happened to Christian Sheppard when 815 crashed the first time. I think this supports my theory a little more. And why was the Smoke Monster in the temple when Danielle's crew arrived? Were the Templites there at the same time, and if they were, why did they not mind the Smoke Monster then?


After watching LA X Part 2 again tonight, I noticed two additional things that I thought added credibility to my theory that I didn't add to my previous Lost post. When the Not Locke/MIB was describing to Ben how the Real Locke felt at the time of his death, it sounded to me like he believed Locke's death was a good thing, that it released him from the pain and suffering that he had carried with him his entire life. He said that Locke did not want to leave the island and go home, once he attained "Eden," he didn't want to return. The Not Locke also mentioned that his ultimate goal was to "go home." If I apply it to the theory, then the Archangel Michael, having had Lucifer killed, could now return to heaven and leave his post of watching over earth and humanity.


I am also considering a different theory that Jacob and MIB are actually Cain and Abel (yet another religious reference). Cain slew Abel in a fit of jealousy, because Abel had God's favor. Cain was cursed by God to leave Eden and was forced to wander the Earth, bearing a mark so no man would kill him. Abel, being considered the first martyr, was then chosen to pass judgment on the dead (possibly another tie to Anubis). I have to give this one some more thought…


It's funny that my 8 years of Catholic school may finally be paying off.