Entertainment & Sports: May 2006 Archives
I think my speculation that The Others on Lost are particularly interested in children with psychic potential was completely vindicated in last night's episode, "Three Minutes", but Anthony Martin suggests that perhaps it's size that matters.
I just realized why perhaps Walt was at the other terminal on the island chatting with his Dad, and why perhaps "the others" kidnapped all of the children.The other facility had a near mishap, perhaps their blast doors have partially closed, which prevents adults from entering the dome to access the terminal. Only children are small enough to get in there and enter the code. That's why Alex was stolen from Danielle 16 years earlier. That's why the children were stolen from the tail section survivors. And that's why they attempted to steal Claire's baby, and of course Walt.
In other words, the other terminal is in a similar setup as the Swan facility, but the code is inaccessible by adults.
Personally I think The Others are pretty much in charge of the island, and we know now that they're "testing" Walt's abilities and not just using him to push a button.
As for the boat at the end of the episode, I bet it's Desmond returning for the season finale. He'll be pissed when he realizes that he's back on the island!
Entertainment Weekly has a cool photo gallery of many of the lostaways from before they became (really) famous.
My wife and I call Wednesday "Lostday". Hopefully tonight's episode about Michael doesn't suck. I had previously found him to be a rather boring character, but he redeemed himself by killing Ana Lucia.
Well I can't get to Tradesports to find the odds at the moment... maybe their site will be up again later. After watching last night, I have to agree with Simon that Eelliioott will be the one going home. It's an easy call. McPhee's performances were very good, even though I don't like her, and Taylor was as fun as ever. I hope he wins, but I'm afraid that Katherine has been getting better for the last few weeks and that people are going to want to vote for her pretty face (despite her mediocre talent).
One of the most interesting aspects of last night's show is that Eelliioott did so well and McPhee completely bombed. Take a look at TradeSports contract listings in this screenshot taken right after the west-coast airing.
As you can see, before the show Eelliioott was the strong favorite to get the boot, but after McPhee's miserable performances she leapt into last place.
She's the youngest performer left, and I think her youth and lack of experience are really showing through. She doesn't know how to pick good songs, she can't arrange them (or help arrange them) very well, and she isn't really growing as a performer. The men who are left are all older, more experienced, and much more sophisticated singers, and it shows. McPhee obviously has a pretty face, but it doesn't seem like she's used to working hard for anything, whereas all the remaining men seem to be busting their butts every week.
Based on last night McPhee clearly deserves to be cut, but I have a hard time believing that Eelliioott will garner more votes despite his excellent performances.
I'm almost finished with The Da Vinci Code and I have to say that I enjoyed it a lot more the first time I read it when it was called The Illuminatus! Trilogy. The first half of DVC was pretty engaging, but as soon as the premise of the book was revealed I quickly lost all interest in such a far-fetched, purposeless, facile reinterpretation of history.
To sum it up it for anyone who hasn't already heard, DVC is about a modern quest for the Holy Grail, except the Grail isn't a cup, it's Mary Magdalene's vagina. Surprise! The Grail didn't catch Christ's blood while he was on the cross, it caught other fluids and in fact spawned a brood of decendents that survives to modern times. The human Jesus, who was a wise teacher despite being a little crazy for falsely claiming to be God, intended his wife/girlfriend Mary Magdalene to carry on his ministry after his pointless death, but the male disciples decided it would be better to oppress women and erase "the sacred feminine" from theology. So they made up the story about Eve eating the fruit first (nevermind that the story was around long before Jesus' time) and put theological restrictions on sex to keep women down and rule the world. Pre-Christian paganism was a paradise of free sex and egalitarianism, epitomized by Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and then the Catholic Church squashed it all and ruined the party.
If you wade through all 400+ pages you'll see that it's even dumber than it sounds. I'm personally glad that I read it because now I've got a new yardstick to measure other peoples' stupidity: anyone who likes the book or thinks it's "deep" is a moron.
I can hardly blame the Vatican for implicitly comparing the upcoming release of The Da Vinci Code movie with the recent Mohammad cartoon nonsense, but I'd like to think that Christian beliefs can stand on their own without government intervention.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In the latest Vatican broadside against "The Da Vinci Code", a leading cardinal says Christians should respond to the book and film with legal action because both offend Christ and the Church he founded.Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Nigerian who was considered a candidate for pope last year, made his strong comments in a documentary called "The Da Vinci Code-A Masterful Deception."
Arinze's appeal came some 10 days after another Vatican cardinal called for a boycott of the film. Both cardinals asserted that other religions would never stand for offences against their beliefs and that Christians should get tough.
"Christians must not just sit back and say it is enough for us to forgive and to forget," Arinze said in the documentary made by Rome film maker Mario Biasetti for Rome Reports, a Catholic film agency specializing in religious affairs.
"Sometimes it is our duty to do something practical. So it is not I who will tell all Christians what to do but some know legal means which can be taken in order to get the other person to respect the rights of others," Arinze said.
Here's something practical: tell people what's wrong with the movie and explain the truth about Christ, his ministry, and his church. Lawsuits aren't going to convince anyone.
I found tonight's Lost episode, "Two for the Road" pretty boring and nonsensical... until the last three minutes! Spoilers below the fold.
Update:
Via some links from Bernardo, here's a great message board with a lot of information: Dharma Secrets.
